Daniel Webster to Richard M. Blatchford, August 23, 1851

Elms Farm, August 23, 1851, Thursday morning, five o'clock-?

A little foggy, but will be a fine day.

MY DEAR SIR, — At noon yesterday I received your letter of Monday, P. M. The warmth with which you express your friendship towards me deeply touches me. Be assured, my dear Sir, that your affectionate regard is fully reciprocated. I like your intelligence, I respect your judgment, I have sympathy with your principles, and your feelings, and I like your society. It is my fervent wish that your friendship, as a source of happiness to me, may continue to refresh and gladden my way through all the little remainder of the path of life, which is yet to be trodden. Heaven's blessing ever rest on you and yours! and may you see many, many happy days, when all that you know of me, shall be matter of memory!

In regard to health, my dear friend, I remain as when you left me, except I think my general strength has improved, and the affection of the feet, which I am forced to believe is gout, is less troublesome and painful. Still, my feet are quite tender, and not without occasional twinges. I cannot say, that at this moment I feel any symptom of catarrh whatever. Still, I am cautious, and continue the use of all the medicines, keep indoors, except in fine weather, and avoid every thing, which might give the enemy an opening, through which he might enter.

In the P. M. yesterday, I received your despatch, and suppose that an hour hence, you will be at the Tremont. I thank you for having written to Mrs. Webster, for really I hardly know where to direct letters for her. I have not as yet heard from her, as actually at Niagara.

My dear Sir, may I ask if I am likely to get any slippers, or soft shoes, or boots? You undertook a very humble service, but you are so sure to perform what you undertake, that I relied on no one else. I suppose you could find none ready made, and I write this only to pray you not to let even so small a matter to slip out of your memory.

If detained in Boston, though but for a day, and that day be not a busy one, I trust you will come up. I wrote you yesterday on a subject of some little interest, but no great. You will find the letter at New York.

Yours, always sincerely and truly,

DAN'L WEBSTER

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 464-5

Daniel Webster to Richard M. Blatchford, August 31, 1851

[Franklin, August 31, 1851.] Sunday evening.

MY DEAR SIR, — This has been a lonely and rather unhappy day. Since last evening the pain in my feet has been constant and intense, and I do not think I slept twenty minutes at one time, last night, between nine o'clock and three. Nor have I been able to sleep to-day. The weather is fine, and I drove up to the village this P. M. to ask the doctor to come down and see if he could not give me something, colchicum, or something else, to relieve pain without opium. He says he will try.

Friday about noon, I thought I felt catarrhal symptoms. There were some tendency of defluxion from the nose, the eyes did not feel right, and what was more important, I felt a degree of general depression, which belongs to the disease. I fought the demonstration off, however, and at present feel nothing of it. Indeed, while I write this, such is the burning in my feet, that I could not well feel any thing else. The complaint in the feet does not spread. It is confined to the extremities, the toes of the two feet. No external application gives any relief.

Monday morning, seven o'clock. I am glad I did not fill up this sheet last evening, as I am better to-day, and have no bad signs or symptoms about me.

I expect to hear from you at eleven o'clock.

Yours, truly always,

DAN'L WEBSTER.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 468-9

Daniel Webster to Millard Fillmore, September 8, 1851

Franklin, September 8, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR, — I was delighted to receive your letter of the 2d, and to find you are at home, safe and well. I saw you had your hands full of Cuban matters. I think your course entirely right. What patriots and hot-headed men will next undertake, respecting Cuba, remains to be seen. We must expect that every possible effort will be made to embroil us with Spain.

I have had rather a hard time. I have been able to keep off the catarrh so far, but it has called on me to take so much medicine as a good deal to derange my system. In addition to this, I was attacked three weeks ago by a violent pain in one of my feet, which the doctor says is gout. I can hardly believe this, as we never had gout in our family; but there is something, and which is by spells exceedingly painful. The physician says it will do my constitution a great deal of good, and go off in good time.

