Title: Phrases for Public Speakers and Paragraphs for Study
Compiler: Grenville Kleiser
Release date: January 1, 2004 [eBook #10639]
Most recently updated: October 28, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10639
Credits: Produced by Afra Ullah, Michael Ciesielski and PG Distributed
Proofreaders
The experienced public speaker acquires through long practise hundreds of phrases which he uses over and over again. These are essential to readiness of speech, since they serve to hold his thought well together and enable him to speak fluently even upon short notice.
This book is one of practise, not theory. The student should read aloud daily several pages of these phrases, think just what each one means, and whenever possible till out the phrase in his own words. A month's earnest practise of this kind will yield astonishing results.
He should also study the paragraphs, reprinted here from notable speeches, and closely observe the use made of climax and other effects. The phrase and the paragraph are the principal elements in the public speaker's English style, and the student will be amply repaid for any time he devotes to their analysis.
GRENVILLE KLEISER
PARAGRAPHS FROM NOTABLE SPEECHES
A further objection to
Again, can we doubt
Again, we have abundant instances
Alas! how often
All experience evinces that
All that I have been stating hitherto
All that is quite true.
All this, I know well enough
All this is unnatural because
All we do know is that
Am I mistaken in this?
Amid so much that is uncertain
And, again, it is to be presumed that
And, finally, have not these
And, further, all that I have said
And hence it continually happens
And hence it is that
And here, in passing, let us notice
And here observe that
And if I know anything of
And if it is further asked why
And I sometimes imagine that
And I wish also to say that
And, in fact, it is
And it is certainly true
And it may be admitted that
And just here we touch the vital point in
And let me here again refer to
And now it begins to be apparent
And now we are naturally brought on to
And now we are told
And pursuing the subject
And so again in this day
And so, in like manner
And strange to say
And such, I say, is
And the same is true of
And the whole point of these observations is
And this is manifestly true
Any thoughtful man can readily perceive
As far as my experience goes
As for me, I say
As it were
At first it does seem as tho
At this very moment, there are
At times we hear it said.
Be it so.
Be true to your own sense of right.
Believe me, it is quite impossible for
But all is not done.
But bear in mind that
But by no kind of calculation can we
But do not tell me that
But further still
But here we take our stand.
But I am not quite sure that
But I digress.
But I do not desire to obtrude a
But I recollect that
But I shall go still farther.
But I submit whether it
But I will not dwell on
But I will not pause to point out
But if you look seriously at facts
But in any case
But in fact there is no reason for
But is it in truth so easy to
But is it rationally conceivable that
But it is fitting I should say
But, it may be urged, if
But lest it should still be argued that
But let it be once understood that
But let us suppose all these
But look at the difference.
But my idea of it is
But now, I repeat,
But now, lastly, let us suppose
But now let us turn to
But now, on the other hand, could
But now some other things are to be noted
But somehow all is changed!
But the question for us is
But to go still further
But waiving this assumption
But we dwell too long
But we have faith that
But what is the motive?
But what then?
But with us how changed!
But why do we speak of
But you may say truly
But you must remember
Can there be a better illustration than
Can you doubt it?
Certainly, I did not know
Compare now the case of
Did time admit I could show you
Does anybody believe that
Do you dream that
Do not entertain so weak an imagination
Do not misunderstand me.
Enough has been said of
Even apart from the vital question of
Everybody has to say that
Few people will dispute
First, sir, permit me to observe
For instance,
For instance, there surely is
For my part, I can say that I desire
For the sake of clearness
For this simple reason
For what?
Fortunately I am not obliged
From time to time
Happily for us
Has the gentleman done?
Have we any right to such a
He can not do it.
Heaven forbid!
Hence, I repeat, it is
Hence it is that
Hence, too, it has often, been said
Here I have to speak of
Here I wish I could stop.
Here it will be objected to me
Here let me meet one other question
History is replete with
How are we to explain this
How do you account for
I acknowledge the force of
I admire the indignation which
I admit it.
I admit, that if
I allude to
I am advised that already
I am aware that
I am distinctly maintaining
I am expecting to hear next
I am going to suggest
I am in sympathy with
I am justified in regarding
I am led to make one remark
I am mainly concerned with
I am myself of opinion that
I am naturally led on to speak of
I am no friend to
I am not arguing the
I am not ashamed to acknowledge
I am not complaining of
I am not denying that
I am not disposed to deny
I am not going to attempt to
I am not here to defend the
I am not insensible of
I am not justifying the
I am not speaking of exceptions.
