The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-05


his New England hero worshippers called
him: or steam engine in trousers" as
the great English clerical wit, Rev. Sgd
ney smith, said of him as he saw him
walking along a street in 1.-The nation Of
London" as that superb writer, Thomas
De Quincy, described it some half cen
tury ago, was solemn, massive, magiste-
rial. immense. He looked great, with
his monumental head and deep cavernu-
Gus eyes. He was deficient in animation,
as was given in my first paper. Non ami
nation ever came to him save under most
extraordinary circumstances. Let me
mention here an error in brief. 1t is
almost always taken for granted that
Webster achieved a great triumph over
Colonel Robert Y. Hayne, of South Caro-
lima. in the very famous debate in the
United States Senate about 1892 An at
tentive reading of the discussion may lead
an intelligent, fair mind TO another con-
clusion. | believe that in the argument
very important indeed-Col Hayne was
superior to his antagonist, but not in
stately, imperial eloquence OF diction. 1t
was really a victory, as | have held for
years, for the eloquent South Carolinian.
Others think likewise. Read Haynes
very able speech, and you will be sur
prised that the North ever SO imposed its
opinion upon the country as to Websters
supposed great triumph. In argument he
was really 'hoored" There were some
Northern men, some writer's even, who
saw the facts, and gave Hayne the palm
OF victory at the time.
In both sections you can still find much
oratory but probably not of supreme
kind, as / have before stated. There is
no s. s. Prentiss in either section He
was of New England birth, and very
splendid. He lived in the South from
his early manhood. There are able men,
thoughtful men, earnest, impassioned
men. strong. clear-h headed debaters, stir
ring DISCLAIMERS still. In North Carolina
are there any orators now who equal
Badger. Mangum. Kerr, Vcnable, Miller
and some others? l do not say there is
none. That would be bold declaration.
l am not well enough informed to dog
Matte here / believe that oratory,
while not extinct by a great deal, does
not flourish as it once did either in Eng
land or the United States. The press
may have done some thing to supercede
oratory. but / do not believe it. The
human voice and the brain on fire with
thought can stir and kindle as no cold
type can ever do. There are in Great
Britain now no Sheridans, Chathams,
OConnells, Brights or Gladstones. Ora
tory may revive again, in its highest
expressions and effects, and many
Demosthenes and Cicero may appear
again to charm audiences and hold them
in leash, "still as night"
In this connection let me say, that the
absolutely most intensely eloquent, mag
netic speeches I have heard in more than
fifty-hve years of attentive listening TO
many able and some eloquent men, were
by Judge John Kerr, in the court house
at oxford. at night, few weeks after
his defeat for Governor in 1852; and by
the late ex-Judge and Ex-Governor Daniel
G.. Fowle, in front of the National Hotel
at Raleigh on the night of the nomlna-
ton of Zebulon B. Vance for Governor,
in 1876. OF their kind, these two short
speeches. about an hour each in length,
were great achievements, and OF rarest
force They were wonderfully impas-
stoned, penetrating, controlling and elo-
uuent The greatest political speech
have ever heard was z. b. Vance's speech
in Wilmington in the campaign of 1881,
or was it 1882? He spoke for two hours
with great effect Col. Duncan K. Nc
Rae and | walked away together after
the speaking. He did not like Vance
specially. but he said: THAT is the very
greatest political speech l have ever
heard" So thought l then and so /
think now 1t was worthy of
Henry Clay or Tom Corwin or any
great swayer of multitudes. A Western
Republican Senator, in 1872, said to me
at Raleigh: "By the way your man
Vance, is the greatest speaker on the
hastings | have heard since Corwin's
death, and they resemble each other very
much in their gifts and manner of
speech
Before leaving this part of my sub
iect. let me refer to an orator of tran
scendent gifts in the past One of the
most extraordinary speakers in all his
tory was Louis Kossuth, who figured so
very prominently in the Hungarian revolt
against Austrian oppression about 1880.
He visited England, and later the United
States. This was in the early ffties. His
speeches in both countries were simply
wonderful, of enhancing eloquence, and
sometimes of beauty. | remember that
when in my twenties l bought the volume
of his speeches and read them with eX-
ceeding fascination. | gave them to a
personal friend, William r. Virgins, a
young lawyer of Oxford, when he was
leaving to make his distant home IN
Texas about 1858. He was assassinated
at night while returning from his father s
home to the town of Washington. | have
never had AN opportunity since of read
ing some of the noblest, most pleasing,
most remarkable specimens OF human
eloquence. That l was not mistaken in
my early admiration l am assured from
a recent reading of what is said of his
visit to England, in that very interesting
work by Hon. Justin Mccarthy, "A His
tory of Our Own Times l make an en-
jCyable quotation from the account: He
had a strikingly handsome face and
stately presence. He was picturesque.
He looked like picture.
He was undoubtedly one of the
most eloquent men who ever addressed
an English popular audience.
He had mastered our tongue as few for
eigners have ever been able to do; but
what he had mastered was not the COM
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