diff options
Diffstat (limited to '10639-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 10639-0.txt | 1870 |
1 files changed, 1870 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/10639-0.txt b/10639-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7fc51e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/10639-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1870 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10639 *** + +PHRASES FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS + +AND + +PARAGRAPHS FOR STUDY + +Compiled by Grenville Kleiser + +1910 + + + + +TO THE STUDENT + + +The experienced public speaker acquires through long practise hundreds +of phrases which he uses over and over again. These are essential to +readiness of speech, since they serve to hold his thought well together +and enable him to speak fluently even upon short notice. + +This book is one of practise, not theory. The student should read aloud +daily several pages of these phrases, think just what each one means, +and whenever possible till out the phrase in his own words. A month's +earnest practise of this kind will yield astonishing results. + +He should also study the paragraphs, reprinted here from notable +speeches, and closely observe the use made of climax and other effects. +The phrase and the paragraph are the principal elements in the public +speaker's English style, and the student will be amply repaid for any +time he devotes to their analysis. + +GRENVILLE KLEISER + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +USEFUL PHRASES + +PARAGRAPHS FROM NOTABLE SPEECHES + + + + + +USEFUL PHRASES + + +A further objection to +Again, can we doubt +Again, we have abundant instances +Alas! how often +All experience evinces that +All that I have been stating hitherto +All that is quite true. +All this, I know well enough +All this is unnatural because +All we do know is that +Am I mistaken in this? +Amid so much that is uncertain +And, again, it is to be presumed that +And, finally, have not these +And, further, all that I have said +And hence it continually happens +And hence it is that +And here, in passing, let us notice +And here observe that +And if I know anything of +And if it is further asked why +And I sometimes imagine that +And I wish also to say that +And, in fact, it is +And it is certainly true +And it may be admitted that +And just here we touch the vital point in +And let me here again refer to +And now it begins to be apparent +And now we are naturally brought on to +And now we are told +And pursuing the subject +And so again in this day +And so, in like manner +And strange to say +And such, I say, is +And the same is true of +And the whole point of these observations is +And this is manifestly true +Any thoughtful man can readily perceive +As far as my experience goes +As for me, I say +As it were +At first it does seem as tho +At this very moment, there are +At times we hear it said. + +Be it so. +Be true to your own sense of right. +Believe me, it is quite impossible for +But all is not done. +But bear in mind that +But by no kind of calculation can we +But do not tell me that +But further still +But here we take our stand. +But I am not quite sure that +But I digress. +But I do not desire to obtrude a +But I recollect that +But I shall go still farther. +But I submit whether it +But I will not dwell on +But I will not pause to point out +But if you look seriously at facts +But in any case +But in fact there is no reason for +But is it in truth so easy to +But is it rationally conceivable that +But it is fitting I should say +But, it may be urged, if +But lest it should still be argued that +But let it be once understood that +But let us suppose all these +But look at the difference. +But my idea of it is +But now, I repeat, +But now, lastly, let us suppose +But now let us turn to +But now, on the other hand, could +But now some other things are to be noted +But somehow all is changed! +But the question for us is +But to go still further +But waiving this assumption +But we dwell too long +But we have faith that +But what is the motive? +But what then? +But with us how changed! +But why do we speak of +But you may say truly +But you must remember + +Can there be a better illustration than +Can you doubt it? +Certainly, I did not know +Compare now the case of + +Did time admit I could show you +Does anybody believe that +Do you dream that +Do not entertain so weak an imagination +Do not misunderstand me. + +Enough has been said of +Even apart from the vital question of +Everybody has to say that + +Few people will dispute +First, sir, permit me to observe +For instance, +For instance, there surely is +For my part, I can say that I desire +For the sake of clearness +For this simple reason +For what? +Fortunately I am not obliged +From time to time + +Happily for us +Has the gentleman done? +Have we any right to such a +He can not do it. +Heaven forbid! +Hence, I repeat, it is +Hence it is that +Hence, too, it has often, been said +Here I have to speak of +Here I wish I could stop. +Here it will be objected to me +Here let me meet one other question +History is replete with +How are we to explain this +How do you account for +I acknowledge the force of +I admire the indignation which +I admit it. +I admit, that if +I allude to +I am advised that already +I am aware that +I am distinctly maintaining +I am expecting to hear next +I am going to suggest +I am in sympathy with +I am justified in regarding +I am led to make one remark +I am mainly concerned with +I am myself of opinion that +I am naturally led on to speak of +I am no friend to +I am not arguing the +I am not ashamed to acknowledge +I am not complaining of +I am not denying that +I am not disposed to deny +I am not going to attempt to +I am not here to defend the +I am not insensible of +I am not justifying the +I am not speaking of exceptions. +I am not trying to absolve +I am obliged to mention +I am perfectly astounded at +I am perfectly confident that +I am perfectly indifferent concerning +I am persuaded that +I am quite certain that +I am sanguine that those who +I am speaking to-night for myself. +I am sure, at least, that +I am sure you will allow me +I am sure you will do me the justice +I am told that the reason +I am well aware that +I am willing to admit that +I appeal to you on behalf of +I ask how you are going to +I ask myself +I ask, then, as concerns the +I ask your attention to this point. +I assume that the argument for +I assume, then, that +I beg not to be interrupted here +I beg respectfully to differ from +I beg to assure you +I believe I speak the sentiment of +I believe in it as firmly as +I believe in the +I believe you feel, as I feel, that +I can not believe it. +I can not but feel that +I can not do better than +I can not even imagine why +I can not, therefore, agree with +I can not very well +I can scarcely conceive anything +I carry with me no hostile remembrance. +I certainly do not recommend +I come now to observe +I come, then, to this +I conclude that it was +I confess I can not help agreeing with +I confess my notions are +I confess that I like to dwell on +I confess truly +I dare say +I dare say to you +I differ very much from +I do not absolutely assert +I do not believe that +I do not blush to acknowledge +I do not contend that +I do not forget that +I do not know on what pretense +I do not mean to propose +I do not mean to say +I do not mistrust the future. +I do not overlook tho fact that +I do not pretend to believe +I do not question this. +I do not stand here before you +I do not think it unfair reasoning to +I do not vouch for +I do not want to argue the question of +I do not wish to be partial. +I do not wish you to suppose that +I do not yield to any one +I entirely agree upon this point. +I fear I only need refer to +I firmly believe that +I grant, of course, that +I grant that there are +I grant, too, of course, that +I have all along been showing +I have already alluded to +I have already said, and I repeat it +I have always argued that +I have another objection to +I have appealed to the testimony +I have a right to think that +I have been interested in hearing +I have been requested to say a word, +I have heard it said recently +I have hitherto been adducing instances +I have indicted +I have listened with pleasure to +I have never been able to understand +I have never fancied that +I have no confidence, then, in +I have no desire in this instance +I have no doubt that it is +I have only to add that +I have read of the +I have said that +I have so high a respect for +I have spoken of +I have the confident hope that +I have the strongest reason for +I have to appeal to you +I heartily hope and trust +I hope I have now made it clear that +I hope you will acquit me of +I insist that you do not +I invite you to consider +I know it is not uncommon for +I know that there is a difference of +I know that this will sound strange +I know well the sentiments of +I know whereof I speak. +I leave it to you to say. +I marvel that +I may as well reply +I may be told that +I may say further that +I may take it for granted +I mention them merely +I merely indicate +I must beg leave to dwell a moment +I must fairly tell you that +I must now beg to ask +I myself feel confident +I often wonder +I only wish to recognize +I pass by that. +I pass, then, from the question of +I personally doubt whether it +I plainly and positively state +I point you to +I proceed to inquire into +I quote