No matter how gloomy the political outlook might be, or in
what sombre colors he depicted it, this light from the man himself
illuminated his subject and gave encouragement to his hearers. The most
prolonged applause could not disturb a muscle in his countenance, and a
storm of hisses appeared to have as little effect on him. From the first
word to the last, he was master of the platform, and no one dreamed of
contesting his right to it. His gestures were his own, and could not be
imitated, for they were the creation of the moment. There was something
magical in this art of his, and if his wisdom and judgment had only
equalled it, he might have counted among the greatest of men.
Emerson sent one of Webster's orations to Carlyle, and the latter
complained that it was monotonous and lacked the poetic quality of
Demosthenes. This is quite true, but at the same time it may be said
that Webster's speeches, judged simply as literature, have not been
surpassed by five other American writers. The grand roll of his
sentences does not become wearisome to a lover of sound reasoning, and
in the presentation of his subject he has rarely been equalled. An
oration of his is not like a picture hanging on the wall, but rather a
public building which one can walk around and look at from the four
cardinal points. Even his speech on the fugitive-slave bill, for which
he has been so much blamed, contains the best analysis of the slavery
question up to that time which had yet been made.
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