The American Union Speaker Part 78

His style was elaborated with great care. His language is select, and his periods are easy and fluent.

27. XVIII. RUFUS CHOATE was born at Ipswich, Ma.s.s., October 1, 1799, graduated at Dartmouth College, with the highest honors, in 1819, and died at Halifax, while on his way to Europe, July 13, 1859. Gifted with the most brilliant intellectual powers, he was ever a hard student. Mr. Everett says of him, "With such gifts, such attainments, and such a spirit, he placed himself, as a matter of course, not merely at the head of the jurists and advocates, but of the public speakers of the country." His most famous oration is his Eulogy on Daniel Webster, delivered at Dartmouth College.

Mr. Choate's works have been edited, and an admirable Memoir of his Life written, by Professor Samuel G. Brown, the whole being published in two octavo volumes.

29. XX. Boethius ( bo-e'-thi-us).

--Sibyl (sib' il ).

30 XXI. From a Lecture on the Eloquence of Revolutionary Periods, delivered in Boston, February 1857.

33. XXIII. gobelin (gob'-e-lin): Pericles ( per'-i-cles).

37. XXVII. MRS. LYDIA MARIA CHILD, whose maiden name was FRANCIS, was born in Ma.s.sachusetts, but pa.s.sed a portion of her earlier years in Maine. Her literary productions are numerous and are characterized by vigor and originality of thought. She has been very prominent in the anti-slavery movement. A work on the subject of slaverey, published by her in 1833, produced a great sensation. This selection is from The Rebels, a tale of the Revolution, which was published in 1825, when she was quite young.

41. x.x.x. PATRICK HENRY. This distinguished "orator of nature" was born in Virginia, May 29, 1736. He was a member of the first Congress, which met in Carpenter's Hall, at Philadelphia, on the 4th of September, 1774. For several years he was governor of Virginia and for more than thirty years he stood among the foremost of American patriots and statesmen. He was one of the earliest and most powerful opponents of British power. In 1765, as member of the House of Burgesses, he introduced his famous resolutions against the Stamp Act, which proved the opening of the American Revolution in the colony of Virginia. He died on the 6th of June, 1799. His life has been written by William Wirt. This speech was delivered about one month before the battle of Lexington, so that his prophecy, "The next gale,"

&c. was almost literally fulfilled.

44. x.x.xIII, Praesidium ( pre-sid'-i-um): a guard.

-Pueblo ( pwa'-blo ): a village.

---ranch: a hut, or collection of huts; a farming establishment.

---Tehuauntepec (ta-huan-te-pec).

46. x.x.xIV. REV. ROBERT HALL, an eminent Baptist minister, was born at Arnsby, England, August, 1764, and died at Bristols, on the 21st of February, 1831. His writings, which have been published in six volumes, are highly finished in style, and display a remarkable combination of logical precision, metaphysical acuteness, practical sense and sagacity, with a rich luxuriance of imagination, and all the graces of composition. Dr. Parr says of him--"He has, like Jeremy Taylor, the eloquence of an orator, the fancy of a poet the subtlety of a schoolman, the profoundness of a philosopher, and the piety of a saint."

47. x.x.xV. JOSEPH STORY was born at Marblehead, Ma.s.s., September 18, 1779.

In 1810 he was appointed by President Madison a.s.sociate Justice of the Supreme Court, and in 1829, he was made Professor of the Dane Law School, which office he held until his death, September 10th, 1845. He was an eminent jurist, an eloquent orator, and a finished scholar.

--Siloa: the metre here requires the accent on the first syllable (sil'-o-a, ) though most authorities make it (sil-o'-a.).

52. x.x.xIX. REV. ELIJAH KELLOGG, a clergyman in Boston. He wrote this piece especially for declamation. This copy is a recent revision by the author for Hillard's Reader.

54. XL. From a speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, January 8, 1847.

56. XLI. From an oration delivered at the seat of Government, on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the National Monument to Washington, July 4, 1848.