I go to Boston to-day, where Mrs. Webster is, and thence immediately to Marshfield. By the process, thus far, I have lost flesh, and am not a little reduced. Yesterday and Sunday were exceedingly hot, bright days; and although I did step out of the house, the heat affected my eyes, much after the catarrh fashion. I resisted the attack, however, by the application of ice. This effort to avert the catarrh, and this appearance of gout, if it be good, will produce a change of some sort, in the state of my health. I do not know how it will come out, but hope for the best.

I think you will do very well to make Mr. Crittenden acting secretary on his return. I shall make every effort to get to Washington before the month is out, and am the more anxious to do so, as I must be in New Hampshire to meet friends one day in the early part of October, at Manchester. All depends, however, on the progress I may make in regard to health.

I do hope Mr. Corwin will not quit. Conjure him, in my behalf, to remain for the present.

I shall give Mr. Derrick directions to recall Mr. Forward.

I shall not attend the Boston celebration, and I should not if I were well. I cannot accept any invitation in which the mayor and aldermen form part of the inviters.

Yours, always truly,

DAN'L WEBSTER.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 469-70

Daniel Webster to Peter Harvey, September 13, 1851

Revere House, Friday. September 13, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR, — It has been suggested as possible, that some of those who will dine on the common to-day, might be inclined, afterwards, to make me a call of civility and respect, in numbers. I hope this may not happen. Such an occurrence, immediately after the President's departure, might be liable to misconstruction. It might be represented that it had been planned, or designed, or, if not so, that it was disrespectful to the President. My deep and sincere regard for the President, as well as my official relations to him, would make it exceedingly painful to me, if any thing should occur, in which my name should be concerned, however remotely, manifesting disrespect to him or the slightest want of kindness, or delicacy towards his feelings. Besides, I am desirous that he should get through this occasion in a manner every way the most gratifying to him.

I shall have another opportunity, ere long, of meeting the citizens of Boston. I hope it may not be necessary to show this letter, or even to suggest its existence to any one, but, nevertheless, I wish my friends to be aware of my feelings, should the case arise.

Yours, truly always,

DAN'L WEBSTER.

P. S. The President is not quite well this morning, and does not come down to breakfast. I presume he has experienced a little too much fatigue.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 470-1

Daniel Webster to Richard M. Blatchford, September 15, 1851

Marshfield, Green Harbor, September 15, 1851.        

Monday morning, eight o'clock.

MY DEAR FRIEND, — Since I wrote you last, I have gone through sudden and various changes in regard to my health. Things wore on, much as they had been going, until the first of this month. Then excessively hot weather set in, and gave a new turn to matters. Saturday the 6th, Sunday the 7th, and Monday the 8th were intolerable days for heat. On Saturday, although I did not step over the threshold, my eyes became strongly affected, much after the catarrh fashion, and this continued. Monday afternoon the weather appearing to cool a little, and the cars not passing till six o'clock, I ventured on board for Boston. We were unlucky. The engine was thrown off the track by running over cattle; it was midnight before we got in. I took a heavy cold, and the next day was quite ill all day. Wednesday afternoon I broke away by violence, and came hither by way of the Hingham boat. While in Boston, Dr. Jeffries advised me to leave off all medicine for a time, which I did, and have not yet resumed the taking of any. These things, or some of them, have caused a very sudden improvement. My feet became at once quite well, nor have I felt any great influence of catarrh, since I have been here. On Thursday, I caught thirty very fine Tautog, under Sunk Rock. It was just the day for them; mild, still, and a little cloudy. On such a day, and just at the commencement of flood tide, throw your hook into their den, and the chiefs will all contend for it. I took one seven pound fellow. On Saturday, I went out in the Lapwing with Fletcher, and some of his Boston friends. We had no great luck, and it came on to rain, during a perfect calm, so that we did not escape a wetting. I took little harm from it.

