papers which adopted the opposite doctrine, without notice and animadversion. In 1835, his name was mentioned in connection with the office of President, and the opportunity, thus presented, of expressing my attachment, was industriously improved to sustain the nomination. Mr. Webster received the electoral vote of Massachusetts, but not that of any other state. In 1838, it was again supposed that he would receive the support of the whig party, generally, at the next election; but the convention which assembled at Harrisburg nominated William H. Harrison. Before the nomination was agreed upon, my best efforts to secure it for Mr. Webster had been made in the Courier. I take pleasure in reviewing the exertions I then made to advance the interest of one to whom the nation was so much indebted. Here is one of the articles

written for that purpose:

"DANIEL WEBSTER.

This name is not a stranger

to the readers of the Courier, nor are they unac quainted with the estimation, in which we hold his talents and character as a public man.

Equally well

claims to the

known to them are our opinions of his first and highest office in the gift of the people, and the unchanging fidelity and perseverance with which, on all proper occasions, we have urged those claims upon the consideration of his fellow-citizens. We have never, for a moment, faltered in our adherence to the principles, which, years ago, induced us to volunteer our humble efforts to support him as a candidate for the Presidency, though our constancy has often been the object of reproach and vituperation among political cotemporaries, with whom availa

bility in a candidate has been the only recommendation to their support. Our readers cannot have forgotten our unwavering attachment to the candidate of our choice,-THE CHOICE OF MASSACHUSETTS, manifested during the last electioneering campaign, through evil report as well as good report, and they have no reason now to doubt that we shall adhere to that candidate with unshaken affection, until HE shall, himself, have taken some new position on the political stage, or until a national convention shall have proposed a candidate, who can unite the suffrages of the entire opposition to the present administration."

Sept. 20, 1838.

In 1841, in consequence of John Tyler, the acting President, having vetoed certain acts passed by Congress, all the cabinet officers, except the Secretary of State, Daniel Webster,-resigned their offices. Many of the prominent whig journals were vehement in their censures of Mr. Webster for continuing in the state department. The Courier remained firm in its attachment to him, and thereby incurred the displeasure of those journals, and the opposition of some of the influential politicians who were not connected with the press. In September, 1842, Mr. Webster had signified an intention to visit Boston, and to meet his friends and fellow-citizens. On the 29th the meeting was thus announced in the Courier:

"As the day approaches, on which Mr. Webster intends to meet his friends in Fanueil Hall, curiosity seems to increase. The people feel an intense desire to hear what he may have to say on public affairs,

and every one is busy in imagining the course of his argument, and the consequences it may produce. It

*

is predicted with great confidence, by some, that he will announce a resignation of his office in the department of state,· expose the baseness and duplicity of the President, and declare his adhesion to the ultra whig doctrines, which declaration will, of course, involve an obligation to support Mr. Clay as a candidate for the Presidency. We have no basis for any conjecture in regard to what he may say on either of these points, or even whether he will allude to them in any shape whatever. The uncertainty in respect to Mr. Webster's position has created overwhelming agony in some quarters, and unless he should satisfactorily define it, great and fatal may be the result of his taciturnity. If we might be permitted to do as thousands of others do, guess at his intentions, without the least particle of information, on which to found a conjecture, we should guess that he will talk more about measures than men, that he will dwell more upon what he considers the true policy for the country to pursue, than upon the claims of individuals, who aspire to the administration of the government. . . . . . . To-morrow at 11 o'clock, the old Cradle of Liberty will be filled with attentive listeners, some of whom have come from Philadelphia and NewYork, for the sole purpose of hearing the Expounder and Defender of the Constitution.

"The feeling we have alluded to is not surprizing. Mr. Webster occupies, at this moment, a more com

* A large convention had just then been held in Fanueil Hall, which nominated Mr. Clay as a candidate for the Presidency, by acclamation.

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manding and interesting position than any other individual in the country, a position which, thus far, needs no definition. He stands higher in the estimation of the people than he has ever stood at any period of his life. The political cliques, which are continually barking or yelping to draw or to drive him from office, are not the people. The men, who are anxious for the return of national and individual prosperity, and who pray without ceasing for the peace and quiet of the whole country, are his friends; they are satisfied with his position, and they wish him to remain in it, if he can do so, consistently with his own interest and character; and, should he retire now, when, according to the declaration of some of the leading politicians, the country is beset with all manner of evils, and threatened with still greater curses from a weak and wicked chief magistrate, if they should meet the event with resignation, they will not cease to regret it. Thousands now look to Mr. Webster as

*

the greatest benefactor of the nation, as one, who, by his matchless skill in negotiation, has preserved the country from war, the greatest evil that could befall it except peace with dishonor, and tame submission to the demands of an arrogant rival.

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It requires no aid from witchcraft to perceive the reason of all this hue and cry that is made to induce Mr. Webster to resign, and of all the threatened frowns he will have to encounter, if he should continue in his present office. His aid is needed, and his power is feared, by the leaders of a party who love their party

*This was soon after the settlement of the Northeastern Boundary, by negotiation with Lord Ashburton.

better than they do their country, and who would rather sacrifice the country than have its honor or prosperity maintained by any other men or means than such as they dictate. Should he resign his office, and come out in the character of a determined opponent to the President, he must, of course, declare himself an advocate for his great political rival. This would give a degree of confidence to the party of Mr. Clay, which it wants, and which, without the aid of Mr. Webster, it can never have. On the other hand,

should he, in spite of remonstrance, entreaty, and reproach, continue in the state department,

or should

without

he even resign and go into retirement, declaring in favor of Mr. Clay, it is evident that enough would withdraw with him to render the success of the present schemes somewhat problematical. And this we take to be the whole secret of the clamor which is got up to drive him from the cabinet, under the shallow pretence that he can no longer remain there with honor."

The appointed time at length arrived. The hall was immensely crowded. The mayor of the city, Hon. Jonathan Chapman, was requested to preside. When Mr. Webster and a few of his select friends appeared, he was introduced to Mr. Chapman, who, after the usual ceremony of reception, addressed Mr. Webster for about twenty minutes, greeting him as a personal friend and fellow-citizen, and referring to some of the principal acts of his public life, which had laid upon the people most grateful obligations. A full report of Mr. Webster's speech was published