Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-04-04
THE RUTLAND HERALD
MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1872.
cen. fitzpatrick son the stump,

Friday evening, 10 nSteu 10 ten. hll-
patrick's lecture "On the Stump" The
General was presented to the audience
by Henry Clark and was greeted with
hearty applause. The lecture through
out was in the Generals best vein, he
alternately convulsing the audience with
laughter, or enchanting their attention
and, as it were, holding them under
spell bv his bursts of matchless 'elO-
quence. 1t was in fact the perfection of
stump speaking illustrated by one of the
most successful and captivating of stump
speakers. We give brief abstract of
the lecture.
The American Stump naturally sug-
CESS politics, but he had endeayored to
eliminate all politics from what he pro-
DOS to say, and if the two great politi-
cal parties were to be judged by the
platforms they have adopted and pro-
clljlned, he certainly should give offence
to no one. History is filled with ac-
cou ITS of orators and speakers who have
moved and swayed the people by Their
elOu1pnce, and if it is true that the pen
is mi ghtier than the sword, much more
is the tongue mightier than either or
both. The art of moving men by per-
sonll appeal is the oldest of arts and the
most universal, but never has it taken
such a hold and become such a power as
in our own country.
The name of "Stump speaker" as it
is now used, was originally given in de-
rision, It's origin is to be found in the
cu>to n in a new country where a speak
er, ru lie and uulettered though he might
be, Y t full of common sense and his
subject, and desiring to convince his fell
low citizens mounted the first convent
emit place, which probably was a stump,
from which to address them. So in
time the stump speech and stump speak
er became one of the fixed institutions
Of the country. Snobs and swells may
sheer at it. Weak minded Americans
and strOng-minded Englishmen may de-
ride it. Carlyle attempted to sQuelch it
by pamphlet. There are also some
American politicians who never do and
never can make a speech who attack it,
because they dread it, Notwithstanding
all this it is and will remain one of the
institutions of the country, and a most
important element for good Here in
this country it is a vital element what
ide 8 shall be entertained by the Ameri-
can people and the object of the stump
is TO ilculcate and enforce correct ideas.
There was nothing grander than the
study of politics. Not merely the pal
try questions of politics, like the New
Departure" which but one man under
stood and hn lived in Ohio and became
crazy. It seemed to him q higher and
nobler calling to get law ont Of the
hand Of criminals and rascality out of
the hands Of government, than to get a
criminal cut of the hands of jury 1t
was higher and better, and required
more ability to control the government
of a continent than to run a railroad
The great aim Of the stump is to pre-
par the people for and aid them in the
decision of those questions on which the
desfuies Of the republic depend and
which they are called upon to decide in
state affairs every year and in national
affairs once in four years. The present
form of stump speaking had its origin
in the Harrison campaign of 1910. After
refer ing to the campaigns Of 1910 and
1871, he said that in 1848 was COM
me lccd that contest on the stump in
T ference to slavery and the power of
Congress over it in the territories, that
npycr ceased until it sent into arms ~
many men as the whole population Of
the country at the time of the Declare
ton of Independence. Although during
the war he had eXerted all bis energies |
oppressive the country and secure free /
dom for all, he regretted that, when a
boy of seventeen, on the stump, he de-
nounced those great and good men the
abolitionists, who under God, were even !
then preparing this country for a more |
perfect heritage of freedom and union
In 1852, there were only 1852, 900 votes
east against the encroachments of slave
~, but by the Kansas-Nebraska legisla-
tion the hosts of freedom We're united .
and prepared for the great Fremont
campaign or 1856. Although defeated, |
she contest was not lost The battle for
progress and human rights can never be
lost for God and heaven are always
with the right and it must prevail. In
1860 the stump and press saved the
people by striking hands against oppres-
sion.
It will always be one of the proudest
honors and boasts of the American
stump that it gave us Abraham Lincoln,
than whom there Is but one other name
in America worthy to be mentioned in
comparison with him. On the stump
Lincoln learned American politics, and
there the American people learned to
know him. The debates between Lin
coin and Douglas were the greatest in
tellectual and political contest that ever
occurred in the field of American poll
tics, on the stump. Douglas was very
giant, and the idol Of the people, but
Lincoln met and vanquished him
4he stump has It's imperfcctions, it
being sometimes used for the purpose of
inficting upon the people grandiloquent
speeches, gasconade, etc. So has the
pulpit, as well as everything else, its i'm
projections. This was Illustrated among
other anecdotes, by the New Jersey
clergyman who agreed to preach twelve
sermons that pleased the people for
twelve bushels of rye, After he had
preached six sermons, he told his hear-
ers that he had preached the Bible as he
1t, but if they were not pleased
be would preach it the other way, be-
cause he mast have the rye.