The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-03-07
The Decline Of Yankee 0ratory,

The Decline Of Yankee 0ratory.
At different times in the history Of the
great Yankee nation we have observed
symptoms Of decline in the various depart
ments Of human genius. There was q time
even when the power Of invention Of i'm
proved clocks, patent chuns, axe-helves,
and such like, was manifestly on the de-
cline, though that time has long since
passed away. Since the days Of Daniel
Webster, whose forte, Artemus Ward says,
it was -r.to have no man these days re-
semble kimsto.any alarming extent" states
manship in Yahkeedom has sadly been on
the decline. During the long-attempted
|" on to Richmond march, when Mellow
ell, and cClelIan and Rope and Burnside
and Hooker and Meade were each putfor-
ward as the coming man." we had come
to the conclusion that generalahip was on
the decline though we must admit that
our Northern friends begun to look up in
that line when they hit upon Gen. Grant,
who actually did get to Richmond, though
with an army outnumbering his opponents
in the very small ratio ofsix to one.-
When, early in the war, large reward was
offered by the New York Tribune for q
National Poem, and when out of six hum
dred specimens not one was judged worthy
of the premium, the most poetical enthusi-
asst could have expected to see nothing less
than a realization Of Goldsmith's "fight
Of poetry from the Western Hemisphere
and had settled down to the belief that the
Yankees were making about as muclfhead
way on the road to Mt. Parnassus, - as The
ls grand army Of the Union" was making
towards The Capital of the Fsso-callet
J, Confedcracy.", fHItjIf
But of all the lamentable instances o
decay on record the decline Of orator.
among our Northern brethren is the mos
i remarkable and the most to be pitied.-
Since that distinguished orator, Mr.. Ed
}, ward Everett, run his Washington sho'
: into the ground, and epassed away fror
: Earth, our very respectable friends hav
+ been without an orator to do up the orate
), ~ even on the most ordinary occasions
d The return Of Lexington day and Bur
= ker Hill" now creates no sensation; tn
: advent Of the anniversary Of the Landin
lofthe Pilgrims !" is received as coldly a
l. the Indians received the inmates of tn
g Mayfower, which was about as cold as tn
n December wind which bowled around RI,
mouth rock on that memorable occasion
II and even the Fourth Of July is running t
3 waste for want of the quantum of e,
/ giles that have usually been let off on til
II birth day Of the "best Government 0
!" Earth" y
Il Hence, when it became necessary to fin
Ian orator to deliver eulogy on the life an
10 character Of the late President Lincoln, Il
o. whole Yankee nation, after diligent scare
~ d
!" was unable to produce one. In defaul
~ therefore, of some one better qualified, OF
III dearly beloved Northern brethren had
=. call upon AR. George Bancroft, Of histor
~ and statesmanlike fame, to perform Il
honors of the occasion. Now, this sele
|tion was about the most unfortunate tn
was ever made. 1t happens that this san
Mr.. Bancroft undertook many years sin
~ = to write a history Of this great country
- ours, and though he has produced ma
~ volumes Of empty turgidity and rhetoric
= nonsense, he has not yet "got out of t
." woods with our colonial government.
=" If he should continue in the same mann
w. !up to the year 1866, he might finish
10 /" History by the time he reaches the q
no of Mathuseleh, and when NJ does compile
lit, forty yokes Of buffaloes could not pull
The OF course, then, he could not be expect
rly to say. anything about as checkered a
eventfal life as that Of Mr.. Lincoln will
the time generally allotted to an grafton
'ce the funeral and eulogistic Kind. We mig
in- have expected him to make failure; a
l'i a failure he has certainly made. 7
na speech is as stale as one could possibly
and is made up of the commonest of all I
common-places that one can well imagi
- His subject, the time and the occasion, Q
'N would think, would have inspired the
lest brain into something like eloquen
,lic but nothing tending in the remotest deg
zen towards eloquence fell from Mr. Bancro
The lips from the beginning to the end Of
, is speech. On the contrary, much that '
J rude, course and offensive was deliver
nit which served to disgust foreign natiens