House of Representatives, which was filled with a great audi-
ence of persons interested in agricultural pursuits. He was in
his usual evening dress, and wore the fashionable broadcloth
cloak of that period, which hung gracefully from his shoulders, in
loose folds, to the floor, as he stood by the side of the Speaker's
desk, leaning on it with his elbow; and his imposing form never
appeared more majestic and impressive than it did, when, in this
easy attitude, he talked in a conversational tone to his brother
farmers, about English farming. The address, which was en-
tirely informal, is contained in the first volume of his Works.
It shows how completely he had studied the peculiarities of
English husbandry, in its details as well as in its great gen-
eral methods, and how wisely he could bring this knowledge
to bear upon the improvement of our own agriculture. It
appears to have been one result of his observations, that, while
the English were in advance of us in the treatment of the soil,
by a careful attention to the rotation of crops, our agricultural
implements were, even then, superior to theirs, with the excep-
tion of those used in drill husbandry, which, at that time, had
not begun to be much practised in this country. Perhaps
there is no better statement anywhere of what may be called
the philosophy of English tillage, than was given by Mr.
Webster in illustrating the methods through which crop after
crop is taken from the land, and the land is made to grow bet-
ter and better, instead of deteriorating under the cultivation.

Mr. Webster had been reëlected to the Senate in January,
1839, for the new term of six years, which would commence on
the 4th of the ensuing March. He now took his seat under
this new election, at the first session of the Twenty-sixth Con-
gress, on the 29th of January, 1840.

Among the debates which took place in the Senate at this
session, a discussion occurred which is now little noticed, but
which exhibited different phases of opinion upon a topic that
will not for a long time cease to be of great practical impor-
tance. A majority of the Senate still continued to avoid any
action upon the petitions for the abolition of slavery, by laying
the question of their reception upon the table. On one of these
occasions, ¹ Mr. Clay, referring to some recent Northern pam-

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