The most eminent orators and statesmen of ancient and modern times; containing sketches of their lives, specimens of their eloquence, and an estimate of their genius

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Preface

In offering the following work to the public, the author would advert to a few of its distinguishing features.

It consists of historical and critical sketches of some of those who have been most eminent both as orators and as statesmen ; including a plain and brief account of the leading events in the public life of each.

To render the volume useful for reference, particular attention has been given to the insertion of dates. The time when the most celebrated speeches were made, is mentioned. This is also true with reference to memorable historical incidents. In furnishing extracts from speeches, as well as in noticing biographical events, strict chronological order has been observed. Such a plan is preferable, as it gives the reader a distinct view of the subject.

Copious extracts are made from the best orations and speeches. In this department the work is very comprehensive. Embracing the most beautiful specimens of the style of each orator, it thus contains some of the finest pasw PREFACE.

sages in English and Ameriean literature. Where can we find, for instance, finer models for study and admiration than in the great speeches of Chatham and Burke ; of Grattan and Erskine ; of Pitt and Fox ; of Henry and Ames ; of Calhoun and Clay ; of Webster and Everett 1

It is to be hoped that the graceful passages in which this volume abounds, may create in the mind of the reader a deeper interest for the study of eloquence. The author fears that this subject has not received the attention which its importance demands. It is certainly true that the best speeches of our greatest orators are not generally read. The principal cause of this neglect is, that most of those highly wrought sentences, which most delight every reader of fine taste, " are often combined with a quantity of matter of temporary interest only — with a mass, in fact, of political, financial, and statistical detail, which the public or parliamentary business of the moment required. Unless the reader has some particular object in view, his mind hesitates to encounter this formidable obstacle to its gratification. The precious gem lies in a heap, it is true, but the labor and perseverance of the diamond seeker can alone arrive at their possession." Now one design" of the author has been to collect those gems of literature, which are specimens of all that is beautiful and sublime in oratory. Without the labor of searching through voluminous collections of speeches, the admirer of eloquence can here turn, at once, to those exquisite passages with which he will love

PREFACE. v

to store his mind.* But still, the man of letters will do well to read w th care the most elaborate speeches of the famous orators. To those who wish to peruse the best speeches of eminent British statesmen, we can unreservedly commend the excellent collection of Professor Chauncey A. Goodrich.

Another important feature of this volume is a delineation of the oratorical character — an analysis of that eloquence whose bewitching strains have enchanted listening senates and popular assemblies. Comments are made on the leading peculiarities of each orator. His forte is generally pointed out, the great secret of his power unfolded, and the charms of his manner described. To aid in the execution of this difficult task, opinions of judicious critics and cotemporary writers have often been cited. Many beautiful sketches of character, drawn by master-hands, are thus embodied in the work. For several of these spirited descriptions, the author is indebted to Mackintosh, Wraxall, Brougham, Wirt, Goodrich, Jenkins, March, and Cleaveland.

Many valuable hints on the art of public speaking are thrown out. These, the student of oratory will do well to regard.

A number of anecdotes are related, making the book amusing as well as instructive.

* Comprehensive Speaker by Henry T. Coates.

n PREFACE

In the notes which are subjoined, will be found notices of other political orators, whose names are not included in the table of contents ; such as Mansfield, Mirabeau, Wilberforce, Hamilton, Hayne, Wirt, Choate, and Kossuth.

It was the original design of the author to embrace in the present collection the most celebrated pulpit orators of France, Great Britain, and America, including some living divines ; but it has been thought best to reserve them for a separate volume of the same size as the present.

In conclusion, the author would state that this work is intended to be a text book for students in our academies and colleges ; one which shall lie on the table of every one engaged in the study of oratory, and be an every-day book of reference for the literary man, the clergyman, the lawyer, and the politician.

David A. Harsh a.

South Argyhs, N. Y.

Chapter I. Demosthenes

" To the famous orators repair, Those ancients, whose resistless eloquence Wielded at will that fierce democracy, Shook the arsenal, and fulmined over Greece To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne." — Milton.

