That eloquence has been productive of immense good, no one can deny or doubt. From the earliest ages it has been assiduously cultivated, and ranked among the highest attainments of the human mind. So great and elevated was it deemed by the Athenians--so grand the results of its application, and so distinguished in their councils were those who possessed it--that the young Demosthenes, inspired with quenchless ardor for its acquisition, bent all the energies of his gifted intellect to the task--opposed and triumphed over every obstacle that nature presented to his advancement--heeded not the scoffs and hisses of the multitude on the decided failure of his first endeavors--and at length as the recompense for his toils, reached the pinnacle of renown--received the gratulations of an admiring age, and beheld his brow encircled with the wreath of victory, immortal as his glory, and unfading as the memory of his deeds. While language continues to exist, and breathe in beauty and vigor the conceptions of mind, his phillippics, rich in forcible and magnificent expression, in sublime thought, and bold and resistless eloquence, will survive. And the fervent, and holy, and incorruptible patriotism that speaks in every line, must elicit unbounded veneration. His matchless powers, never exerted but for the public good, inspired his enemies with respect and fear, and forced the mighty Philip to acknowledge, "that he had to contend against a great man indeed." Cicero too, entitled by a contemporary philosopher and orator,[1] one by no means addicted to flattering or giving even unnecessary praise, "The Father of his Country," has proved by a long and active career of usefulness and honor, the beneficial effects of this inestimable power. Who can conceive any thing more thrilling and overwhelming than his orations against Cataline? We can see the patriot orator, sternly bold, from the magnitude of his cause--for the lives of millions depended upon his success--hatred and abhorrence depicted in his face; indignation flashing from his eye--for love of country was his impelling motive; energy and passion in his every action, and the living lava bursting from his lips;--and the victim, shrinking awe-stricken away--his baseness exposed--his treacherous schemes unfolded to public gaze; he flies a blasted and withering thing--a reckless and degraded outlaw. This is but one of his numerous triumphs, which, stamped with the seal of immortality, have secured to him a fame as imperishable as time itself. It was by eloquence that the apostle of christianity so aroused the apprehensions and pierced the hardened conscience of the heathen Agrippa, that in the fulness of contrition he exclaimed, "thou almost persuadest me to be a christian." With it, the fisherman[2] of Naples declared to the populace the sanctity of their rights--explained the violation of their chartered privileges, and pointed out the means of