Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/90

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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

��MR. WEBSTER AT THE CATTLE SHOW AT MANCHESTER, On the 9TH of October, A. D. 185 1.

��BY HON. G. W. NESMITH, LL. D.

��The officers of the New Hampshire State Agricultural Society, in concert with the city authorities of Manchester, invited Mr. Webster to attend their fair at Manchester in 1S51. He ac- cepted their invitation. This was their first exhibition at Manchester, and the second year of the existence of the State Agricultural Society. An im- mense throng of people, from all parts of the state and Massachusetts, were assembled on this occasion. The fair, or exhibition, was then interesting from its novelty, creditable to our state, and especially to the city whose enterpris- ing citizens contributed so much to give it life and successful progress. The month of October seldom fur- nished so bright and so beautiful sun- shine, as was exhibited on this 9th of October. Mr. Webster was received at the station of the Concord railway, upon the arrival of the cars, by an en- thusiastic assemblage of people, and, in behalf of the committee of arrange- ments, was addressed by Hon. S. H. Ayer, a young and talented orator, whose premature death was, and still is, lamented by a multitude of friends. Our limits will not admit the whole of his speech on this occasion. We give an extract :

"Mr. Webster! lam selected by this immense gathering of men of New Hampshire, to bid you, in their names, a cordial welcome to our state. No party is here to claim you as its own, unless it be that great party in our state, which admires the genius, and acknowledges the signal services of Daniel Webster. The men you see here come as citizens of New Hamp- shire — come with open arms to receive the first and foremost of her sons.

They have come as citizens of the Union to do homage to its great states- man whose name is familiar as house-

��hold words, wherever a civilized lan- guage is spoken. While they are not insensible to the high official position you adorn, it is the man they are here to honor.

The place \tfhere we have met for the reception of New Hampshire's most distinguished son we can not deem inappropriate to the occasion ; — in this youthful city, washed by the stream that flows by your early home, called into existence by the en- terprise and industry of your native state, and the wealth and liberality of your adopted city, the home and final resting-place of Stark, who so nobly fought for the country you have loved and served so well.

Now, Sir, in the name of the masses around you ; in the name of our State Agricultural Society here assembled ; in the name of our city and its people ; in the name of the state and its citi- zens of both sexes and of all ages, from the White Mountains to Straw- berry Bank, I bid you welcome."

In response to Mr. Ayer, Mr. Web- ster said :

"If I say to you on this occasion, that I thank you for this kind welcome, I should but use old and common language, unsuited to the warmth of my heart, and the deep gratitude which this occasion inspires.

Allow me to say that there is not on the face of the earth a spot in which such a welcome as this, by such an assembly as this, would carry so much cheering gratification to my heart.

I am here in the state which gave me birth ; I am here in the state of my early education and associations, and where the bones of my ancestors repose, and I can say with the great- est truth, although my visits to New Hampshire have not been unfrequent,

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