however the fame of so distinguished an American Statesman might claim
such hopes, the duty was rigidly to inquire, and rigorously to do
justice. The result was that he was acquitted of every charge that was
made against him, and it was equally my pride and my pleasure to
vindicate him in every form which lay within my power. [Applause.] No
man who knew Daniel Webster, would have expected less of him. Had our
position been reversed, none such could have believed that he would
with a view to a judgment ask whether a charge was made against a
Massachusetts man or a Mississippian. No! it belonged to a lower, a
later, and I trust a shorter lived race of statesmen ["hear," "hear,"]
to measure all facts by considerations of latitude and longitude.
[Warm applause.]

I honor that sentiment which makes us oftentimes too confident, and to
despise too much the danger of that agitation which disturbs the peace
of the country. I honor that feeling which believes the Constitutional
Union too strong to be shaken. But at the same time I say, in sober
judgment, it will not do to treat too lightly the danger which has
beset and which still impends over us. Who has not heard our
Constitutional Union compared to the granite cliffs which line the sea
and dash back the foam of the waves, unmoved by their fury. Recently I
have stood upon New England's shore, and have seen the waves of a
troubled sea dash upon the granite which frowns over the ocean, have
seen the spray thrown back from the cliff, and the receding wave fret
like the impotent rage of baffled malice. But when the tide had ebbed,
I saw that the rock was seamed and worn by the ceaseless beating of
the sea, and fragments riven from the rock were lying on the beach.

Thus the waves of sectional agitation are dashing themselves against
the granite patriotism of the land. If long continued, that too must