of a valuable quality reached his office in Exchange Place. Instead of being jealous ly received, as had been the case upon his entrance into Natchez as a Yankee school master arrived to practice law, he was ac claimed by the Crescent City Bar; and it was composed of able professionals, among them the veteran John R. Grymes, the civilian Christian Roselius, the astute John Slidell, the impassioned Pierre Soule, Judah P. Benjamin (a trio who played conspicuous parts in the later Confederacy), the pro found Alfred Hennen, the learned George Eustis (father of the present American Am bassador to France), Robert Mott, a pundit in commercial law, and Edwin A. Bradford (nominated later for judge of the United States Supreme Court by President Fill more, but rejected through Southern Sena tors because of his alleged anti-slavery affili ations). The celebrated Pelican Club of the city gave Prentiss on his arrival a dinner. In the next month after his advent oc curred an annual celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims by the local New England Society. The announcement that Prentiss would be one of the speakers at the banquet led to active competition for tickets. His speech on the occasion was regarded to be as famous a specimen of oratory as was that of Patrick Henry before the Virginia Co lonial Assembly; or that of Daniel Web ster at the Bunker Hill commemoration. It was soon printed in pamphlet form by the Society. The "Times" of the ensuing morning editorially remarked : " Mr. Pren tiss was eloquent beyond compeer." His very opening sentences were fraught with the promise of the oratory that ensued. They read : " On this day, dear in sacred remem brance to the sons of New England, they from every quarter of the globe gather in spirit around Plymouth Rock to hang upon the urns of Pilgrim Fathers the garlands of affection and filial gratitude. The human mind cannot be contented with the Present.
It is ever journeying through the trodden regions of the Past; or making adven turous excursions into the mysterious realms of the Future. He who lives only in the Present is like the brute, and has not at tained human dignity." Prentiss then passed to an eulogy of the Puritans, com pressing into sentences a wealth of historical association; and showering metaphor and apostrophes upon their deeds in language which now read, half a century later, as I now have them before me in cold type, stirs the heart to noble enthusiasm. And if the matter does that, what must it have been when to the auditors on the occasion was added his marvelous manner of oratory? When he next soared to a comparison of Carver, Bradford, Winslow and Standish with the Spaniards who colonized also, he exclaimed : " Let Mexico and Peru answer for Pizarro, who followed in the train of the great discoverer like a devouring pesti lence. With imagination maddened by visions of boundless wealth, and shouting ' gold, gold,' to the very brutes of the undis covered forests. Clad in mail he leaped upon the New World an armed robber. In greedy haste he grasped sparkling sand to cast it down with curses if he found the glittering grains were not of gold. Never in the world's history had the sacra fames ajcri exhibited itself with such fearful inten sity. Pitiless as the bloodhound by his side the Spaniard plunged into primeval forests, and crossed rivers, lakes and mountains. No region, however rich in soil, delicious in climate, or luxuriant in production, could tempt the Spaniard's stay. In vain the soft breeze of the tropics laden with aromatic fragrance wooed him to rest; in vain smil ing valleys covered with spontaneous fruits and flowers invited him to peaceful quiet; his accursed hunger for gold could not be appeased. Simple natives gazed upon him in superstitious wonder and worshipped him as a god. He proved to them to be one: infernal, terrible, cruel and remorseless.
