“It was an excellent choice by which Mr. OLIVER BRAND was selected as the first speaker.  His arm was still in bandages; and the appeal of his figure as well as his passionate words struck the first explicit note of the evening.  A report of his words will be found in another column.  In their turns, the PRIME MINISTER, Mr. SNOWFORD, the FIRST MINISTER OF THE ADMIRALTY, THE SECRETARY FOR EASTERN AFFAIRS, and LORD PEMBERTON, all spoke a few words, corroborating the extraordinary news.  At a quarter before twenty-three, the noise of cheering outside announced the arrival of the American delegates from Paris, and one by one these ascended the platform by the south gates of the Old Choir.  Each spoke in turn.  It is impossible to appreciate words spoken at such a moment as this; but perhaps it is not invidious to name Mr. MARKHAM as the orator who above all others appealed to those who were privileged to hear him.  It was he, too, who told us explicitly what others had merely mentioned, to the effect that the success of the American efforts was entirely due to Mr. JULIAN FELSENBURGH.  As yet Mr. FELSENBURGH had not arrived; but in answer to a roar of inquiry, Mr. MARKHAM announced that this gentleman would be amongst them in a few minutes.  He then proceeded to describe to us, so far as was possible in a few sentences, the methods by which Mr. FELSENBURGH had accomplished what is probably the most astonishing task known to history.  It seems from his words that Mr. FELSENBURGH (whose biography, so far as it is known, we give in another column) is probably the greatest orator that the world has ever known—­we use these words deliberately.  All languages seem the same to him; he delivered speeches during the eight months through which the Eastern Convention lasted, in no less than fifteen tongues.  Of his manner in speaking we shall have a few remarks to make presently.  He showed also, Mr. MARKHAM told us, the most astonishing knowledge, not only of human nature, but of every trait under which that divine thing manifests itself.  He appeared acquainted with the history, the prejudices, the fears, the hopes, the expectations of all the innumerable sects and castes of the East to whom it was his business to speak.  In fact, as Mr. MARKHAM said, he is probably the first perfect product of that new cosmopolitan creation to which the world has laboured throughout its history.  In no less than nine places—­Damascus, Irkutsk, Constantinople, Calcutta, Benares, Nanking, among them—­he was hailed as Messiah by a Mohammedan mob.  Finally, in America, where this extraordinary figure has arisen, all speak well of him.  He has been guilty of none of those crimes—­there is not one that convicts him of sin—­those crimes of the Yellow Press, of corruption, of commercial or political bullying which have so stained the past of all those old politicians who made the sister continent what she has become.  Mr. FELSENBURGH has not even formed a party.  He, and not his underlings, have conquered.  Those who were present in Paul’s House on this occasion will understand us when we say that the effect of those words was indescribable.