\^3 E 664 ■ F9 P3 Copy l SENATOR FfjYE OF MAINE. tf&an{zu<£. ■i < • S * SENATOR FRYE OF MAINE. He " spake such good thoughts natural. KXATOR FRYE, of Maine, is the best political orator in America. His speeches are expressed better, surcharged with more pertinent ma- terial, more pleasingly and effect- ively delivered, more in popular demand, than those of any other stump speaker. Maine lias the happy knack of to the fore-front of the nation, men of the brightest intellect. The name of Thomas B. Reed springs into mind, and we think of Hale, of Boutelle, of many others, but Senator Frye fol- lows more closely than anybody else in the foot- steps of the illustrious James G. Blaine. Many years ago the Republicans of New Hamp- shire sent a committee to Mr. Blaine, urging him to Keepm SENATOR FETE OF MALM:. sneak in the state. This he could not thru do, but he promised to send a good man. He sent Hon. William P. Five. The Republicans of the state have been earnestly sending for Mr. Frve ever since, and he has been here many times, and the Republican party of New Hampshire is under very great obligation to him. He spoke first, I think, at Portsmouth, and was a revelation to the people there, but has since ad- dressed overflowing audiences in all of the larger and many of the smaller places in the state. Mr. Frye's preeminent celebrity as a public polit- ical debater does not differ here from what it is everywhere throughout New England, and indeed throughout the whole North, for he has spoken re- peatedly in almost every northern state in the Union, and in nearly all of the large towns and cities. When Blaine resigned the chairmanship of the Republican state committee of Maine, in 1881, Frve was elected to till the vacancy. He followed Blaine to congress, and when Blaine was made secretary of state, Frye was chosen for his place in the national senate, taking the seat March 18, 1881. He was re-elected in l, and again in 1888. His present term of service will expire March 3, next. His re-election is unanimously conceded. S EN, i TOM FT! YE OF MAIN E. 5 f ,\ & f %* II t £? V-h» t ■4HGT'' ' Senator Wm, P. Frye. SENATOti FUYE OF MAINE. The custom of re-electing senators prevails now to such an extent throughout the several states, that the exceptions are few. In confirmation of this statement, examine the following- list of prom- inent senators who have been rewarded with re- election and advanced beyond their first term of service in the senate : Ahlrich, Nelson Wilmarth, Rhode Island Allison, William B., Iowa . Blackburn, Joseph C. S., Kentucky Morgan, John T., Alabama Pugh, James L., Alabama . Jones, James K., Arkansas Berry, James H., Arkansas Teller, Henry M., Colorado Hawley, Joseph R., Connecticut Piatt, Orville H., Connecticut . Cray, George, Delaware (all, Wilkinson, Florida Colquitt, Alfred Holt, Georgia . Cullom, Shelby M., Illinois Yoorhees, Daniel Wolsey, Indiana Turpie, David, Indiana Wilson, James F., Iowa Hale, Eugene, Maine . Frye, William P., Maine Gorman, Arthur P., Maryland . Hoar, George F., Massachusetts Davis, Cushman Kellogg, Minnesota George, James Z., Mississippi . Cockrell, Francis Marion, Missouri 3d term. 4th " 2d " 3d " 3d " 2d •• 2d '• 3d " 3d " 3d lt 3d " 3d ' ; 2d " 2d " 3d " 2d " 2d " 3d " 3d '• 3d " 3d lk 2d " 3d lt 3d " S E X ATO E Fi: ) ' /•: ( >F MAINE. Vest, George Graham, Missouri Manderson, Charles F., Nebraska Stewart, William Morris, Nevada Jones, John P., Nevada .... McPherson, John R., New Jersey Ransom, Matt W., North Carolina Sherman, John, Ohio Mitchell, John H., Oregon .... Dolph, Joseph N., Oregon .... Cameron, James Donald, Pennsylvania . Quay, Matthew Stanley, Pennsylvania Butler, Matthew Calbraithe, South Carolina Harris, Isham G., Tennessee Bate, William B., Tennessee Coke, Richard, Texas Morrill, Justin Smith, Vermont Daniel, John Warwick, Virginia Squire, Watson C, Washington Faulkner, Charles James, West Virginia . 3d term. 2d " 2d tl 4th " 3d " 4th " 3d " 2d " 2d " 3d " 2d " 3d " 3d " 2d " 3d " 5th " 2d " 2d " 2d " Senator Frye and our own Senator Chandler are very favorably suggestive each of the other. These two radical Republican leaders are in many ways alike ; their characteristics and tastes are largely the same, their companionship at Washington very close, their public duties and interests there identical, their personal friendship long and warm. In the presidential campaign of 1868, when Senator Chandler was secretary of the National Republican committee, he first met Mr. Frye, and ever since then they have been intimate friends. SENATOR FllYE OF MAINE. Five was a young lawyer, with some political ambi- tion. He beganmaking political speeches, growing in power and popularity, and soon became one of the recognized national speakers, now the best known stump speaker in the United States. The best public speaking is the highest exercise of human functions. It is the most exacting of all the demands upon the intellect, and brings into quick requisition the greatest number of faculties, physical and mental. Oratory is the gift of nature, and yet a power to be acquired, developed, perfected, — acquired by hard study, developed by frequent prac- tice, perfected by the confluence of the arts and sciences. There may have been, and there may be now, a few choice minds that radiate great thoughts — fertile, intuitive, and sensitive mirrors of brilliant ideas, inexplicable geniuses, battling analysis, — but Senator Frye does not belong to that ethereal class. His eloquence is graceful, — there is a rhythm, a cadence, and a magnetism to it. — but it is of the practical, sensible, logical, common-sense kind. It interests, it holds, it moves, it pleases, it convinces. His heart is full of feeling, and swells into gracious expression. He thinks deeply, strongly, correctly, and then speaks frankly, fearlessly, honestbr, and forcibly, having full faith in what he says : and the effect is magical. 