I can only allude4 very briefly5 to the causes which had almost annihilated6 our commerce and paralyzed our prosperity. Both England and France had been guilty of aggressions upon our commercial rights, and the former government especially had excited indignation by its pretended right to search American vessels8, for British seamen9 and deserters. This was intensified10 by the retaliatory11 order of Napoleon, issued Dec. 17, 1807, known as the Milan Décrets, in accordance with which every vessel7, of whatever nationality, that submitted to be searched, forfeited12 its neutral character, and even neutral vessels sailing between British ports were declared lawful13 prizes. Thus America was between two fires, and there seemed to be small chance of escape for any. Moreover, Great Britain interdicted14 all trade by neutrals between ports not friendly to her, and the United States was one of the chief sufferers from the extraordinary assumptions of the two hostile powers.
To save our vessels from depredation15 President Jefferson recommended what is known as the Embargo16, which prevented the departure of our vessels from our own ports, and thus of course suspended our commercial relations with the rest of the world. The Embargo was never a popular measure, and its effects were felt to be widely injurious. I do not propose to discuss the question, but merely to state that in 1808 Mr. Webster published a pamphlet upon the Embargo, and, as his biographer claims, this must be regarded as his first appearance in a public character. I must refer such of my readers as desire more fully17 to understand the condition of public affairs and the part that the young lawyer took therein to the first volume of Mr. Curtis’s memoir18.
It may be stated here, however, to explain the special interest which he felt in the matter, that Portsmouth, as a seaport19, was largely affected20 by the suspension of American commerce, and its citizens felt an interest easily explained in what was so disastrous21 to their business prosperity.
On the Fourth of July, 1812, Mr. Webster delivered by invitation an oration22 before the “Washington Benevolent23 Society,” of Portsmouth, in which he discussed in a vigorous way the policy of the government, which he did not approve. Sixteen days before Congress had declared war against England. To this war Mr. Webster was opposed. Whatever grievances24 the government may have suffered from England, he contended that there was “still more abundant cause of war against France.” Moreover America was not prepared for war. The navy had been suffered to fall into neglect during Jefferson’s administration, until it was utterly25 insufficient26 for the defense27 of our coasts and harbors.
On this point he says: “If the plan of Washington had been pursued, and our navy had been suffered to grow with the growth of our commerce and navigation, what a blow might at this moment be struck, and what protection yielded, surrounded, as our commerce now is, with all the dangers of sudden war! Even as it is, all our immediate28 hopes of glory or conquest, all expectation of events that shall gratify the pride or spirit of the nation, rest on the gallantry of that little remnant of a navy that has now gone forth29, like lightning, at the beck of Government, to scour30 the seas.
“It will not be a bright page in our history which relates the total abandonment of all provision for naval31 defense by the successors of Washington. Not to speak of policy and expediency32, it will do no credit to the national faith, stipulated33 and plighted34 as it was to that object in every way that could make the engagement solemn and obligatory35. So long as our commerce remains36 unprotected, and our coasts and harbors undefended by naval and maritime37 means, the essential objects of the union remain unanswered, and the just expectation of those who assented38 to it, unanswered.
“A part of our navy has been suffered to go to entire decay; another part has been passed, like an article of useless lumber39, under the hammer of the auctioneer. As if the millennium40 had already commenced, our politicians have beaten their swords into plowshares. They have actually bargained away in the market essential means of national defense, and carried the product to the Treasury41. Without loss by accident or by enemies the second commercial nation in the world is reduced to the limitation of being unable to assert the sovereignty of its own seas, or to protect its navigation in sight of its own shores. What war and the waves have sometimes done for others, we have done for ourselves. We have taken the destruction of our marine42 out of the power of fortune, and richly achieved it by our own counsels.”
This address made a profound impression, voicing as it did the general public feeling in New Hampshire on the subjects of which it treated. It led to an assembly of the people of Rockingham County a few weeks later, called to prepare a memorial to the President protesting against the war. To this convention Mr. Webster was appointed a delegate, and it was he who was selected to draft what has been since known as the “Rockingham Memorial.”
One of the most noteworthy passages in this memorial—noteworthy because it is an early expression of his devotion to the union—I find quoted by Mr. Curtis, and I shall follow his lead in transferring it to my pages.
“We are, sir, from principle and habit attached to the union of these States. But our attachment44 is to the substance, and not to the form. It is to the good which this union is capable of producing, and not to the evil which is suffered unnaturally45 to grow out of it. If the time should ever arrive when this union shall be holden together by nothing but the authority of law; when its incorporating, vital principles shall become extinct; when its principal exercises shall consist in acts of power and authority, not of protection and beneficence; when it shall lose the strong bond which it hath hitherto had in the public affections; and when, consequently, we shall be one, not in interest and mutual46 regard, but in name and form only—we, sir, shall look on that hour as the closing scene of our country’s prosperity.
“We shrink from the separation of the States as an event fraught47 with incalculable evils, and it is among our strongest objections to the present course of measures that they have, in our opinion, a very dangerous and alarming bearing on such an event. If a separation of the States ever should take place, it will be on some occasion when one portion of the country undertakes to control, to regulate and to sacrifice the interest of another; when a small and heated majority in the Government, taking counsel of their passions, and not of their reason, contemptuously disregarding the interests and perhaps stopping the mouths of a large and respectable minority, shall by hasty, rash and ruinious measures, threaten to destroy essential rights, and lay waste the most important interests.
“It shall be our most fervent48 supplication49 to Heaven to avert50 both the event and the occasion; and the Government may be assured that the tie that binds51 us to the union will never be broken by us.”
Even my young readers will be struck by the judicial52 calmness, the utter absence of heated partisanship53, which mark the extracts I have made, and they will recall the passage well known to every schoolboy—the grand closing passage of the reply to Hayne.
As regards style it will be seen that, though yet a young man, Mr. Webster had made a very marked advance on the Fourth of July address which he delivered while yet a college-student. He was but thirty years old when the memorial was drafted, and in dignified54 simplicity55 and elevation56 of tone it was worthy43 of his later days. The young lawyer, whose time had hitherto been employed upon cases of trifling57 moment in a country town, had been ripening58 his powers, and expanding into the intellectual proportions of a statesman. It was evident at any rate that his neighbors thought so, for he was nominated as a Representative to the Thirteenth Congress, in due time elected, and, as has already been stated, he first took his seat at a special session called by the President on the 24th of May, 1813.
It was in this Congress that Daniel Webster made the acquaintance of two eminent59 men, with whose names his own is now most frequently associated—Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina.
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1
sophomore
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| n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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retaliatory
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| adj.报复的 | |
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forfeited
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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interdicted
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| v.禁止（行动）( interdict的过去式和过去分词 )；禁用；限制 | |
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depredation
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| n.掠夺，蹂躏 | |
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embargo
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| n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商） | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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memoir
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| n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录 | |
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seaport
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| n.海港，港口，港市 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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grievances
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| n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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scour
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| v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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stipulated
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| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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plighted
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| vt.保证，约定（plight的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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obligatory
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| adj.强制性的，义务的，必须的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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maritime
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| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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millennium
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| n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世 | |
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treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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fraught
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| adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的 | |
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48
fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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supplication
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| n.恳求，祈愿，哀求 | |
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50
avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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51
binds
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| v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕 | |
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52
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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53
Partisanship
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| n. 党派性, 党派偏见 | |
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54
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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55
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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56
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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58
ripening
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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