70. LIII. FISHER AMES was born at Dedham, Ma.s.s., April 9th, 1758, where he died, July 4th, 1808 He was a member of the first Congress under the Const.i.tution, in which body he remained eight years. In 1804, he was tendered the Presidency of Harvard College, which he declined.. He was an excellent cla.s.sical scholar and an acc.u.mplished orator. His speech on Jay's Treaty, from which this extract is taken is a production of the deepest pathos and richest eloquence. Webster is said to have committed the whole speech to memory in early life.

92. LXIX. Brougham's career, though brilliant, has been marked by the most extraordinary inconsistencies and contradictions, and now, at the age of eighty-five, forgetting his brave denunciation of slavery, he takes sides with a wicked rebellion, which was set on foot for the establishment of an empire based on slavery.

97. LXXIII. RICHARD LALOR SHIEL was born in Ireland, August 17, 1791 and died in Italy, May 23, 1857. He entered Parliament in 1830, and at the time of his death, he was Minister at the Court of Tuscany. For bold, impa.s.sioned declamation, this extract has seldom been equalled.

--STRAFFORD, EARL, whose family name was Wentworth. Rene gade, because having at first resisted the arbitrary power of Charles the First, he afterwards became so obnoxious to the people by his own exercise of arbitrary power that he was impeached of high treason and executed.

--one man of great abilities: LORD LYNDHURST, who was born in Boston, Ma.s.s., May 21, 1772. He was the son of the eminent portrait and historical painter, John Singleton Copley.

68.--a.s.saye (as-si'), a small town in Hindostan, where the Duke of Wellington commenced his career of victory in a battle fought September 23, 1803.

98. LXXIII. Waterloo: (waw'-ter-loo,) battle of, June 18, 1815.

--Vimeira: (ve-ma-e-rah,) a town in Portugal, where the Duke of Wellington defeated the French, August 21, 1808.

--Badajos: (bad-ah-hoce') a town in Spain, taken from the French by the Duke of Wellington, April 6, 1812.

--Salamanca: (sah-lah-mang'-kah) a city in Spain near which the English, under Wellington totally defeated the French, under Marmont and Clusel, July 22, 1812,

--Albuera: (al-boo-a'-rah ) a town in Spain where the British and allies gained a victory over the French, May 16, 1811.

--Toulouse: (too-looz') a city in France, where Wellington defeated the French under Soult, April 10, 1814.

99. LXXIV. FRANCIS WAYLAND, President of Brown University from 1827 until 1856, was born at New York, March 11. 1796. 111. Lx.x.xIII. Edward Everett was born at Dorchester Ma.s.s., April 11, 1794, took his degree at Harvard College in 1811, and was settled over the church in Brattle Street, Boston, in 1813. In 1815, he was appointed Professor of Greek Literature in Harvard College, and he devoted the four succeeding years to study and travel in Europe, with the view to further qualify himself for its duties, which he a.s.sumed in 1819, with those of editor of the "North American Review." Both these positions he held till 1825 when his took his seat in Congress as Representative from Middles.e.x County, which he held for ten years. He was Governor of Ma.s.sachusetts from 1836 until 1840. In 1841 he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James and on his return home in 1846, was elected President of Harvard College, which position he resigned in 1849. He succeeded Mr. Webster as Secretary of State, in 1852, and in 1853 was chosen to the Senate of the United States, but soon resigned on account of ill health. Edward Everett is the most accomplished orator in this country, and he may justly be styled the Cicero of America.

His splendid oration p.r.o.nounced August 26, 1824, at Cambridge, before the Society of Phi Beta Kappa, closing with the beautiful apostrophe to Lafayette, who was present, placed him before the public as one of the greatest and most accomplished orators who had ever appeared in America.

The reputation then achieved by him has been steadily advancing for forty years. On the breaking out of the rebellion, he at once came out boldly in support of the Government and the const.i.tution, and during the struggle thus far, his matchless pen, his eloquent voice, and his great personal influence have been employed, on all proper occasions, in maintaining the cause of his country. Three large octavo volumes of his orations and occasional speeches have been published const.i.tuting a body of eloquence and learning, which has been surpa.s.sed by no other orator in the language.

111--From an oration delivered at Plymouth, on the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims: 22d of December, 1824.

