Mr.Webster did not come, and Wheelock had to go on as best he could without him.

One of Wheelock's friends, Mr.Dunham, wrote a very indignant letter to Mr.Webster on his failure to appear; to which Mr.
Webster replied that he had seen Wheelock and they had contemplated a suit in court, but that at the time of the hearing he was otherwise engaged, and moreover that he did not regard a summons to appear before a legislative committee as a professional call, adding that he was by no means sure that the president was wholly in the right.

The truth was, that many of Mr.
Webster's strongest personal and political friends, and most of the leaders with whom he was associated in the control of the Federalist party, were either trustees themselves or closely allied with the trustees.

In the interval between the consultation with Wheelock and the committee hearing, these friends and leaders saw Mr.Webster, and pointed out to him that he must not desert them, and that this college controversy was fast developing into a party question.

Mr.Webster was convinced, and abandoned Wheelock, making, as has been seen, a very unsatisfactory explanation of his conduct.
In this way he finally parted company with Wheelock, and was thereafter irrevocably engaged on the side of the trustees.
Events now moved rapidly.