New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-28

to enga &c In intrigues, but some Of Mr. BaIfour's
friends are credited with taking part in this
recent Birmingham business expressly with the
view OF preventing Lord Randolph from rc-enter-
ing the House with that powerful constituency
behind him. and, at no distant date r,suming the
leadership. What has happened at Birmingham
might be cited OF itself more than sufficient
reason for Offering to the public this brilliant
record Of a brilliant decade.
Orator is not word to be used lightly, and 70
may be doubted whether Lord Randolph has ap,
Piled his mind TO the study of oratory, in the
scnse thai Fox did and that Burke did Never
( Nlct a day pass without speaking was FoXs rule.
anI he, like most great orators, became what he
was at the expense OF his early audiences. Lord
Randolph has very definite aims. His tempcra-
mcnt lacks. perhaps, the sympathetic and pas.
sionatc quality necessary TO cloquence of the very
highest order: his intellect is not distinctly mag.
NATIVE or poetic, and both poetry and imagination
have to do with oratory. These volumes contain
not many passages that will be quoted perfect
models There IS in some OF his very best
moments a note OF Impotence in the thought
sometimes loose structure Of the scnte noes;
a want of finish and delicacy He has not that
large and easy movement which is one of Brlghts
most striking qualities. But why measure him
by a standard which he does not set himself to
reach? Disrach. if Dsrae be his model, was not
an orator either in this high manner. Lord Ran
dOlph has what he needs for his purpose lie
IS in thc very front rank of platform speakers
and as a House of Commons debater ,he has at
most but one living superior
| will put il as a test of good platform speak
ing that the speech shall good 10 the audi
ence, yet be poor speech in fact One such
have heard Lord Randolph deliver. 1t Is not
in the present collection, nor does 1t deserve 10
be- 1t was delivered in the summer OF $50 IN the
park at Canford, place belonging to his brother
lr-law Lord Wimbornc. There great Tory
gathering festival pitched tent holding SIN
or seven thousand people, filed full on that RAINY
afternoon. lie had been i'll the night before
and all the morning IT was was doubtful whether
lac could speak, and of preparation he mad had
much less than he wished, that in substance
and in thought the discourse necessarily
deficient 1t was thin speech and idiaces
were made TO do duty for argument iet from
beginning to end he held the rustic audience De
low him, under the dripping canvas. ana the smart
audience on The platform about him, including
many Of those who generally thought by those
who appeal to the public the scverest critics
of all his own family. l had never heard INN
before outside the House of Commons, and
studied him as closely l could. His method
was admirable: his lucidity would Fave dehgh'ed
Matthew Arnold himself; the ncatncss OF MS
points such as bursts Of cheering would nave
rewarded in the House. as they did here. Never
did he leave these bucClc hearers III the least
doubt as TO what he meant. Caniord is in Dorset
shire. and than Dorsctshirc there is dcnser
county in England mentally speaking. 1t was
an audience of clods. Every sentence which ne
addressed TO them was simple, direct, lntclllglDlc
10 a child He went from point TO point, never
coming to tie second till the first had been
mastered. Every phrase told, and remember
thinking, he went on, that there was notInhS
they were not ready to believe when stated IN
that homcly pcrsuasivcncss. beyond doubt lhey
thought they doing their own thinking y"
,u,ujcIon crossed their minds that the orator
WAS leading them hithcr and ththcr at ms VIII.
II struck me as a wonderful forensic effort; any
LAWYER who could talk like that to jury Wcud
rank as u consummate advocate. FROM beginning
10 end there was hardly proposition which was
entirely dclcnsbe, and there was not one which
seemed in need of defence l thought of the
,uror who disputed the greatness of Ersllnc.
II is no credit to him TO win his cause. for
he is always on the right side BY the time
Lord Randolph sat down there was nobody III the
font who dreamed that there was any other side
than his To produce such impression as
that does not prove Il great orator. 1t
does prove him possessed of a very rare ana al
mirable gift of speaking, and makes him lorct
in the State.
Pruncd as these pages have bccn-thc " Moloch
OF Midlothian,7 for instance, is gonc,-thcy stu
contain many sharp sayings about men oil hlgh
political position, and about some who are less
high Ii has never been Lord Randolphs habit
10 mincc his words. / don't know whether he
acts or speaks a theory. but IT may De
ina gncd that in his early years OF pOH'lcal
cfFervcnccncc, with his reputation 10 make ana
wishing TO make it rapidly, he felt the necessity
Of compelling attention. Personalities are SUI
10 command attention, if not approval. y great
American orator deliberately adopted that theory
for the sake Of the cause 10 which he gave up
ambition and many other things mean NehdelI
Phillips In the course of pubhc address he
once spoke onitc casually of Seward a. a liar
and there came protest from his audience
He declined to withdraw the word meant
it, he said and day when | can find
time. | VIII tell you why | personalities
don't know that he ever found time in public,
lint I asked him afterward. Well" answered
pb,1lins in the early days of the Abolition move
mont We were handful without position or
,utboritv1 but we were determined 10 be heard.
We mirht have talked till dOomsdas about the
viclicdncss of slavery, and the country would
hovc remained deaf But when we denounced
the wickc.lncss of Shareholders. people prcked up
their cars and when called Webster IL Scoundrel.
Webstcrs friends began 10 protest. ana so the
controversy went on. If had said that Seward
did not tell the truth, who would have cared ?
Lord Randolph avoids liar he has taste
for amplihca,ion, and he prefers to speak OF
the incNhaustiblc the invetcratr, the innate
copacity of the Liberal party for the falslfcation
Of truth His invcctive loves a shining mark
Mr. Gladstone has been the object OF 1t more
often than anybody else; perhaps more often
in published letters TO tho newspapers than IN