Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1889 — Silent Men of History. [ARTICLE]

Silent Men of History.

Washington- never made a speech. Tn the zenith of his fame he onoe attempted it, failed, and gave it up con- " fused and abashed. In framing the Constitution of the United States the labor was almost wholly performed In the committee of the whole, of which George Washington was the chairman. He made but two speeches during the convention, which were’ of a very few words each. The convention, acknowledged the master spirit, and historians affirm that, had it not been for his personal populurity, and the thirty words of his first speech, pronouncing it the best that could be united upon, the Constitution would have been rejected by the people. Thomas Jefferson never made a speech. He couldn’t do it Napoleon, whose executive ability was almost without a parrel lei, said that his greatest trouble was in finding men of deeds rather than words. When asked how he maintained his influence over his superiors in age and experience, when comm mder-in-chief of the army in Italy, he said, “By _ reserve.” The greatness of a man is not measured by the length of his speeches and their number.