It would seem that a book can not with propriety be ushered into the world without some account of the author, and of the motives which led the editor to its publication. As a Kentuckian born, and many years younger than the author of the following articles, I have from childhood been taught to consider him as one of the sons of my native State, who may justly claim a position in the front ranks of those whom she cherishes as jewels which are destined to form that coronet which is to adorn her historic brow. We of Kentucky, young and old, hold the Hon. THOMAS F. MARSHALL as one of the most effective and gifted of all her popular orators. His reputation, brilliant from his first appearance upon the public stage, has been principally that of a fascinating stump-speaker. For twenty four years, whatever changes his political opinions may have been supposed to have undergone-whatever measures, man, or party, he may have seen occasion to support-he has been the idol of popular assemblies-and, as a speaker, the admiration even of his political opponents.
His success in this way, coupled with other passages, both in his private and public life, and coupled also with the fact, that none of his popular, or forensic speeches have ever been published or reported, save three-which may be considered popular, and which appear in the following pages-has induced the idea with many of his countrymen, who have never heard and do not know him, that he is merely a brilliant declaimer, without depth of learning, solidity of genius, or