Power_making of an Orator

8/8/2019 Power_making of an Orator

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BOUGHT WITH THE INCOMEFROM THESAGE ENDOWMENT FUNDTHE GIFT OF

1891

A. 20 7 3/11 klMI 140(0


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Cornell University LibraryPN 4121.P884Making of an orator

3 1924 027 188 311


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Cornell UniversityLibrary

The original of tliis book is intine Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions inthe United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027188311


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The Making of an OratorWith Examples from Great Masterpieces

of Ancient and Modern Eloquence

By

John O'Connor PowerOf the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law

And sometime M. P. for theCounty of Mayo

" Nothing would be done at all if a man waited till he could do it so well that noone could find fault with it. What, then, can I desire or pray for but this, that what Isay well may be blessed to those who hear it, and that what I might have said bettermay be blessed to me by increasing my own dissatisfaction with myself? "NBWMAN.

G. P. Putnam's SonsNew York and LondonUbe IknicFserbocKec iprees

19061>


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Copyright, 1906

JOHN O'CONNOR POWER

Zhe IRnicftccbocftec ^tees, Ticvo jj?ot?i


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PREFACE.The object of this book is to indicate in

popular language a course of practice in ora-tory, based on the writer's observation andexperience, in the House of Commons, at theBar, and on the Platform. It is intended forstudents, young or old, who have had no prac-tice in public speaking, and for speakers whoare not unwilling to consider suggestionsmade by anqther.The various examples have been selected as

models of the form and structure of greatspeeches, and will, it is hoped, appeal to alllovers of noble eloquence as well as to thosewho aspire to oratorical eminence.


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CONTENTSCHAP. PAGE

I. Inteodtjction 1II. The Statement of Facts 20

III. The Uses op Rhetoeic 43rv. Logic and Debate 70V. Delivery 99VI. Extempore Speaking 129VII. Demosthenes on the Ceown 157

VIII. CicEEO Against Cataline 197IX. Examples of Modeen Oeatoby 226X. Fdethee Examples 265XI. The Occasional Speakee 316

XII. Conclusion 339


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" It is a mark of an instructed mind to rest satis-fied with that degree of precision which the natureof the subject admits, and not to seek for exactnesswhere only an approximation to the truth is possi-ble." Aristotle.

" I consider that with regard to all precepts thecase is this, not that orators by adhering to them haveobtained distinction in eloquence, but that certain per-sons have noticed what men of eloquence practised oftheir own accord, and formed rules accordingly: sothat eloquence has not sprung from art, but art fromeloquence." Cicero.

" The work of the orator from its very inceptionis inextricably mixed up with practice. It is cast inthe mould offered to him by the mind of his hearers.It is an influence principally received from his audi-ence, so to speak, in vapour, which he pours backupon them in a flood." Gladstone.


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The Making of an OratorCHAPTER IINTRODUCTIONABRILLIANT English scholara poetand critic of great distinction, under-took some years ago to give a hundred

lectures in the United States, and his agenthas since informed the public that the lectureswere delivered as agreed upon, but neverheard, even by those sitting in the front rows.They were read from manuscript, in a voicethat was inaudible ; and those who went to hearthe lecturer had to be satisfied with lookingupon him, without hearing a word of what hesaid. He understood many languages, an-cient and modern, and was absolutely incapa-ble of addressing a public audience in hisnative tongue. This is not an exceptionalinstance of the want of vocal training; it il-lustrates the general neglect of those exer-cises which are suitable and necessary foreifective public speaking. The voice is the

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2 The Making of an Oratororator's chief instrument, though the eye andthe hands add their own commentary to whathe says. Its cultivation and management,therefore, should be the first object of thespeaker's care and attention. The simplestand readiest method of exercising the voiceis that of reading aloud. How few good oreven tolerable readers there are, we know fromdaily experience, in listening to the readingof reports at society meetings, of resolutionsat a conference, of documents in a court oflaw, of the sacred text in churches of all de-nominations, and of questions and resolutionsin both Houses of Parliament. Those whoread badly, speak badly, and conversely, thosewho speak badly, read badly, too. It mayseem superfluous to urge the self-evidentproposition, that if one is to read or speakwith effect, he ought to read or speak so as tobe heard, but everyone knows cases in whichthis primary and essential condition of com-munication between speaker and audience iscahnly ignored. Audible utterance in read-ing and speaking is a simple accomplishmentattainable by the humblest boy or girl in thepoorest village school, who is properly in-structed, as well as by those who receive thehigher education, and its neglect in either case


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Introduction 3is inexcusable. If all who read to us for ourinstruction or entertainment were to read dis-tinctly we should have much to be thankfulfor. But the praise of good reading will notbe given to mere distinctness, valuable andprecious as it is. A reader may make himselfperfectly audible and yet fail so completelyto convey either the force or beauty, the mean-ing or charm, of what he reads as to destroyits whole effect on the mind of the hstener.But if he reads well, if he shows an apprecia-tion of the whole tenor and character of thecomposition, so that each thought, or senti-ment, or image, receives its appropriate ren-dering, we cannot repress our delight, orwithhold our grateful applause.The common excuse for a speaker who is in-

audible is, that he has a bad voice. I am con-vinced that in nine cases out of ten this excuseis wholly groundless. The voice is not weaknaturally, and it wants nothing but exerciseto make it perfectly audible. In the case ofthe majority of men and women the speakingvoice is neglected, and as it is never properlyexercised its capacity is an unknown quantity,even to themselves. If the hand or the armwere condemned to inaction, as the voice sooften is, it would lose its natural power in like


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4 The Making of an Oratormanner, and be unfit for use. The voice, evenfor purposes of conversation is, in many in-stances, in a state of arrested development.Some voices, it is true, are of more limited

compass than others; but most are full, reso-nant, and melodious, of great range and flex-ibilitycapable of venting, at one moment, atempest of passion, and of issuing, at another,in soft, low, murmuring accents that lingerpleasantly in the ear. In both cases readingaloud is advantageous^to correct the defectsof the one, to improve and strengthen theother. "If," said the great critic, Ruskin, "Icould have a son or a daughter possessed ofbut one accomplishment in life, it should bethat of good reading." When elocution ismade a part of education, but not before, thisaccomplishment, so useful in itself and so val-uable in the elementary training of an orator,will be within reach of every student. Thelate Professor J. R. Seeley, speaking at theRoyal Institution, said:

" It is more than one hundred years since BishopBerkeley propounded the question, whether half thelearning and talent of England were not lost becauseelocution was not taught in schools and colleges.This same question might be repeated now; and it isnot merely for its practical use in after life to those


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Introduction Swhose profession demands public speaking, that I de-sire to see elocution made a part of education, but be-cause I think that, by this means more than any other,may be evoked in the minds of the young a taste forpoetry and eloquence."The student should aim first of all at dis-

tinct articulation, which is a purely physicalexercise. He can practise it with the aid ofa single companion, by reading to him, orspeaking to him, at certain distances whichmay be regulated so as to test the voice in thethree keysthe high, the low, and the middle.The first we use in addressing persons a longway off, or in moments of excitement; the se-cond when they are quite near us, and whenthere is no occasion for any special effort; or,when addressing persons near or far, we havesomething to say of serious or solemn import;the third or middle key is the key of animatedconversation, which is the one best adapted forgood reading or good speaking. Correctpronunciation takes us one step further, butas this depends upon the practice of the bestspeakers, we must find out what that is, ortrust to the guidance of a competent teacher.The period of youth, when the tongue is pli-ant to every demand of the voice, is the goldentime for the acquisition of good articulation,


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6 The Making of an Oratorand correct pronunciation, but inveterate pro-vincialisms have been known to give way toinstructed discipline at a later age. Pronun-ciation embraces accent and emphasis, the first,denoting the stress laid upon a particular syl-lable, the second that laid upon a particularword. The proper distribution of emphasisin reading or speaking is of the utmost im-portance, because if it were placed on thewrong word the whole sense of a passagemight be materially altered. In ordinaryspeaking, a mistake of this kind seldom oc-curs, for emphasis in speech is dictated by anatural impulse which the speaker obeys al-most unconsciously, whereas in reading we areengaged in an attempt to reproduce thethoughts of another, and fail sometimes toenter into their fuU meaning. It must, how-ever, be remembered that in the delivery of along speech, emphasis should be economisedso that the voice may not be unduly taxed.The due observance of grammatical stops,

which is necessary to bring out the sense, inreading, is also required in speaking, if onlyto enable the speaker to breathe freely, and tospeak with the minimum of physical exertion.What is known as the rhetorical pause doesnot depend on grammatical construction; it


