Reminiscences and anecdotes of Daniel Webster

Preface

It is now a quarter of a century — almost the life of an entire generation — since Daniel Webster died. During this period new issues have come to the front, the fires of by-gone contests have become harmless ashes, and the reunited Nation can look at such a life as this great man presents, with a calmer and wiser gaze than was possible in the nearer view of days that were fraught with warring convictions, now at last hushed to rest. Through a friendship which is one of my happiest and most grateful recollections, it was my privilege to be intimate with this man in life, and to receive his last messages upon the bed of death. 1 And now, as I feel myself drawing near to the end of this earthly existence, I desire to give to the world, and especially to the rising generation, a true insight into the structure of his character, which

1 In a recent letter, addressed to the editor, Mr. C. A. Stetson gives the following interesting incident, showing Mr. Webster's implicit confidence in and strong affection for Mr. Harvey: "During the negotiations in 1842, Mr. Curtis and myself were sitting in Mr. Webster's study, in Washington, when the mail-bag was brought in. With other letters, one from Mr. Peter Harvey was opened. Mr. Curtis read it. Mr. Webster had asked a favor: it was granted. Mr. Curtis said: 'By Jove, he ia St. Peter!' 'No,' quickly replied Mr. Webster, ' Peter Harvey never denied his friend ! ' It seemed to me that a more loving compliment never had been paid to one who reverenced Mr. Webster."

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cannot be fully appreciated in simply reading the written records of his public career.

His sweetness of temper, his kindness of heart, the depth of his friendships, his firm hold upon the facts of the Christian religion (as illustrated by the Colby and Benton stories related in the following pages), the pathos and humor of his home life, — these ought to be known and understood by the world.

The greater part of the matter contained in these pages is derived from my own personal recollections of Mr. Webster, as the result of my long and familiar association with him. These recollections were dictated by me, from time to time, to a stenographer, from whose written-out notes they have been prepared for this book. Some of the papers and books from which these memorabilia are taken were deposited with me, several years after Mr. Webster's death, by his son, Fletcher Webster; and from that time to this they have been a precious legacy, which I now feel the country at large ought to share with me.

I do not, in these pages, propose to write a Life of Daniel Webster. I am content to act only as the frail luil necessary thread which binds these gathered leaves together. Mr. Webster has written his own biography in the strung and unmistakable impress he lias made upon the country's history. 1 believe that the writings of no man. in the Bhori hut eventful history of the American Republic, are so destined for immortal fame as those of him whom it is my last wish to " delight to honor."

Let me hen- state a fact ahout his memory, which, to my mind, is in every waj worth} of the attention of the

reader. It is this. J cannot hut feel that the man who

did the most to set forth Mr. Webster's life and genius

PREFACE. Vli

was Edward Everett. I see this fact in Mr. Everett's whole career ; in the depth of his sincerity and regard ; in his lifelong devotion, and in the uniformly affectionate manner in which Mr. Webster always spoke of him.

I well remember, in the year 1847, when riding with Mr. Webster to the Dedham Agricultural Fair-ground, on a pleasant September day, he said : " I have been 'thinking over what I propose to say, if called upon to make a speech. Mr. Everett was born in the county of Norfolk ; and, although it is not always wise to say complimentary things to a man's face, still I may never have a better opportunity, and I shall tell the Norfolk County people to-day what I think of their distinguished son. When I was appointed Secretary of State the first time, by General Harrison, one of the very first things I did, in the way of foreign appointments, was to select Mr. Everett to represent the Government at the Court of St. James. In such appointments, it has always seemed to me that we should choose men of character, who would represent the country at large, rather than be influenced by the bias of party; for foreign nations judge of our people by the representative men whom we send out to them. Since that time I have had many letters from eminent statesmen abroad, thanking me for sending Mr. Everett ; for, in choosing him to represent us in the presence of the English people, I sent them a man as well versed in their own history as any man living, with the exception of Macaulay. I am going to tell these people to-day just what I think of Mr. Everett, for I honor him and love him."

In the address which he delivered upon this occasion, he carried out his intention formed in the carriage : and. greatly to the surprise of every one, and to the astonishment of Mr. Everett himself, pronounced a noble

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eulogy upon his friend. Though he was to come in town in the afternoon, and the carriage was at hand, he waited, saying: "Let us stop a moment, and see what Mr. Everett says."

Mr. Everett, unconsciously flushed, rose and said : " It would not be becoming in me to bandy compliments with my illustrious friend. He has seen fit to compliment me upon my attainments in international law. I should not dare to say here how much personal friendship may have had to do with the picture he has drawn ; but this I will say, take from that knowledge of international law what I have learned at his feet, and there would be nothing left worth mentioning."