Saturday night wind and weather changed, and we have had it quite cold. This morning the wind is east, and at sunrise the mercury stood 51°. I doubt whether I shall leave the house to-day. Mr. Lanman came with me from New Hampshire, has been here, and went off this morning for New York. Mrs. Webster, Miss Kate Le Roy, and myself constitute the parlour part of the household.

I received an invitation from the City Government to attend the railroad celebration, which I declined. The President wrote me on the 10th, that he should not be here, but a telegraphic despatch announced, Saturday evening, that he would leave Washington this morning for Boston.

Mrs. Webster and I propose to go to town to-morrow, to see the fashions a little, and spend two or three days. Then one more short stay at this place, will bring us to October.

Marshfield looks finely, and every thing is right but the potatoes. The rot has taken them. The barns are crowded full of hay and grain, the fields have quite an English green about them, and the cattle are up to their knees in fresh grown grass. N. B. Since writing so far, I have yours, saying you have flown off to Niagara.

Yours truly,

DAN'L WEBSTER.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 471-2

Daniel Webster to Governor George S. Boutwell, September 22, 1851

Boston, September 22, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR, — I am desirous of placing these trifles¹ in your possession, as a gift from my own hand; the more especially as the occasion furnishes an opportunity of expressing my high personal regard, and my profound respect for the manner in which you have upholden constitutional principles, and maintained the supremacy of the laws.

Very truly and faithfully, yours,

DAN'L WEBSTER.

_______________

¹ Copy of Mr. Webster’s New York Speeches.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 472-3

Daniel Webster to Richard M. Blatchford, September 26, 1851

Marshfield, September 26, 1851. Friday, two P. M.

MY DEAR SIR, — Here I am once more, and here, I assure you, I am most happy to be. After a noisy week of "celebrations," we went to Beverly, and passed a few highly agreeable days with Mr. Haven's family. It is a charming spot, and a most hospitable mansion. You were looked for, and a room kept for you till we left. We came up to Boston yesterday forenoon, and I came to this place early this morning, leaving Mrs. Webster to come down at two o'clock, with Mr. Edward Curtis, who, I hope, arrived at Boston this morning.

At Boston I received your letter, saying you should come to Boston on Tuesday. I pray you come immediately here. Call on Mr. Haven, who, I hope, will accompany you, as I wish to see you and him together.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, p. 473

Daniel Webster to Edward Everett, September 27, 1851

Marshfield, September 27, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR, — My speech of the 7th of March, 1850, is probably the most important effort of my life, and as likely as any other to be often referred to. I think, therefore, it ought to have a short name for a running title, and for popular use. I should like to have "Union" in it, in some form, and would retain the date, to distinguish it from other "Union" speeches. Suppose you say in the running title, "Mr. Webster's Speech," or "Speech, March 7, 1850, on the danger of the Union and the duties of its friends," or "Speech for the Union and the Constitution, March 7, 1850."

Do I not say in the speech, which is not before me, "I speak to-day for the Union?" I leave all to your taste and judgment, but incline myself strongly for the last form stated above. Mr. Clay's resolutions were rather the occasion than the subject of the speech.

I am on the manuscript to-day.

Yours,

D. W.

P. S. A very rainy morning.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 473-4

Daniel Webster to Millard Fillmore, September 28, 1851

(EXTRACT.)

Marshfield, September 28, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR, — I heard with great pleasure of your arrival at Washington in safety and good health. I am sure your recollections of your visit to the Bostonians must be pleasant, as you gave them all much pleasure. It is a long time since they have seen among them a Whig President; I do not hear any thing but satisfaction from any quarter.

