xt70p26pzn4k https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70p26pzn4k/data/mets.xml  1907  books b92-162-29919694 English Publisher, Ben La Bree, Jr., : Louisville, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Speeches, addresses, etc., American.Watterson, Henry, 1840-1921. Young, Bennett Henderson, 1843-1919. Kentucky eloquence past and present  : library of orations, after-dinner speeches, popular and classic lectures, addresses and poetry / editor-in-chief Col. Bennett H. Young ; associate editors, Hon. Henry Waterson [et al] text Kentucky eloquence past and present  : library of orations, after-dinner speeches, popular and classic lectures, addresses and poetry / editor-in-chief Col. Bennett H. Young ; associate editors, Hon. Henry Waterson [et al] 1907 2002 true xt70p26pzn4k section xt70p26pzn4k 



































LI-,a66

 











Kentucky Eloquence


           PAST AND PRESENT


      Library of Orations, After-
      Dinner Speeches, Popular
      and Classic Lectures
      Addresses and Poetry



                  Editor-in -Chief
       COL. BENNETT H. YOUNG


                 Associate Editors



HON. HENRY WAlTERSON
HON. JAMES B McCREARY
      U. S. Senator
HON. HENRY S. BARKER
   Judge Court of Appeal
HON. JAMES H. MULLIGAN
Former Senator and Consui General
COL. REUBEN T. DURRETT
   President Filson Club



PROF. JAMES K. PATTERSON
    President State College
 HON. JOHN MARSHALL
   Former Lieut.-Govetnor
   HON W. S. COX
   Lawyer, Stare Senator
   REV. E. L. POWELL
      Pulpit Orator
   CAPT. W. H. POLK
   Editor and Historian



COL. BEN LA BREE. Managing Editor


         1907



        Publisher
BEN LA BREE, JR., Louisville, Ky.

 






































     Press of the
GCo. C. Fetter Company
     Louisville, Ky.

 










                  FOREWORD.



    With the certainty of financial loss, with sure knowledge of much
labor, and the full expectation of some adverse criticism, the preparation
of this book was undertaken. The hope that, as a son of my beloved State,
I might add one leaf to her crown of glory is ample compensation for all
that is involved in such a task.
    Kentucky's sons and daughters have not dared, fought, struggled, toiled,
or lived in vain. A distinctive character has been evolved; a superb model
of womanhood and manhood has been created, and the name "Kentuckian"
ever carries with it, in all the known world, a peculiarly fascinating and
unique distinction. Like the sun, it may here and there have a spot, but
these only bring out the effulgence and splendor of the undimmed surface.
    Ignoring the unparalleled difficulties, moved by an unmeasurable
courage, prompted by a spirit of adventure, and quickened by a love of
conquest, the pioneer people of Kentucky marched over the Alleghany
mountains into the wonderlands of the most attractive hunting grounds
ever discovered by man, and planted themselves, unbidden and unwelcomed,
amid the preserves of the savages, who, startled by this unexpected and
daring invasion, lost no time in boldly defending this aggression, or
punishing this defiance of their hereditary rights.
    Hitherto immigration had either crossed the ocean and, with it as a
base, spread inland, or, by slow degrees, moved by measured tread and
ever-expanding lines into the wilderness or pre-empted lands, forcing back
by progressive steps all the hindrances the red man or his God might
erect to stay its advance.
   In the settlement of Kentucky, a new law of conquest was to be
promulgated, and new methods of subjection were to be invoked, and
the log cabins and wooden forts of Boonesboro, Harrod's Fort, Louisville,
Lexington, Bryant's Station, Shelbyville, Elizabethtown and Ruddle's Mill
were to proclaim that the bravest men and women God ever made were
to be found in the far distant wilderness, the new Commonwealth called
"Kaintuckee." Marching, fighting, settling under new surroundings and
in violation of all precedents, it necessarily followed that a new character
was to be evolved.
   Providence examined its molds. No such individuality had hitherto
appeared in the records of the past, and the hour had come when the
world needed a new type of men. The Virginia cavalier, with his superb
gallantry, ennobled by his lofty, gentlemanly instincts, could not meet
the requirements. The Pennsylvania settler, with his indomitable patience

