Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/25

 Edward Dickinson Baker. 17 released without explanation or vindication. The affair at Ball's Bluff was a disastrous defeat of great moral effect at the time. The death of Baker, under the circumstances, tended to magnify the national loss, and added lustre to his memory. He may have been rash and impetuous; his personal bravery was not questioned, but universally con- ceded; the fiery genius of the orator, the enthusiasm and earnestness with which he pressed a solution of every great question, may have led him into risks which a more phleg- matic man would have avoided. As a soldier Baker was brave beyond discretion. That there was mismanagement of the Union forces at Ball's Bluff is the sober judgment of history. While the casualties were not large, measured in numbers, the loss of Baker amounted to a national calam- ity. In the light, therefore, of his tragic death, his work as an orator must be considered. The fame of Robert Emmett rests upon his eloquent de- fense before his sentence ; the occasion, the circumstances, the cause in which he sacrificed his life, all these things make his memorable words immortal. Lincoln was not an orator, and yet his second inaugural address, delivered March 4, 1865, had a permanent influ- ence upon his countrymen, and is justly regarded as an ex- ample of the genius and intellectual greatness of its au- thor. From that time forth the world gave, amoag its ora- tors and statesmen, a high place to Abraham Lincoln. On the 19th of November, 1863, at Gettysburg, Edward Everett delivered his great oration to dedicate the battlefield as a burial place for those who had yielded up their lives in defense of their country. Mr. Lincoln followed him in an address of twenty-seven printed lines, which, for simple eloquence, is not surpassed in the English language. What was it, what is it, that has made Lincoln's address immortal, while that of Everett is scarcely remembered? One was a polished and gifted orator, the other was a simple, earnest and impressive man, burdened with the responsibilities of power and standing in the performance of duty. His words