22 William D. Fenton. thing of the confidence inspired by the conscious sway of great multitudes, as he surely brought into speech something of the ardor of war. Call him, if you please, the Prince Rupert of battle; he was also the Prince Rupert of debate.
- * * In the Senate he at once took the place of orator.
His voice was not full or sonorous, but it was sharp and clear. It was penetrating rather than commanding, and yet when touched by his ardent nature it became sympathetic and even musical. His countenance, body and gesture, all showed the unconscious inspiration of his voice, and he went on, master of his audience, master also of himself. All his faculties were completely at his command. Ideas, illustra- tions, words, seemed to come unbidden and to range them- selves in harmonious forms, as in the walls of ancient Thebes, each stone took its proper place of its own accord, moved only by the music of a lyre. His fame as a speaker was so peculiar, even before he appeared among us, that it was sometimes supposed he might lack those solid powers with- out which the oratorical faculty itself can exercise only a transient influence. But his speech on this floor in reply to a slave-holding conspirator, now an open rebel, showed that his matter was as good as his manner, and that while he was a master of fence, he was also a master of ordnance. His controversy was graceful, sharp and flashing, like a cimeter ; but his argument was powerful and sweeping like a battery." Thus California, Illinois and Pennsylvania mingled their words of praise and expressed their common grief in mem- ory of the distinguished dead. Pennsylvania was his adopted state, and the home of his childhood. Illinois was the scene of his first active endeavor. California, his introduction to the great "West, and Oregon crowned him with the toga of a United States Senator. While he held a commission as United States Senator from the people of the State of Ore- gon, he was essentially a Senator of the United States. Edward Dickinson Baker lived in a great era of his coun- try. He was by nature and training a soldier and orator, and a statesman. Born to poverty and almost dependent upon his own exertions for advancement, his record is that of other great self-made men. His environment early led