1/1 1 S /•; XA TO R FR YE OF MA I X E. " This man," observes ftlirabeau, " will do some- what : he believes every word he says." Senator Frye's style is generally colloquial, not grandiloquent, but yet it has that all-potent element, that mysterious and intangible something or another, which is not a physical gift, nor the result of intel- lectual culture, but which charms the ears of his auditors and takes the public mind by storm. His arguments are substantial, his reasons cogent, his theories plausible, his illustrations apt. his resources not those of the dramatist, or the formal rhetorician, but drawn from deep wells of actual personal expe- rience and practical observation in the every-day affairs of real life, as well as from the exhaustless reservoirs of classic and general reading. When he rises to speak he may not know in just what exact form of language he is about to express himself, but he is sure of certain ideas, great underlying principles of government, of political economy, of Republicanism, — fundamental truths thoroughly thought out, safe springs of action on which he may depend for the inspiration of the moment. George William Curtis said of Wendell Phillips, "The secret of the rose's sweetness, the bird's ecstasy, or the sunset's glory, — that is the secret of genius and eloquence." When you see a great orator you behold a great SK.XA TOR FR YE OF M, 1 INE. 11 man. The qualities of great oratory are such that it cannot have origin in shallowness, nor be founded in meanness and insincerity. The true orator must have been a hard student. lie, first of all, must have a thorough acquaintance with human nature. He must perfectly understand his materials, the subject he is to handle, his models, the history of his race, and most of all he must understand himself. Orators like Frye are not the result of accident. Macaulav says — I think in his life of the elder Pitt — that nearly all forceful and eloquent speakers, in parliament, have become such by practising upon their audiences, and that almost any man of fair parts can become fluent by beginning early and practising sufficiently. I do not think that Senator Five attained his present proficiency by practising upon any audiences who were not attracted and delighted by his words, but undoubtedly to his unre- mitting practice he owes much of the fluency and fascination of his splendid speeches. In recent years, stump speaking being no longer a novelty to him, he has endeavored to lessen his efforts in that direction, but the popular demand for him as a speaker is so great and so widespread that it is difficult for him to resist. Different ages produce different styles of oratory. The emphases and cadences of eloquence vary from 12 SENATOR FBYE OF MAINE. epoch to epoch. The construction and delivery of public addresses in times of peace do not admit of the impassioned efforts that might become greal crises, but patriotic hearts like that of Senator Five would rouse grandly in defence of human life and liberty. Carlyle may have declared that England and America are going to nothing but wind and tongue, that silence is the eternal duty of man, but language in its clearest, purest, most effective exer- cise can never become a lost art. There may no longer be a Mirabeau in the national assembly ; the rhetoric of legislative bodies may not be as florid as that of Sheridan; occasion may not soon evolve another Patrick Henry; such exemplar lights as Clay and Webster, as Chatham, Fox, and Pitt, as Burke, Brougham, and Bright, as Everett and Sum- ner, may have touched the horizon ; but bright, new schools are already meeting the demands of our day, fitting the needs and desires of advancing civiliza- tion. It is not the age of iron, nor of wood, but the golden age of sensible speech in which Ave live. The grace is none the less, the triumph the higher one of reason, truth, and justice. Victor Hugo has declared that mankind is no longer owned, but guided. History the picture has become history the mirror, and the new reflection of the past will modify the future, giving us a new S EN AT OH FR YE OF M. 1 IXE. 1 3 aspect of facts. Nothing can escape the law of simplification. Simplification and suggestiveness are great merits in the speeches of Mr. Frye, and yet he possesses that "intangible influence, invisible efflux of per- sonal power which radiates from the orator's nature like heat from iron." When delivered they are masterpieces for preser- vation, and yet he never, with hardly an exception, prepares a speech by writing it out in advance. His masterly effort at Boston, in May, L893, a beautiful tribute to the memory of his friend, James G. Blaine, was one of the exceptions. 