The strong friendship between these two men was never marred by a breath of suspicion or jealousy ; and, if I could have selected one man from the list of his many and distinguished friends to have written his Life, I should have had no hesitation in choosing Mr. Everett. I have often heard Mr. Webster say: "In the turmoil and confusion of party lines, when political friends might be forgetful of every thing save their own prospects, I never had a doubt or misgiving about two distinguished friends who were by my side, however public opinion might vary. One was Edward Everett; the other was ltufus Choate."

There were others, then, who could have written his Life more worthily than I. It is not my purpose, at this eleventh hour, to write it. I only wish to disclose to the public some of the Inner traits of his character, to do his great memory full justice, and to paint him as lie ueally was, to a new generation who know him not. And

I feel that, unless I string together a few of these sacred

and Long-cherished reminiscences, they will be lost for ever in the hurry of the new generation. How many

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are the relationships this man sustained to the public whom he served, and to the private few to whom he was a delight ! How true was his fidelity to the network of responsibilities that rested upon him !

There comes to my mind, as I write, the remembrance of his address at Saratoga during the Harrison campaign, when, as it may be remembered, the Whigs were much given to glorifying the humble birth of their candidate for the Presidency. In this address he made the following allusion to the circumstances of his own birth : " It did not happen to me, gentlemen, to be born in a log-cabin ; but my elder brothers and sisters were born in a log-cabin, raised amid the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, at a period so early that, when the smoke first rose from its rude chimney and curled over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man's habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit ; I carry my children to it, to teach them the hardships endured by the generations which have gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections, and the touching narratives and incidents which mingle with all I know of this primitive family abode. I weep to think that none of those who inhabited it are now among the living ; and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if ever I fail in affectionate veneration for him who reared it and defended it against savage violence and destruction, cherished all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, and, through the lire and blood of a seven years' Revolutionary war, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice, to serve his country and to raise his children to a condition better than his own, — may my name and the name of my posterity be blotted for ever from the memory of mankind ! "

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It is a great satisfaction to me to present to the readers of this volume an Appendix, descriptive of the statue of Webster given by Mr. Gordon W. Burnham, of New York, to that city, containing among other notable addresses delivered on that occasion the eloquent and most fitting address of our distinguished townsman, the Hon. Robert C. Wixthrop.

My thanks are due to Professor Sanborn, of Dartmouth College, who has furnished me from time to time with papers and anecdotes which he himself had gathered through his intimate relationship with the family of Ezekiel Webster.

I wish also to express my satisfaction at the able and efficient manner in which Mr. George M. Towle has assisted me in preparing, during the hours of my physical weakness, these gathered fragments of my friend's eventful history for publication.

My prayer is that posterity may value this life, which to me has been so inexpressibly dear; and that, "since he had the genius to be loved," he may, indeed, " have the justice to be honored in his grave."

PETER HARVEY.

Parker House, Boston, .May L'l, 1877.

Contents

Chapter Page

I. Early Years 1

II. As a Law Student 30

Chapter I. Eaely Years

Daniel Webster was born in the town of Salisbury, New Hampshire, on the eighteenth day of January, 1782. He was the ninth in a family of ten children, and was the son of Ebenezer Webster, by his second wife, Abigail Eastman.

Of the house where he was born scarcely a vestige now remains. It was a plain, brown, substantial New England farm-house, standing a little above the high-road, and upon a hill which overlooked the picturesque and winding valley of the Merrimac. The old cellar, choked with weeds and rubbish, is all that is left to designate where the house stood. Not far from its site, however, may still be seen the ruins of an old well, dug by his father long before Daniel was born, and from which the family derived their supply of water. Just by the well, in which still hangs, or hung a few years since, an " iron-bound bucket," is an ancient and umbrageous elm, affording a grateful shade to those who choose to enjoy it in summer; and round

about are some old fruit trees which Colonel Ebenezer Webster planted. It was Daniel Webster's custom to visit the scene of his childhood almost every year for over half a century ; and he loved to sit under the old wide-spreading elm, beneath which he had played and romped in the days of his infancy, and to drink of the still cool and delicious water of the moss-grown well. Near by where the house stood, ran a rapid and bubbling stream, called "Punch Brook." It has now dwindled to a little rivulet, which feebly trickles on its way through field and meadow to the river. On the other side of the highway, a little beyond the site of the old homestead, is the place where stood the mill built by Colonel Webster, though but little remains of the building now. The neighborhood is rugged ; granite rocks and ledges appear on every hand : nor does the soil yield very abundantly to % the farmer's toil. Two years after Daniel's birth, his father moved to Elms Farm, not far from the old place, of which we shall speak further on.

