rstood it was brought to Washington; a conclave was held to consider
it, and the result was, that, if there was nothing else against Mr.
Webster, the matter had better be let alone. Sir, I hope to make
everybody of that opinion who brings against me a charge of want of
patriotism. Errors of opinion can be found, doubtless, on many subjects;
but as conduct flows from the feelings which animate the heart, I know
that no act of my life has had its origin in the want of ardent love of
country.

Sir, when I came to Congress, I found the honorable gentleman a leading
member of the House of Representatives. Well, Sir, in what did we
differ? One of the first measures of magnitude, after I came here, was
Mr. Dallas's[1] proposition for a bank. It was a war measure. It was
urged as being absolutely necessary to enable government to carry on the
war. Government wanted revenue; such a bank, it was hoped, would furnish
it; and on that account it was most warmly pressed and urged on
Congress. You remember all this, Mr. President. You remember how much
some persons supposed the success of the war and the salvation of the
country depended on carrying that measure. Yet the honorable member from
South Carolina opposed this bill. He now takes to himself a good deal of
merit, none too much, but still a good deal of merit, for having
defeated it. Well, Sir, I agreed with him. It was a mere paper bank; a
machine for fabricating irredeemable paper. It was a new form for paper
money; and instead of benefiting the country, I thought it would plunge
it deeper and deeper in difficulty. I made a speech on the subject; it
has often been quoted. There it is; let whoever pleases read and examine
it. I am not proud of it for any ability it exhibits; on the other hand,
I am not ashamed of it for the spirit which it manifests. But, Sir, I
say again that the gentleman himself took the lead against this measure,
this darling measure of the administration. I followed him; if I was
seduced into error, or into unjustifiable opposition, there sits my
seducer.

What, Sir, were other leading sentiments or leading measures of that
day? On what other subjects did men differ? The gentleman has adverted
to one, and that a most important one; I mean the navy. He says, and
says truly, that at the commencement of the war the navy was unpopular.
It was unpopular with his friends, who then controlled the politics of
the country. But he says he differed with his friends