of the Government, and having, of course, taken no official part in the measure, and as it has now come to be completed, I have believed that I should best discharge my own duty, and fulfil the expectations of those who placed me here, by giving this expression of their most decided, unequivocal, and unanimous dissent and protest; and stating, as I have now stated, the reasons which have impelled me to withhold my vote.

"I agree with the unanimous opinion of the Legislature of Massachusetts; I agree with the great mass of her people; I reaffirm what I have said and written during the last eight years, at various times, against this annexation. I here record my own dissent and opposition; and I here express and place on record, also, the dissent and protest of the State of Massachusetts."

Texas was eventually annexed, and the result was precisely what Mr. Webster had predicted: the nation became involved in a war with Mexico. While this war was in progress, another controversy arose, which threatened to involve the country in hostilities with England. During the campaign in which Mr. Polk was elected to the Presidency, his party and himself had assumed the position. that the United States were entitled to the whole of the Oregon Territory; and they had designated 54 degrees 40 minutes as the line which should limit the possessions of Britain. In his first message Mr. Polk recommended that notice should be given to that country that the United States would terminate the convention existing between the two countries, adopted in 1827, by which Oregon Territory was conjointly occupied. Mr. Webster opposed the policy of the President, and he held the position that the forty-ninth degree of latitude was the extreme limit which the United States could justly claim. This proposition was at first treated with great ridicule by the administra

tion and its partisans; but Mr. Webster's sagacity was clearly vindicated by the fact, that Mr. Polk was himself compelled at last to accept the very line of settlement which Mr. Webster had in the first instance designated and defended. In his speech of the 12th of August, 1848, on this subject, he insisted on the right of Congress to exclude slavery from the Territory; on the expediency of exercising that right; and against the farther extension of slave territory. In regard to the complaint of Southern Senators that their slave property would be thus excluded from the Territory, he laid down these three propositions :

"First. That when this Constitution was adopted, nobody looked for any new acquisition of territory to be formed into slaveholding States.

"Second. That the principles of the Constitution prohibited, and were intended to prohibit, and should be construed to prohibit, all interference of the General Government with slavery, as it existed, and as it still exists, in the States. And

"Third. Looking to the operation of these new acquisitions, which have in this great degree had the effect of strengthening that interest in the South by the addition of five States, I feel that there is nothing unjust, nothing of which any honest man can complain, if he is intelligent; I feel that there is nothing with which the civilized world, if they take notice of so humble a person as myself, will reproach me when I say, as I said the other day, that I have made up my mind, for one, that under no circumstances will I consent to the further extension of the area of slavery in the United States, or to the further increase of slave representation in the House of Representatives."

The same principles of political prudence and sagacity which had induced Mr. Webster to oppose the annexation of Texas constrained him to resist the admission of Cali

fornia and New Mexico into the Confederacy. He thought that those vast and often savage realms would cost the Government much more than they would actually be worth; and he believed that the existence of such States located so far from the centre of the Republic would prove injurious to its unity, its compactness, and its harmony. In spite of his opposition and that of his friends, these Territories were ultimately incorporated with the Union; but the unfavorable prognostications which Mr. Webster had entertained on the subject have been happily disappointed.

The Mexican War was at length concluded with honor to the American arms; and its chief hero, Zachary Taylor, was rewarded for his brilliant services by his election to the Presidency. His inauguration took place on the 4th of March, 1849. Very soon afterward the subject of slavery again assumed a portentous aspect in the country; and when California demanded to be admitted into the Union as a free State, with her free Constitution already adopted and approved, the opposition of the South and of Southern representatives to the measure became intense and formidable. Large public meetings were held in all the non-slaveholding States in support of the admission of California; and thus the question received a sectional character and generated a sectional and hostile feeling. Soon a meeting of Southern representatives was held at Washington to deliberate on the subject; and at this meeting Mr. Calhoun, still the great leader and Achilles of the Southern party, was appointed to prepare an address to the constituents of the Southern delegates. This address received the signatures of forty-eight Southern representatives. The excitement became intense throughout the country. To allay it, and to settle the difficulty, Mr. Clay prepared and introduced his celebrated Compromise measure on the 25th of January, 1850. After a protracted

debate, his resolutions were negatived. It was on the 7th of March, after the discussion had continued during several months, that Mr. Webster delivered his memorable speech on this question. This oration was one of his most masterly efforts; and again the Senate-chamber and its vicinity were crowded by a vast assemblage, eager to hear him. He favored to some extent, on this occasion, the interests and prejudices of the South; and he lost in some, degree, in consequence of this fact, his popularity at the North. But his chief purpose evidently was to administer soothing counsel, which would heal the existing exacerbation of feeling between rival sections of the Republic, and thus to accomplish the best and noblest aim which an American statesman can ever possibly achieve.

CHAPTER XI.

Death of General Taylor-Mr. Webster's Eulogy upon Him-Mr. Webster's Last Speech in the Senate-Mr. Fillmore appoints him Secretary of State-Mr. Webster's Celebrated Letter to Chevalier HülsemannDisputed Authorship-Expedition of Lopez against Cuba-Its Results -Other Questions of Importance disposed of by Mr. Webster-His Treatment of Kossuth.

THE sudden death of General Taylor filled the nation with regret. The popular sentiment found suitable utterance in the eulogies which were pronounced in Congress; but among the many eloquent men who then offered the tribute of their praise to the memory and the virtues of the deceased hero, none equalled in felicity of thought and expression the remarks made by Mr. Webster. His manner and style on such an occasion may be inferred from the following extract from the speech addressed to the Senate:

"For a very short time, sir, I had a connection with the executive government of this country; and at that time. very perilous and embarrassing circumstances existed between the United States and the Indians on the borders, and war was actually carried on between the United States and the Florida tribes. I very well remember that those who took counsel together on that occasion officially, and who were desirous of placing the military command in the safest hands, came to the conclusion that there was no man in the service more fully uniting the qualities of military ability and great personal prudence than Zachary Taylor; and he was appointed to the command.