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Introduction 7arises from the nature of the subject-matterof the speech, or reading, imparting to whatimmediately follows some special signifi-cance, and, like the emphasis on a particularword, it suggests a commentary of its own.The last point in elocution which I shall men-tion here is modulation. Its uses are well un-derstood by all good readers and speakers. Itsaves the delivery of both from monotony, andwhen judiciously applied, it invests a speechor reading with dramatic force and artisticbeauty. The lowering or raising of the voiceis often attended also with the happiest re-sults in fixing the attention of the audience.A great speech involves necessarily some kindof preparation, but the method will vary ac-cording to the taste, temperament, necessities,and habits of the speaker. It will dependupon the nature of the subject, the occasionwhich has suggested it, the character of theaudience or tribunal before which the speechis to be delivered; whether it is an openingstatement, or a reply in debate; and upon avariety of other circumstances governing eachcase. A speaker must, as far as possible, mas-ter his subject, and become so completely sat-urated with its principles and details, that itwill form part of himself, filling his memory


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8 The Making of an Oratorwith examples, his imagination with appropri-ate illustrations, and his whole conception withthe glow of genuine feehng and conviction.The ancient orators, and those of the FrenchRevolution, wrote much in preparation andmany great speakers of our own day havefollowed their example. Yet the labour ofwriting, and learning by heart, is enormous,and those who have to plead frequently incourt, or take an active part in the debates ofParliament, are obhged to rely mainly, ifnot exclusively, on extempore effort. Theycould not otherwise perform the work theyhave to do. The writing method is obvi-ously impracticable when a reply is calledfor on the spur of the moment, so that aspeaker to be equal to all occasions should bewell exercised in extempore practice. No mancan gain the ear of the House of Commons,for example, who is not a debater, no matterhow skilful he may be in making an openingstatement, or in the exposition of a comph-cated subject. The life of Parliament as adeliberative assembly, is in its debates. Thereis some reality in the encounter between manand man, when one replies to another, thereand then; and he who successfully repels anattack on himself or his cause never fails to


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Introduction 9win the sympathy, if not the open approbationof both sides of the House. Lord Lyndhurstonce remarked to a friend:

" Brougham says that he prepares the great pas-sages in his speeches; and he weaves them with won-derful dexterity into the extempore portions. Theseams are never visible. I am not able to performthat double operation. Such an effort of verbal mem-ory would interfere with the free exercise of my mindupon the parts which were not prepared. My prac-tice is to think my subject over and over to any ex-tent you please; but with the exception of certainphrases, which necessarily grow out of the process ofthinking, I am obliged to leave the wording of myargument to the moment of delivery."The difference in the two methods of prepa-

ration is, as I have said before, very much amanner of habit and temperament. Each onemust select for himself the method which hethinks will enable him to achieve the best re-sult. Canning and Plunkett, and many oth-ers, adopted the method attributed toBrougham, and many have pursued Lynd-hurst's method for the excellent reason whichinfluenced him^the desire to preserve the freeexercise of his mind from beginning to end.

Great extempore speeches in parliamentarydebate are made by men who have been trained


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10 The Making of an Oratorin debate, and who are familiar with the ques-tions upon which they speak. If the matteris entirely novel, and they find any difficultyin dealing with it, long practice has made themskilful in the use of all the expedients of de-lay. The proposal is very good in the abstract,but it is inopportune, or it is not supportedby public opinion, or it is of so much impor-tance that it requires fuller consideration, orits practicability has not been proved, or, ifadopted, it might have an effect directly oppo-site to that intended by its advocates. CharlesJames Fox was the greatest debater of his dayin the House of Commons, and he has told ushimself that for years he made it a rule tospeak at least once every night, and this con-stant practice was his mode of preparing him-self for those extempore speeches with whichhe illumined the most obscure subjects, andsuccessfully assailed the most powerful min-isters. The trained debater has as great an ad-vantage over an ordinary speaker, as a trainedathlete has over an untrained one. He knowsall the rules of the game. He is always readyand never surprised. The debater can detecta fallacy before his opponent has concludedthe sentence in which it is conveyed, and sup-ply its correction without a moment's hesita-


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Introduction 11tipn. No groundless assumption escapes hisnotice ; he marks down every slip ; he is not de-ceived by side issues or quibbles about words,or the plea of innocence or indifference wherewrong has been done, nor is he thrown off hisguard by counter accusations, nor diverted byassumed airs of levity, nor frightened off by aspurious outburst of indignation. And moreimportant than all, he knows from previous en-counters his own strength and his own weak-ness. On occasions of a social or ceremonialcharacter speeches are frequently written, formore depends, in these cases, upon the tasteand judgment shown by the speaker, thanupon his subject-matter, and errors are lesslikely to occur when one takes the pains to setdown beforehand what he intends to say. Fewspeakers would undertake to pronounce aneulogium on a great personage without writ-ten preparation, through a very natural fearthat an extempore effort would do less thanjustice to the subject. All literary apprecia-tionsestimates of the genius of a writer, andof his place in literatureowe their power andfelicity, I apprehend, to the free use of thepen, and much careful study. No gifts how-ever brilliant will enable a speaker to dispensewith method and practice. Many of the


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12 The Making of an Oratorspeeches dehvered by popular speakers on theplatform are written speeches. Some ParHa-mentary speakers, who can speak very well ex-temporaneously, and are good debaters, writeout their platform speeches, either because thelocal opposition is ever ready to take advan-tage of any indiscretion, and it behoves themto be more on their guard, or because the writ-ten speech finds its way more easily into thepress, or because the speakers speak betterwhen they have taken the trouble to prepare inwriting. In Parliament, on the other hand,no man is master of the time of the House, orof its proceedings. No one can predict abso-lutely what may be the drift of the debates;and written preparation there, except for oc-casional, set, speeches is generally impracti-cable; but for a platform engagement onechooses his own date, at his own convenience,and knowing also beforehand the character ofthe audience before which he is to appear, hecan prepare himself in any way he pleases.The practised writer has resources known onlyto himself, which he has acquired by practice.Thackeray used to say there were a thousandideas in a man's head of which he had no con-ception until he took a pen in his hand. Thesame is true of a practised speaker. His mind


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Introduction 13is quiescent till he rises to speak. The mo-ment he stands before an audience he has com-mand of his subject. He takes in the wholeargument in one comprehensive view. Heknows what to say, what not to say, and whento sit down. It is the untrained and unprac-tised speaker alone who persists in addressingthe audience when everyone present would bethankful if he would resume his seat.A weakness for making long speeches is acharacteristic of the novice in oratory. Iknew a man of considerable political abilitywho ruined his career by too much talk. Heused to come down to the House with a sheafof notes which in the course of the evening hecontrived to fire off at the Government. Hisspeeches were prepared, I should say, out ofthe morning papers on his own side of poli-tics, as he faithfully rehearsed all their stockarguments, at unconscionable length. His in-dustry was, however, undeniable and markedhim out for a subordinate place in the Gov-ernment when his party returned to powera place which in due time he obtained. I knewhim well, but there was one point on which wecould never agree, and that was the appro-priate length of a good speech. I remon-strated with him on the amplitude of his


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14 The Making of an Oratorharangues. The sight of his notes was initself so formidable that members fled fromthe House when he succeeded in catching theSpeaker's eye. His defence was a curiousone. He had, he said, taken note of thelength of many of the admittedly greatspeeches of former times, and he had notfound one which would not have taken at leastan hour in delivery. It was in vain that Iurged my own personal recollection in favourof some great speeches that were much shorterLincoln's at Gettysburg for exampleandcontended that the great speeches which he hadin his mind were not considered great on ac-count of their length, but because they wereutterances on great subjects, and were ade-quate to the great occasions on which theywere delivered. His speeches were equallylong, no matter what was the subject or theoccasion, and he seemed to have no sense of therelative importance of different subjects anddifferent occasions. He forced himself intothe Government, however, and managed tokeep his place during their first term of of-fice, but on their resumption of a second termhe had talked away all his influence, and wasaccordingly excluded from the ministryvictim to his own unregulated loquacity.


