The College Echo. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 4, No. 1, Ed. 1, July 1891 Page: 5 of 18
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: St. Edward’s University Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the St. Edward’s University.
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THE COLLEGE ECHO.
5
At the threshold of my subject, I stand upon the asser-
tion, uttered by many before me, that the orator, as the
poet, is “born,” not “made,”—nascitur non fit. Webster
says: “True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech.
It cannot be brought from afar. Tabor and learning may
toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases
may be marshalled in every manner,—they cannot compass
it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occa-
sion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of
declamation, all may aspire after it,—they cannot reach it.
It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreaking of a foun-
tain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires,
with spontaneous, original, native force....... The
clear conception, out-running the deductions of logic; the
the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit
speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eyes, informing
every feature, urging the whole man onward, right onward
to his object,—this is eloquence, or rather, it is something
greater and higher than all eloquence—it is action, noble,
sublime, God-like action,”—it is oratory.
Father Coppens, in his last work, says: “To attain the
greatest eminence in oratory requires the highest talents.
In fact, real eloquence......is to a great extent the gift
of nature.” He then quotes the aforesaid words of Web-
ster, and proceeds to enumerate and treat of those essential
and “natural talents,” viz., “strength of mind, sensibility
of the passions, a lively imagination, power of will, and a
strong memory,—all of which,” he says, “are gifts of na-
ture, or rather of God.” Writing of the gift of oratory,
the learned Abbe Bautain, himself an orator, says: “Art
may develop and perfect the talent of a speaker, but cannot
produce it......Nothing can teach him to be eloquent, or
can give that eloquence which comes alone from the heart
and goes to the heart......Natural eloquence, which moves,
persuades and transports, consists of a soul and a body, like
man, whose image, glory and word it is. The soul of elo-
quence is the center of the human soul......The body of
eloquence is the language it requires in order to speak.”
Cicero, in his first book, De Oratore, says: “It is my
opinion that nature and genius contribute most to the pow-
ers of eloquence,”—and speaking of and defining the re-
quisite faculties, he says: “It is very well if these faculties
be animated or excited by art, but it is not in the power of
art to supply them. They are the gift of nature.”
I thus quote from these eminent authorities in support of
the assertion that the “orator is born, not made.” But by
this is not meant that a man is born a perfect orator, or that
native talents alone can make him such. “It must exist in
the man,” says Webster,—but in the man educated. Tike
the diamond, the crustations which nature has placed around
the gem must be broken away, and the polish of education
given him, before his innate brilliancy will burst forth and
his full beauty be seen; but the diamond must be there.
And now as to the definition of oratory. How can we
define it? So varying are the definitions of the different
writers on the subject, and expressed in such general and
indefinite terms, that it would appear as if none had phil-
osophically analyzed the subject, in order to reach and class-
ify its elements. Perhaps I can the more clearly reach a
definite and affirmative answer by giving, first, a negative
one)—that is, by showing, first, what it is not, and by this
means I will also show the inconsistency of some writers
who confuse oratory with eloquence and rhetoric, and even
place it as a branch of the latter. Oratory is not rhetoric,
nor a branch of rhetoric. Webster and Worcester both say:
“Oratory is an art; rhetoric is the theory or science of the
art.” Rhetoric, therefore, is but the tool with which the
diamond is polished and its brilliancy brought forth to' the
world; it is the educational means by which those inborn
talents, those God-given qualifications, are enabled to pro-
duce eloquence, which is the essence of oratory. It is the
eloquence that charms, persuades, convinces, and carries
with it the hearts of the hearers,—it is the eloquence which
transfuses the fire, feelings, sentiments, soul of the speaker
into his hearers, and arouses their passions to the mad fever-
heat of war, or moves their sympathies to tears. Eloquence
is the result of the union of rhetoric with those native tal-
ents which pre-existed, the gift of God; while rhetoric is
the work of man, necessitated by, and the offspring, as it
were, of those talents, and made for them; the three—na-
tive talents, rhetoric and eloquence—forming a trinity (and
with due reverence I use the comparison), the first pre-ex-
isting as the Father; the second, the Son, necessary in the
designs of the Father; the third, eloquence—the fire, the
love, the animation flowing, resulting from the union of the
Father and the Son. If I am correct in this, then it follows
that rhetoric and eloquence are elements of oratory, and,
being but component parts, cannot be greater than the
whole. Oratory, therefore, is not rhetoric, nor a branch
thereof; nor is it eloquence, which is but an element of it.
How must we define it then? In general terms it is the
Art of Public Speaking; definitely, it is the art whereby
an educated public speaker is enabled to express eloquently
his thoughts, feelings, sentiments and desires in a .manner
to convince and persuade his hearers.
Much could be said of the different classes and the power
of oratory, and the leading orators of the world, but I re-
gret that brevity of time prevents further elaboration of
the subject. F. J. Flanagan.
AN AMERICAN EPIC.
“Loved land of my fathers! dear home of my childhood!
What fond recollections have hallowed thy streams,
Thy hills and thy dales and thy oft courted wild-wood,
And made thee, in slumber, the scene of my dreams. ’ ’
America ! What emotions are stirred in the bosom of
the oppressed of all civilized nations at the mere mention
of thy name ! In the untamed wilds of Siberia ; on the
steppes of Tartary ; on the banks of the Shannon and the
Tiffey ; in the hamlets of the struggling peasantry of Ger-
many, and even in sunny France, Spain, and Italy,—from
the Mediterranean in the south, to the Scandinavian Moun-
tains in the north,—from the Ural Mountains to the Atlan-
tic, wrhere the toil-worn millions of England, Ireland and
Scotland eke a scanty subsistence to enrich their besotted
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The College Echo. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 4, No. 1, Ed. 1, July 1891, newspaper, July 1891; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1004929/m1/5/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting St. Edward’s University.