cruel, and unnecessary. He would then have proved himself a true and legitimate Hero, and the wise and virtuous of all nations and ages would have combined to do him reverence, ay, and when the portals of immortality should be opened to receive his disembodied spirit, may we not believe that all heaven would echo with the shout, THE HERO COMES!"

May 6, 1847.

"Will Mr. Webster receive any votes from those who have not acted with the Whig Party?' This is submitting the question of Mr. Webster's popularity to the test of analysis, and not leaving it to be decided by vague and unsupported declamation. We are satisfied that investigation will show that Mr. Webster, more than any other man of his party, commands the confidence of those who do not act with it. His public life has been long, and the principles he has advocated and the policy he has pursued are all before the public, and well and generally known. They are distinguished by moderation, consistency, and firmness. Although a Whig, he is not a man to be claimed wholly by his party; he has more frequently contended for the preservation of the Union, and upholding the Constitution, than for mere party principles; he is, and is acknowledged to be, a man full of American feelings, broad and catholic as the Constitution of the country, and limited only by the boundaries which the true original spirit of the Constitution prescribes. Such a man, it is believed, the people, who love the Union and the Constitution more than they love party, want; and they would be most happy to show their admiration for

him, and their confidence in him by their votes, if they had an opportunity of doing so. Of this we cannot permit ourself to doubt; and nothing but timidity on the part of those who are desirous of seeing Mr. Webster president, has suffered his name to be kept back, and prevented it from being made more prominent than any other name on the list of the whig candidates for that office. Who can fail to see that the times, the embarrassed state of our own country, as well as the aspect of European affairs, demand just such a man as Daniel Webster at the helm of state? known and respected abroad as well as at home.

a man

"If the cause of that timidity, which fears to present the name of Mr. Webster as a candidate for the presidency, be investigated, it will be found to be a sentiment, distrustful, to the last degree, of the people. It proceeds upon the assumption that they are incapable of appreciating the value of the most important services rendered to the country; that they are jealous of pre-eminent ability and devoted patriotism, unless that ability and patriotism are displayed on the field of battle, amid the smoke of cannon and the clash of contending armies. We submit whether, in our past experience, sufficient evidence has been furnished to authorize this conclusion. If this be true, then, indeed, it may well be doubted, as they to whom we refer do doubt, whether the people are capable of self-government, whether republican liberty can be maintained. But is such a doubt to be entertained now? Are we to take counsel from a feeling that despairs of the Republic, when thrones are tottering, and the eyes of the people of

Europe are turned admiringly and hopefully upon us as the only guardians of true liberty, -as having set the only safe example for them to follow? Shall enlightened patriots and republicans now desert their posts and quit their ranks, without an effort, to accomplish that which they know to be right, — to put the government of the country in wise and safe hands? We say, No, no.

"We hope and believe that Massachusetts at least will not despair, nor adopt the counsels of Fear. Massachusetts ! that has always been faithful to liberty, may she not hope that her voice will be heard and respected when Whigs are consulting upon the general welfare? Has Massachusetts been second to any of her sister states in upholding and advancing whig principles? She now presents one of her sons to become the leader, to bear the banner of the whig party, a veteran in the ranks of the party; one who can show as many scars received in the conflicts of that party as the stoutest and the bravest,— one who can exhibit as many splendid trophies won in those conflicts, as any other. She asks that the man of her choice be taken, or, if he be rejected, that he be rejected upon some better plea and for some sounder reason, than that he is too strong, too much distinguished, too pre-eminent, to be approved by the popular voice. We are willing to trust the people. Our candidate is willing to trust the people. We and he are anxious to take their decision, and not the decision of those who assume to speak for them.

"Massachusetts presents the name of Daniel Webster, because she has tried him long. She has

tried him in the councils of her own commonwealth and in the councils of the nation. The nation has tried him, and, in every public station, in every department, he has come up to the highest point of excellence, reached by any who preceded him in the same station or department. The approbation of Massachusetts comes up for Daniel Webster, as was well said by the present speaker of the House of Representatives,* on a public occasion in Philadelphia, 'from every hill-side, from every river-side, from every sea-side, and from every fire-side, in the old Bay State of the Revolution.' Nor is she likely to forget his services, now, when he has come back to her, bowed to the very earth with domestic affliction,† but yet with spirit enough and strength enough to contend, as no other man can contend, for those principles of liberty that are dear to the heart of the state which has honored and trusted him.

"We have no authority to speak for others, but we believe that the delegates who shall represent Massachusetts in the Whig Convention that is to assemble in the Hall of Independence on the seventh day of June next, will urge, to the very last moment,

the nomination of Daniel Webster to the office of President of the United States; and we trust they will not be left to contend alone for his nomination."

April 3, 1848.

Hon. Robert C. Winthrop,

Mr. Webster was then in Massachusetts, called from his place in the Senate, to attend the funeral of his youngest son, and the death-bed of his only daughter.

AVAILABILITY.

“As an inhabitant of Massachusetts we feel humbled and mortified, when we hear,—as we do daily, and in the most public places,- men of character and influence declare that Daniel Webster is their first choice for President, and if he should fail to receive the nomination of the Whig Convention, on the first ballot, then their choice is Zachary Taylor. In our opinion, it is pretty safe to conclude that those who make this declaration are not friends to Mr. Webster's nomination. Indeed, we begin to fear that there is some truth in the charge of insincerity among a certain portion of the Whigs, to which we alluded some days ago. If those, who hold and advocate this doctrine of availability, do really wish to see Mr. Webster nominated by the Whig Convention, it would seem that, as a matter of policy, they would say nothing of a second choice. To say that they should rejoice to place Mr. Webster in the Presidency, but that they know that he cannot be elected, is equivalent to saying to their opponents, Give us whom you please; we should be pleased, if you would give us Webster; but give us Taylor, or whom you please, and we accept the nomination. Now the friends of Gen. Taylor, or any other southern candidate, will never become so stultified, as to allow even a complimentary vote of the Convention to be given to Mr. Webster, while the pliant Whigs of the free states pronounce beforehand their readiness to give up their own preference to the nomination of the slaveholding power. Why should they? They have only to persevere in their adherence