from +I read but recently a story +I really can not think it necessary to +I recollect that +I rejoice at the change that +I remember once when +I reply with confidence that +I rest my opinion on +I said just now +I see no objection to +I see no reason to doubt +I shall ask you one question +I shall attempt to show +I shall content myself with asking +I shall not suffer myself to +I shall not undertake +I shall presently show +I shall sum up what has been said. +I shall, then, merely sum up +I share the conviction of +I should hold myself obliged to +I should not like to hold the opinion +I speak in the most perfect honesty +I speak only for myself. +I suppose most men will recollect +I take leave to say +I take the liberty of +I think I am right in saying +I think I can demonstrate that +I think it impossible that +I think it our duty +I think it well not to be disputed that +I think, on the contrary, that +I think that this is a great mistake. +I think these facts show that +I think we should be willing to +I trust it will not he considered ungenerous +I trust we are not the men to +I turn now to another reason why +I undertake to say +I use the word advisedly. +I venture to assert that +I venture to say +I venture to think +I want to invite your attention to +I want to know whether +I was astonished to learn +I was forcibly struck with one remark +I was very much struck with +I will allow more than this readily. +I will answer, not by retort, but by +I will call to mind this +I will go no further +I will not attempt to note the +I will not enter into details +I will not go into the evidence of +I will not stop to inquire whether +I will show you presently +I will speak but a word or two more. +I will suppose the objection urged +I wish I could state +I wish to call your attention to +I wish to know +I wish to say something about +I wish to observe that +I would not he understood as saying +I would not, indeed, say a word to extenuate +If any man were to tell me +If any one is so short-sighted +If I had my share +If I hesitate, it is because +If I insist on this point here +If I mistake not the sentiment of +If I must give an instance of this +If I read the signs of the time aright +If I were asked what it is that +If other evidence be wanting +If, perchance, one should say +If such a thing were possible +If such feelings were ever entertained +If such is the fact, then +If there is a man here +If we accept at all the argument +If we are conscious of +If we find that +If we resign ourselves to facts +If you want to find out what +If you wish the most conclusive proof +In a broader and a larger sense +In a sense, and a very real sense +In answer to this singular theory +In like manner +In order to carry out +In proof of this drift toward +In proportion as +In proportion, then, +In pursuance of these clear and express +In saying all this, I do not forget +In something of a parallel +In such cases +In support of this claim +In support of what I have been saying +In the first place +In the first place, then, I say +In the first place there is +In the last resort +In the light of these things +In this connection +In this point of view, doubtless +In this situation, let us +In this respect they are +In view of these facts, I say +In what I have to say +Is it fair to say that +Is it not evident that +Is it not quite possible that +Is it said that +Is not that the common sentiment? +Is there any reason for +It affords me unusual pleasure +It is but too true that +It can scarcely be imagined that +It can not be too often repeated +It certainly follows, then, +It does not appear to me +It has been maintained that +It has been more than hinted that +It has been said, and said truly, +It has sometimes been remarked that +It is a common observation that +It is a curious fact that +It is a fact patent to any one that +It is a melancholy fact that +It is a notorious fact that +It is a thing commonly said that +It is a very serious matter. +It is a very serious question +It is also to be borne in mind +It is amazing that there are any among us +It is an additional satisfaction +It is an undeniable truth that +It is apparent that +It is certain that +It is certainly not sufficient to say +It is difficult to conceive that +It is exceedingly unlikely that +It is historically certain that +It is in effect the reply of +It is in quite another kind, however, +It is, indeed, commonly said +It is more difficult to +It is necessary to account for +It is no more than fitting that +It is not a good thing to see +It is not a wise thing to +It is not alleged +It is not chiefly, however, +It is not for me here to recall +It is not, however, +It is not long since I had occasion +It is not my purpose to discuss +It is not necessary that I define +It is not proposed to +It is not surprizing that +It is not to be denied that +It is not told traditionally +It is not true that +It is not wonderful that +It is observable enough +It is of little consequence +It is of importance that +It is of very little importance what +It is quite true that +It is related of +It is singular that +It is the most extraordinary thing that +It is to my mind a +It is true, indeed, that +It is well known that +It is well that we clearly apprehend +It is wholly unnecessary +It is worthy of remark +It looks to me to be +It may be a matter of doubt +It may be shown that +It may be suggested that +It may be supposed that +It may in a measure be true that +It may not be improper for me to suggest +It must be borne in mind that +It must be confest that +It must be recollected that +It need hardly be said that +It remains for us to consider +It remains to +It remains to be shown that +It reminds me of an anecdote +It seems a truism to say +It seems now to be generally admitted +It should also be remembered that +It should be remembered +It so happens that +It was my good fortune +It was not so +It was under these circumstances +It were foolish to talk of +It were rash to say +It will be easy to cite +It will be found, in the second place, +It will be observed also that +It will be well to recall +It will not surely be objected +It would be misleading to say +It would be no less impracticable to +It would be vain to seek +It would do no good to repeat +It would seem that + +Largely, I have no doubt, it is due +Let it be repeated +Let it be for an instant supposed +Let me add that +Let me ask who there is among us +Let me explain myself by saying +Let me illustrate +Let me instance in one thing only +Let me put the subject before you +Let me say one word further. +Let me tell you +Let me tell you a very interesting story +Let no one suppose that +Let the truth be said outright +Let these instances suffice +Let us bear in mind that +Let us consider that +Let us go a step further. +Let us say frankly +Let us see whether +Let us stand together. +Let us look a little at +Let us take an example in +Let us take, first of all, + +Make no mistake. +Men are often doubtful about +Moreover, I am sure, +Moreover, I believe that +Much has been said of late about +My antagonism is only aroused when +My answer is, that +My belief is that +My own opinion is + +Nay, further than this, +Need I speak of +Neither is it true that +Nevertheless, we must admit +Next I give you the opinion of +Next I observe that +No man who listens to me underrates +No matter what +No, no. +No objection can be brought against the +No one realizes this more +No one will, with justice, say +No one will question +No one would take the pains to challenge the +No wonder, then, that +Nobody really doubts that +Nor am I, believe me, so arrogant as +Nor can we imagine that +Nor is this surprizing +Nor, lastly, does this +Not a few persons demand +Not many words are required to show +Not quite so. +Not so here. +Nothing is more certain than +Nothing less. +Now, after what I have said, +Now apply this to +Now do you observe what follows from +Now for one moment let us +Now I have done. +Now, I proceed to examine +Now I want to ask whether +Now it is evident +Now let us observe what +Now, mark it. +Now, on the other hand, let me +Now perhaps you will ask me +Now we come to the question + +Observe, if you please, that +Occasionally it is whispered that +Of course, it will be said that +Of no less import is +Of the final issue I have no doubt. +On the contrary +On the one hand +On the other hand +On the other hand, you will see +On the whole, then, I observe +One word more and I have done. +Once more, how else could +One fact is clear +Only a few days ago +Our position is that +Our position is unquestionable. +Over and over again it has been shown that + +Perhaps, sir, I am mistaken in +Perhaps the reason of this may be +Permit me to add another circumstance +Permit me to remind you +Please remember that if + +Readily we admit that + +Since you have suffered me to +So far is clear, but +So it came naturally about +So much for +Some men think, indeed, that +Some persons have exprest surprize that +Something of extravagance there may be in +Strange as it may seem +Strictly speaking, it is not +Such an avowal is not +Such is not my theory. +Such is steadfastly my opinion that +Such is the truth. +Such, then, is the answer whir I make to +Supposing, for instance, +Surely I do not misinterpret the spirit +Surely it is preposterous +Surely, then, +Surely, this is good and clear reasoning. + +Take, again, the case of +Take the instance of +That is quite obvious. +That we might have done. +The audacity of the statement is +The charge