It is pleasant and interesting to contemplate the orators, whose eloquence has instructed, delighted, swayed and astonished thousands. To sketch the lives of a few of them; to draw their character; to exhibit some specimens of their eloquence will be the object of this volume. The history of those " famous orators " whom we design to notice, is full of incidents of extraordinary interest, and over their names is shed a luster which will never grow dim.

Before we contemplate the prince of orators, it will be interesting to advert to the history of ancient Grecian eloquence We shall do this very briefly.

It was not until the later ages of the republic that oratory made its appearance, and assumed its true character. After Greece had adopted the popular forms of government; after Solon had framed a new constitution; after the incomparable poems of Homer had been collected and studied, oratory began to be cultivated, as an art, until it was brought to perfection by Demosthenes. Its duration, however, was but short. The golden age of Grecian eloquence may be said to extend from the era of Solon (about 600 b. '. ), to that of Alexander (b. c. 336). Within this space are to be found the most renowned orators. This has been admirably called the brightest period in the annals of Greece — a glorious day, at the close of which her sun went down in clouds and never rose again in its native splendor.

The history of Grecian oratory presents itself under three different aspects; the first, "in which the statesman was subordinate to the general; the next, in which the general was subordinate to the statesman; and the third, in which the statesman acted independently of the general." Three eras will designate the peculiar character of Grecian eloquence. The first has been called that of Themistocles; the second, that of Pericles; and the third that of Demos thenes.

Themistocles, who flourished about 480 years b. c, was an able general, an accomplished statesman, and a powerful orator. In him predominated the bravery of the hero His ruling passion was a love of military glory. After the battle of Mara,thon, when all Greece was resounding with the fame of the victorious Miltiades, it is said that Themistocles complained to his friends, " The trophies of Miltiades will not suffer me to sleep." Soon afterwards we find him arousing his countrymen by his eloquence, to resist the Persian powers, and, at the memorable battles of Salamis and Plataea, leading the Greeks on to victory He hurled defiance at the Persian throne, and sustained the pillars of government amid the political convulsions of the age. Like Caesar, he spoke with the same force with which he fought. Bold, powerful, and magnificent, his eloquence was the most distinguished of the times in which he lived; and, as an orator and statesman, he acquired over the Athenians unlimited sway

The second period in the history of Grecian eloquence opens with a more magnificent prospect " On hearing the age of Pericles mentioned, a crowd of glorious associations is called up; he who beeomes more profoundly acquainted with it, soon finds that no pure ideal of perfection then existed. To behold the mere citizen of a republic, raising his nation, and by means of his nation all mankind, to a higher position, is a Spectacle which history has never but once been able, under similar circumstances, to repeat, in Lorenzo the Magnificent. Enviable men, around whose brows the unfading laurel twines its verdure ! If fame in succeeding generations, if the grateful remembrance of posterity is no vain felicity, who would not willingly exchange his claims for yours?"* Forty years Pericles governed Athens with great ability. His talents were of the highest order, and his eloquence was of that vehement kind which the human passions can not resist, and which overcomes all opposition. So powerful was the voice of Pericles that the surname of Olympias was given him, for it was said that, like Jupiter, he thundered when he spoke- Over those who had fallen in the first campaign of the Peloponnesian war, Pericles delivered a funeral eulogium, which Thucydides has embodied in his history of this war. Though the speech in Thucydides is doubtless the composition of the historian, yet from it we may judge of the character of political eloquence during that long and exciting conflict.

" This speech, the most remarkable of all the compositions of antiquity — the full transfi: sion of which into a modern language is an impossibility- -exhibits a more complete view of the intellectual power and moral character

* Heeren's Researches on Ancient Greece.

of Pericles, than all that the historian and biographers have said of him. The form in which the great orator and statesman has embodied his lofty conceptions, is beauty chastened and elevated by a noble severity. Athens and the Athenians are the objects which his ambition seeks to immortalize, and the whole world is the theater and the witness of her glorious exploits." Pericles died about 429 years, b. c, two years after the commencement of the Peloponnesian war. The style of eloquence which prevailed in the time of Pericles was fearless, vehement, dignified and sententious. Of the orators of that day, Cicpro says, " Grandes erant verbis, crebri sententiis, compressione rerum breves, et, ob earn ipsam causam, interdum subobscuri."

