Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-05-29
AMERICAS GREAT ORATOR.
THEUIREER OFsER0 sAsrs. PRsNrS'
ysNskr AyD sOUfHERsER.
Tr,bn,.. ot w.b,,rr aud Everett to TITS VI"
oo.n, r.w.rv-- rhe Saest Exponent 81
th.r,or,d style Of IN" ra.' o"""'"-
tion-spscImrns at speech.

fame of ~ -. l'reh'iss ianiilhT lnis ~ ms
fortune for tho majority. Few Americans
have ~ well deserved lasting rcnown for
p,trIotic sentiment--fewer still have chal-
logged enduring admiration for such res.
piendent gin OF eloquence. A half century
ago he was tho idol OF the Mississippi Valley
~ advocate aud political orator. Though
still young man, his grasp OF questions Of
state craft was comprehensive. His proposi-
tions, launched forth by a glowing tongue In
per.n,sive rhetoric, ma ie capiives OF multi
tuio. For readiness In eNtempors speech II
~ douhtinl II our country has produced his
equal, certainly not u superior. Transplanted
from the abolition state OF Maine n cripple
from infancy, with no other capital than edu
cation, when IN ls26, at eighteen years OF
age, he landed In Mississippi, only irreprcs-
sibo genius could have commanded for
him professional and political leadership in
an era and among q people preiudiced
against anything aud any person OF y an
koe" extraction. During his two years of
service asa private tutor he read law, ana
was admitted To- tho bar at twenty made an
argument, aud won his case before the
United States supreme nourt In Washington
at twenty three was elected to tho Missis.
sippi Legislature AT twsnty-six and To Con-
gress at twenty-niue. He died in his forty
second year.
When PrentiSs had rounded up n period In
the course OF an address In taneiul hall,
Boston, aud the audience was shouting Its
applause, Edward Everett exclaimed 10
Daniel Webster, " Did you ever hear any
tbing 80 eloquent"
"Never from any other than Prentis-,'
was Mr. Wsbsier's laconic praise
Tx President Fillmore, in letter from
Buffalo In 1853, referring To n speech made
by Preutiss In Congress when only tnirty
years old, saii: alt was certainly the most
brilliant ! ever heard, and, as whole, ]
think Il fully equaiIed, II 1t did not exceed,
any rhetorical ciIect tn which 1t has been my
good fortune to listen in either House Of
Congress-"
B,lie Peyton, IN memorial sketch of
rreptiss, wrote:
I" never knew him Ia stammer or hesi-
tate or To be at loss for word or for he
word. lie possessed greater flow of lam
puage and WAS gifted with n greater variety
,fchoice figures and classic quotations than
any man ! ever heard speak. lie would
repeat tho most intricate passages from
Milton, Shakespeare, Scott or Byron, with
verbal accuracy and wonderful effect while
his b"ldest flights we're always tho most
finished and happy. His temperament was
essentially poeticai he felt, thought and
spoke poetry that in his quotations,
which seemed to come unbiddep, there was
80 much homngeneousness, such com
mingly Of electric sparks from kindred el0-
ments, You could with difficulty distinguish
what he borrowed from that which WAS his
own: IL was hard Ia separate the warp from
theanuf, there appearing 10 be no difference
IN the texture or figure, In staple or stripe.
! have heard him in one speech utter enough
of tho raw material OF poetry to fill a vol
uma."
PrentIs- ~ far ~ may be judged from his
published speeches, never gave utterance to
u sentence devoid of grace, force or beauty.
Hear hi- opening words Ia an audience
largely composed of the fair sex, who greeted
his appearance on the stage with hand clap
pings
certify ot my heart thank them for their
presence on this occasion. ] wish ! were
shle to say ar conceive something worthy OF
them; most gladly would ! bind mp my
brightest aud best thoughts into bouquets
and throw them at their feat.'
ltssh his compliment of n renowned
lawyer representing the prosecution, and
who was To answer Prentiss speech in a
case in which the latter represented the
dafenss:
"The money of the prosecutor has pur-
chased the talent OF the advocate; aud the
contract IL that blood shall be exchanged
for gold. The learned and distinguished
gentleman to whom alude, and who sits
before me, may well excite the apprehension
oi the m1st Innocent II rumur speak true,
he has character sufficient even II without
character, To crush the victim OF his pur-
chased WRATH
In lsii Mr.. Prontss accompanied Henry
Clay, whose candidacy he was supporting,
to New Orleans. Mr.. Clay had not yet
spoken To the Immense concourse OF people
gathered Ia do him honor. Such WAS the
popularity OF Prentiss that when he was
seen near MIR. Clay the people shouted his
name, aud In thunder tones called out
"a Speech! A speech !" To respond would
he Ia almost show discourtesy to the eminent
guest but To his declination, by shaking
his head and attempting to retire. the shout
grew louder, "a Speech A Speech :"
Prentiss faced tho concourse and lifted his
hand for silence. In an instant everything
was still, when, pointing to the group, In the
centre of which WAS Mr.. Clay, he detained
"Fellow citizens when the eagle IL soaring
in the sky the owls and bats retire to theiI
holes" !" and, suiting his action Ia his words
disappeared amid the multitudeamidst theu
shouts and applause.
TO THE MEXICAN WAR SOLDIERS.
With Mr.. Prentiss, for eloquent address
"all place temple, and all seasons sum
mer" Whether ~ attorney I'm civil case o
advocate in criminal trial in legislative hail
on the stump, or before art and literary SC
cietits, with ear aud expectation on classi
uttersnce bent, he was in every instance tn
orator eminently adapted for tho occasion
His address OF welcome in behalf of tn
citizens OF New Orleans, in 1877, to the re
turning Mexican volunteers, though en- ntirel
extemporaneous was one OF the most OIL
trancing rhetorical flights ever listened tC
In its outset he addresses them:
"No longer do you tread upon hosti
shore nor gaze upon foreign skies. Use es
now your sharp swords aud unerring rifle,
No Olurking Toe waylays you in the imper
etrable chapparal, or among the gloom
gorges of the mountains. Henceforth you
path will be ambushed only by friends
You will find them more difficult than III
rl,axr xsJtl xf1