Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-02-20
POLITICAL ORATORS.
STATESMEN WHO WERE NOTED AS
POWERFUL STUMP SPEAKERS.
The Tendency in the senate to Read Es-
says-Nhat Carpenter said uf Writ
ten Spccch-The Three NoSt
Nolublc senators.


Sew York sun.
There are fears that the oratory of the
stump may belong to the attractions of
the past. Either committee would have
gone far down into its bank account could
Il have secured stump orator like the
late Senator Nye This gifted man was
a tower of strength to Republican man
ayers. lie would bring in the farmers,
through rain and lnee.dccp mud, for
many miles, and the hal could never be
found bic enough to hold all who wanted
to hear him His humor, sarcasm, ancc.
dote, lathos, and scorching invective
found their great field and stimulus on
the stump. and men could never tell
whether they had been listening to him
for minutes or hours.
President Lincoln was REGARDED as a
stump speaker of remarkable power long
before he came into mems minds i'm con.
nection with the prcsidcncy Indeed
many regard him rs the greatest orator
the country ha, produced. Mr. Edward
Mcpherson being one of these Greatest
they mean. if the supreme test be in the
power OF influencing the nearer Mr.
Lincoln, unlike many men of commando
ING influence ON the stamp, found his
power not limited to this kind of oratory.
it was said of him by an eminent writer
that his remarkable faculty of putting
things. his intellect capable of the closest
and most subtle analysis, and the use Of
language 50 as to put his idcus in the clear
est and simplest form. gave to his public
efforts weight and influence such as no
public man OF this country had ever be
fore attained Mr. Douglas, with whom
Mr.. Lincoln carried on "A series of Joint
public Debates that attracted The attention
of the country, was regarded as one of
the very best stump orators of his or any
time Cen Garfield as an orator at the
hustinrs ranked with the first in his party.
Mr.. Conklinr and Mr.. Blaine are re-
parded ms possessing extraordinary DOW
ers of this kind. entirely separate from
other qualities of mind that have made
them DISTINGUISHED
The tendency to read ESSAYS, instead of
deliyrrinr, snrcches has become So uni.
versal in both branches of congress that it
is rare that a speech of any length is de-
lvercd without the complete manuscript
being before the sneaker While this re.
suits in greater grace of STYLE. accuracy of
EXPRESSION, and better dictiOn 1t is at
the cost of the energy. fire. enthusiasm,
and hot emotions that the extcmpore
speech stimulates The men most eminent
for their power OF OF atorv in recent con
crosses however, have spurned the use of
manuscript The iate senator arpentcr,
whom many regarded as the most fascinat.
ing speaker of recent wears in congress- de.
spised "A written speech He once said
that he M rht as well shut himself up in
an iron care. and try to talk through the
bars He believed in preparation but not
in prostitution. Mr.. , onkiiny While in
the senate never laid his manuscript open
on his desk. lie never read a spccch.
and, like MIR. Carpenter never hestated
for a word Yet both these orators never
Al tI,,,,,J..ll,, ,,,., T. ~. l., =, 80 ,,,,,,I,,s