LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. BY GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS. ONE OF HIS LITERARY EXECUTORS. VOLUME I. SECOND EDITION. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1870. ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. MR. R. WEBSTER, who died on the 24th of October, 1852, made the following provision in his will, which he executed a few days before his death: "I appoint Edward Everett, George Ticknor, Cornelius Conway Felton, and George Ticknor Curtis, to be my literary executors; and I direct my son, Fletcher Webster, to seal up all my letters, manuscripts, and papers, and, at a proper time, to select those relating to my personal history and my professional and public life, which, in his judgment, should be placed at their disposal, and to transfer the same to them, to be used by them in such manner as they may think fit. They may receive valuable aid from my friend George J. Abbott, Esq., now of the State Department." After the probate of the will, Mr. Fletcher Webster transferred to the literary executors all the papers which were supposed to be embraced within the purpose of this provision; and steps were taken to collect from other sources whatever else might be in existence which would be important to the preparation of a Life of Mr. Webster. The |