Webster said. In certain quarters, in the excitement
of party strife, there was a tendency to deride Mr. Webster as a
"Union-saver," and to take the ground that there had been no real danger of
secession. This, as we can see now very plainly, was an unfounded idea.
When Congress met, the danger of secession was very real, although perhaps
not very near. The South, although they intended to secede as a last
resort, had no idea that they should be brought to that point. Menaces of
disunion, ominous meetings and conventions, they probably calculated, would
effect their purpose and obtain for them what they wanted, and subsequent
events proved that they were perfectly right in this opinion. On February
14 Mr. Webster wrote to Mr. Harvey:--
"I do not partake in any degree in those apprehensions which you
say some of our friends entertain of the dissolution of the Union
or the breaking up of the government. I am mortified, it is true,
at the violent tone assumed here by many persons, because such
violence in debate only leads to irritation, and is, moreover,
discreditable to the government and the country.
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