114. Lx.x.xVI. From an oration delivered at b.l.o.o.d.y Brook, in South Deerfield, Ma.s.s., September 30, 1835, in commemoration of the fall of the "Flower of Ess.e.x," at that spot, in King Philip's war, September 18, ( O. S.) 1675.

114. Lx.x.xVI. Mount Hope: a beautiful eminence of Bristol County, R. I., on the west sh.o.r.e of Mount Hope Bay.

118. Lx.x.xVIII. Nevada, (na-vah'-dah): Antilles, (an-teel'): Archipelagoes, (ar-ke-pel'-a-goze).

120 XC. From a eulogy delivered at Boston, September 17, 1850, on the occasion of the inauguration of the statue of Daniel Webster which stands in front of the State House.

121.--Conde (con-da'): Rocroi, (ro-kroi'): Arbela, (ar-bee'-lah).

123. XCII. JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN was born at Nermarket, in the county of Cork, Ireland, July 24, 1750, and died at London, October 14, 1817. His voice was naturally bad, and his articulation so hasty and confused that he went among his school fellows by the name of "Stuttering Jack Curran." His manner was awkward his gesture constrained and meaningless and his whole appearance calculated only to produce laughter, notwithstanding the evidence he gave of superior abilities. All these faults he overcame by severe and patient labor. One of his biographers says,--"His oratorical training was as severe as any Greek ever underwent." Constantly on the watch against bad habits, he practised daily before a gla.s.s, reciting pa.s.sages from Shakespeare, Junius, and the best English orators. He became the most eloquent of all irish advocates, and for more than twenty years he had an unrivalled mastery of the Irish bar. He was member of the Irish House of Commons from 1783 to 1797. In 1806, he was made Master of the Rolls, which office he resigned in 1814.

127 XCV. CHARLES JAMES FOX was born on the 24 th of January, 1749; was educated at Eton College and Oxford University. He was fond of the cla.s.sics and took up Demosthenes as he did the speeches of Lord Chatham. As an orator he was much indebted to the study of the Greek writers, for the simplicity of his tastes, his entire abstinence from everthing like mere ornament, the terseness of his style, the point and stringency of his reasonings, and the all-pervading cast of intellect which distinguishes his speeches even in the most vehement bursts of impa.s.sioned feeling. But his tastes were too exclusively literary. He could discuss Greek metres with Porson, but he had little acquaintance with the foundations of jurisprudence, or the laws of trade; and he always felt the want of an early training in scientific investigation, correspondent to that he re ceived in cla.s.sical literature. He took his seat in Parliament in 1768. He was the first man in the House of Commons, who took the ground of denying the right of Parliament to tax the colonies without their consent, and he went on identifying himself more and more to the end of life with the popular part of the Const.i.tution, and with the cause of free principles throughout the world, aiming always amid all the conflicts of party "to widen the base of freedom,--to infuse and circulate the spirit of liberty."

He made it a point to speak on every question that came up, whether interested in it or not, as a means of exercising and training his faculties, for he was bent on making himself a powerful debater. His love of argument was perhaps the most striking trait of his character, and "he rose," said Mr. Burke, "by slow degrees to be the most brilliant and accomplished debater the world ever saw." There was nothing strained or unnatural in his most vehement bursts of pa.s.sion, "his feeling," says Coleridge, "was all intellect, and his intellect was all feeling." In his language, Mr. Fox studied simplicity, strength, and boldness. "Give me an elegant Latin and a homely Saxon word," says he, "and I will always choose the latter." He died on the 13th September, 1806, and was buried with the highest honors of the nation, in Westminster Abbey.

127. XCV. This extract is from his speech on the rejection of Bonaparte's overtures for peace which was delivered February 3d, 1800 and was considered by most who heard it as the ablest speech he ever made. This selection is a fine ill.u.s.tration of the use of the circ.u.mflex slides.

---Suwarrow: a Russian general. Praga: (prah'-gah).