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Introduction 15The true orator knows exactly how long he

ought to speak on every subject, and on everyoccasion. He knows that it is always betterto be too short than too long, but that the mat-ter is really determined for him by the natureof the subject, and the nature of the occasion,by aU the circumstances, by what has pre-ceded his speech, and by what he has reason toanticipate will follow it. At one time he is en-gaged in a humble part, on a question of littleinterest, and his speech is appropriate to asmall subject and a small occasion, and hespares both himself and his audience. Atanother he is committed to a task which callsforth all his powers, which he must dischargeat all risks, and he bends himself to the workbefore him, conscious of the great issues thatdepend upon his exertions. The question ofwhether his speech shall be long or short neverenters his head. His one absorbing deter-mination is that it shall be adequate, that itshall achieve the object for which it is made.How far it is calculated to attain that objectis for him the only test of its worth.Again, want of training is conspicuous

where there are a great many speakers, all anx-ious to speak, at a meeting which is limitedin point of time. An evening meeting is con-


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16 The Making of an Oratorsidered long if it exceeds two hours, unless theoccasion is one of very exceptional interest, yetit is no uncommon occurrence to see the earlierspeakers at such a meeting monopolise thewhole of the time which was intended to beshared equally by all who have been speciallyinvited to speak. The monopolisation is notalways deliberate. It arises frequently fromthe inability of speakers to stop once they havebeen set going. Speakers of this class aregenerally without order or method, and theyare powerless to extricate themselves from therambling incoherence in which they become in-volved. I remember an instance of this at ameeting in the country. A man who had notbeen announced to speak obtained the permis-sion of the Chairman to say a few words insupport of the first resolution submitted, oncondition that he would not speak more thana few minutes. The principal speaker of theevening had travelled a long distance for thespecial purpose of addressing this meeting.The audience assembled had come to hear him;and these facts were duly impressed upon thevolunteer orator, in order to make sure of hisnot standing between the audience and thespeaker they wished to hear. He pledgedhimself to the conditions laid down; but from


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Introduction 17the moment he rose he forgot all about them,and about everything, except the pleasure hederived from his possession of the meeting.When he had long exceeded his limit theChairman whispered to him that the time wasup, without avail. There were movements ofimpatience, and cries of "time" among the au-dience, but he took no notice. He wentsteadily on. The Chairman protested infurther whispers, but refrained from exer-cising his authority. The speaker answeredwith a smile, and continued as if thewhole evening were his own. The audi-ence, now fairly indignant, shouted lustily"time," "time," all over the hall. The speakerpaused in mid career, and there was a senseof relief on the platform. At last he was fin-ished! Not at all, he only pulled up to re-mark that "notwithstanding the unreasonableinterruptions of a few persons near him hewould now address himself to the main pointof the argument!" There was of course anexplosion of angry feeling. The audiencerose against him, and shouted at him wrath-fully; but he could not understand why, andthe Chairman had to lay a hand upon him anddraw him gently back into his seat, in orderto make way for the next speaker. He was a


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18 The Making of an Oratorfriend, nevertheless, not an enemy, of the cject of the meeting, and he meant well :through, STo trained orator could place hiiself in such a ridiculous position^the positiof being shouted down by a friendly audiencunless indeed his aim was to obstruct the piceedings, and talk against time. If this ulucky speaker understood his business,would have compressed into five, or at moten minutes, some telling argument, on a sigle aspect of the question under discussicand then retiredwith perhaps an augmentreputation for eloquence, and a desire, on tpart of his hearers, to listen to him at greatlength on the next occasion. He had not tskill to do this, nor had he the sense to remasilent, and the consequence was inevitable dcomfiture. Let me contrast with his failuibefore a sympathetic audience, the successa practised speaker before a hostile one-speaker who showed that he could be trustabsolutely to sit down at the right momeiThe scene was a turbulent public meeting, di;ing a contested election, in a London constitency. The speaker, who was the Candidaagreed with his Chairman that he would speat length if he were accorded anything likefair hearing, but that he would stop whe


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Introduction 19ever, in the judgment of the Chairman, hisaddress might prudently terminate. Thoseon the platform could hear the Chairman ateach stage of the address doling out addi-tional time to the orator on his legs. It wasdoled out in measures of five minutes, and thespeaker devoted just about five minutes toeach point, with an occasional retort on inter-rupters, of whom there was a goodly numberpresent. The speech kept the meeting to-gether, and compelled a hearing from unwill-ing auditors because the speaker understoodthe exigencies of the occasion and did not losehis head. He held his audience until he hadsaid aU that was essential, and then wisely re-leased them before the interruptions ripenedinto actual disturbance.


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CHAPTER IITHE STATEMENT OF FACTSWHEN the student of oratory knowshow to manage his voice he maythink seriously of making his first

speech. He will be fortunate if he has ac-quired also the habit of observing the rulesof grammar, for, though violations of theseare overlooked in the ease of conversation, theyare not excusable in a formal discourse. Er-rors of pronunciation accompany many of usfrom infancy to old age, and sometimes proveto be ineradicable because we have contractedthem in our earliest days, and they possess allthe vitality of local custom. Yet if we haveprofited by our reading lessons we ought tobe free from those aggravated faults whichstrike unpleasantly on the cultivated ear. Weought to know something also of the natureof tone, manner, and gesture, as aids to theproper expression of the emotions; but any-thing like proficiency in the fine art of read-ing will not be expected from us so soon. Theone indispensable requisite for the student is,

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The Statement of Facts 21that he should be able to speak audibly beforeentering upon the first stage of his practicein oratory. If he suffers from any vocal de-fects the sooner they are cured the better, andtheir cure will be a much easier thing, prob-ably, in youth than in older years. In pre-paring his first speech, he will encounter theunexpected difficulties which all beginnershave to surmount. If he can adopt themethod of some favourite orator whom he hasobserved and studied, well and good. He hasperhaps already learned by heart, and recited,fine passages from some of the greatest mas-ters of Enghsh eloquence, but these are of nouse to him at the present stage except as exer-cises in elocution. He must begin at the be-ginning; and if he is wise he will select forhis first model a speech which is neither rhe-torical nor argumentative, but simply a plainstatement of facts. Order and method,which are so important in written composi-tions, are of still greater importance in thosewhich are spoken, and he who would acquirea good method cannot too early learn how tomake a plain statement of facts, in the man-ner best adapted to the object for which hespeaks. The task is not so simple as it ap-pears. There are orators of considerable re-


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22 The Making of an Oratorpute who are deficient in this elementary partof their art. The utility of it has not beenpointed out to them, and they have not them-selves perceived its importance. They are ac-customed to concern themselves more with theornamental features of a speech, forgettingthat the humbler parts are really fundamental.How often has one heard in the course of arhetorically fervid address, the question putsotto voceJ "What is he driving at?" Thespeaker is appealing to the emotions of hisaudience while they are eagerly waiting forthe facts, which he has either entirely withheld,or stated so clumsily that they fail to make anydistinct impression. What a speaker of thisdescription wants is the power of simple nar-ration, which may be acquired by exercisesnot beyond the capacity of a schoolboy, butwhich in its highest development forms anessential part of some of the grandest andmost elaborate feats of eloquence.The events of a single day, in the most pro-

saic of lives, will often supply the student withabundant material for an exercise in narration.If his schoolfellows can be induced to hsten,he may deliver his maiden speech to them, oraddress it to the members of his own family,where, presumably, he could count on a sym-


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24 The Making of an Oratorhas been made in the acquisition of the powerof arranging facts and stating them in theirproper order. The beginner, to whom rhetoricand logic are now denied, must remember that,as I have already indicated, this power is,among orators of the present day, as rare as itis valuable. When he has acquired it he willbe in the proud position of being able, so faras oratorical ability without technical instruc-tion is concerned, to undertake that portion ofthe work of an advocate at the Bar which isdesignated the opening speech. What iscalled the opening speech in a court of lawconsists simply in a statement of the facts onwhich the plaintiff or defendant relies in theaction. This statement is made by the plain-tiff or defendant himself, or his advocate. Itcontains, of course, references to the evidenceby which he hopes to prove his case; but itaffords no opportunity whatever for rhetor-ical display, and there can be no argimient ofany kind, unless on some technical objectionto the proceedings, until the evidence of thewitnesses has been taken. An argument inthe opening would be an argument on assump-tions, and not on facts. When the facts havebeen brought out by the plaintiff's advocate,he "sums up" on his own side and argues, but