is false. +The conclusion is irresistible. +The contempt that is cast +The fact is substantially true. +The fact, is that there is not +The fact need not be concealed that +The facts are before us all +The first point to be ascertained is +The language is perfectly plain. +The least desirable form of +The more I consider this question +The plea serves well with +The point I wish to bring out +The problem that presents itself is +The question at issue is primarily +The question is not +The question presented is +The question with me is +The substance of all this is +The time is not far distant when +The time is short. +The truth of this has not been +Then, finally, +Then, I repeat, +There are many people nowadays who +There are people who tell you that +There is a cynicism which +There is a word which I wish to say +There is another reason why +There is another sense in which. +There is much force in +There is no danger of our overrating the +There is no evidence that +There is no good reason why +There is no mistaking the fact +There is no other intelligible answer +There is no parallel to +There is no sufficient reason for +There is none other. +There is not a shadow of +There is one other point connected with +There is one other point to which +There is something suggestive in +There was a time when none denied it. +These absurd pretensions +They did what they could. +This being the case, you will see +This brings me to a point on which +This does not mean +This expectation was disappointed. +This I have already shown +This is a great mistake. +This is it's last resort. +This is the only remaining alternative. +This leads me to the question +This relieves me of the necessity of +This is clearly perceived by +This is especially true of +This is essentially a question of +This is very different from +Tho all this is obvious +Thus, you see +To avoid all possibility of being +To be sure +To-day I have additional satisfaction in +To my own mind, +To my own mind, certainly, it is +To pass from that I notice +To take a very different instance +To this end we must +To this, likewise, it may be added +To this there can be but one answer. +To show all this is easy and certain. +To show this in fact +To sum up, then +Truly, gentlemen + +Unless I am wholly wrong +Unless I greatly mistake the temper + +We all remember +We are all aware that +We are here to discuss +We are now able to determine +We are told that +We can not leave unchallenged the +We deny it. +We have an instance in +We have no right to say +We, in our turn, must +We know they will not +We laugh to scorn the idea +We look around us +We may have an overpowering sense of +We may rest assured that +We must not propose in +We often speak of +We ought, first of all, to note +We should pause to consider +We will hear much in these days +We will not examine the proof of +What are you asked to do? +What are you going to do? +What can be more intelligible than +What do you say to +What do we understand by +What has become of it? +What is more remarkable still +What is the answer to all this? +What is this but an acknowledgment of +What is your opinion? +What then remains? +What we do say is +When all has been said, there remains +When I look around me +When it can be shown that +When it is recognized that +When that is said, all is said +When we contemplate the +When we reflect on these sentiments +Where there is prejudice, it is no use to argue. +Who finds fault with these things? +Why should an argument be required to prove that +Why should it be necessary to confirm +Will you tell me how +With possibly a single exception +With regard to what has been stated + +Yet it is plain +Yet, strange to say, +You and I may hold that +You can not assert that +You can not invent a series of argument +You can not say that +You do not pretend that +You have the authority of +You know as well as I do +You may object at once, and say +You may object that +You may point, if you will, to +You may search the history of +You tell me that +You will say that + + + + +PARAGRAPHS FROM NOTABLE SPEECHES + + +Let me here pause once more to ask whether the book in its genuine +state, as far as we have advanced in it, makes the same impression on +your minds now as when it was first read to you in detached passages; +and whether, if I were to tear off the first part of it, which I hold in +my hand, and give it to you as an entire work, the first and last +passages, which have been selected as libels on the Commons, would now +appear to be so when blended with the interjacent parts? I do not ask +your answer--I shall have it in your verdict. THOMAS LORD ERSKINE. + +From "Speech in Behalf of Stockdale." + + * * * * * + +Indeed, many of the statements we now read of the necessity of the wise +governing the weak and ignorant are almost literal reproductions of the +arguments advanced by the slaveholders of the South in defence of +slavery just preceding the outbreak of the Civil War. That divergence +from our original ideal produced the pregnant sayings of Mr. Lincoln, "A +house divided against itself can not stand," and its corollary, "This +nation can not permanently endure half slave and half free." He saw +dearly that American democracy must rest, if it continued to exist, upon +the ethical ideal which presided over its birth--that of the absolute +equality of all men in political rights. WAYNE MACVEAGH. + +From, "Ideals in American Politics." + + * * * * * + +The idea of liberty is license; it is not liberty but it is license. +License to do what? License to violate law, to trample constitutions +under foot, to take life, to take property, to use the bludgeon and the +gun or anything else for the purpose of giving themselves power. What +statesman ever heard of that us a definition of liberty? What man in a +civilized age has ever heard of liberty being the unrestrained license +of the people to do as they please without any restraint of law or of +authority? No man--no, not one--until we found the Democratic party, +would advocate this proposition and indorse and encourage this kind of +license in a free country. JOHN ALEXANDER LOGAN. + +From "Self-government in Louisiana." + + * * * * * + +My countrymen, we do not now differ in our judgment concerning the +controversies of past generations, and fifty years hence our children +will be divided in their opinions concerning our controversies. They +will surely bless their fathers and their fathers' God that the Union +was preserved, that slavery was overthrown, and that both races were +made equal before the law. We may hasten or we may retard, but we can +not prevent the final reconciliation. Is it not possible for us now to +make a truce with time, by anticipating and accepting its inevitable +verdicts? Enterprises of the highest importance to our moral and +material well-being invite us, and offer ample scope for the employment +of our best powers. Let all our people, leaving behind them the +battle-fields of dead issues, move forward, and, in the strength of +liberty and a restored Union, win the grander victories of peace. JAMES +ABRAM GARFIELD. + +From "Inaugural Address." + + * * * * * + +I wish you, by the aid of the training which I recommend, to be able to +look beyond your own lives and have pleasure in surroundings different +from those in which you move. I want you to be able--and mark this +point--to sympathize with other times, to be able to understand the men +and women of other countries, and to have the intense enjoyment--an +enjoyment which I am sure you would all appreciate--of mental change of +scene. I do not only want you to know dry facts; I am not only looking +to a knowledge of facts, nor chiefly to that knowledge. I want the +heart to be stirred as well as the intellect. I want you to feel more +and live more than you can do if you only know what surrounds +yourselves. I want the action of the imagination, the sympathetic study +of history and travels, the broad teaching of the poets, and, indeed, of +the best writers of other times and other countries, to neutralize and +check the dwarfing influences of necessarily narrow careers and +necessarily stunted lives. That is the point which you will see I mean +when I ask you to cultivate the imagination. I want to introduce you to +other, wider, and nobler fields of thought, and to open up vistas of +other worlds, when refreshing and bracing breezes will stream upon your +minds and souls. GEORGE JOACHIM GOSCHEN. + +From "On the Cultivation of the Imagination." + + * * * * * + +But it is a noteworthy fact that eminent qualities in men may often be +traced to similar qualities in their mothers. Knowledge, it is true, is +not hereditary, but high mental qualities are so, and experience and +observation seem to prove that the transmission is chiefly through the +mother's side. But leaving this physiological view, let us look at the +purely educational. Imagine an educated mother training and molding the +powers of her children, giving to them in the years of infancy those +gentle yet permanent tendencies which are of more account in the +formation of character than any subsequent educational influences, +selecting for them the best instructors, encouraging and aiding them in +their difficulties, rejoicing with them in their successes, able to take +an intelligent interest in their progress in literature and science. +JOHN WILLIAM DAWSON. + +From "On the Higher Education of Women." + + * * * * * + +It only remains to remind you that another consideration has been +strongly prest upon you, and, no doubt, will be insisted on in reply. +You will be told that the matters which I have been justifying as legal, +and even meritorious, have therefore not been made the subject of +complaint; and that whatever intrinsic merit parts of the book may be +supposed or even admitted to possess, such merit can afford no +justification to the selected passages, some of which, even with, the +context, carry the meaning charged by the information, and which, are +indecent animadversions on authority. THOMAS LORD ERSKINE + +From "Speech in Behalf of Blockdale." + + * * * * * + +But let it now for argument's sake be admitted, saving always the +reputation of honorable men who are not here to defend themselves--let +it, I say, for argument's sake, be admitted that the gentlemen alluded +to acted under the influence of improper motives. What then? Is a law +that has received the varied assent required by the Constitution and is +clothed with all the needful formalities thereby invalidated? Can you +impair its force by impeaching the motives of any member who voted for +it? GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. + +From "Speech on the Judiciary." + + * * * * * +Let us pause, sir, before we give an answer to this question. The fate +of us, the fate of millions now alive, the fate of millions yet unborn, +depend upon the answer. Let it be the result of calmness and +intrepidity; let it be dictated by the principles of loyalty and the +principles of liberty. Let it be such as never, in the worst events, to +give us reason to reproach ourselves, or others reason to reproach us, +for having done too much or too little. JAMES WILSON. + +From "Vindication of the Colonies." + + * * * * * + +It is impossible to deny the facts, which were so glaring at the time. +It is a painful thing to me, sir, to be obliged to go back to these +unfortunate periods of the history of this war and of the conduct of +this country; but I am forced to the task by the use which has been made +of the atrocities of the French as an argument against negotiation. I +think I have said enough to prove that if the French have been guilty we +have not been innocent. Nothing but determined incredulity can make us +deaf and blind to our own acts, when we are so ready to yield an assent +to all the reproaches which are thrown out on the enemy, and upon which +reproaches we are gravely told to continue the war. CHARLES JAMES FOX. + +From "On the Rejection of Bonaparte's Overtures." + + * * * * * + +Now I think the people ought not to be made to wait for the relief they +have a right to demand. They ought not to be made to suffer while we +argue one another out of the recorded and inveterate opinions of our +whole lives. I say, therefore, for myself, that, anxious to afford them +all the relief which they require, regretting that the state of opinion +around me puts it out of my power to afford that relief in the form I +might prefer. I accommodate myself to my position, and make haste to do +all that I can by the shortest way that I can. Consider how much better +it is to relieve them to some substantial extent by this means, at once, +than not to relieve at all, than not to initiate a system or measure of +relief at all, and then go home at the end of this session of Congress, +weak and weary, and spend the autumn in trying to persuade them that it +was the fault of some of our own friends that nothing was done. How poor +a compensation for wrongs to the people will be the victories over our +friends! RUFUS CHOATE. + +From "The Necessity of Compromises in American Politics." + + * * * * * + +It is of the very essence of true patriotism, therefore, to be earnest +and truthful, to scorn the flatterer's tongue, and strive to keep its +native land in harmony with the laws of national thrift and power. It +will tell a land of its faults as a friend will counsel a companion. It +will speak as honestly as the physician advises a patient. And if +occasion requires, an indignation will flame out of its love like that +which burst from the lips of Moses when he returned from the mountain +and found the people to whom he had revealed the austere Jehovah and for +whom he would cheerfully have sacrificed his life worshiping a calf. +THOMAS STARR KING. + +From "On the Privilege and Duties of Patriotism." + + * * * * * + +Our President is dead. He has served us faithfully and well. He has kept +the faith; he has finished his course. Henceforth there is laid up for +him a crown of glory, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give +him in that day. And He who gave him to us, and who so abundantly blest +his labors, and helped him to accomplish so much for his country and his +race, will not permit the country which He saved to perish. I believe in +the overruling providence of God, and that, in permitting the life of +our Chief Magistrate to be extinguished, He only closed one volume of +the history of His dealings with this nation, to open another whose +pages shall be illustrated with fresh developments of His love and +sweeter signs of His mercy. What Mr. Lincoln achieved he achieved for +us; but he left as a choice a legacy in his Christian example, in his +incorruptible integrity, and in his unaffected simplicity, if we will +appropriate it, as in his public deeds. So we take this excellent life +and its results, and, thanking God for them, cease all complaining and +press forward under new leaders to now achievements, and the completion +of the great work which he who has gone left as a sacred trust upon our +hands. JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND. + +From "Eulogy of Abraham Lincoln." + + * * * * * + +Patriotism says, and says it in the interest of peace and economy and +final fraternity, "Fight and conquer even at the risk of holding them +for a generation under the yoke." Fight, tho, on such a scale that there +will be no need of holding them; that they will gladly submit again to +the rule which makes the republic one and blesses all portions with +protection and with bounty. Fight till they shall know that they kick +against fate and the resistless laws of the world! Patriotism calls on +the Cabinet and the head of the nation and the generals who give tone to +the campaign to forget the customs and interests of peace till we shall +gain it by the submission of the rebels and the shredding of their last +banner into threads. THOMAS STARR KING. + +From "On the Privilege and Duties of Patriotism." + + * * * * * + +For myself, I believe that whatever estrangements may have existed in +the past, or may linger among us now, are born of ignorance and will be +dispelled by knowledge. I believe that of our forty-five States there +are no two who, if they could meet in the familiarity of the +intercourse, in the fulness of personal knowledge, would not only cease +to entertain any bitterness, or alienation, or distrust, but each would +utter to the other the words of the Jewish daughter, in that most +exquisite of idylls which has come down to us almost from the beginning +of time: + +"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; +for whither thou guest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will +lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. + +"Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do +so to me, and more also, if aught but death part me and thee." GEORGE +FRISBIE HOAR. + +From "Address at the Banquet of the New England Society." + + * * * * * + +He knew full well and displayed in his many splendid speeches and +addresses that one unerring purpose of freedom and of union ran through +her whole history; that there was no accident in it all; that all the +generations, from the _Mayflower_ down, marched to one measure and +followed one flag; that all the struggles, all the self-sacrifice, all +the prayers and the tears, all the fear of God, all the soul-trials, all +the yearnings for national life, of more than two centuries, had +contributed to make the country that he served and loved. He, too, +preached, in season and out of season, the gospel of Nationality. JOSEPH +HODGES CHOATE. + +From "Oration on Rufus Choate." + + * * * * * + +I leave these fellows and turn for a moment to their victims. And I +would here, without any reference to my own case, earnestly implore that +sympathy with political sufferers should not be merely telescopic in its +character, "distance lending enchantment to the view"; and that +when your statesmen sentimentalize upon, and your journalists denounce, +far-away tyrannies--the horrors of Neapolitan dungeons--the abridgment +of personal freedom in continental countries--the exercise of arbitrary +power by irresponsible authority in other lands--they would turn their +eyes homeward and examine the treatment and the sufferings of their own +political prisoners. I would in all sincerity suggest that humane and +well-meaning men who exert themselves for the remission of the +death-penalty as a mercy would rather implore that the doom of solitary +and silent captivity should be remitted to the more merciful doom of an +immediate relief from suffering by immediate execution--the opportunity +of an immediate appeal from man's cruelty to God's justice. STEPHEN +JOSEPH MEANY. + +From "Legality of Arrest." + + * * * * * + +Do you ask me our duty as scholars? Gentlemen, thought, which the +scholar represents, is life and liberty. There is no intellectual or +moral life without liberty. Therefore, as a man must breathe and see +before