I am not trying to absolve
I am obliged to mention
I am perfectly astounded at
I am perfectly confident that
I am perfectly indifferent concerning
I am persuaded that
I am quite certain that
I am sanguine that those who
I am speaking to-night for myself.
I am sure, at least, that
I am sure you will allow me
I am sure you will do me the justice
I am told that the reason
I am well aware that
I am willing to admit that
I appeal to you on behalf of
I ask how you are going to
I ask myself
I ask, then, as concerns the
I ask your attention to this point.
I assume that the argument for
I assume, then, that
I beg not to be interrupted here
I beg respectfully to differ from
I beg to assure you
I believe I speak the sentiment of
I believe in it as firmly as
I believe in the
I believe you feel, as I feel, that
I can not believe it.
I can not but feel that
I can not do better than
I can not even imagine why
I can not, therefore, agree with
I can not very well
I can scarcely conceive anything
I carry with me no hostile remembrance.
I certainly do not recommend
I come now to observe
I come, then, to this
I conclude that it was
I confess I can not help agreeing with
I confess my notions are
I confess that I like to dwell on
I confess truly
I dare say
I dare say to you
I differ very much from
I do not absolutely assert
I do not believe that
I do not blush to acknowledge
I do not contend that
I do not forget that
I do not know on what pretense
I do not mean to propose
I do not mean to say
I do not mistrust the future.
I do not overlook tho fact that
I do not pretend to believe
I do not question this.
I do not stand here before you
I do not think it unfair reasoning to
I do not vouch for
I do not want to argue the question of
I do not wish to be partial.
I do not wish you to suppose that
I do not yield to any one
I entirely agree upon this point.
I fear I only need refer to
I firmly believe that
I grant, of course, that
I grant that there are
I grant, too, of course, that
I have all along been showing
I have already alluded to
I have already said, and I repeat it
I have always argued that
I have another objection to
I have appealed to the testimony
I have a right to think that
I have been interested in hearing
I have been requested to say a word,
I have heard it said recently
I have hitherto been adducing instances
I have indicted
I have listened with pleasure to
I have never been able to understand
I have never fancied that
I have no confidence, then, in
I have no desire in this instance
I have no doubt that it is
I have only to add that
I have read of the
I have said that
I have so high a respect for
I have spoken of
I have the confident hope that
I have the strongest reason for
I have to appeal to you
I heartily hope and trust
I hope I have now made it clear that
I hope you will acquit me of
I insist that you do not
I invite you to consider
I know it is not uncommon for
I know that there is a difference of
I know that this will sound strange
I know well the sentiments of
I know whereof I speak.
I leave it to you to say.
I marvel that
I may as well reply
I may be told that
I may say further that
I may take it for granted
I mention them merely
I merely indicate
I must beg leave to dwell a moment
I must fairly tell you that
I must now beg to ask
I myself feel confident
I often wonder
I only wish to recognize
I pass by that.
I pass, then, from the question of
I personally doubt whether it
I plainly and positively state
I point you to
I proceed to inquire into
I quote from
I read but recently a story
I really can not think it necessary to
I recollect that
I rejoice at the change that
I remember once when
I reply with confidence that
I rest my opinion on
I said just now
I see no objection to
I see no reason to doubt
I shall ask you one question
I shall attempt to show
I shall content myself with asking
I shall not suffer myself to
I shall not undertake
I shall presently show
I shall sum up what has been said.
I shall, then, merely sum up
I share the conviction of
I should hold myself obliged to
I should not like to hold the opinion
I speak in the most perfect honesty
I speak only for myself.
I suppose most men will recollect
I take leave to say
I take the liberty of
I think I am right in saying
I think I can demonstrate that
I think it impossible that
I think it our duty
I think it well not to be disputed that
I think, on the contrary, that
I think that this is a great mistake.
I think these facts show that
I think we should be willing to
I trust it will not he considered ungenerous
I trust we are not the men to
I turn now to another reason why
I undertake to say
I use the word advisedly.
I venture to assert that
I venture to say
I venture to think
I want to invite your attention to
I want to know whether
I was astonished to learn
I was forcibly struck with one remark
I was very much struck with
I will allow more than this readily.