We come now to notice the third and most glorious period in the history of oratory; a period that will ever be remembered with admiration. Now we see the great Athenian master ascend the bema. Now we hear the thunders of that powerful eloquence which shook Athens, and " fulmined over Greece to Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne." The age of Demosthenes was one in which oratory made its grandest display; an age which produced many eminent public speakers, of whose brilliant genius and talents there still remain splendid monuments. Demosthenes, Isocrates, Lysias, Isaeus, iEschines, and Hyperides, are reckoned among the ten famous Athenian orators who flourished during this, the brightest period of Grecian eloquence.

In the time of Demosthenes, eloquence was studied in a regular and systematic form. Schools of oratory were instituted, and became the resort of those who wished to distinguish themselves in public speaking. Isocrates was one of the most distinguished teachers of eloquence in those days. To him Cicero ascribes the honor of having formed its general character. We may here remark in general, that almost every branch of literature in

Greece, was now putting forth its most beautiful and imperishable blossoms. Athens had become the renowned seat of the arts and sciences — the birth-place of the most distinguished poets, philosophers, historians and artists. Such, in a word, was ancient Greece when eloquence was to break forth in its brightest glory. The author* of a beautiful ske'tch of Ancient and Modern Eloquence observes:

" In tracing the history of Eloquence, we are struck with the remarkable fact, that its earliest annals are also those of its most signal triumphs. In that age of wonders, when Athens burst upon the world in all the splendor of her literature, her arts, and arms, eloquence was born. Like that most beautiful of the mythological fancies, the Goddess of Wisdom, it seems to have sprung at once to perfection, full-armed and glorious. We know, indeed, that Greece abounded in orators before the age of Demosthenes. But the earlier and ruder efforts of the art, like the impassioned talks of our own Aborigines, perished with the occasions that produced them. The eloquence of Pericles, indeed, was of a higher stamp. He seems to have been the first great orator of Greece and the world. But though we are told, and can believe, that ' he thundered and lightened, and shook all Greece,' no authentic specimen of his powers remains.

Of the Athenian orators immediately preceding, and contemporary with Demosthenes, we shall make no mention here, dimmed as they were and ever must be, by his incomparable splendor."

Demosthenes was born at Athens, in the fourth year of the 98th Olympiad, b. c. 385 years. He lost his father, who was a wealthy citizen of Athens, at the early age of seven years. He was now left to the care of his m«,th»»r

* N. Cleaveland, Esq.

b ORATORS AND STATESMEN.

The guardians to whom his father committed the administration of a large property, wasted a great portion of it, thus depriving the youth of the advantages of early education. But there were other obstacles in the way of his literary and oratorical success. From his earliest years, his constitution was feeble, and his health delicate. There was, notwithstanding, a germ in his bosom which the misfortunes of life could not extirpate; a spark of eloquence which was one day to burst forth in splendor. Sixteen years had scarcely passed when an opportunity occurred to excite the young Athenian. The ambition of Demosthenes to become a public speaker was first inflamed while he was attending a trial, in which Callistratus, a celebrated orator, won an important cause. When he saw the success of the orator, and heard the acclamations of the audience, he determined to devote himself forthwith to the careful study of eloquence.

He chose Isseus as his preceptor, and from Plato,* it is said, that he imbibed much of the richness and grandeur with which the writings of that philosopher are adorned.

