Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 19.pdf/421

 390

THE GREEN BAG

begun to win fame as an orator, and few "court day" crowds ever left Versailles without first having had the pleasure of listening to a speech from "Tom" Marshall. It was the custom in those days to form in crowds about the court-house and be addressed by the best speakers of the town. In anticipation of these events, Marshall, it is said, would carefully prepare a speech, and when called on would electrify the mul titude by a brilliant and finished effort. These early marks of esteem and admiration by the people fanned in his breast the flames of ambition and that yearning for distinction in public life which proved to be a drawback to him in many respects. He was too independent in his views and above all in his votes to be a successful poli tician, and many bitter animosities were engendered that would never have sprung into existence had he confined himself to the practice of his profession. Yet, while the consequences to him were in a measure disastrous, we of to-day can find little in his life to regret aside from the unfortunate (and with him it was unfortu nate) habit of intemperance which he had been led to form, no doubt, by the custom then in vogue of serving wine at the table, and by the sentiment which did not recog nize a teetotaler as a perfect gentleman. But this fault did not detract from his mental vigor. His speeches are models of eloquence, learning, and logic. His eulogy of the life and character of Richard H. Menefee, a brilliant genius who died "too soon," is in all probability the greatest, truest, and most eloquent memorial oration ever spoken by human lips. The language is classic in its purity and won derful in its simple beauty and expressive ness. He could express more in a phrase than many another could in a volume. His portrayal of the character of Menefee is said to have been perfect as was indeed to be expected, coming from such a master. The speech was delivered on the occasion of Menefee's death, before the Law Society

of Transylvania University, at Morrison Chapel, Lexington, Ky., a short time before Marshall left for Washington to take his seat in the Twenty -seventh Congress to which he had been elected without opposition from the famous Ashland District. On July 6, 1841, he delivered a speech on the land bill granting preemption rights which John Quincy Adams pronounced to be the finest he had ever heard on the subject, which, after having just listened to Clay's great speech in the Senate on the same bill, is no small eulogium. Adams did not probably enjoy so well the speech against himself, though he is nevertheless quoted as saying that it combined the elo quence of Sheridan and of Burke, a compli ment as true as it was manly. One has only to consult the diary of the great president to learn the regard in which he held Mar shall. Such sentences as "Marshall followed for an hour in a speech of incomparable elo quence," etc., occur very frequently despite the fact that Adams conferred praise very discriminatingly, and was not, moreover, a warm personal friend of Marshall. But he was a man of learning and culture, and could fully appreciate the taste and classic eloquence of the Kentuckian. While in Congress, Marshall became a friend of Mr. Briggs of Massachusetts, after ward for many years a governor of that state. Briggs was the president of a tem perance society which he had little diffi culty in inducing Marshall to join. Once a member, he was active in his support of the cause and delivered many beautiful speeches on the subject in the various cities of the country, notably New York, Louisville, and Washington. They were distributed in the form of bound pamphlets all over the East. These speeches spoken, many of them, on consecutive days, were in a manner at once entertaining and instructive. Some of them, indeed, contain as fine passages as are to be found in our language. In one of them, for instance, he portrayed the effects of the cruel articles written about him upon the