The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-04
sEATTLg. sUsD<T. ocr. ..
THE GRAND OLD NAN.

THE GRAND OLD Man
nr. Gsads:oue's powerful speech on Fri
day sp,on tie future OF English politics
was q wonderful exhibition Of physical
aud inteilsesuzs riror thz; sPlenaidiy con-
f-rned his right 20 The title d s'the grand
Old nnan." Men as Cd a. Gladstone both
In America and Europe hare exhibited The
capacity q. CREST age 20 continne 20 do
seSeBsary intellectual labor, bat a. "a ar
gument 70 besifsss GizdstOne's oratorseai
feat Of holding the charmed attention Of
40gg people - 81, these examples Of sed-
e1szry intellectual activity. yig0r and en-
dursnce are irrelevant and foroeiess. Mr..
Gladstone hzs performed an uaexzmpled
feat 81 orssory AZ 81 30 man in the British
parliament or the American congress has
ever matched this eloquence Of Gladstone
AZ - advanced an aye. Older men hare
SPOKEN IN the British parliament, ike
Lord Lyndhurst, bui IL Ezs nos eioqEsncs
or TigOrozs orstory: IL Ess mere trembling,
cuavering, feeble speech. Ike that Of the
dying Chatham whispering in ''the feeble
key Of untune9 cares 20 the ear Of .
house that he had once thrilled with .
trumpet blast Of sound.
Senator's Morrill,, Of Vermont, and
Payne, q Ohio, who sat In the last con-
gress, are both la their s2d year. but for
the last ten year, neither Of them has been
able to talk with sufficient yigor TO hold
the ear Of any assembly, large o. small
A man can think and write effectively long
after be ceases TO speak with eloqusnce
and power, and 1; Is Gladstone's capacity
a. e. 10 stiII lead his party as an orator
that excites establishment and admiration.
Webster and Clay, before they were 70.
lost their orator.caI power, while their
thinking faculties we're unimpaired.
Wendell Phillips, whose physique was as
splendid az that Of Webster, his personal
habits pure; his diet frugal and his drink
limited 70 cold water and an occasional
cup Of coffee, showed AZ 20 years of age q
clear decline from his speech at 50.
He himself was quick TO perceive It
and for the two years preceding his
death he abandoned the lecture field, not
because he could not easily get an engage
true voice Of an orator lad left him, Just q.
advancing years finally rob great prima
donna Of her sweetest melody. Bnt Glad
stone az e can still speak with vigor OF
argument and an animation OF voice and
action tia. EFFORTS the admiration and ex-
cites the apprehension OF the intellectual
partisans Of the Tory opposition.
Great men have done great things,
written and uttered good words at q
great age before. but no man in
the history Of the world has ever
played the orator 30 magnifcentiy
at 81 as Gladstone. The performance OF
an orator Is always intensely exhaustine
TO the energies Of mind and body. for the
great orator rises 10 great height Of mental
heat, then falls 10 moods of absolute aus
tere coldness, and rises aga1n on the wing,
Of his Imagination 10 the upper air OF heat
and light, where he stares a. the sun with
eagle ere. The nervous excitement Of q
true orator who rises from cold logic t6
impassioned expostulation and invectivs
and then sinks back TO the earth only
again 10 wing his way TO the stars. Is im.
nense and most exhaustive, as We have
said, to the powers of mind and
body. This explains why the purely
orstorical powers OF great speaker.
begin TO fail long before their power OF
strong. clear logical statement shows any
signs Of decay. A mere supreme court
lawyer, like Sidney Bartlett. or Horace
Binney. could at 90 continus 70 discuss
legal distractions with small fatigue and nc
excitement, but 4 man like Rufus Choaie.
instinct with the imaginative quality OF a
great orator as distinguished from cold
logician. would burn himself up in fever Of
his own incarnation before he was 20
Gladstone at 81 is still a vigorous and at.
tractive orator as well as the supreme
political thinker and statesman of the
world.
Longevity ordinarily implies mere en-.
durance and the kind OF easy inactivity
that Is implied when we say that 8 man
has ceased 10 live and only vegetables, but
IN the case OF Gladstone we have the moral
ardor, the animated speech, the satire and
the impressiyeness of twenty years ago.
Gladstone IS IS old and eloquent as
Shakespeare makes John of Gaunt. bur be
has left not little of the energy and pug.
nacity OF Hotspur and OF the chivaIry,
courage and skin OF Prince Hal a. an age
when Gaunt's eloquence was ike
silver bugle blown nv the
feeble breath of dying man. The spec
tscle Of Gladstone at So charming an an
dience Of over 400 Is an effective answe,
70 the superficial view that the increasi ng
Importance OF the metropolitan newspaper
has effectualiy extinguished the influence
and consequence OF the orator. New.pa
pers might IS well be charged with ~,
capacity to extinguish the actor, the ar
tist, the preacher or the poet. oratory il
Just as attractive and as effective an iusiu
ence as il ever Was, bat the gift Of greai
speech Is rare, Just as the gift Of great pow
ers as an actor, poet, 4 preacher.
painter. sculptor. or q singer is rare, on
the feid for its exercise wa
NEVER wider or more appreciative thar
ct present. No state convention
assemblies between the two ocean
that does not prove by the eager attention