The Irish standard., 1897-05-29


KoeNlo MGO. CO., Chicago, llL
20 8. Franklin Street.
aoaabyDzussisesas q per Bottle. 0e9o&
LARGO Size. 01.5B. 66ostlos te S0s
ing us that Mr.. Webster came home
from Washington at the time the Wing
party thought of dissolution, year or
two before his death, and went down to
Faneuil Hall to protest; drawing him.
self up to his Hottest proportions, his
brow clothed with thunder, before the
lisening thousands, he said: "Well, gen
tlemen, I am Whig, Massachusetts
Wing, Faneuil Hall Whig, constitu-
tional Wing. If you break the WING
party, sir, where am to go?" And says
Lowell: I'VE held our breath, thinking
where he could go. If he had been five
feet three, we should have said: Who
cares where you go?'" So it was with
O'Connell. There was something ma
jestic in his presence before he spoke;
and he added to it what Webster had
not, what Clay might have lent-grace.
1.-the as boy at seventy, every attitude
a picture, every gesture grace, he was
still all nature; nothing but nature
seemed to speak all over him. Then he
had a voice that covered the gamut.
The majesty of his indignation, fifty ut
tered in tones of superhuman power,
made him able to indict nation, in
spite of Burke's protest.
heard him once say: Il send my
voice across the Atlantic, careering like
the thunder storm against the breeze, to
tell the STAKEHOLDER of the Carolinas
that Gods thunderbolts are hot, and to
tell the bondman that the dawn OF his
redemption is already breaking" You
seemed to hear the tones come echo1ng
back to London from the Rocky mount
aims. Then, with the slightest possible
Irish brogue, he would tell story.
while all Exeter Hall shook with laugh
ter. The next moment, tears in his
voice like a Scotch song, five thousand
men wept. And all the while no effort.
He seemed only DroatnlAe.
'.As effortless ns woodland hooks
Send violets up. and paint them piue:
We used to say of Webster, This Is
q great effort" of Everett, 1T is beau
tiful effort" but you never used the
word effort in speaking Of OConnell.
It provoked you that he would not make
an effort. And this wonderful power,
it was not thunder storm; he fanked
YOU with his wit, he surprised you out OF
yourself; you were conquered before
you knew it. His marvellous voice, it's
almost incredible power and sweetness,
Bulwer has we'll described:
"Once to my sight that giant form was
given
Walled by wide air, and rooted by bound
less heaven.
Reneath his feet the human ocean lay,
And wave on wave rolled into space away.
Methought no clarion could have sent Its
Even to the center Of the hosts around;
And, as I thought. rose the sonorous swell,
AS from some church tower swings the Sill
very bell
Aloft and clear, from airy tide to tide
It glided, easy as bird may glide.
Even to the verge of that vast audience
sent
It played with each wild passion as 1T
went;
Now stirred the uproar; now the murmur
stilleG.
And sobs or laughter answered asst willed.
Webster could awe senate, Everett
could charm a college, and Choate
cheat Jury; Clay could magnetic the
million, and Corwin lead them captive.
O'Connell was Clay, Corwin, Choate.
Everett and Webster in one. Before
the courts, logic; at the bar of the SEN
ate, unanswerable and dignif1ed; on the
platform, grace, wit and pathos; before
the masses, whole man. Carlyle says:
''He is Gods own annointed king whose
single word melts all Wills into his"
This describes O'Connell. Emerson
says: There is no true eloquence I'M
less there is a man behind the speech"
Daniel O'Connell was listened to because
all England and all Ireland knew that
there was a man behind the speech
one who could be neither bought, bull
lied nor cheated. He held the masses
free but willing subjects in his hand.
He owed this power to the courage that
met every new question frankly, and
concealed none Of his convictions; to an
entireness of devotion that made the
people feel he was all their own; to q
mastery brain that made them sure
they were always safe in his hands.
Behind them were ages of bloodshed:
every rising had ended at the scaffold;
even Grattan brought them to 1898.
O'Connell said: Follow me, put your
feet where mine have trod, and a sher-
III shall never lay hand on your shoul-
der" And the great lawyer kept his
pledge
This unmatched, long continued power
almost passes belief. You can only ap-
preciate 1t by comparison. Let me
carry you back to the mob-year of 1885,
In this country when the Abolitionists
were hunted, when the streets roared
with riot from Boston to Baltimore,
nom st,, ouls to Philadelphia, a mob
took poss Of every city; when pri-
vats houses were invaded and public
halls burned, press after press was
thrown into the river, and Lovejoy bap-