Part 27

P. 182, l. 6. 1. Mr. McDuffie.

P. 186, l. 12. 1. Letter of the Federal Convention to the Congress of the Confederation transmitting the plan of the Constitution.

P. 188, l. 4. 1. Cf. Lodge's Webster, Ch. VI.

P. 197, l. 1. 1. President Jackson, who had been an avowed Federalist all his life.

L. 15. 2. A Portuguese prince, who led the revolutionists against the constitutional government.

P. 198, l. 1. 1. A body of Federalists in Essex County, Massachusetts, strongly opposing the Embargo of 1807, and the War of 1812.

P. 199, l. 24. 1. After the passage of the Tariff of 1828, the legislature of South Carolina set forth a "Protest" asserting the principle of Nullification.

P. 203, l. 29. 1. "At the conclusion of this paragraph there was scarcely a dry eye in the Senate, the Massachusetts men shed tears like girls," Reminiscence of Congress, March.

P. 205, l. 28. 1. A toast proposed at a Democratic dinner, April 30, 1830, in New York, in honor of Jefferson's birthday.

P. 212, l. 16. 1. Senator Hillhouse of Connecticut.

P. 214, l. 8. 1. The purpose of this Embargo was to retaliate on both Great Britain and France. In the commercial war waged by those two countries, the foreign trade of the United States was cut off. The Embargo fell with crushing weight upon New England.

P. 227, l. 11. 1. Paradise Lost, Bk. I., l. 540.

P. 228, l. 9. 1. The leader of the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania.

P. 234, l. 9. 1. This celebrated peroration was entirely unpremeditated, there is no allusion to it in the "notes" of Mr. Webster. Mr. March says, "The exulting rush of feeling with which he went through the peroration threw a glow over his countenance like inspiration. Eye, brow, each feature, every line of the face, seemed touched as with celestial fire.... His voice penetrated every recess or corner of the Senate,--penetrated even the anterooms and stairways." Mr. Webster himself said: "I never spoke in the presence of an audience so eager and so sympathetic." Mr. Everett says: "Of the effectiveness of Mr. Webster's manner in many parts, it would be in vain to attempt to give any one not present the faintest idea. It has been my fortune to hear some of the ablest speeches of the greatest living orators on both sides of the water, but I must confess I never heard anything which so completely realized my conception of what Demosthenes was when he delivered the Oration for the Crown."

Mr. Lodge in his excellent review of the speech says: "The speech as a whole has all the qualities which made Mr. Webster a great orator. An analysis of the Reply to Hayne, therefore, gives us all the conditions necessary to forming a correct idea of Mr. Webster's eloquence, of its characteristics, and its value." Cf. Ch. VI., Webster, American Statesman Series. This book should be a constant companion of the student while reading these selections.

Dr. Francis Lieber wrote: "To test Webster's oratory, I read a portion of my favorite speeches of Demosthenes, and then read, always aloud, parts of Webster; then returned to the Athenian; and Webster stood the test." As a result of this great effort, Mr. Webster was overwhelmed with congratulations from all parts of the land. The speech was the universal theme of conversation, and there was a general demand for the printed copy. Probably no speech in history has had so many readers as the Reply to Hayne.

Cf. Healey's historical painting of the scene of this great debate, in Faneuil Hall; Curtis's Life of Webster, Ch. XVI.; Everett's Memoir, Vol. I. of Webster's Works; Correspondence of Webster, Vol. I., p. 488.

* * * * *

THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN JOSEPH WHITE.

August, 1830.

Almost immediately after the Reply to Hayne, Mr. Webster was engaged with the Attorney-General of Massachusetts in one of the most remarkable criminal cases on record, and on August 3d made the argument in the trial of John Francis Knapp for the murder of Captain Joseph White.

The following is a summary of the facts: On the night of the 6th of April, 1830, the town of Salem was visited by a desperado who entered the house of Joseph White, a wealthy and respectable citizen, and murdered him in his bed. The citizens formed a vigilance committee and worked without avail until there came a rumor that a prisoner in the New Bedford jail knew something of the affair. He was accordingly brought up before the grand jury, and on his testimony Richard Crowningshield, of Danvers, was indicted. A few weeks later Captain Joseph Knapp, a shipmaster of good character, received a strange note from Belfast, Maine, which was signed by Charles Grant, Jr. This note threatened exposure unless money was forwarded. Knapp could not understand it. He showed it to his sons, Francis and Joseph, Jr., who resided in Wenham. The wife of the latter was a niece of the late Mr. White, and was his housekeeper prior to the murder. When Joseph saw the letter he said it contained trash, and told his father to hand it to the vigilance committee. When they received the letter they sent to Belfast to find the writer. This proved to be one Palmer, who had been in state prison and who was intimate with Crowningshield. He said he saw, on the 2nd of April, Frank Knapp and a man, Allen, in company with Crowningshield, and that he heard the latter say that Frank Knapp wished them to kill Mr. White, and that Joseph Knapp would pay them one thousand dollars.

After the murder the Knapps reported that, on the 27th of April, they had been attacked by robbers on their way from Salem to Wenham. The purpose of this will be seen in what follows. On the testimony of Palmer the Knapps were held for investigation, and on the third day Joseph made a full confession of the murder and of the fabrication of the robbery story. He had found that Mr. White intended to leave his (Knapp's) wife but fifteen thousand dollars by will, and he thought that if he died intestate she would come in for one-half of the estate, as the sole representative of Mr. White's sister. Under this impression he determined to destroy the will. Frank agreed to hire the assassin, and he (Joseph) was to pay one thousand dollars for the deed. Crowningshield was hired; he entered the house by a window and committed the murder. So cool was he that, as he said, he paused to feel the pulse of the old man to be sure he was dead. Frank was waiting the issue, while Joseph, who had got the will, was in Wenham at his home. When Crowningshield heard that the Knapps were in custody, and that Joseph had confessed, he committed suicide in his cell.

At a special term of the Supreme Court at Salem, July 20th, indictments for murder were found against Francis Knapp as principal, and Joseph Knapp and George Crowningshield (a companion of Richard) as accessories. The trial of Francis took place August 3d, with Mr. Franklin Dexter and Mr. W. H. Gardner for the defence, and Mr. Webster assisting the Attorney-General in the prosecution.

P. 239, l. 13. 1. Mr. Lodge says that this account of the murder and analysis of the workings of a mind, haunted with the remembrance of the horrid crime, must be placed among the very finest masterpieces of modern oratory. "I have studied this famous exordium," he says, "with extreme care, and I have sought diligently in the works of all the great modern orators, and of some of the ancient as well, for similar passages of higher merit. My quest has been in vain."

P. 241, l. 23. 1. Mr. Webster's appearance for the prosecution gave rise to some complaints on the part of the defence, who intimated that he was in the interest of Mr. Stephen White, a residuary legatee of the murdered man. The fact was that both the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General were old men, and had asked for Mr. Webster's assistance.

P. 243, l. 20. 1. Chief Justice Parker.

P. 248, l. 10. 1. Mr. Webster's presentation of the evidence is omitted. Cf. Webster's Complete Works, Vol. VI., p. 61.