New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1867-06-16


rewards upon its distinguished exercise, in
England there is a tendency quite as pro-
nounced in the opposite direction. 1t is
true that Britons find ENJOYMENT in elo-
quence for after all that can be said about
them Britons are human. They are, indeed,
greatly moved by eloquence, and are re-
markably demonstrative under its power.
But when the performance is over, when the
lights are out, the spell broken, and they
themselves safely escaped into the cooling
air, a reaction commonly sets in, and they
are very much inclined to estimate the tai
ent by which they have been SO highly en-
tertaiued as at best only species Of mount
ebank cleverness. A mere talker," ga
glib tongue, " " the gift of the ab,"-these
are descriptions which in England, and es-
pecally among cultivated people, are meant
to be the reverse of complimentary. So
much is this the case that parliamentary
speakers not seldom either affect hesitant
and bungling utterance, or are too conscious
of the political value of its natural posses
sion to make any effort to overcome it.
There is a feeling in the land that very great
sincerity must needs talk slowly, and now
and then even stumble that real thought
fulness can never mount the switter stecds
of speech that only shallowness, and pas
sion, and hypocrisy are particularly fluent,
Hence bad speaking is really an element OF
availability. Hence great men, placing
themselves at the service of their country,
will hem and haw from patriotic motives.
They will inspire the reverence of their con.
stitueuts by a iudicious blending Of cough
ing and stammering with their logic. They
will carry an election or win the honors of
debate by the persuasive manifestation OF
an inability to talk. Shakespeares Antony
was very good Englishman, rather than a
Roman, when he tried to fastcn upon Brutus
the stigma of being eloquent: =" AIN no or
ator-as Brutus is !"
".Oh he can speak" Such was the dam.
natOry verdict on John Bright which came
with sneering accent from the curled lips OF
an English scholar, last November, with
whom We happened to be walking out ofthe
| library of the British museum. Nothing else
that Thomas Carlyle said to the boys at the
University OF Edinburgh year ago SO de-
lighted the English people as these witty
sentences against the talk which the great
est OF living takers put into that amusing
talk, of more than two hours length, on his
Inauguration as lord rector; " There is very
great necessity, indeed, of getting little
more silent than we are. 1t seems to me
the finest nations of the world-the English
and the American-are going all away into
wind and tongue. Silence is the eternal
duty of man. | must say that speech does
not seem to me to have turned to any good
account. Ii good speaker-an eloquent
speakers not speaking the truth. is there
"A more horrid kind of object in creation ?"
| And straightway Mr.. Punch took this last
sentence and gave it the point which all kid
gloved Britons had already applied to it, by
| printing it under ludiCrous cartoon repre-
| senting John Bright harangulDg a be
grimed aud gaping crowd of artisans.
Nevertheless, as we have already allowed,
| Britons after all are human and the love of
| eloquence is universal human, instinct.
| Even BritOns cannot in all cases with sue
cess contend against it. Natural passions
| are stronger than conventional ones. Thus
| IL has hanDnnaH lnuht that in a
| country where, according to Sydney Smith,
ian audience is apt to consider the man who
tires them less than usual as a tritler and a
charatan," and where, according to Lord
| Lytton, 'hesitating, humming, and drawl-
| ing are the three graces of conversation, !"
John Bright, by sheer force of oratory, and
against the general contempt for oratory, as
well as against every disadvantage of reli-
aious, educational, and social prejudice, has
risen to be not only an unsurpassed personal
force in England, but positively one of the
institutions of England.
| 1t must be confessed however, that If
English antipathy to oratory has in this
case given way, it has done so under pro-
vocation which all the world and succeed
| ing ages will be likely to consider sufficient
| to justify SO exceptional a procedure. For
we believe all students Of his speeches now
admit that John Bright is one of the great
| est eXamplars OF pure, manly, and con-
| guage can produce.
There are some great orators whose
| speeches, though they may be read with
delight when printed, fall heavy and dead
| in the actual delivery. Such an orator was
| Edmund Burke. on the contrary, there are
orators whose speeches produce an amaz.
| ing effect in the actual delivery, but furnish,
| when cold in type, extremely dismal read
| ing matter TO the hapless wight who may
encounter them. Such an orator was Whit
| field; such an orator was Lord Brougham;
such an orator was Henry Clay. Indeed a
great master of eloquence has by implica'
| ton made this latter characteristic almost a
4 proof of the excellence of the speech.
| s'Does the speech read well?' said Charles
James Fox, then depend upon it, it was a
poor one But is not the perfect orator he
whose speech is so fluent yet SO thoughtful,
| so energetic in manner yet so choice in
quality, so glowing with passion yet so
rational, weighty, and suggestive, that while
| it sways the vast throng as 1t leaps from the
lips which first gave IL utterance, il still has,
if fairly reported, an undying charm for the
student in the closet? Such an orator was
Daniel Webster; such an orator is Wendell
| Phillips; such an orator Is that noble Eng
fish statesman whose eloquence now wields
the fierce democracy of England.
John Bright has "a merit which is not q
very common one among our own popular
speakers; he uses pure English, avoiding
| allke the opposite NuigdrlsnlS VI uohods'
and of slang. His style is simply perfect
| racy, strong, sharp, terse, and clear, with
a basis of glorious Saxon coming straight
| from the market and the hearth, and just
| enough impregnated with courtly Norman
to give it elevation. nobleness. and an occa
sional majesty and musical pomp. This
his almost infallible taste in the choice o
words, is the key to his victory over the
understanding fastidiousness of the edu
Gated classes OF England. Whence got this
Quaker demagogue that marvellous mastery
OF style which we university men, toiline
for il through all ancient and modern lore
would now give our right hands to possess
Such is the frequent aud amazed inquir,
of many an English scholar. 9 may be
nothing said the orator modestly last veal
at Rochdale, only your fellow'townsman
man not brought up in universities or II
the society of statesmen 81 have not has
the advantages which others have had,
said the orator in the house of commons |
few weeks afterward, 'but that fact onl,
makes Inc the more value that which other
have Obtained II is sill common 10
public speakers in England, and especially
In the house of commons. to quote from tn
Greek and Roman classics, and such quota
tion Is still considered 20 be what Docto
johnson called II, 1.-THE watchword OF III,
airy men, John Bright never strains hi
mouth to utter the scholastic shibboleth
We dc not remember q Latin sentence, an
scarcely Latin word, in any OF his speeches
aud we are sure he never spokea Greek one
| But he partly reveals the character Of HI
fayorite studies as well as the source OF hi
exquisite English vocabulary by tn
snatches of English poetry which he occa
| sionaily introduces into his speeches. an
alwavs with aptness and impressive effect