 








and unfailing courage, fell short of the demands, and the sturdy Scotch-
Irishman of North Carolina, with his unquenchable love of freedom, backed
by his superb bravery and uplifted by his abiding faith in God, was not
equal to what the time and circumstances exacted of the men who should
undertake the seemingly impossible task of expelling the wandering claim-
ants of Kentucky.
   These Kentucky pioneers were to conquer a land four hundred miles
away from help or succor. It was an untrodden forest, with no ioads or
raths except such as the buffalo in his migrations had trampled through
the canebrake, or beasts of prey had traced in their search for food. It
had no permanent human inhabitants, and its defense was by common
consent imposed upon the savage red men, who claimed as their lands that
vast country which stretches from the great lakes in the Northwest to the
waters of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi rivers,
covering an area of over 300,000 square miles. No survey had marked
its lines; he who traversed the solitude and depths of the forests must rely
upon the stars, or Nature's marks upon the trees as his guide. All supplies
must be carried on the pack-horses or by men; powder and lead were
to be transported over six hundred miles; not a single blade of wheat or
stalk of corn as yet had sprung from its virgin and fertile soil. He who
entered its domain must always be prepared to meet an alert, savage, brave
and merciless foe. The cooing of the babe, the wail of the defenseless
women, or the appeal of the helpless prisoner, found no sympathy or
response in the foe who defended the land. Death by the tomahawk or
at the stake was the punishment the Indian meted out to those who
invaded his beloved hunting ground. As he asked and expected no quarter
for himself, he gave none to his white foe. By day and by night, the
merciless warfare was waged. The coming of the morning sun only
quickened and vitalized anew his barbarous plans, and its departure at night
only gave time for more relentless resolves to drive out the intruders.
   Here arose conditions where the great law of Nature, the "survival of
the fittest," was to find its most difficult application and to meet its most
perplexing trial. Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina were all laid
under tribute and forth from these three warlike colonies came these new
men of the hour. Between these newcomers there was no pre-arrangement.
The sublimest courage, completest patience, almost iron hearts and iron
bodies were needed in this new experimental station of liberty, and the
men and women who responded to the call "over the mountains" were
simply heaven's agents sent to win "GOD'S COUNTRY."
  Defiant of death, without fear in their hearts, they came as the best the
new world could give for the greatest task ever imposed upon a like number
of people. "He who, watching over Israel, slumbers not nor sleeps," chose
his best agents for this most difficult work; and, the story of the Kentucky
pioneer, radiantly bright, ever gleaming on the pages of the world's history,



8



FORE:WORD.

 






                             FORE WORD.                            9

tells us that God judged wisely in the men He sent to the canebrakes and
forests of the "dark and bloody ground" to carve out a new State, the
characteristics of whose people were to touch and stamp a nation's life
and to create qualities and furnish examples which, in the conquest of
the mighty West, were to exercise an incalculable and perpetual influence.
Such people called to such a destiny were bound to create new forms of
speech. The extraordinary duties devolving upon these hunting-shirted
heroes were to arouse emotions hitherto unknown and, while dealing with
problems hitherto unsolved, were to call for expressions, methods and
forms of speech hitherto unspoken and yet unthought.
   Under the shade of the mighty forests, alongside streams which, in
magnitude and currents, added a new majesty to Nature's works; down
by the log fort, consecrated by unsurpassed danger and heroism; by the
graves of wives and children, an account of whose tragic and awful sacrifices
were carved with the hunting knife in the bark of the friendly monarchs
of the wood which stood in memorial of the dust of the beloved dead,
Kentucky Eloquence had its birth, and from these sent its echoes into other
lands.
  Todd, Trigg, l3oone, Harrod, McAfee, Blythe, Slaughter, Jouett, Hen-
derson, Floyd were followed by a host of others like Clay, the Breckin-
ridges, Menefee, Gnindy, Daviess, Sharp, Allen, Crittenden, Combs, Shelby,
Barry, Hardin, Bell, Magoffin, VanWinkle, Preston, Wickliffe, Hanson,
Woolley, Letcher, Trabue, Clarke, Marshall, Robertson, Sanders, Davis,
Wadsworth, Bright, Johnson, Blair, Corwin, Pope, Woodson and hundreds
of others whose glowing and eloquent words have thrilled the souls of
thousands of men and left a lasting impress upon the lives of millions of
their fellow countrymen. No book of five hundred pages can contain a
tithe of what these wonderful orators have said or written.
   There will be absent from the pages of this volume names and thoughts
for which Kentuckians will naturally look in such a work. Bascom,
Kavanaugh, Spalding, J. F. Bell, Hise, Holley, John C. Young, Smith,
Houston and many other names will spring instinctively into the mind,
and the query will arise, Why were they not included in its pages The
answer is that the indifference of friends upon whom calls were made,
the difficulty of finding their written or printed productions and the limited
space of one volume, all served to make it impossible to include them.
   Some will wonder why other speeches are inserted at all. Every
prominent man in Kentucky who has won any fame as a speaker has
been asked for a contribution, and many have declared that they were too
busy to revise; others failed to forward manuscript, and many have
confessed they had no record of their best efforts.
   All the money in Kentucky could not buy a page in this book; offer
after offer of money for space has been declined. Friendship here and
there may have left its mark and secured space for articles of moderate