At the age of seventeen years we find Demosthenes before the public tribunals, arguing his own cause against his faithless guardians. In this contest the young orator came off triumphantly. His orations were crowned with complete success. He next attempted to speak before the people; but, in his first address, was ridiculed and interrupted by the clamors of the audience. His feeble and stammering voice,' his want of breath, his ungraceful gestures, and his confused sentences, rendered it difficult

* Plato was one of the noblest characters of all antiquity. He was the disciple of Socrates and founder of the Acadamy at Athens. Here he instructed a large class of young men in the principles of philosophy. So exceedingly beautiful and magnificent is the style of Plato, that Cicero, when treating of the subject of diction, says, " If Jupiter were to speak in the Greek tongue, he would use the language ot Plato."

for him to be understood, and brought upon him general derision. After one of his unsuccessful attempts at public speaking, he was met, while returning home in the greatest distress, by the actor Satyrus, who requested him to recite some passage from Euripides or Sophocles. Satyrus then repeated the same passage, so correctly, so gracefully, and with such animation, that it appeared to the young student quite different. Demosthenes now saw how far action and enunciation go to form an orator. He also perceived in what his own defects lay, and resolved by the use of all possible means to overcome them. By untiring perseverance he at length accomplished his object, and became the prince of orators. To cure himself of stammering, he spoke with small pebbles in his mouth. It is also related that " he removed the distortion of features, which accompanied his utterance, by watching the movements of his countenance in a mirror; and a naked sword was suspended over his left shoulder while he was declaiming in private, to prevent its rising above the level of the right. That his enunciation might be loud and full of emphasis, he frequently ran up the steepest and most uneven walks, an exercise by which his voice acquired both force and energy; and on the seashore, when the waves were violently agitated, he declaimed aloud, to accustom himself to the noise and tumult of a public assembly. He constructed a subterranean study, where he would often stay for two or three months together, shaving one side of his head, that, in case he should wish to go abroad, the shame of appearing in that condition might keep him within. In this solitary retreat, by the light of his lamp, he copied and recopied, ten times at least, the orations scattered throughout the history of Thucydides, for the purpose of moulding his own style after so pure a model."*

* See an excellent article on Demosthenes in Anthon's Classical Dictionary

We come now to notice, briefly, the political history of Demosthenes. Never had a political orator a wider field for the display of the highest powers of patriotic eloquence, than was opened when Philip of Macedon aimed at the overthrow of Grecian liberty. At the age of twenty-four, this crafty prince ascended the throne of Macedon. His first object was to crush his enemies at home, and enlarge his kingdom abroad. Successful in this he next planned the conquest of Greece. Invited by the Thessalians to side with them against the Phocians, in what is called the Sacred War, he marched his army into Thessaly, vanquished the enemy, and made a bold attempt to seize the famous pass of Thermopylae, the key of Greece. By this movement the Athenians were alarmed; an assembly of the people was convened, to determine the best course to be pursued in order to check his ambitious designs. Amidst the general excitement of the assembly, Demosthenes ascended the bema and delivered his first Philippic. Rising like one inspired, he endeavored, by all the powers of his indignant eloquence, to develop their excitement into action and to lead them to make vigorous War against Philip.

We present the following extracts as the finest specimens of Demosthenes' style. We can gain, however, but a very imperfect idea of his style and manner from a translation. The reader should have recourse to the original. As the orator proceeded in his first Philippic, he broke forth in the following high tone of eloquence:

"When, therefore, 0 my countrymen! when will you exert your vigor? Do you wait till roused by some dire event? till forced by some necessity? What then are we to think of our present condition? To freemen, the disgrace attending on misconduct, is, in my opinion, the most urgent necessity. Or say, is it your sole ambition to wander through the public places, each inquiring of the other, ' What new advices?' Can any thing be more new than that a man of Macedon should conquer the Athenians and give law to Greece! 'Is Philip dead?' 'No; but he is sick.' Pray what is it to you whether Philip is sick or not? Supposing he should die you would raise up another Philip, if you continue thus regardless of your interest?"

