Part 28 (1/2)

FOOTNOTES

[96] A Speech delivered at the National Republican Convention held at Worcester, Mass, on the 12th of October, 1832, preparatory to the Annual Elections

[97] See page 269, _infra_

[98] Hon Nathaniel Silsbee, President of the Convention, was Mr

Webster's colleague in the Senate at the time referred to

[99] A Speech delivered at a Public Dinner in Honor of the Centennial Birthday of Washi+ngton, on the 22d of February, 1832

[100] Extract of a letter written by John Adams to Nathan Webb, dated at Worcester, Massachusetts, October 12, 1755

”Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this New World, for conscience' sake Perhaps this apparently trivial incident reat seat of empire into America It looks likely to me; for, if we can re to the exactest computations, will, in another century, becoland itself Should this be the case, since we have, I may say, all the naval stores of the nation in our hands, it will be easy to obtain a mastery of the seas; and then the united force of all Europe will not be able to subdue us The only way to keep us fro up for ourselves is to disunite us”

RECEPTION AT BUFFALO[101]

In the summer of 1833, Mr Webster made a visit to the State of Ohio On his way thither, while at Buffalo, New York, he was invited by the citizens of that place to attend a public dinner, which his engagements, and the necessity of an early departure, compelled him to decline He accepted, however, an invitation to be present at the launching of a steaiven the name of DANIEL WEBSTER, and, in reply to an address fro reladly of this opportunity of ments to the proprietors of this vessel, for the honor conferred upon ard, had it proceeded frohbors, could not but have excited feelings of gratitude It is entlemen of character and worth hom I have not had the pleasure of personal acquaintance, and whose ent opinion towards well-intentioned services in a public situation

It gives e an assembly of the people of Buffalo, to express to them my thanks for the kindness and hospitality hich I have been received in this young, but growing and interesting city The launching of another vessel on these inland seas is but a fresh occasion of congratulation on the rapid growth, the great active prosperity, and the anio, fellow-citizens, I enjoyed the pleasure of a short visit to this place There was then but one steae once in ten or fifteen days only; and I re to travel to the Far West by that conveyance, wrote to their friends here to learn the day of the coe I understand that there are now eighteen stea full employment; and that a boat leaves Buffalo twice every day for Detroit and the ports in Ohio The population of Buffalo, now four tiress is an indication, in a single instance, of what is likely to be the rate of the future progress of the city So many circumstances incline to favor its advancement, that it is difficult to estimate the rate by which itbefore the products of the fisheries of the East, the importations of the Atlantic frontier, the productions, etable, of all the Northwestern States, and the sugars of Louisiana, will find their way hither by inland water communication Much of this, indeed, has already taken place, and is of daily occurrence Many, who remember the competition between Buffalo and Black Rock for the site of the city, will doubtless live to see the city spread over both This singular prosperity, fellow-citizens, so gratifying for the present, and accoh hopes for the future, is due to your own industry and enterprise, to your favored position, and to the flourishi+ng condition of the internal cos and the riches of that internal cooverneneral, common commercial system

It is not only the trade of New York, of Ohio, of New England, of Indiana, or of Michigan, but it is a part of the great aggregate of the trade of all the States, in which you so largely and so successfully partake Who does not see that the advantages here enjoyed spring froovernment and a uniform code? Who does not see, that, if these States had remained severed, and each had existed with a systeulations of its own, all excluding and repelling, rather than inviting, the intercourse of the rest, the place could hardly have hoped to be more than a respectable frontier post? Or can any man look to the one and to the other side of this beautiful lake and river, and not see, in their different conditions, the plain and manifest results of different political institutions and coulations?

It would be pleasant, fellow-citizens, to dwell on these topics, so worthy at all tie attention at the present moment But this is not the properto you once ood wishes, I takereat interest, so essential to your happiness,--THE COMMERCE OF THE LAKES, A NEW-DISCOVERED SOURCE OF NATIONAL PROSPERITY, AND A NEW BOND OF NATIONAL UNION

An address was also made to Mr Webster in behalf of the mechanics andreply:--

I need hardly say, Mr Chairives me much satisfaction to receive this mark of approbation of my public conduct from the manufacturers and mechanics of Buffalo Those who are the overnment are naturally the earliest to perceive their operation, and to foresee their final results Allow me to say, Gentlemen, that the confidence expressed by you in eneral course which I have pursued must rest, andalways to avoid extreard to the protective syste what has been established, to be essential to the public prosperity Nothing can be worse than that laws concerning the daily labor and the daily bread of whole classes of the people should be subject to frequent and violent changes It were far better not to ain

My sentienerally known Inobject in the whole systeement and protection of American manual labor I confess, that every day's experience convincesthis object Our government is reatest good of the whole; and this ought to be kept constantly in view in its adreater nu to what may be called the industrious or productive classes of the conorant, and unintelligent

On the contrary, it is active, spirited, enterprising, seeking its oards, and laying up for its own coreat stimulus to our whole society; and no system is wise or just which does not afford this stiainst the injurious coeneral handicraft productions, is known historically to have been one end designed to be obtained by establishi+ng the Constitution; and this object, and the constitutional power to accoree to be surrendered or compromised

Our political institutions, Gentlemen, place power in the hands of all the people; and to make the exercise of this power, in such hands, salutary, it is indispensable that all the people should enjoy, first, the means of education, and, second, the reasonable certainty of procuring a competent livelihood by industry and labor These institutions are neither designed for, nor suited to, a nation of ignorant paupers To dissee, then, universally, and to secure to labor and industry their just rewards, is the duty both of the general and the State governments, each in the exercise of its appropriate powers To be free, the people ently free; to be substantially independent, they ainst want, by sobriety and industry; to be safe depositaries of political power, they eneral interests of the community, and must themselves have a stake in the welfare of that community The interest of labor, therefore, has an is to it as a mere question of political econoovernment, and our whole social syste us, as every oneprices to labor; and it is fervently to be hoped that no unpropitious circumstances and no unwise policy eneral competency and public happiness

I pray you, Mr Chairman and Gentlemen, to receive personally my thanks for the manner in which you have co which you represent

FOOTNOTES

[101] Remarks made to the Citizens of Buffalo, June, 1833

RECEPTION AT PITTSBURG