denounced
and exposed in a strain of invective eloquence which thrilled to every
heart. Turning from this to the national policy of the Democracy, then
in power, and which the measure under consideration was intended to aid
and sustain, his powers seemed to expand with the magnitude of the
subject, as he went on to analyze the policy and the measures of the
Government, and to demonstrate the disastrous consequences which must
follow these remotely, if not immediately, corrupting, undermining, and
ultimately destroying the Constitution, and, of consequence, the
Government. He spoke for three hours; his peroration was so grandly
eloquent as to bring down the House and galleries in a round of
applause.

From that day forward, Prentiss was the great man of the House and of
the State. A fire in a prairie never spread or ran faster than his
fame; it was on every tongue, in every newspaper. Such fame from one
speech had never been won by any man in America, save Patrick Henry.
Single-speech Hamilton, of the British Parliament, astonished England;
but he was never afterward heard of, and is known to this day as
"single-speech Hamilton." As with Henry, this was but the beginning of
a fame which was to grow and expand into giant proportions. Prentiss
was now a national man. Soon after this, he visited Boston and New York
during an exciting political campaign. Throughout the North, wherever
he appeared and spoke, he bore the palm from every rival.

The speech of Prentiss in Faneuil Hall will long be remembered as
perhaps the finest specimen of oratory ever listened to in that
venerable hall. It was at the time said by the men of the North to
surpass the best efforts of Fisher Ames. Subsequently he spoke in New
York, and for three hours held spell-bound an immense audience.

The writer was informed by a venerable judge, of New Jersey, that he
had never believed any man possessed such powers of oratory as to
interest him and chain his attention for that length of time. Hearing
this young man from the wilds of Mississippi could do so, he embraced
the first opportunity of hearing him. When he reached the place, he
found the assemblage very great, and with difficulty he succeeded in
reaching a point where he might hear well. He was unable to procure a
seat, and was compelled to stand, thoroughly jammed by the crowd. He
took out his watch to time him, as he commenced, and noting the minute,
he essayed to replace his watch: something