The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1855-06-29
From the r eshy.erian Quarterly for June.
The Character OF Henry Clay's Ulc@
oueuCg.


QueDCe.
/ L was our good fortune 10 hear the pc
rorAtion Of henry Gays great speech on
he removal Of the deposits. He was :
" es' Elm ms1l II hiss Western hemisphere
a kind OF Incarnation Of American genius
selttauchs, " itn lltle cultis ion Of any
kina frem books, like one of the mag 3if
cert trees Of lis own Kentucky an cut.
growth Of nature. L we hid lot heard
him. we feel quite SIRE thas we should
have gone 10 The grave without the knowl
edge OF the amazing superiority # spoken
words over the silent eloquence OF the
printed page We never before knew the
mean ne Of he word oratory. But il was
rot at al like our i'm gnation Of it.
There was mol syllable CT rant, there
was not one tone of vociferation. Oar
readers, who never heard Mr.. Clay. will
hardly believe us when We say that, IN
the very tempest, torrent and whirlwind
OF his passion, he spoke slowly, deliber
ately-every tone about the weight OF
.ateni
We WI tell the rea Ter Of our fancy
not quite sure that he viii understani ii;
il pat US in mind Of tho trained horses OF
Ap 40, who drew the chariot TO the
Sun. The chariot was of the richest
Workmanship, the harness OF divine fab
ric. and the steeds were d mi gols.-
Their ineonceivable strength and velocity
was perfectly even and niusIcal balance;
they kept pace to an zach, and every trace
was Of precisely the same traction. and
never overstrain1d. Mr.. Clsy's tone when
i, sunk nearly to whisper. as as dis
tnc,ly audible as distant running water
at midnight and bis out pouring OF de
nunciali ion was as SLOW and steady as the
tread OF Nemesis. Every syllable, we
had almost said every letter. was tistInet-
ly audible, aid as musical as the fall Of
water 10 marble fountain; the very light
ming that scathed 70 the bone. cured first
beautiful around bis arm, like that OF the
Phidian Jove, and was launched, TO: rs
BY stealth, but with delberl,ion that
would exceed belief.
His language had. by the instinct of a
wonderful genius, classicIl polish, which
is usually OILY learned by slow and sod
ulous cultiystion; there was indeed no
richness of quotation or alluslon, no bub-
bling up from concealed fountains OF learn
ing, no faint doors of the flowers long ere
while plucked in the haunts of the Mu-
SEES, but, instead, kind OF creative power,
as one who has interviewer III bis nature
and essence, all that he could have learn
ed Of tie force Of language il lie had stu
led. as OF one who hal been to the pene
tralia of the temple, and did not need TO
hearken to It's priests. The result was,
If course, mol like Webster or Cicero, but
it pas like Chatham. and still more Ike
tie Grafton for the Crown, and the tradi-
tons we have OF Demoshenes.
Our conclusion is. that IT. IN this great
est Of orators, consumate genius led net to
widness or ecceutrIcliy, rot to disloea-
ton or voc fer alton, not to anything rough
or inelegant, but TO a native beauty.
balanced symmetry. yelled glory. AMI
sublimi'y which yet had in II noole
simplicity. tha, we who have not this
wondrous gilt, must seek BY cultivation
what he possesses as bis birth-r 8 ii; and
If he did not think il well or aise to throw
him> elf out Of harmony with nature, or the
models Of ar. which, have approximate
nature mos, nearly, and it is sc rcely be
coming in US TO act differently. Ii The
matter keeps within tempered bounds
might act this also be we'll for the scholar