tical
basis for the adjustment of controversies, which had already gone far to
dissolve the Union". [90]

Isaac Hill, a bitter New Hampshire political opponent, confesses that
Webster's "kindly answer" to Calhoun was wiser than his own might have
been. Hill, an experienced political observer, had feared in the month
preceding Webster's speech a "disruption of the Union" with "no chance
of escaping a conflict of blood". He felt that the censures of Webster
were undeserved, that Webster was not merely right, but had "power he
can exercise at the North, beyond any other man", and that "all that
is of value will declare in favor of the great principles of your late
Union speech". "Its tranquilizing effect upon public opinion
has been wonderful"; "it has almost the unanimous support of this
community", wrote the New York philanthropist Minturn. "The speech
made a powerful impression in this state... Men feel they can stand
on it with security." [93] In Cincinnati, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New
York, and Pittsfield (with only one exception) the speech was found
"wise and patriotic". [94] The sender of a resolution of approval from
the grand jury of the United States court at Indianapolis says that
such judgment is almost universal. [95] "It is thought you may save the
country.. . you may keep us still united", wrote Thornton of Memphis,
who soberly records the feeling of thoughtful men that the Southern
purpose of disunion was stronger than appeared in either newspapers or
political gatherings. [96] "Your speech has disarmed-has, quieted the
South; [97] has rendered invaluable service to the harmony and union
of the South and the North". [98] "I am confident of the higher
approbation, not of a single section of the Union, but of all sections",
wrote a political opponent in Washington. [99]

The influence of Webster in checking the radical purposes of the
Nashville Convention has been shown above. [100]

All classes of men from all sections show a substantial and growing
backing of Webster's 7th of March speech as "the only statesmanlike
and practicable way to save the Union". "To you, more than to any other
statesman of modern times, do the people of this country owe their
national feeling which we trust is to save this Union in this its hour
of trial", was the judgment of "the neighbors", the plain farmers of
Webster's old New Hampshire home. [101] Outside of the Abolition and
Free Soil press, the growing tendency in newsp