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Show 128 NOTES ON thoS<l charges 'I Some of them are contained in the following extract fl'Olll ::1. n.cvicw in the London Ouar(~l:ln, ~f Jan. 20., of two works,-ono,_La.nma.n's Life of Damcl "\\ cbstcr, and the other, r:rhcod01:c I'a.rkor's Address on the same subject:-" 'l'hat Webster may have appe~rod to Mr .. Lanman all tha\ he would have others believe him IS very likely, but when his bio•raphy is written thoro will be blackoi' shades and more d~creditablc passngcs in tho histor~ than any of which the secretary has even suggested th~ existence. "These darker lines arc abundantly supplied by the honest, hearty eloquence of · Mr. Parker. His 'Address' is a very rcma.rkablc paper, and strikes us as the best and fall'cst estimate we have ever met of the whole character of :Mr. Webster. Full justice is done to his great qualities : hearty admiration is rendered to tho intellect and eloquence wluch so often swayed tho assemblies of his country. Yet. the truth is told. His unprincipled conduct on tho Fugitive Slave Law, is handled with a force and. severity, all the more telling because it is employed with evident r~luctancc, and in the exercise only of judicial honesty. lhs want of the hi (I' her qualities of the statesman is not concealed. Il1s loose, 0 Jax morality is fairly admitted. 'No living man/ says :Mr. Parker, 'has done so much to debauch th~ con· science of the nation, to debauch the press, the pulptt, the forum, and tho bar.' And again-' lfe contracted debts and did not settle ; borrowed, and rendered not agam. Privu.te money sometimes clove to his hands. I wish the charges brought ogainst his public a~ministr~tion ~~~ be disproved, whereof tho stain rests on hun to tlus day. Such arc the charges. Perhaps the Editor of the Guardian would h:we been slow to receive them on such authority, had he been aware that Theodore Parker is an Infidel, and that his testimony, therefore, would not be recClvcd on oath in any Court of Justice in his native Commonwealth. UNCLE TOM'S CAlliN . 129 (See A ppondix, P., and also the remarks on testimony, ncar tho end of N otc 5.) Were Theodore Parl<Or tho only authority for these charges, I should pass them by with silent contempt; but they have been endorsed by better men, and may, therefore, claim a passing notice. The last two sentences in tho above extract arc obscurely worded, but I suppose they arc designed as a repetition of tho charge that Mr. W ebstcr received a bribe to accept tho post of Secretary of State, under President Fillmore, and that his independence was thereby compromitted. This charge has been disproved by Ml'. Franklin Haven, the very man through whom the "bargain" was alleged to have been proposed by Mr. Webster, and who, in tho concluding paragraph of his letter to tho Editor of the Boston 'l'ranscript, under date of May 17, 1851, thus disposes of the whole matter:-" The gift so honorably offered by men of high sense of honor in Boston to Mr. Webster, was not offered to him until many weeks after he had become Secretary of State. Not more than two of tho persons who offered it to him could, in any way, be regarded as of the class of bankers, or concerned in banking; and so far from his 'position of independence' being alfccted by it, as ~ir. Dana Jcclarcs it was and is, I have good reason to believe, that Mr. Webster does not to this dn.y know the name or position of one of tho individuals, who have thus nobly and unostentatiously expressed to him theil' gratitudo for his patl'iotic Rer~iccs." The charge next preceding is in these words:-" IIo contracted debts, and did not settle; borrowed, and rendel'od not again." 'l'his charge has been well replied to by tho lion. Goo. T. _Da.vi_s, in his speech in Congress, Jan. 34, 1852, on the MexiCan Indemnity Bill:-" It is an inevitable incident to 17 |