At the Banquet of the Army of the Potomac in Philadelphia, Mr.
DANIEL
DOUGHERTY made one of the most extraordinary speeches on record, if we
except certain forensic efforts of Mr. PUNCHINELLO delivered during the
earlier stages of his career from his box. Mr. DOUGHERTY is a Soarer,
and a Spreader, and a Screamer. Speaking metaphorically, be goes
higher,
measures more from the tip of one wing to the other, and is more
suggestive of the warbling of a locomotive in his speech than any other
Eagle in Philadelphia, which is saying a great deal. DANIEL is a Giant
of Rhetoric, and would remind us of the Big Gentleman from Cardiff,
only
that mysterious personage is too heavy to Soar; for which reason he
usually occupies the ground floor, which Mr. DOUGHERTY does not do by
any manner of means.
It was this extraordinary capacity of Mr. DOUGHERTY for
Soaring which
caused him to be called upon by the Army of the Potomac for a speech.
The great D. begins by declaring that he would rather speak for his
country than for Pennsylvania, which, considering that he also declared
that he came "as a modest spectator," does not strike us as the depth
of
humility. However, "my bosom," said Mr. D., "is not confined to any
locality;" and we believe that Mr. PECKSNIFF said something like this
of
his own frontal linen. Yet, we should like to know what Mr. DOUGHERTY
does for a chest when his own has gone upon its extensive journeys;
something temporary is done, we suppose, with a pad. But the Bosom was
at the Banquet, and the proprietor was there to thump it, until it must
have sounded and reverberated; and if Mr. DOUGHERTY had also thumped
his
head, there would have been equal evidence of hollowness within. "May
my
tongue never prove a traitor!" cried the orator. Mr. PUNCHINELLO
hastens
to reassure him. The tongue is well enough, and is likely to be. It's
something a little higher up that is likely to give out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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