"Then as to your own conduct: some wander about, '; crying, Philip hath joined with the Lacedaemonians, and they are concerting the destruction of Thebes. Others assure us that he has sent an embassy to the king of Persia; others, that he is fortifying places in Illyria. Thus we all go about framing our several tales. I do believe, indeed, Athenians ! he is intoxicated with his greatness, and does entertain his imagination with many such visionary prospects, as he sees no power rising to oppose him, and is ■ elated with his success." In the third Philippic, Demosthenes continues in the same high strain:

" All Greece, all the barbarian world, is too narrow for this man's ambition. And though we Greeks see and hear all this we send no embassies to each other; we express no resentment; but into such wretchedness are we sunk, that even to this day, we neglect what our interest and duty demand. Without engaging in associations, or forming confederacies, we look with unconcern upon Philip's growing power, each fondly imagining that the time in which another is destroyed, is so much time gained on him; although no man can be ignorant that, like the regular periodic return of a fever, he is coming upon those who think themselves the most remote from danger."

" And what is the cause of our present passive disposition? For some cause sure there must be, Why the Greeks who have been so zealous heretofore in defence of liberty, are now so prone to slavery. The cause, Athenians ! is that a principle which was formerly fixed in the minds of all, now exists no more; a principle which conquered the opulence of Persia, maintained the freedom of Greece, and triumphed over the powers of sea and land. That principle was an unanimous abhorrence of all those who accepted bribes from princes, that were enemies to tbe liberties of Greece. To be convicted of bribery, was then a crimt altogether unpardonable. Neither orators, nor generals, would then sell for gold the favorable conjunctures which fortune put into their hands. No gold could impair our firm concord at home — our hatred of tyrants and barbarians, But now all things are exposed to sale as in a public market. Corruption has introduced such manners as have proved the bane and destruction of our country. Is a man known to have received foreign money? People envy him. Does he own it? They laugh. Is he convicted in form? They forgive him. So universally has this contagion diffused itself among us."

By the irresistible sway of Demosthenes' eloquence the Athenians were excited to indignation against Philip. To check the progress of the aspiring monarch, they immediately took up arms, and hastened to the spot, where Leonidas and his brave band had poured out their lifebood for the cause of liberty and of Greece. The remembrance of this ancient heroism, doubtless, nerved the arm of Athens' noble sons as they marched against Philip, who, at this time, thought it pi-adent to retire from the pass of Thermopylae. Thus were the liberties of Greece preserved for another, and a fatal blow. The day was not far distant when the hopes of Demosthenes, and other freeborn patriots were to be dashed to. the earth.

While the Athenians were wasting their time in fruitless discussions, the wily prince of Macedon was not idle. Under pretence of attacking the Locrians, he marched his army into Greece, surprised and captured Elatasa, a city of Phocis, not very far distant from Athens. The capture of this important place may be said to have opened to Philip a passage into Attica. On the announcement of this event the Athenians were struck with terror. The scene of dismay and confusion which prevailed at Athens when the news came, is graphically described by Demosthenes in his oration on the crown. We quote his eloquent description here, following Leland's translation:

" Thus successful in confirming the mutual separation of our states, and elevated by these decrees and these replies, Philip now leads his forces forward and seizes Elatsea. You are no strangers to the confusion which this event raised within these walls. Yet permit me to relate some few striking circumstances of our own consternation. It was evening. A courier arrived, and repairing to the presidents of the senate, informed them that Elatsea was taken. In a moment, some started from supper, ran to the public place, drove the traders from their stations, and set fire to their sheds; some sent round to call the generals; others clamored for the trumpeter. Thus was the city one scene of tumult. The next morning, by dawn of day, the presidents summoned the senate. The people were instantly collected, and before any regular authority could convene their assembly, the whole body of citizens had taken their places above. Then the senate entered; the presidents reported their advices, and produced the courier. He repeated his intelligence. The herald then asked in form, ' Who chooses to speak1?' All was silence. The invitation was frequently repeated. Still no man arose; though the generals, though the ordinary speakers were all present; though the voice of Athens then called on some man to speak and save her; for surely the regular and legal proclamation of the herald may be fairly deemed the voice of Athens. If an honest solicitude for the preservation of the state had on this occasion been sufficient to call forth a speaker; then, my countrymen, ye must have all risen and crowded to the gallery, for well I know this honest solicitude had full possession of your hearts. If wealth had obliged a man to speak, the three hundred must have risen. If patriotic zeal and wealth united were the qualification necessary for the speaker, then should we have heard those generous citizens, whose beneficence was ifterward displayed so nobly in the service of the state; tor their beneficence proceeded from this union of wealth and patriotic zeal. But the occasion, the great day, it seems, called, not only for a well-affected and an affluent citizen, but for the man who had traced these affairs to their very source; who had formed the exactest judgment of Philip's motives, of his secret intentions in this his conduct. He who was not perfectly informed of these; he who had not watched the whole progress of his actions with consummate vigilance, however zealously affected to the state, however blessed with wealth, was in no wise better qualified to conceive or to propose the measures which your interests demanded on an occasion so critical. On that day, then, I was the man who stood forth."*

