The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-02-13
Mr.. Bancroft's Grafton.

score y stanton would have had the honor OF
declih ng, nor Mr.. Bancroft las a second choice)
OF accepting the invitation to deliver the oraion
before the two Houses of Congress. Probably
on the whole no filter choice than Mr.. Bancroft
could have been made. MIR. Beecher would
have given a speech of more patbos; but his
close identification with the extreme wing of one
of our political parties rendered his selection
unsuitable
A man may be very able, and yet not appear
to advantage in show Grafton on a commemO-
rative occasion. But there is no necessary in
compatibility between great general abilities and
excellence in this kind of effort; which, super
added to force of intellect requires depth of
moral earnestne>s and fervor of soul (Which Mr.
Bancroft has not), end some eXpansiveness of
imagination (Which he has). Mr.. Webster was
almost as great, on such occasions, as he was in
power of statement and coeenoy of logic in
debate Mr. Bancroft who is acquainted with
the immortal productions of the great Bossuet,
needs no proof that genius OF the highest order
can find full SCOPE in an Grafton cOmmemOra-
tive of the dead. If he has failed, IL is not be.
cause the occasion did not admit of excellence,
but because the orator was not equal to it.
In one respect Mr.. Bancroft was in a false po-
sitiOn. The chief thing for which President
Lincoln will be remembered being his Proclama-
ton OF Emancipation, the extinction OF slavery
properly forms the capital topic of MIR. Ban
croits discourse. But ms own personal relation
to that question has been contradictory and
equlVocal. II our memory serves US, Mr.. Ban
croft WAS delegate from Massachusetts, to the
Democratic National Convention held at Balti'
more in 1874; and actively co-operated in the
successful effort there made by the slaveholdng
interest to slaughter that wise and forecastEg
state man, Martin Van Buren, for his opposition
to the annexation of Texas. This action of our
historian was violation of gratitude and OF
consistency. To President Van Buren he had
been indebted for the lucrative post of Collec-
tor of the port OF Boston.
In some historical speculations, afterwards
published IN his "Miscellanies," he had inveighed
with great pomp OF words against human slavery
in the ancient republics. But ii he was migrate
full and lnconstant he was Judging by vulgar
politicians standard) well paid. President Polk,
who came in by Mr.. Van Buren's defeat remem-
bered Mr.. Bancrotts services, and made him first
Secretary of the Navy, and afterwards Minister
TO England. That, with such record, he can
now stand up before the country TO pronounce
panegyric on emancipation, betokens want of
depth and sincerity. We suspect this lack to be
the source OF the frothy grandiloquence which
is the besetting sin OF all Mr. Bancrofts produc-
tions.
Even in so simple thing as the form of words
by which he accosts his audience, he does not
avoid his habitual Dad taste, and makes the
expression great deal broader than the fact.
SENATORS, Representatives, Of american Ame-
riCa consists Ut the whole continent, from the
Arctic Ocean TO Terra del Fuego This whole
orat on, and indeed all Mr.. Bancrofts writings,
abound in this kind OF fault. He has occasion,
tor example, to say that the only books read by
MIR. Lincoln in his boyhood were the Bible,
but he cannot tell this simple and interesting fact
without bedizenIng and OVERLAPPING il with taw-
dry phrases about As,atic, Greek, Latin, Me-
d@val, and English literature. Here IS Mr..
Bancrofts chaste way OF saying it:-"Of Asiatic
literature he know only the Bible; of Greek,
Latin, and Medieval no more than 'Msop's
Fables;' OF English, John Bunyans 'Pilgrim's
Progress"
>, Did Mr.. Bancroft think he was communicating
any i',tOymdtion in telling the educated audience
he addressed that il Young Abraham Llncoln's
three books were classed on so extensive a scale
as TO incluue all known literatures, they would
be found, on due inquiry, to belong to the dt.
visions he assigns them Ii such stuff be meant
as decoration, 1t is manufactured of cheap mate
rials. Any intelligent school-boy could have
furnished them; as any SCHOOLGIRL might the
following sJilted piece OF descripton:-"The
lumbermen sprang forward from the forests, the
mechanics from their benches, where they had
been trained by the exercise oil political rights
TO share the lie and hope of the republic, to
feel their responsibility to their foreathers, their
posterity, and mankind, went forth, resolved
that their dignity as a constituent part OF this
republic should not be impaired. Farmers and
sons of farmers lett the land but half plodghed,
the g1am but half planted, and taking up the
muske', learned 10 face without fear the presence
OF peril and the coming OF death in the shocks
of war, while their hearts we're still attracted to
the charms OF their rural life and all the tender
affections of home"
Let any intelligent reader, after having gone
attentlvely through Mr.. Bancrotts oration lay
it down, and attempt to recall all the ideas that
are new, and aCoyth kno1Ding, which he has found
in it. Except the marvellous assertion That Tur'
got was the author Of the Monroe Doctrine, his
new knowledge, we suspect will amount to very
little; and this assertion about Turgot Will be
found on close scrutiny to be only another OF
Mr.. Bancroits attempts to make Llliputian
head seem Of enormous dimensions by cOv-
ering it with Brobdignagian wig. The
Monroe Doctrine excludes oil European Govern
ments from new attempts to colonize tnis conti-
nent; Turgot was tor Withholding only France.
The voluntary abstenton of France, for domes-
tic reasons peculiar TO herself, will strike most
people as quite different thing from our warn
ing off all the European powers because, for
reasons pertaining solely to tbs continent, zoe
wish it,
Mr. Bancroffs pompous and elaborate intro
duction reminds us OF Carlyle IS figure OF half a
cubic inch of soap beaten up, by the aid Of a
brush and a little water, to a puncheon OF
lather. It's leading thought is neither new nor
happily developed. That the succession of events
is not fortuitous but depends on causes and is
it, when stripped of the literary finery in which
MIR. Bancroft has enveloped it; a very old ac'
quaintance dressed up for masked ball.
The most labored passage, and IN MIR. Ban
crofts estimation, evidently the chief ornament
of his discourse, is his stately and ornate con
trast between Mr.. Lincoln and-Lord Palmer
ston! If total want OF resemblance were the
only thing needed to furnish materials tor 8
string OF this kind of antithises, Lord Palmer
ston would answer; but not better than halt 2
score OF other European statesmen, any one o.
whom might be taken as venture. such paral
lels, even when the object is contrast, snoulC
have enough of resemblance to make the sug
pestion natural. We can compare Napoleon
with Frederick Mirapeau with Fox; Wash
ington with William the Silent; Thier
with MacaulaY. without offending sense oil
fitness. But who, till Mr.. Bancroft, ever though
Of M m elaborate Darallel between