Daily Iowa State Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1859, 1858-05-05

naSiOD, s1ypI Ill sIn0 wv
tory, Il too reGdy to take odsnse asd
raise great hubbub over very smsll
matter.
Western oratory.
The Pulpit and the Forum Of the
United States, are gardens in which
the eloquence, rhetoric and reason Of
the people, have their fullest devel-
opment, and highest types Of perfec-
ton. 1t ID there where the conflict Of
minds furnishes the testimony Of indi-
vidual superiority, and where the fiIs'
foundations are laid for future growth
and enimence, in the higher fields Of
social, moral, and political philosophy.
It is there where presumption with
out merit, is Frustrated beneath the
heel Of public contempt, and where
modesty and true excellence is taken
kindly by the hand, by an intelligent
and approaching community, and lead
forward to the highest seats OF public
honor. The just and able judge, the
eloquent and honorable advocate, the
fearless and brilliant divine, are the
chosen Of the people, and without
knowing it, they control the destinies
of the Union. They become an intel
lectual, though not hereditary arristoc-
racy, whose greatness the people dare
not envy because it is a greatness Sc
cured by personal labor and personal
merit.
The consultations of individuals
who form the glorious galaxy Of an
cient orators, is more brilliant than any
galaxy Of philosophers, warriors, sages,
or poets because the orator must
possess all the attributes and endow-
ments of the poet, hero, and philoso-
pher, before he acquires that immor-
tally Of reputation which ages will
honor. Who had not rather have
been a Cicero than a Cesar, a Demos
themes than an Alexander And who Of
our day would not rather be Webster,
Clay, OF Calhoun, than a Scott or
a Taylor Thus it has been through
all the centuries among civilized ma
tions. The great orator has been the
nations greatest hero. Kossuth the
orator will live in history long after the
name Of Radetzky shall be covered by
the pail Of oblivion. The General may
command armies, but it is command
of forced obedience. The orator com
mands multitudes only by the charm of
his eloquence, and by the irresistible
power Of the great truths he u.ters.
The power Of the orator in America
depends upon the subject of his dis
course, and the sentiments of those
who listen. The masses of the people
are generally SO intelligent, as to dis
criminate between the false and the
true, and they fail not to punish the
presnmptions of the empty dccl4imer,
or the sophisms of those who are in
culcating false theories of projected re-
forms by exhibiting palpable signs of
aversion or contempt, regardless of the
charms which the orator may throw
around it.
In the older states of the Union, the
orator must become brilliant with that
polish which is only secured by great
study and much preparation. The
public tastes have then become so re-
fined, as to reject the claims of any
person in the field of oratory, unless
he has first been put into the mills Of
the schools, and passed through all the
tedious operations of prescribed modes
adopted by College co-teries. Viyor is
admired everywhere, but vigor with
out polish otfends the delicate sensibili-
ties of scholastic critics and ostraciscs
many orators who are only diamonds in
the rough.
At the West a different rule pre-
walls. Here, the tastes and habits of
the people are more practical and less
exacting as to forms, and polish; and
more exacting as to the power, vigor,
and truth of oratory. Grammar may
be ignored in a speaker with impuni-
ty, without shocking the tympanum of
the public ear; but the public ear will
never listen to any amount of brilliancy
which is empty Of truth, and void OF
the energy of soul-lit genius.
LAWS OF IOWA.
BY AUTHORITY.