Morning journal and courier., 1886-07-02
OF piercing wit and pregnant thought,
Endued by nature and by learning taught
To move assemblies -

of piercing wit and pregnant thou ght
Endued by nature and by learning taught
To move assemblies
The great secret of his oratorical success
was his readiness. He seemed never at a
loss for an epigram or retort, and his i'm
promptu speeches were the best.
Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, was noted for
| his humorous speeches, especially one in
which he merciessly ridiculed a lawyer hold
| ing militia commission, who had underta-
l ken to c1iticise the martial exploits of Gene
/ raj Harrison. 1t was with him, however, a
subject of regret that he had ever said
| funny thing in debate, and he used to advise
his young friends never to make humorous
speeches. GA man." said he one day,
| 'tmust be funny or wise. You will rise
/ higher in the long run to be wise. This rep
| utation of mine for humor hangs about my
neck like the body of death. 1t is the Mem
esis which will haunt me to my grave. Shun
| it while you may"
| Stephen A. Douglass was short, thick set
| man, with horid, clean -shaven countenance
| and nervous manner, which made him at
| tractive to friend and foe and gained for him
the sobriquet of ''The Little Giant" His
mind was capable of grasping, analyzing and
| calculating the most abstract and difficult
subjects. He had a deep-toned voice and
his gestures were energetic and somewhat
| graceful.
| We may not have the equals of Patrick
| Henry, Samuel Adams, John Rutledge,
Webster, Clay, Calhoun or Prentiss, but as a
whole the congressional orator of to-day is
far superior to that of the near or the distant
| past. Verbatim reporting has proved a
great injury to congressional oratory. In
| the olden time the Senators and Representa-
tives would listen to those who were speak
irg with the attention of assemblages of
trNined critics. When verbatim reports of
| TN debates were made and printed these
coEgressional listeners were no longer to be
fd4Xkd. A Senator Representative who
ha#cafefully prepared himself would, as he
conz znenced his speech, see his audience en-
gaa3 in every other way than listening to
hisE #cents. Some would be in groups chat
tina 0thers would be reading newspapers or
| bool and the rest inditing epistles or di-
recting public documents to their constitu-
| ents It would be difficult for him to say
| what he had intended were there not another
| stimulus by which his tongue and his pa
| tience were rendered Observation-Disclosures re-
Election that although his words were falling
| Hfcless upon the ears of his ostensible audi
ence they would be read by attentive con-
| stituents at home. It is to them that speech
es in Congress have been addressed since the
| introduction of verbatim reporting. Con-
gressmen who were noted for their eloquence
upon the home stump have houndered
| through written platitudes at the Capitol,
| often prepared for them by some journalist
| for stated compensation.
The Discovery of Coins at Aberdeen.
From the London Standard.]
The valuable discovery of coins in Aber-
deem having been brought under the notice
of the crown authorities, the Queens re-
membrancer has instructed the procurator
fiscal of the city to claim the bronze urn and
its contents OF behalf of the Queen. The
owner of the ground in which the find was
made refused to give it up, but the authori-
| ties insist upon it, and also require the sur
| render to them of all coins removed by the
parties who went to see and examine the
treasure. To- day the coins were cleared of
the verdigris with which they were en-
crusted and examined by local numisma-
fists, who found that they were of various
dates and belong to various countries.
English coins of the reigns of Edwards I.
and H. predeminate, but there are also
lScotch coins of the reign of David and