he can study, the scholar must have liberty first of all; and as +the American scholar is a man and has a voice in his own government, so +his interest in political affairs must precede all others. He must build +his house before he can live in it. He must be a perpetual inspiration +of freedom in politics. He must recognize that the intelligent exercise +of political rights, which is a privilege in a monarchy, is a duty in a +republic If it clash with his case, his retirement, his taste, his +study, let it clash, but let him do his duty. The course of events is +incessant, and when the good deed is slighted, the bad deed is done. +GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. + +From "The Duty of the American Scholar." + + + * * * * * + +Let us, then, go straight forward to our duty, taking heed of nothing +but the right. In this wise shall we build a work in accord with the +will of Him who is daily fashioning the world to a higher destiny; a +work resting at no point upon wrong or injustice, but everywhere +reposing upon truth and justice; a work which all mankind will be +interested in preserving in every age, since it will insure the +increasing glory and well-being of mankind through all ages. IGNATIUS +DONNELLY. + +From "Reconstruction." + + * * * * * + +We are not only to do some things, but we are to do all things, and we +are to continue so to do, so that the least deviation from the moral +law, according to the covenant of works, whether in thought, word, or +deed, deserves eternal death at the hand of God. And if one evil +thought, if one evil word, if one evil action deserves eternal +damnation, how many hells, my friends, do every one of us deserve whose +lives have been one continued rebellion against God! Before ever, +therefore, you can speak peace to your hearts, you must be brought to +see, brought to believe, what a dreadful thing it is to depart from the +living God. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. + +From Sermon, "On the Method of Grace." + + * * * * * + +I say we must necessarily undo these violent, oppressive acts. They must +he repealed. You will repeal them. I pledge myself for it that you will +in the end repeal them. I stake my reputation on it. I will consent to +be taken for an idiot if they are not finally repealed. Avoid, then, +this humiliating, disgraceful necessity. With a dignity becoming your +exalted situation make the first advances to concord, to peace, and +happiness; for that is your true dignity, to act with prudence and +justice. That you should first concede is obvious, from sound and +rational policy. Concession comes with better grace and more salutary +effect from superior power. It reconciles superiority of power with the +feelings of men, and establishes solid confidence on the foundations of +affection and gratitude. LORD CHATHAM. + +From "On Removing Troops from Boston." For aught I know the next flash +of electric fire that simmers along the ocean cable may tell us that +Paris, with every fiber quivering with the agony of impotent despair, +writhes beneath the conquering heel of her loathed invader. Ere another +moon shall wax and wane the brightest star in the galaxy of nations may +fall from the zenith of her glory never to rise again. Ere the modest +violets of early spring shall ope their beauteous eyes the genius of +civilization may chant the wailing requiem of the proudest nationality +the world has ever seen, as she shatters her withered and tear-moistened +lilies o'er the bloody tomb of butchered France. JAMES PROCTOR KNOTT. + +From Speech on "Duluth." + + * * * * * + +Among her noblest children his native city will cherish him, and +gratefully recall the unbending Puritan soul that dwelt in a form so +gracious and urbane. The plain house in which he lived--severely plain, +because the welfare of the suffering and the slave were preferred to +books and pictures and every fair device of art; the house to which the +north star led the trembling fugitive, and which the unfortunate and +friendless knew; the radiant figure passing swiftly through the streets, +plain as the house from which it came, regal with royalty beyond that of +kings; the ceaseless charity untold; the strong sustaining heart of +private friendship; the eloquence which, like the song of Orpheus, will +fade from living memory into a doubtful tale; that great scene of his +youth in Faneuil Hall; the surrender of ambition; the mighty agitation +and the mighty triumph with which his name is forever blended; the +consecration of a life hidden with God in sympathy with man--these, all +these, will live among your immortal traditions, heroic even in your +heroic story. But not yours alone! As years go by, and only the large +outlines of lofty American characters and careers remain, the wide +republic will confess the benediction of a life like this, and gladly +own that if with perfect faith and hope assured America would still +stand and "bid the distant generations hail," the inspiration of her +national life must be the sublime moral courage, the all-embracing +humanity, the spotless integrity, the absolutely unselfish, devotion of +great powers to great public ends, which were the glory of Wendell +Phillips. GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. + +From "Eulogy of Wendell Phillips." + + * * * * * + +No, it is something else than circumstances which makes us do God's +will, just as it is something else than miracle which makes us believe +His word. Miracle and circumstances do their part. They assist the +heart; they make the task of the will easier; they do not compel +obedience. He who has made us free respects our freedom even when we +use it against Himself--even when we resist His own must gracious and +gentle pressure and choose to disbelieve or to disobey Him. If Moses and +the prophets are to persuade us--if we are not to be beyond persuasion, +tho one rose from the dead--there must be that inward seeking, yearning +after God, that wholeness of heart, that tender and affectionate +disposition toward Him who is the end as He is the source of our +existence, of which the Bible is so full from first to last--which is +the very essence of religion--which He, its object and its author, gives +most assuredly to all who ask Him. HENRY PARRY LIDDON. + +From Sermon, "The Adequacy of Present Opportunities." + + * * * * * + +Instantly under such an influence you ascend above the smoke and stir of +this small local strife; you tread upon the high places of the earth and +of history; you think and feel as an American for America; her power, +her eminence, her consideration, her honor, are yours; your competitors, +like hers, are kings; your home, like hers, is the world; your path, +like hers, is on the highway of empires; our charge, her charge, is of +generations and ages; your record, her record, is of treaties, battles, +voyages, beneath all the constellations; her image, one, immortal, +golden, rises on your eye as our western star at evening rises on the +traveler from his home; no lowering cloud, no angry river, no lingering +spring, no broken crevasse, no inundated city or plantation, no tracts +of sand, arid and burning, on that surface, but all blended and softened +into one beam of kindred rays, the image, harbinger, and promise of +love, hope, and a brighter day! RUFUS CHOATE. + +From "Oration on American Nationality." + + * * * * * + +I believe in woman-suffrage for the sake of woman herself. I believe in +it because I am the son of a woman and the husband of a woman and the +father of a prospective woman. I remember that at one of the first +woman-suffrage meetings I ever attended one of the first speakers was an +odd fellow from the neighboring town, considered half a lunatic. That +didn't make much impression in those days when we were all considered a +little crazy, but he was a little crazier than the rest of us. He pushed +forward on the platform, seeming impatient to speak, and throwing his +old hat down by his side, he said, "I don't know much about this subject +nor any other; but I know this, my mother was a woman." I thought it was +the best condensed woman-suffrage argument I ever heard in my life. +THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON. + +From "For Self-respect and Self-protection." When the people complain +they must either be right or in error. If they be right, we are in duty +bound to inquire into the conduct of the ministers and to punish those +who appear to have been most guilty. If they be in error, we ought still +to inquire into the conduct of our ministers in order to convince the +people that they have been misled. We ought not, therefore, in any +question relating to inquiry, to be governed by our own sentiments. We +must be governed by the sentiments of our constituents if we are +resolved to perform our duty both as true representatives of the people +and as faithful subjects of our king. LORD CHATHAM. + +From "Second Speech on Sir Robert Walpole." + + * * * * * + +For this great evil some immediate remedy must be provided; and I +confess, my lords, I did hope that his Majesty's servants would not have +suffered so many years of peace to relapse without paying some attention +to an object which ought to engage and interest all. I flattered myself I +should see some barriers thrown up in defense of the constitution; some +impediment formed to stop the rapid progress of corruption. I doubt not +we all agree that something must be done. I shall offer my thoughts, +such as they