The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-08
FORTYYEARSOF ORATORY
A COLLECTION OF SPEECHES BY THE
LATE SENATOR VOORHEES,.
Political, Legal and miscellaneous
Addresses Which Made Him Famous
Lectures Not Delivered. -o

The name of Daniel w. voorhees, first be-
speech in defense of John E. Cook at Har-
per's Ferry, in 1859. Public excitement at
that time caused everything connected with
the John Brown raid to be read eagerly all
over the country, and intense interest was
manifested in this trial. Voorhees, speech
was widely copied and was received with
enthusiasm. Previous to this time-n the
Pierce campaign-the young Indianian had
made political speeches in New England,
where his eloquence had attracted atten-
ton, and he was already in demand in jury
cases in his State, but this Harper's
Ferry speech established his reputation as
a Jury lawyer" and from that time on
until his death ne was. in demand in GRIM
inal cases especially, and his inllual;9 upon
juries was greatly dreaded by his Legal Cp-
ponentS. He also became famous as 2 o.
litical speaker, and older citizens remember
some of these addresses as wonderfully eff
fective even upon audiences not in sympa-
thy with him. A part of his effectiveness,
no doubt, was due to his great personal
magnetism and not entirely to the actual
force of argument or the pleasing rhetoric
but enough of the latter qualities existed
to make collection of his speeches a de-
sirable memorial of one who was so long a
prominent figure in the politics, not only
of his State, but CT the Madonna memorial
welcome, too, to the thousands VINO remem-
Der his thrilling words and his attractive
personality and would gladly renew their
recollections of his efforts on the stump and
in the courtroom by reading them The
need of such work is met by the Bowc:i-
Merrill Company, which has jus7 brought
n1rf oil Of rhoxr
are edited by his sons and daughter, and
are issued in two large volumes of 10; pages,
bearing the title Forty Years OF Oratory.'
HIS RELIGIOUS VIEWS.
In the arrangement of the work chronology
ical order is not followed, the first volume
opening with a lecture written not long De-
fore his DEATH entitled The Holy Sepul-
chre, or a Lawyers View of the Divinity
OF Jesus of Nazareth" The announcement
of the subject attracted public attention,
and had the orator lived to enter the lee
ture field as he planned, he would probably
have found this address a popular ona. Ills
conclusion in regard to the divinity OF
Christ is entirely in accord with the ortho
dox belief. In his peroration he say:
plato reasoned well but the immortality
of the soul which was to him merely a
pleasing hope, a fond desire, dim un-
certainty, becomes a proven, fixed reality
by the coming of the Messiah; by the open
ing of the Kings highway between the two
worlds, the visible and the invisible. In His
divinity He came and He went: He passed
from one world to the other, both ways;
time and eternity together, and affordng
to the human soul its only safe assurance
divinity, therefore, we listen without Won
der or doubt to His own grand conclusions
of the whole matter, to His own lofty
anthem and promise of life eternal: am
the resurrection and the life; he that be-
HeVeth in me, though he We're dead, yet
shall he live; and whatsoever liveth and be-
lieveth in me shall never die And who
is he that would gainsay this pean of vic
tory for the human soul in its hope of i'm
mortality? Who is he that would silence
its strains of solace, mercy and peace?
Who is he that would rob the parting soul
of the music, the. light, the reckoning
angels, the beloved faces that have gone
before, making welcome from the sky?
Who is he that would draw the black cur
tains of humiliation around the dying bed
and bolt and bar the portals of the tomb
with cold, immovable despair? Who is he
that would force his way into the chamber
yet simple faith, which alone can pluck
from the heart a rooted sorrow and dry
the tears of anguish; which comes as a
comforter in every trial and disaster;
which wreathes with smiles the dying face,
even in the bright morning of life, and in
its MONDAY prime, and as the sun OF . old
age is going down? Far more merciful
would it be to put poison in the wells and
fountains of burning deserts where perish
ciful would it be to blot out the sun, the
moon and the stars, and wrap the universe
again in darkness and in chaos.
AN UNFINISHED LECTURE.
Following this is lecture on Thomas JEFF
ferson, one of the same series prepared for
general delivery. This evidently a
work of love, and shows close acquaintance
with the history and politics of the time.
The third of these lectures bears the title
1.-The Public Men of My own Times and
is incomplete, Mr.. Voorhees, having been
working upon it on the evening before his
death. An editorial note quotes him as
saying when he laid down the pages:
There, daughter, it is finished so far, and
the writing of it has helped to take my
mind off my sufferings. II is not easy to
know when to stop writing about such men
as Lincoln and Grant. but, tomorrow. if
public men / have known, especially those
of my own State, and try to finish within
reasonable limits; then / will be ready for
the lecture field. If the Lord will only give
me health, my child, and / can believe the
half that has been written and said to me
on that subject this means that you never
need to have so much as a whim ungrati-
fled in the future, and this is my dearest
WISH His estimate of Mr.. Lincoln, as
given in this address, is interesting ana
also of historical value, Mr.. Voorhees, hav-
ing been said by Judge David o Davis 6 to be
stood Lincon's character.
After these come speeches delivered in
Congress and on the stump. among them
that in which he first took his stand
against a protective tariff. Among these,
also are his arguments in favor of a new
building for the library or Congress. IL was
largely due 10 his persistent efforts that the
magnificent structure lately finished was
erected and his address on the subject may
be regarded as representing that part of his
life work by which his name will be longest
remembered
THE SOLDIERS FRIEND.
In an eloquent speech In the United
States Senate in 1882 on the arrears of PEN
sions act his tribute to Union soldiers was
of kind to prove him their sincere friend.
In view OF the grumbling that is still heard
in certain quarters over the payment Of
pensions, and the fact that the arguments |
in favor OF such payment are as fitting now