Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1853-08-17
5 CHARLES Hox IN DEBATE.

long.drawn vistas or fretted vaults Of Gothic rci-
lecture The whole place reminds one Of 81 error
description of dissenting meeting house: Here are
the gentlemen of England assembled TO the number
of nearly five hundred How easy It lsto Know the
Opposition, with the number OF blue and bulls
amongst them. What number OF old men are In
the Housed and there al number of very
Young men fresh from college. But where is Pitt ?
He has not come yet; there is his place vacant on
the Treasury bench and there is Pitts right hand
lnariZ-taIl Harry Dundas-ready to sing the Scotch
tune of ssWho wants me?" Look at that odd, queer
creature looking ike overgrown shrimp in con-
tortons. Ahf that is great friend of Pitts-tis
young Wilberforce, the member for Yorkshire The
Young man talking to him with star his breast,
and with pair of eyes outshnng his star is young
Lord Morning ton1a poor Irish lord-rather favor
tic with the king He has not yet realized the ex-
Pectations formed of him There is Sir John Scott
the Attorney General with his grave sensible, study
face What contrast he is to thai elegant aristo-
cratc-loong member on the front Opposition bench!
That is Mr. Ers1ine another of the brilliant advo-
Gates who have failed in st. Stephens There, at
the middle of the front bench, Rose the Secretary
to the Treasury, care-worn and furried, looking
anxious as if his New Forest property was taken
from him. How unlike is he to is+brother secreta-
y-SteeL-the member for Chichester picture of
Silenus! But. what Babel of noise! We
scarcely catch word that falls from the member on
his legs yehemently hourishing paper IN his hand
How odd it looks to public speaker harangulng
with spectacies on nose, like this unheard member!
f1Tis Burke! All! you what rage he is In, whlle
thanks to that clownshlooking person-Rolle, the
member for Devon-not word IS heard from the
greatest man then living" (Mr. Macaulay IN his es-
saw on g Warren Hastngs0 But the fault is not
altogether with the Commons. Like other men OF
genius Burke is arrogant, morose, and is embittered
with personal annoyances. Ills the unhapplest time
of his life. wide Wilbcrforces "Diary" for this
period of Burke's life) He sits down-and how
well listened to is the next speaker, with his slow
and precise manner! That's George Bankes, the
member for Corfe Castle-one of the most indepen-
dent men in the House-a man who would not barter
his independence for earldom. See how that TALL
emaciatcd-looking man is noting the statements OF
Bankcs He gets up to reply Ils Sir Philip Fran
= els How impatient are his gestures! how sharp is
his tone! how acrimonious his manner! And he is
followed by some nondescript on the Treasury bench.
But see the hustle below the bar!
Yes there stalks the stately figure of William
Pitt marching along the gangway to the Treasury
benchl He looks like one born for power, with that
wide imperial brow-that lordly air of supremacy
that sovereign stare at the embattled front of Oppo
sition There is something of his sire about his
riage but his features have the Greenvle look,
his blood partalzes of its phlegm. He is dressed
with elaborate formality, in his customary black
waStcoat and blue bOdy-coat. And now there is
fresh noise below the gang-way-and while the
speaker roaring Order, order below the bar -
g In vain the power of Strengthening porter cries.
And mods to Bethany for fresh supplies - |
in comes the nuch-desred Charles Fox, greatly to
tho relief of the discomitted Opposition, who now
have the worst of the debate That is Lord Surrey
the Protestant Lord SuTrey-talkng to Fox. People |
whisper that Lord Surrey is still PapSt, and 1t IS
said thashe that ugly coat him penance.
And now Sheridan is up How well he does 1t! and I
how readily the House gives its ear to him. while he
dazZles it with ingenious thoughts, amuSeS With his
fancy though his defamation fails to stir the pas
sons His tone is not deeper OF higher than that of
the comedy in which he has lmmortalZed his name.
How angry poor Burke looks at Sheridans success! |
Rivals at the side always more jealous than
avowed adversaries face to face.
!. Atlast Pitt rises All is hushed His figure seems
too tall for an orator and his aspect is forbddng,
cfor nd Is
of demi-god. How glOrousy it fills the ear as the
speakerss swelling sentences are Huently rolled forth
in melhuous harmony! The action Is flowing and
Rie too UNMARRIED for perfectly artistic grace but
with enough of Evolutionary art. Not only every
word but every syllable is distinctly caught. If we
had not heard him could scarcely imagine this
blended force and harmony this energy without dis
cord, this marvellous facility united to imposing
stateiness. In his words in his matter, there is
no appeal to our imaginations, but the whole man,
with his air of heaven given dictatorship, his
inspiring severity of department, his lofty for
his foes, his evident faith in hinself-justied by
his vast powers-we say, the whole man does kindle
up imagination, and vitalizes recollection of
Athenian and Roman story Here is that man whose
proWeSS would have daunted the sensitive soul of
Cicero whose logic of clearness beyond all that the
schools could teach, and musical thunder of grandy
terrible defamation, might have contorted with ea
OusIY the heart of Demosthenes Here is that king
of men-that ruler of his time-who long before
thirty summers have passed has changed the fate of
parties crushed the whigs-reconstructed
principles the party of the court-alled the tories
to the commercial energy of the land-unfurled his
banner of British Empire" and inscribed it with
his motto, "Ships, Colonies and Commerce" For
three hours, with unfauterng force, he has deficd
his adversaries and defended his resolves and, a.
midst reycrberating volleys of cheers resumes his
seat, himself the only unmoved human being in that
SPELL bound assembly.
Well Fox never can answer that display. You
say, g What pity that he spent all his day saunter-
ing about And last night, too, how he wasted it in
the orgies where Captain Morris sung his bacchana-
Ian Strains r. You think that Fox must break down,
and you feel for him, as with heavy, numbering air
he advances slowly to the table, and fumbles awk-
wardly with his fingers. There he stands, midst
dead silence of expectation Look at his careless,
halfbuttoned vest his crnmpled linen, his almost
sIoyenly attire. What is he saying? We cannot
hear him distinctly. He seems quite confused, and
his sentences are all entangled. Ali be must fail,
as his father before him did, when battling it out
with another Pitt. e. Old as am Ihope to see you
both battling out in these walls as have done your
fathers before you."-Anecd0te Of General Grant,
IN l78o-Yol. l. p. 1922 His voice, too, how diff /
ferent is its coarse and husky sound from the
organ OF his gifted foel His gestures, also, how
pace-his whole air, how ungainly, as we
contrast twifh the stateiness of the last speaker
But how very still the House isl The Opposition do
not seem dsprited does the Treasury bench look
prematurely elated. Both sides know by experience
the nature of the man before them. His voice is !
getting more clear-he has got rid of that unseemly
obstruction to his utterance. We find that he is
saying in very plain and unaffected words that the
minister, though adrot and artful, is after all very