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The Statement of Facts 25in the opening he is restricted to a mere state-ment. Yet how very diiferently is this open-ing statement made by different speakers?In the hands of one it is a confused jumbleof assertions, which it is hopeless to unravelor understand, and we await the story of thewitnesses to discover what it all means. In thecase of another it is clear, so far as it goes,but neither coherent nor convincing; wantingin proportion, perhaps, and, for some in-definable reason, by no means calculated tomake that good first impression which it shouldbe the opener's aim to achieve. In the handsof the accomplished advocate, however, thisplain and simple statement becomes in a greatcase a supreme work of art. The most com-plicated issues are made clear, the driest de-tails are made intelligible, if not interesting,each fact, or document, or circumstance, findsits appropriate place, and the good order ofthe whole constitutes in itself a presumptionin favour of the chent, though no formalargument has been advanced from beginningto end. When I suggest that the young ora-tor should begin with a speech which consistsonly of a statement of facts, I would not con-ceal from him that on a difficult subject, eventhis kind of speech would be more than he


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26 The Making of an Oratorcould manage. He must content himself atthe beginning with simple subjects, and whenhe has mastered them learn, by continuedpractice, how to deal with those which are morecomplex. But I would insist once more thathe must put all thought of rhetoric or logicout of his head until he is able to tell a plaintale without ambiguity or circumlocution.The usual method of study is, in many cases,

in the reverse order to that which is hererecommended. Boys who have been exercisedin reciting the most eloquent passages of greatorators try their hands at imitations of thesebefore they know the real structure of aspeech, or the parts of which it is composed.The recitations are to be encouraged, for twogood reasons : they are, in the first place, goodvocal exercises, and in the second, they serveto fix the mind of the student upon the goalto which he must aspire, the lofty heightswhich are trodden with ease by the finishedorator whose power of expression is limitedonly by the resources of the language he em-ploys. Their utiUty for the beginner stopsthere. He must be satisfied with humblermodels in the first stages of his practice, andthen when he is well grounded he can pass onwith all the more facility to higher things.


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The Statement of Facts 27In the mind of a great orator there is no dis-tinction in the different qualities of style. Heuses them all indiscriminately to suit his pur-pose, and he can do so with success because heis master of them all. I am confident, never-theless, that the young student who may hon-our me with a perusal of these pages, and isthereby led to adopt the order of study I sug-gest, will have no cause to regret his decision.When he has the power of imparting infor-mation clearly and accurately, he has the powerof instructing his audience in that importantdepartment of knowledge^the knowledge offacts^upon which the determination of mostof the controversies of life depends. It hasbeen calculated that nine tenths of our law-suits turn upon questions of fact, and not uponquestions of law. It is equally true that agreat proportion of the quarrels of nationsarise from ignorance and not from indiffer-ence to the eternal distinction between rightand wrong. Great, therefore, is the power ofclear and intelligible statement, in order thatin every case with which speech is concerned,the truth, and the truth alone, may be estab-lished and maintained.I shall have occasion in the course of my

remarks to quote from, and to analyse.


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28 The Making of an Oratorspeeches of orators of different shades ofopinion, but these speeches will be selectedwithout any regard to the views held by thespeaker, and solely for purposes of illustra-tion. Among the orators of the last genera-tion distinguished for clearness of statementthe name of Mr. Cobden at once suggestsitself. He had other high qualities as aspeaker; a vocabulary of homely expressiveEnglish, a sense of humour, and powers ofargumentation of great strength and acute-ness; but it was his power of clear statementon which he most relied, and which most fa-vourably impressed his contemporaries. Iturn to a volume of his speeches, and on open-ing it, at hazard, I find one which might wellserve as a model for the young speaker. Thespeech was delivered in London, on June the18th, 1845, on the subject of the Corn-laws.It is a long speech, the earlier part of whichmore than one third of the wholeis nothingbut an account of the position occupied by thequestion in which the speaker was interestedat that time, and this account is given with asmuch ease and freedom as if he were describ-ing a walk in a country lane. A few para-graphs will show the character of an address


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The Statement of Facts 29which was probably heard by many thousands,and in which they were deeply interested:

" I could not help thinking as my friend the Chair-man was giving you those interesting and somewhatnovel statistics, that I am following him at some dis-advantage, inasmuch as I fear there is little chanceof my being able to communicate anything so' new,or even so agreeable, to you as he has done. He hasjust returned from the North, where he has been mak-ing up his accounts. I have just come from a Rail-way Committee, where I have been on the tread-wheelfor the last three weeks as much a prisoner asthough I were in Newgate, and with the disadvantageof being conscious that I am in a place where thereis more time wasted than even in that distinguishedgaol. Yet even under the roof of St. Stephen's therehas been something of late passing of rather a cheer-ing character, and I think I may say I do bring goodnews from the House of Commons. It is not such abad place, after all, especially for agitation. Lastyear we made a little mistake at the beginning of thesession; we laid our heads together, and came to theconclusion that we could employ ourselves better outof doors in visiting some of the counties and iniraldistricts, and agitating a little in the country; thisyear we have changed our tactics, and we thoughtthat Parliament, after all, was the best place for agi-tating. You speak with a loud voice when talkingon the floor of that House ; you are heard all over the


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32 The Making of an Oratorthey themselves avow that they are carrying on prin-ciples which they believe to be unjust and untrue."After which, he resumes his simple state-

ment thus:" I think we ought to feel deeply indebted to such

meetings as this, which have stood by this question;which have cheered on public men in its advocacy;which have aided in disseminating the knowledge thathas gone forth from this vast building, in which wehave brought the public mind on both sides so far todefer to the expression of public opinion as to showthat they are bound to acknowledge the justice of ourprinciples. Now there is but one universal opinion,that is, that it is a question of time. Three or fouryears ago everybody used to tell me that it was aspecies of insanity to think of carrying this principleof a total repeal of the Corn-laws. Now, everybodysays, ' There is no doubt you will effect the total re-peal, the only question is as to the time.' We havenarrowed the controversy ; we have reduced it downto one little word. The whole question hinges uponone monosyllable When ? I think the Times news-paper of the day before yesterday put out a very fairchallenge to the League, in a very beautiful article,in which it said we were called upon to argue thequestion upon that grounds; to show the justice, ex-pediency and policy of our doctrine of ' immediaterepeal.' I have no objection to answer that chal-lenge; and in doing so if I am matter-of-fact and


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34 The Making of an Oratorask him in the first instance to go much beyondthe conversational method. Strictly speakingevery part of a composition, spoken or written,comes under the head of rhetoric, of whichI propose to treat in a separate chapter, butthe student's attention should be concentratedupon the simple statement until he has madehimself famihar with its scope and possibili-ties. The term exposition is generally appliedto a statement which is concerned with a com-plicated subject, yet every statement is an ex-position, and these terms may therefore beregarded as equivalent. The more compli-cated the subject, the greater the art requiredto make it clear in all its parts, and the simplerit appears when it has been stated, the greateris the eloquence and power of the speaker. Abare recital of facts may not suffice, even inthe simplest cases. We sometimes require in-formation as to time, and place, and circum-stances, in order to appreciate the facts.Hence the necessity of description as an aidtowards placing the facts in their proper light.We want to know not only what occurred, orwhat was said or done, but how it occurred,and how it was said or done. Our statementcannot, in such cases, be made clear without anexercise of the imagination, though we must be


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The Statement of Facts 35careful, all the while, to keep the imaginationin check lest we should be carried away fromthe concrete facts, which it is our purpose toillumine, and not to obscure. There is onegreat difference between the functions of theorator and the writer, which should never belost sight of. The aim of the one is to makeus think; of the other, to make us think andact. The spoken word calls for some action,or, at least, for some exercise of the will, onthe part of those addressed, whereas the writ-ten word often leaves us quite passive. Wemay be amused, or instructed, or edified, by it,without doing anything. The spoken word,on the other hand, asks us to judge and decideand, sometimes, to act. Our chief object inreading is to enrich the mind; our purpose inlistening to an orator is to discover not merelywhat is, but what ought to be. We listen tothe preacher that we may learn to govern ourconduct; to the advocate that we may returna true verdict; to the politician that we maygive a righteous vote on the polling-day. Welook to the orator, then, for light and leading,which are to bear fruit, beyond ourselves ; andwe can forgive him every defect but a wantof lucidity, which would throw us back on ourown resources, and create only doubt and con-


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36 The Making of an Oratorfusion, where we hoped for light and certainty.When facts are stated clearly, and in theirproper order, they are said to possess logicalsequence. That is to say, the statement isintrinsically logical, because the arrangementis in the natural order. There is no idea ofargument implied. We find everything in theplace which it ought to occupy, and we feelthat it would be out of place if it were putanywhere else. And all this is within thereach of the young speaker, before he entersupon the study of logic, for the higher pur-poses of argumentation. This logical se-quence is attainable only by the speaker whoknows how to group his facts according totheir bearing upon one another. Certain factsbear upon one aspect of the case, and theymust be grouped there, and not suffered toobtrude themselves among others to which theyare not directly related. Then again there arefacts which come more appropriately at thebeginning of a statement, and others, whichare better reserved for the end. But the se-cret of order and sequence will discover itselfto the novice in due time, if he will only makehis aim lucidity and keep this resolutely inview. Having considered and utihsed theforegoing hints, the student may now go a


