Political Orators.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14211, 28 May 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

Political Orators.

HOAV THEY PREPARE THEIR SPEECHES. ■ "When we read that tho Prime Minister or _ Mr' Balfour has delivered speeches m a single Session of Parliament aggregating something like threequarters of a million words, one cannot help speculating how it is possible to hud the necessary time to prepare such floods of oratory, especially when wp consider that many of the speeches are so lengthy, elnhorate, and complex that the incubation of them must have occupied days. Jt is said that John Bright never made a speech of importance without previously committing every word of it to writing, and rehearsing and rehearsing; it until he was absolutely letter-perfect. It is doubtful, however, whether, in these more strenuous days, any statesman has either the time or inclination to indulge in such elaborate preparation even of Ins most imuortaiit speeches. Mr Balfour, who in his oarlv Parliamentary days was a halting and diffident speaker, has so vastly improved by his long years of practice, that, it is snid, he spends less time than almost any other member of Parliament in preparing his speeches. Mr Lloyd George is one of those fortunate men who are able to compose a speech under almost any • conceivable conditions. During a railway journey while motoring at twenty miles an hour, or walking along the crowded London streets, he has composed hundreds of speeches which have taken the world by storm—a keen intelligence, an amazing memory, and a singular power of language malting any more formal preparation unnecessary. Mr John Burns is almost equally happy. "I haven't really sat down to compose a speech for years," lie said a few days ago. "Any place or time is good enough for me." On the top of a tram or omnibus, walking to the * House, or while a debute is in progress, as an idea occurs to him he produces it slip of paper and a pencil and puts it down. A linal glance over his notes and he is ready to reel off facts, statistics, and arguments in unbroken and masterly order for an hour or more. Mr "Winston Churchill declares that most of his speeches are prepared while motoring. The speed and the exhilaration are just the insoiration his highlynervous disposition requires, while many of his happiest efforts have heen made in the House on the sour of the moment and without, any preparation. "T can't sit down formally to prepare a speech." he says. "T made rough notes of what I want to «iv. and for /the rest f:ust to the inspiration of the moment. : ' Mr .Hirrell, like the student he is, is more careful in his methods, and many of his most finished efforts are inspired by the midnight oil. But he. too, can prepare his sneeches under conditions that most men would find impossible. His famous speech introducing bis Education Hill was actually prepared in Battersea Park, with noisy children playing around him and iuteirunting' liini with inquiries as to the 'Tight time, please." Mr Austen Chamberlain, like his father, takes considerable pains over his more important orations, tlif principal parts of which he writes, oul and commits to memory. Lord Hindi Cecil, whose speeding arc ai'ionii the most finished and uc.wj feet in til" Commons, rarelv speiK.F much time on their composition. Co I cent rating his attention keenly on l\.\ debate, be jots down the salient points and is ready at auv. moment to tram the ■artillery of his eloquence on his option cuts. Mr As'.nith's wonderful sneeches arc* the result of careful thotmht and preparation, and his perorations are always commit ted to memory. Lord Morlev is said to write every line of most of his speeches, which am remarkable for their literary form, before delivering them: and. although Lord Rosebery is one of the lumpiest of impromptu orators, his more formal speeches are the product of the study and of frequent rehearsing.