are, to the consideration of the House; and I wish that +every noble lord that hears me would be as ready as I am to contribute +his opinion to this important service. I will not call my own sentiments +crude and undigested. It would he unfit for me to offer anything to your +lordships which I had not well considered; and this subject, I own, has +not long occupied my thoughts. I will now give them to your lordships +without reserve. LORD CHATHAM. + +From "Speech On the State of the Nation." + + * * * * * + +We have the freedom and freshness of a youthful nationality. We can +trace out new paths which must be followed by our successors; we have a +right to plant wherever we please the trees under shade of which they +will sit. The independence which we thus enjoy, and the freedom to +originate which we can claim, are in themselves privileges, but +privileges that carry with them great responsibilities. JOHN WILLIAM +DAWSON. + +From "On the Progress of Science in Canada." + + * * * * * + +From your great cities and teeming prairies, from your learned altars +and countless cottages, from your palaces on sea and land, from your +millions on the waters and your multiplied millions on the plains, let +one united cheering voice meet the voice that now comes so earnest from +the South, and let the two voices go up in harmonious, united, eternal, +ever-swelling chorus, Flag of our Union! wave on; wave ever! Ay, for it +waves over freemen, not subjects; over States, not provinces; over a +union of equals, not of lords and vassals; over a land of law, of +liberty, and peace, not of anarchy, oppression, and strife! BENJAMIN +HARVEY HILL. + +From "On the Perils of the Nation." + + * * * * * + +It is really astonishing to hear such an argument seriously urged in +this House. But, say these gentlemen, if you found yourself upon a +precipice, would you stand to inquire how you were led there before you +considered how to get off? No, sir; but if a guide had led me there I +should very probably be provoked to throw him over before I thought of +anything else. At least I am sure I should not trust to the same guide +for bringing me off; and this, sir, is the strongest argument that can +be used for an inquiry. LORD CHATHAM. + +From "Speech on Sir Robert Walpole." + + * * * * * + +But let us hope for better things. Let us trust in that gracious Being +who has hitherto held our country as in the hollow of his hand. Let us +trust to the virtue and the intelligence of the people, and to the +efficacy of religious obligation. Let us trust to the influence of +Washington's example. Let us hope that that fear of heaven which expels +all other fear, and that regard to duty which transcends all other +regard, may influence public men and private citizens, and lead our +country still onward in her happy career. Full of these gratifying +anticipations and hopes, let us look forward to the end of that century +which is now commenced. A hundred years hence other disciples of +Washington will celebrate his birth, with no less of sincere admiration +than we now commemorate it. When they shall meet, as we now meet, to do +themselves and him that honor, so surely as they shall see the blue +summits to his native mountains rise in the horizon, so surely as they +shall behold the river on whose banks he lived, and on whose banks he +rests, still flowing on toward the sea, so surely may they see, as we +now see, the flag of the Union floating on the top of the capitol; and +then, as now, may the sun in his course visit no land more free, more +happy, more lovely, than this our own country! DANIEL WEBSTER. + +From "The Character of Washington." + + * * * * * + +I am now talking of the invisible realities of another world, of inward +religion, of the work of God upon a poor sinner's heart. I am now +talking of a matter of great importance, my dear hearers; you are all +concerned in it, your souls are concerned in it, your eternal salvation +is concerned in it. You may be all at peace, but perhaps the devil +has lulled you asleep into a carnal lethargy and security, and will +endeavor to keep you there till he get you to hell, and there you will +be awakened; but it will be dreadful to be awakened and find yourselves +so fearfully mistaken, when the great gulf is fixt, when you will be +calling to all eternity for a drop of water to cool your tongue and +shall not obtain it. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. + +From "On the Method of Grace." + + * * * * * + +Why, sir, have I been so careful in bringing down with great +particularity these distinctions? Because in my judgment there are +certain logical consequences following from them as necessarily as +various corollaries from a problem in Euclid. If we are at war, as I +think, with a foreign country, to all intents and purposes, how can a +man here stand up and say that he is on the side of that foreign country +and not be an enemy to his country? BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER. + +From "Character and Results of War." + + * * * * * + +My lords, this awful subject, so important to our honor, constitution, +and our religion, demands the most solemn and effectual inquiry. And +again I call upon your lordships, and the united powers of the State, to +examine it thoroughly and decisively and to stamp upon it an indelible +stigma of the public abhorrence. And again I implore those holy prelates +of our religion to do away these iniquities from among us. Let them +perform an illustration; let them purify this House and this country +from this sin. LORD CHATHAM. + +From "The Attempt to Subjugate America." + + * * * * * + +Now, there are three questions before the people of the country to-day, +and they are all public, all unselfish, all patriotic, all elevated, and +all ennobling as subjects of contemplation and of action. They are the +public peace in this large and general sense that I have indicated. They +are the public faith, without which there is no such thing as honorable +national life; and the public service, which unless pure and strong and +noble makes all the pagans of free government but doggerel in our ears. +WILLIAM MAXWELL EVARTS. + +From "The Day We Celebrate." + + * * * * * + +Indeed, gentlemen, Washington's farewell address is full of truths +important at all times, and particularly deserving consideration at the +present. With a sagacity which brought the future before him, and made +it like the present, he saw and pointed out the dangers that even at +this moment most imminently threaten us. I hardly know how a greater +service of that kind could now be done to the community than by a +renewed and wide diffusion of that admirable paper, and an earnest +invitation to every man in the country to reperuse and consider it. Its +political maxims are invaluable; its exhortations to love of country and +to brotherly affection among citizens, touching; and the solemnity with +which it urges the observance of moral duties, and impresses the power +of religious obligation, gives to it the highest character of truly +disinterested, sincere, parental advice. DANIEL WEBSTER. + +From "The Character of Washington." + + * * * * * + +Let no man dare, when I am dead, to charge me with dishonor; let no man +attaint my memory by believing that I could have engaged in any cause +but that of my country's liberty and independence; or that I could have +become the pliant minion of power in the oppression or the miseries of my +countrymen. The proclamation of the provisional government speaks for +our views; no inference can be tortured from it to countenance barbarily +or debasement at home, or subjection, humiliation, or treachery from +abroad. I would not have submitted to a foreign oppressor for the same +reason that I would resist the foreign and domestic oppressor; in the +dignity of freedom I would have fought upon the threshold of my country, +and its enemy should enter only by passing over my lifeless corpse. Am +I, who lived but for my country, and who have subjected myself to the +dangers of the jealous and watchful oppressor and the bondage of the +grave only to give my countrymen their rights and my country her +independence--am I to be loaded with calumny and not suffered to resent +or repel it? No, God forbid! ROBERT EMMET. + +From "Speech when under Sentence of Death." + + * * * * * + +When the law is the will of the people, it will be uniform and coherent; +but fluctuation, contradiction, and inconsistency of councils must be +expected under those governments where every evolution in the ministry +of a court produces one in the State--such being the folly and pride of +all ministers, that they ever pursue measures directly opposite to those +of their predecessors. SAMUEL ADAMS. + +From "American Independence." + + * * * * * + +I refer to the past not in malice, for this is no day for malice, but +simply to place more distinctly in front the gratifying and glorious +change which has come both to our white fellow citizens and ourselves +and to congratulate all upon the contrast between now and then, the new +dispensation of freedom with its thousand blessings to both races, and +the old dispensation of slavery with its ten thousand evils to both +races--white and black. In view, then, of the past, the present, and the +future, with the long and dark history of our bondage behind us, and +with liberty, progress and enlightenment before us, I again congratulate +you upon this auspicious day and hour. FREDERICK DOUGLASS. + +From "Inauguration of the