Wilmington journal., 1871-07-07
From tho Indianapolis Journal, (Rs3ical)
Gov Vance at Ashbury University, In

Governor Vance came here, bressing q
sircDg and volnrainous tide CT popular
pfejuuice. Nobody liked him or wanred
TO like him but it must be admitted that
his presence and bis address have had
much tbe-eff, ct upon cur prejudices that
a day 3 sunshine has upon an early fall OF
snow on 2 south hillside.
Governor Vance is large square built
mao-lacking about fifty pounds OF being
q fac sinsiLe of Tyler Mason (the same whu
"knows how TO keep hotel. about forty
five years old, clean shaver, save huge
moustache, and rather fine looking. mo
rehec ions on nina host of the Mason
House. AS to his moral character, i am
not in condition TO pronouDce him saint.
He began his address by remarkIng that,
coming as the guest of the young gentle
men OF these literary societies. be need lot
assure themthat although he should spe ak
upon National politics, he should notzvio-
late his own or their good taste by intro
duc'ng any thing of partisan or sectional
character. To his honor bo 1t s nd, he
kept the pledge to the letter, notwlthstaLd d.
ing be gave Us al hour aad Il quarters elo-
quert a9d scholarly address upon the
topic The characteristics, philosophy
and mission Of American politics.
He began by giving forclbie and char
acteristic definition OF the terms Estates
man and "poliiciaD, . IN which h9 intro
dnced tue fiSare OF u locomotive and an
engineer. The stattsnla Is tho skllif0l
''mechanic' who cOLstruc s, and, when
injured, repairs the ponder.u5 machinery
of civil government. The politician is
the '-eugineer" who succeeds in chm bing
first upon the footbUafd, seizing the thror-
tie and 'running" the eng inc till ''switch-
ed off, ot'i'dit.,hed. HIS glowing tribute
to etatesmen and state snadship was re-
markabiy able and well-tImed. His por
trsiture of the politician was equally life
like and amusing, eiicitiDg repeated rounds
of applause.
= He then took deep, exhaustive plange
into the subject. announced. He alluded
first TO the political principles underlyiDg g
the British f3udai system. These ne con
trasted with those forming the basis OF
our own political fabric. Fro1 the COM
motions that huve M Arked the History oi
Great Britain, he deduced a ponderous
argument for the most cautious and de-
liberate action on all questions affecting
human liberty. outstanding the
length of this branch of the address. such
Was the depth of research and complete
mastery of the subject manifest through
out that the vast audience heard IT, the
last syllable with undivided attention.
If space permitted, / would like to
throw in few hGndfulls of the gems that
sparkIed from every par5 of this address,
but this can hot be. Suffice it that for
brilliauce of thonght, soundness cf phil
osophy, unequIvo@al devotion to the unity
aud perpe ulfy OF our country, neither the
most exac itg spirit Of criticism, nor the
M ost raGical patriotism could have asked
any thing more. Be his past record wha,
it may, one thing must be admitted
Z4buon B. Vance is a tnan OF re mark lbIe
power public speaker; a maa who's,
like we seldom sec; and whose ike tins
nation might Well wish to see reduced TO &
much smaller number if they were in re
aiity enemies Of national unity.