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The Statement of Facts 37step farther and suggest his own interpreta-tion of the facts, and, although this will carryhim somewhat beyond the elementary stage, hemay attempt it without risk of failure. Hemay point out the moral of the facts he hasrecited, and call attention to the more strikingconclusions which follow from them, and so,rounding off his simple statement, rest satis-fied with his maiden speech.The ancients who analysed the art of ora-

tory with great minuteness, did not agree asto the number of parts of which a speech maybe composed.^ They appear to have confusedthe divisions of the art of oratory with thoseof a single speech and to have erred regardingboth. Let us, however, for the moment, con-fine ourselves to the single speech. I knowof no classification of parts that can be appliedto speeches in general. I can enumerate thedivisions of a speech when I have heard it, orread it, not before. The rules which are gen-erally prescribed include as essential, an intro-duction and a peroration.^ But I have heardsome very good speeches which had neither theone nor the other. And a moment's reflection^Quintilian, Book III.''Aristotle says there are only two indispensable parts, the

statement and the proof.


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38 The Making of an Oratorwill convince anyone that there must be hund-reds of such speeches dehvered every day,wherever debate is carried on; and that scoresof fallacies are demolished in circumstances inwhich the speaker has no time to make an in-troduction, and the audience would not hstento a peroration. Provide by all means for allimaginable divisions, if the subject is worthyof it^the introduction, the statement, theproof, the argument, and the perorationforeach of these divisions has its uses, and each isimportant in its place. But do not supposethat all are necessary before you open yourmouth. And do not confuse yourself, think-ing what part invention, memory, or judg-ment, has in the eflFort you are making. Allthese faculties, with the will and the imagina-tion added, play their parts simultaneously. Ithink none of them ought to be classed asdivisions of the speech. They are instrimientsof the process, but not parts of the product;and delivery, which is sometimes spoken of asone division of a speech, is reaUy the speechitself in its final form, unless, indeed, the mean-ing of the word be restricted to the "acting"by which speaking is accompanied. Lookingover the speech from which I have alreadyquoted I see in it only three divisionsthe in-


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40 The Making of an Oratorin controversy should be established; then that whatwe may maintain should be supported by proof, andthat whatever was said on the other side should berefuted; and that, in the conclusion of our speech,whatever was in our favour should be amplified andenforced, and whatever made for our adversariesshould be weakened and invalidated."

It may be asked why the student is allowedto engage in public speaking before he haslearned any of the rules of rhetoric or of logic;and my answer is that it is well to encouragehis natural freedom of speech and to impressupon him, and make him feel, at the outset,that oratory is not dependent upon rules.Every intelligent boy now hving, has beenspeaking all his life^without rule, from ne-cessity; and by the force of daily habit andthe influence exerted upon him by his associ-ates, he has acquired a considerable vocabu-lary, and a certain degree of eloquence, quiteunconsciously. I wish to see him use thesepowers, immature though they be, to the extentof which they are capable; and I have no doubtthat they are equal, under a reasonable amountof practice, to the delivery of a plain state-ment of facts. I am convinced that his ca-pacity for clearness of statement, such as itis, would be weakened by any encouragement


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The Statement of Facts 41he might now receive to enter upon the higherfields of oratory; that he must be restricted towhat is conversational, so to speak, in orderthat he may be grounded, once for all, in anessential, but not attractive, part of the ora-tor's art. If a boy is to be taught a foreignlanguage, he must be taught through a med-ium of his native speech. It would be folly tocut him off suddenly from those forms of ex-pression which he has acquired, as it were, bynature. The young orator, in like manner,must be exercised in the ordinary speech whichhe already employs, to make knoAvn his per-sonal wants and desires, if in his first efforts,he is to lay the foundation of his further pro-gress, and ultimate distinction.

Oratory may be defined as the art of per-suasion, and its legitimate purpose, as I viewit, is twofoldit is to establish truth, and tostimulate men to righteous action.There can be sound reasoning without a full

and accurate perception of all the leading factsof any subject under discussion, yet the rarestform of mental power is the power of seeingfacts. It is rare, because it implies both moraland intellectual capacity. A man may be aperfect master of words and phrases, a skilleddialectician, with a brilliant wit and the most


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44 The Making of an Oratorlet the student try what he can do by himself,even before he consults the masters of theory.He has invention of his own, for design;memory, for the reproduction of facts;imagination, for the description of places andcircumstances; passions which, on every sub-ject that touches him deeply, burn for utter-ance. Let him give all the faculties of mindand body that are called into play in speakingfree scope. When he has done this, in re-peated exercises, he will know the hmitationsof his own abilities, and be better prepared toprofit by the counsels of others. When, assuggested in the last chapter, he has becomeproficient in stating the facts of any subject,he will aspire to higher efforts. He wiU feelthat a bare statement of facts, however inter-esting it may be to those who are specially con-cerned in the subject treated of, and althoughin certain instances, nothing more would beappropriate, is not effective, as oratory, ingreat causes. When mighty issues dependupon the decision to which a speaker appealshe is himself profoundly moved. He be-comes, in fact, rhetorical; and if we observeall that he says and does, in these supreme mo-ments of advocacy, we may gather from himthe whole science of rhetoric, which, it is said.


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46 The Making of an Oratoreach particular case. No rule that could beframed would apply to all conceivable cases.Wherever there is controversy, as in Parlia-ment, in deliberative councils of all sorts, andin courts of law, the means of persuasion varyfrequently during the progress of discussion.What it would be well to say at one stage,might be fatal at another. A great debate islike a battle, in which opposing generals exertall their skill and ingenuity to overcome oneanother. Generals are obliged to change theirtactics, according to the fortune of the day,no matter what their original plans may havebeen, and a speaker, who has to face an ad-versary, in the war of words, is subject to thesame necessity. The soldier, however, whohas won can generally make sure of the fruitsof victory, whereas the speaker, who has madethe best case in the field of argument, is oftenbeaten by a hostile judgment, or overwhelmedby the adverse vote of a party majority. Not-withstanding the infinite variety of subjectsand cases it is nevertheless true that there arecertain fixed principles of persuasion whichcannot be dispensed with.

Audiences are persuaded, Aristotle tells us,in one of three ways, "either by their concep-tion of the character of the speaker, or by the


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The Uses of Rhetoric 47success of his appeal to their emotions, or bywhat the facts demonstrate" ; and sometimes, itmay be added, by the partial or complete unionof all these. It is difficult to exaggerate theimportance of personal influence in formingthe opinions of men, in legislatures, popularassemblies, and religious organisations. It isin some cases so persuasive as to be able topersuade almost without words, certainly with-out any display of what is called eloquence.The character of the speaker stands for af-firmation, facts, and arguments. It inspiresa confidence so unshaken, that even when goodpolicy would seem to point infalhbly in a di-rection opposite to that which he recommends,the audience feel that, after all, he must insome way be right, and they are accordinglypersuaded to range themselves on his side. Inthe political arena it commands unquestioningassent to one set of doctrines one day, andto a contrary set on another. It not only se-cures assent, it inspires devotion. The his-tory of rehgious beliefs, in all ages of theworld, teems with evidence of its power. Ifthe speaker finds it advisable to appeal to theemotions of his audience, as he often will inaddressing popular assembhes, he has a widefield for the selection of his topics. No musi-


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The Uses of Rhetoric 49dience, first of all by his own personality; andthe appropriate domain for its exercise is tobe found in the affections and emotions ofmankind. In the minds of some persons, how-ever, to be impassioned on any subject is tobe rude; to be indignant is to be unfashion-able; yet there are cases where it is a duty tobe angry, and passion is as necessary to ora-tory as imagination is to poetry, or as the hghtof heaven is to the splendours of a sununer'sday. For my part I do not understand howa public speaker can pronounce words whichsignify great sentiments in cold bloodsuchwords as liberty, humanity, religion, war,peace. Each one of them suggests deathlessmemories. The names of those whose ex-ploits shine upon the roll of honour rise abovetheir sleeping dust; and we think not least ofthose who went down in honourable defeat,those whom the nations mourn because theyknew how to die. Great emotions are notaroused by argument or by scientific demon-stration. They have their sources in the heartsand souls and consciences of men, and arekindled only by sympathy. It is not the wandof science, but the one touch of nature thatmakes the whole world kin. When Sheridanpleaded the cause of humanity in the case