 








merit, but dollars could not buy a single line. This is the first effort to
put into one volume the best things spoken or written by the men of
Kentucky. If it shall incite new love for the Commonwealth, awaken
higher purpose or nobler ambition in the hearts of her sons, or add one
single jewel to the crown of her manhood or womanhood, or create a
profounder devotion for her people and their history, or arouse a deeper
and truer pride in the achievements of her offspring, no sacrifice or labor
bestowed upon the work will ever cause a single regret.
   Those who have been associated with me in this work have been
generous and helpful, but upon Mr. Ben LaBree the chief labor has fallen.
We all love Kentucky with a love that can glow in a Kentucky heart only;
and it has been our dearest hope that these thoughts of the living and
the dead will make those who follow better and nobler Kentuckians and
more patriotic Americans.
   The Romans of old placed in the familiar places about their homes
the busts of those who had performed the greatest services to the republic,
seeking to familiarize the young with the features and achievements of
their national heroes. Those who have made this book seek through the
eloquent, beautiful and well-chosen words of dead or living sons of
Kentucky to give the grandest impulse and sublimest quickenings for the
duties, responsibilities and obligations of those who may hereafter guide,
govern and control the destinies of our beloved Commonwealth.
                                       BENNETT H. YOUNG,
                                                    Editor-in-Chief.
Louisville, Ky., December 15, 1906.



10



FORE WORD.



 












                     CONTENTS.



           SPEECHES. ORATIONS. LECTURES. POETRY.


                                                               PAGE
ALLEN, JOHN R.
     A Tribute to Col. W. C. P. Breckinridge ......................... 17
BAGBY, EMMErr W.
     On the Death of President McKinley ............................. 23
BAKER, HERSCHEL C.
     Masonry ................    ....................................... 28
BABBY, WILLIAM T. (1785-1835)
     Bank of the United States ....................................... 33
BARTHOLOMEW, WILLIAM H.
     Louisville, Ky., Girls' High School ............................... 38
BECKNER, WILLIAM MORGAN
     Popular Education .............................................. 41
BIcSTAFF, THOMAS J.
     How Far Since the Oceam Streams Have Swept Us from the Land
         of Dreams .................................................. 47
BLACK, JAMES D.
     Be True to Self; Have Faith in Self; Happiness Is the Essence
         of Succes ................................................... 49
BLACKBURN, JOSEPH C. S.
     John  C. Breckinridge  ........     ..................................  57
BRADLEY, WILLIAM 0.
     As We Are United In Life and They Are United in Death, Let One
         Monument Perpetuate Their Deeds, Etc ..................... 63
     Old Kentucky Home .................                        423
BRECKENRIDGE, JOHN (1760-1806)
     The Louisiana Treaty ........................................... 67
BRECKINRIDGE, JOHN C. (1821-1875)
     Removal of the United States Senate ............................ 72
BIREcxINRIGE, WILLIAM C. P. (1837-1904)
     Who Were the Confederate Dead ............................... 76
BRONsTON, CHARLES J.
     The Rights of the People to Vote on the Question of State Cap-
         itol Location ............................................... 85
BROWDER, WILBUR F.
     Happy Is the Nation Whose Kings Are Philosophers and Whose
         Philosophers Are Kings ..................................... 90
BROWN, JOHN YOUNG     (1835-1904)
     Andrew Jackson-Constltutional Government and the Tariff.. ... 97

