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Show . eb ·ter returned the following reply:- To this invitatcon Mr. \V ~ !\1ARSIHtEJ,D, Auo. 3, 1~48. ived ·our letter. The criti('al Stille of ~Jin~sati\\,'~~~s~~~~~f~~e~ GENTI.IUIY.~,:-~ -~~:)~ cr~~e\0 rel~air thither immetitel~ H~~~~e':~:nd!r it disagreeable for ~;~~~~h'l~~~~t\~~~~~~~:.e ~tate of my heahh and the heat o I Je e rf'turn if su('h ~ltould me to l('a\·e hnmef. ply with mur wishes at present ;V~~~~ 00r'T.Lrshlit>IJ in ;m uncere• I cantwt, there ord, ('?~ I will m'Prt you and the. other ~ . \tg~ our leiter rda{es. cont~tme w_ he your e:~ :nay confer Uj>OII the \{)ptcs tow m ~ )O momous mannf'r, that ientlemcn, with esteem and friendslllp, .. 1 am. ( Your obliged fellow Ctllzen, O,UIU'I Pill LT. IPS, GEORG F. LEONARD,~ To Mess7;EO. J-1. \Vt:THERBEI-:, and others. DANIEL WEBSTER. SPEECH. Although it is not my purpose, during the rece~s of Congress, to addreslf public a~semblies on political subjects, I have felt it my duty to comply with your request, as neighbors and townsmen, and to meet you to-day ; and I am not unwilling to avail myself of this occasion to signify to the peop1e of the United States my opinions upon the present state of our public affairs. I shall perform that duty, certainly with great frankness, l hope with candor. It is not my intention to·day to endeavor to carry any point, to act as any man's advocate, to put up or put down any body. I wish, and I propOse, to ndrlress you in the langunge and in the spirit of conference and consuhation. In the present extraordinary crisis of our public concerns, l desire to hold no man's conscience but my own. My own opinions I shall communicate, freely and fearlessly, with equaJ di~regard to con~equences, whether they respect myself or re~pect others. \Ve are on the eve of a highly important Pre~identinJ election. In two or thre-e months the people of this country will be called upon to elect an Executi-ve Chief Magistrate of the United States; and all see, and all feel, that great interests of the country are to be affected, for good or evil, by the results of that election. Of the interesting subjects over which the person who shall be elected must necessarily exercise more or Jess control, there are especially three, vitally connected, in my judgment, with the honor and happiness of the country. In the first place, the honor and happiness of the country imperatively require, that there shall be a chief magistrate elected who shaH not plunge us into fun her wars of ambition and conquest. And in the second place, in my judgment, the ioterests of the country and the feeling of a vast majority of the People require that a President of these United States should be elected, who will neither use official influence to promote, nor who feels any desire in his heart to promote, the further extension of Slavery in this community, [Great clteeriug,] or the further influence of it in the public councils. In the third place, if. I have any just estimate, if an experience, (not now a short one,) in puhlic affairs has enabled me to know any thing of what the public iuterest demands, in the next place I say, that the state of the country does require an essential reform in the system of revenue and finance, such as shall restore the prosperity, by promoting the industry and fostering the labor of the country, in its various hr<mches. There are other things important. I will not aJJude to them. These three I hold to be essential. There are three candidates presented to the choice of the American people: GenP.ral Taylor is the Whig candidate, standing upon the nomination of the Whig Convention. General Cass is the candidate of the opposing and now dominant party in tlte country; and a third candidate is presented in the person of Mr. Van Buren, by a convention of citizen~ assembled at |