in favor of sending a Commissioner to Greece, then in the throes of a revolution, and his speech in favor of Grecian independence, in which he exposed and denounced the Holy Alliance. This speech showed him to be of national cast of mind and gave him recognition as a statesman. It was in this Congress, too, that he made his able and powerful speech against the Tariff of 1824 and so sturdily opposed the tariff policy of Henry Clay which the author had christened the "American System."

In the first session of the Congress which met in 1825, the most important and effective act of Mr. Webster was his defense of the President's plan to send a representative to the Panama Congress. In a speech he defended the prerogative of the Executive and gave a clear and effective definition of the Monroe Doctrine. At the second session of this Congress he attempted to have a National Bankrupt Law enacted, but failed. This session marked the end of his career in the Lower House, for in June, 1827, he was elected United States Senator to succeed E. H. Mills.

CLAY'S "AMERICAN SYSTEM."

His second year in the Senate marked the beginning of many changes in his career, both as an individual and as a statesman.

In this year he made his famous speech on the tariff, which he had formerly characterized as the "Bill of Abominations," changing from an absolute free trader to a supporter of Mr. Clay's "American System." For this speech and his vote on the Tariff Bill of 1828 Mr. Webster has been harshly criticised and warmly defended. There is no question that he believed in free trade as an abstract theory, and in all probability this belief never changed. It is certain he resisted all efforts for a protective tariff until 1824, when, as he declared, the Government made protection its fixed policy. In the four years preceding his change of front on the tariff question much money had been invested in New England in manufactures, and the sentiment of the people of Massachusetts had undergone great change in favor of a protective tariff. Those who defended his vote on the tariff of 1828 claimed that Mr. Webster had merely treated the tariff as a business question.

One year later he was destined to awaken to national fame through his great reply to Hayne. This speech made him a Presidential candidate, and for the remainder of his life the ambition to be President never left him. The session of 1831-32 marks one of the most memorable and exciting periods in the history of American legislation. The country was to witness

the beginning of that bitter contest between the Jacksonian Democracy and the conservative element out of which grew the great organization known as the Whig party. Early in this session Mr. Clay began an agitation for a revision and a reduction of the tariff which resulted in a bill reducing duties on many articles, but without changing the duties on cotton and woolen goods and iron.

This stirred up the South Carolina senators, resulting, in 1832, in a convention in which South Carolina passed the famous ordinance nullifying the revenue laws of the United States.

John C. Calhoun resigned the Vice-Presidency and accepted an appointment as Senator in order, more effectively, to advocate and defend nullification. South Carolina was in open defiance of the Federal Government, and the situation was both delicate and dangerous.

JACKSON THREATENS TO HANG NULLIFIERS.

The South Carolinians, however, had reckoned without President Jackson, who, as soon as he heard of the nullification act, flew into a rage, dashed his corn-cob pipe on the floor and cried: "By the Eternal! I'll fix 'em! Send for General Scott."

Although Jackson was a partisan Democrat, not even Webster was more of a Nationalist than he, and the President, now thoroughly aroused by the attack made upon the nation, of which he was the Executive head, issued a proclamation on December 10th, in which he declared he would not endure treason, but would enforce the Constitutional laws at the point of the bayonet, if necessary. As soon as Congress convened he sent in a message asking it to make provision to enable the President to enforce the laws by the use of the land and naval forces, if he should find it necessary. The committee to which this message was referred reported the celebrated Force Bill, and Mr. Webster appeared as its champion.

In addition to taking these steps President Jackson freely used threats of hanging the Nullifiers for treason, which occasioned considerable alarm to Mr. Calhoun, who conferred with Mr. Clay. The result of this conference was the introduction of a new tariff bill, intended to compromise the existing difficulties.

The Clay Tariff Bill was passed immediately after the Force Bill, although opposed by Mr. Webster with his eloquence and vote. The Tariff Bill made the Force Bill a useless measure, inasmuch as it gave South Carolina all she had asked for in the way of protection. Thus the nullifica

tion ordinance seemingly had forced the administration to give South Carolina what she wanted, and the whole affair was made to appear as a great victory for Calhoun and the Nullifiers, and gave to the people of South Carolina fresh opportunity to preach secession and pave the way for the Rebellion which was to follow.

It was in the early part of this session (1831), that Mr. Webster defeated Van Buren's confirmation as Minister to England, which though morally right, had the political effect of making Mr. Van Buren a successful candidate for the Presidency.

