If this volume shall aid in bringing the young of this generation "to have
him all by heart," to ascend his imaginative heights and sit under the
shadow of his profound reflections on that which is fundamental in civil
and religious liberty, its purpose will be accomplished.

With few exceptions these selections are given entire. Whenever they have
been abridged, the continuity of the discourse has not been impaired.

In the matter of annotation the purpose has been to furnish sufficient aid
to the general reader, and at the same time to indicate to the special
student lines along which he may study the speeches.

In Edward Everett's Memoir, found in the first volume of Mr. Webster's
works; in the life of Mr. Webster by George Tichnor Curtis, and in Henry
Cabot Lodge's _Daniel Webster_, in the American Statesman Series, the
student has exhaustive, scholarly, and judicious estimates of Mr.
Webster's work.

I am indebted to the Hon. George F. Hoar and the Hon. Edward J. Phelps for
assistance in the task of selecting representative speeches; and to the
former for permission to associate his name with this edition of Mr.
Webster's work.

A. J. G.

Brookline, November, 1892.