380 DANIEL WEBSTER 



of government to preserve order and punish criminals, 

 to see that contracts are fulfilled, that charters are kept 

 inviolate, and the foundations of human confidence not 

 rudely or wantonly disturbed, for only thus does the com- 

 munity insure for its members a fair field and no favour. 



In the Dartmouth College case we may see one 

 chapter in Mr. Webster's great life-work of strength- 

 ening the federal government and tightening the 

 bonds of pacific union among the states. 



In the Massachusetts convention of 1820 for revis- 

 ing the state constitution, he next played an impor- 

 tant part. He advocated with success the abolition 

 of religious tests for office-holders, and in a speech 

 in support of the feature of property representation 

 in the senate he examined the theory and practice of 

 bicameral legislation. His discussion of that subject 

 is well worthy of study. In the same year, at the 

 celebration of the second centennial of the landing of 

 the Pilgrims, his commemorative oration was one of 

 the noblest ever delivered. In 1825, on the laying 

 of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill monument, he 

 attained still higher perfection of eloquence ; and one 

 year later, on the deaths of Adams and Jefferson, his 

 eulogy upon those statesmen completed a trio of his- 

 torical addresses unsurpassed in splendour. The 

 spirit which animates these orations is that of the 

 broadest patriotism, enlightened by a clear perception 

 of the fundamental importance of the federal union 

 between the states, and an ever present consciousness 

 of the mighty future of our country and its moral 

 significance in the history of the world. Such topics 

 have often been treated as commonplaces, and made 

 the theme of vapid rhetoric ; but under Daniel 