Demosthenes, on this occasion, aroused his countrymen with a burst of eloquence which must have made even the iron will of Philip to falter on the throne of Macedon. It was then that he delivered that exciting oration which

* " Demosthenes gives us a picture of the scene by a few distinct characteristic touches — the presidents starting from their seats in the midst of supper — rushing into the market place — tearing down the booths around it — burning up ^he hurdles even, though the space would not be wanted till the next day — sending for the generals — ciying out for the trumpeter — the council meeting on the morrow at break of day — the people (usually so reluctant to attend) pouring along to the assembly before the council had found a moment'? opportunity to inquire or agree on measures — the entering of the council into the assembly — their announcing the news — their bringing forward the messenger to tell his story. And then the proclamation of the herald, ' Who will gpeaW — the silence of all — the voice of their common country, crying out again through the herald, ' Who will speak for our leliverance?' — all remaining silent — when Demosthenes arose, and suggested measures which caused all these dangers to pass away like a cloud!" — Goodrich.

made the whole assembly cry out with one voice, " To arms! To arms! Lead us against Philip!"

Two thousand years afterwards, the same enthusiasm which then, amid their graceful columns, inspired the excitable Athenians, and filled their spacious amphitheater with a shout that rose to the warm, blue sky of Greece, awoke among sterner men, in a colder climate, and made the plain walls of a church in Virginia echo with a cry as bold and more determined. That was in response to the words of Patrick Henry, the forest-born Demosthenes, when he uttered in tones of thunder those ever memorable words, " I know not what course others may take, but, as for me, give me Liberty, or give me Death!"

It is in the darkest crises of national struggles for independence, amid storms and tempests, that we see the greatest political orators arise, and hear the thunders of their mighty eloquence, shaking thrones and kingdoms to their center. It is then that we hear them exclaim with Patrick Henry, " Whatever others do, I'll fight," and with John Adams, at the solemn crisis of the vote of the 4th of July, 1776, " Independence now, and Independence for ever !"

At the head of an embassy, Demosthenes hastened to Thebes, and persuaded the Thebans to espouse the cause of Athens. So powerful was the effect of his oratory upon them, that, notwithstanding their previous attachment to Philip, they warmly united with the Athenians against the common enemy of Grecian liberty.* At length the crisis

* The strong eloquence of Demosthenes, says an ancient historian, blowing into the souls of the Thebans like an impetuous wind, rekindled there so warm a zeal for their country, and so ardent a passion for liberty, that, banishing from their minds every idea of fear, of prudence, or gratitude, his discourse transported and ravished them like a fit of enthusiasm, and inflamed them solely with the love of true glory. Here we have a proof of the mighty influence which eloquence has over the minds of men, especially when it i»

came. In the year 338 b. c, a battle was fought between the Athenian and Macedonian forces, near Chssronea, a city of Boeotia. The Macedonians were victorious. It is stated that more than a thousand Athenians were left dead upon the field. Demosthenes threw down his arms, and ingloriously fled from the scene of slaughter. This battle proved that he was greater as an orator and statesman than as a soldier; that his courage was political, rather than military.