 












                                                                 PAGE
BURNAM, CURTIS F.
     All Honor to the Laird of Skibo Castle .......................... 427

BURTON, RT. REV. LEWIS WILLIAM
     What the Sun Is to the Vegetable Kingdom and Through That
         Kingdom Is to Us .......................................... 102

CARUTH, ASHER GRAHAM
     General Parliamentary Law ..................................... 108

CLAY, CASSIUS MARCELLUS (1810-1903)
     The Man Died, but His Memory Lives ........................... 113

CLAY, HENRY (1777-1852)
     Dictators In American Politics .................................. 117

CLAY, WILLIAM ROGERS
     Fifteen Minutes Outlook ........................................ 122

COCHIRAN, ANDREW M. J.
     Not to Think of Himself More Highly than He Ought to Think .... 126

CRITTENDEN, JOHN J. (1787-1863)
     George Washington ........        .................................... 130
DEARING, WILLIAM GRAHAM
     The True Hero .............................................. . 136

DEBOE, WILLIAM J.
     Nicaragua  Canal  .........    ......................................  139

DUKE, BASHL W.
     Governor Luke Blackburn ....................................... 145
DuRELLE, GEORGE
     McKinley  .............    .........................................  151

DL5RETT, THOMAS REUBEN
     What a Century Has Accomplished in Kentucky ................. 153

EATON, REV. THOMAS T., D. D., LL. D.
     Let Your Light So Shine Before Men, that They May See Your
         Good Works, and Glorlfy Your Father Which 13 In Heaven .... 160
EMBRY, WILLIAM REED
     The Men Who Fought and the Women Who Waited .............. 165
FROST, WILLIAM GOOIIELL
     Who Is the Greatest in the College World ..................... 171
GARNER, JoiN E.
     Oh! Wad Some Power the Giftie Cie Us To See Oursel's As
         Ithers See Us .............................................. 174

GILBERT, GEOG-lE G.
     Answers to Criticisms on Kentucky .....       ........................ 178

GOEBEL, WILLIAM (1856-1900)
     The Democratic Party and Its Relation to the Trusts; The Ken-
         tucky Election Law; The School Book Trust ...... . .......... 433
GRASSHAM, C. C.
     Presenting Governor Beekham .................................. 183



12



CONTENTS.

 









                           CONTENTS.                              1s

                                                                 rAGE
GurTalE, JAMES    (1792-1869)
      The Restriction of Representation of Cities, and a Defense of the
         Louisville Legion ..      ........................................ 186

HAGER, JoHN F.
     Lock and Dam No. 1 ........................................... 191
HAsDiN, BENJAMIN (1784-1852)
     The Wilkinson and Murdagh Case ............................... 193

HARDIN, BEN LEE
     Mother Eve ...........     ........................................ 202

HARLAN, JOHN MARSHALL
     The United States Supreme Court ............................... 205

HAZELRIGG, JAMES HEaVY
      All Honor, Then, to the Old South! The Old Dixie! The Wartime
         Land of Cinnamon Seed and Sandy Bottom! ................. 209

HUMP'rxEY, EDWARD W. C.
     Robert E. Lee .................................................. 211
JOHNSON, RICHARD M. (1781-1850)
     A Just Compensation to the Members of the Senate and House of
         Representatives .     ............................................ 219
KNOTT, JAMES PROCTOR
     The Glories of Duluth .......................................... 224
LINDSAY, WILLIAM
     The Past and Future of Kentucky .............................. 231
MARSHALL, THOMAS FRANCIS     (1801-1864)
     Life and Character of Richard H. Menefee ...................... 236
MOCREARY, JAMES BENNETT
     Life and Character of U. S. Senator James B Beck .............. 431
MOCREERY, THOMAS CLAY     (1817-1890)
     Arlington Should Be Restored to the Lees ....................... 243
McDERMOTT, EDWARD J.
     Commercial and Political Problems from a Southern Standpoint.. 247
MCGARVEY, REV. JOHN WILLIAM
     A Neglected Witness ............................................ 253
MECHACr, CHARLES MAYFIELD
     The Town and City ............................................. 258
MENEFEE, RICTIARD HICKMfiAN (1809-1841)
     The Maine Boundary Question ......          ........................... 263
MERRILL, CASSIUS E.
     A Medley of Memories .......................................... 268
METCALFE, TisoMAs    (1780-1855)
     The Confederated Republic, State Rights and Protection to Na-
         tional Industries and to Occupant Farmers .................. 274
MILLER, REIJBEN A.
     The Family Doctor ............................................. 279

