Wilmington journal., 1876-08-04
For the journal
Salnaagundt.

q | through life. 1t was indeed remark
D able speech-remarkable for it's intense
passion. its sustained power, its classic
tone, it's sweeping eloquence. 1t was
g the most fervi 1, glowing, magnetic
f speech 1 ever heard. When he drew
the picture of Gov. Vance protecting
, the citizens and upholding the majesty
of the law in a time of revolution, and
cOntrasted it with the sick ming sub.
serviency and grovelling timidity ol
the Supreme Tribunal in a time of
peace, when the Judge clothed in
ermine and holding the scales of justice
with bandaged eyes, descending from
his high place, and tearing away the
fillet and throwing down the scales,
knelt at the footstool of Tyranny fawn
ing and cringing like a whipped SPAN
iel, what North CarOlinian did not
gory1n the one and feel ashamed of the
other? 1t was "A vivid portraiture,
limned with few bold strokes in
which liberty, right and rindicated
law stood forth in bright and radiant
cnlors, all typifed by the great Gov
ernor who kept his hands clean from
official stain and upheld the suprema-
cy of the civil power; and in which
were symbolzed by that other dis
!
| instrument in a Tennessee cut-thrOat
and strong coadjuto:s in sycophan-
tic, cOwardly, prostrated Judiciary.
If the historian, who is to be, shall fail
to describe the fidelity, purity and
boldness of the War Governor, and the
utter meanness. duplicity and incOm-
potency of the judiciary of 1869-'7O,
he will leave unwritten an important,
saddening, humiliating chapter. No
man of elevated soul could gaZe upon
the picture which Judge Fowle drew
| with so much severity OF outline, and
filed up with so much felicity of de-
tail, without admiration for the uncom-
mon gifts of the artist.
Whilst I stood enthralled in the
presence of the eloquent orator, 1 was
reminded of Cicero's remark concern-
Ksop, the great Roman actor
whose name has descended to
modern times along with that of
Roscius. Said the most illustrious of
Roman orators and lawyers in his de
Tense of Sestius, referring to the actor
who was his friend, and, who secured
his recall from banislrment by his
mastery rendering of some linesin the
| Amdroalache of Ennius: "He pleaded
my cause before the Roman people
Will ldI luIBub Ot GHhi
| | could have pleaded it myself" 1t
occurred to me L listened to the
"thoughts that breathed and the
words that burned" that Governor
Vance might have gratefully and
truthfulIy used on that occasion the
| words of the noble Roman, and ap-
piled them to his impassioned and
earnest advocate.
Let me refresh your classical read
ing, "mine ancient friend" the editor
| Of the JOURNAL, by reproducing in
translation the lines that Aesop re-
cited with so much dramatic power,
| and give the occasion. Cicero, you
will remember, had been uni Justly ban
ished He had been an exile for more
than year when the Senate was one
day discussing his return. On
that day HGsop was performing
the leading character n A1adrOna-
ache. lie was very partial to the dis
tinguished exile, for he had trained
him in elocution. "With all the force
of his consummate art, he threw into
father his own feelings for Cicero"
(Ioev. W. l.. Collins. The time, the |
place, the play, the very words wero |
highly fitting. AS the auditors sat in !
tently watching the unfolding of the |
drama, and the great actor came to the |
following words, he uttered them with |
all emphasis, a directness, signitican-
CIV. that seized the Roman multitude !
and stirred them to the profoundest |
depths of their natures:
"Who with a constant mind upheld the |
State,
Stood on the peoples side in perilons
times,
Ne'er recked of his own life, nor spared |
himself"
Collins Translation.
He was applauded to the echo, loud
cheers went up, he was made to re-
peat the appointed passage on the
instant. when, with the versatility of |
actor, he added three other lines that |
belonged to another character in the |
play.
s:Best of all friends in direst strait of war!"-
and then pointing ''to the mobiles, |
knights and commons, as they sat lns
their respective seats in the crowded |
rows before him, his own voice broken
with the great grief that then wrung /
his heart as he thoughtof the banished
and wronged Cicero, his pupil and |
friend, he exclaimed
"And yOu-g0l let him live a banished |
See him driven forth and hunted from your
gates
The defamation, the unexpected rend.'
ering of a passage that applied so
pointedly to all, swept over the audi
ence like electricity-they broke out
into the widest applause, whilst tears
n IL
down their cheeks. Cicero was re-
called.
And now, as the preachers would
say, few words by way of application.
Just before Judge Fowle spoke, Gov.
Vance had addressed the very large
audience. He had told them of his
Punishment from Office as Governor,
when the victorious armies OF the
United States came to the capital city.
He told them how he had maintained
Justice, upheld and defended the
rights of the people, and had heard the
plea of the distressed and afflicted.
Now Gov. Vance,
"Who ,oith constant mind upheld the
| State,
| Stood on the peoples side in perlous times,'
has never been recalled from his
banishment by those who "drOve" him
ssforth" and "hunted' him "from your
gates" but grateful and appreciative
people will recall him. He who was
| the
"Best Of all friends in direst strait Of aoa'"
| to the wives and children of the SOL
diers who were at the front, and who
wonld have been foodless and friend
less without his wise foresight and
merciful millistrations. will not be for
gotten in November next. The people
IF North Carolina are not an unjust
people; nor are they insensible to
| mnrth or 11noratefnl for large services