Colonel Ebenezer Webster, the father of Daniel, was one of those stalwart, vigorous, strong-minded, and hardy-bodied yeomen, for whom the Granite State is celebrated. He was a wise man and a patriot, a hard worker, and an energetic and publicspirited citieen. Born in 1739, he was old enough, when the French War broke out, to serve in it as a soldier. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the famous Rodgers' Rangers, comprising some of the boldest and most rugged of the New England yeomanry. They had to go doubly armed, and to carry with them both snow-shoes and skates, to be used when occasion required. Their packs were of double weight. Webster served with Stark, Putnam, and others, who were afterwards Revolutionary heroes. These Rangers fought desperate battles, and won brilliant victories on the borders of Lake George. Webster afterwards served under General Amherst, at the taking of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. In 1761, he removed to Salisbury, where he purchased a farm, erected the first mill in the town, married, and settled down to earn such a living as he could by tilling the not very hospitable soil. Soon a sturdy family of children began to grow up around him, and he found it difficult to supply their needs ; but he speedily became prominent in town affairs, and took a leading part in its business. He was chosen successively surveyor of highways, moderator, selectman, town clerk, representative, senator, a delegate to the convention " for forming a permanent plan of government," in 1778, and a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1788 ; and, in the later years of his life, he sat on the bench as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Hillsborough County.

Meanwhile, the outbreak of the Revolutionary War opened for Ebenezer Webster a sphere of usefulness to the country, which took him away from farm and town-meeting, and which he entered upon with a patriotic zeal and ardor all his own. When the war broke out, he was captain of the Salisbury militia, composed of sturdy and intelligent yeomen like himself. The news of Lexington and Concord aroused his energetic spirit, and he promptly led his company, consisting of about seventy-five men, to join the rapidly swelling Continental forces at Cambridge. At this time he was in the full vigor of sturdy manhood. "As an officer," says one who wrote of him some years ago, " he was beloved by his soldiers, and always had their entire confidence. He was born to command. He was in stature about six feet ; of a massy frame, a voice of great compass, eyes black and piercing, a countenance open and ingenuous, and a complexion that could not be soiled by powder. He was the very man to head the proud columns of the Sons of Liberty."

Arriving at the seat of war soon after the battle^ of Bunker Hill, his company was added to the little army of minute men who were fast gathering from every part of New England. These minute men were not incorporated in the militia, but served as volunteers without pay. They were not soldiers by trade, but real patriots ; and when they had gathered in their harvests, and had a month or two to spare, they would go and give their services to the country. Then they would return home, dig their potatoes, look after their families, and hurry away again to the camp and the battle-field. Daniel Webster often talked with me of his father's military career.

It was while Captain Webster was stationed with his company in the vicinity of Boston, that he had the signal honor of being awarded the duty of guarding the commander-in-chief. Washington had but recently arrived and placed himself at the head of the little and not too well organized Continental army. His camp was on Dorchester Heights, and Captain Webster had just come from New Hampshire with a quota of minute men. This event in his father's life was always a source of great pride to Daniel Webster. One day, in 1840, he was travelling in Virginia with his son Fletcher, who observed that he was in a thoughtful, silent mood.

" What is the matter, father ? " asked Fletcher. " Are you not well ? '

" Yes, oh yes ; but I was thinking, Fletcher, of an old man, upwards of eighty years of age, whom I met in New Hampshire the other day. He told me some interesting incidents about your grandfather. He said that he was one of the company of minute men that Captain Webster commanded. He spoke of their being on Dorchester Heights at the time General Washington had his camp there. A detachment of my father's company was delegated to guard-duty around Washington's tent. The weather was frosty ; and this old man was one day walking to and fro before the tent, when the side opened, and the tall figure of Washington appeared before him. He looked up at the sky, and then turning, said to the sentry : ' Soldier, who is the commander of your company ? ' l Captain Webster, of the New Hampshire minute men.' ' When you are relieved from guard,' returned Washington, ' say to Captain Webster that I should like to see him at my tent early in the morning.'

