Specimens of native eloquence have been introduced into school books,
and declaimed by many an aspiring young Cicero. Most of them are,
doubtless, as fictitious as Logan's celebrated speech, which was exalted
by the great Jefferson almost to a level with the outbursts of
Demosthenes, to be reduced again to very small proportions by the
criticisms of Brantz Mayer.[58]
In fact, in spite of all that has been said about the native oratory,
we are in a very inadequate position to judge of it correctly, and this
because we have no accurate reports in the original tongues of their
speeches. Translations, more or less loose, more or less imaginary,
we have in abundance; but, for critical purposes, they are simply
worthless.
Yet that even the ruder tribes in both the northern and southern
continents, attached great weight to the cultivation of oratory, is
amply evident. James Adair, who is competent authority, tells us that
the southern Indians studied public speaking assiduously, and that their
speeches "abound with bolder tropes and figures than illiterate
interpreters can well comprehend or explain."[59] Mr. Howse writes that,
among the Crees, those who possess oratorical talent are in demand by
the Chiefs, who employ them to deliver the official harangues.
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