I will answer, not by retort, but by
I will call to mind this
I will go no further
I will not attempt to note the
I will not enter into details
I will not go into the evidence of
I will not stop to inquire whether
I will show you presently
I will speak but a word or two more.
I will suppose the objection urged
I wish I could state
I wish to call your attention to
I wish to know
I wish to say something about
I wish to observe that
I would not he understood as saying
I would not, indeed, say a word to extenuate
If any man were to tell me
If any one is so short-sighted
If I had my share
If I hesitate, it is because
If I insist on this point here
If I mistake not the sentiment of
If I must give an instance of this
If I read the signs of the time aright
If I were asked what it is that
If other evidence be wanting
If, perchance, one should say
If such a thing were possible
If such feelings were ever entertained
If such is the fact, then
If there is a man here
If we accept at all the argument
If we are conscious of
If we find that
If we resign ourselves to facts
If you want to find out what
If you wish the most conclusive proof
In a broader and a larger sense
In a sense, and a very real sense
In answer to this singular theory
In like manner
In order to carry out
In proof of this drift toward
In proportion as
In proportion, then,
In pursuance of these clear and express
In saying all this, I do not forget
In something of a parallel
In such cases
In support of this claim
In support of what I have been saying
In the first place
In the first place, then, I say
In the first place there is
In the last resort
In the light of these things
In this connection
In this point of view, doubtless
In this situation, let us
In this respect they are
In view of these facts, I say
In what I have to say
Is it fair to say that
Is it not evident that
Is it not quite possible that
Is it said that
Is not that the common sentiment?
Is there any reason for
It affords me unusual pleasure
It is but too true that
It can scarcely be imagined that
It can not be too often repeated
It certainly follows, then,
It does not appear to me
It has been maintained that
It has been more than hinted that
It has been said, and said truly,
It has sometimes been remarked that
It is a common observation that
It is a curious fact that
It is a fact patent to any one that
It is a melancholy fact that
It is a notorious fact that
It is a thing commonly said that
It is a very serious matter.
It is a very serious question
It is also to be borne in mind
It is amazing that there are any among us
It is an additional satisfaction
It is an undeniable truth that
It is apparent that
It is certain that
It is certainly not sufficient to say
It is difficult to conceive that
It is exceedingly unlikely that
It is historically certain that
It is in effect the reply of
It is in quite another kind, however,
It is, indeed, commonly said
It is more difficult to
It is necessary to account for
It is no more than fitting that
It is not a good thing to see
It is not a wise thing to
It is not alleged
It is not chiefly, however,
It is not for me here to recall
It is not, however,
It is not long since I had occasion
It is not my purpose to discuss
It is not necessary that I define
It is not proposed to
It is not surprizing that
It is not to be denied that
It is not told traditionally
It is not true that
It is not wonderful that
It is observable enough
It is of little consequence
It is of importance that
It is of very little importance what
It is quite true that
It is related of
It is singular that
It is the most extraordinary thing that
It is to my mind a
It is true, indeed, that
It is well known that
It is well that we clearly apprehend
It is wholly unnecessary
It is worthy of remark
It looks to me to be
It may be a matter of doubt
It may be shown that
It may be suggested that
It may be supposed that
It may in a measure be true that
It may not be improper for me to suggest
It must be borne in mind that
It must be confest that
It must be recollected that
It need hardly be said that
It remains for us to consider
It remains to
It remains to be shown that
It reminds me of an anecdote
It seems a truism to say
It seems now to be generally admitted
It should also be remembered that
It should be remembered
It so happens that
It was my good fortune
It was not so
It was under these circumstances
It were foolish to talk of
It were rash to say
It will be easy to cite
It will be found, in the second place,
It will be observed also that
It will be well to recall
It will not surely be objected
It would be misleading to say
It would be no less impracticable to
It would be vain to seek
It would do no good to repeat
It would seem that
Largely, I have no doubt, it is due
Let it be repeated
Let it be for an instant supposed
Let me add that
Let me ask who there is among us
Let me explain myself by saying
Let me illustrate
Let me instance in one thing only
Let me put the subject before you
Let me say one word further.
Let me tell you
Let me tell you a very interesting story
Let no one suppose that
Let the truth be said outright
Let these instances suffice
Let us bear in mind that
Let us consider that
Let us go a step further.
Let us say frankly
Let us see whether
Let us stand together.
Let us look a little at
Let us take an example in
Let us take, first of all,
Make no mistake.
