ORATORY EXTRAORDINARY.

Southland Times, Issue 643, 13 March 1867, Page 3

ORATORY EXTRAORDINARY.

A SPEECH OP SEVENTEEN- HOTJBS' BUBATION. We ("Northern Whig") have received from New York the following extract from an American paper, giving the details of perhaps the most extraordinary feat of public speaking ever recorded : — " One of the most remarkable feats of endurance in a speaker which we remember to have heard of comes to us from Victoria, Vancouver's Island," (says the ' Examiner.') "In the Legislative Assembly of that place, we- are told that Mr Leonard M'Clure spoke for seventeen hours without pausing or sitting down. To those who are unacquainted with the circumstances, this feat might not appear proper to be placed in the same category, with the exertions of those ambitious pedestrians who, for wagers, walked a thousand miles in a thousand hours. It may easily be supposed that Mr M'Clure's speech could not have been a masterpiece of oratory, nor is it likely that his inducement was greater than that which moved Edmund Burke, when, at the trial of Warrren Hastings, after pouring out for fourteen hours a torrent of impassioned eloquence, the majestic mind collapsed under the force of physical fatigue, and he fell fainting in the arms of Sheridan. But we know of no instance of stubborn tenacity equal to this of Mr M'Clure, and the cause was one which should make him famous in the annals of the British Colonies. A year ago a large quantity of land in and about Victoria was seized by G-overnment for arrears of taxes, and was held by it on the understanding, expressed and published, that the owners could have and repossess their lots by paying the taxes due within a twelvemonth after their seizure. But itbecame known a few days before, on the expiration of the allotted term, that a plot was on foot, hatched by the Government, and backed by a venal majority in the House of Assembly, to pass a bill authorising the Executive to repudiate its contracts with the landowners, refusing to accept payment of arrears, and seizing upon and retaining permanently the disputed lots. Two men in the House opposed the measure. Their names were Amosi de Comos and Leonard MClure. They knew that they had nothing to hope from their compeers or from the Government, and they prepared themselves accordingly. The House had made up its mind, with these two exceptions, to rush through the obnoxious bill on the day before tbe twelvemonth expired. There was but one way to prevent this, and it was adopted resolutely. On the House being opened, Mr M'Clure rose to his feet, the time being noon, and kept the floor until five o'clock next morning. For seventeen hours he continued to speak, while every effort was made by the purchased majority to put him down and tire him out. With a merciless unanimity they refused to allow him to lean against the table, to put his foot upon a chair for a moment, to relieve himself from the irksomeness of his position by resting his hand upon anything, or to speak, in short, in any other than a rigidly erect and unsupported attitude. During the whole of the time they relieved each other at intervals, going out and procuring refreshments as they needed, and always leaving a quorum in the house. When M'Clure sank exhausted into his seat as the light of another morning was stealing into the windows of the Assembly House, De Comos rose, and for the remaining seven hours of the twenty-four talked against time. On rising, amidst the groans and hisses of the disgusted and infuriated majority, he exclaimed with more force than refinement, that it was useless for honorable members to evince their malice in that manner, for he had got up with the determination to talk, if necessary, ' until the Angel Gabriel sounded the last trump.' His powers of endurance were not quite so severely tested, but the end was achieved, and when the clock struck twelve the worn and wearied champions of honesty looked round with pardonable exultation upon the blank faces of a "bought and beaten assembly."

The gentleman, the hon. Leonard M'Clure, who performed this extraordinary and probably unprecedented feat 18 a native of Lisburn, and served an apprenticeship to the printing business m the office of the " Northern Whig." Some years ago he emigrated to Australia, where he founded several newspapers, which he disposed of to advantage. He afterwards removed to California, and then to British Columbia. In the latter settlement he has been very successful, about three years ago being sent as a deputation, in company with the hon. Mr Cameron, to Queen Victoria, and, by his advocacy of the claims of the colonists, succeeded in procuring from the late Lord Palmerston the recall of the Governor.