As soon as you left Boston, I went to the country, and stayed two or three days with Mr. Haven. I was far from being well, and one day quite sick. Sometimes the force of the catarrh seems pretty much broken, and then it returns attacking the head, eyes, nose, &c., with great violence. I think it is approaching its last stage, which is the asthmatic stage. Some of our friends who are subjects of the complaint, and who have short necks, dread this. I do not fear much from this, although in this stage I feel its influence more or less on the chest. Meantime, between the catarrh and the Harrisburg diarrhea, I am a good deal reduced. This cannot be denied, though I am not quite so sick, as the newspapers represent me sometimes.

The weather is now bad, and I am obliged to keep house; but it does me good to be out in fair weather. In such a day as this, a northeast rain-storm pouring, I cough a little, and am as hoarse as a frog.

But enough of myself.

Yours truly,

DAN'L WEBSTER.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 474-5

Congressman Horace Mann to E. W. Clapp, June 24, 1852

WASHINGTON, June 24, 1852.

MY DEAR SIR, — I left home on Saturday, stopped over Sunday in New York, and came on on Monday. At Philadelphia I heard the news of the nomination; and, when I arrived at Baltimore, the first men I saw were some of our Massachusetts Hunker delegates. Sadder-looking men away from a funeral I never saw. The Fillmore and Webster men composed a majority of the convention, and therefore had every thing their own way in the organization; in the Committee on Credentials, by which they let in all their friends, and shut out all their enemies, without reference to the fairness οr unfairness of their election — just as the Democrats did Rantoul; and also in the Committee on Resolutions.

But, when they came to the nomination, the antislavery and anticompromise portion of the convention prevailed; and, if they did not win a full triumph, their enemies suffered a terrible defeat. They withstood not only the Southern slavery phalanx, but all the influence of the Government, and all the mammon Hunkerism of State Street, Wall Street, and Walnut Street. . . .

H. M.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 370

Congressman Horace Mann, June 24, 1852

WASHINGTON, June 24, 1852.

When the Whig Convention nominated Scott, they killed off those who had been most clamorous for slavery, and therefore did a great work. Though not a triumph of antislavery sentiment, therefore, it was a defeat of Hunkerism at the North, and of slavery domination at the South. It was the first antislavery stand in a National Convention that has ever been successful. So far it is matter for thanksgiving and hallelujah. But it adopted the proslavery platform. This was effected by the union of the slavery men of the South, and the Hunkers or Fillmore and Webster men of the North. These together made a large majority; one hundred and forty-nine being a majority. All these men worked together in the organization for the Committee on Credentials and for the Platform Committee, and were, of course, successful. But, when they came to candidates, they split. Nothing could carry enough of the Webster men over to Fillmore, or enough of the Fillmore men over to Webster, to make a majority. A portion of each knew of the other, what all sensible and unbiassed men knew, — that the nomination of the other would be death to the party; and they would not defeat the party, even for the nomination of a favorite. Thus it was done, and thus it was not done.

There is such an infinite difference between Scott and Pierce, that all true antislavery men must desire the success of the former. About ten or a dozen Whigs from the South, and about the same number of Fillmore men, went over for Scott. This is all that could be meant by the South's supporting Scott or abandoning the compromises. They have got them in form, but not much more. The reason why they say Scott adopts the Southern platform is, that he accepts the nomination of the party that adopts the platform; and, indeed, his telegraphic despatch to the convention was, that he accepted the nomination with the platform. But as many interpretations can be given to the platform as to the Thirty-nine Articles. And, besides, the Whig Platform, though disgraceful to human nature, is not so black by many hues as the Democratic.

I read this morning the greater part of Kossuth's speech at the Tabernacle, New York. Is it not his greatest speech?

We are now taking the question, by yeas and nays, on the passage of a bill to give a certain quantity of the public lands to the old States for educational purposes; and it looks as if it would go through the House. I hope so with all my organ of hope.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, pp. 370-1

Congressman Horace Mann, June 29, 1852

WASHINGTON, June 29, 1852.

