LE!'"

The speech was over but the tones of the orator still lingered on the
ear, and the audience, unconscious of the close, retained their
positions. Everywhere around seemed forgetfulness of all but the
orator's presence and words. There never was a deeper silence; the
feeling was too overpowering to allow expression by voice or hand. But
the descending hammer of the chair awoke them with a start, and with one
universal, long drawn, deep breath, with which the over-charged heart
seeks relief, the crowded assembly broke up and departed.

In the evening President Jackson held a levee at the White House. It was
known in advance that Mr. Webster would attend it, and hardly had the
hospitable doors of the mansion been thrown open, when the crowd that
had filled the Senate-Chamber in the morning rushed in and occupied the
room, leaving a vast and increasing crowd at the entrance. On all
previous occasions the general himself had been the observed of all
observers. His receptions were always gladly attended by large numbers,
and to these he himself was always the chief object of attraction on
account of his great military and personal reputation, official
position, gallant bearing, and courteous manners. But on this occasion
the room in which he received his company was deserted as soon as
courtesy to the president permitted.

Mr. Webster was in the East room and thither the whole mass hurried. He
stood almost in the center of the room pressed upon by surging crowds
eager to pay him deference. Hayne, too, was there, and with others went
up and complimented Mr. Webster on his brilliant effort. In a subsequent
meeting between the two rival debators Webster challenged Hayne to drink
a glass of wine with him, saying as he did so, "General Hayne I drink to
your health, and I hope that you may live a thousand years." "I shall
not live more than one hundred if you make another such a speech," Hayne
replied.

To this day Webster's speech is regarded as the master-piece of modern
eloquence--unsurpassed by even the mightiest efforts of either Pitt, Fox
or Burke--a matchless intellectual achievement and complete forensic
triumph. It was to this great, triumphant effort that Mr. Webster's
subsequent fame as a statesman was due.

Upon the election of General Harrison to the presidency Mr. Webster was
offered his choice of the places in the cabinet, a recognition of
ability probably never accorded to any other man before or since. H