A government is justly held responsible for the acts of its citizens. And if this government be unable or unwilling to restrain our citizens from acts of hostility against a friendly power, such power may hold this nation answerable, and declare war against it. Every citizen is, therefore, bound by the regard he has for his country, by his reverence for its laws, and by the calamitous consequences of war, to exert his influence in suppressing the unlawful enterprises of our citizens against any foreign and friendly power.

History affords no example of a nation or people, that uniformly took part in the internal commotions of other governments, which did not bring down ruin upon themselves. These pregnant examples should guard us against a similar policy, which must lead to a similar result.

In every community will be found a floating mass of adventurers, ready to embrace any cause, and to hazard any consequences, which shall be likely to make their condition better. And, it is believed, that a large portion of our citizens, who have been engaged in military enterprises against Canada, are of this description.

That many patriotic and honourable men were at first induced, by their sympathies, to countenance the movement, if not to aid it, is probable. But, when these individuals found that this course was forbidden by the laws of their country, and by its highest interests, they retraced their steps. But, it is believed that there are many who persevere in their course, in defiance of the law and the interests of their country. Such individuals might be induced to turn their arms against their own government, under circumstances favourable to their suc

cess.

These violators of the law should not escape with impunity. The aid of every good citizen will be given to arrest them in their progress, and bring them to justice. They show themselves to be enemies of their country, by trampling under foot its laws, compromising its honour, and involving it in the most serious embarrassment with a foreign and friendly nation. It is, indeed, lamentable to reflect that such men, under such circumstances, may hazard the peace of the country.

If they were to come out in array against their own government, the consequences to it would be far less serious. In such an effort they could not involve it in much bloodshed, or in a heavy expenditure; nor would its commerce and general business be materially injured. But, a war with a powerful nation, with whom we have the most extensive relations, com

mercial and social, would bring down upon our country the heaviest calamity. It would dry up the sources of its prosperity and deluge it in blood.

The great principles of our republican institutions cannot be propagated by the sword. This can be done by moral force, and not physical.

If we desire the political regeneration of oppressed nations, we must show them the simplicity, the grandeur, and the freedom of our own government. We must recommend it to the intelligence and virtue of other nations by its elevated and enlightened action, its purity, its justice, and the protection it affords to all its citizens, and the liberty they enjoy. And if, in this respect, we shall be faithful to the high bequests of our fathers, to ourselves, and to posterity, we shall do more to liberalize other governments and emancipate their subjects, than could be accomplished by millions of bayonets.

This moral power is what tyrants have most cause to dread. It addresses itself to the thoughts and the judgments of men. No physical force can arrest its progress. Its approaches are unseen, but its consequences are deeply felt. It enters garrisons most strongly fortified, and operates in the palaces of kings and emperors.

We should cherish this power as essential to the preservation of our own government; and as the most efficient means of ameliorating the political condition of our race. And this can only be done by a reverence for the laws, and by the exercise of an elevated patriotism.

But if we trample under our feet the laws of our country; if we disregard the faith of treaties, and our citizens engage without restraint in military enterprises against the peace of other governments, we shall be considered and treated, and justly too, as a nation of pirates.

Punishments, under the law, can only be inflicted through the instrumentality of the judicial department of the government. The federal executive has shown a zeal worthy of the highest commendation in his endeavour to check the career of these enemies of social order. He has very properly employed a part of the military force of the country in this service; and he has solemnly warned and admonished these deluded citizens, who seem ready to carry devastation into the neighbouring province of a foreign and friendly power. These efforts of the President are in aid of the civil power, which, I trust, will not be found wanting on this, or any other emergency, in the discharge of the great duties which have been devolved upon it

by the constitution and laws. But in vain will the civil authority be exerted unless it shall be aided by the moral force of the country. If the hands of the ministers of justice were not strengthened by public sentiment, how ineffectually would they be raised for the suppression of crime. If the open violator of the law be cherished by society, he may, with impunity, set at defiance the organs of the law. The statute book which contains the catalogue of offences would then become a dead letter, and would be a standing monument of deeply seated corruption in the public.

