On the Fourth of July, 1845, Charles Sumner delivered, before the municipal authorities of Boston, an oration on Peace, which provoked much hostile criticism; and on the next succeeding anniversary of American Independence, Fletcher Webster delivered an oration on War, which was designed to show that there are cases “where war, with all its woes, must be endured.”

It is probably the only elaborate discourse of his, which has been preserved entire.  It contains many quotable passages; but we must content ourselves with the following, which are quite in his father’s style:—­

“We meet to brighten the memories of a glorious past, to strengthen ourselves in our onward progress, to remember great enterprises, to look forward to a great career.”

“We celebrate no single triumph, but the result of a long series of victories; we celebrate the memory of no mere successful battle, but the great triumph of a people; the victory of liberty over oppression, won by suffering and struggle and death; the fruit of high sentiment, of resolute patriotism, of consummate wisdom, of unshaken faith and trust in God,—­a victory and a triumph not for us only, but for all the oppressed, everywhere, and for every age to come, ... a victory whose future results to us and to others no imagination can foresee, and which are yet but commencing to unfold themselves.”

“And does any one believe that these results [to wit, the winning of American independence, and the building of the American nation] could have been attained in any other method than by arms and successful physical resistance.”

In 1847, he held the only political office to which he was ever elected by popular suffrage,—­that of representative in the Legislature.  In 1850, he was appointed surveyor of the port of Boston by President Taylor, and he was reappointed to the same office by Presidents Pierce and Buchanan successively.  There were many who would have been glad to see him in a larger sphere, but “the mark which he made upon his times,” as Mr. Hillard observes, was less than his friends had anticipated.  Occasionally he appeared as an orator in political campaigns, notably in 1856, at Exeter, in his native State, where he spoke with laudable pride of having “sat at the feet of a great statesman now no more.”

The son of Martin Van Buren and the son of Levi Woodbury united their voices on that occasion with the voice of the son of Webster.  A striking remark then made by him is well remembered.  Referring to the speech of Senator Sumner, which excited the assault of Mr. Brooks, Mr. Webster said, “If I had been going to make such a speech, I should have worn an iron pot upon my head.”