Men are often doubtful about
Moreover, I am sure,
Moreover, I believe that
Much has been said of late about
My antagonism is only aroused when
My answer is, that
My belief is that
My own opinion is
Nay, further than this,
Need I speak of
Neither is it true that
Nevertheless, we must admit
Next I give you the opinion of
Next I observe that
No man who listens to me underrates
No matter what
No, no.
No objection can be brought against the
No one realizes this more
No one will, with justice, say
No one will question
No one would take the pains to challenge the
No wonder, then, that
Nobody really doubts that
Nor am I, believe me, so arrogant as
Nor can we imagine that
Nor is this surprizing
Nor, lastly, does this
Not a few persons demand
Not many words are required to show
Not quite so.
Not so here.
Nothing is more certain than
Nothing less.
Now, after what I have said,
Now apply this to
Now do you observe what follows from
Now for one moment let us
Now I have done.
Now, I proceed to examine
Now I want to ask whether
Now it is evident
Now let us observe what
Now, mark it.
Now, on the other hand, let me
Now perhaps you will ask me
Now we come to the question
Observe, if you please, that
Occasionally it is whispered that
Of course, it will be said that
Of no less import is
Of the final issue I have no doubt.
On the contrary
On the one hand
On the other hand
On the other hand, you will see
On the whole, then, I observe
One word more and I have done.
Once more, how else could
One fact is clear
Only a few days ago
Our position is that
Our position is unquestionable.
Over and over again it has been shown that
Perhaps, sir, I am mistaken in
Perhaps the reason of this may be
Permit me to add another circumstance
Permit me to remind you
Please remember that if
Readily we admit that
Since you have suffered me to
So far is clear, but
So it came naturally about
So much for
Some men think, indeed, that
Some persons have exprest surprize that
Something of extravagance there may be in
Strange as it may seem
Strictly speaking, it is not
Such an avowal is not
Such is not my theory.
Such is steadfastly my opinion that
Such is the truth.
Such, then, is the answer whir I make to
Supposing, for instance,
Surely I do not misinterpret the spirit
Surely it is preposterous
Surely, then,
Surely, this is good and clear reasoning.
Take, again, the case of
Take the instance of
That is quite obvious.
That we might have done.
The audacity of the statement is
The charge is false.
The conclusion is irresistible.
The contempt that is cast
The fact is substantially true.
The fact, is that there is not
The fact need not be concealed that
The facts are before us all
The first point to be ascertained is
The language is perfectly plain.
The least desirable form of
The more I consider this question
The plea serves well with
The point I wish to bring out
The problem that presents itself is
The question at issue is primarily
The question is not
The question presented is
The question with me is
The substance of all this is
The time is not far distant when
The time is short.
The truth of this has not been
Then, finally,
Then, I repeat,
There are many people nowadays who
There are people who tell you that
There is a cynicism which
There is a word which I wish to say
There is another reason why
There is another sense in which.
There is much force in
There is no danger of our overrating the
There is no evidence that
There is no good reason why
There is no mistaking the fact
There is no other intelligible answer
There is no parallel to
There is no sufficient reason for
There is none other.
There is not a shadow of
There is one other point connected with
There is one other point to which
There is something suggestive in
There was a time when none denied it.
These absurd pretensions
They did what they could.
This being the case, you will see
This brings me to a point on which
This does not mean
This expectation was disappointed.
This I have already shown
This is a great mistake.
This is it's last resort.
This is the only remaining alternative.
This leads me to the question
This relieves me of the necessity of
This is clearly perceived by
This is especially true of
This is essentially a question of
This is very different from
Tho all this is obvious
Thus, you see
To avoid all possibility of being
To be sure
To-day I have additional satisfaction in
To my own mind,
To my own mind, certainly, it is
To pass from that I notice
To take a very different instance
To this end we must
To this, likewise, it may be added
To this there can be but one answer.
To show all this is easy and certain.
To show this in fact
To sum up, then
Truly, gentlemen
Unless I am wholly wrong
Unless I greatly mistake the temper
We all remember
We are all aware that
We are here to discuss
We are now able to determine
We are told that
We can not leave unchallenged the
We deny it.
We have an instance in
We have no right to say
We, in our turn, must
We know they will not
We laugh to scorn the idea
We look around us
We may have an overpowering sense of
We may rest assured that
We must not propose in
We often speak of
We ought, first of all, to note
We should pause to consider
We will hear much in these days
We will not examine the proof of
What are you asked to do?
