FIRST SPEECH IN THE SENATE.

251

is objected that the militia have a claim upon us; that they fought at the side of the regular soldiers, and ought to share in the country's remembrance. But it is known to be impossible to carry the measure to such an extent as to embrace the militia; and it is plain, too, that the cases are different. The bill, as I have already said, confines itself to those who served not occasionally, not temporarily, but permanently; who allowed themselves to be counted on as men who were to see the contest through, last as long as it might; and who have made the phrase, 'listing during the war,' a proverbial expression, signifying unalterable devotion to our cause, through good fortune and ill fortune, till it reached its close. This is a plain distinction; and although, perhaps, I might wish to do more, I see good ground to stop here for the present, if we must stop any where. The militia who fought at Concord, at Lexington, and at Bunker Hill, have been alluded to, in the course of this debate, in terms of well-deserved praise. Be assured, sir, there could with difficulty be found a man, who drew his sword, or carried his musket, at Concord, at Lexington, or at Bunker Hill, who would wish you to reject this bill. They might ask you to do more, but never to refrain from doing this. Would to God they were assembled here, and had the fate of the bill in their own hands! Would to God the question of its passage were to be put to them! They would affirm it with a unity of acclamation that would rend the roof of the capitol !"

Such was Mr. Webster's happy tact of handling delicate subjects, of answering objections that required discriminate language, and of turning the morale, the popular sentiment, of an objection against those who raised it. In the same speech he shows his ardent love for New England, and gives another example of his felicity in turning the argument of an adversary to his own purposes and advantage, making it decorous for him self to pay a useful compliment where, otherwise, all compliment would have been uncalled for and suspected. "I would

not," he says, "and do not, underrate the services and the suf ferings of others. I know well, that, in the revolutionary contest, all made sacrifices, and all endured sufferings, as well those who paid for service, as those who performed it. I know that, in the records of all the little municipalities of New England, abundant proof exists of the zeal with which the cause was espoused, and the sacrifices with which it was cheerfully maintained. I have often there read, with absolute astonishment, of the taxes, the contributions, the heavy subscriptions, sometimes provided for by disposing of the absolute necessaries of life, by which enlistments were procured, and food and clothing furnished. It would be, sir, to these same municipalities, to these same little patriotic councils of revolutionary times, that I would now look, with most assured confidence, for a hearty support of what this bill proposes. There, the scale of revolutionary merit stands high. There are still those living, who speak of the 19th of April, and the 17th of June, without thinking it necessary to add the year. These men, one and all, would rejoice to find that those who stood by the country bravely, through the doubtful and perilous struggle, which conducted to independence and glory, had not been forgotten in the decline and close of life!" The whole speech, indeed, though not on an emergency which called for the greatest effort, is a fine proof of Mr. Webster's calmness, candor, and unexampled tact and ingenuity in debate. He always seemed to know and feel exactly what the subject demanded of him; and he also knew how, in a most natural and dignified manner, after answering such arguments as needed only to be an swered, to turn the others into an occasion to say just such things as he wanted to say, but could not have said with dignity, had not his unskillful opponents furnished him with the opportunity. His whole career, as a lawyer, as a representa tive, as a senator, is full of these examples; but the great ex

ELECTION OF GENERAL JACKSON.

253

ample of his life comes next up, in chronological order, for the consideration and admiration of the reader.

The interval between the two sessions of the twentieth congress is memorable for the election of Andrew Jackson over his competitor, John Quincy Adams. The party, made up of the discordant elements before mentioned, which had united to break down the administration of Mr. Adams, had succeeded in its purpose. The slander on Mr. Adams, in relation to his bargain with Mr. Clay, had been so industriously repeated, that the majority of the people of the country had come to put implicit confidence in its truth; and even at this day, there are thousands of well-meaning men in the United States, men of the greatest worth and integrity, who could scarcely be more insulted, or at least affronted, than by the suggestion of a doubt on this subject. To all practical intents, therefore, the slander was just as effectual as if it had been historically and undeniably a fact; and, as it spread among the people, Jackson's popularity rose, and that of the president went down. Jackson was made president by a majority unknown since the days of Monroe. Webster, who was the cause of the vote of Clay's friends being given to Mr. Adams, and Clay, who had probably only acquiesced in the course of Mr. Webster, had both labored to sustain the administration of their common friend; but no support, however able, or from men however distinguished, could sustain a man, who had been doomed before he had done either good or evil.