The sentry delivered the message, and my father afterwards told him what Washington had said. He wished to consult him as to the feeling in New Hampshire; asked him about the patriotic sentiment among his neighbors, — whether they had counted the cost of resistance to the British, and were ready to throw away the scabbard, and spend and be spent in the cause. Washington talked an hour with the captain, offered him refreshments, and when he retired, shook him warmly by the hand. Fletcher," added Mr. Webster, "I should rather have it said upon my father's tombstone that he had guarded the person of George Washington, and was worthy of such a trust, than to have emblazoned upon it the proudest insignia of heraldry that the world could give ! '

Washington need scarcely have asked Ebenezer Webster if his New Hampshire neighbors were in earnest, had he seen the pledge which Webster himself drew up and persuaded eighty-four of his townsmen to sign at the beginning of the war. This pledge ran as follows : —

" We do solemnly engage and promise that we will, to the utmost of our power, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, with arms, oppose the hostile proceedings of the British fleets and armies against the United American Colonies."

In the last year of his life, Daniel Webster thus spoke of the signers of this pledge: "In looking up this record, thus connected with the men of my birthplace, I confess I was gratified to find who were the signers and who were the dissentients.

Among; the former was he from whom I am immediately descended, with all his brothers, and his whole kith and kin. This is sufficient emblazonry for my arms ; enough of heraldry for me."

Ebenezer Webster participated in the war, always with gallantry and courage, from beginning to end. He took part in the battles of White Plains and Bennington, and in 1780 was posted at West Point. This was shortly before Benedict Arnold's treason ; and on the evening of the day when the traitor's designs were revealed to Washington, whose headquarters were then at West Point, he summoned Captain Webster to his tent, and ordered him to guard it that night. " I believe I can trust you," he said, with a smile. Thus Ebenezer Webster had the good fortune to protect Washington's life a second time. It was stated by Webster that Washington did not sleep that night, but restlessly paced up and down in his tent, or wrote busily at his camp-table, till daylight.

During the war, Captain Webster was appointed one of a committee to ascertain what each townsman of Salisbury ought to contribute to the expenses of the war, and to levy a tax accordingly. The richest man in the town, who had not done an}^ military duty, declared that his share was too large, and refused to pay it. The committee went to him, and Webster, as their spokesman, addressed him thus : " Sir, our authorities require us to fight and pay. Now, you must pay or fight." The man refused the tax no longer.

As a magistrate, Ebenezer Webster was noted for, his honesty and judgment, his careful consideration of the cases that came before him, and the comprehensive and concise method of his decisions. In serving the town, his own estimate of his services was modest enough, and is an example to the officials of the present day. He charged three or four shillings a day for his time as a town officer. He was not less prominent in church affairs, than in military ability and in the public business of the town ; was often a member of important committees, and was one of the elders of the Salisbury Church for many years. He died in 1806.

Ebenezer Webster had ten children by his two wives ; five sons and five daughters. His eldest son, Ebenezer Webster, succeeded to the farm in Salisbury, where he lived quietly until his death. The next child was a daughter, Olivia, who died early. The second daughter, Susannah, married John Colby, of Boscawen, and also died at an early age. The second son, David, was a farmer; he moved with his family, when quite a young man, to Canada, where he lived and died, leaving many children. Joseph, the third son, was also a farmer, and noted for his ready wit; he died in 1810. The third daughter, Mehitabel, never married, and died at the age of thirty-seven ; and the fourth, Abigail, married a Mr. Haddock, of Franklin, and died early. The three youngest children were Ezekiel, Daniel, and Sarah. The latter married and lived in Franklin, dying in her twenty-first year.

In one of Daniel Webster's diaries, in my possession, he thus touchingly and eloquently alludes to the members of his father's family, and the fact of his surviving them all : —

" 1839, Jan. 18, Friday. I am this day fiftyseven years old. My brothers and sisters have all died young". I was by much the most slender and feeble of the family in early life ; but have yet outlived them all, and no one of them, I think, attained my present age : although I am not quite certain how this may have been with my halfbrother, David Webster, who was older than myself by ten or twelve years, and who died in Canada some years ago, — exactly at what time, I do not know. My father died at sixty-seven. His constitution, naturally strong, was evidently affected by the hardships and exposures of his early life. My uncle, Benjamin Webster, lived to a great age, — I believe above eighty years. He died in Cabot, or the adjoining town, in Vermont. My uncle William Webster went to Salisbury with my father. He died several years ago, being then much the longest resident in the township, and being, I think, something more than seventy years of age. My paternal aunts lived, so far as I remember, to be seventy or more. My mother also reached seventy. Her mother, Mrs. Gerusha Fitz, whom I well remember, died in my father's house, about June, 1796, aged about ninety years. My own health, from the age of twenty-five, has been remarkably good ; and for little occasional illnesses I have too often been able to see obvious causes, in want of proper care and discretion. If I were now to strike out of the number of my sick days those which have been occasioned by want of proper exercise, by unnecessary exposure, and by some degree of intemperance in eating and drinking, I should make a very great deduction from the whole list. For this uncommon health, and for all the happiness of a life which has been, so far, exceedingly happy, I desire to render the most devout thanks to Almighty God. I thank him for existence ; for the pleasure and the glory of rational being ; for an immortal nature ; and for all the gratifications, the joys, and the means of improvement, with which he has blessed my earthly life ; for the time and the country in which I have lived ; and for those objects of love and affection, whose being has been entwined with my own."

