The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-02-27
The South'S
Greatest Orator.
Sargent S. Prenti>s


its high bluffs, has for nearly two cen
turies looked down upon the father OF
waters as it flows on lis ccasclcsS
course to the sea, is located the grave
of Sargent Smith Prentiss, the grca,
Southern orator, lawyer and scholu
who in the ante.belium days electrified
the world with his matchless cloquencc.
a half century ago Sargent Smith
Prentiss occupied a position in the
world of oratory unsurpassed by that
held by any man in the present day.
A half century ago his name was on
every lip in the Southland, and his
fame was known 10 almost every clti-
zen of the United States. The hold he
possessed on the hearts of his country
men was nothing short of ldolatry and
the country has not since produced his
equal as wizard with words and q liter
airy genus.
But now his name and fame are al
most forgotten except among those
few who lived during the days Ct his
eloquepce, or who from hearsay shll
cheerlsh Il reverence for the man akin
to that which is occasionally found to
exist for Henry Clay and other great
orators who were in the public mind
during that period.
The drive from Natchez to the grave
of Prentiss is short and pleasant.
Going southward through the narrow
lanes and streets of the quaint cid
town, past little cottages with vines
hanging over the doors, imposing ante
bellum mansions which yet stand as
relics of past glory, the visitor reaches
the country and drives along the old
Wootvllle road, deep and suuken with
two hundred years of travel, on past
the Duleith mansion, the grandest Of
its kind in the country, with white
granite walls and wide galleries sup
ported by great round columns of
stone, and which stands now as IL silent
monument in perpetuation of the
memories of q past age, on through q
forest of patriarchal oaks with wide
spreading branches festooncd with
moss, through green pasture lands
where the sound OF COW bells with
mellow tinklc come up from the valley
below, until is reached the Gloucester
mansion, lordly looking place, once
the home of the Sargent family, where
the wife of Prentss was born and
reared, and which is now occupied
only by an old negress, a family SER
want who refuses to desert the old
place, and who, by some remarkable
tenaci,y ard vitality of life, has past
ths four score year mark by nearly a
decade.
Almost opposite thc Gloucester
mansion is snail enclosure about
fifty feet square, inclOsed with a wall
Of old-fashioned masonry. The only
entrance is a small iron gate once
made fast by lock and cham, but
which have now rusted away and only
a shove of the foot IS necessary to Sc
cure entrence.
There are several graves within the
enclosure. The first to meet the eye
ls weather-stained tom bstonc bearing
the fame of Winthrop Sargent, the
frat governor Of the Mississippi terri
tory. The lettering on this stone is
almost impossible to declpher and a
Vagrant vine has placed its coils
around the shaft and spread its foliage
In such way that il is necessary to
push back the leaves before the slowly
fading inscription can be seen.
A few feet further on is square
feet in height, on which appears the
following:
S.S. PRENT.SS.
Born at Portland, Maine, September
Goth, sos.
Departed this lite at Natchen Miss
July lat, 1852
am the resurrection and life; he that
believeth on me, though he we're dead,
yet ehall he live.
On the right side of this grave is a
little mound that marks the resting
place of his son, and on the left Is the
grave of his wife, both marked by
stones of equal simplicity.
And this is the grave of the man
who made one of the greatest speeches
ever delivered in the halls of Congress
an address that brought him national
fame and called forth unstlntcd eu.
logies from such men Of eminence as
Clay, Calhoun and Webster. A word
in passing regarding this speech, de-
livered nearly seventy years ago, may
be of interest. 1t was made in an
epoch of eloquercc and when oratory
was the power that moved the ptoplc
and was, at one and the same time,
both the lever and the fulcrum of Ar
chimedes.
Prentiss, then young man who had
barely passed his twenty-iifth year,
and man named II. j. Word, were
claiming seats in the lower House of
Congress, and the contention was set
up by J. +. II. Claiborne that the
election of Prentiss was not legal.
Word was contestipg for the seat of a
man named Gholson, who had been
Claibornes' running mate. Several
technicalitles became involved, both
in the State and IN the proceedings be-
fore congress, which are not necessary
to relate. In, brief, the question
finally narrowed down to whether
Mississippi was entitled to choose hel
own representatives, and in conclud.
ing his three days speech, Prentiss
used the following words, which have
since been enshrlned in literature as 6
modern classic, equalling, if not sur
passing anything uttered by either
Clay or Webster:
"Rescind that resolution which de
nies Mississippi representation ant
which presses like foul incubus upoi
the constitution. You ait her,
twenty-five sovereign States in judg
ment Of the most sacred right of
sister State--that which is to a Stat
xgbot chaafity ia tO a woman or homo