affectation, and marked by a manly simplicity. The late Mr. Samuel Rogers, a remarkably fastidious judge, told the writer of this article that he knew nothing in the English language so well written as Mr. Webster's letter to Lord Ashburton on the subject of impressment of seamen. He was a regular attendant on public worship, a diligent student of the Scriptures, a communicating member of the church, and a firm believer in the truth of Christianity as a divine revelation. A brief and carefully prepared declaration of his faith was drawn up by him in the last year of his life. Portraits at different periods of his life by the most distinguished artists of the day, and his magnificent bust by Powers, will convey to posterity no inadequate idea of his countenance and form; while his character as a statesman, a jurist, and an orator will fill an abiding place in the annals of his country. Mr. Webster was married in early life to Grace Fletcher of Hopkinton, N. H. Of this marriage were born Grace, Charles, Julia, Edward, and Daniel Fletcher, of whom the last, the only one who survived him, fell as colonel of the 12th Massachusetts Volunteers in the battle of August 29, 1862, near Bull Run. The death of Mr. Webster's first wife took place in January, 1828. His second wife, Caroline Bayard Le Roy, daughter of an eminent merchant of New York, survives him. Several editions of his collective works were published during his lifetime; and two volumes of his private correspondence were published by his son in 1858. Several biographies more or less extensive have been published. The standard Life is that by Hon. George Ticknor Curtis (New York, 2 vols. 1870). That in the "Statesmen Series" is by Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge; one has recently appeared by Hon. Samuel W. McCall. The following summary of Mr. Webster's character and services formed the conclusion of the original memoir of 1851. Such, in a brief and imperfect narrative, is the public life of Mr. Webster, extending over a period of forty years, marked by the occurrence of events of great importance. It has been the aim of the writer to prevent the pen of the biographer from being too much influenced by the partiality of the friend.* Should he seem to the candid not wholly to have escaped that error * A fuller delineation of Mr. Webster's character will be found in "Everett's Orations and Speeches," Vol. III. pp. 158, 390, and IV. p. 186. (which, however, he trusts will not be the case), he ventures to hope that it will be forgiven to an intimacy which commenced in the youth of one of the parties and the boyhood of the other, and which has subsisted for nearly half a century. It will be admitted, he thinks, by every one that this career, however inadequately delineated, has been one of singular eminence and brilliancy. Entering upon public life at the close of the first epoch in the political history of the United States under the present Constitution, Mr. Webster has stood below none of the distinguished men who have impressed their character on the second. There is a class of public questions in reference to which the opinions of most men are greatly influenced by prejudices founded in natural temperament, early association, and real or supposed local interest. As far as such questions are concerned, it is too much to hope that, in times of high party excitement, full justice will be done to prominent statesmen by those of their contemporaries who differ from them. We greatly err, however, if candid men of all parties, and in all parts of the country, do not accord to Mr. Webster the praise of having formed to himself a large and generous view of the character of an American statesman, and of having adopted the loftiest standard of public conduct. They will agree that he has conceived, in all its importance, the position of the country as a member of the great family of nations, and as the leading republican government. In reference to domestic politics it will be as generally conceded, that, reposing less than most public. men on a party basis, it has been the main object of his life to confirm and perpetuate the great work of the constitutional fathers of the last generation. By their wisdom and patriotic forethought we are blessed with a system in which the several States are brought into a union so admirably composed and balanced, both complicated and kept distinct with such skill, as to seem less a work of human prudence than of Providential interposition.* Mr. Web *This idea is beautifully expressed in the following passage of a late letter from Mr. Webster, in reply to an invitation from the citizens of Macon, Georgia: "The States are united, not consolidated; 'Not, chaos-like, together crushed and bruised, And where, though all things differ, all agree.' ster has at all times been fully aware of the evils of anarchy, discord, and civil war at home, and of utter national insignificance abroad, from which the formation of the Union saved us. He has been not less sensible to the obstacles to be overcome, the perils to be encountered, and the sufferings to be borne, before this wonderful framework of government could be established. And he has been firmly persuaded that, if once destroyed, it can never be reconstructed. With these views, his political life has been consecrated to the maintenance in all their strength of the principles on which the Constitution rests, and to the support of the system of government created by it. The key to his whole political course is the belief that, when the Union is dissolved, the internal peace, the vigorous growth, and the prosperity of the States, and the welfare of their inhabitants, are blighted for ever, and that, while the Union endures, all else of trial and calamity which can befall a nation may be remedied or borne. So believing, he has pursued a course which has earned for him an honored name among those who have discharged the duty of good citizens with the most distinguished ability, zeal, and benefit to the country. In the relations of civilized life, there is no higher service which man can render to man, than thus to preserve a wise constitution of government in healthful action. Nor does the most eloquent of the statesmen of antiquity content himself with pronouncing this the highest human merit. In that admirable treatise on the Republic, of which some precious chapters have been restored to us after having been lost for ages, he does not hesitate to affirm, that there is nothing in which human virtue approaches nearer the divine, than in establishing and preserving states: "neque enim ulla res est, in qua propius ad deorum numen virtus accedat humana, quam civitates aut condere novas aut conservare jam conditas." * * M. Tulli Ciceronis de Re Publica quæ supersunt edente Angelo Maio. Lib I. § 7. |