What are you going to do?
What can be more intelligible than
What do you say to
What do we understand by
What has become of it?
What is more remarkable still
What is the answer to all this?
What is this but an acknowledgment of
What is your opinion?
What then remains?
What we do say is
When all has been said, there remains
When I look around me
When it can be shown that
When it is recognized that
When that is said, all is said
When we contemplate the
When we reflect on these sentiments
Where there is prejudice, it is no use to argue.
Who finds fault with these things?
Why should an argument be required to prove that
Why should it be necessary to confirm
Will you tell me how
With possibly a single exception
With regard to what has been stated
Yet it is plain
Yet, strange to say,
You and I may hold that
You can not assert that
You can not invent a series of argument
You can not say that
You do not pretend that
You have the authority of
You know as well as I do
You may object at once, and say
You may object that
You may point, if you will, to
You may search the history of
You tell me that
You will say that
Let me here pause once more to ask whether the book in its genuine
state, as far as we have advanced in it, makes the same impression on
your minds now as when it was first read to you in detached passages;
and whether, if I were to tear off the first part of it, which I hold in
my hand, and give it to you as an entire work, the first and last
passages, which have been selected as libels on the Commons, would now
appear to be so when blended with the interjacent parts? I do not ask
your answer—I shall have it in your verdict.
THOMAS LORD ERSKINE.
From "Speech in Behalf of Stockdale."
Indeed, many of the statements we now read of the necessity of the wise
governing the weak and ignorant are almost literal reproductions of the
arguments advanced by the slaveholders of the South in defence of
slavery just preceding the outbreak of the Civil War. That divergence
from our original ideal produced the pregnant sayings of Mr. Lincoln, "A
house divided against itself can not stand," and its corollary, "This
nation can not permanently endure half slave and half free." He saw
dearly that American democracy must rest, if it continued to exist, upon
the ethical ideal which presided over its birth—that of the absolute
equality of all men in political rights.
WAYNE MACVEAGH.
From "Ideals in American Politics."
The idea of liberty is license; it is not liberty but it is license.
License to do what? License to violate law, to trample constitutions
under foot, to take life, to take property, to use the bludgeon and the
gun or anything else for the purpose of giving themselves power. What
statesman ever heard of that us a definition of liberty? What man in a
civilized age has ever heard of liberty being the unrestrained license
of the people to do as they please without any restraint of law or of
authority? No man—no, not one—until we found the Democratic party,
would advocate this proposition and indorse and encourage this kind of
license in a free country.
JOHN ALEXANDER LOGAN.
From "Self-government in Louisiana."
My countrymen, we do not now differ in our judgment concerning the
controversies of past generations, and fifty years hence our children
will be divided in their opinions concerning our controversies. They
will surely bless their fathers and their fathers' God that the Union
was preserved, that slavery was overthrown, and that both races were
made equal before the law. We may hasten or we may retard, but we can
not prevent the final reconciliation. Is it not possible for us now to
make a truce with time, by anticipating and accepting its inevitable
verdicts? Enterprises of the highest importance to our moral and
material well-being invite us, and offer ample scope for the employment
of our best powers. Let all our people, leaving behind them the
battle-fields of dead issues, move forward, and, in the strength of
liberty and a restored Union, win the grander victories of peace.
JAMES
ABRAM GARFIELD.
From "Inaugural Address."
I wish you, by the aid of the training which I recommend, to be able to
look beyond your own lives and have pleasure in surroundings different
from those in which you move. I want you to be able—and mark this
point—to sympathize with other times, to be able to understand the men
and women of other countries, and to have the intense enjoyment—an
enjoyment which I am sure you would all appreciate—of mental change of
scene. I do not only want you to know dry facts; I am not only looking
to a knowledge of facts, nor chiefly to that knowledge. I want the
heart to be stirred as well as the intellect. I want you to feel more
and live more than you can do if you only know what surrounds
yourselves. I want the action of the imagination, the sympathetic study
of history and travels, the broad teaching of the poets, and, indeed, of
the best writers of other times and other countries, to neutralize and
check the dwarfing influences of necessarily narrow careers and
necessarily stunted lives. That is the point which you will see I mean
when I ask you to cultivate the imagination. I want to introduce you to
other, wider, and nobler fields of thought, and to open up vistas of
other worlds, when refreshing and bracing breezes will stream upon your
minds and souls.
