: During Webster's residence at Dartmouth College he was studious, orderly and industrious. It has long been the fashion of common and vulgar report to represent his conduct at this time differently; and thousands of idle and worthless juveniles, who have wasted and squandered the inestimable advantages of early education which were offered them, and frequently almost forced upon them, have excused their fatal follies and neglect of their opportunities by the supposed example of young Webster. Nothing could be more erroneous and preposterous than the supposition that he was idle and negligent of his studies while at college. His teachers at the institution boldly predicted his future eminence; nor would they have done this had his conduct not then been worthy of admiration and applause. He did not excel in Greek and mathematics for these branches he exhibited but little fondness. But every other department of academical learning, especially logic, psychology, moral philosophy, and all those sciences which particularly require grasp and profundity of thought, he mastered with facility. When in his seventeenth year, in 1800, he was invited by the citizens of Hanover to deliver a Fourth-of-July oration. He accepted the invitation, which was itself a mark of honor, and delivered the first of his speeches, of which a record has been transmitted to posterity. It was entitled "An Oration pronounced at Hanover, New Hampshire, on the 4th of July, 1800, being the Twenty-Fourth Anniversary of American Independence, by Daniel Webster, member of the Junior Class, Dartmouth University." It was published by the request of the subscribers, and printed at Hanover by Moses David, shortly after its delivery. That the reader may form an idea of the style of the youthful orator, we will quote an extract from this singular yet meritorious production: "No sooner was peace restored with England (the first grand article of which was the acknowledgment of our Independence) than the old system of Confederation, dictated at first by necessity, and adopted for the purposes of the moment, was found inadequate to the government of an extensive empire. Under a full conviction of this, we then saw the people of these States engaged in a transaction which is undoubtedly the greatest approximation toward human perfection the political world ever yet witnessed, and which, perhaps, will forever stand in the history of mankind without a parallel. A great Republic, composed of different States, whose interest in all respects could not be perfectly compatible, then came deliberately forward, discarded one system of government and adopted another, without the loss of one man's blood. But "There is not a single Government now existing in Europe which is not based in usurpation, and established, if established at all, by the sacrifice of thousands. in the adoption of our present system of jurisprudence we see the powers necessary for government voluntarily flowing from the people, their only proper origin, and directed to the public good, their only proper object. "With peculiar propriety we may now felicitate ourselves on that happy form of mixed government under which we live. The advantages resulting to the citizens of the Union are utterly incalculable, and the day when it was received by a majority of the States shall stand on the catalogue of American anniversaries second to none but the birthday of Independence. "In consequence of the adoption of our present system of government, and the virtuous manner in which it was administered by a Washington and an Adams, we are this day in the enjoyment of peace, while war devastates Europe! We can now sit down beneath the shadow of the olive, while her cities blaze, her streams run purple with blood, and her fields glitter with a forest of bayonets! The citizens of America can this day throng the temples of freedom and renew their oaths of fealty to independence, while Holland, our once sister Republic, is erased from the catalogue of nations; while Venice is destroyed, Italy ravaged, and Switzerland-the once happy, the once united, the once flourishing Switzerland-lies bleeding at every pore! "No ambitious foe dares now invade our country. No standing army now endangers our liberty. Our commerce, though subject in some degree to the depredations of belligerent powers, is extended from pole to pole; our navy, though just emerging from non-existence, shall soon vouch for the safety of our merchantmen, and bear the thunder of freedom around the ball. Fair Science, too, holds her gentle empire amongst us, and almost innumerable altars are raised to her divinity, from Brunswick to Florida. Yale, Providence, and Harvard now grace our land; and Dartmouth, towering majestic above the groves which encircle her, now inscribes her glory on the registers of fame! Oxford and Cambridge, those Oriental stars of literature, shall now be outshone by the bright sun of American science, which displays his broad circumference in uneclipsed radiance. "Pleasing, indeed, were it here to dilate on the future. grandeur of America; but we forbear, and pause for a moment to drop the tear of affection over the graves of our departed warriors. Their names should be mentioned on every anniversary of Independence, that the youth of each successive generation may learn not to value life when held in competition with their country's safety. "Wooster, Montgomery, and Mercer fell bravely in battle, and their ashes are now entombed on the fields that witnessed their valor. Let their exertions in our country's cause be remembered while liberty has an advocate and gratitude has a place in the human heart. "Greene, the immortal hero of the Carolinas, has since gone down to the grave, loaded with honors, and high in the estimation of his countrymen. The courageous Putnam has long slept with his fathers; and Sullivan and Cilley, New Hampshire's veteran sons, are no more remembered with the living. "With hearts penetrated by unutterable grief, we are at length constrained to ask, Where is our Washington? where the hero who led us to victory? where the man who gave us freedom? where is he who headed our feeble army when destruction threatened us, who came upon our enemies like the storms of winter and scattered them like leaves before the Borean blast? Where, O my country, is thy political savior? where, O humanity, thy favorite son? "The solemnity of this assembly, the lamentations of the American people, will answer, 'Alas! he is now no more! the mighty is fallen!' "Yes, Americans, Washington is gone! he is now consigned to dust and sleeps in 'dull, cold marble!' "The man who never felt a wound but when it pierced his country-who never groaned but when fair freedom bled-is now forever silent! "Wrapped in the shroud of death, the dark dominions of the grave long since received him, and he rests in undisturbed repose! Vain were the attempt to express our loss, vain the attempt to describe the feelings of our souls! Though months have rolled away since his spirit left this terrestrial orb and sought the shining worlds on high, yet the sad event is still remembered with increased sorrow. The hoary-headed patriot of '76 still tells the mournful story to the listening infant, till the loss of his country touches his heart and patriotism fires his breast. The aged matron still laments the loss of the man beneath whose banners her husband has fought or her son has fallen. At the name of Washington, the sympathetic tear still glistens in the eye of every youthful hero. Nor does the tender sigh yet cease to heave in the fair bosom of Columbia's daughters. Farewell, O Washington, a long farewell! Thy country's tears embalm thy memory; Impress'd on grateful hearts, thy name shall live During Webster's fourth year in college he studied particularly intellectual philosophy, ethics, and international law; while at the same time he paid special attention to his improvement in oratory. For this noble and masterly art he seemed to have, from an early period, a very strong predilection, and at a precocious age gave evidence of a future distinction in it. He perused the great masters of ancient and modern eloquence with intense interest, and endeavored to imitate some of their qualities. At length the end of his academical career arrived. Four studious years had Webster spent at Dartmouth; and each advancing month gave proof of his constant and rapid progress. On commencement-day he delivered an oration on "Natural Science," dwelling chiefly on the then recent and remarkable discoveries of Lavoisier in chemistry. Why he selected so dry and abstract a theme for the subject of a speech on such an occasion, it would be difficult to conjecture. It is probable that the distribution of themes among the other members of the graduating class may have been such as to render that subject desirable or even necessary on his part. He graduated on the 26th of |