The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-06-08 00:00:00

EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE OF WILLIAWNifIL-

BERFOUCE, BY HIS SONS

PORTR A ITURE OF MR. WILBERFORCE, BY MR. tiollldiT-111S

POWERS OF ORATORY.
"Wilberforce held a high and couspicuuus place itt oratory,
even eta time when English eloquence rivalled whatever we
read of in Athens or in His voice itself was beautiful ;
deep, clear, articulate, and flexible. I think his greatest
premeditated efforts were made fur the abolition of the trade in
slaves, and in supporting some of the measures biuught forward
by Pitt for the more effectual suppression of revolutionary
machinations, but be often rose unprepared in ?nixed debate, uti
the impulse of the moment, and seldom set down without having
struck into that higher tune of general reasoning and vivid il-
lustration, which left on his hearers the impression of power
beyond what the occasion had called forth. He was of course
unequal, and 1 have often heard him confess that he never rose
without embarrassment, and always felt for a while that he was
languid and speaking teetiiv, though he warmed as he went on.
I have heard the late Mr.Win.lltain express-the saute discontent
with himself, both probably front the standard of excellence at
which they aimed. I always felt, and have often heard it re-
marked by others, that in all his speeches, long ur short, there
was• generally at least from five to ten minutes of brilliance,
which even the best orator in the house might have envied.
His own unaffected principles of humility, and his equally
sincere estimate of judgment and good intentions of others,
which became in advanciug life more and inure eredotninant,
influenced both his line of oratory, and his reasoning when not
in the House of Commons. He gradually left off the keener
weapons of ridicule and .sarcasm, however well applied and
justly aimed; but, with the candour that gave what he thought
due weight to an adversary's argument, he sometimes (as it
appeared to me) with undue diffidence neglected or hesitated to
enforce his own. Sometimes also, as on the questions involving
peace or war, the wishes of his heart were at variance with the
conclusions of his understanding, and resolutions of great pith
and moment'

" Were sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.' "
BY 4111. JAMES MACKINTOSH.
Mackintosh's own account of this intercourse is peculiarly
happy. "Do you remember Madame de Maintenon's excla-
mation, 'Oh the misery of having. to amuse an old King, qui
West par amusable!' Now, if I were called upon to describe
Wilberforce in one word, I should say he was the most • amusable'
what subjects will interest hint, it is perfectly impossible to
hit on one that does not. I never saw any one who touched
man I ever met,with in my life. Instead of having to think
life at so many points; and this is the mote remarkable in amain
who is supposed to live absorbed in the contemplation of a
future state. When he was in the House of Commons, he
seemed to have the freshest mind of any man there. There was
all the charm of youth about him. And he is quite as remark-
able in this bright evening of his days as when I saw him in his
glory many years ago."

nY MR. SOUTHEY.

" I saw more of your father during h►s short residence in this
country, than at any ur ail other tunes; and certainly I never
saw any other man aho seemed to enjoy such a perpetual se-
renity and sunshine of spirits. In conversing with him you
felt assured that there was no guile in him;, that if ever there
was a good and happy man on earth, he was one; and that
eminently blessed as he was with a benign and easy disposition,
the crown of all blessings was that inward and undisturbed
peace which passeth all understanding. I recollect one cir-
cumstance during his visit to the Lakes, which shows the per-
fect reliance his servants had upon his good nature,—forbear-
ance it might have been called in any other person, but in him
it was no efttrt. The coachman came in to say that some pro-
vision concerning the horses had been neglected. and your
father with a little start of surprise, replied, 'that indeed he had
not thought o: it.' No said the coachman ; and since you
have been in this country, you have all of you been to lake. an►d
valley, and river, and mountain mad, that you have thought
of nothing that you ought to have thought or.'

BY MR. JOSEPH JOHN GuitriEv.
"The picture which the dead leave on the minds of their
survivors, is not always lively ur distinct. Although we may
have fondly loved them, and may hallow the memory of their
good qualities, we cannot always summon their image before
us; but I venture to express my conviction, that no one who
has been accustomed to observe 'Wilberforce will ever find the
slightest difficulty in picturing him on the tablet of the mind.
'Who that knew him can fail to recall the rapid movements of
his somewhat diminutive form, the illumination of his expres-
sive countenance, and the nimble finger with which he used to
seize on every little object which happened to adorn or diversify
his path ? Much less can we forget his vivacious wit—so play-
ful, yet so harmless; the glow of his affections, the urbanity of
his manners, and the wondrous celerity with which he was ever
wont to turn from one bright thought to another. Above all,
however, his friends will never cease to remember that peculiar
sunshine which he threw over a company by the influence of a
mind perpetually tuned to love and praise. I am ready to think
there could be no greater luxury than that of roaming with him
in solitude over green fields and gardens, and drawing out of
his treasury things new and old."

BY MR. HARFORD.

" The first time I met Mr. Wilberforce was at the house of
his friend, Mr. Henry. Thornton. I had heard him speak in
the morning, iu a crowded meeting, at the anniversary of a
public charity, when elevated sentiments and touching appeals.
rendered doubly impressive by the fine tones of his musical
voice, had deeply affected the feelings of the auditory. There
was it dinner party at Mr. Thornton's, and several of the guests
were among the particular friends of Mr. SI ilbcrforce. Mr.
Thornton, before we sat down to table, expressed a hope that
he would joiu us in a few minutes. We had not been long
stated when he entered the room with a smiling, animated
countenance, and a lively vivacity of movement and manner,
exchanging as he advanced kind salutations with his friends,
whose faces were lighted up with peculiar pleasure at his pre-
sence. From my earliest youth I had been taught to reverence
the name of Wilberforce, so that my delight was great to find
myself in his company. His manner and address throughout
the afternoon were marked by kindness and vivacity, and his
style of conversation was brilliant and easy.
Those who never saw him till within eight or ten years of
his decease, when his figure hail become a good deal bent, and
his head depressed upon his chest by the weight-of years acting
on an extremely delicate frame, cannot easily form a just idea
of him at the period to which I now refer. Some tendency to
these infirmities, it is true, was already apparent, but the elas-
ticity and spriug of his movements, the comparative erectness
of his figure, and the glow en his cheek, presented a strong
contrast to the decrepitude which gradually stole upon him in
his declining years. His frame was at all times extremely
spare, and seemed to indicate that the ethereal inhabitant
within was burdened with as little as possible of corporeal en-
cumbrances; but from his attenuated frame proceeded a voice
of uncommon compass and richness, whose varying and im-
pressive tones, even in common conversation, bespoke the
powers of the orator. His eyes, though small, and singularly
set, beamed with the expression of acute intelligence, and of
comprehension quick as lightning, blended with that of cordial
kindness and warmth of heart. A peculiar sweetness and play-
fulness marked Isis whole manner. There was not a single
handsome feature ; there was scarcely one that was not
in itself plain; but the mingled emanations of imagination and
intellect, of benevolence and vivacity, diffused over his coun-
tenance a sort of sunny radiance,'"which irresistibly acted as a
powerful magnet on the hearts of all who approached him. At
this time, and till a very few hours of his death, he wore pow-
der; and his dress and appearance were those of a complete
gentleman of the old school.