CHAPTER VI.
THE TARIFF OF 1828 AND THE REPLY TO HAYNE.
The new dignity conferred on Mr.Webster by the people of Massachusetts had hardly been assumed when he was called upon to encounter a trial which must have made all his honors seem poor indeed.

He had scarcely taken his seat when he was obliged to return to New York, where failing health had arrested Mrs.Webster's journey to the capital, and where, after much suffering, she died, January 21, 1828.

The blow fell with terrible severity upon her husband.

He had many sorrows to bear during his life, but this surpassed all others.

His wife was the love of his youth, the mother of his children, a lovely woman whose strong but gentle influence for good was now lost to him irreparably.