. . . I could never imagine him
sitting comfortably in his library and reading quietly out of the
great books of the past. He has been too fond of excitement--he
has lived upon it; he has been too fond of company, not enough
alone; and has had few resources within himself." Were the
limitations of a typical oratorical temperament ever touched more
unerringly than in these words?
When Webster himself thundered, at the close of his reply to
Hayne in 1830, "Union AND Liberty, now and forever, one and
inseparable," the words sank deeper into the consciousness of the
American people than any similar sentiment uttered by Henry Clay.
For Webster's was the richer, fuller nature, nurtured by "the
great books of the past," brooding, as Lincoln was to brood
later, over the seemingly insoluble problem of preserving a union
of States half slave, half free. On the fateful seventh of March,
1850, Webster, like Clay, cast the immense weight of his
personality and prestige upon the side of compromise. It was the
ruin of his political fortune, for the mood of the North was
changing, and the South preferred other candidates for the
Presidency.
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