129. XCVI. Utrecht, (yoo'-trekt): Blenheim, (blen'-hime).

131. XCVIII. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, son of John Adams, the second President, was born at Braintree, Ma.s.s., on the 11th of July, 1767. He took his degree at Harvard College in 1787, a year after his admission, having been prepared for an advanced cla.s.s, in Europe, where he had previously resided for several years. He studied law with Theophilus Parsons. at Newburyport, and commenced practice in 1790. He was a member of the Senate of the United States from 1803 until 1808. In 1806 he was appointed Boylston Professor of Rhetoric in Harvard College, which office he held for three years. In 1810 he was appointed Minister to Russia, where he remained until 1815, when with other Commissioners he negotiated the treaty of peace with England at Ghent, and was appointed Minister to that country in the same year, a post which his father had occupied before him, and which is now so ably filled by his son, Charles Francis. He served as Secretary of State during the administration of Monroe, whom he succeeded in the Presidency. On his retirement from the Chief Magistracy, he was elected to represent his native district in the House of Representatives, until his death, which occurred the 23d of February, 1848. His career as a member of the House was distinguished for his fearless and uncompromising defence of the right of pet.i.tion, and for his bold and effective opposition to the usurpation of the slave power.

133. XCIX. Gracchi: (grak'-ki) two distinguished Romans, sons of Cornelia.

135. CI. JOSEPH WARREN, the first great martyr in the cause of independence, was born at Roxbury, Ma.s.s., June 11th, 1741, and was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. General Warren acted as a volunteer at the battle of Bunker Hill, serving as a private in the ranks in the redoubt having borrowed a musket from a sergeant. When urged against hazarding his life on that day, be replied enthusiastically,--"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."

141. CV. WILLIAM PITT, the younger, was born on the 28th of May, 1759, and was the second son of Lord Chatham. He was educated at Cambridge university, where he continued nearly seven years, devoting his attention mainly to three things; namely, the cla.s.sics, mathematics and the logic of Aristotle applied to the purposes of debate. In early life his whole soul seems to have been absorbed by one idea--that of becoming a distinguished orator. "Multum haud multa," was his motto in most of his studies for life. This language gave direction to most of his reading in English Literature; he had the finest parts of Shakspeare by heart; he read the best historians with great care; he entered Parliament in 1781, and at a single bound when only twenty-two years of age, he placed himself in the foremost rank of English statesmen and orators, at the proudest era of English eloquence. He was made Prime Minis ter at the age of twenty-four, and he continued to fill the first place in the councils of his country during most of the remaining period of his life, which terminated on the 23d of January, 1806, in the 47th year of his age. As a debater in the House, his speeches were logical and argumentative. The strength of his oratory was intrinsic, and his speeches were stamped with the inimitable marks of originality. This extract was taken from a. speech of the abolition of the slavetrade, in the House of Commons, 1792, which is regarded as one of the most brilliant displays of his eloquence.

143. CVI. HORACE MANN was born at Franklin, Ma.s.s. May 1796, and gradu ated at, Brown University, in 1819, with the highest honors. After a successful career as a politician having served in both branches of the Legislature, on the organization of the Board of Education in Ma.s.sachusetts, on the 29th of June, 1837 Mr. Mann was elected its Secretary, which office he continued to fill with great ability, for twelve years. His twelve Annual Reports to the Board of Education probably const.i.tute the most readable and instructive series of educational doc.u.ments which has been produced by one mind in any language. On his retirement from the Secretaryship, he was elected Representative to Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Quincy Adams. Having served in Congress two terms, he again returned to the educational field by accepting the Presidency of Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he died.

144. CVII. DANIEL WEBSTER was born at Salisbury, N. H., on the 18th of January, 1782, and graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1801. His college life was distinguished by a.s.siduous and various studies. He was admitted to the bar in 1805, and commenced the practice of law in his native town, but soon after removed to Portsmouth. He removed to Boston in 1816, and died at Marshfield, Ma.s.s., October, 1852. He was the first orator, the first Jurist, and the first statesman of his generations in America. His most famous forensic per formance, was his argument in the Dartmouth College case. His greatest parliamentary effort was his second speech on Foote's resolution; and his most important diplomatic service was his negotiation of the treaty of Washington, in 1842. His speeches and orations have been published in six volumes, with an admirable memoir, by Mr. Everett.

157. CXVI. This Will: of Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia, providing for the founding of a college for orphans.