Freedmen's Memorial Monument to Abraham +Lincoln." + + * * * * * + +In all popular tumults the worst men bear the sway at first. Moderate +and good men are often silent for fear of modesty, who in good time may +declare themselves. Those who have any property to lose are sufficiently +alarmed already at the progress of these public violences and violations +to which every man's dwelling, person, and property are hourly exposed. +Numbers of such valuable men and good subjects are ready and willing to +declare themselves for the support of government in due time, if +government does not fling away its own authority. LORD MANSFIELD. + +From "The Right of England to Tax America." + + * * * * * + +In jurisprudence, which reluctantly admits any new adjunct, and counts +in its train a thousand champions ready to rise in defense of its +formularies and technical rules, the victory has been brilliant and +decisive. The civil and the common law have yielded to the pressure of +the times, and have adopted much which philosophy and experience have +recommended, altho it stood upon no test of the pandects and claimed no +support from the feudal polity. Commercial law, at least so far as +England and America are concerned, is the creation of the eighteenth +century. It started into life with the genius of Lord Mansfield, and, +gathering in its course whatever was valuable in the earlier institutes +of foreign countries, had reflected back upon them its own superior +lights, so as to become the guide and oracle of the commercial world. +JOSEPH STORY. + +From "Characteristics of the Age." + + * * * * * + +When that history comes to be written you know whose will be the central +and prominent figure. You know that Mr. Gladstone will stand out before +posterity as the greatest man of his time--remarkable not only for his +extraordinary eloquence, for his great ability, for his stedfastness of +purpose, for his constructive skill, but more, perhaps, than all these, +for his personal character, and for the high tone that he has introduced +into our polities and public fife. I sometimes think that great men are +like great mountains, and that we do not appreciate their magnitude +while we are close to them. You have to go to a distance to see which +peak it is that towers above its fellows; and it may be that we shall +have to put between us and Mr. Gladstone a space of time before we shall +see how much greater he has been than any of his competitors for fame +and power. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. + +From "On Liberal Aims." + + * * * * * + +Let us never despair of our country. Actual evils can be mitigated; bad +tendencies can be turned aside; the burdens of government can be +diminished; productive industry will be renewed; and frugality will +repair the waste of our resources. Then shall the golden days of the +republic once more return, and the people become prosperous and happy, +SAMUEL JONES TILDEN. + +From "Address on Administrative Reform." + + * * * * * + +Had Abraham Lincoln died from any of the numerous ills to which flesh is +heir; had he reached that good old age to which his rigorous +constitution and his temperate habits gave promise; had he been +permitted to see the end of his great work; had the solemn curtain of +death come down but gradually, we should still have been smitten with a +heavy grief and treasured his name lovingly. But dying as he did die, by +the red hand of violence; killed, assassinated, taken off without +warning, not because of personal hate, but because of his fidelity to +Union and liberty, he is doubly dear to us and will be precious forever. +FREDERICK DOUGLASS. + +From "Inauguration of the Freedmen's Memorial Monument to Abraham +Lincoln." + + * * * * * + +Let this be an occasion of joy. Why should it not be so! Is not the +heaven over your heads, which has so long been clothed in sackcloth, +beginning to disclose its starry principalities and illumine your +pathway? Do you not see the pitiless storm which, has so long been +pouring its rage upon you breaking away, and a bow of promise as +glorious as that which succeeded the ancient deluge spanning the sky--a +token that to the end of time the billows of prejudice and oppression +shall no more cover the earth to the destruction of your race; but +seedtime and harvest shall never fail, and the laborer shall eat the +fruit of his hands. Is not your cause developing like the spring? Yours +has been a long and rigorous winter. The chill of contempt, the frost of +adversity, the blast of persecution, the storm of oppression--all have +been yours. There was no substance to be found--no prospect to delight +the eye or inspire the drooping heart--no golden ray to dissipate the +gloom. The waves of derision were stayed by no barrier, but made a +clear breach over you. But now--thanks be to God! that dreary winter is +rapidly hastening away. The sun of humanity is going steadily up from +the horizon to its zenith, growing larger and brighter, and melting the +frozen earth beneath, its powerful rays. The genial showers of +repentance are softly falling upon the barren plain; the wilderness is +budding like the rose; the voice of joy succeeds the cotes of we; and +hope, like the lark, is soaring upward and warbling hymns at the gate of +heaven. WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. + +"From Words of Encouragement to the Opprest." + + * * * * * + +Listen to the voice of justice and of reason; it cries to us that human +judgments are never certain enough to warrant society in giving death to +a man convicted by other men liable to error. Had you imagined the most +perfect judicial system; had you found the most upright and enlightened +judges, there will always remain some room for error or prejudice. Why +interdict to yourselves the means of reparation? Why condemn yourself to +powerlessness to help opprest innocence? What good can come of the +sterile regrets, these illusory reparations you grant to a vain shade, +to insensible ashes? They are the sad testimonials of the barbarous +temerity of your penal laws. To rob the man of the possibility of +expiating his crime by his repentance or by acts of virtue; to close to +him without mercy every return toward a proper life, and his own esteem; +to hasten his descent, as it were, into the grave still covered with the +recent blotch, of his crime, is in my eyes the most horrible refinement +of cruelty. MAXIMILIEN MARIE ISIDORE ROBESPIERRE. + +From "Against Capital Punishment." + + * * * * * + +And love, young men, love and venerate the ideal. The ideal is the word +of God. High above every country, high above humanity, is the country of +the spirit, the city of the soul, in which all are brethren who believe +in the inviolability of thought and in the dignity of our immortal soul; +and the baptism of this fraternity is martyrdom. From that high sphere +spring the principles which alone can redeem the peoples. Arise for the +sake of these, and not from impatience of suffering or dread of evil. +Anger, pride, ambition, and the desire of material prosperity, are +common alike to the peoples and their oppressors, and even should you +conquer with these to-day, you would fall again to-morrow; but +principles belong to the peoples alone, and their oppressors can find no +arms to oppose them. Adore enthusiasm, the dreams of the virgin soul, +and the visions of early youth, for they are a perfume of paradise which +the soul retains in issuing from the hands of its Creator. Respect, +above all things, your conscience; have upon your lips the truth +implanted by God in your hearts, and, while laboring in harmony, even +with those who differ from you, in all that tends to the emancipation of +our soil, yet ever bear your own banner erect and boldly promulgate your +own faith. GIUSEPPE MAZZINI. + +From "To the Young Men of Italy." + + * * * * * + +Even if we conquer the South, as conquer we must, unless chastened by +visible misfortunes in the North, our triumph breeding unbounded +conceit, we plunge the deeper in the vortex of voluptuous prosperity, +our country forgotten by the people, its honors and dignities the sport +and plunder of every knave and fool that can court or bribe the mob, the +national debt repudiated, justice purchased in her temples as laws now +are in the Legislature, the life and property of no man safe, the last +relics of public virtue destroyed, anarchy will reign amid universal +ruin. DANIEL DOUGHERTY. + +From "Address on the Perils of the Republic." + + * * * * * + +To conclude "How are the mighty fallen!" Fallen before the desolating +hand of death. Alas, the ruins of the tomb! The ruins of the tomb are an +emblem of the ruins of the world; when not an individual, but a +universe, already marred by sin and hastening to dissolution, shall +agonize and die! Directing your thoughts from the one, fix them for a +moment on the other. Anticipate the concluding scene, the final +catastrophe of nature, when the sign of the Son of man shall he seen in +heaven; when the Son of man Himself shall appear in the glory of his +Father, and send forth judgment unto victory. The fiery desolation +envelops towns, palaces, and fortresses; the heavens pass away! the +earth melts! and all those magnificent productions of art which ages +heaped on ages have reared up are in one awful day reduced to ashes. +ELIPHALET NOTT. + +From the sermon "On the Death of Alexander Hamilton." + + * * * * * + +"Westward the course of empire takes its way; + The four first acts