 










14                         CONTENTS.

                                                                 PAGE
MILLER, RICHARD W. (1869-1906)
     The Sun Shines Bright in the Old Kentucky Home .............. 282

MILLIGAN, ALEXANDEB REED
     Margaret McDaniel Woolley ..................................... 286

MOREIIEAD, JAMES TURNER    (1797-1854)
     Daniel Boone .   ................................................. 289

MoRRow, THOMAS Z.
     Memorial Day .   ................................................. 294

MULLIGAN, JAMES H.
     Nominating Hon. John G. Carlisle for the United States Senator-
         ship.............................................        301

MULLINS, REV. EDGAR YoUNG, D. D., LL. D.
     Greek and Modern Ideals In Education .......................... 305

OWENS, WILLIAM C.
     Our President .............................................. 313

PERRY, R. R.
     The Little Bronze Button ....................................... 315

POPE, JoHN   (1770-1845)
     The Occupation of West Florida ................................. 318

POWELL, REV. EDWARD LINDSAY, D. D.
     Paul Before Agrippa ............................................ 323

POWERS, JOSHUA D.
     Patriotic Spirit of Bankers .................................... 329

PRESTON, WIL.LIAM (1806-1887)
     Rights of Suffrage to Foreigners and a Defense of the Roman
         Catholic Church ...........    ....................... 333

PROCTER, BENJAMIN F.
     Dr. Leslie Waggener..................                       338

REYNOLDS, DUDLEY S.
     Growth of Medical Education ................................... 343

RIIOAns, D. BAKER
     The Blue and the Gray ......................................... 348

RoBImsoN, REV. STUART, D. D. (1814-1881)
     The Gospel Adapted to the Conscious Wants of the Human Soul-
         Its Arguments, Terms and Agencies ......................... 353

SAUJFLEY, MICAH CIIRlsMAN
     Battle of Perryville ............................................. 362

SHIERLEY, SWAGER
     The South of To-day ............................................ 368

SMITH, ZACHARY F.
     Mother of Henry Clay ........................................... 373

 









                           CONTENTS.                             16

                                                                PAGE
THUM, WILLIAM WARWICK
     A Lawyer's Opportunity............................         376

WALSH, THOMAS
     The Music of Poetry............................            401

WATTERSON, HENRY
     Abraham Lincoln .............................................. 379
     Once a Kentuckian, Always a Kentuckian .391

WEISSINGER, HARRY
     Your Dead Are Ours, and Our Dead Are Yours .396

WICKLIFFE, CHARLES A. (1788-1869)
     My Political Inconsistency .402

YEAMAN, REv. MARION V. P.
     But the Lord Was Not in the Earthquake; and After the Earth-
         quake a Fire; and After the Fire a Still Small Voice .       407
YOUNG, BENNETT H.
     Kentuckians at the Battle of the River Raisin .411
     Tribute to Winnie Davis .419






                            POEMS.


BUTLER, GENERAL WILLIAM ORLANDO (1791-1880)
     The Boatman's Horn .440
CAPPLEMAN, JosrE FRAZEE
     Where Do the Kisses Grow .441

CAWVEIN, MADISON
     A Twilight Moth .443

CosBY, FORTUNATUS, JR. (1802-1861)
     Fireside Fancies .444

CROCKETT, INGRAM
     At Yuletide .446
DAVIE, GEORGE M. (1848-1900)
     The City of Gold .448

DUKE, GENERAL BASIL W.
     Song of the Raid .450
DuasExr, REUBEN TIOMAS
     The Old Year and the New in the Coliseum at Rome .452

GALLAGH1ER, WILIIAM DAVIS (1808-1894)
     The Mothers of the West .465

HAIT, JOEL T. (1810-1877)
     Invocation to the Coliseum at Rome .456

HAYS, WILL S.
     The Last Hail.                                             458



 




















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                 JOHN R. ALLEN.

