national mind, the course of legislative policy and judicial decision, the customs of the government, will in practice more or less affect the received meaning of the Constitution, and so become a part of the public law. On the public men of this age, therefore, rests a responsibility of no ordinary kind. To the friends of rational liberty and popular happiness they cannot be regarded but as objects of deep and singular interest. Their course is all important to the State. The productions of such of them as incorporate their opinions and spirit, with the national literature and national politics, may be among the richest and best gifts of Providence to the land. The results of great powers and large experience in public affairs, committed to writing in any country and any age, can never be disregarded or neglected; but the lessons of civil and political wisdom, and the tone of social and patriotic feeling, expressed in the works of our own distinguished Statesmen of the present generation, are more emphatically important. They may be regarded strictly "above all price," the most precious and most sacred of the national treasures; as they will probably constitute the nearest approximation to a conservative principle in our political institutions, which our state of society admits. Of this character, in an eminent degree, the publishers of this volume look upon the works of Mr. WEBSTER; and having obtained his consent to their undertaking, they now present it to the community, in strong confidence that they are doing important service to the country. Among individuals who have grown into distinction altogether under the existing Federal Government, it is not invidious to say, that few or none are more conspicuous. Endowed by nature with extraordinary powers, he has cultivated them in a PREFACE. manner and to an extent, most propitious for his own fame, and for the honor and benefit of his country; presenting at once a splendid model of the character developed under our republican institutions, and an illustrious instance of the power of character, thus developed, to preserve and improve those institutions. To an extent of practice and a degree of success in the profession of the Law, rarely equalled in any age or country; to experience in public affairs as great as his years allow; to singular powers of conception, habits of discrimination, and the faculty of popular reasoning such as renders his eloquence peculiar, and gives it in a great degree a character of its own; to large and liberal views of things; to a surprising familiarity with the great features of our own domestic and foreign policy since the foundation of the government, and with the course of other governments, to all these traits of Mr. WEBSTER's character and history, we are, by a coincidence as uncommon as it is admirable, permitted to add the most pure and honorable principle, all the domestic and social virtues, containing in themselves the only certain pledges of public good faith and love of country, and consecrating the man to the affections of his age and of posterity. We look upon it as eminently fortunate, for the country and for mankind, that such a man has not merely left the impress. of his mind on the professional and official transactions in which he has been engaged, but has already found occasion to secure a perpetual memorial of many of his opinions upon our history, institutions, and principal objects of legislation and jurisprudence; as well as a monument of his patriotic and humane sentiments, in the literature of his country. Of other individuals of splendid genius, and powerful influence in their day, death has left an impalpable shadow only, with posterity. Mr. WEBSTER, should he be cut off without another opportunity of exerting his powers for the benefit of the public or his friends, cannot thus pass from the memory of men. He would still be to be seen, in the true features of his character, in those productions of his mind, which are already before the public. In conclusion we may be permitted to add, that several of the speeches and addresses contained in this volume, possessing a character of more permanent and general interest, have been translated and published in most of the languages of Europe. And we are not without authority for saying, that they have been regarded, by men of enlightened judgments and cultivated taste, as fine examples of forensic and popular eloquence. In the language of one of the most eminent statesmen of England, some of these speeches have been read in that country, with "no less admiration of their eloquence, than satisfaction in the soundness and ability of their general views." This tribute, coming as it does from those who are not apt to over-estimate the intellectual power or literary taste of our country, may be regarded by us, with an honest pride, as evidence of uncommon merit. As such, we offer this volume of Mr. WEBSTER'S speeches to our countrymen, in full confidence that they will sustain the high reputation they have acquired for political wisdom and true eloquence. CONTENTS. DISCOURSE delivered at Plymouth, in Commemoration of the first Settlement of New England.-Dec. 22, 1820. 25 ADDRESS delivered at the laying of the Corner Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument. June 17, 1825. 57 DISCOURSE in Commemoration of the Lives and Services of John Adams and 71 97 sachusetts. SPEECH in Faneuil Hall, on Thursday, June 5th, 1828, at a public dinner given him by the Citizens of Boston, as a mark of respect for his public services. 102 ARGUMENT in the Case, the Trustees of Dartmouth College vs. William H. Woodward, before the Supreme Court of the United States, on the 10th day of March, 1818. 110 ARGUMENT in the Impeachment of James Prescott, before the Senate of ARGUMENT in the Case of Gibbons vs. Ogden, in the Supreme Court of the ARGUMENT in the Case of Ogden vs. Saunders, in the Supreme Court of the 138 170 REMARKS in the Convention of Delegates chosen to revise the Constitution of REMARKS in the Convention, upon the Resolution to divide the Common- REMARKS in the Convention upon a Resolution to alter the Constitution, so that Judicial Officers shall be removable by the Governor and Council upon the address of two thirds (instead of a majority) of each branch of the Legislature, and also that the Legislature shall have power to create a Supreme Court of Equity and a Court of Appeals. SPEECH on the Bank of the United States, delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, Jan. 2, 1815. 185 197 200 217 222 SPEECH on a Resolution relative to the more effectual collection of the public 1816. 232 SPEECH on the Greek Revolution, delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, Jan. 19, 1823. 241 SPEECH upon the Tariff; delivered in the House of Representatives of the 265 SPEECH in the Senate of the United States, on the Tariff Bill. - May 9, 1828. 307 SPEECH upon the Panama Mission; delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States. -April, 1826. 322 SPEECH in the Senate of the United States, on the Bill for the relief of the surviving Officers of the Revolution.-April 25, 1828. 351 SPEECHES in the Senate of the United States, on the Resolution of Mr. Foote respecting the sale, &c. of Public Lands. Jan. 1830. 358 REMARKS in the Senate of the United States, on the application for the erection of a Breakwater at Nantucket. -1828. 433 INTRODUCTORY Lecture, read to the Boston Mechanics' Institution, at the opening of the Course of Lectures. -Nov. 12, 1828. 439 ARGUMENT on the Trial of John F. Knapp, for the Murder of Joseph White, Esq. of Salem, in the county of Essex, Massachusetts; on the night of the 6th of April, 1830. 450 REMARKS in the House of Representatives of the United States, on the Bill to amend the Judiciary System.--Jan. 4, 1826. 490 MISCELLANIES. EXAMINATION of the remarks in the Quarterly Review on the Laws of Creditor and Debtor in the United States. (1820.). 510 LETTER of Mr. Webster, addressed to Rev. Louis Dwight, Secretary of the 2, 1830. 519 |