The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-09-13
HAYNE AND WEBSTER.
HOW THE SOUTH CAROLINA ORATOR CON
QUERED HIS sTAMMERING-HIs ESTIMATE
OF THE NEW ENGLAND sTATEsMAN.

"Reminiscences, AoW oCii'So PuOiiShCu III ehO
Washington Chronicle to x-Senator Hayne,
of South Carolina, giving an account
of the way in which, as described by him
self he overcame the habit of stammering
in YOUTH and adding graceful tribute by
him to his old antagonist Daniel Webster.
Mr.. Foote writes:
"Gen. Hayne was of medium stature,
we'll shaped, and of singularly animated
and mercurial aspect. His eyes were very
bright and dazzling, and of light hazel
color. His countenance wore a very mild
and benignant expression. His face was
clearly shaver, and he was elegantly but
unostentatiously attired. His manners
were marked with a graceful and winning
affability which have never seen surpass-
ed. 1 asked him how he had acquired
such wondrous facility of expression, and
such remarkable capacity for keeping alive
the interest of his audience. He answered
my queries without any false modesty, and
without particle Of vulgar egotism, very
nearly in these words: "You give me
credit for much facility of expression, and
for having successfully cultivated to some
extent the graces of rhetoric display. l
shall surprise you, do not doubt, when
l tell you that at sixteen years of age l
was an awkward, stammering boy. de-
sired to become lawyer, and was even
then assiduously preparing myself for the
legal profession. A youth more ambitious
of oraterical distinction than I was I am
sure has never lived. But my friends and
relatives all joined in urging me to give
up the hope OF future renown as speaker,
and to devote myself to some other calling
better adapted to the slenderness of my
faculties. They told me that it was absurd
and ridiculous in one who suffered 30
abominably to think of becoming even
tolerable pleader of causes. This mortifi-
ed me much, but did not desist from the
struggle in which l had so zealously enlist
ed. I thought much Of the difficulties of
a similar kind which Demosthenes was
reported to have encountered, and of the
successful efforts made by him to overcome
them. I diligently studied the tones of
my own voice. I essayed to find out all
the mysteries which belonged to our COM
pick vocal Organ. l labored from hour to
hour, and from minute to minute, to ascer-
tain the precise nature of those particular
impediments to clear and easy articula-
ton under which was suffering. I pom
dered this subject by day, and it was with
me the prompter of many painful and
of many pleasing dream. At length the
light broke in upon me. l found that
had never before learned to talk; that
had been suffered all my life to jabber con-
fused and unintelligible sounds. I learned
at last that to speak, in the true sense of
the word, was to articulate distinct vo-
cables; that the ardor of my temperament
was such, as we'll as my ambition, to COM
municate ideas to the minds of others, that
| had heretofore uaduly hurried my syl-
tables upon each other, or rather tried to
do So so that the vocal sounds became in
extricably intermingled and hopelessly
ndistnct, and that every fresh effort had
involved me in greater and greater embar-
| easements. l came at last to the conclu-
sion that the first step l had to take in
order to acquire the complete control Of
| my voice was to put my own feelings under
the strictest discipline, to habituate myself
to sober thought, and to learn the indis
pensible art of keeping the fervent sensi-
bilties with which l was endowed under
thorough commasd, and that after had
done these things in en- effectual manner it
would then be indispensable that l should
strive to enunciate each syllable that had
to utter clearly and emphatically before
| attempting to eufrG S succeeding one, and
so on until the whole sentence, whether
long or short, should have passed forth
from my lips. BY pursuing this course
risidly for considerable period of time, l
hoped that at last l might accomplish the
great object that was seeking to attain,
! and that I should become able to speak
aaently and without pain either to myself
or to .ea4ers. l practiced constantly upon
these ,issas, aud if l now speak with ease,
as you seem ~ NJ ink, am indebted for
my power in this respect to the labors
which I have jast desofibed. This is SO
certainly the case that ASSURE you were
now to attempt to express Inyself IN the
rapid manner which has becon.s so common
of late among young men of fiery tempera-
ment and of unchasted moral organism, l
should inevitably stutter just as disgust
hlgly as did forty years ago.
After this interesting recital had closed,
ventured to refer to the great oratorical
contest between himself and Mr.. Webster,
in tt National Senate, now nearly half a
century ago, and asked him what he
thought of Mr.. Webster's powers as a
speaker. He at once answered that he
supposed him, upon the whole, to be the
most consummate orator of either ancient
or modern times; that his ability as a
reasoner, he was confident had never been
exceeded; that his imagination was as
fertile and vigorous as that of Milton or 1
Homer; that his humor was both ex-
quisite and abundant; that his knowledge
was unlimited; that he had the most hap
Ply command of his temper at all times,
and that on certain great occasions he had
excelled all the speakers that had ever liv-
ed, not excepting Demosthenes or Cicero
l then asked him what he thought of
Webster's manner? He replied that it
was always grand and impressive, that he
had never heard him utter word in a
careless or vulgar style; that he seemed
never to forget his own dignity, or to be
unmindful of the character and feelings of |
others, and that when thoroughly excited,
the sublime grandeur of his thoughts and |
language derived great additional potency |
from his noble and soul-moving enuncia-
ton and his few but impressive gestures
l then said to him: But, Gen. Hayne,
everyone in the South admired your speech
es on the occasion to which you have been
referring more than they did they did these
of Mr.. Webster, and it is said that Gen.
jackson was SO much delighted with the
first of YOUR speeches in the Senate that