he was the ORATOR OF NATURE; and such a one as Nature might not blush to avow.*

"If the reader shall still demand how he acquired those wonderful powers of speaking which have been assigned to him, we can only answer with Gray, that they were the gift of Heaven - the birthright of genius.

'Thine too, these keys, immortal boy!

This can unlock the gates of joy;

Of horror, that, and thrilling fears,

Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears.'

"It has been said of Mr. Henry, by Mr. John Randolph, of Roanoke, with inimitable felicity, that he was SHAKSPEARE and GARRICK COMBINED!" Let the reader then imagine the wonderful talents of those two men united in the same individual, and transferred from scenes of fiction to the business of real life, and he will have formed some conception of the eloquence of Patrick Henry. In a word, he was one of those perfect prodigies of Nature, of whom very few have been produced since the foundations of the earth were laid; and of him may it be said, as truly as of any one that ever existed:

'He was a man, take him for all in all,

We ne'er shall look upon his like again.'"

For the fullest account of the life and character of Patrick Henry the reader is referred to his admirable biography, by William Wirt. Every one should procure a copy of this beautiful and interesting work. Every American citizen, every lover of his country — should, by all means, read it. No library, public or private, can be considered complete without containing a copy.

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CHAPTER XIV.

FISHER AMES.

Fisher Ames was born on the 9th of April, 1758, at Dedham, Massachusetts. He was the youngest son of Dr. Nathaniel Ames. When but six years old, Fisher commenced the study of Latin. In 1770, at the age of twelve, he was admitted to Harvard College, and graduated in 1774.

After receiving his degree, he devoted considerable time, before entering on his professional course, to the study of English literature. About this time, as he frequently said, he read with avidity bordering on enthusiasm almost every author within his reach. He read works on Greek and Roman antiquities, ancient mythology, natural and civil history. He was passionately fond of poetry - he read the principal English poets, and like Erskine, devoted himself with the greatest ardor to the study of Milton and Shakspeare, committing their most magnificent passages to memory. He studied Virgil with the greatest delight; and, at this time, could repeat considerable portions of the Eclogues, Georgics, and the most beautiful passages of the Æneid.

Several years after graduating, he commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Tudor. In 1781, he began the practice of his profession at Dedham, his native place. In 1788. he was elected to Congress for Suffolk county. During the eight years of Washington's glorious adminis

tration he remained in Congress, displaying such transcendent powers of eloquence as had scarcely ever been witnessed in our young republic.

In the discussion of all the great measures which were brought before Congress during that eventful period, Mr. Ames took a prominent part. On Madison's resolutions

on the British treaty-on the manner in which the public debt was to be disposed of- on the regulations required by commerce on the neutrality to be preserved with regard to France-on the settlement of the difficulties with Spain and Great Britain-on all these and similar important themes, Mr. Ames spoke with persuasive and irresistible power. His speeches on Mr. Madison's resolution and the British treaty claim our particular attention. They afford the best specimens of his style. The latter was the most extraordinary and brilliant effort of his genius. The importance of the subject under consideration, and the strength of the opposition, roused him to the utmost exertion, and called forth a lofty strain of eloquence that has seldom been equaled in parliamentary debate. It is stated that during the delivery of this speech, a crowded house listened with profound attention to the thrilling remarks of the orator; and when, in the conclusion, he alluded in a touching manner" to his own slender and almost broken hold upon life," the audience were moved to tears. As he took his seat, the question was loudly called for; but the opposition dreaded the effects of a speech so hostile to their views, and one of its members moved that the decision of the question be postponed to the ensuing day, lest they should act under the influence of feelings which their calm judgment might condemn.

A similar effect was produced by the eloquence of the immortal Sheridan when he concluded his great speech against Warren Hastings amidst the tumultuous and rapturous applause of the British Senate.

As well might you attempt to stop a mighty river in its course as to withstand the overwhelming force of genuine eloquence. It breaks through every barrier, wins its way to the heart, and leads the hearer a willing captive. Thus have all great orators enchained the hearts, enlisted the attention, and controlled the passions of their hearers. Thus Demosthenes moved the Athenians, and thus Cicero delighted and transported the Roman commonwealth.

The speech on the British treaty was delivered in the House of Representatives, on the 28th of April, 1796, in support of the following motion: Resolved, That it is expedient to pass the laws necessary to carry into effect the treaty lately concluded between the United States and the King of Great Britain.

In this speech we have a powerful passage against surrendering the frontier posts, in which, by a stroke of his imagination, the orator brings before the eye the horrors of Indian warfare:

"If any should maintain that the peace with the Indians will be stable without the posts, to them I will urge another reply. From arguments calculated to produce conviction, I will appeal directly to the hearts of those who hear me, and ask whether it is not already planted there? I resort especially to the convictions of the western gentlemen, whether, supposing no posts and no treaty, the settlers will remain in security? Can they take it upon them to say, that an Indian peace under these circumstances, will prove firm? No sir, it will not be peace, but a sword; it will be no better than a lure to draw victims within the reach of the tomahawk.

On this theme, my emotions are unutterable. If I could find words for them, if my powers bore any proportion to my zeal, I would swell my voice to such a note of remonstrance, it should reach every log-house beyond the mountains I would say to the inhabitants, wake from your

false security. Your cruel dangers, your more cruel apprehensions are soon to be renewed: the wounds, yet unhealed, are to be torn open again. In the day-time your path through the woods will be ambushed. The darkness of midnight will glitter with the blaze of your dwellings. You are a father-the blood of your sons shall fatten your corn-field. You are a mother- the war-whoop shall wake the sleep of the cradle.

"On this subject you need not suspect any deception on your feelings. It is a spectacle of horror which can not be overdrawn. If you have nature in your hearts, they will speak a language compared with which all I have said or can say, will be poor and frigid. Will it be whispered that the treaty has made me a new champion for the protection of the frontiers; it is known that my voice as well as vote has been uniformly given in conformity with the ideas I have expressed. Protection is the right of the frontiers; it is our duty to give it.

"Who will accuse me of wandering out of the subject? Who will say that I exaggerate the tendencies of our measures? Will any one answer by a sneer, that all this is idle preaching? Would any one deny that we are bound, and I would hope to good purpose, by the most solemn sanctions of duty for the vote we give? Are despots alone to be reproached for unfeeling indifference to the tears and blood of their subjects? Are republicans unresponsible? Have the principles on which you ground the reproach upon cabinets and kings no practical influence, no binding force? Are they merely themes of idle declamation, introduced to decorate the morality of a newspaper essay, or to furnish pretty topics of harangue from the windows of that state-house? I trust it is neither too presumptuous nor too late to ask, Can you put the dearest interest of society at risk, without guilt and without remorse? It is vain to offer as an excuse, that public men are not to be