    [John R. Allen, Lawyer, Lexington, Ky., was born in Keokuk, Iowa,
December 25, 1856, has held the following public offices, City Attorney,
Lexington; County Attorney, Fayette county; Master Commissioner Fayette
Circuit Court; now Commonwealth Attorney Twenty-second Kentucky
Judicial District; Professor Constitutional Law and Law of Evidence Ken-
tucky University Law College.]

         A TRIBUTE TO COL. W. C. P. BRECKINRIDGE.
    A speech delivered at the Breckinridge memorial meeting of the Fay-
ette county bar at Lexington, Ky., November 22, 1904.

   The most eminent member of this bar, the most gifted man whom
I have ever met, and one of the most brilliant in America, is dead. Either
as a thinker, statesman, lawyer, writer or orator, he has had few equals
in the history of our country; and as a combination of all these pro-
fessions, he has no superior. The sum total of his mental endowments
was marvelous. With a memory astonishing in its breadth, accuracy,
depth and tenacity, he never forgot anything once acquired, and he
absorbed everything that came within the circle of his mentality, with
the rapidity and suction that the whirlpool draws in whatever floats in
the current of the stream. What he read became on first reading his
own possession; and he read deeply and widely in the history, govern-
ment and literature of all countries, and particularly was he proficient
and accurate in his knowledge of all the riches of wisdom and beauty in
that wonderful compilation of Hebrew literature, the Bible. Not only
did he gather in his mind the choicest fruits of learning and erudition, but
'-found tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones"
-everything in nature and in man was a source of knowledge to him
which he never forgot. From the vast storehouse of these mental treasures
he could draw at will for facts or thoughts to corroborate, strengthen,
illustrate or prove whatever position he took or theory he advocated.
Gifted with a glowing, fervid imagination that wove into the woof of
every thought and expression a rich and gorgeous coloring, his theme,
whether in spoken word or written sentence, was at once always elevated
from the realm of commonplace and became imposing and magnificent.
   But the strength of his memory, the sweep of his imagination, was
not greater than the accuracy and good sense of his judgment, and the
almost prophetic sureness of his foresight. Ordinarily we are not apt
to associate power of memory and imaginative gift with depth of thought
and logical and analytical qualities of the highest order, but in this man
these varied qualities were united to an unusual degree, and, amid the
flowery and brilliant word-pictures he painted could always be seen the
substantial fabric of a close, cogent and logical argument that appeared
to the reason as forcibly as the rich coloring and fervid eloquence did
to the heart and imagination.
   The sweep of his mind was broad, comprehensive and philosophic;
on every subject he thought, spoke or wrote about, his mental vision

 






18TKENTUCKY ELOQUENCE.



