National Republican., 1884-06-02
coNenrss1oNA1 onAroRY.
Rhetoric which Would Make webster
Turn Green with Envy.

Turn Green with Envy.
Those who have neglected to subscribe for
that well-printed and consistent Journal the
Congressional Record, arc missing great many
good things nowadays, says tho st. Louis
Globe Democrat As a rule, the Record Is not
a very thrilling periodical, nor is it generally
admired on account Of its humor; but for the
last few weeks it has been decidedly amusing.
The orators have been getting in their work,
and 1t IN impossible to read the reports OF
their speeches, some of thom, at least, with
out feeling that life is not, after all, q
weariness and mockery when it is still our
privilege TO got so much enjoyment out of
current statesmanship, There is an opinion
abroad that oratory is declining in our halls
of legislation; but that is an error, the same
as that other idlo impression that we have
reached point whore tho fool killer may be
dispensed with. There are no Websters and
Clays In congress, Of course, but there are
orators who would have made mon of that
kind tako their hats and walk out to avoid
comparison, and TO wonder what would como
next,
We havo already furnished copious extracts
from the ferVont and dazzling, not TO say bo-
wilderinR, funeral Grafton pronounced by
Mr.. Williams, Of Alabama, in memory Of the
late Mr.. Herndon, who, there can be no doubt.
should havo died hereafter" There has
probably never been another instance where
dead man was so thoroughly and oircum-
stantially set forth, beginning with his eagle
boaming eyes, gems of natures royalty" and
proceeding in turn to overy detail Of his per-
son, every factor of his grand assemblage of
facial features and of parts,n q being ZEN
stamped with the richest and rarest pro-
fusion Of natures unbounded liberality, and
sweetly inducing the conviction that mono
was ever moro fashioned favored and
finished after tho divine creative image OF
his Maker" We have no idea that the de-
ceased ever dreamed that ho would be talked
about like that after he was gone and per-
haps 1t was Just as well that he didn't, as he
would only have made it harder for him to
leave world that he must haye loved very
dearly.
While Mr.. Williams is sundoubtcdly entitled
to first mention among tho complicated and
overwhelming masters of expression In con-
gress, he is pressed very closely by Mr..
Warnen, of Tennessee. Warner is not so pro-
found as Williams, but his fancy Is nimbler,
and he has wider range as to metaphor. He
took occasion fow days ago to bring himself
to boar upon tho familiar and perennial
| question of tho tariff and we venture to say
that never before was that issue presented In
such a picturesque and glittering light. Mr.
Warner is opposed to q tariff. and to the
almost every description, particularly
those known as internal revenue
taxes. 1t was that kind Of Interference with
| the rights of the people, ho declares, that
caused tho revolution and "opened the flood
gates of tho national heavens for seven long
and weary years, and sprinklod blood over
| our noble land--at the end of which timo the
clouds passed away and liberty was born, the
lovely babe perched upon the nations brow,
dressed in swaddling clothes, the child of the
finest pedigree of the known world, save our
Lord and Saviour its fathers brave blood its
mothers hard toll" II there is another such
On apostrophe as that in the English Ian
guage we do do not know it, and yet there
are people who think that tho tariff is dull
and fatiguing topic
Mr.. Warner might have stopped with this,
sure Of his victory, but be Is not that sort Of
an orator And so, having perched tho baby
on the nations brow, he proceeded to show
that the United States government with
her giant arms and massive body, is raising
the hugo dagger Of consolidation" and that
''we must recede, or liberty, our noble son,
like the dying swan that never utters syl-
| liable till deaths ruthless arrow has pierced
his breast, will sing his farewell song as he
passes into the arms of the grim angel OF
annihilatlou." There is clearly no answer
to be mado to such statement OF
the case as that; and nobody has so far had
the temerity to attempt it. Othor phasel
of the subject were presented by
Mr.. Warner in an equally graphic
and felicitous manner, but we have quoted
suffioiont Of his points to demonstrate his gen
eral style, and to inform those who do moi
take the Congressional Record what a fund o
richness in oratory they are denying them
selves. Tho efforts of Williams and Warner
are alone worth the price of years subscrip
tion, and thoy are by no means the only ora
tors who make the present congress excep
tional. There are several others of similar
quality whom we have not space to dwell
upon. Hardly day passes that some robust
and pyrotechnical person does not cleave the
atmosphere of the house or senate with elo
quence of this extraordinary kind.