He had no specially cordial feeling to his new associates; but they were at the head of the conservative elements of the country, they were nationalists in policy, and they favored the views which were most affected in New England.

As a conservative and nationalist by nature and education, and as the great New England leader, Mr.Webster could not avoid becoming the parliamentary chief of Mr.Adams's administration, and thus paved the way for leadership in the Whig party of the future.
In narrating the history of these years, I have confined myself to Mr.
Webster's public services and political course.

But it was a period in his career which was crowded with work and achievement, bringing fresh fame and increased reputation, and also with domestic events both of joy and sorrow.
Mr.Webster steadily pursued the practice of the law, and was constantly engaged in the Supreme Court.

To these years belong many of his great arguments, and also the prosecution of the Spanish claims, a task at once laborious and profitable.

In the summer of 1824 Mr.Webster first saw Marshfield, his future home, and in the autumn of the same year he visited Monticello, where he had a long interview with Mr.Jefferson, of whom he has left a most interesting description.