The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-05-15
MIR. Evarfs's Speech.
Rhitelaw Reid writes thus. of. Mr.. Eyarts.s
, tha Cincinnati; Gazette

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MIR. Evarts's Speech.
Whitelaw Reid writes thus, OF Mr.. Evaftss
speech, to the Cincinnati Gazette:
Figure to yourselves slender, nervous,
hoilow-chested person, Of about the medium
height, straight as an arrow, with what ls
called o s. long head !" marrow from ear TO
ear. but swelling nobly above the temples,
covered with short black hair, with Q
pinched, parchment-skinned face that al.
WAYS reminds one of the pictures and
descriptions of the opium eater De Quincy.
The nose is long and hooked, and the chin
projects. as if half-minded to meet it. TINS
is Evarts as he stood up at the counsefs
table to address the Senate for o man whom
personally he detested, but whose detence
he believes to be legitimate. His voice Is
more remarkable than his appearance. 1t
seems to be shrill tenor, OF very little
volume, but it is wonderfully well managed.
The enunciation is simply perfect; and SO
this thin-yoiced, narrow-chested speaker,
rarely rising above conversational tones,
is heard with distinctness. that be-
comes o positive pleasure. No man ever
seemed to speak more easily; some
times, in the sarcastic or more i'm
pressive passages he throws some force
into his utterances but generally, without
seeming effort, the sentences foil from his
lips slow and rounded, like drops from
fountain, in steady, easy succession,
every word in it's place, every clause
polished, without moments hesitation for
an expression, or single recalled phrase.
It is seldom stirring, but it is throughout
80 4lor Off
tellectual displays-the perfection of unim-
FASHIONED ertempore speaking. He gesticu-
lates freely, but not often with any .vehe-
mence. A favorite position is with the
left hand thrust into the back pocket Of his
frock coat, while the right, holding the
gold.rimmed eyeglasses which he uses
whenever he has occasion to refer to his
notes, or read on authority, comes down to-
ward the audience at every emphatic word
of the sentence. His whole manner is that OF
perfect ease, of perfect satisfaction with his
audience and himself, of perfect dellbera-
ton. Nothing, it seems, could hurry this
man-nothing discomfort his easy dignity
and self-possession. What he would 90 IN
the hurly -burly Of the House no mortal
can conjecture, but here, in the dlgnlhed
quiet of the Senate chamber, his elegant
bearing and deliberate mode OF speech
make the happiest impression.
Of the arguments of the four days
speech I do not propose to speak. 1t Is
enough to say that they rose, for the most
part, to the dignity of the great occasion
Though there were one or two examples OF
small lawyers quibbling), but that they
seemed to lack perfect arrangement, Co
hesion, and compactness. In fact, the
speech appeared to the galleries more like
q brilliant collection of episodes than
closely connected, well-reasoned argument.
Each episode had some connection with the
case, and each was handsome and complete
in itself, but they did not form the mu-
tually dependent parts of harmonious
whole. 81 am afraid" said on admiring
Republican, at the close of the second day
of the speech, 81 am afraid that, with all
his brilliancy, Evarts lacks the perfect
logical faculty."
But the passages of Mr.. Evarts's speech
most enjoyed both by the senators and the
galleries were those in which his delicate
but cutting sarcasm was given the rein.
The speech was full of these, and they led
to the most unrestrained merriment in the
court. Mr.. Eyarts's manner was perfect
in these passages. AS he laid the train for
his assault he was as serious as o judge,
and especially regardful Of those whom he
was about to attack. Presently, when the
Senate began to catch the coming point,
and the contagious laughter spread through
the chamber, his own face would light up,
and as he reached the point, his features
would be aglow with an expression of plea
sure as natural and simple as child's.
Nothing could have exceeded the harmless
and innocent delight expressed in his face
ut the very moment he was skinning poor
Boutwell, alive. That, by the way, was the
cruelest performance of the four days
speech. Boutwell, sat through it all at the
table of the Managers; but his face was
flushed, he made o very constrained effort
at smiling, and he looked thoroughly un.
comfortable. That night, and indeed for o
day or two, his discontinue was the laugh
ter of the town. Scarcely less cruel were
the thrusts and gibes at Butler" the
learned Manager who has had the polite
ness to say that we are mere attorneys,
whose intellects have been sharpened but
not broadened by the practice of the. law"
When, after turning the ridicule of the tit
tering galleries and chuekling Senate upon
him by his laughable description Of his
opening speech as an effort at argument by
concession, after the fashion of the Fort
Fisher powder-boat, he finally brought up
his declaration that the practice in Con-
gress, or rather the judgment of the Senate,
should be the rule as to the propriety of
speech which the President and other Of
fcers should observe, and proceeded to
quote the coarse abuse of each other in
which Butler and Bingham had INDUCED in
the House. These gentlemen were sitting
next and facing each other, one at the end,
and the other at the side of their table.
Bingham faced the speaker, put good face
on it, and seemed rather to enjoy the read
ing; but Butler was -; ,,en+,v wrotbfnl
Nv nfs 3 =. aeld book close UP to his face,
nnd affected to be shgrossed in its reading;
then throwing it down, he sank into q
,dhmpy heap on his chair; and glowering
with the strabismal eyes at the carpet:
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MT 4 DrBEH.