Then came the Lopez invasion of Cuba, supported by bodies of volunteers enlisted in the United States, which, by its failure and its results, involved our government in a number of difficult questions.

The most serious was the riot at New Orleans, where the Spanish consulate was sacked by a mob.

To render due reparation for this outrage without wounding the national pride by apparent humiliation was no easy task.

Mr.Webster settled everything, however, with a judgment, tact, and dignity which prevented war with Spain and yet excited no resentment at home.

At a later period, when the Kossuth affair was drawing to an end, the perennial difficulty about the fisheries revived and was added to our Central American troubles with Great Britain, and this, together with the affair of the Lobos Islands, occupied Mr.Webster's attention, and drew forth some able and important dispatches during the summer of 1852, in the last months of his life.
While the struggle was in progress to convince the country of the value and justice of the compromise measures and to compel their acceptance, another presidential election drew on.