This is Mr. Webster's
reply. It is interesting as the last anti-slavery utterance
of Daniel Webster.
MARSHFIELD, August 23, 1848.
_My Dear Sir:_
I am greatly obliged to you, for your kind and friendly letter.
You overrate, I am sure, the value of my speech, it was quite
unpremeditated and its merit, if any, consists I presume in
its directness and brevity. It mortified me to see that some
of the newspaper writers speak of it as the "taking of a position";
as if it contained something new for me to say. You are not
one of them, my dear sir, but there are those who will not
believe that I am an anti-slavery man unless I repeat the
declaration once a week. I expect they will soon require
a periodical affidavit. You know, that as early as 1830 in
my speech on Foote's resolution, I drew upon me the anger
of enemies, and a regret of friends by what I said against
slavery, and I hope that from that day to this my conduct
has been consistent. But nobody seems to be esteemed to be
worthy of confidence who is not a new convert. And if the
new convert be as yet but half converted, so much the better.
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