cans as the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence: "Mr. President,-When the mariner has been tossed for many days in thick weather, and on an unknown sea, he naturally avails himself of the first pause in the storm, the earliest glance of the sun, to take his latitude, and ascertain how far the elements have driven him from his true course. Let us imitate this prudence, and before we float further on the waves of this debate, refer to the point from which we departed, that we at least may be able to form some conjecture where we now are. I ask for the reading of the resolution." As the Secretary of the Senate read Senator Foote's resolution, quoted in the first paragraph of this sketch, every head was turned to Webster, every eye was fixed upon him, every heart beat with sympathy or dread. The orator beheld his thoughts as in a mirror, and he said afterwards he had only to select them at his will. Once Vice-President Calhoun interrupted him, and only once, for all sides were spell-bound. He was the Prospero of the occasion. His voice commanded, and the multitude obeyed. Joseph Gales, the famous editor of The National Intelligencer, and the best reporter of his time, took down the speech, and Mrs. Gales wrote it out in a large hand; it was revised by Webster, and returned the same evening. The Intelligencer could not immediately supply the demand, and soon it appeared in other editions in different quarters. It was answered by Senators on both sides: Woodbury, of New Hampshire; Barton, of Missouri, who bitterly criticised his colleague, Colonel Benton; Clayton, of Delaware; Robbins, of Rhode Island; but the speech of Webster satisfied the country, and settled Nullification for the time. The debate closed May 21, 1830; but it left many wounds. When Webster spoke, the Jackson party was a unit-the Democracy as powerful as the Republican party is to-day. It had conquered everything, and had really no organized opposition. Mr. Webster's speech made him a favorite with the President. In one year General Up to Jackson and Mr. Calhoun were malignant enemies. 1825 Jackson was a strict constructionist, and Calhoun for the liberal exercise of the powers of the Federal Government, including a protective tariff. In 1831 they changed positions, Calhoun declaring for Nullification, and Jackson for a strong government. The conflict grew severe; for General Jackson tolerated no half-way support, and Mr. Calhoun soon found himself outside the Democratic lines. Jackson was re-elected in 1832, without the vote of South Carolina. Immediately this result was known, South Carolina raised the flag of Nullification, and refused to allow the collection of any national revenue within her borders. Armed preparations were made in the State. Hayne resigned his seat in the Senate, and Calhoun his Vice-Presidency three months before the expiration of his term. Jackson determined to enforce the law. He did not wait. Re-elected in November, he issued his proclamation against the Nullifiers on the 10th of December of 1832-a paper permeated by his own will and the logic of Webster. The scenes that preceded the late Rebellion were enacted, the same threats, the same secession, very nearly the same resignations from the army and the navy. Calhoun took his seat as a Senator from his State January 4, 1833, and on the 21st of January Senator William Wilkins, of Pennsylvania, introduced the celebrated Force bill, investing the President with full powers to enforce the laws. There is no doubt that if General Jackson had not been withheld by wise counsels, he would have executed summary vengeance upon Mr. Calhoun. And now we saw the fruits of Webster's great speech of January, 1830. The example of Jackson terrified his enemies. Many who had led the attack on Webster three years before now advocated Webster's doctrine dictated by Jackson. Clay was just coming into the Senate after his defeat for the Presidency the year before. Webster was still there. But they remained in the background, and allowed the war to rage in the Democratic ranks. Clay was maturing his "American system " and waiting his opportunity, and Webster was quietly watching the operation of his doctrines. His relations at this time were more than friendly with President Jackson. The fierce contention between Calhoun and Jackson naturally attracted the latter to the Massachusetts patriot. The Force bill was a terror to the old States-rights leaders, and yet they feared the iron will of the President more. Most of them finally took ground for the bill. But they needed help, and they longed for Webster, the very man whom they had so assailed three years before. His apparent neutrality alarmed them. His business in the Supreme Court kept him most of his time out of the Senate; and yet he was not an indifferent, though a silent, observer of the scene. Like the hero in the Grecian epic, he might have turned a deaf ear to the importunities of his enemies; and for a long time he stood aloof, though besieged by the friends of the President, and, if the truth could be known, exhorted by General