Mr. Clay is dead: he expired between eleven and twelve o'clock this morning. . . . Probably no public man ever had more ardent or more numerous friends. He was a man of great nobleness of heart. He has impressed his mind upon the policy of the country; an impress, however, which is becoming fainter every year. On the slavery question, he has always been far in advance of the people among whom he lived. Had he belonged to the North, he would have become an antislavery man, and not a treacherous or perfidious one like Mr. Webster. He has lived to see Webster die a moral death, and Webster sees him die a natural one. I have no doubt, such has been the secret hostility between them, that each is rejoiced at the fortune of the other. Rivals for public favor for so many years, their competition is now at an end. Both have failed in the supreme object of their ambition. Would that all politicians and all men would learn a lesson from so instructive an example!

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 371-2

Congressman Horace Mann, July 8, 1852

JULY 8, 1852.

I see by the telegraphic report, that at a meeting of the Native-American party at Trenton, N. J., this week, Mr. Webster was nominated for the Presidency. This makes his position supremely ridiculous. It is an insignificant party, founded on the narrow basis of being born in America or out of it. If Mr. Webster does not notice it, there stands the nomination to show his power. If he declines it, everybody will laugh at him.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 373

John Jay to Senator Charles Sumner, July 5, 1852

I know too well the strength and depth of your antislavery principles, and have been too recently assured of your anxiety to utter your full views touching the Fugitive law to the Senate and the country, to attribute your delay in doing so to any other reason than your belief that an expedient occasion has not yet arrived. Others, however, who confound you with common politicians, attribute your silence to the Southern atmosphere of the Capitol, and profess to believe either that your opinions have become essentially modified, or that you are fearful of encountering the intellectual power of the defenders of Compromise, and incurring the odium and contempt with which the chivalry look down upon an abolitionist. I need not tell you, my dear Sumner, how warmly and indignantly I have repelled, and will continue to repel, all such insinuations against your honor and your integrity, and how confidently I have told your defamers to wait a little while for the promised speech that would silence their croakings, and awaken the country anew with strains of eloquence like those uttered by you in Faneuil Hall. Mr. Webster's awful treachery and shameless apostasy have so weakened the confidence of the people in the power of individuals to hold fast to unpopular truths that the meanness of such lesser traitors as Stanton and John Van Buren has excited no surprise.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 288

Daniel Webster to Millard Fillmore, August 1, 1851

Marshfield, August 1, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR,—I am getting along pretty well, although a violent change in the weather, from hot to cold, has proved a little unfavorable.

I am glad to learn that you are going to the Virginia Springs. I am sure you will be very cordially received.

I have written to Mr. Corwin that I will meet him at New York, whenever it may suit his convenience; and shall of course repair to Washington, whenever you may deem my presence there to be necessary; nevertheless, my hope is to stay here for some considerable time, with no further migrating than to New Hampshire. Mrs. Webster will set out on her proposed visit to Western New York on the 4th instant.

Of Mr. Allen, consul at Honolulu, I hear nothing since I wrote you, except perhaps that his indisposition continues.

I shall probably write you on the 4th, or earlier, if in the mean time I hear from you, addressed to you at Capon Springs.

Yours, always truly,

DAN'L WEBSTER.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 456-7

Daniel Webster to Millard Fillmore, August 5, 1851

Boston, August 5, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR,—I came to this city yesterday, and found it and all the hotels so crowded with strangers, that I wish myself out of it again as soon as possible. Many hundreds of people are here from the South, who have occupied my whole time, and whom I have promised to see in a mass to-day. They all speak in the highest terms of praise of your administration.

My health is gaining, but I do not yet get rid of that tendency to diarrhœa, which I contracted in Pennsylvania, in April; and while this lasts I must be weak. One misfortune is, that I cannot take, even in the smallest quantities, the common remedy, opium. I am obliged mainly to rely on diet and care.

I find Mr. Marcoleta here, in great affliction. He came here to be married to a beautiful young lady, a Miss West, who died suddenly soon after his arrival. He seems very much depressed; says he can do nothing at present; and proposes to go to Nicaragua, on a short visit, for the purpose of communicating with his government.

