Brougham ends his speech in defence of Queen Caroline, a passage which he is said to have written twenty times:

"Such, my lords, is the Case now before you! Such is the evidence in support of this measure - evidence inadequate to prove a debt — impotent to deprive of a civil right — ridiculous to convict of the lowest offence-scandalous if brought forward to support a charge of the highest nature which the law knows monstrous to ruin the honour, to blast the name of an English Queen! What shall I say, then, if this is the proof by which an act of judicial legislation, a parliamentary sentence, an ex post facto law, is sought to be passed against this defenceless woman' ? My lords, I pray you to pause. I do earnestly beseech you to take heed! You are standing upon the brink of a precipice then beware! It will go forth your judgment, if sentence shall go against the Queen. But it will be the only judgment you ever pronounced, which, instead of reaching its object, will return and bound back upon those who give it. Save the country, my lords, from the horrors of this catastrophe save yourselves from this peril rescue that country, of which you are the ornaments, but in which you can flourish no longer, when severed from the people, than the blossom when cut off from the roots and the stem of the tree. Save that country, that you may continue to adorn it save the Crown, which is in jeopardy - the Aristocracy, which is shaken save the Altar, which must stagger with the blow that rends its kindred Throne! You have said, my lords, you have willed — the Church and the King have willed - that the Queen shall be deprived of its solemn service. She has instead of that solemnity, the heartfelt prayers of the people. She wants no prayers of mine. But I do here pour forth my humble supplications at the Throne of Mercy, that that Mercy may be poured down upon the people, in a larger measure than the merits of their rulers may deserve, and that your hearts may be turned to justice! "1

To success in persuasion variety in matter and in manPrinciple of ner is essential; for monotony deadens interest variety. and chills feeling. A variety of sentiments

1 Lord Brougham: Speeches on Social and Political Subjects; Case of Queen Caroline.

should be appealed to; a variety of methods should be employed. Short explanation, vivid description, happy illustration, indirect suggestion, all may be instruments of persuasion, if they are so used as to advance the main purpose. Not that variety should ever be secured at the expense of unity or of individuality; one and the same subject should be kept constantly in mind, one and the same person should be constantly present behind the words.

Principle of

In all cases, success in persuasion largely depends upon the adaptation of what is said to the character and the circumstances of the persons addressed. In this matter, the speaker has an advantage over adaptation. the writer in that he knows what manner of men he is addressing and can choose his method accordingly. One audience is, as everybody knows, more difficult to move than another. The educated, as a class, are much more difficult to move than the ignorant. To this rule there are, of course, many exceptions; but too often education cultivates the head at the expense of the heart. A speaker should, then, always bear in mind that more subtle means must be used in moving an intellectual than an unintellectual audience. He should also bear in mind that his audience, whatever its character, is liable to changes of mood which he must be quick to see and quick to follow.

Simplicity.

In persuasion a bookish or a declamatory style tells for less than the simple expression of the truth. If readers are thinking about a writer's style, or hearers about an orator's eloquence, they are less likely to be influenced by him than if they are so fully absorbed in what he is saying as to pay no attention to the manner in which it is said. No advocate could have a higher

1

compliment paid to his persuasive powers than was paid to Scarlett (Lord Abinger) by the English juryman who said that, though Brougham might be the cleverer advocate, Scarlett was "such a lucky one, for he was always on the right side;" or to Rufus Choate by the Yankee juryman who, after telling anecdotes that showed Choate's insidious power over a jury, said, "I must tell-you that I did not think much of his flights of fancy; but I considered him a very lucky lawyer, for there was not one of those five cases that came before us where he wasn't on the right side." If a writer or an orator is thinking of his own style, he may please his readers or his hearers with well-turned periods or sounding phrases, but he will not move them; for he will inevitably betray the fact that manner is more to him than matter. If his mind is full of his purpose, he will express himself simply. "I believe it to be true," says Emerson, "that when any orator at the bar or in the Senate rises in his thought, he descends in his language, — that is, when he rises to any height of thought or of passion he comes down to a language level with the ear of all his audience. It is the merit of John Brown and of Abraham Lincoln-one at Charlestown, one at Gettysburg-in the two best specimens of eloquence we have had in this country." 2

"2

In argument the most important requirement is the dry light of intelligence; but in persuasion "the essential thing is heat, and heat comes of sincerity." Without sincerity, a man who has all other graces and gifts will be but "sounding brass or a tinkling

Sincerity.

1 Quoted in Whipple's "Recollections of Eminent Men;" Some Recollections of Rufus Choate.

? Emerson: Letters and Social Aims; Eloquence.

cymbal;" with it, a man who lacks everything else will prevail, for the spiritual fire that is in him will go from him to others, whatever the obstacles. People in general hold their opinions so loosely that a man who believes anything with his whole heart is sure to make

converts.

As argumentative composition, nothing in English literature is more deserving of study than the works of Burke, especially the speech on American Examples of Taxation and that on Conciliation with Amer- argument. ica. No American speeches are more deserving of study than those of Daniel Webster. Especially noteworthy are his three speeches against nullification (1830 and 1833), with which may profitably be studied the arguments for nullification by Hayne (1830) and Calhoun (1833). Other examples of argumentative composition are: Richard Cobden's speech in the House of Commons, April 24, 1863, on the seizure of "The Alexandra" on the ground that it was being equipped contrary to the provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act;1 John Bright's speech in the House of Commons, May 3, 1864, on a motion for the abolition of capital punishment; 2 Macaulay's speeches in the House of Commons, Feb. 5, 1841, and April 6, 1842, on the bill to amend the law of copyright, and his speech, May 22, 1846, on a bill for limiting the labor of young persons in factories to ten hours a day; the chapter on "Fundamental Principles respecting Capital,” in Mill's "Principles of Political Economy;" Sir James

1 Richard Cobden: Speeches on Questions of Public Policy, vol. ii. American War I. Edited by John Bright and James E. Thorold Rogers, 2 John Bright: Speech on Questions of Public Policy, vol. ii. Punish ment of Death. Edited by James E. Thorold Rogers.

Fitzjames Stephen's article on the suppression of boycotting, published in "The Nineteenth Century," December, 1886; Matthew Arnold's "Last Words" at the end of his papers "On Translating Homer," in "Essays in Criticism;" Huxley's "Three Lectures on Evolution" (delivered in New York, 1876); the Spencer-Weismann articles, published in "The Contemporary Review" between February, 1893, and October, 1894.1

1 Other examples are given in "Specimens of Argumentation," compiled by George P. Baker. Still others are mentioned at the close of President Eliot's article entitled "Wherein Popular Education has Failed," published in "The Forum," December, 1892.