Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1854-12-07
GEO. D. PRENTICE AT MEMPHIS.

GkO. D.. PRENTICE Az AknPHIS.
Complimentary Dinner-Speeeh Of Mr.
Prenfies-His Experience as an Eaito,
and Partizan.
On the night of Wednesday, the a5tl
of October, Geo. D. Prentice, Esq.
partook of a complimentary dinner a
Memphis, which was gotten up and at
tended by about one hundred of the
solid citizens of that place. In the
course of the evening he was toasted a.
follows:
GEo. D. PRENrcE:-The Poet-ths
Philosopher and Man. Welcome
three welcome, in our midst!
We give a portion of the speech oi
Mr.. Prentice in response. Some pas
sages of it are touchingly beautiful:
GESrLKMEK: / feel grateful for the
fiattering toast given, and for the exceed
ing cordiality with which you have re-
ceived it. 1 wish / could make ft-
ting response, to it. All who know me
know that l am not public speaker
1 believe that l can scarcely be said
ever to have addressed an assemblage
of men in all my life. Indeed / never
haved liked to address more than one
woman at a time. And / am almost
afraid am getting little too old for
that: If you want speeches from me,
the best way for you will be to subscribe
for my paper, and then l will make you
three or four every day. l will tell
you all the truth--and possibly little
more. l have oftentimes written till
my fingers were blistered, and perhaps
some of my democratic friends may
think, that if had spoken the same
things, my tongue would have been
blistered too. Nevertheless, / believe
l am an honest politician and editor,
and, if man continues honest in a voca-
ton where the temptations TO be other
wise are so numerous and powerful, l
don't know but he deserves a good din
ner from both Wings and Democrats.
Still / am concious of having committed
some political errors, and heaven grant
that this excellent dinner may lie more
lightly upon my stomach than those
unintentional errors do upon my memo
ry.
Gentlemen, though am not speaker,
l can at least thank you from the depths
of warm heart for the compliment
you have paid me, in inviting me to
meet you on this occasion. No COM
pliment could have more grati6ed me
than this invitation from the gentlemen
of Memphis to public dinner unless,
perhaps, an invitation from the ladies
of Memphis to a ~public tea party. l
know that my Wing friends both par
don and justify me when l say that l
prize this compliment, coming from
Wings and Democrats alike, far more
than could a similar one from mem
bers of my own party alone. There
was time years ago when cared little
what my political opponents said or
thought of me, so l had the regard, the
support, and the applause of my politi-
cal friends. l have learned to appre-
ciate and 10 desire the good opinion of
all good men. l have learned that can
dor, and truth, and honor, and honesty,
and wisdom, and patriotism, and virtue,
are confined to no party. Ny devotion
to the party with which 1 have acted
throughout my life, is unfaltering, but
time teaches to all true hearts that great
lesson of political liberality. l have
published some things, which, although
well intended at the time, l could wish
blotted out from the memory of my
readers and from my own. | have
written some bitter things of men who
have since passed away from the earth,
and whose memories l revere, and on
whose graves l could shed Tiers of sor-
row and regret. Ali when look back
through the twen.y-six years of my edi-
torial life, and think how many | once
who afterwards became my
friends, or proved themselves
their country's friends, and how many
once eulogised and toiled for who
have since turned their hands ruthlessly |
against me; when / reflect how often
the most arduous and devoted political
services are forgotten by those to whom
they are rendered, and how often the
deepest political injuries are magnani-
nously forgiven by those to whom they
are done; and when l remember how
many of my political friends have
striyen to crush me, and how many
Democrats have gathered around me as
a band Of brothers in the days of my
peril, l should be guilty of an
outrage on my own concience, and on
every feeling of impulse of my heart,
il | were not to weed out from my ma
ture the partizan bitterness that once
aourished there. l am a Wing, but ]
will greet every true-hearted Democrat
as my brother, and will greet no false
hearted Wing as such. What the fu-
ture of our parties is to be know not,
and the wisest of us are not wise enough
to know. Disorganizations and reor-
CARNATIONS are in progress, and in all
probability many who have for years
been battling desperately against each
other, viii find themselves arrayed
shoulder to shoulder in defense of the
great cause of human rights.
EIt is now finally settled at the