1 have heard him say that his ideas do not seem to move quickly until he begins to move his arms in gesticulation, thru his thoughts flow rapidly, and are absolutely clear and distinct in their utterance. As a result of his long practice, he remembers figures, amounts, quantities, and distances with great accuracy, and recalls names and incidents with certainty. He is only seldom in error as to a fact. Thus clear and definite and specific, he is blessed with a vivid imagination, which comes into play when he speaks, and he ornaments and illustrates his discourses with occasional high flights of unalloyed eloquence. His speeches in both houses of congress, and his incidental non-political addresses, all have the same 14 SENATOR FRYE OF MAINE. c< nnmendable characteristics. He has stamped upon his strongly-marked features the impress of superior intellectuality and of a remarkable command of language, indicated by a massive brow and prom- inent nose. lie is direct, pronounced, and enthusiastic, as much so in the senate as anywhere else, but perhaps not quite so vehement. He is always listened to, whether making a short or a long speech, intently listened to by every one within the sound of his magnificent voice. Mr. Frye in private life is a man of scrupulous integrity and honor. He is religions in his tenden- cies. — I think a Congregationalist, or a Presbyterian, — a strictly temperate man, making temperance speeches now and then. He is very devoted in his friendships, entirely taken up with his family life and his duties as a senator, and I might say as a public orator for his party. lie is a good story-teller, and loves fun. He is fond of sports, especially is he an expert trout and salmon fisherman, and from fishing gets his prin- cipal recreation, going every summer to his comfort- able log camp, on a little island in the Kangeley lakes, opposite Indian Rock. He is a man of pleasing personality, fine phy- sique, of moderate fortune, acquired mostly by dili- U*Ja& 16 SENATOR FU YE OF MAINE. gent service in the law, before be entered congress. He was graduated from Bowdoin college when 1 ( .) years of age; when 28 he was chosen attorney- general of his state ; and when 39 he was elected to the lower house of congress, where he immedi- ately took front rank as a debater. As a lawyer he was noted for the rapidity with which he was able to absorb the facts of a case, and the promptness with which he met every new phase of its develop- ment . In the examination of witnesses he especially excelled. The supreme court-room of Androscoggin county was the arena of many a famous trial, and, as is usual in New England shire towns, these fre- quently called out great numbers of eager listeners. This was emphatically true of those cases in which Mr. Frye was of counsel. Some of the prosecutions which he was called upon to conduct as prosecuting officer were for capital offences, celebrated in the annals of the criminal enses of Maine. He is well- grounded in the knowledge of the law, and was a very successful jury advocate, having undoubtedly the same success with juries as he has upon the stump, in carrying with him the sympathy of his auditors. lie has no ambition in politics, beyond another term in the senate, to which, as has been stated, he will be elected without opposition in his state. as no man has more devoted friends, who give SENATOR FRYE OF MAINE. 17 him their support without money and without price. Mr. Frye excelled especially in the discussion of the slavery question, and he has always been a Leader m the consideration of all measures pertain- ing to the welfare of the colored race. The War of the Rebellion, and the obligation of the nation to the soldiers of the Union, have enlisted his valuable attention, and he has energetically denounced frauds in election, as illustrated by Democratic crimes against the suffrage. Our important foreign relations, the protective tariff and its relations to the welfare of the plain people of the United States. — especially the wage- earners, — have been problems of great concern with him ; and the great commercial questions, particu- larly the restoration of the merchant marine. He is perhaps at his very best when discussing the relation of the tariff to labor, or rather the con- dition of the American workingman as affected by the high wages resulting from the tariff. rt has been said of him, that at every political meeting which he has ever addressed there have been some known conversions, resulting from his speech, from the opposite political party to his own. .Mr. Frye is a public man of the highest order, because, first, he is absolutely conscientious ; second, he devotes himself to large questions ; third, he has 1 8 S EN . I TOE FR YE OF MA INE. great intellectual attainments as well as a great faculty of speech. These three traits contribute to make him a statesman. He has held local offices; was elected and re- elected mayor of Lewiston, in 1866 and 1867; in 1864 he served as a presidential elector; in 1861, 1862, and 1867, he was chosen a representative of his city in the state legislature : he was elected a member of the National Republican executive committee, in 1*72 : was re-elected in 1876, and again in 1880. He was a delegate to the National Republican con- vention in 1 1 * LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 785 417 A y* L \BRA^ Y 01 \ w& ft LlBR ARY OF CONGRESS 7013785 417A# 7 *•