These Cuban rumors are substantially groundless. Mr. Bailey, a merchant of Matanzas, well known here as a person of standing, called on me yesterday, having seen in the newspapers that I was summoned to Washington, to consult on Cuban affairs. He came in The Isabel, the very latest arrival from Havana, and says that, on the day of sailing, he passed an hour with the governor-general, that the governor informed him, that on the 4th of July some lawless persons met in the streets in Principé, and raised revolutionary cries; that they soon fled to the hills and woods, and have since offered to surrender themselves on promise of safety to their lives; and that this is the amount of the disturbance. He says, what is undoubtedly true, that some disaffected persons in Cuba, keep up a correspondence with certain Americans in Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans, principally the two former, and that by these persons the false rumors are spread, and the clamor raised. He added, that the governor-general assured him that he had positive orders from the Queen's government, that if a revolution should break out and look serious, he should proclaim their slaves all free, and put arms in their hands. This proceeds on the idea, that, when freed, the slaves would defend the island against all attacks and all attempts from the United States.

I have heard of this before.

I have written Mr. Letcher, that if he finds it necessary to see me, he must come here. He can do that more easily than I can get to him.

I had one or two things to say, but am broke off by a rush of people, and must defer that part of my purpose.

I hear of your family, all well and happy, at Newport.

Yours, always truly,

DAN'L WEBSTER.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 459-60

Daniel Webster to Millard Fillmore, August 6, 1851

Boston, August 6, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR,—Your letter of the 2d was only received yesterday; it was directed to New York, whither the newspapers had sent me, but whither I had not gone myself.

If one trusts the newspapers, he can hardly be sure of his own whereabouts.

I shall see Mr. Letcher. It is probably a very good time to buy off our obligations under the treaty of Hidalgo. There is danger, however, that, if this should be done, the money will all go to the creditors of Mexico, leaving her as incapable as she now is of defending her frontiers. Our own territories are interested in this defence against the Indians. Can we trust Mexico? I shall, of course, converse freely with Mr. Letcher on this point, and shall write you.

I am quite content that Mr. ——— should go to China, and do not see how we can do better.

As to the district attorney, I am quite willing that the gentleman you mention should be appointed. For myself, I comply strictly with the regimen of Dr. Croes. Thus far, I get on pretty well. I did not think of going to Newport, because the climate of Newport is exactly that of Marshfield, while Newport is filled up by crowds of people, whereas Marshfield is quite secluded. To-morrow I think of going to New Hampshire, hardly so much for a change of air, as to look after some private affairs. In general, I find that those affected by my complaint avoid the interior, and come to the coast. But this is not universal.

There is no political news of interest here. A very unusual money panic exists both here and in New York.

I shall write you, my dear Sir, frequently, as at Capon Springs, until I hear of your movement further South. There is a telegraphic station at Franklin, New Hampshire, where I am going. But I shall be there for so short a period, that I had better be addressed at Boston.

I am, my dear Sir, as always, very truly yours,

DAN'L WEBSTER.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, p. 461

Daniel Webster to Millard Fillmore, August 10, 1851

Franklin, N. H., August 10, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR,—I came to these regions on the morning of Thursday the 7th, thinking that the mountain air might strengthen me against the time when I expect my enemy, the catarrh, to attack me; and here I am, obeying Mr. Croes, in all things, and getting a pretty good share of air and exercise. Fletcher came up yesterday to stay some days with me. We have had most violent thunder-storms in the last three days; but all has cleared off, and this day is bright and cool, and the atmosphere delicious.

My last letter from you was of the 4th. I do not think three millions an extravagant sum to buy off our treaty obligations with Mexico, if we could have assurance that she would apply it, or a proper part of it, to the defence of the frontiers against the Indians. My fear is, as I intimated in my last letter, that she will either apply the money to her existing debts, or waste it, and still leave the frontiers, her own as well as ours, a prey to savage hostilities.

