Select Speeches of Daniel Webster, 1817-1845Webster, Daniel
General
Select Speeches of Daniel Webster, 1817-1845
Webster, Daniel
Speeches, addresses, etc., American
Coleridge used to say that he had seldom known or heard of any great
man who had not much of the woman in him. Even so the large intellect
of Daniel Webster seemed to be coupled with all softer feelings; and
his countenance and bearing, at the very first, impressed me with this.
A commanding brow, thoughtful eyes, and a mouth that seemed to respond
to all humanities. He deserves his fame, I am sure.--John Kenyon.
He is a magnificent specimen. You might say to all the world, "This is
our Yankee Englishman; such limbs we make in Yankee-land!" As a
parliamentary Hercules one would incline to back him at first sight
against all the extant world. The tanned complexion; that amorphous
craglike face; the dull black eyes under the precipice of brows, like
dull anthracite furnaces needing only to be _blown_; the mastiff mouth,
accurately closed; I have not traced so much of _silent Berserkir rage_
that I remember of in any other man.--Thomas Carlyle.
When the historian shall look back upon the first century of the
American Republic, the two names that will shine with most unfading
lustre and the serenest glory, high above all others, are Washington
and Webster.--Professor Felton.
Consider the remarkable phenomenon of excellence in three unkindred,
one might have thought incompatible, forms of public speech,--that of
the forum, with its double audience of bench and jury, of the halls of
legislation, and of the most thronged and tumultuous assemblies of the
people. Consider, further, that this multiform eloquence, exactly as
his words fell, became at once so much accession to permanent
literature in the strictest sense,--solid, attractive, rich,--and ask
how often in the history of public life such a thing has been
exemplified.--Rufus Choate.
The noblest monument to Daniel Webster is in his works. As a repository
of political truth and practical wisdom, applied to the affairs of
government, I know not where we shall find their equal. The works of
Burke naturally suggest themselves to the mind, as the only writings in
our language that can sustain the comparison.--Edward Everett.
He writes like a man who is thinking of his subject, and not of his
style, and thus he wastes no time upon the mere garb of his thoughts.
His style is Doric, not Corinthian. His sentences are like shafts hewn
from the granite of his own hills,--simple, massive, strong. We may
apply to him what Quinctilian says of Cicero, that a relish for his
writings is itself a mark of good taste.--George S. Hillard.
He taught the people of the United States, in the simplicity of common
understanding, the principles of the Constitution and government of the
country, and he wrought for them, in a style of matchless strength and
beauty, the literature of statesmanship. He made his language the very
household words of a nation. They are the library of the people. They
are the school-book of the citizen.--John D. Long.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account