Not far from this period, a traveller passing through Portsmouth, when some election was near at hand, when at the inn it was announced over the dinner table, that Mr. Webster was to speak at a caucus that evening. This news ran from one part of the town to another, and all were enthusiastic at hearing that Mr. Webster was to speak. The gentleman's carriage came to the door, and he was about to get into it, when the hostler said, 'Sir, are you going to leave the town? Mr. Webster is to speak to-night.' The gentleman finding all classes so much delighted to hear that Mr. Webster was going to speak, ordered his horses to the stable, and put off his journey until the morrow, At early candlelight he went to the caucus room; it was filled to overflowing; but some persons seeing that he was a stranger gave way, and he found a convenient place to stand; no one could sit. A tremendous noise soon announced that the orator had arrived; but as soon as the meeting was organized, another arose to make some remarks upon the object of the caucus. He was heard with a polite apathy; another and another came, and all spoke well; but this would not do, and if Chatham had been among them, or St. Paul, they would not have met the expectations of the multitude. The admired orator at length arose, and was for a while musing upon something, which was drowned by a constant cheering; but when order was restored, he went on with great serenity and ease to make his remarks, without apparently making the slightest attempt to gain applause. The audience was

still, except now and then a murmer of delight, which showed that the great mass of the hearers were ready to burst into a thunder of applause, if those who generally set the example would have given an intimation that it might have been done; but they, devouring every word, made signs to prevent any interruption. The harangue was ended; the roar of applause lasted long, and was sincere and heartfelt. It was a strong, gentlemanly, and appropriate speech, but there was not a particle of the demagogue about it; nothing like the speeches on the hustings, to catch attention. He drew a picture of the candidates on both sides of the question, and proved as far as reason and argument could prove, the superiority of those of his own choice; but the gentleman traveller who was a very good judge, has often said that the most extraordinary part of it was, that a promiscuous audience should have had good sense enough to relish such sound, good reasoning, in a place where vague declamation generally is best received. As the traveller went on to the East, he found the fame of the speech had preceded him, and was talked of in every bar-room and at every public table.

In the year 1812, Mr. Webster was elected a representative to Congress from the State of New Hampshire. The election in that State is by general ticket. He came to his duties with a high reputation as a politician, although he had never been a member of any Legislature. It was well known that he had made himself acquainted with all the rules and orders of a delibera

tive body; not only the ordinary routine of business, but the reasons on which these rules are founded were familiar to him. Hatsell was thoroughly studied, and all the other writers upon the subject from his time. It is often the case, that young members of Congress know but little of rules and orders, which in debate takes much from their ease and confidence.

The war had been declared before he reached the halls of Congress, and his situation was indeed a difficult one. National credit was shaking in the wind, and the public treasury nearly exhausted, when the Secretary of that department suggested the necessity of a bank, to revive the finances of the country. Mr. Webster saw a train of evils in the plan which was submitted to Congress, and in its passage through the House he proposed, that the bill should be sent to the committee that reported it, with instructions to make several amendments, which were offered by him. These amendments changed the character of the bill in all its essential features, but the prominent changes proposed were, that the bank should never suspend specie payments, nor be obliged to loan more to the Government than might be found convenient. The amendments did not pass, but his arguments in favor of them served to defeat the bill, which was done on a third reading, the same day. This speech of Mr. Webster is remarkable for a profound knowledge of the principles on which the banks of the Old World had been founded, and a thorough history of their proceedings; and his argu

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ments against this plan were overwhelming. showed the evils of a circulating medium not founded on the basis of the precious metals, and unsupported by the revenues of the nation. He exposed the dangers of giving an institution the power of suspending specie payments at will, and thereby destroying public credit. The treaty of Ghent soon followed, and public credit was, in some measure revived; but still there was an evil in collecting the public revenue, which in 1816, called loudly for a remedy. The paper of banks much under par was taken at the Treasury office, and this upon the arbitrary decision of the Secretary of the Treasury; selecting the bills of some banks and refusing those of others. Mr. Webster introduced some resolutions and made an able speech on this subject. His own constituents, and in fact all New-England, were paying, and had paid in specie, or bills equivalent to it. The nation opened their eyes to this great injustice, and the evil was remedied.

Mr. Webster having served four years in Congress, found that he could not leave his profession any longer, but must devote himself to it, to support a growing family. He had, while at Washington measured his strength with the first minds in the country, and felt that he had nothing to fear from superiority. His fame was all hard earned; he did not rise on the surges of party commotion. He was in the minority, but secured the respect of the majority by pursuing an upright course. He never opposed them when he thought they

were right, nor feared them when he believed them to be wrong. He made no attacks merely to show his strength, but only to vindicate himself and his friends when they were assailed. No one has shone in Congress with such a regular brightness, from the hour he first joined in the debates of that body, until the day of his departure from the capitol.

His labors were not confined to the House of Representatives alone, for he was engaged in the Supreme Court of the United States, in most of the important

subjects discussed before it. Here he came in contact with many of the great lawyers of the day. William Pinkney was then in the full blaze of his glory. The fame of his eloquence had gone abroad into all lands. Senators hung upon his lips with rapture, and sage judges listened to him whole days with pleasure. Mr. Wirt was there also; he occupied a large space in the eyes of the court and of the nation. His eloquence is of the most fascinating kind; it convinces, persuades and delights: but Mr. Webster stood among these and others-Ogden, Jones and Sergeant, men of first rate minds, unaffected by comparison or rivalry. Perhaps no practitioner at this bar ever stood higher in the opinion of the court than Mr. Webster. This is the most dignified body that ever a lawyer argued before. All is still and solemn; there are no equivocating witnesses to manage-no sharp retorts from struggling Counsel to encounter, no whipping one's-self into pathos to call up the sympathies of a soft-hearted