"
Daniel Webster's son Fletcher was present, and heartily in
accord with the meeting; and this resolution was passed with
his full approval. It met great opposition from the men who
had come into the movement from the Liberty Party and from
the Democratic Party. The shouts of "No, no; too late" were
nearly, if not quite, equal to the expressions of approval.
But the president declared that it was passed.
Mr. Webster sulked in his tent during the summer, and at last,
September 1, 1848, made a speech at Marshfield, in which he
declared the nomination of Taylor not fit to be made, but
gave it a half-hearted support. My brother, Judge E. R.
Hoar, had been an enthusiastic admirer of Webster, who had
treated him with great personal kindness; and, as I have said,
he had been associated with Mr. Webster in the famous Wyman
trial. Mr. Webster made a speech in the Senate in August,
declaring his renewed opposition to the extension of slavery.
Mr. Hoar wrote a letter expressing his satisfaction with that
speech, and urging him to take his proper place at the head
of the Northern Free Soil movement.
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