Friday, September 15, 2023

Senator Daniel Webster to Professor Stuart, April 31, 1850

Boston, April 31, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR,—I cannot well say how much pleasure it gave me to see a name, so much venerated and beloved by me as yours is, on the letter recently received by me from friends in Boston and its vicinity, approving the general object and character of my speech in the Senate, of the seventh of March. I know the conscientiousness with which you act on such occasions, and therefore value your favorable sentiments the more highly.

Is it not time, my dear Sir, that the path of Christian duty, in relation to great and permanent questions of government, and to the obligations which men are under to support the constitution and the fundamental principles of the government under which they live, should be clearly pointed out? I am afraid we are falling into loose habits of thinking upon such subjects; and I could wish that your health and strength would allow you to communicate your own thoughts to the public.

We have established over us a much better form of government than may ordinarily be expected in the allotments of Providence to men; and it appears to me that the consciences of all well-meaning and enlightened individuals, should rather be called upon to uphold this form of government, than to weaken and undermine it by imputing to it objections, ill considered and ill founded, dangerous to the stability of all government, and not unfrequently the offspring of overheated imaginations.

Allow me to conclude, my dear Sir, by offering you my highest respects, and my affectionate good wishes for your health and happiness.

D. WEBSTER.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, p. 367

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