allel, as suggested by Mr. Webster, had been received at
Washington, where it was accepted by the truculent administration, agreed
to by the Senate, and finally embodied in a treaty. Mr. Webster's
opposition had served its purpose in delaying action and saving bluster
from being converted into actual war,--a practical conclusion by no means
desired by the dominant party, who had talked so loud that they came very
near blundering into hostilities merely as a matter of self-justification.
The declarations of the Democratic convention and of the Democratic
President in regard to England were really only sound and fury, although
they went so far that the final retreat was noticeable and not very
graceful. The Democratic leaders had had no intention of fighting with
England when all they could hope to gain would be glory and hard knocks,
but they had a very definite idea of attacking without bluster and in good
earnest another nation where there was territory to be obtained for
slavery.

The Oregon question led, however, to an attack upon Mr. Webster which
cannot be wholly passed over. He had, of course, his personal enemies in
both parties, and his effective opposition to war with England greatly
angered some of the most warlike of the Democrats, and especially Mr. C.J.
Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, a bitter Anglophobist. Mr. Ingersoll, in
February, made a savage attack upon the Ashburton negotiation, the treaty
of Washington, and upon Mr. Webster personally, alleging that as Secretary
of State he had been guilty of a variety of grave misdemeanors, including a
corrupt use of the public money. Some of these charges, those relating to
the payment of McLeod's counsel by our government, to instructions to the
Attorney-General to take charge of McLeod's defence, and to a threat by
Mr. Webster that if McLeod were not released New York would be laid in
ashes, were repeated in the Senate by Mr. Dickinson of New York. Mr.
Webster peremptorily called for all the papers relating to the negotiation
of 1842, and on the sixth and seventh of April (1846), he made the
elaborate speech in defence of the Ashburton treaty, which is included in
his collected works. It is one of the strongest and most virile speeches he
ever delivered. He was profoundly indignant, and he had the completest
mastery of his subject. In fact, he was so deeply angered by the charges
made against him, that he departed from his almost invariable practice, and
indulged in