already past, +A fifth shall close the drama with the day: + Time's noblest offspring is the last." + +This extraordinary prophecy may be considered only as the result of long +foresight and uncommon sagacity; of a foresight and sagacity stimulated, +nevertheless, by excited feeling and high enthusiasm. So clear a vision +of what America would become was not founded on square miles, or on +existing numbers, or on any common laws of statistics. It was an +intuitive glance into futurity; it was a grand conception, which they +have hitherto so hopelessly mismanaged, you must expect to go on from +had to worse; you must expect to lose the little prestige which you +retain; you must expect to find in other portions of the world the +results of the lower consideration that you occupy in the eyes of +mankind; you must expect to be drawn, on, degree by degree, step by +step, under the cover of plausible excuses, under the cover of highly +philanthropic sentiments, to irreparable disasters, and to disgrace that +it will be impossible to efface. LORD SALISBURY. + +From "Speech on the Abandonment of General Gordon." + + * * * * * + +You will pardon me, gentlemen, if I say I think that we have need of a +more rigorous scholastic rule; such an asceticism, I mean, as only the +hardihood and devotion of the scholar himself can enforce. We live in +the sun and on the surface--a thin, plausible, superficial existence, +and talk of muse and prophet, of art and creation. But out of our +shallow and frivolous way of life, how can greatness ever grow? Come +now, let us go and be dumb. Let us sit with our hands on our mouths, a +long, austere, Pythagorean lustrum. Let us live in corners and do +chores, and suffer, and weep, and drudge, with eyes and hearts that love +the Lord. Silence, seclusion, austerity, may pierce deep into the +grandeur and secret of our being, and so living bring up out of secular +darkness the sublimities of the moral constitution. How mean to go +blazing, a gaudy butterfly, in fashionable or political saloons, the +fool of society, the fool of notoriety, a topic for newspapers, a piece +of the street, and forfeiting the real prerogative of the russet coat, +the privacy, and the true and warm heart of the citizen! EMERSON. + +From "Literary Ethics." + + * * * * * + +Sir, we are assembled to commemorate the establishment of great public +principles of liberty, and to do honor to the distinguished dead. The +occasion is too severe for eulogy to the living. But, sir, your +interesting relation to this country, the peculiar circumstances which +surround you and surround us, call on me to express the happiness which +we derive from your presence and aid in this solemn commemoration. +WEBSTER. + +From "Laying the Cornerstone of Bunker Hill Monument." + + * * * * * + +All experience teaches that the requirements and impartial practise of +the principles of civil and religious liberty can not speedily be +acquired by the inhabitants, left to their own way, under a protectorate +by this nation. The experience of this nation in governing and +endeavoring to civilize the Indians teaches this. For about a century +this nation exercised a protectorate over the tribes and allowed the +natives of the country to manage their tribal and other relations in +their own way. The advancement in civilization, was very slow and hardly +perceptible. During the comparatively few years that Congress has by +direct legislation controlled their relations to each other and to the +reservations the advancement in civilization has been tenfold more +rapid. This is in accord with all experience. The un-taught can not +become acquainted with the difficult problems of government and of +individual rights and their due enforcement without skilful guides. +JONATHAN ROSS. + +From "The Nation's Relation to Its Island Possessions." + + * * * * * + +My friend, will you hear me to-day? Hark! what is He saying to you? +"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give +you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly +in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, +and my burden is light." Will you not think well of such a Savior? Will +you not believe in Him? Will you not trust in Him with all your heart +and mind? Will you not live for Him? If He laid down His life for us, is +it not the least we can do to lay down ours for Him? If He bore the +cross and died on it for me, ought I not be willing to take it up for +Him? Oh have we not reason to think well of Him? Do you think it is +right and noble to lift up your voice against such, a Savior? Do you +think it just to cry "Crucify Him! crucify Him!" Oh, may God help all of +us to glorify the Father, by thinking well of His only-begotten Son. +DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. + +From "What Think Ye of Christ?" + + * * * * * + +Life has been often styled an ocean and our progress through it a +voyage. The ocean is tempestuous and billowy, overspread by a cloudy +sky, and fraught beneath with shelves and quick-sands. The voyage is +eventful beyond comprehension, and at the same time full of uncertainty +and replete with danger. Every adventurer needs to be well prepared for +whatever may befall him, and well secured against the manifold hazards +of losing his course, sinking in the abyss, or of being wrecked against +the shore. TIMOTHY DWIGHT. + +From Sermon, "The Sovereignty of God." + + * * * * * + +I shall endeavor to clear away from the question all that mass of +dissertation and learning displayed in arguments which have been fetched +from speculative men who have written upon the subject of government, +or from ancient records, as being little to the purpose. I shall insist +that these records are no proofs of our present constitution. A noble +lord has taken up his argument from the settlement of the constitution +at the revolution; I shall take up my argument from the constitution as +it is now. MANSFIELD. + +From "The Right of England to Tax America." + + * * * * * + +The rays from this torch illuminate a century of unbroken friendship +between France and the United States. Peace and its opportunities for +material progress and the expansion of popular liberties send from here +a fruitful and noble lesson to all the world. It will teach the people +of all countries that in curbing the ambitions and dynastic purposes of +princes and privileged classes, and in cultivating the brotherhood of +man, lies the true road to their enfranchisement. The friendship of +individuals, their unselfish devotion to each other, their willingness +to die in each other's stead, are the most tender and touching of human +records; they are the inspiration of youth and the solace of age; but +nothing human is so beautiful and sublime as two great peoples of alien +race and language. CHAUNCEY MITCHELL DEPEW. + +From "Oration at the Unveiling of the Bartholdi Statue." + + * * * * * +With consciences satisfied with the discharge of duty, no consequences +can harm you. There is no evil that we can not either face or fly from, +but the consciousness of duty disregarded. A sense of duty pursues us +ever. It is omnipresent, like the Deity. If we take to ourselves the +wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, duty +performed, or duty violated, is still with us, for our happiness or our +misery. If we say the darkness shall cover us, in the darkness as in the +light our obligations are yet with us. We can not escape their power, nor +fly from their presence. They are with us in this life, will be with us +at its close; and in that scene of inconceivable solemnity, which lies +yet further onward, we shall still find ourselves surrounded by the +consciousness of duty, to pain us wherever it has been violated, and +to console us so far as God may have given us grace to perform it. +WEBSTER. + +From "The Trial of John Francis Knapp for the Murder of Captain Joseph +White." + + * * * * * + +In the short space of time spanned by a single life, as if by "the touch +of the enchanter's wand," the people have built a government before +which the mightiest realms of the earth pale their splendors as do the +stars of night before the refulgent glory of the coming day. Population +has increased from three to thirty millions. Instead of thirteen, +thirty-one stars now shine in the clear blue of this glorious flag. The +multitudinous pursuits of enlightened life are cultivated to their +highest pitch. The press is mighty and free. Peace and contentment smile +alike around the poor man's hearth and the rich man's hall. Education +scatters its priceless gift to every home in the land. Religion gathers +around its altars the faithful of every creed. Statesmen have arisen +"fit to govern all the world and rule it when 'tis wildest." Orators +have appeared who have rivaled the great masters of antiquity. The doors +of the American Parthenon are ever open to invite the humble but +aspiring youth to enter and fill the loftiest niche. The highest dignity +is within the grasp of all; for the lowly boy, born and reared in our +own sweet valley of Cumberland, shall, when the spring comes round +again, be clothed by the people with the first of mortal honors--that of +guiding for a time the American republic upon her highway of glory. +DANIEL DOUGHERTY. + +From "Oration on Democracy." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Phrases for Public Speakers and +Paragraphs for Study, by Compiled by Grenville Kleiser + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10639 *** |