Morning journal and courier., 1886-07-02

ting word for better one. His voice was
not remarkable for its sweetness, but it was
firm and he never isdulged in continuous
and deafening vociferation. Every school
boy is familiar with his wonderful appeal to
Congress to offer armed resistance to Great
Britain, ending, ''Give me liberty or give me
death"
| Richard Henry Lee, measured by the clas-
sic standard of oratory, was the Cicero of the
Continental Congress. The cultivated graces
| OF his rhetoric. we are told, received and re-
| iected beauty by their contrast with his col
| leagues grander efusions, his polished peri
| DDS rolling along without effort and filing
| the ear with the most exquisite harmony.
Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, who
had been known as "the great incendiary" in
| New England politics, became the guiding
| intellect of the Congress. Yet it does not
| appear that either he or his colleagues took
| prominent part in the debates-wse coun-
sells perhaps accomplishing as much as elo-
| quence. He was at that time fifty years of
| age and his form was slightly bowed, while
| his long locks were gray, but his clear blue
| eyes flashed with the fire of youth and cour-
| age was stamped on every feature
Alexander Hamilton of New York, small
| in stature, possessed mind of immense
grasp and unlimited original resources of
such rapid thought that he seemed at times
to reach his conclusions by species of intu
| ition. He would catch the principle in
adhere rigidly to that, quite sure that there
| by the details were certain to be right. Ru-
| fus King, one of his colleagues, was the pos
| SCISSOR of an uncommonly vigorous mind,
highly cultivated by study and he spoke
with dignity, conciseness and force His ar
guments were so logically arranged that as
they had convinced him they carried convic-
ton to others.
John Rutledge, of South Carolina, was
| probably the most cultivated orator in the
Continental Congress. His ideas, Ramsey
tells US, were clear and strong, his utterance
rapid but distinct: his voice. action and en-
ergetic manner of speaking forcibly i'm
pressed his sentiments on the minds and
hearts of all who heard him. At reply he
was quick, instantly comprehending the
force of an objection and seeing at once the
best mode of weakening or repelling it.
During the first fifty years of the existence
of the ''Senate and House of Representatives
in Congress assembled, - under the constitu-
ton, there were no verbatim reporters and
the congressional orators poured forth their
breathing thoughts and burning words in
polished and eloquent language. Business
was transacted in conversational manner,
and When set speeches were occasionally
made they were listened to With attention.
The first written speech read il the United
States Senate was by the Hon. Isaac Hill,
of New Hampshire, a firm supporter of
General Jackson. When about half through
course and stopped, evidently embarrassed
His wife, who sat in the gallery almost di-
rectly over him, comprehended the situa-
ton and said in q voice heard all over the
Senate chamber, "Mr. Hjll, you've turned
over two leaves at once" He Immediately
corrected his mistake and proceeded with
his remarks amid roar of laughter.
Daniel Webster was not an extern porane-
GUS speaker, and he always prepared HIM
self with great care for his speeches in the
Senate and his arguments before the Su-
preme court. Always careful about his per-
sonal appearance when he was to address an
audience: he used. after he had reached the
zenith of his fame, to wear the costume of
the British Whigs-a blue dress-coat with
bright buttons, a buff waistcoat black trou-
sers and high, white cravat with standing
shirt collar A man of commanding pres
enee, with well knit, sturdy frame, swarthy
features, broad, thoughtful forehead, eour-
ageous eyes cleaning from beneath shaggy
eyebrows, a quadrangular breadth of jaw
bone and a mouth which bespoke strong will,
he stood like a sturdy Roundhead sentinel on
guard before the gates of the constitution.
Holding in profound contempt what is
termed spread eagle oratory, his only gestic-
ulations were up-and-down motions of his
right arm, as if he was beating out with
sledge hammers his forcible ideas.
Henry Clay was formed by nature for a
popular orator. He was tall and thin, with
IdtueE ShdlI neaO duO gray eyes his nose
was straight, his upper lip long and his un-
der jaw light. His mouth, of generous
width, straight when he was silent and curv-
ing up at the corners as he spoke or smiled,
was singularly winning. When he enchant-
ed large audiences his features were lighted
up by pleasing smile, the gestures of his
long arms were graceful and the gentle ac-
cents of his mellow voice were persuasive
and winning, OF terrible in anger His
friends were legion and they clung to him
with undying affection, while his antagonists
never made peace with him. John Quincy
Adams wrote in his diary that the ''oratori-
cal encounters between Clay and Calhoun
illiputian mimicry of the orations
against Ctesiphon and the crown or the de-
bate of the second Philippe"
Sergeant Smith Frentiss was undoubtedly
the most eloquent man who ever addressed
the United States House of Representatives.
A carpet-bagger from Maine, he went to Mis- |
sissippi poor and friendless, and not only be-
came foremost among her sons, butacquired
a national reputation. He was indeed a re-
markable orator, his intellectual endowments
presenting remarkable example in which
great logical powers and the most vivid i'm
agination were happily blended. AS Dryden
said of Halifax, he was
OF piercing wit and pregnant thought,