falseness of such a charge. The course of Mr. Webster, Sir, in relation to the Tariff, and I might as well say, in relation to almost every other question of national policy, has been the course of Massachusetts. Massachusetts, in common with the other New England States, opposed the tariff at its origin, and continued to oppose it until after the act of 1824,—an act by which it was virtually declared that a protecting system was thereafter to be considered as the settled policy of the country. From that moment her opposition ceased, and her citizens generally, instead of persevering in unavailing efforts to destroy that system, resorted to the more prudent and more patriotic course of accommodating themselves to it. They invested large amounts of capital under its inducements, and their interests soon became inseparably identified with its preservation. And for such preservation, both in letter and in spirit, she has ever since voted. Such has been the course of Massachusetts, and such has been the course of her distinguished Senator, and the whole sum of their inconsistency is contained in the acknowledged fact, that they would not take part in pulling down upon their own heads, and upon the heads of thousands of citizens who had been compelled to seek its shelter, a vast and costly structure, merely because they had declined to approve its model, or to assist in laying its corner-stone. Mr. Speaker, the career of Mr. Webster is before the country; it may be his whole career. Rumors are already rife of his intention to retire from public life, temporarily at least, perhaps forever. Let him retire when he will, he needs no defence, he requires no eulogy, he fears no investigation. He has not, indeed, squared his consistency upon the modern fashionable block. He has left it to others to suit their sentiments to the times, or to reserve all knowledge of those sentiments within their own breast. He has left it to others to pander to popular prejudices, to fan popular discontents, to stimulate the poor against the rich, to sacrifice principle to policy, and to follow the shadow of consistency by abandoning its substance. His course is before the country, and let him retire when he will-may it be still a distant, distant day he will leave light, imperishable, unfading light, behind him; and that not only gilding his own memory, and casting glory upon the Commonwealth of his adoption, but cheering and guiding and illuminating the path of Constitutional patriotism throughout all generations. Other stars, Sir, may have reached a higher ascension, may have sparkled with a more dazzling lustre, may have shot with a wilder fire. Meteors, too, may have flashed, and flamed, and glared, and cost a moment's wonder or a moment's fear, and passed away. But as long as our glorious Constitution shall be borne up upon the waves of time, and its banner of Union and Liberty be seen streaming to the winds, in every moment of doubt, in every hour of danger, the passengers and the pilot will be found turning alike fo their direction to our own NORTHERN STAR always clear, always above the horizon "Of whose true-fixed and resting quality, In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, let me express the hope that the resolutions on your table may not only pass, and pass in their present shape, but pass, too, with the general and cordial assent of the House. Sir, if from any spot on the wide surface of this Union a sound of undivided, unbroken, unanimous remonstrance ought to go up to the National Councils against the measure to which these resolutions relate, it is from this very spot. If, upon any occasion, the voices of all political parties, and of all personal and public interests throughout this Commonwealth, ought to lose their conflicting tones, and leave their jarring discords, and mingle in one deep diapason of deprecation and protest, it is upon this very occasion. Here, in the hall of the Representatives of Massachusetts, assembled to watch over the interests and to provide for the welfare of the whole people,—here, when those interests and that welfare are menaced with destruction, a voice, as it were of one man in unity, as it were of that whole people in volume, ought to be uttered;-and here, it would seem to me, if those Representatives are true to their trusts and faithful to their constituents, such a voice ought to be uttered now. And notwithstanding some symptoms of opposition in other stages of this business, and notwithstanding that in this last stage, also, one gentleman, at least, who is not accustomed to act alone, or to cry "follow" to no effect, has argued with all his energy and all his ardor against the resolutions, I can hardly help believing that such a voice, substantially, will now be heard. I cannot bring myself to believe, Sir, that any considerable division of opinion exists or will be expressed upon this subject. Gentlemen may have differed as to the expediency of introducing it here, may have been desirous, some of them, to prevent its introduction, and may still regret the necessity, in which it involves them, of choosing between allegiance to their party leaders elsewhere, and fidelity to their constituents here. But now that the question is brought fairly before them, now that they are compelled to give their yea or nay to the propositions which these resolutions contain, I cannot believe that they will hesitate long which to choose, or falter in the expression of their choice. I hope and trust, Sir, that we are to see no party lines drawn in the decision of this question. I hope and trust that neither the wool growers of Berkshire, nor the manufacturers of Middlesex, all or any of them, are to have their opinions belied and their interests betrayed, out of mere party feeling. I hope and trust that the great manufacturing Capital of New England, which at the touch of the protecting system has risen up almost in an instant to her present station of prosperity and pride, should she be doomed in some future day to take up her lamentation and say, "how doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people," — will be spared the pain of going on with the words of the Prophet and adding, "all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies." One gentleman from Lowell, (Mr. Mansur,) indeed, has frankly avowed his purpose of voting for the resolutions; let us hope that he will not stand alone. Gentlemen may have agreed with the gentleman from Gloucester, that we ought not to compromise the dignity of the State by interfering with Congress upon trivial occasions, and thrusting our impertinent petitions in its face to no purpose, that we should reserve our applications for cases of the last importance, the passage of a resolution, for instance Mr. Speaker, to falsify and mutilate the Constitutional Records of Congress, in order to appease the wrath and conciliate the countenance of censured sovereignty and that we ought not to waste them upon such paltry matters as the prosperity and property of the whole people; - but now, Sir, that this remonstrance is destined to reach Congress, as no one can doubt it is, I cannot believe that they will deny their assent to its principles, or their vote to its passage. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WHIGS OF NEW YORK. A SPEECH DELIVERED AT MASONIC HALL, NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 22, 1837. MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN, I STAND before you as the organ of a delegation from the Whigs of Boston, to offer you their congratulations on the event which has given occasion to this festival. I might well wish, with the gentleman from Rhode Island, who has just taken his seat—and much better wish it than he now could, since he has already performed his own part so honorably-that this duty had fallen upon stronger shoulders. Pressed into the service, as I was, at short notice, and with no opportunity for preparation at home, and tossed upon the Sound, as I have been until within an hour past, ever since I left home, with no source of inspiration at hand but the fog through which we were groping, I feel myself no fit representative either of those who have sent me here, or of those by whom I am accompanied. Much less do I feel competent to answer the expectations, or to do justice to the deserts, of those whom I address. But I have at least this consolation, Sir,-that, a thousand times better qualified for the position which I have the honor to hold, as are many of those whom we have left behind us, and many too, let me add, of those whom we have brought with us, no one, no one of them all, whether present or absent, could do entire and perfect justice to this occasion. Human language is adapted to the description of ordinary events, and to the expression of ordinary emotions. But its strongest terms seem weak, and its choicest phrases sound common, and its warmest figures fall cold and frozen from our lips, when we are called upon to deal with an |