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Show 128 TilE LlD.EHTY DELL. . . lo for tbo most part a mere prmetp . . on the other ls wasted little tnne m Tho o-ood ange . silent. .c b dish of skimmed mtlk to . Hto sttr sue a trymg . " The t-ainted atmosphere so honorable an actlOU· 'nfcctcd him. 'fho W nshinO'lon Slave-pens l . of tho 0 b fficd or desperate amb1- 1irit of intrigue, and of a •I h . S nate as never before, . l d nthcrcd into t c c ' hon ta g. . . . f the nation, hagg:ml worlU-worn pohttClans o all the f f o::an conflict, watch- . h tl ' ·car and tear o par 1.- Wll 10 ' 'tb dim senile eyes, b other's schemes Wl ' ing eac . each other's plots with feeble, palsied and chcckmg . . t ould have - men whose healthy tnstmc s w banus, b ~ rc to seck tho repose er ll d them years c o ' compe c ' . . l rc osc of tho grave. rivalc 1ifc, prelumnary to t tO P . ff P B' 1 er Law was a favontc sco , Among these the tg 1 an abomination. h 'uciplcs of democracy and t c pn 'l pirit with words d b ut like an cvt s , Foote fiittc a o f II broken to the . to tho car, so wo u y of promtso barrassing a . Cl intent only on em hope ; while ny, h' looked . had supplanted liD, ,·aw prcstdent, who t eo i£ his Cunning worldly eye, o s aslmncc, with WEBSTER. 129 old rival would }>resume upon a higher morality than his own. Under these circumstances it is not to be said that Webster fell. lie only discovered himself, and must thenceforth seem what he was compelled to confess himself. It was not that his declaration against the restriction of Slavery was unexpected or consequential. It was consequential mainly to him. Some few unsagacious persons had high hopes of him, but the most knew he would fail in the hour of trial. When o bmvo, good deed is to be done, a brave, good man is wanted. Figs do net grow of thistles. It was not the greatest imaginable heroism to stand by tho Wilmot Proviso in 1850. Any ordinary good man, of which there arc several in every school district, might have done it and claimed no merit. But n. mere attar· ney could not do it, however eloquent and impres-sive, nor a man whose vision had grown ob1ique through ambition, and whoso moral integrity had been softened to flabbiness by praise and bounty. |