Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1854-05-26

feeling gushsd Iorlh in one brief, mo-
ying question. as he gestured toward
the chair.-"When shall that great
vacancy be tilled?" Forever shall
those swelling words, that great va
cancy" sound and resound in our ears.
Their tone was the tone Of a dirge,and
of panegyric. and prophecy combi-
ned.
PECULIAR CHARACTER OF cLAY's ORA
TORY.
There are many kinds of orators.-
There is the maglslerIal orator OF in
telIect. in. posing and Websterian: there
is the gaudy aud polished utterance OF
the rheloricIan. captivating with mere
trcious ornament; and there is the
orator OF character and manner, sway
i lng masses like commander. 10
tins last order MIR. Clay primarily be-
longed. Though We see also in HIM
the action OF an intellect free and
large, and this, as we shall presently
notlce more particularly, came materl-
ally 10 The ard oil his effect. While of
The arts and graces of the rhetorician,
the set orator OF the schools, the orna-
menL rather than the ruler of public
bodies. he had nothing. OF narrow
education, not bred in very polished
scenes, and never much given p read
ing books, his culture was always chic
tiy gathered from the society oil men,
wllh whom he came in contact, and
the enterprises in which he was enga-
ged. We shall look in vain IN his
reported speeches Tor scholastic beau.
ties or literary gems. In vainshall we
seek TO trace learned fancy in an aifiu-
ent imagery. Nothing like the polish
ed periods OF Edward Everett will greet
our SENSE Of The harmony OF numbers;
nothing like that phantom pageantry
conjured up by the impassioned fancy
Of Rufus Choaie will stalk in grand
procession before our minds eye. as on
some mimic stage. No, bis eloquence
was fed from other fountains. He had
the words which he had picked up from
few hooks and from many men;some
of them good, some bad. like the va
riety Of human nature which he had
fallen in with He shook hands with
she hunters Of the West, and the
scholars of the East, with wagon boys
from Ohio, and Presidents from Vir-
ginia. and from them all he had gath
cred up his common but copious vocab-
ulary. He had the trite figures of
speech and turns OF illustration taken
from he trauslations Of the classics, and
the crude speeches OF the hrlfu us.-,r,~el
rhetoricians, and both words and ima
yes he used ofT-hand. He never could
put his mind into the harness of pre-
pared paragraphs. Set sentences got
up like SheriJan's or even premedita-
ted like Ggattan's, never rushed with
prearranged fervor from his lips
Nor in any way did se indulge in
epideictic oratory, or what we may call
show-od speeches. He spoke as the
battle of de bate demanded. instant,
iervid, 10 the very pointofthe moment.
He had not time for the preparation of
speeches. for choice diction, ior culled
periods. Indeed the warmth and
movement OF his powers when in action
was such. that he could never get along
very satisfactorily with an apt or elo-
quent quotation. A little anecdotes
told Of him iorcibly Illustrating this
Anticipating a speech onone occasion,
he laughingIy asked representative
from Boston. Mr.. Winthrop, to give
him the quotation about rose BY any
other name smelling as sweet. This
he wrote out on little slip Of paper,
and when in the march OF his speech
he arrived at its point of introduction,
he began TO tumble among his papers,
still talking on though. for his poetry.
Alasl he could not tind il; but as un-
fortunately with too preeipitste a con.
fidence, he had started in the quota
tion. and had already got of the words
- rose." 1t was absolutely necessary
to finish il somehow; something Mt all
events must be done with the Rose"
30 after momentary balk and
prodigious pinch of snuff. he abruptly
wound up his attempted rhetorical
bravura. by saying. TO the astonisl-
ment OF ears polite, and very much we
may imagine to the enforcement OF his
argument. A Rose whe'er you find it,
still is sweet" A great and scholarly
oratory of New England we have
heard say, that during his brief term
in the Senate. he has more than once
seen the moment, in listeningto Clay,
when he would have given moneys
numbered for the privilege of thrusting
a quotation in his lips. Not at all
then in the style of thought. the com.
position, or the diction OF Mr.. Clay's
speeches shall We find any marvels OF
eloquent power. Thatpower was hid
den in his lofty and Ronan-lixe char
acter. and in bis fervent sensibility.--
he always appealed with electric fer
vor TO the nobter thoughts and the
toftisr passions OF men. Some speak
ers make their onslaught on the preju-
dlces aud the more vulgar p ssions OF
their hearers; some TO the higher and
more hallowed impulses--the nobili-
ties OF human nature. In short, some
appeal To mems greatness, some to
their littleness. And hose who are
themselves great, ALWAYS prefer the
former. 1t was once said OF another
orator, THAT the man seemed always
greater than his word" Aud SO AS
men looked on Clay's chivslrous and
dauntless front. they felt that there was
something behind the sentences. There
are men whose speeches seem to Us
flther and ,rrantsr than thar ~aan,