22. DANIEL WEBSTER,

1782-1852.

DANIEL WEBSTER, one of America's greatest statesmen and most eloquent orators, was born in Salisbury (now Franklin), New Hampshire, January 18, 1782. His father was a farmer who had served under Amherst in the battle of Ticonderoga, and at the close of the French and Indian war had settled in New Hampshire as one of the pioneers.

Webster prepared for college partly at Phillips (Exeter) Academy, and partly at the home of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Wood of Boscawen. He entered Dartmouth College in 1797, and graduated in 1801. After leaving college Webster began the study of law, but soon went to Fryeburg, Maine, to take charge of the town academy for a year at a salary of three hundred and fifty dollars. By acting as assistant in copying deeds for the register of the county he managed to increase his salary, and thus not only facilitated his studies, but also assisted in his brother Ezekiel's education. He completed his legal studies under the direction of the Hon. Christopher Gore in Boston, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1805. He began the practice of his profession at Boscawen, and after his father's death removed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1813 he was elected to Congress, and was again elected in 1815. His first speech in Congress was delivered in 1813, on the Berlin and Milan Decrees, and it at once attracted the attention not only of the House, but also of the whole country. Webster

at once became a leader, and was ever so recognized to the time of his death.

In 1816, Webster removed to Boston, where he soon 1ose to the highest rank as an advocate and orator. For seven years he occupied no public position, but in 1823 he was again elected to the United States House of Representatives. Four years later he became a member of the national Senate, and was United States Senator from Massachusetts up to the year 1841, when he accepted the post of Secretary of State in the Cabinet, which position he retained for two years under Presidents Harrison and Tyler. In 1845 he was again elected to the Senate, but was again called to the Department of State by President Fillmore in 1850, and held the post to the time of his death, at his Marshfield home, on the 24th of October, 1852.

Webster began his career as an orator when yet a boy. While still in college, at the age of eighteen, he delivered a Fourth-of-July oration at the request of the citizens of Hanover. Just before leaving college he delivered a funeral oration on the death of one of his classmates which has much of the dignity and eloquence of his later orations. Among the most notable speeches of Webster are his oration at Plymouth in 1820, his address at the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument in 1825, his eulogy on Adams and Jefferson in 1826, and his reply to Senator Hayne of South Carolina in 1829. But these are only a fragment of this great statesman's famous orations. The most complete edition of his works was that consisting of six volumes, 8vo, published in 1851, the year before his death.

CRITICISM BY E. A. DUYCKINCK.

Of his capacities as an orator and writer, of his forensic triumphs and repute, of his literary skill and success, much may be said. His speech had strength,

force, and dignity; his composition was clear, rational, strengther ed by a powerful imagination-in his great orations "the lightning of passion running along the iron links of argument." The one lesson which they teach the youth of America is self-respect, a manly consciousness of power, expressed simply and directly to look for the substantial qualities of the thing, and utter them distinctly as they are felt intensely. This was the sum of the art which Webster used in his orations.

IMPORTANCE OF THE UNION.

[For study and analysis.]

I PROFESS, sir, in my career hitherto to have kept steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country and the preservation of our Federal Union. It is to that Union we owe our safety at home and our consideration and dignity abroad. It is to that Union that s we are chiefly indebted for whatever makes us most proud of our country. That Union we reached only by the discipline of our virtues in the severe school of adversity. It had its origin in the necessities of disordered finance, prostrate commerce, and ruined credit.

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Under its benign influences these great interests immediately awoke as from the dead, and sprang forth with newness of life. Every year of its duration has teemed with fresh proofs of its utility and its blessings; and, although our territory has stretched out wider and 5 wider, and our population spread farther and farther, they have not outrun its protection or its benefits. It has been to us all a copious fountain of national, social, and personal happiness.

I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the 20 Union to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of pre

serving liberty when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of Disunion to see 25 whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss below; nor could I regard him as a safe counselor in the affairs of this government whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not how the Union should be best preserved, but how tol- 30 erable might be the condition of the people when it shall be broken up and destroyed.

While the Union lasts we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil. 35 God grant that, in my day at least, that curtain may not rise! God grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind! When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishon- 40 ored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood!

Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known 45 and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured-bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as, What is all this worth? nor those other 50 words of delusion and folly, Liberty first, and Union afterward; but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment dear to every 55 true American heart: Liberty and Union, NOW AND FOR EVER, ONE AND INSEPARABLE!

23. EDWARD EVERETT,

1794-1865.

EDWARD EVERETT, America's most polished orator was born at Dorchester, Massachusetts, April 11, 1794 He died in Boston, Jan. 15, 1865.

His early education was received in the public schools of Dorchester and Boston, and at the age of thirteen he entered Harvard College, where he graduated, four years later, at the head of his class. While still an undergraduate he was the principal contributor to the Harvard Lyceum, a magazine conducted by the students. In 1812 he was appointed a tutor at Harvard, and at the same time he pursued his studies in divinity. In the following year, while still a tutor, he became pastor of the Brattle Street Church, where he immediately won a reputation for his eloquence and power as an orator.

Everett continued as tutor at Harvard until 1814, when he was elected to the professorship of Greek Literature in the same institution. He accepted the position, and in the spring of 1815 went to Europe for the purpose of further fitting himself for his new duties. He remained abroad until 1819, spending more than two years at the University of Göttingen. The remainder of the time he spent at Paris and in England, Italy, Greece, Austria, and Hungary. On his return in 1819 he not only assumed the duties of his professorship, but also took charge of the North American Review, which he conducted till 1824, contributing to it more than fifty articles.