GEORGE JOACHIM GOSCHEN.
From "On the Cultivation of the Imagination."
But it is a noteworthy fact that eminent qualities in men may often be
traced to similar qualities in their mothers. Knowledge, it is true, is
not hereditary, but high mental qualities are so, and experience and
observation seem to prove that the transmission is chiefly through the
mother's side. But leaving this physiological view, let us look at the
purely educational. Imagine an educated mother training and molding the
powers of her children, giving to them in the years of infancy those
gentle yet permanent tendencies which are of more account in the
formation of character than any subsequent educational influences,
selecting for them the best instructors, encouraging and aiding them in
their difficulties, rejoicing with them in their successes, able to take
an intelligent interest in their progress in literature and science.
JOHN WILLIAM DAWSON.
From "On the Higher Education of Women."
It only remains to remind you that another consideration has been
strongly prest upon you, and, no doubt, will be insisted on in reply.
You will be told that the matters which I have been justifying as legal,
and even meritorious, have therefore not been made the subject of
complaint; and that whatever intrinsic merit parts of the book may be
supposed or even admitted to possess, such merit can afford no
justification to the selected passages, some of which, even with, the
context, carry the meaning charged by the information, and which, are
indecent animadversions on authority.
THOMAS LORD ERSKINE
From "Speech in Behalf of Blockdale."
But let it now for argument's sake be admitted, saving always the
reputation of honorable men who are not here to defend themselves—let
it, I say, for argument's sake, be admitted that the gentlemen alluded
to acted under the influence of improper motives. What then? Is a law
that has received the varied assent required by the Constitution and is
clothed with all the needful formalities thereby invalidated? Can you
impair its force by impeaching the motives of any member who voted for
it?
GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.
From "Speech on the Judiciary."
Let us pause, sir, before we give an answer to
this question. The fate of us, the fate of millions
now alive, the fate of millions yet unborn,
depend upon the answer. Let it be the result of
calmness and intrepidity; let it be dictated by
the principles of loyalty and the principles of
liberty. Let it be such as never, in the worst
events, to give us reason to reproach ourselves,
or others reason to reproach us, for having done
too much or too little.
JAMES WILSON.
From "Vindication of the Colonies."
It is impossible to deny the facts, which were so glaring at the time.
It is a painful thing to me, sir, to be obliged to go back to these
unfortunate periods of the history of this war and of the conduct of
this country; but I am forced to the task by the use which has been made
of the atrocities of the French as an argument against negotiation. I
think I have said enough to prove that if the French have been guilty we
have not been innocent. Nothing but determined incredulity can make us
deaf and blind to our own acts, when we are so ready to yield an assent
to all the reproaches which are thrown out on the enemy, and upon which
reproaches we are gravely told to continue the war.
CHARLES JAMES FOX.
From "On the Rejection of Bonaparte's Overtures."
Now I think the people ought not to be made to wait for the relief they
have a right to demand. They ought not to be made to suffer while we
argue one another out of the recorded and inveterate opinions of our
whole lives. I say, therefore, for myself, that, anxious to afford them
all the relief which they require, regretting that the state of opinion
around me puts it out of my power to afford that relief in the form I
might prefer. I accommodate myself to my position, and make haste to do
all that I can by the shortest way that I can. Consider how much better
it is to relieve them to some substantial extent by this means, at once,
than not to relieve at all, than not to initiate a system or measure of
relief at all, and then go home at the end of this session of Congress,
weak and weary, and spend the autumn in trying to persuade them that it
was the fault of some of our own friends that nothing was done. How poor
a compensation for wrongs to the people will be the victories over our
friends!
RUFUS CHOATE.
From "The Necessity of Compromises in American Politics."
It is of the very essence of true patriotism, therefore, to be earnest
and truthful, to scorn the flatterer's tongue, and strive to keep its
native land in harmony with the laws of national thrift and power. It
will tell a land of its faults as a friend will counsel a companion. It
will speak as honestly as the physician advises a patient. And if
occasion requires, an indignation will flame out of its love like that
which burst from the lips of Moses when he returned from the mountain
and found the people to whom he had revealed the austere Jehovah and for
whom he would cheerfully have sacrificed his life worshiping a calf.
THOMAS STARR KING.
From "On the Privilege and Duties of Patriotism."
