Litchfield enquirer., 1840-04-02

" EDS OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES uS Jduu"
airy number of the American Biblical Repos-
itory contains an interesting article on An
cient and Modern Eloquence, by N. CLEvE-
LAND, Esq, of Newbury, Mass. After DESERT
bling the Eloquence and peculiar power of
Demosthenes and Cicero-of the elder and
younger Pitt-and of Burke, Fox and Can
ning-the writer closes with the following
sketches -
"But it is time to ask, whose are the great
names of American eloquence! Whom will
posteritv regard as the Demosthenes or
Burke of our age and Republic? Surely if
facilities and opportunities for public speak
ing, with daily and nightly practice conjoin-
ed, are sufficient to make great orators, our
country must be the most prolific region un-
der the sun.
Aside from the pulpit and the bar, we have
neither record nor tradition of American elo-
quence, anterior to the disputes with the
mother country. These furnished the excl
ting theme-and popular assemblies the most
ample scope for the first orators of freedom.
This the era of Quincy, Warren, Otis, Hen
ry, and the Adamses. OF the effect produced
by their imprisoned harangues, we have
abundant epidence-but the harangues them
selves are, for the most part, lost forever
| We know not that this is to be regretted
Teeir unpublished though vigorous eloquence
was adapted to the times, and accomplished
its objects-but had it been faithfully pre-
served, it might have offended our more fas-
tidious ears. The vital interests involved
the magnitude of the danger-the intense
feelings of all excited community, produced
a sympathy with the orator which we could
not fully realize, thus in the estimation of his
hearers, redeeming his vehemence from the
charge OF extravaganza. But now the medi-
UNI through which we behold them is misty
and dim. Time and distance have surround
ed them with haze of glory. We wish in
this case no clearer vision. for what the eye
cannot discover, fancy will supply.
With the adoption of the Federal Consti-
tuition, and the organization Of the Govern
ment, the parliamentary eloquence of our
country may be said to have commenced
Systemized opposition and combined party
action then first applied the stimulus to de-
bate-a stimulus which seems to lose none of
its irritating properties by the lapse of time.
Were we called upon to select from the great
and good, who figured at that time in our ma
tional councils, the two highest names on the
rolls of eloquence, these names would be Al.
eXander Hamilton and Fisher Ames. Our
opinion of Hamiltons eloquence must rest
mainly on the testimony of those who heard
him. His speeches as they have come to US,
do not correspond with our impressions of
his remarkable powers. Great and eloquent
beyond most, if not all men of his day, he
certainly was, if we may believe the concur.
rent statements of friends and foes.
| OF the powers Of Mr.. Ames, we have more
satisfactory memorials. His eloquence is
generally flowing and delightful-rising at
times to passages of great power and pathos
and conveyed always in diction remark
ably correct, terse and beautiful. Like
Burke, he is distinguished by philosophic and
comprehensive views. Such is the skill
with which he draws from human nature,
and from history, his lessons of political wis.,
dom, that his orations and writings are as in
struetive as they are pleasing. Hence he is
one of the few writer's, whom we read with
interest, long after the occasions and the ex-
elements which called them forth, have for
ever passed away.
We will not, by bare enumeration, (and
time would allow no morcO do injustice to
the many respectable, and the few brilliant
orators, whose names appear in our Legisla-
tive and Congressional annals. Let US then
at once ask, which is our trio of great names
Who are the men who have been allowed to
seize and decide the triumval honors of Ame-
I
united sense of this wide empire, select as its
ablest men, from among those, who for the
last quarter ola century swayed its councils ?
"Of the three hundred sname' but three."-
For whom, on entering for the frst time the
Senate chamber Of the nation, does the stran.
ger, whether native or foreign, soonest in
quire! Inquire! Nay, the pen and the PEN
| Gil, and wide mouthed Fame, have made the
| INQUIRY needless. How soon his eye recog-
nizes the features; how soon his whisper
breathes the illustrous names Of Webster,
Clay, Calhoun! $500.
In contemplating the Qualities of these cx-
traordinary individuals. we are again struck
with the fact, that men may be eminently
great, and yet eminently dissimilar.
Mr.. Calhoun is the acknowledged chief of
metaphysical orators. His mind is uncom-
mon acute, with rare facility Of seeing or
making distinctions. His reasoning is equal
ly subtle and plausible. He loves to revel
and soar in the airy regions of abstraction
He is the great Des Cartes Of the Political
Academy. His theory is always curious
often Neutrality-suspicious. sublime; but it
is theory of worthless" The course of his
political fortunes may have effected uncon-
sciously the hues of his mind, for his views
are often sombre, and his antIcipations of the
future ominous and foretoding.
Not SO with Mr.. Clay. He loves to move
on the surface of our earth, and amid the
throng of fellow men or if at any time dis
posed 10 climb, it's only to some sunny hill
top, that he may get wide view of the busy,
happy scene below. He is the orator of pop
ular principles and common sense. His
views are expansive, rather than deep-his
grasp Of subject not so strong as it is broad.
He needs no interpreter to make more clear
his meaning, nor any other index to the kind
ness of his character, than bis homely. but
open and expressive face. AS speaker, his
STYLE IL Ciceronian graceful and winning,
rather than impetuous. Witty, and prompt
at repartee, he is more skiilful and ready in
the sk;rro;sh of debate. than either of his