government or that of the people. "It is," he affirms, "the people's Constitution, the people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people." The general government and the State government derived their authority from the people. Nullification would make uniformity of law impossible, and the whole Union would become a rope of sand. The speaker touches upon the questions of embargo and the tariff, and declaring it his duty to support the constitutional power of the people, to assert their rights, declines to admit the competency of South Carolina, to prescribe his constitutional duty for him. Nullification would lead to disunion, but the constitution can be altered only by the people, who have become attached to it through both happiness and prosperity.

The close of Webster's speech is a magnificent word picture on the preservation of the Union. It is remarkable for its clearness, force, tenderness, and patriotism. The student of oratory will find it profitable to commit the entire passage to memory.

Mr. President, I have thus stated the reasons of my dissent to the doctrines which have been advanced and maintained. I am conscious of having detained you and the Senate much too long. I was drawn into the debate with no previous deliberation, such as is suited to the discussion of so grave and important a subject. But it is a subject of which my heart is full, and I have not been willing to suppress the utterance of its spontaneous sentiments. I can not, even now, persuade myself to relinquish it, without expressing once more my deep conviction, that, since it respects nothing less than the union of the States, it is of most vital and essential importance to the public happiness. I profess, sir, in my career hitherto, to have kept steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country, and the preservation of our Federal Union. It is to that Union we owe our safety at home, and our consideration

and dignity abroad. It is to that Union that we are chiefly indebted for whatever makes us most proud of our country. That Union we reached only by the discipline of our virtues in the severe school of adversity. It had its origin in the necessities of disordered finance, prostrate commerce, and ruined credit. Under its benign influences, these great interests immediately awoke, as from the dead, and sprang forth with newness of life. Every year of its duration has teemed with fresh proofs of its utility and its blessings; and altho our territory has stretched out wider and wider, and our population spread farther and farther, they have not outrun its protection or its benefits. It has been to us all a copious fountain of national, social, and personal happiness.

I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the Union, to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss below; nor could I regard him as a safe counsellor in the affairs of this government, whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not how the Union may be best preserved, but how tolerable might be the condition of the people when it should be broken up and destroyed. While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil. God grant that, in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise! God grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind! When my

eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single

star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as "What is all this worth?" nor those other words of delusion and folly, "Liberty first and Union afterward"; but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart-Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!

X

TYPES OF SPEAKING

The history of oratory is replete with names of men who have distinguished themselves as thinkers, rhetoricians, reformers, and leaders. It is not the intention here to trace the history of oratory, since that has already been well done by William Mathews,1 nor to discuss the question whether oratory is a lost art. It is confidently believed there is soon to be a revival of all that is best in oratory as applied to modern requirements of effective public speaking. It will be profitable, therefore, for the student to familiarize himself with some of the world's greatest orators and their masterpieces.

The following notes and extracts are intended to stimulate the student's interest in this subject. It is fitting to begin with Demosthenes, the greatest of Grecian orators, and by many considered the greatest orator of all time. Next Cicero is quoted as representing the Golden Age of Roman eloquence. The names of Chatham, Burke, Brougham, and Gladstone, are representative of British orators, while those of Patrick Henry, Webster, Everett, and Wendell Phillips should be sufficient to awaken interest in the study of American oratory.

1 "Oratory and Orators," William Mathews (S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago).

DEMOSTHENES. 384 B.C.-322 B.C.

The oratory of Demosthenes remains the most illustrious example of defects overcome by patient and persevering effort. Afflicted by stammering and other physical shortcomings that would have discouraged the average man, he trained himself so methodically and persistently that he ultimately became the greatest orator the world has known.

His most famous speech, "On the Crown," was the outcome of a proposal of Ctesiphon that Demosthenes should receive a crown of gold in recognition of his services to his country. This was strongly opposed by Æschines upon the ground that it was illegal. The occasion has been described as the greatest combat of eloquence that the world ever witnessed. The following extract from this speech is of suggestive value:

Certain am I that you are all acquainted with my opponent's character, and believe these charges to be more applicable to him than to me. And of this I am sure, that my oratory— let it be so tho indeed I find that the speaker's power depends for the most part on the hearers; for according to your reception and favor it is that the wisdom of a speaker is esteemed —if I, however, possess any ability of this sort, you will find it has been exhibited always in public business on your behalf, never against you, or on personal matters; whereas that of Eschines has been displayed not only in speaking for the enemy, but against all persons who ever offended or quarreled with him. It is not for justice or the good of the commonwealth that he employs it. A citizen of worth and honor should not call upon judges impaneled in the public service to gratify his anger or hatred, or anything of that kind; nor should he come before you upon such grounds. The best thing is not to have these feelings; but, if it can not be helped, they should be mitigated and restrained.