Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-02-11
MEMPHIS APPEAL
SUNDAY, :: FEBRUARY IL, 1883
ARE OKAJORs IHsPIRED,

AXE ORAl OkS Il
Every country has its idols-men of tran
scsndeut genius, the bare mention Of whose |
names thrills the hearts Of the people. !
Great men occasIonaliy leave history be- |
hind them which invests their names with |
romance. Here in America the fame OF |
Sargent S. Prentiss is OF that class. There |
never was an article published concern
ing thfs remarkable man that was not |
eagerly resd by the American people. His |
great abilities, and especially his dazzling
Powers of orstory, have created a morbid
desire TO read everything that refers to him.
There is nothing new in the recen. reminis-
cences published in regard 10 Prentis., but
they have been sufficient to revive a
discussion in every part OF the Union
as TO the orstoricsl powers of perhaps the
greatest orator the world ever produced.
Much OF this discussion, however, will de-
tract from the greatness of Prenti,F, hs his
admirers take the position that he WAS in
spired; nothing but an automa atom moved
by some supernatural power. Claiming for
poets the "divine sfflstus" and inspiration
for the orator is sacrilege, for the greatest
poets and the greatest orators are generally
guilty Of the greatest vices. This claim Of
inspiration is nothing but the inspiration Of
vanity or mean whisky. Mr.. Prentiss was
weak enough to encourage the tWaddle about
the inspired orator, as the recently published
"reminiscences represen that a friend once
said to him: "Prentiss, you always mesmer-
iEs me when you speak" he answered
"Then it is an affair Of reciprocity, for
crowd always electrifes me. ] feel at such
times kind Of preternstural rap.
ture; new thoughts and visions come
rushing into my mind unbiddsn, and seem
TO myself like one uttering oracles. l am
as much astonished st my own conceptions
as any Of my auditors, and when the ex-
citement is over / could no more reproduce
them than could make q world" The
great orator is no more inspired than the
lightning calculator any other man spe-
eiaIly fled The great orator is spprs-
ciated the more the ofiener ne 10 heard. I
Such an orator was certainly Sargent s.
Prentiss, and yet he left nothing noteworthy
behind him. What orator ever did? We
cannot doubt what is told US Of the won
derful powers of Patrick Henry. Yet
little of his eloquent utterances sur
vive him. This is not surprising
for oratory is for the moment, appeals
to the sympalhies, arouses, fires, exalts,
moves, melts, persuades, takes the seul
captive. Crittenden's most eloquent speech,
it is said, was made 10 a jury in case for
damages, where a man, having a grudge
against his neighbor, lay in a thicket and
shot his dog as he was following close on
the track of a wounded deer. Hays, Of
Kentucky, of whom we have heard number
less tales, in a case where a man had cheated
a wounded soldier in a horse swap, 60 electro
fed The jury that they gave $500 damages.
Choate was great orator, but his speeches,
as reported, seem tawdry and gaudy.
Everett's orations were always par
fectly finished, but smelled too much
of the lamp to be effective or to have
the appearance OF being inspired. But
Prentiss, about whom so much has recently
been said, never seemed TO think at all.
There WIS no jar or click in his orations.
mishty torrent. We heard this great orator
in his celebrated speech at Nashville in 1874,
and never can we forget the iatonations OF
his musical voice; his graceful gesiicula-
tiop, and how he thrilled the vast concourse
with his eloGuence, which was continual
roar of harmony. We have never
heard anything that appropriated this
peech. His sentences were grand,
pity, majestic, sometimes rolling on like the
ayes of the ocean, then rushing as impetus
Ssly as an army to the charge. His elo-
qence was not an occasionally food, but an
inesseut torrent Three days before Prem
tismade his celebrated speech at Nashville
theDs mocrats had held an immense meet
ing James K Polk was in Nashville, and
the Ismocratic candidate for the presidency.
Audnw Jackson sent words Of cheer from
the Hemitsge. The Democrats were ad-
dressed by Lewis Cass, Tom F. harshall,
Stephen A. Douglass and many Of the sblest
speakers of the Union. Many Demo
Gratis remained over to hear Prem
t;G, among the number the writer
hereof, and with all his educated prejndices
against the Wing party, with all the, entha-
siesm inspired for Democracy by the meeting
that had jsst been held, he found himself
involuutarily spplauding the speech OF Prem
tiss; and on looking around to see If any
Democrat was present TO report this exhibi.
ton of party treachery, be found several
Democrats waving their hats in admiration
of the eloquence of the gifted orator. Ora
tory will often force applause, not on account
OF what the speaker says, but the elo'
quent and fascinating manner in which he
says Il. We saw this illustrated during III,
presidential canvas of 1850 in thin
city, when the eloquence Of William
L. Yancey was spplauded by the late E. M
Yerger and many who abominated the utter.
anees Of the eloquent speaker. Whilew do
not believe there is such thing as inspired
orators, it must be confessed there is nc
limit to the power of eloquence. But great
orators are not great thinkers, or, at least
one is rarely the other also. As an orator,
Prentiss has had no equal in America. Hi
voice was unequaled-full, musical, souorous
flexible, and never obstreperous. 1t wa
adapted to every subject and mood-poteni
in lofty and imprisoned defamation and
in daring and indignant invectives. He has
already gone into history as one of the great
orators of the world.