and chosen profession, and the hopes which were connected with it, would have been a sad calamity indeed; yet he was affectionately attached to his father, and he would be willing to make almost any sacrifice to promote his interests. A terrible struggle ensued in the mind of young Webster. He carefully weighed all the considerations which appertained to each side of the question. At length he started homeward, reached his father's house, and hurried into his presence. It was not long before the latter discovered that Daniel did not regard the proffered post with much approbation; and at length he positively refused to abandon his profession and subside into the obscurity of court clerk. The old man was astonished and greatly offended. He used every argument to overcome the resolution of his ambitious son; but he reasoned in vain. At last Daniel, having expressed his determination to return to Boston, poured into the lap of his astonished father the sum in gold which was necessary to liquidate all his debts and set his mind at rest. The joy produced by this unexpected good fortune may readily be imagined; and Daniel then explained how a generous friend in Boston, to whom he had stated his dilemma, named Emery, had kindly offered to lend him the money, which offer he had thankfully accepted.

After this pleasing incident, young Webster returned to Boston and completed his studies. He was admitted to the bar after a rigid examination in March, 1805. On making the motion to that effect, Mr. Gore added, contrary to the usual custom, a eulogy on the abilities and deserts of his pupil. The next point to be decided was, where the newly-fledged lawyer should settle and commence his professional career. Many considerations plead in favor of his remaining in Boston. His friends in that city urged him to do so, and tendered him their

influence and patronage. One firm offered him a collecting business amounting to thirty thousand dollars. Boston was a theatre admirably fitted for the future exercise of his talents. But other and stronger considerations induced him to bury himself in the quiet obscurity of a remote village of New Hampshire. He desired to be near his aged father; and that motive, more than any other, induced him to desert the brilliant career which Boston offered him, and return to his native spot. He did so, and opened an office in the neighboring village of Boscawen, where his window was decorated by the unpretending sign of "D. Webster, Attorney." Thus, in March, 1805, when twenty-three years old, and after nine years of preparatory study, did this great man commence his public career. It will readily be supposed that he soon began to attract attention and to gain practice. His first case was tried in the presence of his father, who still sat upon the bench as an Associate Judge. It is said that his abilities as a speaker gained him the admiration of his contemporaries at the commencement of his career, and that his future eminence was immediately predicted. In two years after his admission to the bar, his fame extended throughout the whole of his native State; and among the hundred lawyers who at that time lived and practised in it he was already regarded as one of the ablest. He was remarkable for the care with which he prepared his cases, as well as for the ability with which he tried them. In arguing disputed points of law and of evidence, in the examination of witnesses, and in addresses to the jury, he displayed superior ability. His father died a short time after he commenced practice; and hence the strongest motive which attracted him to his obscure home was withdrawn. Accordingly, after a residence of two years at Boscawen, Mr. Webster removed to Portsmouth for the purpose of entering upon a

more extended and more appropriate sphere. This was the largest and most important city in the State, and it numbered among its resident lawyers several men of great eminence and ability. Among these were Jeremiah Mason and Jeremiah Smith, who soon discovered the great talents of the new-comer, and accorded to him that consideration and courtesy which he deserved. Mr. Webster's professional prospects rapidly brightened, and he soon obtained a large and lucrative practice, though surrounded by competitors of no mean ability, and possessed of the advantages of patronage and local influence.

On the 11th of June, 1808, an important event occurred in the life of this remarkable man. It was his marriage to a young lady to whom he had become attached, the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, of Hopkinton, and a person of great beauty, intelligence and amiability. In an old newspaper which is long since defunct forever, named the Portsmouth Oracle, this event is thus very briefly narrated: “Married, in Salisbury, Daniel Webster, Esq., of this town, to Miss Grace Fletcher." Few matrimonial alliances have ever been contracted which were productive of a greater degree of domestic happiness than this.

Very few incidents deserving of note occurred to Mr. Webster during the four years which elapsed from his marriage till the period when he entered the political arena. That interval was industriously filled up by his close attention to his professional pursuits. His reputation as a lawyer was gradually rising higher and higher; so that his services were in constant requisition, and sometimes at distant places. He soon became the most prominent and distinguished citizen of Portsmouth; and, as such, it was very natural that he should be drawn into the vortex of political life. He resisted this tendency for some time, till at length, in November, 1812, he was

placed in nomination for a seat in Congress, with his consent, an honor which he had declined on several previous occasions. He belonged to what was then known as the Federal party, and the crisis which occurred at that time was of more than usual importance and difficulty. The embargo and the war with England had resulted most disastrously to the commerce and the interests of New England. Mr. Webster was nominated and voted for as the representative and advocate of peace and free-trade. As such he was elected to represent the district to which Portsmouth belonged.*

According to the usual operation of law, Mr. Webster would not have taken his seat in Congress until the December of the following year; but the imminence of the crisis had induced the President, Mr. Madison, to summon an extra session, which commenced its sitting in May, 1813. At the appropriate time the new representative began his journey toward the Federal capital. He took his seat for the first time in that hall which was destined so often afterward to be the scene of his magnificent displays of talent, on the 24th of May, 1813. The first committee of which he was appointed a member was that on Foreign Affairs; and with him were associated such men as Calhoun, Grundy, Jackson of

*The following interesting relic of the past will show the state of parties and the names of candidates as they existed at that time in that portion of the Confederacy:

Virginia, and Fish of New York. Nor did he long remain a silent member of the House. On the 10th of June, after occupying his seat about two weeks, he rose and offered a series of resolutions, which sifted the matter of the war, then under deliberation, to the bottom. As these resolutions possess more than ordinary interest as the first public effort of Mr. Webster in the Congress of his country, we will here insert them:

"Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to inform this House, unless the public interest should, in his opinion, forbid such communication, when, by whom, and in what manner the first intelligence was given to this Government of the decree of the Government of France, bearing date the 28th of April, 1811, and purporting to be a definite repeal of the decrees of Berlin and Milan.

66

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to inform this House whether Mr. Russell, late Chargé d'Affaires of the United States at the Court of France, hath ever admitted or denied to his Government the correctness of the declaration of the Duke of Bassano to Mr. Barlow, the late minister of the United States at that court, as stated in Mr. Barlow's letter of the 12th of May, 1812, to the Secretary of State, that the said decree of April 28th, 1811, had been communicated to his (Mr. Barlow's) predecessor there; and to lay before this House any correspondence with Mr. Russell relative to that subject which it may not be improper to communicate; and also any correspondence between Mr. Barlow and Mr. Russell on that subject, which may be in the possession of the Department of State.

"Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to inform this House whether the Minister of France near the United States ever informed this