Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1873-08-21
HAYNE AND WEBSTER.
His Estimate of the New England
Observation-Disclosures Opinion
of the Two Speakers.

The Hon Henry S. Foote devotes one
Of his "reminiscences, now in course of
publication, to Senator Robert Y. Hayne
of this State, giving an account OF the
way in which, as described by himself,
he oyercame the habit of stammerlng In
youth, and adding graceful tribute by
him to his old antagonist, Daniel Web
ster, Mr., Foote writes. -.
Gen. Hayne was of medium stature.
we'll shaped, and ofa singnlarly anima-
ted and mercurial aspect. His eyes were
very bright and dazzling, and of light
hazel color. His countenance wore a
very mild and bcnignant expression. his
face was cleanly shaven, and he was eIe-
gantly but unostentatiously attired. His
manners were marked with graceful and
winning affability which ! have never
seen surpassed. [ asked him how he
had been able to acquire such wondrous
facility of expression, and such remark
able capacity for keeping alive the inter
est of his audience. He answered my
queries without any false modesty, and
without 4 particle ofyulgar egotism, rery
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 dis.
play. u shall surprise you, l do not
doub., when tell you that at sixteen
years of age | was an awkward, stammer-
ing boy. ! desired to become q lawyer,
and was even assiduously preparing MY
self for the legal profession. A youth
more ambitious of oratorical distinction
than was am sure has never lived.
But my friends and relatives all joined III
urging me to give up the hope OF future
renown as speaker, and to devote my.
self 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 so abommably 10
think of becoming even tolerable plead
er of causes. This mortified me much,
but | did not desist from the struggle in
which | had so zealously enlisted. |
thought much Of the difficulties of a SIM
liar Kind which Demosthenes was report
ed to have encountered, and Of the sue
cessfal efforts made by him to overcome
them. essayed to find out all the mys-
terieS which belonged to our complex yo
cal organ. Ilabored from hour to hour,
and from minute to minute, to ascertain
the precise nature Of those particular
impediments to clear and easy articuIa.
ton under which | was suffering. |
pondered this subject by day, and it was
with me the prompter Of many a painful
and of many plea,ing dream. AT length
the light broke IN upon me. | found
that | had never before learned to talk;
that had been suffered all my life to
iabber confused and unintelligible sounds.
! learned at last that to speak, in the true
sense Of the word, was to articulate dis
tinct yocatles; that the ardor OF my
temperament was such, as well as my
ambition, to communicate ideas to the
mind of others; that | had heretofore
unduly hurried my syllables upon each
ether, or rather tried to do so, SO that
the vocal sounds became ineStricaby
interminglcd aud hopelessly indistinct,
and thai every fresh effort had involved
me in greater and greater cmbarass-
ments. I came at last to the conclusion
that the first step / had to take in order
to acquire the complete control of my
voice was to put my own feelings under
the strictrst discipline, to habituate my
self to sober thought, and to learn the
indispensable art of keeping the fcrvent
scnsibilities with which ! was endowed
under thorough command and after !
had done these things in an eflectual
manner it would then be indispensable
that | should strive to enunciatc each
syllable that | had TO utter clearly and
emphatically before attempting to emit
a succeeding one, and so on until the
whole sentence, whether long or short,
should have passed forth from my lips.
By pursuing this course igid!y for con
siderable period of time, | hoped that at
last | might accomplish the great object
that was seeking to attain, so that |
should become able TO speak fiuently and
without pain either to myself or to 9th
erS. | practiced constantly npon these
ideas, aud if | now speak with ease, as
you seem to think, | am indebted for my
in this respect to the labors which have
Just described. This is so certainly the
case that assure you were leven now to
attempt to express myselfin the rapid
manner which has become so common OF
late among young men Of fiery tempera-
ment and ofuncha>tened moral organism,
| should inevitably Stutter Just as disgust
ingly as ! did forty years ago.
After this interesting Iccita! had closed;
| vcntured to refer to the great oratorlcal
contest between himself and Mr.. Web
ster, in the national senate, now nearly
half century ago, and asked Him what
he thought of Mr. Webstcr's powers as a
speaker. lie at once answered that he
supposed him, upon the whole, to be the
most consumate orator of either ancient
or modern times; that his ability as a
reasoner, he was confident, had never
been exceeded that his imagination was
rs fertile and vigorous as that Of Milton
or Homer; that hs knowledge was un-
limited; that he had the most happy
command Of his temper at all times, and
that on certain great occaSiOns he had
exec led all the speakers that had ever
lived, not excepting DemoSthencs or
Cicero. ] then asked him what he
thought ofWebster' smanner. BereRlied
that it was always grand and impressive;
that he had never heard him utter a
word in careless or vulgar style that
he seemed never to forget his own digni-