The Press. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1903. THE ART OF THE ORATOR.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11752, 28 November 1903, Page 6

The Press. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1903. THE ART OF THE ORATOR.

Among the great natural gifts by which j ■a man may be distinguished above his fellows is that of oratory. To command: " the applause of listening senates," ' to sway the moods and play upon the feelings of great gathei-ings,: to carry conviction to the doubter, and renewed vigour to tlie enthusiast, is a power given to few,- and probably to fewer than waa the case be- j fore the growth of the newspaper press and the spread of education had widened men's minds. Nevertheless the orator ia still a power, and when » speaker possessing the true fire does come to the front, I he wields remarkable, influence. This, it must be admitted, is the ocse with Mr Chamberlain. Twenty years ago he' had no pretension to the art of oratory. Admirable in debate, where his satire and, bitter sarcasm played like lightning round hie opponenta, he was, aa a platform speaker, too cool and hard to be styled an orator. He could sting his audiences to excitement with >his powerful attacks on men and institutions, but he never lifted them above themselves, as did Bright and Gladstone. These two were probably the finest orators that modern England hoe heard. Both were gifted with splendid voices, deep and musical, both were imbued with strong convictions, and spoke from, the heart, and though Bright was not so well educated as Gladstone, he had so clear an appreciation, of the value of words, hie style was so pure and his language so simple, that many hold him, to have been the greater' orator of the•; two. Yet Gladstone'sclajm to suprWaacy'j is great. Of his eloquence - it.'.!"#*'• been | said, as it was eaid of Fox's, that it rolled j in "reaittJesei as. the wave* the | "Atlantic." Great in debate, great in: the exposition of detail, holding the House of Commons entranoed for five "hours 'with j a Budget speech, he was' greatest when, | fired by the inspiration of ft great purpose, he bulled impassioned arguments at some huge mass 'meeting. As Mr' Morley lays,' he then impressed himself upon the kindled throng by the breadth of hUsurvfy of great affairs, of life-and nations, by the depth of his vision, by the power of his stroke.'. " Physical resource had much .to "do with the effeet } his overflowing i "vivacity, the fine voice and flashing eye, "and a whole frame in free, oeaseleas -and 5 " spontaneous motion. So be bore his "hearers through long chains of.' strenuous "periods, calling up by the marvellous '•transformaUojiß of "his. mien* "succession of images—as if he were now "a keen hunter,.now soma eager bird of "prey, now a charioteer of fiery steeds "kept Well in hand, and now and Again "we seemed to hear tie pity or dft& "wrath of a proDhet, with the mighty "rushing wind! and the fire running along "the ground." ..•.'-.,.' • i Mr Chamberlain can never approach such oratory. -YetS he has evidently spanned j the gulf that' separated his earlier' speeches j from those of his great colleagues and of his erstwhile leader, and may .now be classed among English orators. Whether one agrees with present policgror not it is difficult to deny 'iiim the saving quality of sincerity, s-d granting this, oa« can understand how it ia that he so powerfully moves the great gatherings that he ad- J dresses. , Mc k stirred:by!.the Imperial purpose that guided him as Colonial Secretary, and it gives bun the stimulus that was needed to convert effective speaking into oratory. It is evident that he held, his vast audiences at Glasgow and Greenock in the hollow of his hand, he played on ; them as he willed, -now thrilling them with.hie contempt, now drawing tempestuous laughter with his satire, now provok-' ing-their thunderous cheers as he picture j hs» dream of one great self-contained Empire. Whether he was right or wrong in his views his speeches were masterly efforts, worthy of the traditions of English poli- ! tical utterances.

. In these colonies oratory is rarely heard. Mr George Raid seems to be the only public speaker in Australia to whom is given some of the indefinable power that wins tbe rapt attention of great assemblies; Fat, '< ungainly, almost uncouth, be hat no graces of person to attract the eye. But, as a Melbourne clergyman, who heard him address a big meeting, admits, he is a master of elocution. By that means he secures the attention of his audience, and the rest is easy. "Whence or how it came, " about I cannot tell," writes his critic, " but tbe magic of that speech speedily "worked in our midst some charm from \ "which we were powerless to escape.. Soon j *' a great silence reigned,, and friend m»s "foealike were bent forward eagerly listen"ing for every word th*t fell from his lips, i "A man leant over mc «nd whispered. " 'He's got 'em," meaning the crowd. *Qn "'em', be certainly had—-gripped to lam"self by hooka of eloquent word«--end, "what's more, be kept '<—i to the mi.'-' ; As for New Zealand, sine* the death of Sir Qaorga Gray, wa can boast Ot ao

orators worthy the name. He bad some khare of the divine _re„ and under his spell .the stoutest unbeliever forgot for the moment the fallacies of his arguments. Of tho men of to-day Mr Justice Wllliaias is, perhaps, the on_- one whose eloquence touches the borders of oratory, jfor the rest they simply talk, and some of them do not talk too well.