Jackson himself, to come to the rescue. The debate on the Force bill progressed. Calhoun was indomitable, and was eagerly collecting all his resources. Wilkins opened the debate, followed by Bibb, of Kentucky; Poindexter, of Mississippi; Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey; Brown, of North Carolina; Holmes, of Maine; Tyler, of Virginia; Clayton, of Delaware; Mangum, of North Carolina; King, of Alabama; Dallas, of Pennsylvania; Webster taking little part, and Calhoun biding his time. After a speech from Mr. Rives, of Virginia, Mr. Calhoun, on the 14th of February, 1833, moved an adjournment, and the next day (February 15) began his great effort. He spoke for the best part of two days with extraordinary power. Never had he appeared more like himself. As described by a spectator, "Tall, gaunt, of somewhat stooped figure, with a brow full, well formed, and receding; hair not reposing on the head, but starting from it like the Gorgon's; a countenance of unqualified intellect; an eye that watched everything and re vealed nothing; to an audience already imbittered he seemed to realize the full idea of a conspirator." But no purer man ever lived; none more unselfish or lofty, or hostile to indirection or meanness. Hated by his foes for his politics, he was loved by his friends as well for his politics as for himself. He reasoned and philosophized, he held up to scorn his foes, he asserted the innocence of South Carolina, and he almost deified his dream of State independence. Never was he more effective or more dangerous. At two o'clock of the same day (February 15, 1833), Daniel Webster took the floor in reply to John C. Calhoun. Like his great speech of January 26, 1830, this effort is historical. It was not so dramatic nor so sympathetic, but it was a magnificent argument on the right side, and it did the work. A long debate ensued, but the interest flagged after this splendid mental duel; and at last, before the final vote was reached, Mr. Calhoun and his friends left the Senate. The bill passed-28 yeas to I nay -John Tyler, of Virginia; Benton, Clay, and Calhoun absent. Do not suppose I am writing to describe these two memorable events. My object is to show how steadily Mr. Webster was advancing to the leadership of the Democratic party over the bitter quarrel between Jackson and Calhoun, and in the glory of his unrivalled patriotism. He had saved the country. He had saved the Constitution. He had saved General Jackson's Administration. No man appreciated his services so warmly as the iron President, and none stood more ready to reward them. Mr. Livingston, the nearest friend of the President, called in person to say as much; and one eminent in authority has asserted that Mr. Webster would have been in Jackson's Cabinet, on Jackson's direct appeal, if he had been so disposed. His last effort, like his first, endeared him to the Democratic party of the Free States. Jackson's proclamation and Webster's speech in support of it were pinned to the Democratic banners of Pennsylvania; and when the great statesman journeyed to the West, after this great struggle, the people of all parties greeted him as their idol. At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he spoke of General Jackson as follows: “Gentlemen,—The President of the United States was, as it seemed to me, at this eventful crisis, true to his duty. He comprehended and understood the case, and met it as it was proper to meet it. While I am as willing as others to admit that the President has on other occasions rendered important services to the country, and especially on that occasion which has given him so much military renown, I yet think the ability and decision with which he resisted the disorganizing doctrines of Nullification created a claim, than which he has none higher, to the gratitude of the country and the respect of posterity. The issuing of the proclamation of the 10th of December inspired me, I confess, with new hopes for the duration of the Republic. I would not be understood to speak of particular clauses and phrases in the proclamation, but its great and leading doctrines I regard as the true, and only true, doctrines of the Constitution. They constitute the sole ground on which dismemberment can be resisted. Nothing else, in my opinion, can hold us together. While those opinions are entertained, the Union will last; when they shall be generally rejected and abandoned, that Union will be at the mercy of a temporary majority in any one of the States.' In September The dream was dissolved in a few months. of 1833 the deposits were removed from the Bank of the United States by order of President Jackson, and Henry Clay took the field as the Whig leader to resist this daring act. Το Henry Clay must be conceded the palm of prosecuting the war against President Jackson's Administration on the bank question: It was a splendid campaign. In some respects he was the equal of his indomitable antagonist. Like Jackson, he feared nothing and dared everything. He interposed no screen, no evasion, but advanced to the front of the battle. Aided by |