In the session of 1833-34 President Jackson struck his final and vital blow at the United States Bank, and removed the government deposits therein to state banks.

During this session Mr. Webster made sixty-four speeches on the bank question and displayed a knowledge of national finance second only to Hamilton. His contest with Jackson gave cohesion and form to the Whig party and Mr. Webster became a candidate for the Presidential nomination, in 1836, receiving only the vote of his own state-Massachusetts. At the close of the session he made the initial move to check the impending financial panic by the passage of a bill to stop the payment of treasury warrants in bank notes and compel their payment in gold and silver.

Jackson had sown the wind and when Van Buren came into the Presidency he was kept busy reaping the whirlwind. In 1837 the country saw its first great panic, which in many respects was its worst. Mr. Webster did much to mitigate the financial distress.

Mr. Calhoun attempted to prevent the notes of specie paying banks from being accepted for government dues, and this called forth from Mr. Webster the greatest speech he ever made on finance. His argument in a nut-shell was, that the duty and right of the general government to regulate and control the currency was absolute.

"TIPPECANOE AND TYLER TOO."

Mr. Webster went to England in 1839, being at the time an avowed candidate for the Presidency.

He returned, only to learn that General Harrison had been made the standard-bearer of the Whigs. He gave Harrison's candidacy cordial support in the famous campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," and after the victory was offered and accepted the post of Secretary of State in General Harrison's Cabinet.

General Harrison died after a month in office, but John Tyler, who became President, made no changes in the Cabinet.

By his veto of a new bank bill, Tyler at once put himself in opposition to his party. Mr. Webster desired the establishment of the bank, but tried to prevent the conflict between the President and his party, as such a conflict would greatly imperil the new foreign policy which he had initiated. He refused to sacrifice the success of his political negotiations to a party quarrel. Although four members of Tyler's Cabinet resigned, Mr. Webster remained in office and consummated his greatest diplomatic work-the negotiation of the Ashburton Treaty, by which treaty the Northwestern boundary between the United States and British possessions was definitely settled.

While a member of Mr. Tyler's Cabinet he negotiated a treaty with Portugal, made an effort to settle the Oregon boundary, and established the Chinese Mission, beside much other work of minor importance.

In 1843 he resigned the portfolio of state. In 1844 he refused to allow his name to be used as a candidate for the Presidency and after the nomination of Henry Clay he gave the Whig candidate his hearty support. Although he declined re-election to the Senate in the early part of that year, he was re-elected to succeed Mr. Choate when that Senator resigned in the winter of 1844-45.

AGAINST "FIFTY-FOUR-FORTY OR FIGHT."

In the famous controversy with Great Britain over the Northwest boundary, when the cry of Polk and the Democracy was "fifty-four-forty or fight," he made a famous speech in Faneuil Hall in favor of the acceptance of the forty-ninth parallel. He also made a strong plea for peace. His attitude on this question led to a bitter attack upon his personal reputation in connection with the Ashburton negotiations. In the investigation which followed Mr. Webster was completely vindicated.

Loyal Massachusetts again voted for Mr. Webster for the Presidential nomination in 1848, but the nomination went to the hero of the Mexican War, General Taylor. Mr. Webster refused to be a candidate for VicePresident on the ticket with Taylor, and later declared that the nomination was "one not fit to be made."

Following General Taylor's election the struggle to fasten slavery over our Mexican conquest began. The feature of this struggle was Henry Clay's compromise measure which provided for the admission of California

with a free Constitution, territorial government in the Mexican possession, without reference to slavery, a guarantee of slavery in the District of Columbia until Maryland should consent to its abolition, the better enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law and a declaration that Congress had no authority over the slave trade between slave-holding states. To this compromise Mr. Webster gave his eloquent support in his famous speech of March 4th, 1850.

In July of that year General Taylor died suddenly and Mr. Fillmore tendered to Mr. Webster the Secretaryship of State. His most important act in Mr. Fillmore's Cabinet was the well-known Hulsemann letter, in which Mr. Webster notified the Austrian Charge-de-affaires (referring to the Hungarian revolt) that it was both the right and the intention of the United States to recognize any de facto revolutionary government, and to seek information in every proper way to guide its action.

In a long correspondence with Sir Henry Bulwer, Great Britain was led to withdraw her claim to exact export charges on the proposed Nicaragua Canal. He also adjusted the difficulty with Spain arising out of the Lopez invasion of Cuba.

In 1852 Mr. Webster was again an unsuccessful candidate, and this melancholy incident closed his public career.