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50 The Making of an Oratorof the princes and peoples of India, Pittmoved the adjournment of the House ex-pressly in order that it might recover from theoverwhelming effect of the eloquence of theorator. The House accordingly adjourned.The speech was delivered in the House ofCommons in connection with the proceedingsabout to be instituted for the impeachment ofWarren Hastings. Burke, Pitt, and Foxunited in describing it as the greatest ever ut-tered. It possessed the great qualities of thenoblest style ; but its supreme excellence lay inthe moral ascendency of the advocate of jus-tice, in the righteous indignation of the ac-cuser of oppression. Sheridan suspended thesitting of the House of Commons by an irre-sistible appeal to its humanity; and hetouched its humanity by revealing and mani-festing his own.The manner in which a speaker addresseshimself to the emotions of his audience will

determine their disposition towards him, andif his subject be one which does not admit ofany other appeal to them, a shght rhetoricalmistake may make aU the difference betweensuccess and failure. It is then a fixed prin-ciple in persuasion that the speaker must carrywith him the sympathies of his audience. If,


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The Uses of Rhetoric 51again, he can rely neither upon the impres-sion of his character, nor upon the emotionswhich he is able to excite, he must persuade bymeans of the facts, and by argument, whichis nothing more than the presentation of thefacts, in a demonstrative form. The student,instead of puzzling himself with theories anddistinctions culled from authorities ancient ormodern, should concentrate his attention uponthe living art of oratory, as we know it, in theSenate, on the platform, at the Bar, in thepulpit, and in the lecture-hall. This is some-thing which he can study for himself at firsthand, and he wiU learn much from the mis-takes of bad or indifferent speakers, as well asfrom the perfect art of good ones, because hewill observe the effect produced on the audi-ence by their different methods. What iscalled a rhetorical discourse, at the present day,is one which is addressed mainly to the feel-ings of the audience. Rhetoric with us hasnot the same signification it had among theAncients. As applied to oratory, certainly, ithas a narrower meaning, for it is no longerheld to include the whole art of speaking.With regard to oratory in national assembhes,such as the British Parliament, or the UnitedStates Congress: nothing has so much influ-


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52 The Making of an Oratorence in determining its character as the partysystem of Government. There are two par-ties in the House of Commons who alternatelygovern through a parliamentary majority. Onmost if not all important questions of nationalpoUcy they are opposed to one another, and itmay be stated as a rule that the apprehensionof attack from a foreign enemy alone causesany cessation of parliamentary strife. Thecontestants besides having different pubhcends in view, are rivals for place and power.The questions that come before the House ofCommons are consequently disputed questions.The House, although mainly composed of per-sons of wealth and education, is an assemblyof great popular characteristics, and it isdependent upon a large popular vote in thecountry. Hence it foUows that its oratory isaddressed to the passions and sentiments of thepeople, though rising occasionally to the morecomplex strains of ethical and intellectual elo-quence. The appeal to popular feeling ismore or less disguised, according to thetemperament of the orator, but it is therenevertheless, and is intended as much for theelectors in the country as for their representa-tives to whom it is ostensibly addressed.

Parliamentary oratory being then, essen-


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54 The Making of an Oratorpassions and prejudices, and great effects areproduced by the judicious use of metaphoricallanguage. In a legislative assembly, wherestrong feehng is frequently aroused, in thediscussion of national questions, the figure ofhyperbole is in constant use. A speaker in theheat of argument will magnify or minimise anobject, in the most daring manner, but thereis no deception in his words because we per-ceive the object in its true proportions, and wenot only make allowance for the imaginativedescription but are pleased with its audacity.We welcome a happy simile or comparison,for the same reason. The rules of debateenforced in legislative assemblies exercisean important and, on the whole, a bene-ficial eff'ect on parliamentary rhetoric. Theyprevent its degenerating into coarse invectiveor vulgar abuse, and help to concentrate atten-tion on the question under discussion. Merepersonal attacks are objectionable, not onlybecause they lower the tone of public hfe, butbecause they are irrelevant, and solve nothing.If the freedom of the platform is restrictedin the senate, something is obtained in ex-change. There is at least a saving of time andof temper, and there is no great loss of power.The thrust of a rapier is more deadly than the


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The Uses of Rhetoric 55blow of a blackthorn-stick. Hence it is thatirony, and all forms of satire, are frequentlyemployed in the senate. Censure sarcasticallyadministered in terms of praise will sometimesoverwhelm an antagonist who is proof againstaU other forms of attack. There are manyexamples of this species of rhetoric in the par-liamentary speeches of Mr. Disraeli. He dis-poses of one of his critics by assuring him thathe always listened to him with interest andpleasure and that he regarded him as a "supe-rior person." Mr. Bright, who was equallyeloquent at mass meetings and in ParUament,would not, on the platform, hesitate to stig-matise a certain opponent as an office-seeker.But when he wanted to do the same thing inthe House of Commons he contrived an in-genious parody on some lines in Gray's Elegy,and repeated his version thus:For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,The pleasing sweets of office e'er resigned.

Left the warm precincts of the Treasury,Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind.

The oratory of the platform and the publicmeeting, though possessing great affinity withthat of the legislature, as it is conversant withthe same class of questions, is distinguished by


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56 The Making of an Oratorgreater freedom and a more rhetorical style.The pressure of public business which must begot through, with or without debate, in thelegislature of to-day, checks the flow of words.Parliaments are legislative workshops, not de-bating societies; and even the old custom ofventilating grievances has had to give way tothe demand for new laws deaUng with thehighly organised social and industrial life ofthe nation. The public meeting, on the otherhand, is the fitting arena for abstract declama-tion, and for the agitation and discussion ofquestions not yet ripe for legislation. It isnot in any sense a place for the transactionof business, but for the promulgation of pub-lic opinion and the expression of the senti-ments and aspirations of the people. So muchof the success of a speaker depends upon hisappreciation of each occasion, as it presentsitself, that the student cannot be too carefulin noting the differences between one audienceand another; and there is a wide differencebetween the public meeting and any delib-erative assembly imaginable. An effectiveplatform speaker displays an abundant andvaried rhetoric, he avoids long arguments,and he is sparing of statistics. I am stillof course using the term "rhetoric" in its


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The Uses of Rhetoric 57popular sense as distinct from the facts of aspeech and the argument upon the facts. Wehave already seen how important it is that thefacts should be well stated, and we shall con-sider, in a later chapter, the method of logicalargumentation. In platform speaking themanner is of supreme importance. Before apopular audience a few facts and little argu-ment will go a long way, if the manner of thespeaker is calculated to engage the attentionof his hearers. He need not, nay, he must not,be frivolous, and if he has a solid case to pre-sent, on a subject of genuine public interest,he will be heard patiently; but he must not bevague, or subtle, or equivocal, and above all,whether his speech is long or short he must notbe tedious. The individuals of which a popu-lar audience is composed are not accustomedto elaborate mental processes in the formationof their opinions, and consequently they areunable to bear the strain of a long and com-plex argument. I knew a distinguished mem-ber of the Bar who twice lost his seat in theHouse of Conmions through his inability toaddress meetings of his constituents in a pop-ular manner. He carried the tone and stylein which he used to speak before a judge, sit-ting without a jury, to the meetings which were


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58 The Making of an Oratorlargely composed of working-men, tired aftertheir day's workand so far from serving hiscause he injured it at every meeting which headdressed. It was observed to me by one ofhis warmest supporters that so unconscious washe of any want of attention on the part of hisaudiences that he spoke to them at intolerablelength, thereby aggravating the evil of a dryand spiritless elocution.The platform speaker enjoys a greater lati-

tude than any other in the choice of his topics,and in the methods of dealing with them. Solong as he keeps on good terms with his au-dience he can take any line he likes. He is notrestrained by the rules of Parliament, or thecustoms of the Bar, or the reverence of thePulpit, or the necessity of imparting instruc-tion which binds the school or university lec-turer to a specific treatment of his subject.He may be grave or gay, lively or severe, ashe wills, provided always that his varyingmood is adapted to the matter in hand. Abold metaphor, a telling anecdote, a humorousallusion, a flash of wit, a stroke of satire, anoutburst of invective, or a strain of touchingpathos comes naturally to the man who is inpossession of the popular ear, and who canrespond to the heart-beating of his coxintry-


