Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-06-29
From The New York Herald.l
Mcclellan and Per.fcIes.

ulsdTtutu Lutui. III III iUlpOTChllb ueSIft. Uy
their absence OF abuse in relation TO his late
great achievement in the field of oratory.
Prone as his adversaries have been to assail
him with virulence and ill-disguised hate,
tOrturiDg every act of his public life into
some hideOus purpose of self-aggrandize
ment. II not actual treason against the re-
public. the most malignant of his accusers
are dumb in their criticisms of If they do
not applaud. his late truly eloquent Grafton
at West Point on the occasion of selecting
a monumental site for our warriors slain in
the rebellion. They have found that his
principles, as there enunciated, are such as
cannot be assailed without a gross violation
of every element of truth and honesty, and
that based upon the merits of this great
discourse alone, II not upon many other
noble acts, the fame of Mcclellan, both as
a soldier and an orator, has become imper-
ishable.
While reading this Grafton one Is natural
ly and irresistibly led back to the classical
times of antiquity. 1t is like sailing upon
a pleasant and easy flowing river down.
wards to those ages when orators were
demigods, and at the same time realizing
that these are scenes of our own day the
young orator is describing. The language,
the solemn occasion, remind us of the pc
riod when one OF the noOest orators and
statesmen of ancient Greece delivered a
similar discourse in suburb of the then
proud city of Athens, ''the schoolmistress
of Greece" 1t recalls to mind, as a paral-
lei, the renowned funeral oration uttered by
Pericles at the public interment of Athe-
nian warriors who had fallen during
one Of the Peloponnensian campaigns. AS
that Grafton has been described by historic
ans as one of the most memorable relics of
antiquity, so will this oratiOn by Mcclellan
be recognized by the present day and in fu-
ture times as one of the most eloquent and
touching discourses that the awful civil
war in which we are plunged has evoked.
A portion of it, as has been said of the ora
tion of Pericles must be commonplace
characteristic of all speeches composed for
a similar occasion. Yet in his details ind
narrative, in his allusion to the loss of so
many of his beloved and heroic companions
in arms. Mcclellan clothes his ideas with a
richness of drapery and a simplicity of Ian
guage that enchant the reader. Again will
a parallel with the discourse of Periclcs be
As the Athenian's discourse
has been pronounced comprehensive, ra-
tional and full not less of sense and sub
stance than of earnest patriotism" so will
the Grafton of Mcclellan command the adj
miration of the patriot and scholar for the
high and statesmanlike views it expresses,
whether referring to the causes that pro-
duced the war, the necessity of maintain
ing the Union, the progress of the nation
under its benefcent Constitution. to those
"series ofpolitical leaders who to the high
est abilities united the same spirit of con-
citation which animated the founders of
the republic;" or whether the orator pro-
nounces wholesome and dignified senti-
ment which will become maxim worthy
the greatest of Roman or Grecian orators,
like the following: -" Rebellion against
a government like ours which con-
tains the means of self-adjustment
and a pacific remedy for evils,
should never be confounded with a
revolution against despotic Power
which refuses redress of wrongs" Or
when. in his beautiful tribute to Gen. Scott,
he refers to him as "a living column of
granite, against which have beaten in vain
alike the Establishments and storms of trea-
son." or when he mentions the name of the
same great old hero as one which twill ever
be one of our proudest boasts and most
moving inspirations. In long distantages,"
he continued. when this incipient mOnu- |
ment has become venerable, moss-clad and
perhaps ruinous; when the names Inscribed !
upon it shall seem to those who pause to ]
read them indistinct mementOes of AN al 3
most mythical past, the name of Winfield
Scott will still be clearly cut upon the
memory of all. like the still fresh carving
upon the monuments of the Pharaohs." Or,
near his concluding words, where he unites
;ublimity of language with the purest and
most exalted of sentiments:-''At such a
time as this, and in such Il struggle, political .
partisanship should be merged in true and
brave patriotism which thinks only of the
good of the whole country. 1t was in this
cause and with these motives that so many
If our comrades have given their lives, and
% this we are all personally pledged in all
lonor and fidelity. Shall such devotion as !
hat of our dead comrades be of no avail?-
Shall it be said in after ages that We lacked
he vigor to complete the work thus begun?
That after all these noble lives freely given
We hesitated and failed to keep straight on
lntil our land was saved? Forbid il. Heaven.
md give us tirmer. truer hearts than that.
Oh, spirits of the valiant dead, souls of our
lain heroes lend us your own indomitable
will, and If it be permitted you to commune
With those still chained by the trammels OF
Mortality, hover around us in the midst
# danger and tribulation; cheer the
irm, strengthen the weak. that none may
oubt the salvation of the Republic and the
riumph of our grand old flag"
We doubt whether In his sublimest peri
dis Pericles ever surpassed In eloquence and
over this touching and beautiful apos-
rophe. But the discourse is throughout
lasterpiece of ortory. clothed in language
oble, yet simple and natural. 1t thus
gain, like the Grafton of Pericles, forms
trong contrast with the jrjune though elo-
uent rhetoric of other harangues; aud as
lch, t. come down from the past to the
resent age, and compare it with the efforts
T the most scholarly rs well as the most
livery orator of our day, Edward Everett,
equals even that famed orator in regard
, statesmanlike views, In the terseness and
eauty of language, in the superior ele-
tents ofa devoted patriotism, In simplicity
style that commends its meaning readily |
, the most ordinary comprehension, and
its pure, natural and touching tones of
avotion to the departed dead it equals
verett in his most masterly oratOrical con-
options; and 1t deserves like the funeral
scourse of Pericles, and those remaining
us from Plato. and Demostheues. and
ysias. the honorable distinction of an
ier living possession, not mere show