Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1866-01-31
An Eloquent Portrait--Grattan.

AhC 1louoC WoS ht IA huoiiOu,
and Grattan arose. | cannot revert
to the memory of that extraordinary
man without mixture of admiration
nd Observation-Disclosures for his
talents, and melancholy Sor the feel
ing that such talents should expire
with the time and be buried in the
common dust of the sepuichre. As a
sensational orator, he was incontesti-
bly, the greatest whom l ever heard.
With but little pathos, and with no
pleasantly, | never heard any man SO
universally, perpetually and power
fully command the attention of the
House.
There was the remarkable peculiari-
ty in his language that, while the hap
piest study of others is to conceal their
art, his simplicity had the manner Of
art 1t was keen, concentrated and
polished by nature. His element was
grandeur; the plainest conceptions
in his hands assumed loftiness and
power which elevated the minds ofhis
hearers as much as it convinced their
reason. As it was said of Michael
Angelo, that every touch of the chiSel
was life, and that he struck out features
and forms from the marble with the
power of a Creator, Grattan's mastery
of high conceptions was SO innate that
he invested every topic with sudden
magnitude, which gave the most casual
things a commanding existence TO the
popular eye 1t was thus that the
grievance of casual impost, the de-
,inquencies OF the public, the artifces
of an election, or the formalities of a
measure OF finance, became under his
nand historic subjects, immortal themes
splendid features and recollectiohs OF
intellectual triumph. Hthe Pyramids
were built to contain the dust OF name
less kings aad sacrificed cattle. his
eioqueuce created over materials equal
y transitory, memorials equally I'M
perishable.
His style has been criticised, and
has been called affected and epigram-
matte. But what is style to the true
orator ? His triumph is affected
what is it tohim his compound? What
IS it to the man who has = the thunder
ooit In his hands? OF what various
nay, what earth!y-nay, what rap
.rOu5 materials 1t may be formed?
It's blaze, its rapidity and its penetra-
ton are It's essential value; and smit-
ing, piercing and consuming, it is the
instrument OF Irresistible power.
But Grattan was an orator by pro-
ossion, and the only Of his day. The
great English speakers adopted orato-
| ~ simply as the means OF their public
superiority. Pitts was the oratory
OF ruler of empire; with Mr.. Fox,
,ratory was the strong, passive, and
-et heXible instrument OF 4 leader of
party But with Grattan, it was
acuity, making portion OF the man,
scarcely connected with external things
md neither curbed nor guided by the
necessities OF his political existence.
Ii Grattan had been born among the
. oackw0odsmen he would have been an
/ orator, and have been persuasive among
s men of the hatchet and the rifle
: Wherever the tongue of man could
: nave gained superiority, or the flow
: and vigor OF conception could have
}, attained eminence and dispensed de
+ light. Ifhe had not found an audience
e ne would have addressed the torrents
a and the tree5-he would have set
+ lorth his voice to the inaccessible
d Mountains, and have appealed to the
! nscrutable stars.