The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-06
BILLIARD AND YANCEY
 GREATEST ALABAMA ORATORS
How Hilliard Got the Best of Yanccy on His "GOd
 Of Battles'--SO1le Comparisons With the Orators of the Present Day.

| was such as to leave no haw, and v hi1
 minds eye hisS logic was as clear as [
 sunbeam. His influence over an audi ence was wondrous, and as MacauIey has defined eloquence to be persuasion. he fully rnached that standard" The con I was following after the father and would
 doubtless have made himself famous. Il have often listened to the late Rev. c. W. F. Price. for some years the Press Il ident Of the Alabama Conference Female College at Tuskegee and recently at the
 head of the female department of the \ Vanderbilt at Nashville. His mind was . | storehouse of knowledge and information and his thoughts were deep and pro- found, approaching in his discoveries - "The living throne, the sapphire blaze Where angels tremble while they gazers He possessed many of the clements ef
 the orator. and he enraptured and charm cd his hearers, and 1t has bsen said ho possessed the power of 'fmagination-the
 mediating power between pure reason and sense." an endowment so necessary to the great orator. the beauty and sublim- ity of his language was remarkable and awe-inspiring and his grace and lofty sentiment irresistible. and he reminded you rather of . beautiful summer sum- rise, with the sparkle of its dewdrops, tho melodies of its birds, the frcshness Of ita
 breese;" his power of hne discriminatfon l and fervor of feeling were exhibited in .
 mastsrly style, and yet he was not tho
 great orator because he chose to bs
 I have heard our own rsnnsnt Lou,sx at the bar and in the forum. when have | thought that he came near the ideal Of
 my orator: hs was easy and graceful, in | speech. charming in manner and inspir- | ing in his eloquenes. and yet hs has not SO trained and managed his voice ss to be ranked among the orators. He win ba able to do that and can be with safety placed among the leading speakers of the day and the coming orators of the fu- ture.
 I nave mentioned these distinguished and much honored Alabamiaps not to make any invidious or unpleasant com parisons, but to sustain my statement 5 that oratory Is not now what it was even in the days of Hiiliard and Yancey, and to say that I consider them more up to my idea of real orators than any speak CTS I have ever heard. oratory is not born but made. to great extent.
 A Comparison. M
 Really what started out in this article to do was to give to the readers of The Advertiser comparison of Hilliard and Yancey as orators and debaters from the pen of Hon. William R. Smith of Tusca- loosa, who was himself a statesman and an orator. possessed of great learning. and who was capable of Judging and com pairing the two. Judge Smith was in the Alabama House of Representatives at the same time with MT. Hilliard. in 1s3s and those at all familiar with Alabama his- | tory will remember the great debate on | the sub-treasury resolutions offered by Mir. Hilliard. and while the msjority was | against him, he made reputation as an orator and statesman by that speech. and made himself feared In debate. Judge Smith knew him to be 'foeman wor- thy of his steel" and was eminently
 al fn rla . 1fIH0 efsf upon his merits as an orator and debater.3 Speaking of MT. Hiliard, in his 'sRefnin- iscences," Judge Smith says "at home in the study, at home in the pulpit, at home at the bar, he was on the stump even more at home. whether declaimina from the door-sill of a traveling bog cabin or the resounding head of an empty cider barrel! He was still the master spirit of the place, leading. swaying and convuIs- ing the tumultuous assembly, and ho confines, T have said that MT. HiIliards in the canvass of 1S4o, placed himself in the front rank of American orators and he must be considered the very first in Alabama of the whig party at that day.: There was Democratic champion in tha State who may fairly compete with Mfr. Hiilisrd as an orator-William L. Yancey.s The great part he played in the civil sf- fairs of this country which culminated in secession, preciptating a revolution. snds as a consequence. bringing ruin and des- olation to the happiest and most prosper aus people on the globe--they great part that Mir. Yancey played fn(these mongn- tous events has crowned him, in the sopen- ion of many. ss the greatest orator of his day; and am not prepared to disputs the claim. But in the course of his pcIiti- cal career in Alabama, Mir. Hirltard had occasion frequently to meet Mir. YancsX on the stump, and it has been said that in these conflicts between these two champions, public opinion ever remained fairly divided as to which was the sreater orator, party and partisan feeling betna the controlling umpire.
 'In all that was soft and smooth and easy, graceful and persuasive MT. Hil- Hard was unquestlonably the better; in all that was fierce, stormy. vituperative. de- nunciatory,t impetuous and scornful. MT. Yancey excelled. MT Hillard had tha advantage in the extent of his having d more sweeping range of literary accom- plishments, as we'll as a broader acquant- ance with the history of nations: whilo Mr. Yancey had better knowledge ve men, was a more perfect master of th9 passions. and had ever at his commands seemingly compiled in his own mind for use upon occasion. boundless store of apt historical parallelisms, which enabled him to enforce an argument, strengthen his logic and invigorate his conclusions by some finely fitting classical or his- torical illustration. These were drawn chiefly fl om ancient sources, showing that MT Yancey had been a close student of the more dramatic writers and was hap billy skilled in the learning of the mytho- logies Mir. Yancey had great fondness for high-sounding phrases; felt no scrupls in the use of q plausible clap-trap that. indeed was a part of his skill. He could make a happy use of what is commonly called "glIttering generalties' and of phrases and opinions conceded to be of .Jeffersonian makeup, and he delighted in storning his audiences occasionally; and sometimes, as If with banner in hand he would shout. at the top of his voice some- thing about the god of battles" always in the most dramatic manner, and with the happiest effect.
 Now 1t so happens when men meet iu freauent discussion that. day after day. they repeat themselves to new audiences. This phrase the god of battles had been ringing so long in Billiards ears that he resolved to get rid of it. He took his time watched his opportunity, and on one occasion, having the closing speech, he took Mir. Yancey fairly by surprise, thus;
 .'I see my friends, that it is quite im- possible for you, as indeed 1t Is so for me. not to be forced into raptures of delight at the magnificent displays of the eloquenoe of my distinguished friend. l must warn you against some of hls trident Af Nanft4x.m