The Irish standard., 1899-11-25
Are Burke, Sheridan, Grattan,
Curran and O'Connell
ORATORS OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE
Ranked With the Most ELOQUENT
Speakers of the World.

The following address on Irish Ora
tory was recently delivered by ]. Car
roll Payne and will be read with delight
by the patriotic readers OF this journal:
The Irish arc born orators, and Ire
land stands proudly foremost among all
the countries OF the earth as being the
mother OF orators whose names will live
as long as the race itself These men
were Graded in adversely, grew to man
hood under oppression, and their whole
lives were long cry against injustice
and persecution. Their voices we're
attuned to dciiant themes, and under
these circumstances their cloquencc
lound vent, an cloqucncc which TO this
day appeals TO human sympatllics and
finds an echo in the human heart. Take
the name ol every Irish orator and you
will find that all their cloqucncc had
but ono objcct-thcir conltry and her
wcl(arc--and one might say was so
much incense, so many burnt offerings
laid upon the altar oi their country
And who were lrcland's greatest ora
tors? naturally first mention Edmund
Burke lie was a greater thinker than
either Fox or Chatham. though Inferior
to them in declamatory skill He ranks
not merely with the eloquent speakers
OF the world, but with the Bacons and
l lin 1,,,l-. al
extent OF his powers, as an orator, n
statesman and dcbatcr, he surpassed
every other man OF ancient or modern
times His speeches and pamphlets are
saturated with thought; they swarm
with IDEAS. Probably no orator ever
lived OIL whose lips language was more
plastic and ductilc. His speeches
abound with the most solid and brilliant
cloqucncc, argumcntativc, emotional
and descriptive: in fact, there is hardly
any species Of oratorical excellence
which may not be found in heapcd up
proiusion in them. With an imperial
fancy that laid all nature under tribute,
he gave uttcrancc to his magnificent
conceptions unfortunately in sort OF
lofty shrill cry, with awkward manner
and gestures, which tended much to
empty the benches and disperse the
members OF the House who read next
day with admiration and delight what
they refused to hear the night before.
One OF the finest specimens of his
eloqucncc is the famous passage in his
speech upon the Nabob of Arcot's debts
in which he describes the descent of
Hyder Ali upon the Carnatic. To read
this is never to forget it,
1t is said that during the trial of
Warren Hastings in Westminster Hall,
when Burke, with an imagination almost
as oriental as the scenes he depicted,
described in words that will live as long
as the English language, the cruelties
inflicted upon the natives by Debi Sing,
one OF Hastings agents, convulsive
shudder ran through the whole assem-
bly,. Indignation and rage filled the
breasts Of his hearers, some of the ladies
swooncd, and Hastings himself, though
he had protested his innocence, was
overwhelmed with rcmorse, astonish-
mcnt and terror. In concluding his
speech, which lasted four days-and is
possibly the greatest one ever delivered
MIR. Burke ended with pcroration
more majestic, imposing and impressive
than any other to be found in all forcn-
sic oratory. 1t was an appropriate end
ing in the trial OF case that lasted
seven years, and such was its effect that
MIR. Burke himself dropped his head
upon his hands, and unrestrained sob
bing was heard throughout the vast
audience. 1t is difficult to form a just
opinion Of Sheridan, a contemporary Of
Burke's, because we have no adequate
records preserved of his greatest
speeches. He had naturally many OF
the elements Of an orator, pleasing
countenancc, voice sweet and of con-
siderable depth and compass, rare ver-
satility OF talents, and a knowledge of
the human heart and the way to touch
its chords. AS witty as brilliant, he
delighted in antithesis, apostrophes and
rhetorical exaggerations. He did moth
ing to display his oratorical genius until
he took part in the impeachment OF
Warren Hastings. He was assigned the
charge relating to the Begums, and on
| this charge he delivered two speeches,