Worcester daily spy., 1861-12-16
GlQ(Ortester Daily SpD,
I2uIog.y


companies in rapt attention while he did honor
to the dead. Over the coffin of Brodetck he
proclaimed the dying utteranCe OF this early
victim ,and gave to 1t the frey wings OF his own
eloquence. "They have killed me because |
am opposed to the extension OF slavery and
corrupt administration, said Broderck, and
as an orator repeated these words, his own
soul was knit in sympathy with the dead, and
thus he once endeared himself to distant mul-
titudes.
Who would not sing for Lyeldas He knew
Hlmselt to sing ana build the lofty rhy me-"
There are two forms of eminent talent which
are kindred in their etftcts-each producing
on instant present impresson--each holding
crowds in suspense, and each kindling enthu.
siastlc admiration ] mean that OF the orator
and OF the soldier. Each Of these, when sue
cesstul, wins immediate honor, and reads his
praise in a nations eye. Baker was orator and
soldier To him belongs the rare reuown Of
this double character.
Perhaps he carried into the war something
of the confidence inspired by the conscious
sway Of great multitudes, as he surely brought
into speech something Of the ardur Of war.
Cali him, if you please, the Prince Rupert Of
battle, he was also the Prince Rupert of de-
bate His success in life attests not only his
own remarkable genius, but tine benign hOSpi-
tally OF our institutions. BON on a foreign
soil, he was to our country only stepson but
were he now alive | doubt not that he would
gratefully declare that the country was never
to him an ungenlle stepmother. The child of
IL weaver he was brought while yet in tender
years to Philadelphia, where lie soon lost his
father by death. His earliest days were pass
ed in the loom rather than at school and yet
from this beginning he achieved the highest
posts of trust and honor, being at the same
time senator and general.
1t was the boast OF Percles in his funeral
Grafton at the Ceramicus over the dead who
had fallen in battle, that the Atneuians were
ready to communicate TO all tue advantages
which they enjoyed that they did not ex-
clude the stranger from their walls and that
Athens was city open to the human family.
The same boasts may be repeated By us, with
better reason, as we commemorate our dead
fallen. in battle. From Philadelphia the wea-
ver's orphan was carried TO the west where
he grew with the growth of that surprising
region. lie was one Otlts children, and his
manhood was closely associated with lis pow
ertul progress. The honors of the bar and of
congress soon were his. But his impatient
temper led bin from these paths into the Mex
lean war, where he gallantly took the place OF
Shields, torn with wounds, and almost dead,
at Cerro Gordo. But the great west, begin
ming TO TEEN with population, did not satisfy
his ambition and he repaired to California
The child whose infancy was rocked on the
waves OF the AtlaHtic-whose manhood was
formed in the broad, open eXpanse OF prairies
now sought home on the shores of the Pa
cific. There again his genius was promptly
recognised A new state, which had just
taken her place in the Union, sent him as her
earliest senator, and Oregon was first known
to us on this floor by his eloquent lips In the
senate he at once took the place of orator.
His voice was not full and sonorous, but il was
sharp and clear. 1t was penetrating rather
than commanding, and yet, when touched by
bis ardent nature, it became smypalbctic and
even musical. His countenance, body and
gesture all shared the unconscious inspiration
Of his voce-and he went on, master Of his
audience, master, also, of himself.
All his faculties were completely at his COM
mand Ideas, illustrations, words, seemed to
come unbidden, and 10 range themselves in
harmonious forms, as in the walls of ancient
Thebes each stone took its proper place of its
own accord, moved only by the music of
Tyre. Ills fame as speaker was so conspicu-
Gus, even before lie appeared among us, that
it was sometimes supposed he might lack
those solid powers without which the oraturi-
cal faculty itself can exercise only transient
influence. But his speech on this floor in re-
ply TO a slaveholding cOnspirator-now an
his manner, and that, while he was a master
of fence, he was also a master Of ordnance.
His controversy was graceful, sharp and
flashing, like a scimetar but his argument
was powerful and sweeping like battery.
You have not forgotten that speech. Perhaps
the argument against the sophism Of secession
was never better arranged aud combined, or
more simply popuarized for the general ap-
prehension. a generation had passed since
that traiturous abSurdiiy the fit cover OF con
spiracy, had been exposed. 1t had Shrunk for
a while into obscurity-driven back by the
massive logic of Daniel Webster and the hon
est sense Of Andrew jackson.
's-The times have been
That when the brains were out the man would die,
And there an end; but now they rise again"
AS the pretensiOn now showed itself anew, our
orator undertook again to expose it,
How thoroughly he did ths-now with his.
toric and now with forensic ski--whil his
whole effort was elevated by a charming ever
ready eloquence, which itself was aroused 10
new powers by the Interruptions which lie en-
counlered-all this is present TO your minds.
That speech passed ut once into the perma-
nent literature of the country, while it gave
TO its author an assured position in this body.
Another speech showed him in a different
character. 1t was his instant reply to the
Kentucky senator-not yet expelled from this
body. The occasion was peculiar. a sena-
tor, with treason in his heart if not on his lips,
had Just taken his seat. Our departed sena-
tor, who had entered the chamber direct from
his camp, rose at once 10 reply. He began
simply and calmly; but as lie proceeded his
iervid soul broke forth in words Of surprising
power AS on the former occasion he lad pre-
sented the weil-ripened fruits Of study, so now
he spoke with the spontaneous utterance of
his OWn natural and plooDtpna
meeting the polished traitor at every point,
with weapons keener and brighter than his
own.
Not content with the brilliant opportunities
of this chamber, he accepted a commission in
tile army, and vaulted from the senate TO the
saddle, as he had already vauted from Illinois
to California. With a zeal that never tired
after recruiting men, drawn by the attraction
of his name in New York, Philadelphia, and
elsewhere, he held his brigade III camp near
the capital, so that he passed easily from one
to the other, and thus alternated between the
duties OF a senator and general. His latter
career was short, though shining. AT disas-
trous encounter near Balls Bluff, Re fell
pierced by nine balls. That brain which had
been the seat and organ of such subtle power,
swaying great assemblies, and giving to the
child OF Obscurity place and command among
his fellow men, was now rudely torn by lead,
and that bosom which had throbhed lravely
was rent by numerous wounds. He died with
his lace to the foe, and he died SO instantly
that he passed without pain from the service
OF his country to his service of his God. Ii is
sweet and becoming TO die for ones country.
such death, sudden but not unprepared for,
is the crown of the patriot soldiers life.
But The question is painfully asked, Who
was the author OF this calamity? And there