The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-02-22
An Irrelevant oration.

| An Irrelevant Grafton. .a
The oration of Mr.. Bancoft, on
President Lincoln, is the play of
Hamlet with Hamlet omitted. Not
/ quite one-ninth of the performance
is devoted to the subject of it. The
great body Of it treats of the dis
covery of America; the slavery ques-
ton from the beginning; the Revo-
luton; the Dred Scott Decision;
Great Britain; France; the Pope; the
Monroe Doctrine; Russia and China.
Amidst tbs mass of incongruous and
undigested matter, the orator vouch-
safes so brief an allusion to the topic
he was invited to discuss, that he re-
minds us of what was once said of
rambling and discoursive preacher,
that ssif his text had the smallpox,
his sermon would not catch it, !.
But the amount and variety of his
irrelevant disquisitions would not
of themselves be prejudicial, except
to his own reputation as an orator, if
he had exhibited in them spirit due
to the proprieties OF the occasion, and
the presence in which they were de-
livered. The Diplomatic Corps were
among the most prominent and dis
tinguished of the invited guests Its
members were present with the ex-
ception of SenorsS Romero and, of
Count Montholon, (Which latter, it is
said, had got some inkling of Mr..
Bancroft's intention to pitch into
France,) in full force and official
costume, to do honor to the memory
Of the late President. Supposing
all that Mr. Bancroft said of England
and France was perfectly true, what
must have been the effect produced
upon the minds of their Legat;o ;ons,
who were, for the time, the guests of
the nation, by the elaborate denuncia-
ton of their respective countries at
such IN hour and under such circum-
stances! The parallel run between
Mr.. Lincoln and the late Lord Pal
merston was particularly unfortunate,
and must have heen most unpaiate-
BILE dose to the British Minister, as it
will also prove to the British nation,
of which Palmerston was the repre-
sentative character, and the most po-
pular man, personally. in the king
dom.
When the political newspapers and
the Buncombe orators in Congress
endeavor to make little capital at
home by abuse of foreign powers, it
is we'll understood abroad, and passes
for no more than it is worth. But
when the selected orator of the United
States Congress, in carefully elaborat-
ed Grafton, delivered in the presence
of the President, the Cabinet, the
Senate and House of Representatives.
the Judges of the United States
army and navy, the diplomatic corps
OF Europe, indicts and arraigns the
friendly empires of England and
France at that bar, and, as it were,
calls them up like criminals for trial
in the persons of their representatives,
we cannot be surprised if there should
be i'll Europe a graver- significance
attached to such proceeding than it
deserves.
We hope, however, the European
powers will remember that it is George
Bancroft, retired scholar and histo-
rlan, who thus speaks, and not the
American Government. Whatever
questions are at issue with foreign
powers can only authoritatively be pre-
sented on our side through the usual
official channel Dispatch.
EMIeRANT COMPANIES. Upon this
subject the Richmond Times says:
The number of applications to our
Legislature for charters for land and
emigration companies, and the large
number of Northern capitalists, who
are met with every where reconnoiter-
ing for eligible investments in real
estate, indicate very plainly that those
most interested and best informed are
acting on the assumption that such
investments are not only safe, but will
yield large and speedy profits. The
anticipated increase in the value of
Virginia lands is not to be limited to
a simple recovery from the depreciat-
ing effects of temporary causes, such
us the scarcity of capital, the pressing
necessities of the landowners, and,
in many instances, real or supposed