Our President is dead. He has served us faithfully and well. He has kept
the faith; he has finished his course. Henceforth there is laid up for
him a crown of glory, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give
him in that day. And He who gave him to us, and who so abundantly blest
his labors, and helped him to accomplish so much for his country and his
race, will not permit the country which He saved to perish. I believe in
the overruling providence of God, and that, in permitting the life of
our Chief Magistrate to be extinguished, He only closed one volume of
the history of His dealings with this nation, to open another whose
pages shall be illustrated with fresh developments of His love and
sweeter signs of His mercy. What Mr. Lincoln achieved he achieved for
us; but he left as a choice a legacy in his Christian example, in his
incorruptible integrity, and in his unaffected simplicity, if we will
appropriate it, as in his public deeds. So we take this excellent life
and its results, and, thanking God for them, cease all complaining and
press forward under new leaders to now achievements, and the completion
of the great work which he who has gone left as a sacred trust upon our
hands.
JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND.
From "Eulogy of Abraham Lincoln."
Patriotism says, and says it in the interest of peace and economy and
final fraternity, "Fight and conquer even at the risk of holding them
for a generation under the yoke." Fight, tho, on such a scale that there
will be no need of holding them; that they will gladly submit again to
the rule which makes the republic one and blesses all portions with
protection and with bounty. Fight till they shall know that they kick
against fate and the resistless laws of the world! Patriotism calls on
the Cabinet and the head of the nation and the generals who give tone to
the campaign to forget the customs and interests of peace till we shall
gain it by the submission of the rebels and the shredding of their last
banner into threads.
THOMAS STARR KING.
From "On the Privilege and Duties of Patriotism."
For myself, I believe that whatever estrangements may have existed in the past, or may linger among us now, are born of ignorance and will be dispelled by knowledge. I believe that of our forty-five States there are no two who, if they could meet in the familiarity of the intercourse, in the fulness of personal knowledge, would not only cease to entertain any bitterness, or alienation, or distrust, but each would utter to the other the words of the Jewish daughter, in that most exquisite of idylls which has come down to us almost from the beginning of time:
"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou guest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
"Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do
so to me, and more also, if aught but death part me and thee."
GEORGE
FRISBIE HOAR.
From "Address at the Banquet of the New England Society."
He knew full well and displayed in his many splendid speeches and
addresses that one unerring purpose of freedom and of union ran through
her whole history; that there was no accident in it all; that all the
generations, from the Mayflower down, marched to one measure and
followed one flag; that all the struggles, all the self-sacrifice, all
the prayers and the tears, all the fear of God, all the soul-trials, all
the yearnings for national life, of more than two centuries, had
contributed to make the country that he served and loved. He, too,
preached, in season and out of season, the gospel of Nationality.
JOSEPH
HODGES CHOATE.
From "Oration on Rufus Choate."
I leave these fellows and turn for a moment to their victims. And I
would here, without any reference to my own case, earnestly implore that
sympathy with political sufferers should not be merely telescopic in its
character, "distance lending enchantment to the view"; and that
when your statesmen sentimentalize upon, and your journalists denounce,
far-away tyrannies—the horrors of Neapolitan dungeons—the abridgment
of personal freedom in continental countries—the exercise of arbitrary
power by irresponsible authority in other lands—they would turn their
eyes homeward and examine the treatment and the sufferings of their own
political prisoners. I would in all sincerity suggest that humane and
well-meaning men who exert themselves for the remission of the
death-penalty as a mercy would rather implore that the doom of solitary
and silent captivity should be remitted to the more merciful doom of an
immediate relief from suffering by immediate execution—the opportunity
of an immediate appeal from man's cruelty to God's justice.
STEPHEN
JOSEPH MEANY.
From "Legality of Arrest."
Do you ask me our duty as scholars? Gentlemen, thought, which the
scholar represents, is life and liberty. There is no intellectual or
moral life without liberty. Therefore, as a man must breathe and see
before he can study, the scholar must have liberty first of all; and as
the American scholar is a man and has a voice in his own government, so
his interest in political affairs must precede all others. He must build
his house before he can live in it. He must be a perpetual inspiration
of freedom in politics. He must recognize that the intelligent exercise
of political rights, which is a privilege in a monarchy, is a duty in a
republic If it clash with his case, his retirement, his taste, his
study, let it clash, but let him do his duty. The course of events is
incessant, and when the good deed is slighted, the bad deed is done.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.
From "The Duty of the American Scholar."