. Webster had rarely shown himself a moral
idealist, except as to the sentiment of patriotism. He was identified
with the prosperous and "respectable" classes, and the sufferings of the
poor and oppressed woke little sympathy in him. These limitations had
always been apparent, and while Clay seemed to grow finer and gentler
with advance of years, Webster's course was the other way. That imperial
and commanding presence, with its imposing stature and Jove-like visage,
was the tenement of a richly dowered nature. He had not only great
powers of intellect, but warm affections, generous sentiments, and
wholesome tastes for humanity and the outdoor world, but his moral
fiber, never of the stanchest grain, had been sapped by prosperity. He
was self-indulgent in his personal habits and heedless of homely
obligations. His ambition was strong, and as the favor of the South had
come to be the almost necessary condition of the Presidency, he could
not escape the suspicion of courting that favor. He was in substantial
agreement with Clay as to the compromise measures, but the Kentuckian
rose higher than his section and his look was forward; while Webster was
distinctly below the characteristic temper of New England, and his
movement was retrograde. The anti-slavery men mourned his 7th of March
speech as a great apostasy, and Whittier branded it in his poem of
"Ichabod," which fell with Judgment-day weight. Yet it was not an
apostasy, but the natural culmination of his course; and in spite of its
error, he still was true to the characteristic sentiment of his best
period, the love of the Union. His voice like Clay's gave
inspiration--it may well have been a decisive inspiration--to the cause
which triumphed at Gettysburg and Appomattox. Whittier himself, in a
later poem, recognized the patriotic service of the man whom, in the
heat of conflict, he had so scathingly denounced.

Congress, and especially the Senate, was at this time full of brilliant
men. Among the leaders of the extreme South were Mason of Virginia,
Butler of South Carolina, Davis of Mississippi, and Soule of Louisiana.
From this element came plentiful threats of disunion. But these threats
were met with stern answers. When President Taylor heard of them the
stout old soldier answered that such language was treasonable, and if
necessary he would himself take command of the army that should put down
rebellion. Disunion, he said, is treason; and to one questioning him, h