took in, and he found and showed its origin and history-its present
meaning and force, and then, with the rapt eyes of the seer, he foresaw
and proclaimed its tendency and to what it would lead in the future. So
that whatever trifling event engaged his pen, on whatever occasion he
spoke, whether in the halls of Congress, on the stump, at the bar, the
banquet, funeral, school exercise or after-dinner, you could find no plati-
tudes in his articles or speeches, but something forceful and virile, full
of thought and philosophy. No matter when or where he gave utterance,
no matter how many distinguished persons wrote on the same theme
or how many distinguished orators spoke on the same occasion, his
speech was always the best. It stood out distinctive and different from
the others, unique and potent in its originality. A common expression,
which you all have heard in coming from any place where he and others
spoke, was: "Well, old Billy laid it over all of them." With these rich
and varied gifts, it is small wonder that as a writer he was unsurpassed.
Perfect in composition and expression, clear and luminous in statement,
thoughtful and philosophic in the treatment of every subject, his editorials
were not only forcible and trenchant criticisms on current events, but
masterpieces, of English style. Composed amid the hurry and rush of a
busy professional life, dictated at odd moments to a stenographer, or fre-
quently written by himself on the typewriter, after a hard day's work in
court or in his office, they have the finish of papers prepared with infinite
care and patience, re-written and revised until perfection in diction and
expression was attained.
    In all, one will constantly find inestimable maxims of moral and
political wisdom; grave, dignified discussion of public questions; tremen-
dous invectives against fraud and corruption; appeals to the heart and
conscience of the people for a loftier civilization and higher ideals;
magnificent outbursts of scornful indignation against those whom he
deemed unworthy in public life, or who, in his opinion, by insidious or
corrupt practices, were undermining our national, State, county and city
honor.  In them  he constantly appealed for free and fair elections; a
pure, undefiled ballot; for civic honesty; for a broader and more liberal
education of the people; for unrestricted and untrammeled commerce for
the nation; for better roads in the country; cleaner streets, better sewerage,
public play grounds and public parks in the city-in fact, in every move-
ment for the betterment of the people, riorally or physically, for the
beautifying or development of the county or city, his editorials were a
potent and inspiring force.
    The vigor and brilliancy of his articles were not only recognized at
r nme, but highly esteemed throughout the whole country; constantly
quoted and frequently reproduced at length in the famous metropolitan
papers. If he could have had charge of the editorial columns of one
of these great journals and been free to exercise his great talents along
these lines, what a tremendous power he would have exercised throughout
the nation, and how soon his fame would have rivaled, if not eclipsed, that
of Thurlow Weed, Henry J. Raymond, Horace Greeley, George D.
Prentice or any of the great editors this country has produced.
   As a lawver. he was learned and profound, a consummate master
of the elementary principles of the common law, and thoroughly familiar
with the cases.  As a "nisi-priu-" practitioner, he had no superior in
the State and hardly an equal. When he devoted himself, after the
war, to the practice in this city, the bar of Lexington ranked higher and



18

 






JOHN R. ALLEN.



contained in its lists of members more men of commanding talents and
eminent ability than any bar in the South. Truly, "there were giants in
those days." What a superb galaxy of great intellects-Madison C.
Johnson, John B. Huston, Richard A. Rucker, James 0. Harrison, James
13. Beck, Frank Hunt, the two Kinkeads, John C. Breckinridge. In this
distinguished company he quickly and easily took and maintained a com-
manding position. No one of them possessed a stronger intellect, more
native resources, or a mental vision that saw quicker or more deeply into
whatever was intricate. Notwithstanding the quickness of his intellect
and his familiarity with legal principles and practice, he did not trust
alone to those in the conduct of his cases, but patiently and thoroughly
prepared himself in each one, and, when he went into trial, was armed
cap-a-pie, both as to the law and facts. Quick, alert and resourceful, no
matter into what aspect a case drifted during the trial, what unexpected
phases developed, or what unfortunate turn the testimony or law took,
he instantly adapted, with infinite skill and adroitness, his attack or
defense to meet it. Like a cat, he would not be thrown and in every fall
lit upon his feet ready for another conflict. He was never defeated in
any cause until a court of last resort had finally decided against him.
These qualities, combined with supreme tact, a winning personality and
his magnetic eloquence and persuasiveness as an advocate, made him well
nigh invincible in the court house.
   But it was as an orator that his gifts and superb mental endowments
were exhibited in their full luster. In this sphere he was incomparable.
Either in impromptu speeches or prepared addresses, his thought and
argument were logical and convincing, his diction chaste and perfect, his
powers of statement clear and luminous, his illustrations copious and apt
and all adorned with a splendor of imagery, fervor of feeling, and a
music of rhetoric that was thrilling and entrancing. With his white flowing
locks, his bright gleaming eyes, the clear, bell-like tones of his silvern
voice, his few, but appropriate, gestures, Breckinridge was the incarnation
ot eloquence.
   When Mr. Carlisle made his famous speech at the Opera House in
Lexington on the money question, during the campaign of 1896, before
a magnificent audience that crowded the house from pit to dome, for
two solid hours he held the attention of his hearers by his forceful,
unanswerable logic, his clear, cold analysis.