CHAPTER VI.

Webster's Reply to Mr. Hayne-Preliminary Circumstances-Speeches of Mr. Benton-Mr. Hayne's First Speech-His Character and Talents -Mr. Webster's First Speech in Reply-The Second Speech of Mr. Hayne-Its Character-Extract from it-Mr. Webster's Reply-Intense Interest felt on the Occasion-Mr. Webster's Appearance and Manner-The Audience-Qualities of his Great Speech-Its Prodigious Effect and Power.

THE career of Mr. Webster in the United States Senate was one of constantly increasing celebrity; but his fame attained its culmination and its climax by the delivery of his memorable speech in reply to Mr. Hayne of South Carolina, on the 26th of January, 1830. This was the most glorious achievement of this great statesman's career. This oration is the masterpiece of all his performances; and in this respect it resembles the oration of Demosthenes on the Crown, or Burke's speech against Warren Hastings: it was the highest, the most complete, and the most consummate performance of his gigantic faculties. It is probably also the ablest effort of oratory which modern times have produced; and it is therefore proper that we should narrate at some length the circumstances under which it was delivered, and the results which were produced by it.

Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States in the fall of 1828 by a vast majority, which clearly indicated the great unpopularity into which John Quincy Adams and his administration had fallen. Mr. Calhoun was chosen Vice-President at the same time. The first session of the twenty-first Congress opened in

December, 1829, Mr. Calhoun presiding in the Senate. The disposal of the public lands at once became a subject of prominent interest to the Federal Representatives; and on the 29th of December Mr. Foote of Connecticut introduced the following resolution in the Senate:

"Resolved, That the Committee on Public Lands be instructed to inquire and report the quantity of public lands remaining unsold within each State and Territory, and whether it be expedient to limit for a certain period the sales of public lands to such lands as have heretofore been offered for sale, and are now subject to entry at the minimum price. And also, whether the office of Surveyor-General, and some of the landed offices, may not be abolished without detriment to the public service."

To this resolution an amendment was subsequently added to the effect, "whether it be expedient to adopt measures to hasten the sales and extend more rapidly the surveys of the public lands."

During the discussion which ensued upon this resolution, many offensive allusions were made by Southern and Western members, in reference to the policy which had been pursued by other portions of the Confederacy. Several weeks were employed in the discussion. The great difference of principle which seemed to lie at the foundation of the opposition of sentiment which prevailed was, that one party defended national views of the Constitution, and the other maintained the sectional doctrine of State Rights. Mr. Foote, having expounded and defended his resolution briefly, was answered by Mr. Benton in a furious tirade against the New England States, charging them with a premeditated design to encroach upon the interests of the West. The subject was then postponed for further consideration till the 13th of January. Mr. Benton again took part in the debate on the 18th, repeat

ing his attacks upon New England and her representatives. On the following day Mr. Holmes, of Maine, and several other Northern Senators, replied to the charges of Mr. Benton. These were followed by a speech from Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, of the same drift and spirit which had been displayed by Mr. Benton.

Mr. Hayne was then one of the younger members of the Senate, and a man of ability. He was a special favorite of Mr. Calhoun, whose entire system of policy and opinion he had adopted and uniformly defended. His manner of speaking was rapid, declamatory, yet not devoid of brilliancy and force. He was deficient in that weight and impressiveness which alone belong to men of greater calibre; though, while speaking, few men could exceed him in the hold with which his fluent and graceful declamation retained the attention and thrilled the feelings of an audience. There was also frequently a degree of sarcastic bitterness in his remarks which inflammable natures generally display, and which often leads to more serious consequences than are intended or even anticipated. Mr. Hayne's speech on this occasion was one of his best efforts. On the next day, January 20th, Mr. Webster made a reply to him, which was chiefly of a dry and argumentative character, but serving as a complete reply to the attack on the New England States which the speech of Mr. Hayne contained. He defended the policy which New England had always pursued in reference to the Western and Southern States. In the course of his argument he used the following language:

"And here, sir, at the epoch of 1794, let us pause and survey the scene as it actually existed thirty-five years ago. Let us look back and behold it. Over all that is now Ohio there then stretched one vast wilderness, unbroken except by two small spots of civilized culture, the

one at Marietta and the other at Cincinnati. At these little openings, hardly each a pin's point upon the map, the arm of the frontier-man had levelled the forest and let in the sun. These little patches of earth, themselves almost overshadowed by the boughs of that wilderness which had stood and perpetuated itself, from century to century, ever since the creation, were all that had then been rendered verdant by the hand of man. In an extent of hundreds and thousands of square miles, no other surface of smiling green attested the presence of civilization. The hunter's path crossed mighty rivers, flowing in solitary grandeur, whose sources lay in remote and unknown regions of the wilderness. It struck upon the north on a vast inland sea, over which the wintry tempests raged as on the ocean: all around was bare creation. It was fresh, untouched, unbounded, magnificent wilderness. And, sir, what is it now? Is it imagination only, or can it possibly be fact, that presents such a change as surprises and astonishes us, when we turn our eyes to what Ohio now is? Is it reality, or a dream, that, in so short a period even as thirty-five years, there has sprung up, on the same surface, an independent State with a million of people? A million of inhabitants! an amount of population greater than that of all the cantons of Switzerland; equal to one-third of all the people of the United States when they undertook to accomplish their independence. This new member of the Republic has already left far behind her a majority of the old States. She is now by the side of Virginia. and Pennsylvania, and, in point of numbers, will shortly admit no equal but New York herself. If, sir, we may judge of measures by their results, what lessons do these facts read us upon the policy of the Government? What inferences do they authorize upon the general question of kindness or unkindness?"

But Mr. Webster's opponents were neither satisfied nor silenced by his manly and able defence of his constituents. Mr. Benton rose as soon as Mr. Webster took his seat, and again assailed New England with his usual severity and acrimony. Mr. Hayne followed Mr. Benton, and then delivered, on the 25th of January, that great speech which called forth in reply the still greater performance of Mr. Webster. It was like the oration of Eschines against the Crown, which elicited the masterly and unequalled achievement of Demosthenes in answer for the Crown.

The purpose of this most labored oration of Mr. Hayne, in the delivery of which he exhausted his utmost abilities, was to set forth a defence of the peculiar doctrine of South. Carolina, which claimed the reserved right for any State to nullify the enactments of the general Government whenever in her opinion they were unconstitutional,—so far as her own territorial limits were concerned. He also eulogized the patriotic services of the South in the Revolutionary struggle, and detracted from the magnitude and importance of those which had then been rendered by New England. His speech occupied two hours and a half in the delivery, and was regarded as a splendid effort of parliamentary eloquence. The Southern members were in raptures in consequence of it. Mr. Calhoun, the VicePresident, who occupied the Chair of the Senate during its delivery, was highly gratified, and took no pains to conceal his pleasurable sensations. The representatives from New England seemed to be intimidated and disconcerted by this fierce and bold attack, and to despair of their cause. As this speech of Mr. Hayne is so remarkable in itself, and is so closely connected with the most important incident of Mr. Webster's whole career, we will introduce an extract from it. It will serve to explain