Mr.Clay was consistent and sincere, and, however much he may have erred in his general theory, he never swerved from it.

But with Mr.
Webster the case was totally different.

He had opposed the principle of compromise from the beginning, and in 1833, when concession was more reasonable than in 1850, he had offered the most strenuous and unbending resistance.

Now he advocated a compromise which was in reality little less than a complete surrender on the part of the North.

On the general question of compromise he was, of course, grossly inconsistent, and the history of the time, as it appears in the cold light of the present day, shows plainly that, while he was brave and true and wise in 1833, in 1850 he was not only inconsistent, but that he erred deeply in policy and statesmanship.