It gives me great pain to hear that Mr. Corwin thinks of resigning his place. I should deem it quite a misfortune; and I have besought him, and shall continue to beseech him, to give up the idea.

If accounts be true, you have no lack of numbers at Capon Springs. Seven hundred is no mean company.

Yours always truly,

DANIEL WEBSTER.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 462-3

Daniel Webster to Millard Fillmore, August 19, 1851

Franklin, August, 19, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR,—Although I date this letter at Franklin, and shall send it thither to be mailed, yet, in truth, I write it among the White Mountains. I stayed at Franklin until the cars, passing and repassing every few hours, began to bring me many daily visitors; and as I wished for quiet and privacy, I took my own conveyance and came off in this direction. There are few inhabitants in these mountains, and no company, except tourists, who pass along rapidly, and disturb no one's repose. The weather has been fine, and my health improves daily; yet it is not perfect, as the complaint which attacked me at Harrisburg, still more or less annoys me. I have never had confidence that I should be able to avert entirely the attack of catarrh; but I believe that at least, I shall gain so much in general health and strength as to enable me, in some measure, to resist its influence, and mitigate its evils. Four days hence is the time of its customary approach. Within that period I shall fall quietly back on Franklin.

Mr. Letcher's instructions were duly revised, signed, and despatched, and an instruction given about the expulsion from the Isthmus, of Major Barnard and his associates, the surveyors. I also wrote a private letter, giving such suggestions as I thought might be useful.

Mr. Forward writes, that being a candidate for an election as judge, he wishes to be recalled, and I should like to receive your directions in relation to this subject. I suppose it may be as well that he should be permitted to return, and that the mission should remain vacant till the next session of Congress. We have no affairs of importance pending at Copenhagen. If his request be complied with, early notice should be given to him, as he might wish to leave the Baltic by the middle of October.

Mr. Corwin's purpose to resign ere long is, I fear, fixed, although I should devoutly wish that he would reconsider it. Where would you look for a successor? You could hardly go to Ohio, even if a proper man were to be found there, if Mr. Goddard is to go to China. This last appointment appears to me of more doubtful propriety than it did when I wrote you last, since Ohio has already one full mission.

Sir Henry Bulwer has gone to England, and Mr. Marcoleta, I presume to Nicaragua, so that all Nicaraguan affairs must remain in statu quo, till October. No important papers have been received from the Department, expect those which relate to Mexico. All the rest of the world is quiet. Indeed, Mexico is, at present, the main point of interest in our foreign relations. Lord Elgin, you notice, has accepted the Boston invitation for a great celebration in September. I trust you will be present.

Hoping that you are as happy among crowds as I am here in solitude, and enjoying health better than mine, I remain, my dear Sir, always yours truly,

DAN'L WEBSTER.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, pp. 463-4

Diary of Lucy Larcom, August 1, 1861

Yesterday I visited the residence of the late Hon. Daniel Webster, at Marshfield. There was much that was interesting to see in the great man's home; I think the two things that pleased me most were the portraits of his mother, and his black cook, or housekeeper. The latter was a fine painting, the face so full of intelligence, gratitude, and all good feelings; and there was an evidence of the true sympathy and home comfort between master and servant, if it is well to use those words, in the picture itself, the care with which it was painted, as well as the speaking face. The other was simply an old-fashioned cut profile, in black outline, and underneath it the words, "My excellent mother—D. Webster."

Out of doors, the wonderful old elm was the greatest attraction, with its branches sweeping the ground, and making an arbor and a cathedral at once, before the threshold. Webster himself but it is not well to call up anything but pleasant memories of the dead; and these do linger about the home he loved. What the nation thinks of him may be recorded elsewhere.

SOURCE: Daniel Dulany Addison, Lucy Larcom: Life, Letters, and Diary, pp. 96-7