The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-24
NO ORATOR PRESIDENTS
High Office Has Always Eluded the
Great Spea ker.


! pri5ing faCi- that not one would he {
preacher The genius of the churCh j:
III its pulpits, and there is ntsInine
higher in that line; nor do they oDeI
irLso oeher realms of activity. This Of
itself may deter a young man who
orSumS CT fame. Something in me llnt
I Of rohtical advancement would more
/ Eke.y he preferable. In that direction
the ulSin.ate point is the presidency
A great asgIssat of intellectual force
mas been wasted in pursuit of il, and
/ Others are coming on to take the place
OF those who now aspire to it. Nc
pie.c1let' has been President. Did this
! occur TO any of the young men referred
/ to? Possibly. j Politics is attractive
/ and COuEaT SO on dCSou.-i- of its hicl
prize. Ceutory is one of it's fascina-
tiors- And now about orators and the
! presidency. There seems to be quite
Is S.4i,i- GiVOrCeTnert mere as in the
! case Of preachers. THE --latest evidence
OF this we have in Bryan, who 1ougIi,
the L4S- 1apcle with his tongue and
lcs-. he is said TO be a man Of some
erudition. II he is, he knows that an
grafton iS~nOE a passport to the White
House. 1t is a privilege of approach
merely. In the. list Of presidents from
Washington TO Mckinney, is there a
DemOsLheneS? The first voice of thun-
der was that of Patrick Henry. But
Henri WIS net an aS9irant tor the
Presidency. Down to Monroe there was
TO man of silver speech and magnet
ism. And, indeed, Monroe is thought
10 nave died in j measure unknown for
the want of the oratorioal gift. He had
more sOlidity. than spiendor. Adams
and Madison had a touSh of it, though
no SUN plentitude of speech as Henry
or Gus or A4res.
PATRICK HFNRY,S GREAT POWER
No man after the adoption of the
constitution could have been president
in The face of Washington popularity,
and Henry stood further removed from
consideration in this respect than a2v
other. lie was a member of the con-
venJion that was to decide the fate of
the constitution of Virginia, and he at
tackled it with a ferocity of elocuence
that rivaled his most brilliant efforts
on the eve of revolution. For eighteen
days, two-thirds of the time the Vir-
ginia convention was in session, speak
ing some times seven hours at q
stretch, he sought to defeat the ratifi-
cation of the constitution. 1'ne hrunt
of the battle was on him alone, as OPP
posed to Marshall, Madison and others.
1t was in q sense Eenry'S finest loren
sic displs--, and revealed in him an
amplitude cf power unsusDected. The
combat was terrific. and Henry came
off with plaudits, in spite of his judg
menl. Monroe selped him a little.
though it was practically a single
handed battle for Henry. However
strong an clement his speech may have
been in narshaling the forces of the
revolution, it was now just as potent
as he could make it in fighting the
plan of government the revolution
evolved. That plan, we know, provided
for a president The power conferred
on the president was to Henry ahhor-
rent. So the greatest gi' n the people
could never, in the nat,<s of things,
have fallen to him Il cannot with
patience" ne cried, think Of this
idea. Away with your president. We
shall have a king. The1army shall sa-
lutte him monarch. What viii then be-
come of you and your rights?" Such
convictions and such dauntless asser-
ton Of them would not likely line
man UP with presidential possibilities.
It is not in this view that Henry is
referred to as an orator, but because he
was one of the FIRST instrrmentalities
that hurried events onward and gave
them the impetuosity of storm. The
sentiment of liberty or death was filled
with meaning. 1t was a barefaced
truth. That is why twas electrical.
In the storm that Henry helped brew
were the clash of arms and the groans
of diving men. The republic, with its
presidency, followed. So the oratory
of Henry in connection with the preSi-
dency is not amiss, though ii went be-
fore, and he disdained to reach after it.
HAMILTON, THE FEDERAMST. ]
Another man cf that time in the
cate cory of orators was Hamilton. An
description on a Boston monument. re-
citing the versatility of his genius. has
Tor is first word orator" Hamilton
was some ten FEARS Younger than
Henry, and not a bit like him. He was
a federalist from the start. and as a
leader was in line for the presidency,
even after the stretch of Republican
succession. for he would have then been
but little. if any, past his prime. As
things turned out, it was impossible,
of course, that Hamilton should be
president. The words Introducing the
so savagely assailed by
Henry, were his. AS an orator he is de-
scribed sustained and impassioned
considering the logical more than the
He is lil-ened to the younger
Pitt. which seems not an altogether apt
parallel, though both, no doubt, spoke
with authority. Tallsyrand told Bu-
chanan that he was the greatest Amer
lean. and he was not sure that he was
behind any man he had known in
Europe.
So any aspiration of Hamilton. how
ever high. was perfectly legitimate, and
had he been able, by Cancellation with
Adams. to hold the federal party in
tact, there is no good reason why he
might not have been the official head
Of the people, as well as the leader CT
the party. As an antagonist. Jefferson
him a colossus, and ranked
cim above Washington and Adams. Be |
side his record as an orator and states
man, Hamilton had something in a
way. He was appointed second /
in command OF the provisional troops !
to fight the French, and on the death |
II Washington, was advanced to the
head OF the army. Nothing was rea- !
sonably beyond his reach. But Adams
had protested against mis- military ap-
ooiL-ment. though he made it at the |
request ce Washington, and when the |
presidential campaign opened Hamil- |
on assailed Adams. 1t was a fatal /
blow, and wrecked the hopes of both.
Hamilton did not live to see another /
election. Henry and Hamilton. alto i
sether different, were typical orators
If the revolutionary period. Both were
brilliant men. The presidents were
,hosen from the more sober class.
CLAY DECLAIMED TO TREES.
When Hamilton died Clay was a
'oung man of n. Long before that,
t scenes, he believed he had the ora
oricaly talent, and began to cultivate
t. His method was to read something,
TX it in his mind and go off to himself
nd speak it. Many another young
nan has no doubt done the same thing
nd then thought upon it in maturity
S so much time wasted Clay serious
y considered his early declaiming to
rees and corhstalks, horses and cat