Wilmington Expositor

On Long Speeches. - A long discourse, not
only is an abuse of a man's leisure, but in some
degree, is an insult to his understanding. --
With the ignorant there is need of detail; with
men of sense, something ought to be left, in
mercy to their own intelligence and discernment. No people were more sensible of this
necessary act of discretion, than the ancient
Greeks. Phocion preparing to ascend the rostrum, being asked by some of those near him
the cause of his pensiveness: replied, "I am
reflecting how I shall abridge what I am to say
on the occasion.' Of this Phocion, Demosthenes often said, "this is the axe which prunes
my speeches.'

In our country the merit of a speech is measured by its duration. In Greece, an orator is
praised for speaking well; in America for speaking a long time; and the good people are, not
insensible of the insult offered to their judgment, and of the expense of time and money
to the nation; but are themselves accomplices
of offence. The Governor made a speech two
hours long. The Attorney General spoke two
hours and a half. The longest of Demosthenes' speeches may be read in fifty minutes;
and the most diffuse of Cicero is an hour.