Friday, September 15, 2023

Mr. A. W. Venables to Senator Daniel Webster, June 7, 1850

Washington, June 7, 1850.

DEAR SIR,—I promised to give you the remarks which were made in relation to yourself by our lamented friend Mr. Calhoun. As they were in a social conversation in his room, I would not have repeated them, but for the fact that there had been placed before the public a statement which, although materially true, does not convey what I had frequently supposed him to mean whilst referring to yourself and other individuals, with whom he had been associated in public life. In more than one conversation, he was induced by questions proposed by those present, to speak of the statesmen who had mingled in those scenes which are so remarkable in the history of the country. When your name was mentioned, he remarked that "Mr. Webster has as high a standard of truth as any statesman with whom I have met in debate. Convince him, and he cannot reply; he is silenced; he cannot look truth in the face and oppose it by argument. I think that it can be readily perceived by his manner when he felt the unanswerable force of a reply."

He often spoke of you in my presence, and always kindly and most respectfully. It was due to the memory of our friend as well as to yourself, that this communication should be made.

Yours, very respectfully,
A. W. VENABLES.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, p. 371-2

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