The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1850-06-20
From the .Nem York Sunday Times.
THE Rev. HENRY BASCOM,
THE FULLY OF KENTUCKY!


.Eloqnence is the offspring Of freedom. There
are chains on the tongue Of the slave a. well as
on his hand. He who fears 10 utter fully all his
heart and soul, can never speak in tones ofthun-
der. Wherever the iron will Of the despot has
the force Of immatable law, wherever a power
reigns arrogating to itself an authority which
even ID does not clam-the authority to con.
,rol the evolu,ions Of pure thought and the ex-
preston Of honest opinion-he sure that what
ever may be the genius OF the head in the chill
dren in such land, still the ip will falter and
babble with wavering indirectness and confusion
nevertheless. This theory neets no assumptions
arguments PRIOR in order to its demonstration.
We find il on the surface and at the centre Of all
human history. Whence came our great modes
Of burning eloquence! Every schoolboy can
give the answer. Not from the jeweled and
gorgeous despotisms of the East, or from frozen
Russa's grinding autoc racy, where the words Of
the orator seem, ice instead Of fire, but from Ath-
ems when her citizens were fcHerless as the
winds Of the Eyean sea; from Rome, when the
statue ofliherty was first Of all in the Forum the
Pantheon, and in every temple the Seven hills; ;
from France when Mirabcau chaunted prose-
pans to the new goddess; from that third seq
ment OF Briton's Parament-the one alone pos
sessing frcedom-the Lower House.; and finally
from every line and point four American Union,
which is free all over.
other conditions, is not enough to develop the
most sublime efforts Of liberal speech. No man
was ever truly eloquent until aroused to the high
est degree OF ex citeme nj by some motive. There
can he no thunder without storm, and no storm
without tumult or agitation OF the atmosphere
TIE necessary conditions of great oratorical n.
chevmenis are rivalries, opposition, Intellectual
strifes, and fiery determined antagonism.
Tnis view of the subject enables US to explain
a.. uhau fbo mo- ,natso
that Kentucky has produced more distinguished
orators beyond comparison than any other State
in the confederacy. 1t is precisely because
Kentucky has been the chosen theatre OF the
Eercest and most numerous agtatons. Her
soil, fruitful in other respects, has ALWAYS, mp
to the present hour, been wonderfully prolific IN
apples Of discord. First there was the contes, be-
tween the 'old court and the snew,' that ragged
for nearly dozen years, and almost resulted in
civil war. Next might be noticed her system OF
land titles, which remained sub j,tdice during the
full quar .er Of a century. Afterwards came too
the p,ched battles, Of political factions, the most
angry and pr0tracted ever recorded in peaceful
times; and finally, we may add, the number and
violence OF her religious ecctarian controversies,
fierce, bitter, legionary.
Nov, as all these various and heterogeneous
issues had to be settled mainly by direct APP
peal to the popular ear, an immense demand for
the eloquence Of competent advocates was the
inevitable consequence; and according to the
everlasting law Of mental as we Il as social econ
omy, the supply Of every product soon accommo-
dates itself 10 the demand. It was 90 there.
But let us begin our brief and true biography
the biography Of remarkable man--of man
whom Henry Clay publicly pronounced At Lex
ington, some three years ago. to be the mightest
orator Of the age.
The Rev. Henry Bascom is native Of Ken
lucky. The son Of poor but honest parents, his
education was mostly moral and physical, till he
arrived at the age Of eighteen summers, when he
professcd conversion, to use western phrase,
and Immediately became an tinerant preacher
in the Methodist connexion. From that day his
engerness for knowledge and assdui,y in the tolls
to attain il, were unremitting and astonishingly
successful. Fortune, or chance favored his new
ambition. His first circuit embraced the neigh
borhood Of Henry Clay, then in oil the eplcndor
and golden pride OF his fame. Mrs. Clay was
in the habi, Of attending the appointments Of the
young minister, and frequently urged her hns-
band to 60 and hear him. At length the great
orator consented, in order to please her, but with
the painful expectation Of being most unmercitul-
" bored What, then, mus. have been his sur
prise and pleasure, when the inspired boy arose,
and from a beardlcss lip, poured forth torrent