Alone, for the greater part of his
service in Congress, he stood in the midst of his malignant assailants
like a rock in a stormy sea. Old man that he was, plainly showing the
in-roads of physical weakness, he was in that body of distinguished
and able men more than a match for any or all of his antagonists. He
was always "the old man eloquent." Says one of our leading historical
writers:
"As a parliamentary debater he had few, if any, superiors. In
knowledge and dexterity there was no one in the House that could
be compared with him. He was literally a walking cyclopedia. He
was terrible in invective, matchless at repartee, and insensible
to fear. A single-handed fight against all the slaveholders in the
House was something upon which he was always ready to enter."
Speaking of his effectiveness in congressional encounters another
Congressman writes:
"He is, I believe, the most extraordinary man living. I have with
my own eyes seen the slaveholders literally quake and tremble
through every nerve and joint, when he arraigned before them their
political and moral sins. His power of speech has exceeded any
conception I have heretofore had of the force of words or logic.
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