Benjamin Harrison as a Lawyer and an Orator. without resistance." Six lectures of the series were delivered, but their termination is quite abrupt, apparently leaving the course incomplete. In 1897 Mr. Harrison delivered an ad dress before the students of Michigan Uni versity on "Some Hindrances to Law Re forms", and the next year before the Union League Club of Chicago on "The Obliga tions of Wealth. These are kindred subjects. For clearness and dignity of state ment concerning some of the evils existing to-day, the reader will search long before he finds its equal. His two most noted po litical addresses, after his retirement from the Presidency, were delivered in 1894 and 1896 at Carnegie Hall, New York City. It was considered, at the times they were de livered, that they were the two most forcible speeches of the two campaigns. These two speeches are probably no more forcible than many others he delivered during these two campaigns; but the place of their delivery has given them more notoriety than the others. They are models of political oratory. In them is no brutality, for to that Mr. Har rison never resorted. There is some sarcasm, but more wit, not, however, of the boisterous kind. They are singularly devoid of statis tics. In his speeches he used few statistics; he seemed to always bear in mind that few people can or will recollect figures, while they will readily retain a pungent or epi grammatic sentence. The student of politi cal oratory will do well to study them.1 In 1900 Mr. Harrison was a delegate to the Ecumenical Missionary Conference, held in Carnegie Hall, and delivered several ad dresses before that body, which showed him in a new light as an orator. At the time they attracted much attention, and it is no as sumption to say that these addresses gave much more prominence to the conference 1 The Bowen -Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, has published in a volume entitled, " Views of an ExPresident." a number of speeches and papers by Gen eral Harrison, delivered or written since he retired from office.
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than it otherwise would have had. Aside from an ex-President taking an active part in such a conference, his speeches attracted almost universal attention, by reason of their clearness of statement and forcible style. After his retirement from office, Mr. Har rison resumed the active practice of law. He appeared in both the nisi prius and appellate courts;—not often, however, in the State nui prius courts. It was impossible for him to attend to all the business that came to him; he was compelled to pick out such as was to his liking, and turn the remainder away. Perhaps his most notable legal argu ment was in the Illinois Inheritance Tax cases, in the United States Supreme Court, although it was in fact not better than others he delivered. In 1899 Mr. Harrison went to Paris as chief counsel for the Venezuelan Govern ment in the arbitration between it and Eng land. His oral argument before that tribunal was considered by competent judges to be far superior to that of Sir Richard Webster, the Attorney-General and chief counsel of England. It extended through several days. The result was a drawn battle, as measured by the verdict of the arbitrators. But it isvery well understood that the Russian ar bitrator practically determined the result; for the two American arbitrators were for sus taining the contention of Venezuela, and the British that of England. The right was clearly with the former. What subtle and underground influence brought about the result is not discernable, but it was undoubt edly there. After his return from the War of the Re bellion, with whatever case he was connected, General Harrison was in fact leading coun sel, although not always so in name. One of his partners, now dead, has said of him: "While not always the senior in years, he was the senior in fact in every firm of which he was a member; such is the ungrudging testimony of all those who have been his partners."
