Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-02-02
Did you Ever?


 editor of the Independent Balance ejacuates;
 "The editor of lhe True Democrat crlticlsipg the productions of Edward Everett, one oi tic most polished scholars of the age, and acknowi- edged to be one of the first of American states men! Rounded but empty per'ods!' :,
 Goodness graciousl We innocently noticed the swil milk productions of Yankee as oe- ing round but empty periods" and our auda- city has been compared to baying at the moon' Iconoclast as we are, we have laid sacrleglous hands on know nothing idol and one of ms votaries is ready to go into spasms. We were aware that MT. Everett had some reputation as scholar, but this is the first time we ever heard of his being statesman. A trimming oily, smooth faced politician he certainly ls' but his warnest friends never claimed for nm either dspth or force of mind.
 As we have gone so far, at the risk ol dfiV- ing the mind of the aforesaid editor entirely off its balance, we will go step further. MT Everett is man of talent but not Of genus. By long unweared application, aided by good memory. he has succeeded in obtaining repu- tation as a scholar, how well deserved we neither know or care. So, in long course oi wears, he has succeeded in forming style or a mannerism which it pleased the snoos Of New England to fail in love with. Ornate, highly polished and resplendent with gliding. varnlsh- ed till they cracked at the approach of frost' ingeniously inlaid and dove-talled as his sen- tences really are, yet they are devoid of staml- na, of peth and of substance. Ills fame as a statesman rests principally on one letter, which as it came from the first clerk of the depart ment, who drafted it, covered only six or eight pages. and was model of condensed argu- ment Under the manipulations of Everett it was spread to cover thirty pages, was diluted, loaded with tinsel, and sent forth as state paper. As singular as it may appear to the editor of the Balance, we have read some of the productions of his favorite, and our candid opinion of them was, that they were mere tin sell We will anticipate the sheer that we were unable to appreciate them, by saying that we are heartily glad of it. Compare them with Illc WIlGlllpo Ol Odiuouu Ol Odoo, ol W OpolSi' In the writings of the latter, every word plays it's part and is necessary. From the writings of Everett you may strike out not only words, but whole sentences, and yet lose no idea. h. deed, to our thinking, it rather improves the thing. His famous oration on Washington is a specimen of his style. True, we never heard it, but on questioning those who were present at its delivery, the answer has always been that it was very fine. But to our questions, as to what new ideas he advanced, what new thoughts he uttered, what new estimate he gave of the character of the great man, or even what sentence there was in 1t forcible enough to impress itself upon the mind of the nearer, our answer in every case, has been the same negative shake of the head. In fact it was the peared and opened his mouth the white kids were ready to come together. At the delivery of one of his gttering generalities the male snob turned to the female snob at his side, and asked, Did you ever?' Thereupon she re- sponded, "No, I never" And after the thing was done and the orator had bowed, no heart in the assembly throbbed faster, no mind had received new idea, and instead of going away with an enlarged or completed idea of the cha. racter of Washington, the audience was firmly convinced that Washington was very good sort of man, that Everett was a polished scholar and his oration was slammed foine'' His style is not so difficult to attain as the edi- tor of the Balance ina zines. If we had time we would engage to teach 1t to him in six easy lessons. The first thing is to be careful 10 avod saying anything directly. Instead of saying :" the President" say "the distinguish ed civilian who has been called by the voice of free people to preside over the destinies of our great and happy republic" Instead of the True Democrat, say 1.-the bloated aud corrupt central organ of the family dynasty, oligarchy, central junto," etc., etc., (the remainder of the sentence see Gazette and State Rights Demo- crat) and instead of saying "a Yankee retailer of diluted abolitionism," say "one of the most polished scholars and acknowledged to be one of the first of American statesmen"