The party of the new administration, therefore, was merely an opposition; and an opposition is very likely to be made of dissimilar and discordant materials. This is more liable to be the case when the opposition is based on personal and malicious grounds. There is then not likely to be much principle at stake. It is mere hatred, resentment, or revenge. Whatever was the animus of the opposition party now in power, it is very certain that the party itself was not at all united. Jackson

and Crawford had not been friends. Crawford and Calhoun had not been friends; and Calhoun, though now vice-president under Jackson, had avowed opinions, and was then secretly fostering a spirit, which was not only leading directly to a severance of the Union, but which was exceedingly distasteful to the president.

It will be remembered that the tariff of 1816 was a measure of the southern and western states, which forced it upon New England in spite of a determined and protracted opposition, in which Mr. Webster had taken a prominent part. The tariff

of 1824, also, had been opposed by the New England states, but was carried at last by southern and western votes. The tariff of 1828 had been accepted by Mr. Webster, but it had been so accepted, not because a high protection had been the original policy of New England, but because it had been made the policy of the government. The high tariff system, in fact, from first to last, had been a western and southern affair, and had been incorporated as an element of the general policy of the country by southern and western votes. In 1828, however, New England had acquiesced in this southern and western measure, while the south and west themselves had grown a little cool or indifferent towards it. They had initiated and carried it, and had thus caused an untold amount of investments to be made in various manufacturing establishments, chiefly located in New England; and now they began to turn round upon their own act, not only dishonoring and rejecting it, but accusing it of being unfriendly, even hostile, to the interests of the west and south. There was probably some disappointment, and some jealousy, mixed up with this change of opinion and practice. When originated, New England was engaged almost exclusively in navigation; and the tariff, it was supposed, by throwing restrictions on free trade, would benefit the agriculture of the west and south, though it might also diminish the business of the east. The result of the measure had not

THE TARIFF AND NEW ENGLAND.

255

entirely net the expectation of its originators. New England, having more ready capital than could be employed to the best advantage in a commerce thus restrained, had diverted the surplus of this capital to those manufactures, which had been particularly marked out for protection by these southern and western tariffs. Make the laws as they would, fix whatever boundaries to business that any sections of the Union might devise, New England had known how to thrive. She could not thrive, however, any more than any other section, if the laws were not kept more or less uniform and firm, if they were to be changed with every congress, or every new notion that might possibly get the ascendency for a day. Having, therefore, been forced into the business of manufactures, and having involved a large amount of property in it, New England was now willing to relinquish her opposition to the doctrine of protection, and to stand up in support of the darling measure of the south and west. She expected, no doubt, that the south and west would congratulate her upon her conversion, and pronounce themselves fortunate in having made so good a convert. Not so. The south and west had now changed sides. They opened up a determined opposition to their own measure. They used, in that opposition, the very arguments which they had tried to answer when given to them from the lips of Mr. Webster. This change of sentiment had commenced as early as 1828, when the tariff bill of that year, which was rather favorable to New England, was under discussion in the senate. It was a change so sudden and so marked that Mr. Webster had not seen fit to let it pass without observation: "New England, sir," said he, in his speech of the 9th of May, 1828, "has not been a leader in this policy. On the contrary, she held back herself and tried to hold others back from it, from the adoption of the constitution to 1824. Up to 1824, she was accused of sinister and selfish designs, because she discounte nanced the progress of this policy. It was laid to her charge