I invoke, in behalf of the tribunals of justice, the moral power of society. I ask it to aid them in suppressing a combination of deluded or abandoned citizens, which imminently threatens the peace and prosperity of the country. And I have no fears, that when public attention shall be roused on this deeply important subject; when the laws are understood, and the duties of the government; and when the danger is seen, and properly appreciated, there will be an expression so potent from an enlightened and patriotic people, as to suppress all combinations in violation of the laws, and which threaten the peace of the country.

98

THE HONOURABLE DANIEL WEBSTER,

MEMBER OF THE SENATE FOR MASSACHUSETTS,

AND

THE HONOURABLE RUFUS CHOATE,

OF BOSTON.

It was to my extreme regret that Mr. Webster, whose powerful eloquence has so frequently been, in my own country, the theme of applause, both from the lips of Englishmen and of Americans, did not once, during my stay in Washington, speak in the Senate; and only once, for a very short time, in the Supreme Court; and he was even at that time suffering from a severe attack of indisposition. His speeches on the Oregon Question, and on Free, or rather on Fettered, Trade, were delivered, unhappily for me, after I had left the City. I was able, however, from the short specimen I heard in the Patent Case,* to form some faint conception of his overpowering influence, when, in the full tide of argument and feeling, he pours forth that irresistible volume of words, which, by many, has been said to rival, and by some, to excel, the torrent of Demosthenes. His English, pure, and bold, and massive, is moulded by severe and classic taste, to convey the conceptions of a mind of vast proportions. In the knowledge and comprehension of all subjects connected with the sciences of Law and Government, he is a master, and has attained the distinguished appellation of expounder of the Constitution." Instinctively perceiving at a glance the bearings of a doctrine, the results of a principle, the future power of a precedent, nay, even the value of a word, a syllable, a letter, Mr. Webster, like the watch-dog, is ever awake, and listening for the sounds of trespass; he observes, with scrutinizing eye, the perpetual variations, and their effects, which inevitably spring up in the progressive development of a youthful government, the forms of which are, as yet, experimental, though the elements are fixed and incapable of change. The examination of the existing powers and limits of the Constitution of the Republic, and of the future influences of these

66

* Mr. Webster was associated with Mr. Seward in the Patent Case. An extract from Seward's brief is given at page 41.

powers and limits upon extended territory and increased population, does now, and must continue to form, a highly important subject of inquiry. To enlarge and adapt, according to the successive requirements of the country, the original model so admirably propounded by the Founders of the Republic, is a study demanding the prophetic wisdom of Ulysses; and in this great purpose the mighty energies of Webster find their appointed mission. Eminently conservative, (if the Senator will permit this English epithet,) it is his most earnest wish to prevent, on the side of power, any infraction of rational liberty, and on the side of the people, any advance beyond that modified restraint which results in the benefit of all. I have sometimes reflected with regret, that Mr. Webster has not a seat on the Supreme Bench; but the Bar would thus lose one of its most popular advocates, and the Senate one of her noblest pillars.

The abilities of Mr. Webster, as a statesman, are highly estimated by the English, by his party, and by the State of Massachusetts, of whose policy he has ever been the strenuous, though not uncandid, defender. His wishes on the Oregon Question were those of Peace, and he threw into the scale all the weight of his great name. His celebrated speech at Boston touched the heart of every Englishman. With regard to the North-Eastern boundary, I have heard all Americans say, that America had the worst of it, and all Englishmen say precisely the same thing of England, consequently, there can be no reasonable doubt that it was the most just and even-handed Treaty that could be made, equally creditable to the Commissioners on either side.

Mr. Webster is the son of an estatesman or farmer, in New Hampshire; he has fulfilled many public offices with zeal and ability, and may justly be called a chief in that band of illustrious statesmen whose lives are given to their country, and whose highest hope is her applause.

The admirable head, and powerful form of Mr. Webster, make him everywhere conspicuous; the brow is ample; the eye deep-sunk, and dark, and seated immediately below the strongly-marked, and shaggy eyebrow; the features and contour denote, most expressively, the strength of every mental faculty, reflection, judgment, memory, analysis, are all there; the countenance, in repose, sometimes becomes absent and thoughtful, and has the expression of an inward employment of the reasoning powers, independent of all external objects, and for the time wholly forgetful of their presence, and then, as if the mental exercise had resulted in the most undoubted conviction,