The whole of that portion of the speech which relates to nullification is extremely powerful. Mr. Calhoun, in his reply, “carried the war into Africa,” and attacked Mr. Webster's record. He was answered, 22 March, by a speech that was a model for such parliamentary retorts. Mr. Webster never sneered at his adversaries, but always rendered them the full meed of personal respect that he would have demanded for himself. He discussed questions on their merits, and was too great to descend to recriminations. His Titanic power owed very little to the spirit of belligerency. Never was there an orator more urbane or more full of Christian magnanimity.
In the summer of 1839 Mr. Webster with his
family visited England, where he was cordially
received and greatly admired. On his return in
December he learned that the Whigs had this time
united upon Gen. Harrison for their candidate in
the hope of turning to their own uses the same
kind of unreflecting popular enthusiasm that had
elected Jackson. The panic of 1837 aided them
still more, and Mr. Webster made skilful use of it
in a long series of campaign speeches, during the
summer of 1840, in Massachusetts, New York,
Pennsylvania, and Virginia. He accepted the office
of secretary of state in President Harrison's
administration, and soon showed himself as able in
diplomacy as in other departments of statesmanship.
There
was a complication
of
difficulties with
Great Britain
which seemed
to be bringing
us to the verge
of war. There
was the
long-standing
dispute about
the northeastern
boundary,
which had
not been adequately defined by the treaty of 1783,
and along with the renewal of this controversy
came up the cases of McLeod and the steamer
“Caroline,” the slave-ship “Creole,” and all the
manifold complications that these cases involved.
The Oregon question, too, was looming in the
background. In disentangling these difficulties
Mr. Webster showed wonderful tact and discretion.
He was fortunately aided by the change of ministry
in England, which transferred the management
of foreign affairs from the hands of Lord
Palmerston to those of Lord Aberdeen. Edward
Everett was then in London, and Mr. Webster
secured his appointment as minister to Great Britain.
In response to this appointment, Lord Ashburton,
whose friendly feeling toward the United States
was known to every one, was sent over on a special
mission to confer with Mr. Webster, and the result
was the Ashburton treaty of 1842, by which an
arbitrary and conventional line was adopted for
the northeastern boundary, while the loss thereby
suffered by the states of Maine and Massachusetts
was to be indemnified by the United States. It
was also agreed that Great Britain and the United
States should each keep its own squadron to watch
the coast of Africa for the suppression of the
slave-trade, and that in this good work each nation
should separately enforce its own laws. This clause
of the treaty was known as the “cruising convention.”
The old grievance of the impressment of
seamen, which had been practically abolished by
the glorious victories of American frigates in the
war of 1812-'15, was now formally ended by Mr.
Webster's declaration to Lord Ashburton that
henceforth American vessels would not submit
themselves to be searched. Henceforth the
enforcement of the so-called “right of search” by a
British ship would be regarded by the United
States as a casus belli. When all the circumstances
are considered, this Ashburton treaty shows that
Mr. Webster's powers as a diplomatist were of the
highest order. In the hands of an ordinary statesman
the affair might easily have ended in a war;
but his management was so dexterous that, as we
now look back upon the negotiation, we find it
hard to realize that there was any real danger.
Perhaps there could be no more conclusive proof
or more satisfactory measure of his really brilliant
and solid success.
While these important negotiations were going on, great changes had come over the political horizon. There had been a quarrel between the northern and southern sections of the Whig party (see Tyler, John), and on 11 Sept., 1841, all the members of President Tyler's cabinet, except Mr. Webster, resigned. It seems to have been believed by many of the Whigs that a unanimous resignation on the part of the cabinet would force President Tyler to resign. The idea came from a misunderstanding of the British custom in similar cases, and it is an incident of great interest to the student of American history; but there was not the slightest chance that it should be realized. Had there been any such chance, Mr. Webster defeated it by staying at his post in order to finish the treaty with Great Britain. The Whigs were inclined to attribute his conduct to unworthy motives, and no sooner had the treaty been signed, 9 Aug., 1842, than the newspapers began calling upon him to resign. The treaty was ratified in the senate by a vote of 39 to 9, but it had still to be adopted by parliament, and much needless excitement was occasioned on both sides of the ocean by the discovery of an old map in Paris, sustaining the British view of the northeastern boundary, and another in London, sustaining the American view. Mr. Webster remained at his post in spite of popular clamor until he knew the treaty to be quite safe. In the hope of driving him from the cabinet, the Whigs in Massachusetts held a convention and declared that President Tyler was no longer a member of their party. On a visit to Boston, Mr. Webster made a noble speech in Faneuil hall, 30 Sept., 1842, in the course of which he declared that he was neither to be coaxed nor driven into an action that in his own judgment was not conducive to the best interests of the country. He knew very well that by such independence he was likely to injure his chances for nomination to the presidency. He knew that a movement in favor of Mr. Clay had begun in Massachusetts, and that his own course was adding greatly to the impetus of that movement. But his patriotism rose superior to all personal considerations. In May, 1843, having seen the treaty firmly established, he resigned the secretaryship and returned to the practice of his profession in Boston. In the canvass of 1844 he supported Mr. Clay in a series of able speeches. On Mr. Choate's resignation, early in 1845, Mr. Webster was re-elected to the senate. The two principal questions of Mr. Polk's administration related to the partition of Oregon and the difficulties that led to war with Mexico. The Democrats declared that we must have the whole of Oregon up to the parallel of 54° 40', although the 49th parallel had already been sug-
