Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Politics volume 4 .djvu/283

Rh of all the Russias, and think kidnapping is a sin; yes, he may be Sultan of Turkey, and believe it self-evident that all men are created equal, with a natural, inherent, and unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! But, to be President of the United States, a man must be devoted to slavery, and believe in the "finality of the compromise measures," and promise to discountenance or to resist all agitation of the subject of slavery, whenever, wherever, or however! Truly, "it is a great country."

That is the aspect of the great Pro-Slavery Party of America. But I must say a word of the late Whig convention. It resulted in one of the most signal defeats that ever happened to an American statesman. Even Aaron Burr did not fall so suddenly and deep into the ground, at his first downfall, as Daniel Webster.

If I am rightly informed, Mr. Mason, in 1850, brought forward the Fugitive Slave Bill, with no expectation that it would pass; perhaps with no desire that it should pass. If it were rejected, then there was what seemed a tangible grievance, which the disunionists would lay hold of, as they cried for "secession." I do not know that it was so; I am told so. He introduced the Bill. Mr. Webster seized it, made it his "thunder" on the 7th of March, 1850. It seemed a tangible thing for him to hold on by, while he pushed from under him his old platform of liberty, made of such timbers as his orations at Plymouth, at Bunker Hill, at Faneuil Hall—his speech for the Greeks, and his speech against General Taylor. He held on to it for two years, and three months, and fourteen days;—a long time for him. He took hold on the 7th of March, 1850; and on the 21st of June, 1852, his hands slipped off, and the Fugitive Slave Bill took flight towards the Presidency, without Daniel Webster, but with General Pierce at one end of it, and General Scott at the other.

The downfall of Daniel Webster is terrible:—it was sudden, complete, and final. He has fallen "like Lucifer—never to hope again."

His giant strength was never so severely tasked as in