Fox as Orator
In 18th-century British politics, eloquence might change votes on the spot. Loren Reid describes how the voice of Whig politician Charles James Fox often did exactly that.
In the year of Fox’s forty-fifth birthday, Sir Francis Burdett entertained him at a modest social event; in a congenial dinner group of like-minded folk, talk ranged widely from the cruelties of the French Revolution to the origin of man’s belief in God, and finally lit on speech-making, one diner arguing that eloquence was of no avail in either House of Parliament.
Oratory never influenced a single vote, he contended, and was useful only to reach the minds of the people; Parliamentary orators should therefore, above all else, hope that on important occasions galleries would be well filled. At this juncture eyes must have turned to Fox, who countered with the rejoinder that although oratory would not bring over a single vote on the spot, the eloquence that carries conviction to a man’s bosom will influence him in his cooler moments. ‘It does influence even ministers,’ he concluded.
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