and eloquent illustrations.  The result was the more auspicious, as the heretical doctrines which were then fairly reasoned down had been advanced by a very respectable portion of the Union, and urged on the floor of the Senate by the polished mind, manly zeal, and honored name of a distinguished member from the South.

“The consequences of that discussion have been extremely beneficial.  It turned the attention of the public to the great doctrines of national rights and national union.  Constitutional law ceased to remain wrapped up in the breasts, and taught only by the responses, of the living oracles of the law.  Socrates was said to have drawn down philosophy from the skies, and scattered it among the schools.  It may with equal truth be said, that constitutional law, by means of those senatorial discussions and the master genius that guided them, was rescued from the archives of our tribunals and the libraries of lawyers, and placed under the eye, and submitted to the judgment, of the American people. Their verdict is with us, and from it, there lies no appeal.”

As soon as the immense cheering and acclamations with which this address and toast were received had subsided, Mr. Webster rose and addressed the company as follows.]

I owe the honor of this occasion, Gentlemen, to your patriotic and affectionate attachment to the Constitution of our country.  For an effort, well intended, however otherwise of unpretending character, made in the discharge of public duty, and designed to maintain the Constitution and vindicate its just powers, you have been pleased to tender me this token of your respect.  It would be idle affectation to deny that it gives me singular gratification.  Every public man must naturally desire the approbation of his fellow-citizens; and though it may be supposed that I should be anxious, in the first place, not to disappoint the expectations of those whose immediate representative I am, it is not possible but that I should feel, nevertheless, the high value of such a mark of esteem as is here offered.  But, Gentlemen, I am conscious that the main purpose of this occasion is higher than mere manifestation of personal regard.  It is to evince your devotion to the Constitution, your sense of its transcendent value, and your just alarm at whatever threatens to weaken its proper authority, or endanger its existence.

Gentlemen, this could hardly be otherwise.  It would be strange, indeed, if the members of this vast commercial community should not be first and foremost to rally for the Constitution, whenever opinions and doctrines are advanced hostile to its principles.  Where sooner than here, where louder than here, may we expect a patriotic voice to be raised, when the union of the States is threatened?  In this great emporium, at this central point of the united commerce of the United States, of all places, we may expect the warmest, the most determined and universal feeling