The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-15
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HON. LEWIS IN CONGRESS.
Great Things Expected of the "De-
mOsthenes of Puget sound


mOsthenes of Puget sound"
Washington Letter Louisville Courier
Journal
They do say that the far-om state OF
Washington sends a wonder in the person
of Pames Hamilton Lewis-"the Cicero of
the Evergreen state" the Demosthenes
of Puget sound. AS in base ball, every
congress at its beginning is full OF phe-
nomena. It don't take long to explode a
crop of them-no longer than it does on
the green diamond. In my time l have
seen many of them fire off their blank
cartridge. The time has come when your
congressman must be more than talkeri
he must know something,
More than hundred years ago the party
of Fox was in a great minority IN the
British commons. Though sheridan,
splendid orator that he was, belonged to
1t. the leaders thought it advisable to nave
Erskine as a reinforcement. The Duchess
of Devonshire and Mrs. Crewe had re-
cruited Charles Earl Gray and narrowly
missed enlisting George Canning, that
James c. Blaine of the old country, but
they wanted Erskine because he was the
greatest advocate that ever pleaded
cause before the English jury, greater
than Curran, his contemporary greater
than O'Connen of the succeeding genera
ton and they got Erskine. When he
first rose to speak in that first senate on
earth" he made miserable failure of il
and never amounted to anything In the
House of Commons.
Again when Daniel Webster entered
Harrson's cabinet he arranged 1t at home
SO that Rufus Choate should succeed him
in the Senate to watch Clay; but Clay
utterly crushed Choate the first debate
they had, and yet Choate was the Erskne
90 xyb hn hnfOTa
men in jury box.
If the Hon. James Hamilton Lewis Is
equal to one side of either Erskine or
Choate, ht viii be the equal of any man
on the floor of the next congress. l hope
that he Is equal to both sides of both of
them, for It is a bore to a newspaper
man to work up the congressional mate
rial on hand-that is, the great bulk of IT,.
Your orator, nowadays, must know
something There was Thomas +. Mar
| SHALL superior to Prentiss, to Menifee to
! Corwin. He was the foremost American
| orator because he was a ripe scholar. a
| laborious student, deep and constant
thinker. Had Thomas F. Marshall been
able 20 control his appetite he would have
! been as great as his uncle. the chief JUS
| tice, and Chief Justice Marshall never
had a superior among all the intellects
| OF our atmosphere.
Again, l hope Mr.. Lewis is all that Is
1
| as eloquent speech in Latin as he can
in English; but they don't talk Latin in
| the American congress, and IL Lewis
| speaks in that tongue they will laugh
him out Of the chamber. He is also a
| Greek orator a French orator, a German
orator and an orator in italian. That is
what we hear OF him, and they say he
GRATED in all those tongues during the
! campaign last summer and autumn.
! This much can be said for the American
| congress-it will not be bored. A man has
a perfect right 10 talk nonsense in the
House and many of them do that very
| thing; but nobody, unless IL be the off,
| cial stenographer, Is bound to listen to
| him. Just let Mr.. Lewis and all the other
"orators" make a note of that. Let US
| suppose that our Cicero OF the Ever
! greens" gets the floor and wades into
| some economic question with that utter
| defiance Of all history and principle and
! OF your mere orator, and then let US sup
! pose that Dingley, who carries in his
| head every fact In American history and
| every figure promulgated by the bureau
| OF statistics, propounds what the late Mai
Bolts called "a few sarching quesuons'
| to him. IT won't do to resort to Latin
lie must answer yes or no. and he must
be prepared to maintain his answer by
| documents that both sides of the House
| recognize as authority. II Mr. Lewis can
do that his oratory will be no disadvan-
tage TO him; II not better for him that he
had been born hare-lipped
Now, Dingley Is about as far from being
| an orator as any man I know. He has a
| monOtOnous. nasal voice He throws his
head on his right shoulder aud uses his
| right hand as though he We're shaking his
fist at you IN vicious style; but everybody
listens 10 Dingley. for he Is certain TO
say something that Il will profit you TO put
away 20 your memory-even n you dis
agree with him. lie Is worth a regiment
Of mere orators.