Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-05-25
Professor Charles whitney.

WASHINGTON, MAY 70, 1852 H. ID
Professor Charles whitney.
To the Editors of The Home Journal:
Charles Whitney is the youngest son and child
of the late we-known Gen. ]. Whitney, Of Bng-
bamton, and one of family of ten children.
He was born in the year 1920, at n place then
called Chenango Point, at the junction Of the
Susquehanna and Chenango rivers. His grand
father fell, fighting for liberty, in the American
Revolution His father emigrated from Colum-
bia county, on the Hudson river, to Broome
county, then wilderness. BY industry, fru-
gality, and enterprise, he obtained from the Bing-
hams an agency for n large tract of land lying in
the valley of the Chenango, the Indian name for
beautiful yiver and named the town Of Bingham
ton after his noble benefactors. Charles was
left half orphan, by the death of his mother, in
infancy, and was thus, in n measure, among so
many children, left with only native resolution
and hope to battle with life and build his for
tunes. True, his father died wealthy, but while
Charles was still young; and his large estate has
been in litigation ever since. A fortune may
come from it to the youngest child, but Charles
has ceased to look, ii indeed he ever looked, to
such a source for aid in life. The beautiful
scenery surrounding his birth place and early
years produced naturally, on quick sensitive,
and powerful mind, deep and lofty poetic impress
sions. During those years, and later, when re-
! lieved by school VACATIONS the romantic boy
found his chief delight in the "pathless woods"
in the study of the voices Of nature and with
them, through his favorte beeS-lettrcs the voices
of history, poetry, and great men.
characteristic anecdote is related Of him at
that period. The echoes of his oratons in the
woods of Binghamton led some old Dutch farmers
to imagine esprit Knockers" were about. Others
thought it some wild Mormon preacher let loose
AT length the whole village resolved to solve the
mystery. Some four hundred to FIVE hundred
honest citizens started out one day to hunt the
disturber down. Charles was spouting his ex-
, emplars in the woods, not far from where
brother was at work. This brother, farmer,
was a member of the State legislature and weigh
ed some three hundred pounds. The citizens
came upon Charles, when bury old Dutchman
advanced, and sezing him, asked if he had ''seen
the crazy man." Quickly comprehending the
joke, Charles pointed to his brother, saying,
!" There he is" when the crowd rushed on him.
pinioned his arms, and dragged him of. His
struggles confirmed suspicion and though he
cried "Im not mad ~ and "Im q member of
the legislature" the crowd wouldn't let him up,
until, finally, some of his friends recognised him
The Binghamton Courier thought the joke too
good to keep, and accordingly told the world
how the honest villagers were sold" by Charley
Whitney. A plenty Of such freaks might be mar
rated In college, Charles always bore away the
prize in defamation. Speaking Of his family /
may say that one of his brothers was the first love
and husband Of Mrs. General Gaines The whole
of the family were intellectual, but to Charles
belonged the gift Of oratory and impersonation.
His early mimicres are remembered by many as
acutely true and singing He could impersonate
equally the ludicrous and sublime, the senti-
mental and the bombastic This power he has
wonderfully proven at various times.
In Dublin. ireland J soon after the trial of
Gavan Duffy for treason, while Mr.. Whitney was
reciting the celebrated speech of Patrick Henry
in which occurs: owe must fight ] repeat it,
sir, we must fight. An appeal to arms and to
the God of hosts is all that is left to usr-Mr
Burke, the noted juror on the trial Of Duffy, who
alone held out six weeks rather than vote treason
was present, and, rising up, exclaimed, with all
the emphasis of sincerity, i" By heaUens : Pm of
that mans opinion y which had the effect Of
raising the assembly, en- mGsse and their cheer
ing shook the massive walls of the Rotunda.
While in London, the Duke of Wellington was
so impressed by Mr.. Whitney's impersonation Of
Brougham and Shie that he sent him, the next
day, 4 draft for one hundred pounds, His cell
ebrated impersonation Of "Wolf Jim," before
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, causedfiher
delighted Majesty to say to him, Did you ever
see the like in Lun'un" SO said Punch, the
next day At any rate, Mr. Webster of the |
Haymarket Theatre, offered Mr.. Whitney, after
an evening Mt his entertainment, FIVE thousand
pounds year TO go upon the stage. Though
young man, Professor Whitney has, for some
years, given the public occasional impersona- |
tions and Readings" not so much ne professed
eocutionist, but rather, with rare elocution. TO
embody and reproduce great men, living and
dead-the orators and poets of our language. |
We may soy that he has not done this solely for
pecuniary profit, but from n keen relish Of the
pursuit, and desire to impart, by voice and ac-
ton, the conceptions so delightful to himself
A careful student Of character an extensive |
traveller and keen observer he has been able 10
entirely compass and comprehend every character
he has attempted to deneate and the list reaches
over the record of British, American, and Indian
history. We never think of Mr. Whitney--and he
is often in our thoughts--but there rises before
us, as through phantasmagoria or magic mirror,
majestic Daniel Webster, impassioned Henry
Clay, shrill-voiced, scathing John Randolph, i'm
petuous Patrick Henry, Calhoun, Marshall,
Hayne, Writ, or Indian Philip, and others Of his
compeers in the New World So, too, his spell
invokes q Brougham, Canning, a Shiel, an
O'Connel, a Sheridan, and Burke. For, by
personal observance and study or by patient and
faithful inquiry, Mr.. Whitney has come to i'm
personate all these, and a multitude more 80
truly in tone and gesture that the beholder is Mt
times carried away by the extraordinary illusion.
We know Of no elocutionist who can fairly
claim to be his rival. His voice is clear, full and
rich under perfect discipline, and capable of in
finite modulation, Indeed, we strongly suspect
him Of high ventriloquial power We have heard
him recte that terribly touching apostrophe of