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The Uses of Rhetoric 59men. And these are the instruments ofplatform rhetoric.The Bar, except in political cases now hap-pily rare, offers few opportunities for the dis-play of rhetoric, in the restricted sense, inwhich for the sake of convenience, I use theword. In criminal cases no doubt a skilfuladvocate may capture the jury by an adroitappeal to their feelings; but such a triumphtaxes all the resources of his art. He mustin the first place know his men, and form hisestimate of them as they enter the jury-box.He must determine accurately how they arelikely to be affected by the particular case,and bear this in mind during its progress,especially in his treatment of the witnesses.A judicious question in cross-examination willoften accomplish more for his purpose thanthe most fervid eloquence, so that it is not byoratory alone that an advocate wins his casebut by its efficient conduct from beginning toend. It may be, however, that all his effortsin examination-in-chief, and in cross-examina-tion, fail to weaken the case on the other side,and in these circumstances he must gird him-self up for a powerful appeal to the jury.If he is Counsel for the prosecution, and thereis the least room for doubt as to the guilt of


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60 The Making of an Oratorthe accused, he may endeavour to remove it by-reminding the jury of all that depends upontheir verdict. Criminal cases generally relateto the security of life, or of property, or ofboth, and the jury cannot turn a deaf ear toany appeal founded upon them, for all menare concerned for the safety of human hfeand the security of their possessions. If forexample the prisoner's offence b'e a breach ofthe peace, the prosecuting Counsel will em-phasise the value of law and order, and sug-gest to the minds of the jury those generalconsiderations regarding the importance ofmaintaining public tranquillity which neverfail to impress the members of a law-abidingcommunity. The rhetorical efforts of theCounsel for the defence on the other hand willbe directed to other considerations not lesstrue nor less vitally important in the abstractthan those dwelt upon by his opponent. If itbe true, as all admit, that law and order mustbe enforced, it is equally true that they couldnot be more disastrously violated than by theconviction and punishment of an innocent per-son. These appeals to general principles arenot always relevant to the particular issues tobe decided, and while their ostensible object isto put the jury in an equitable frame of mind.


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The Uses of Rhetoric 61their real purpose is to warp its judgment inthe direction desired by the advocate. Whena case is tried by a judge without a jury theforensic orator will discard everything in theform of rhetorical display, and rely upon hisfacts and the best reasoning upon them thatthe case will admit of. The learning and ex-perience of the judge cannot usually be over-come by emotional eloquence; and even wherethe determination of the issues rests with thejury he has to be reckoned with. His sum-ming up of the case gives him the last word be-fore the jury enters upon the consideration ofthe verdict; and he will not hesitate to warnthe jury if the zeal of the advocate on eitherside has betrayed him into any artifice preju-dicial to a true decision. Irony as a purelyrhetorical weapon is particularly effective,when addressed to a refined and cultivated au-dience; but it is a dangerous one to use inserious argument. A contributor to Black-laood's Magazine writing under the nom deplume of Sigma gives an instructive exampleof its injudicious use by an accomplishedjudge. Shortly after his appointment as ajudge, he was trying a burglar in some coun-try town, and by way of mitigating the tedium


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The Uses of Rhetoric 63by a satirical description of their inconse-quence and futility.The oratory of the Bar, unlike that of theSenate, or the public meeting, is concernedwith the rights and wrongs of individuals only,and not with great public affairs, and this cir-cumstance obviously limits its opportunitiesfor the more exciting and soul-stirring formsof eloquence. In listening to a real orator,whether he speaks in Parliament, or before amass meeting, or in court, or in the pulpit, Ialways feel that, given the requisite knowledgeand some familiarity with his surroundings,he would speak equally well in all places,though I know there are some notableinstances to the contrary. The essential quali-ties of good speaking are always andeverywhere the same. It is characterised bysimplicity, lucidity, elegance, manliness andforce ; it is marked by unity of purpose, sound,coherent reasoning, happy illustration, and ahearty, outspoken delivery. The object oflectures in school or college is instruction, andhow far the teacher can employ rhetoricalmethods depends upon the nature of his sub-ject, as well as upon his own temperament anddisposition. A lecture on some branch of po-litical economy would differ in treatment from


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64 The Making of an Oratorone on literature or art, because of the limita-tions incidental to the subject, in the one case,and the variety and freedom permitted in theother; but in competent hands instruction,even of the most technical kind, can be madeinteresting if not entertaining. To this formof speaking, as to all other, the universal ruleapplies, that the speech must be adapted tothe audience, and it makes a great differencewhether the audience is composed of youngstudents or old, and what particular sort ofinstruction the lecturer is trying to impart.It may be granted that it is not his functionto amuse his pupils, and that his work as ateacher is very serious business; but that workwill be all the more successful the more it iscalculated to excite and sustain their attention.I do not know any form of public speakingin which good rhetoric and a good deliverywould produce better results than that of thecollege lecturer who, while imparting soundknowledge, can also teach good methods byhis own example. It is a mistake to supposethat great learning in the teacher is any com-pensation to the pupil for a mode of instruc-tion which leaves no impression on his mind.There is a passage in the Conferences ofLacordaire which may serve for an example


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The Uses of Rhetoric 65of the rhetoric of the lecture hall. He wasspeaking in Notre Dame, on the divinity ofChrist, and he wanted to quote two short sen-tences, one from Rousseau, and one from Na-poleon. He determined that each of theprecious fragments should have a rich andelaborate setting, and the effect of the wholeis, I think, magnificent:

" Whilst the eighteenth century heaped insult uponthe Son of God, in the very midst of that school whichattacked Him, there was a man who believed no morethan the rest, a man as celebrated as the rest themost celebrated amongst them with one exceptionand who above them all was privileged with sincereimpulsions. God so willed it that His name mightnot be left without a witness even amongst those wholaboured to destroy His reign. That man, then atthe height of his glory, acquainted by his studieswith past ages, and by his life, with the age of whichhe was an ornament, had to speak of Jesus Christ, ina profession of faith, in which he desired to sum upall the doubts and convictions which his meditationson religious matters had left in his mind. After hav-ing treated of God in a worthy, although in a con-fused manner, he came to the Gospel and Jesus Christ.There, that soul, floating between error and truth sud-denly lost its hesitation, and with a hand firm as amartyr's, forgetting his age and his works, the phi-losopher wrote the page of a theologian a page


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66 The Making of an Oratorwhich was to become the counterpoise of the blas-phemy: Ecrasez I'infcme! It concluded by thesewords, which will resound throughout Christendomuntil the last coming of Christ. 'If the life anddeath of Socrates be those of a sage, the life anddeath of Jesus Christ are those of God.' "

Thus Lacordaire presented the quotationfrom Rousseau. Mark the still loftier dictionof his introduction of the words of Napoleon:

" It might well have been thought that the force ofthat confession would never have been surpassed,whether in regard to the genius of the man who wroteit, the authority of his unbelief, the glory of his name,and the circumstances connected with the age whichreceived it; but it would have been an error. An-other man, another expression, another glory, anotherphase of unbelief, another age, another avowal, weregreater altogether, if not in each separate part, thenthose you have just heard. Our age commenced by aman who outstripped all his contemporaries, andwhom we, who have followed, have not equalled. Aconqueror, a soldier, a founder of empire, his nameand his ideas are still everywhere present. Afterhaving unconsciously accomplished the work of God,he disappeared, that work being done, and waned likea setting sun in the deep waters of the ocean. There,upon a barren rock, he loved to recall the events ofhis own life; and from himself going back to otherswho had lived before him, and to whom he had a right


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68 The Making of an Oratorbefore you; you will see learned men, sages, princes,and their ministers; you will witness elevations andruins; sons of time, time will initiate you into thehidden things of man; and when you have learnedthem, when you know the measure of what is human,some day, perhaps, returning from those heights forwhich you hoped, you will say also, ' I know men,and I say that Jesus Christ was not a man ! ' Theday too will come when upon the tomb of her greatcaptain, France will grave these words, and they willshine there with more immortal lustre than the sunof the Pyramids and Austerlitz ! "

Oratory though primarily a natural out-burst of speech passes into the stage of artwhenever the speaker's method is the result ofdeliberation and selection, whenever, in otherwords, he applies the resources of learningbe it the learning of the schools, or what hehas been taught by his own experienceto thepurpose of making his speech more effective.A shrewd peasant who sells his cow in the fair,or his pig in the market, at a good price, prac-tises the art of persuasion. And the oratormay learn from him that the language bestsuited to his purpose must be drawn from theschool of life. Literature will furnish nobleadditions to his stock of ideas; but the ex-pressive words of homely Saxon must be taken.


