ished actor." Mrs. Rion relates the same incident, varied only in minor particulars, as follows: "I remember once, when he was defending three negroes for murder (gra tuitously), he accidentally knocked off a red wig he wore. Without stopping in speak ing, he picked up the wig and put it on, hind part before, but such was the tragic spell that his eloquence held, that his audi ence did not relax even for the grotesque effect." Judge D. A. Townsend says that on one occasion one of Mr. Preston's auditors, who was very deaf, and who, at the distance he was from the speaker, could not have heard a single word, was observed to be overcome with tears. Some one inquired why he was so much affected, remarking that it was im possible for him to have heard what was said. He frankly admitted that that was true, but said : " Does he not speak with his hands!" The celebration of the battle of King's Mountain, in October, 1855, was a memor able occasion in South Carolina. The ora tor of the day was the Hon. John S. Preston, the eloquent brother of the subject of this sketch. Among the honored guests who were present and spoke was the Hon. George Bancroft. In the interesting account of the day's proceedings which was published at the time, we find the following: "After the presentation of these valued relics of the battle, he proposed the following sentiment : ' Honorable William Campbell Preston : rekindled in the grandson, has been trans mitted to us the spirit which gleamed in the sword of the grandsire. While we have assembled to honor the patriotic deeds of the one upon the battlefield, let us not for get the statesmanship and eloquence which have thrown a halo of imperishable glory around the other. In the fullness of age, as in the pride and strength of manhood, South Carolina delights to do him reverence.' When the loud applause with which this sentiment was received had subsided, the once proud and majestic form of ' the in
spired declaimer,' now bent with age and tremblingly leaning upon a crutch for sup port, approached to the front of the stand. For -a moment, the fire of genius, almost gone out, which had once commanded ' the applause of list'ning senates,' seemed to en kindle and burn as brightly as ever. He said : ' If anything could now relume the embers of a life which, at times in my youth and manhood, has perhaps burned brightly, it would be the sentiment which has just been uttered. It touches the objects which are dearest to me. It points to a life which has been animated by what I thought and hoped to be elevated objects of ambition, and to an ancestry whose memory has been most fondly cherished. Here, in these scenes of primeval grandeur, and upon a spot with which it has been the fortunes of that ances try to be associated, it comes upon me with especial force; but if I could ever speak, I can speak no longer, and, if excuse be need ed, I would appeal to this' (raising up his crutch), ' and to this ' (laying his hand upon locks as white as snow); ' yet, still my heart ' (laying his hand upon his breast) — but the utterance failed, and ' the old man eloquent' bowed his head and wept, while the tear, trickling from every eye in that vast assem bly, told the story of earnest sympathy, and paid a tribute to the power of true eloquence, the eloquence of feeling and of action and of silence." Mr. Bancroft responded to a sentiment on that occasion, and Mr. Preston was delighted with him, and when he arose to speak he ex pressed his pleasure by saying " That as he had listened to him he felt it in his heart to wish that ' he too, like myself, were a South Carolinian,' and then, pausing and holding up his crutches, he added, ' except these bonds.' " I will now quote a high tribute paid to Preston as an orator by Judge Wardlaw. To fully appreciate it we must be told that the latter was one of the ablest of Carolina lawyers, very conservative in his judgment, and not at all given to exaggeration.
