American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper., 1846-01-31

And soar'd with oyous flight to heavea,
Such shall their rising be.
from the Boston Transcript
DANIEL WEBSTER.
contributor to the London Sun, in some
agreeable jottlngs under the head Of "Ooc dsiOn-
al SEetchCS-here and Mere," has sharpened his
memory with "reminiscences of a visit TO Anne
rca, and in depicting some of our scholars and
statesmen with no inelegant pencil. No. Of
these sketches refers to a mass meeting held
during the Presidential election of 1914, the
writer being one of the observers, and Daniel
Webster himself the most Obserped among them.
In portraying the personal appearance of the
great pactticator, the sketcher remarks upon bis
Genealogical developements-t'his head" he
says, with the most expressive originality, "waE
what attracted and Tivited attentIon--and such
a head as Daniel Webster's, believe, was ne
yer before placed on mortal shoulders. 1t iE
peculiarly large, and so prominent about the
temples, that It seems as If All immense guam
tity of brain had been packed into the cranium
, whilst it was soft in those regions, and had
caused it to bulge out!"
, Continuing the portraiture the same writer
observes-'but the most remarkable features
in MIR. Webster's face are his eyes. Carlyle q
believe) said they were like blast furnaces
blown out, when IN repose. They are large,
dark, and deekply situated i'll cavernous open
ings the roots of which are formed by the up
per portions of the huge orbits, the shaggy
brows forming species Of penthouse lids TO
them. Dark and shadowed as they are before
he commences speaking, they are objects of at
traction; bot when the blaze of his own elo-
quence kindles them, they glow like living
Goals, and are d;abotiCaty teautJuty!" This
last expression is certainly peculiar one, but
those who have seen Mr.. Webster i'll the height
Of stern debate will readily conceive in what
sense the writer intended it, In relation to the
statesman's remarkable eloquenco, the follow
ing correct description is given with the addl-
ton of two most amusing anecdotes
He commences hisspeech in a low, deep, yet
perfectly distinct tone, and silence instantly
perVades the vast multitude. AS he proceeds,
the volume Of his voice increases, until, like
majestic stream, it flows onward in It's deep
channel with resistless power. He does not
deal largely in tropes or metaphors; ard yet,
occasionally, nc delights with the most poeucaI
passages. Ills style OF GratOry Is not the or
mate, but the massive, and he is rather clear
and forcible than hord or captivating APP
pealing to reason and good sense, rather than
to feeling aud passion, he produces almost mar
v3llous effects, He sohens his audience by
the beauty e his style aud diclon, and then,
- ~
hammer Of his cloqucncc, and noulds them 10
his will. Ills eloqucncc, contrastod with that
Of another dlsting ushed American orator, Mr.,
Cloate is as the simple grandeur OK pyramid
in opposition to the elegance oi o. CoInt;,IAn
temple. The effect of his speech on tbc coca
sion to which | am especially referring cannot
be better described than by adopting tie nn-
consciously correct Criticisga Of Yankee from
Connecticut, who stood near me, and eNcilH-
ed at It's conclusion, "iVeii, | gness, as every
word in that ere speech weighed paound."
Sidney Smith, when asked what he thought OF
Mr.. Webster, after hearing a speech which the
American made at an agricultural dinner ID
Oxford, expressed the sataG astonIshmonL III
different manncr--"WhaJ do ! thini
of him, siri'' said the witty canon, ''Ahy3 he Is
a steanl-engine in breoches, sir
As of all other great men, many amusing
anecdotes are related Of Mr.. Webster. l will
only infict one upon the reader, who will, /
think, agree with me that it is not bad one.
The distinguished man, Just before Lafayette S
last visit to AmeIicl, formed one N fishing
party IN MassachuscusBay. He had been Sc.
leced to deliver the welcoming speech TO the
Frenchman on his approaching visit, and dur.
ing his occupation of haling up cod fish and
tautog, he was observed to be very distracted.
It appeared afterwards that be must have been
studying that part of his Speech in which he
afterwards addressed Lafayette, for gentle
: man who was fishing next him observed him
pulling in his line, hand over hand, with some
difficulty, as if large fish was hooked, yet
without exhibiting any satisfaction on his face
at having captured prize. At length the fish
was seen approaching the surface and gleam
ing through the green waters, like lively
bladder of quicksilver still Websters face gave
no smiling welcome; but just as the fish came
to the surface, he burst out with "Feneratie
man! the representative OF the two hemls'
pheres, welcome to our Shores" and down
hoppeG the Hmonster cod" on the deck.
DUELLING IN MIssoURI. The new Consti