For his own brother, Ezekiel Webster, Daniel had not only the most devoted affection, but the most exalted respect. In his early years, he looked as anxiously for Ezekiel's approval of all his acts, as Coriolanus did for that of his mother. His confidence in his elder brother's judgment was unbounded ; his reliance upon his wisdom and counsel was without limit. When he had brought the whole nation to pay homage at his feet for the splendor of his triumph in the Hayne debate, Daniel Webster had one keen regret.

"How I wish," he sorrowfully exclaimed, "that my poor brother had lived till after this speech, for I know that he would have been gratified by it!" It is not, strange that these brothers had so strong a mutual attachment to each other. They were not only own brothers, but were nearly of the same age, and grew up together on the paternal farm. They shared each other's toils and hardships, and these were by no means trifling. It has already been said that Ebenezer Webster found it difficult to force a subsistence for his large family from the unyielding soil ; and as soon as his sons were old enough to work, they began to assist him. Ezekiel and Daniel, both endowed with uncommon minds, aspired to something higher than the existence of farmers. They were ambitious to go to college ; and they knew that, if they did so, they must work their own way. They both labored in the old saw-mill on the banks of the Merrimac ; and after Daniel, who was the more frail and delicate of the two, left home at the age of fourteen for college, Ezekiel remained at home, aiding in the support of the family, until he was twenty. He thus developed the sturdy and noble frame which was so often remarked afterwards, when he became prominent at the New Hampshire bar. But Daniel, though away, and pursuing his studies at Hanover, did not forget that it was his brother's ambition, as well as his own, to acquire a liberal education. He wrote home urgently entreating his father to release Ezekiel from his farm duties, and to allow him to attend the Academy. Although Ebenezer Webster was embarrassed in his finances, with all his property heavily mortgaged, he consented. But the brothers, in thus leaving home, did not cease to aid in the support of the family. They resolved to do all that in them lay to pay their father's debts, and to impart comfort to the old homestead. Bravely they advanced to the battle of life, and cheerfully they met the many difficulties and obstacles that lay in their path. Their success was due to their own industry, perseverance, and pluck, and the steadfast courage with which they faced the trials of their early years.

It appears from a statement made by Mr. Webster in after years, that they shared the meagre contents of a common purse until they had fully established themselves in their profession. When Daniel was teaching in Fryeburg, he on one occasion returned home by way of Hanover, where Ezekiel was at college. The first thing he did was to find out whether his brother was in want of money ; and, although his own salary as a teacher was scarcely more than the wages of a daily laborer, he was quite ready to help Ezekiel if he needed it. The result of his visit may be told in his own words : " We walked and talked during a long evening ; and finally, seated upon an old log, not far from the college, I gave to Ezekiel one hundred dollars, — the result of my labors in teaching and recording deeds, after paying my own debts, — leaving to myself but three dollars to get home with." But neither the assistance of his lather nor of his younger brother enabled Ezekiel to pursue his college course without interruption, lie was obliged to eke out his expenses by taking charge of a private school in Boston, keeping pace with his college class as best he could in the odd hours when he was not teaching. The condition on which he took the school was that the tuition paid during the first term should go to the retiring master, — a bargain which deprived Ezekiel of ready money for three months. It is interesting to know that among his pupils at this school were Edward Everett and George Ticknor. He even added more burdens to himself, by undertaking, in addition to his day school, an evening school for sailors. The letters of the two brothers at this trying period of their lives give us a clear insight into their position as well as characters, and are full of interest. Daniel, in a letter to a classmate in 1801, discloses the poverty and struggles of the family, and his own exertions at once to relieve them and to enable Ezekiel to finish his college course. He says : " Returning home after Commencement, I found, on consideration, that it would be impossible for my father, under existing circumstances, to keep Ezekiel at college. Drained of all his little income by the expenses of my education thus far, and broken clown in his exertions by some family occurrences, I saw he could not afford Ezekiel means to live abroad with ease and independence, and I knew too well the evils of penury to wish him to stay half beggared at college. I thought it, therefore, my duty to suffer some delay in my profession, for the sake of serving my elder brother, and was making a little interest in some places to the eastward for employment." The result of " making a little interest eastward " was, that he got the school at Fryeburg, and postponed the law to a more favorable epoch.