The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1890-10-18
the other hand, speaking which, has no
every day manner as its basis is stilted

land and the music Of the spheres. I'm
this regard Wendell Phillips is model
He had many surprises Of Thought ana
dlction; hut he made most FIRE qnent use
OF short, terse sentences whose sense
was felt the instant they struck the ear,
and whose eplgrammatic point made
them stick tand sometimes sting In the,
memory. It was this co,loqnial quality.
infinitely varied vet without Interrupt
tioD, which made him the least tedious
of speakers. You heard him an hour.
two hours, three hours. aud were un-1
conscious Of the lapse Of time. Indeed.
he never seemed to be making speech.
sIt was no ''oration for the crown" !" with
drum and trumpet defamation; only a
gentleman talking! He had exactly
the manner for an agitator, it was SO
entirely without agitation. This repose,
fire under snow, enabled him to hus
band all his electricity and flash it out
to magnetize the audience.
hut the matter of his speech was in
sharp contrast with the manner. This
was in constant movement, and sparkled
with epigram, laughed with anecdOte,
ylbrated with argument. thrilled with
appeal, glowed with vivid description,
abounded in apt quotation Cleaned from
the whole field of history, biography
and ethics "a splendid panorama. bril-
liant as the essays Of Macauley, aqloW
with diffused fire. He was q great
coiner Of striking phrases; as when he
said, Liberty, even in defeat, knows
nothing but victorv.'' He was master
OF epithets which, when he affixed them,
clung and stung; as when he styled
Rufus Choate a political mountebank.' =
and characterized Daniel Webster, after
his famous iand infamous) 7Gh of
March speech in the senate, as ''Sir
Perhnax McSvcofant;" and referred to
the Cuckoo lips Of Edward Everett:
aud spoke OF oneaof the Mayors of the
Boston mobAdays as mot a Mayor, but
q: a:lackey ID the Mayors chair" 1t was
this astonishing contrast between the
matter of his speech. that resembles
Vesuvius in full eruption, and the
manner as halcYon as a summer land
scape--it was this chat bewiIdered
while it revlted those who heard
him for the first time. His foes were
at the same moment angered by the
matter ana fascinated by the manner.
The Richmond Inquirer, speaking of
him before the rebellion, said: Wen
dell Phillips is ntinfernal machine set
to music.''' III
If we compare Wendell Phillips with
others Of his contenp poraries, we shall
find that he was excelled by one and
another in special qualities. At the
South, Calhoun was more logical in his
general stvle; Clay was more thrilling;
YanceY was more picturesque. At the
North, Webster had a more sustained
splend0r Of dlction and greater ma jesty;
Everett surpassed him in elaboration,
and indulged in more: frequent bursts
OF beauty; sCh0ate was more electric;
Corwin better pleased the crowd-was
half clown and the other half genius;.
Sumne-r was more pretentiously the
scholar. and excelled in copious illus
tration that exhausted the subject tC
the bottom; Chaplin oftener scared;
Beecher abounded more in the bravnras
Of oratory-was an embodied thunder
storm; Lincoln was superior in the art
Of story telling. the ability to pack the
entire meaning OF the hour into a pat
anecdote; Douglas had more pathos;
Curtis might be. better depended upon
as a speaker for set occasions; IugersOll
exceeded him iD the art OF captandi
vulgus, nevertheless. in the perfect
of IN orator be surpassed each
Of these. On the whole. he was q more
and Instructive speaker
than any OF his contemp poraries in their
paInliest DAYS. This is slperiatiye
praise, bnt the record is true. Let it be
written while living witnesses can at
test it, and before his eloquence, like
the song Of Urpheus. fades into q double
traditon. g. The Forum.
Jack Frost. =
-. i = = H. ....tA