The Orator's Manual

he established dictatorial power in his own person. And what happened next? Another soldier overthrew the dictatorship and restored the monarchy. The sword effected both. Cromwell made one revolution, and Monk another. And what did the people of England gain by it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! The rights and liberties of Englishmen, as they now exist, were settled and established at the Revolution in 1688. Now, mark the difference! By whom was that revolution begun and conducted? Was it by soldiers? by military genius? by the sword? No! It was the work of statesmen and of eminent lawyers,― men never distinguished for military exploits. The faculty- the dormant faculty-may have existed. That is what no one can affirm or deny. But it would have been thought an absurd and extravagant thing to propose, in reliance upon this possible dormant faculty, that one of those eminent statesmen and lawyers should be sent, instead of the Duke of Marlborough, to command the English forces on the continent!

Who achieved the freedom and the independence of this our own country? Washington effected much in the field; but where were the Franklins, the Adamses, the Hancocks, the Jeffersons, and the Lees, the band of sages and patriots whose memory we revere? They were assembled in council. The heart of the Revolution beat in the halls of Congress. There was the power which, beginning with appeals to the king and to the British nation, at length made an irresistible appeal to the world, and consummated the Revolution by the declaration of independence, which Washington established with their authority, and bearing their commission, supported by arms. And what has this band of patriots, of sages and of statesmen given to us? Not what Cæsar gave to Rome; not what Cromwell gave to England, or Napoleon to France: they established for us the great principles of civil, political and religious liberty, upon the strong foundations on which they have hitherto stood. There

may have been military capacity in Congress; but can any one deny that it is to the wisdom of sages,-Washington being one, we are indebted for the signal blessings we enjoy?

213. Antithetical and Ironical: Circumflex Inflections. Predominating Compound Stress (§ 103) on emphatic syllables.

31. THE RIGHT TO TAX AMERICA.-Edmund Burke.

R O

W R C tr to

invaluable right! for the sake of which we have sacrificed our rank | WRC to m SRC

R C

to f

among nations, | our importance | abroad, | and our happiness | at

R O

1 R

home! Oh, right, more dear to us than our existence, | which has

already cost us so much, | and which seems | likely | to cost us our

Во

1 f

all! Infatuated | man! miserable | and undone | country! not to 1 fo F

R C

know that the claim of right, without the power of enforcing it,

is nùgatory and ìdle. We have a rìght to tax America, the noble

1 R 0

lord tells us, therefore we òught to tax America. This is the pro

found logic which comprises the whole | chàin | of his reasoning. 2. Not inferior to this was the wisdom of him | who resolved WIRO

Ꭱ o

to shear the wôlf. What, shear a wolf! Have you considered the W 1 8 LC resistance, the difficulty, | the danger, | of the attempt?

Nò, says W tr to LC Ft on waist

the madman, I have considered nothing but the right. Man has a

1 L O

right of dominion over the beasts of the forest; and, therefore, I will BO wh BC tr and to h BC shear the wolf, How wonderful that a nation could be thus deluded! But the noble lord deals in cheats and delusions. They are the daily | traffic of his invention; and he will continue to play off his cheats

1 R O

on this house, so long as he thinks them necessary to his purpose,

R O

snatch to waist

and so long as he has money enough at command to bribe | gentle

1 RO

fRO

slowly men to pretend that they beliève him. But a black | and bitter

lift

h C

shake

day of reckoning | will surely còme; and whenêver that day comes, I trust I shall be able, by a parliamentary impeachment, to bring

h с

upon the heads of the âuthors of our calamities the punishment they deserve.

32. THE PARTITION OF POLAND, 1800.-Charles J. Fox.

Now, sir, what was the conduct of your own allies to Pôland? Is there a single | atrocity | of the French in Itály, in Switzerland, in Egypt, if you please, more unpríncipled and inhúman than that of Rússia, Aústria, and Prússia, in Póland? What has there been

in the conduct of the French to fòreign pòwers; what in the viola1 fROF tion of solemn | treaties; what in the plunder, devastation, and dis

1 fROF W 1 R C W 1

1 f R OF 1 f

8 R C memberment of unoffending countries; what in the horrors and R OF WR C murders perpetrated upon the subdued victims of their rage in any

district which they have overrùn,— wôrse than the conduct of those three great powers in the miserable, devoted, and trampled-on

Kingdom of Poland, and who have been, or are, our | allies in this war for religion, social | ôrder, and the rights of nâtions? Ô, but

W L

back

WL C

back

you "regrêtted the partition of Poland!" Yês, regrêtted!-you

1 LO

W back L C

1 f BO

regretted the violence, and that is all you did. You united your

1 s BO

ВО

selves with the actors; you, in fact, by your acquiescence, confìrmed exaggerated BO

1 ВО

wide

the atrocity. But they are your allies; and though they overran and

ROW m tr RC to s Ꭱ Ꮯ

m s Ꭱ Ꮯ

divided Poland, there was nôthing, perhaps, in the mânner of doing

it which stamped it with peculiar infamy and

of Poland, perhaps, was mêrciful and mîld!

1 LO

superior to Bonaparte in bravery, and in the discipline which he

tr and to m s L

down

maintained, as he was superior in vîrtue and humânity! He was

animated by the purest principles of Christiânity, and was restrâined 1 Ꭱ O exaggerated R O in his career by the benêvolent precepts which ît incûlcates!" he?

m 8 L CF

Let unfortunate Wârsaw, and the miserable inhabitants of the

suburb of Praga in particular, | tell! What do we understand to have been the cônduct of this magnanimous hèro, with whom, it 1 SRO

seems, Bonaparte is not to be compâred? (fast) He entered the

m 8

W m

suburb of Prága, the most populous suburb of Warsaw, and there

tr C

and

m 8

8 с

he let his soldiery loose on the miserable, unarmed and unresisting

people! Men, women and children,-nay, infants at the breast,—

were doomed to one | indiscriminate | massacre! Thousands of them BO Ft

were inhumanly, wantonly bùtchered! And (slow) for what? Because they had dared | to join in a wish | to meliorate their own condition as a People, and to improve their Constitution, which had