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The Uses of Rhetoric 69breathing hot, from the lips of the people, inthe field, the farm, the workshop, and themarket-place.


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CHAPTER IVLOGIC AND DEBATE

LOGIC, being the science of reasoning,and of the necessary laws of thought,may, in a sense, be regarded as the

greatest of all sciences, for without someknowledge of its rules the himaan mind wouldbe unequal to the comprehension of the phe-nomena with which the other sciences are con-cerned. No one could attain eminence inbiology or sociology, for example, who wasnot a trained logician, for the conclusions ofstudents in each of these sciences are often theresult of inferences so delicate and subtle thatthe slightest flaw in a long chain of reasoningwould vitiate the whole. What, again, wouldbe our knowledge of astronomy without thescience of reasoning, or our skill in mathe-matics by means of which the truths ofastronomy are demonstrated? The more in-tricate and difficult the problem is, the greatermust be the reasoning power applied to itssolution. But for the management of the or-dinary aff'airs of life, the logical faculty need

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Logic and Debate 71not be so highly developed as in purely scien-tific investigations. People of very limitededucation are able to reason correctly enoughon matters aifecting their own interests.They show acute perception, nice discernment,and sagacious judgment, in dealing with theirown affairs; and there can, therefore, be nodoubt that the reasoning faculty is naturallystrong and that, from a very early age, wemake use of it, consciously or unconsciously,in the determination of our simplest actions,as well as in regard to those which are morecomplex and more important. All that aknowledge of logic can do is to improve andstrengthen this natural faculty, which all menpossess in various degrees. If men as a ruleare not good reasoners the fault does notwholly lie in the want of logical training.Neither is it due to the absence of naturalgifts, but to the bias of party, for which arigid logic, and a healthy moral courage, arethe best antidotes. When facts are opposedto our wishes, or prepossessions, or certainprinciples which we have adopted and held fora long time, their recognition is deferred aslong as possible, even in cases where we havesurmounted the initial difficulty of takingthem into consideration. In forming opinions


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Logic and Debate 73When words are not used in the same sensethroughout, the process of reasoning is abor-tive. The argument is simply nothing morethan a confusion of irreconcilable notionswithout point or purpose. Great care musttherefore be used in the structure of proposi-tions so that no word may be employed am-biguously. A proposition may be defined asa form of words containing a subject and apredicate with a copula consisting of somepart of the verb "to be," implying "is" or "isnot." The subject is the thing spoken of; thepredicate is that which is said, or predicated,of the subject; and the copula is so called be-cause it is the link by which the subject andthe predicate are connected. The expression"all men are mortal" is a proposition of which"all men" is the subject; the mord "mortal"is the predicate, and the word "are" the copula.The most perfect form of an argument yetdevised is the syllogism of Aristotle; and asyllogism consists of three propositions andonly three: the major premise, and minor pre-mise, and the conclusion. One argues syllo-gistically thus: All men must die: John isa man; therefore John must die. Nothingcould be more clear or simple than this argu-ment; and the student may be tempted to ask,


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Logic and Debate 75If either premise is denied there can be noargument, and any attempted argument wouldbe only a waste of words, yet it is very com-mon to find people engaged in protracted dis-putes, which lead to no result, because theyare not agreed, in the first instance, upon thepremises. They are not disputing about thesame thing. They are arguing on parallellines which never touch each other ; and so faras any possibility of logical agreement isconcerned, they might go on forever withoutapproaching it. There is sometimes a funda-mental difference about a particular thing.When this is the case disputants should agreeupon a definition. To define a thing is tospecify those of its properties from which itderives its name and which mark it off fromevery other thing. The syllogism is the com-plete form of an argument, but it is seldomfully expressed in ordinary reasoning. Oneof the premises is often omitted, though al-ways understood; and sometimes both may beleft out, without danger of the conclusion be-ing rejected. Where the truth of the pre-mises is notorious they are assumed withoutbeing expressed. Taking the illustration al-ready given, we may leave out the majorpremise and say, John is a man, therefore


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76 The Making of an OratorJohn must die; or we may insert the majorand omit the minor, and say, all men must die,therefore John must die; or we may omit bothpremises and confine ourselves to the state-ment of the conclusion, John must die. Inthis last case the syllogism is reduced to a mereassertion, which will not be disputed becausethe premises on which it is based are so wellknown. Let us suppose, however, that a per-son from another world descended upon ourplanet, and, being ignorant of man's mortal-ity, denied the above conclusion, we shouldthen be obliged to reconstruct the syllogismin its entirety in order to convince him, whichwe should do if he accepted our testimony asto the mortality of man.Arguments are sometimes advanced which

are so unconvincing that we hesitate to acceptthem, and at the same time so plausible thatwe are disinclined to reject them. In all suchcases the way to solve our doubts is to put theargument in syllogistic form, and thereby as-certain whether the premises are such as wecan accept as true, and whether the conclusionis legitimately deduced from the premises; inother words, whether the conclusion logicallyand naturally follows from the premises. Wemust not misunderstand the hmits of logical


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Logic and Debate 79requisite that in one or other of the premises,the middle term should be, according to thetechnical word, "distributed," that is, takenuniversally in its widest extent of possiblemeaning. For example, let us take two syllo-gisms in one of which the middle term is usedin a universal sense, and is distributed; and onein which it is used in a particular sense only,and is undistributed, and we shall see thatwhereas the first is a sound argument, thesecond is no argument at all. Thus, corn isfood; the contents of this bag is corn; there-fore the contents of this bag is food. This isa true syllogism. But if I say, food is neces-sary to life; corn is food; therefore corn isnecessary to life, I give expression to a falsesyllogism. The middle term of the first syl-logism, corn, is used in an universal sense,though it is not prefixed by the word all ; andthe middle term of the second syllogism, food,is used in a particular sense only, though it isnot prefixed by the restricting word, some.Failing to perceive when the middle term isused in a universal sense, and when it is usedin a particular sense only, is a fruitful causeof false reasoning. Fourthly, no term mustbe distributed in the conclusion unless it wasdistributed in the premises, that is, if a term


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Logic and Debate 81and the uses of these two methods. The ex-amples abeady given, in illustration of thesyllogism, are deductive, because in them wededuce or lead down the truth from premisesto conclusion. In the deductive method some-thing is known or assumed beforehand. Fromtwo facts forming part of our knowledge weinfer a third fact which comes to us in thelight of a discovery. We reason from aknown general principle to an unknown par-ticular fact. In the inductive method theprocess of reasoning is reversed, because therewe gather the truth of general propositions,which we do not yet know, from particularfacts which we do know. Both methods areemployed in all scientific research, for when inpursuit of the inductive method, observationand experiment have put us in possession ofparticular facts, we cannot proceed to anygeneralisation without making an assumption,by way of testing results ; we cannot get whatis called a working hypothesis, and then reasonupon it deductively to the conclusion sought.If the particular facts are true the hypothesiswiU be true, and not otherwise; and in this lastcase the hypothesis must be modified or thewhole process may have to be repeated beforewe can be certain that anything has been added


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Logic and Debate 83They have arrested a man on suspicion for noother reason than that he was seen in theneighbourhood of the stable the day before thehorse was stolen; and that, owing to a pre-vious conviction, he is on their list of suspectedpersons. They find on comparing his bootswith the foot-marks that both agree in size andshape. When the accused was arrested theynoticed that one of his coat-sleeves was tornat the elbow, and that to prevent the torn partfrom dangling, he had tied it up with a pieceof cord which, on being compared with a cordlying in the stable of the owner, was found tocorrespond with it, and from which it hadevidently been severed. They also found onthe prisoner a key fitting the lock of the stabledoor, and they emphasise the fact that who-ever the thief was he must have opened thedoor with a key, for there were no marks in-dicating breakage upon it, which there wouldhave been if it had been broken open. Theaccused is unable to account satisfactorily forthe foot-marks, or for his possession of thepiece of cord and the key of the stable door,and he is convicted. The hypothesis of hisguilt is considered proved. But let us sup-pose that, while unable to deny any part of thecircumstantial evidence brought against him,


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84 The Making of an Oratorhe is really innocent, and has a good defence.As soon as the prosecution have finished theiicase against him, his counsel takes it up andproceeds to meet the particular facts adducedagainst him, with other particular facts, bywhich the former are, though fully admitted,completely nullified. He substitutes the hy-pothesis of the prisoner's innocence for that ofhis guilt. He shows in the first place that, al-though the pri

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