Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-03-26


TIE LECTURE OF 7. Mason Joxzs.-TWc
potent circumstances, with this community
interfered 20 prevent large attendance al
the Academy of Music last evening to hear
Mr.. 7. Mason Jones' lecture upon GaribaIdi,
which were the bad weather and the fact that
the lecturer had never been here before. II
is fact often demonstrated, that our citi-
zens bestOw their favor upon those who seek
it sparingly at first and gradually, until their
true dimensions are learned, and therefore no
public man coming amongst us need be in
undated if his first reception is meagre.
The audience last evening, however, was not
small, the lower part of the house being com
fOrtably filed, and throughout the closest at
tention was given and the most satisfactory
evidences of approval manifested.
Mr.. Jones came among US amid the highest
eneOmiums of the press of the Eastern cities,
in which for some months past he has been
delivering his series of lectures-charaeter-
izing him as among the first of the orators of
the day, and with all our faith in the veraci-
ty and good judgment of our contemporaries,
We may be pardoned if we allowed our ex-
peetations to run to the extreme. But how
ever much we may have looked for, we can
most sincerely say that more was realized,
and we cordially join the list of those who
have pronounced Mr.. Jones an orator. He
is an orator by nature-not an educated eIo-
cutiOnist and gesticulatOr, throwing of his
words and simultaneously extending his arm
by rule, but of that class of speakers whose
every motion and articulation is the offspring
of the sentiment they would utter. He is
moreover not an orator of the cold and ap-
parentIy feelingless class, but warm, impas-
stoned and restless, ferventIy glowing with
his subject, and keeping his audience in sym
pathy with him by the animation with which
he passes from one brilliant passage to an
other.
The theme Of Mr.. Jones' lecture last eve
ming was one eminently calculated to give full
scope to his fine powers, more particularly as
he had been an associate of the great man of
whom he spoke during much of the most i'm
portant era of his life. The career of no one
of the great names of history presents more
of interest than that of Garibaldi, while mono
have greater claims upon the attentive and
grateful recollections of every lover of true
manhood exemplifed through series of
years of toll, peril and self-saerifce. Mr..
Jones, it is perhaps needless to say, is most
ardent admirer of Garibaldi, and with mas
terly hand he wrought out the reasons for
his admirations. He demonstrated the mill
tary genius of Garibaldi, cited examples of
his daring, told of his extreme complacency
in the face of the greatest danger; followed
him through the hospitals, pausing with him
by the bedside of the wounded and dying
while he offered words of sympathy and
cheer, vouching for and sanctifying them
with his tears, and swearing anew his etsr-
nal hostility to despOtism; pictured him as
the man of simplicity, the homeliest of all
about him; and above all, extOIlcd him for
his moral excellence--his integrity, his vir-
tue, his uprightness.
But we are not gong TO give report OF
the lecture, even if we felt sure we could do
it justice. Beside what Mr.. Jones SO elo-
quentIy said of Garibaldi, he drew vivid pic
lures of interesting scenes through which he
had passed, among other things graphically
describing the loathsome dungeons in which
the monster BOmba of Sicily was in the habit
of eOnfning the victims of his suspicion or
caprice. The porOratiOn was little short of
sublime, and was closed amid thunder Of
applause, such as rarely awakens the echoes
of the Academy of Music.
The second lecture of Mr.. Jones before the
Library Association will take place on satur-
day instead of Friday evening, as published.
The subject for that occasion will be Cur
ran and the Wits and Orators of the Irish
Bar" This is styled his masterpieces, and
we sincerely hope it will be heard by as
many of our citizens as can find place in the
Academy of Music.
III - TT,-ra,r 7 n,