Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-05-08
CRITICISM ON pRiLLIrs's ELoQuENCE
FROM THE DINBuRen REVIEW,
Concladsd

greater upon occasions where partcu-
lar point was 10 he stcadily kept in view ;
and we should select, as specimen OF
this, the manner in which he handles his
topics in a speech which, from internal
evidence, We have no doubt he prefers to
all the rest-that for O'Muilan. 1t is
not very easy to collect the circums'an-
ces of the case, from the labored, vague
E-aratiye defamation in which it is o.
pened 4; but as lar as We can geta glimpse
Of il, the action was brought for a !ibe'
in newspaper against a c4tholic priest
accusing him Of an assault upon his bi
shop aud the recorder, in his own cha
pei; whereas at the time when it vas al
lodged to have been committed. he was
absent 10 Dublin, obtaining subsc iptirns
for charity school Now, to state the
cause of his absence was highly proper;
and there would have been nothing cx-
travagant in adding single sentence in
commendation Of the object Of his jour
ney. But this would not satisfy the in
satiate love Of display, which rules il
this advocate--and he straigatway en-
tiers into the subject Of education as it he
had been delivering a lecture upon it."
:" We cannot now make room for it
bu, the orator proceeds at great length.
comparing education to a cross which ap-
peared to the hesitating Constantine, as
ssrtiag tat il man will o!low its precep's
purely, 1.-THE precepts Of education he
shall have victo Y in this world, and the
portals Of omnipotsnce viii open Tor hi
admission and ascribipg, al some length,
the rise Of Athens. Rome, and Sparta, Il"
its influence. lie then goes on to state
that The blessings of education are pecu
liarly applicable TO TIE Irish; and this
brings in one Of his choice mCrsels upoi.
the character of that people, which whe,
we begin to Gle, cur readers will recos-
lnize pretty much as those Of the Vicar .!
Wakefield do the man who talked Of
Sanconiathap, Manetted. and Berossus,-
lively, ardent, intelligent and sensitive !;
nearly ali their acts sprung from impulse,
and 50 FORTH exactly to the tune Of
passage already quoted from another
speech, until we arrive at strange con-
sequence, which it seems, this principle
Gotten subject p,oduces;' it leads victo.
~ captive at her Qreland's) car, and
holds echo mute at her c'cquence; ma
king a national monopoly of fame, and
attempting, as it were, TO naturalize the
achievements Of the uniyerse.'-fie then
passes 10 another tcpic, quite foreign to
the course Of has argument and declama-
ton, but which he says i. connected
with the subject Of the trial'-th. liberty
Of the press; and he gives nearly two pa
ges Of rant upon this part U which we
have already extracted.
I'VE have both now and in the former
article upon MIR. Phillips, expressed our
reluctance at performing the harsh task
which our duty imposed upon us We
not only approve generally Of hi, con.
duct excepting always the intolerabie
tlippancy Of his sneers at MIR. Grattin,
and the absurd attempts to make the Ca
,hollcs believe that all parties are alike
hostile to their causel but we consider
him to be young man whose errors are
those of bad taste. and WIN might hav,
e1celled had he not listened to friend>
aud mobs. He shews no defect Of ia
lent; on the contrary there are macy
passages in the volume before US, which
display natural genius for oratory.
L. il even now too late to reform r
The criticism which ought to make him
pause and question the soundness Of the
taste he has hitherto been guided by.
may possibly have no other effect than to
irritate him, and make him pursue his
present errors more pertinaciou.y. Tina,
It should have the effect Of disheartenins
him, we take to be highly improbable =
fer surely the confidence which has die
tated this publication is a plant of no
sickly growth. III he takes az no opsbt