The Savannah morning news., 1901-07-22
SOME NOTED ORATORS.
Anecdotes of Gladstone, ChOate and
Everett.

Senator George F. Hoar contribute
an interesting paper to the July mum
Der of Scribners Magazine on "Som
Famous Orators l Have Heard" o.
several occasions he listened to Glad
stone debate in the House of Com
mons, and, contrasting his style .
oratory with that of Disraeli, he says
Gladstone showed in his speech th'
profounder reflection on the genera
subject, the more philosophy and the
intenser earnestness: Disraeli showed
quickness of wit, a ready command OF
his resources, ability for subtle dis
tinctions, and glimpses of his almost
satanic capacity for mockery and jeer-
ing"
In 1871 Senator Hoar heard Glad
stone, when there was great struggle
between him and Disraeli over the
Parliamentary and Municipal Elections
bill:
Gladstone was terribly in earnest.
He began his speech by a compliment
to Northcote, his opponent for whom
he had shown his esteem by sending
him to the United States as one of the
Joint High Commission to make the
Alabama Treaty. But when Mr..
Gladstone was well under way, Sir
Stafford interpOsed a dissent from
something he said by calling out, No,
no'-a very frequent practice In the
House Gladstone turned upon him
savagely, with a tone of anger which
/ might almost call furious: Can the
gentleman tolerate no opinion but his
own, that he interjects his audible con-
tradiction into the middle of my SEN
tence? The House evidently did not
like it. Hughes. who agreed with
At i taa II
it is that he can not control his tenn
per; that is his great fault. "
Senator Hoar says Gladstone had a
tendency to somewhat involved speech,
and at the same time gift of COM
pact epigrammatic utterance on occa-
sons The only American orators
whom he can recall who had this rare
gift were Choate and Evarts. He
adds:
when Mr. Evarts, who was my near
relative and a man with whom | could
take a liberty came into the Senate,
said to him that we should have to
amend the rules so that motion to
adjourn would be in order in the mid
die of a sentence, to which he replied
that he knew of nobody in this country
who objected to long sentences except
the criminal classes
Senator Hoar heard Lyman Beecher.
then a very old man, before a meeting
of the members of the Massachusetts
Legislature in 1852, when the measure
known as the Maine Liquor Law"
was pending. He bore unmistakable
marks of advanced age But there
were one or two passages that showed
the power of the orator, one especially
in which he described the beauty and
delight of our homes, and intemper-
ance threatened them with it's waves
ike great sea of fire.
He saw Henry Ward Beecher sew
eral times in private, and had pleasant
talks with him, but never heard him
speak on any occasion when he put
forth his power:
But if half that is told Of his
speeches, during the civil war, some Of
them to hostile and angry audiences,
be true, he was a consummate master.
One story is told of him which l sup
pose is true, and, If ii be true, ranks
him as one of the greatest masters of
his art that ever lived. 1t is said that
he was speaking to a great crowd in
Birmingham, or perhaps Liverpool,
which constantly goaded him with hos
tile Interruptions, so that he had great
difficulty in getting on. At last one
Fellow provoked the cheers and ap-
plause of the audience by crying out:
p why don't you put down the rebellion
in 90 days as you said you would?"
Beecher paused a moment until they
became still, in their eagerness to hear
his reply, and then hurled back: We
should if they had been Englishmen.
The fierce, untamed animal hesitated a
moment between anger and admira-
ton, and then the English love Of faic
play and pluck prevailed, and the
crowd cheered him and let him go
on"
Rufus Choate's method was pure per-
suasion:
He never appealed to base motives
nor tried to awake coarse prejudices or
stormy passions. He INDUCED in no in
Vective. His wit and sarcasm and ridi-
cuIe amused the victim almost as much
as IT amused the bystanders.
he had voice without any gruff or
any shrill tones and he never strained
1t or seemed to exert it to its fullest
capacity. Whether Won liked
him or disliked him. you gave him
your ears, erect and intent. He used
manuscript a great deal, even in
speaking to juries. When a trial was
on, lasting three days or weeks, he kept
pen, ink and paper at hand in his bed
room, and would often get up in the
middle OF the night to write down
S4ACNohNS NAAdN NdAlt 10 MIN as he Law
in bed. He was always careful to keen
warm 1t was said he prepared for a
great jury argument by taking off
eight great-coats and drinking eight
cups of green tea"
OF his power of persuasion. Senator
Hoar says:
1t was curious sight to see on a
jury II hardheaded and intelligent
countrymen-farmers. town officers,
trustees men chosen by their neigh
oors to transact their important affairs
after an argument by some clear
headed lawyer for the defense about
some apparently not very doubtful
transaction, who had brought them all
TO his way of thinking. and had warn
ed them against the wiles of the
charmer, when Choate rose to reply for
the plaintiff-to see their look of conf
dence and dlsdain-you needn try
your wiles upon me. The shoulder
turned little against the speaker
the aVerted eye and then the change;
hrst, the changed posture of the body;
the slight opening of the mouth: then
the look. first Of curiosity. and then of
doubt, then of respect the surrender
of the eye to the eye of the great ad-
Nocate, then the spell, the charm. the
great enchantment-till at last, jury
and audience were all swept away.and
followed the conqueror captive in his
triumphant march. He gesticulated
with his whole body. Wendell Phillips
most irreverenuy as well as most un-
justly compared him to a monkey in
commissions. His bowings down and
strengthening himself again were spo-
~ .g.g-.