Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/549

 WEBSTER 529 United States senator, to complete his legal studies. With him he remained, though not continuously, from July, 1804, to March, 1805. Mr. Webster justly regarded his admission to Mr. Gore's office as "a good stride onward." It was a situation which gave him the means of studying books, and things, and men. While there he made reports of every case decided in the supreme court of Massachusetts, and in the circuit court of the United States. Shortly after his arrival in Boston his brother re- turned to Dartmouth college, to attend to his graduation, leaving his school to the care of Daniel. In the spring of 1805 he was admit- ted to the bar of the court of common pleas in Boston. Shortly before he had been offered the clerkship of the court of common pleas of Hillsborough co., N. H. The post was worth $1,500 a year, a large income for the time, and his father, who was a member of the court, wished him to accept it; but Mr. Gore, who foresaw for him a splendid career at the bar, dissuaded him. He practised for a year at Boscawen, and in 1806 was admitted to the superior court of New Hampshire, and estab- lished himself at Portsmouth, then the capital of the state. Here he rose at once to full practice at a bar composed of eminent counsel, and attended by others of distinction from Massachusetts. Mr. Webster came forward in life at a time when party spirit ran high. He had inherited from his father the prin- ciples of the federal party, and advocated them in speeches and resolutions on public oc- casions, but did not for some years embark deeply in politics. The declaration of war in 1812, long foreseen, and deprecated by the fed- eralists, created a demand for the best talent the country could furnish. Mr. Webster had already established a commanding reputation, and in 1812 he was elected to congress. He took his seat in the special session of May, 1813, and in the organization of the house was placed on the committee of foreign affairs. The complications with foreign powers which had brought on the war, and the ways and means for meeting the greatly increased ex- penditure of the government, were the sub- jects which principally occupied the house; and in the debates on both Mr. Webster took a leading part. Early in the session he moved a series of resolutions on the repeal of the Berlin and Milan decrees, and on June 10, 1813, de- livered his maiden speech on that subject. Proceeding from a person almost wholly un- known at Washington, it took the house and the country by surprise. His subsequent speeches on the increase of the navy, which he warmly recommended, and the repeal of the embargo, placed him in the first rank of debaters. He cultivated friendly relations on both sides of the house, and gained the- respect of those most warmly opposed to him in politics. He was reflected to congress in 1814. In the suc- ceeding session he opposed the bill for a new bank of the United States, which should not be obliged to redeem its notes in coin in a speech which exhibits a perfect mastery of the abstruse subjects of banking, finance, nnd cur- rency. The bill was lost by the casting vote of the speaker, but revived on a motion for its reconsideration by Mr. Webster, and so amended that it passed the house by a large majority, and was carried through the senate but was vetoed by President Madison. In the 14th congress, which met in December, 1815, Mr. Webster took an active part in support of the charter of the bank of the United States, which passed the house in April, 1816. His most important service at this session was the introduction of a resolution requiring all pay- ments to the treasury, after Feb. 20, 1817. to be made in specie or its equivalents. This measure prevailed, and restored the depreciated currency of the country. In December, 1813, Mr. Webster's house at Portsmouth was burned with all its contents, including his library and the entire fruits of his professional labor. This disaster, together with the limited oppor- tunities afforded in his profession by so small a place, decided him to seek a wider field. Ac- cordingly, at the close of the session in August, 1816, after some hesitation between Boston and Albany, he decided on Boston, in which and its vicinity he made his home, except while officially resident at Washington, till the end of his life. For nearly seven years after his re- moval, with a single exception, he filled no pub- lic office, but devoted himself exclusively to the practice of his profession, taking a position as a counsellor and an advocate above which no one has ever risen in this country. A choice of the best business in New England, and of that of the whole country which was adjudi- cated at Washington, passed into his hands. Besides the reputation which he acquired in the ordinary routine of practice, Mr. Webster, shortly after his removal to Boston, took a dis- tinguished lead in- establishing what might be called a school of constitutional law by his ar- gument in the Dartmouth college case. In 1816 the legislature of New Hampshire passed laws altering the charter of Dartmouth college, enlarging the number of the trustees, generally reorganizing the corporation, and changing its name to Dartmouth university. The newly created body took possession of the corporate property and assumed the management of the institution. The old board brought an action against the treasurer of the new board for the record books, the original charter, the common seal, and other corporate property of the col- lege. The case turned upon the points whether the acts of the legislature were binding upon the old corporation without their assent, and not repugnant to the constitution of the United States. It was argued twice with great ability in the courts of New Hampshire, which decided that the acts of the legislature were constitu- tional and valid. The case was immediately appealed to Washington, and on March 10, 1818, was argued by Mr. Webster and Mr. Hop-