must see to it that it does not itself crush or weaken or damage its own constituent parts. The first duty of law is to keep sound the society it serves. Sanitary laws, purefood laws, and laws determining conditions of labor which individuals are powerless to determine for themselves are intimate parts of the very business of justice and legal efficiency. These are some of the things we ought to do, and not leave the others undone, the old-fashioned, never-to-be-neglected, fundamental safeguarding of property and of individual right. This is the high enterprise of the new day: to lift everything that concerns our life as a nation to the light that shines from the hearth-fire of every man's conscience and vision of the right. It is inconceivable that we should do this as partisans; it is inconceivable that we should do it in ignorance of the facts as they are or in blind haste. We shall restore, not destroy. We shall deal with our economic system as it is and as it may be modified, not as it might be if we had a clean sheet of paper to write upon; and step by step we shall make it what it should be, in the spirit of those who question their own wisdom and seek council and knowledge not shallow self-satisfaction or the excitement of excursions whither they cannot tell. Justice, and only justice, shall always be our motto. And yet it will be no cool process of mere science. The nation has been deeply stirred stirred by a solemn passion, stirred by the knowlege of wrong, of ideals lost, of government too often debauched and made an instrument of evil. The feelings with which we face this new age of right and opportunity sweep across our heartstrings like some air out of God's own presence, where justice and mercy are reconciled and the judge and the brother are one. We know our task to be no mere task of politics, but a task which shall search us through and through, whether we be able to under stand our time and the need of our people, whether we be indeed their spokesmen and interpreters, whether we have the pure heart to comprehend and the rectified will to choose our high course of action. This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. Here muster not the forces of party but the forces of humanity. Men's hearts wait upon us; men's lives hang in the balance; men's hopes call upon us to say what we will do. Who shall live up to the great trust? Who dares fail to try? I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men, to my side. God helping me, I will not fail them, if they will but counsel and sustain me. NOTES ON THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF WOODROW WILSON 1. Let the student make a careful plan of this great address, noting the several steps in the thought from the introduction to the conclusion that stirs the blood like a trumpet with its appeal and challenge. 2. Note the choice of words and the appropriateness of the diction. 3. Observe the sentence structure, simple and vigorous, human yet dignified as was befitting the man and the occasion, as well as the topics with which the speaker deals. 4. Note the fervor, yet manliness of the style, and the high spirit and noble ideals that animate the entire discourse. Compare the speech in these particulars with Lincoln's inaugurals. ORATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY In addition to the speeches printed in full in preceding pages, the following brief list of great addresses is suggested as furnishing examples of oratorical construction and style from which the student may derive helpful illustrations of oratorical law and practice. It is suggested that each member of a class, or each private student of the subject, be assigned to or take one of these speeches, or another from the multitude within the reach of almost any student, and prepare an essay after a careful study of the production chosen. This essay need not be very long-not more, ordinarily than one thousand words,and should cover the following points: (1.) A brief account of the circumstances under which the speech was delivered; (2.) A brief, clear statement of the Theme of the speech; (3.) A well-constructed Plan of the speech according to the outline given in the text. In this plan the “Object" should be given the proper form; (4.) A discussion of the Style, including (a) choice of words, (b) diction, (c) figures of speech - especially those that promote force, (d) construction of sentences, especially as to clearness and force; (illustrate, when necessary, by quoting from the speech itself); (e) allusions, (f) illustrations, (g) climax - not only as to arrangement of material, but as to expression in the divisions themselves. Give especial attention to the style of the Introduction and the Conclusion, ORATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 1. Speech of William Wirt in the Trial of Aaron Burr. 3. The Scholar in a Republic (Wendell Phillips). 4. Make Haste Slowly (Charles Sumner). 5. Speech at Faneuil Hall (Webster). 6. The Bunker Hill Monument (Everett). 7. Speech of Lord Mansfield on Taxing America. 8. Lord Chesterfield against Licensing Ginshops. 9. Mr. Brougham on the Invasion of Spain by France. 10. Speech on the Reform Bill (Macaulay). II. On the New Army Bill (Henry Clay). 12. The Revolution in Greece (Webster). 13. Machine Politics and the Remedy (G. W. Curtis). 14. Speech on the British Treaty (Madison). 15. Speech on the Oregon Bill (Calhoun). 16. The Working Men's Party (Everett). 17. Case of John Wilkes (Lord Chatham). 18. The Rupture of the Negotiations with France (Pitt). 19. Warren Hastings on the Begum Charge (Sheridan). 20. Conciliation with America (Burke). 21. To the Electors of Bristol (Burke). 22. Parliamentary Reform (Fox). 23. The Russian Armament (Fox). 24. Speech on the American Constitution (Patrick Henry). 25. Speech in the Case of Harry Croswell (Hamilton). 26. On His Nomination to the United States Senate (Lincoln). 27. The True Grandeur of Nations (Charles Sumner). 28. The Murder of Lovejoy (Phillips). 29. Public Offices as Private Perquisites (Carl Schurz). 30. The Mexican Treaty and the Monroe Doctrine (Gerrit Smith, H. of R., June 27, '54). 31. The Irrepressible Conflict (W. H. Seward). 32. The Highest Form of Expression (F. W. Robertson). 33. The Immortality of Good Deeds (Thomas B. Reed). 34. Blifil and Black George— Puritan and Blackleg (John Randolph). 35. Iscariot in Modern England (Ruskin's Speech at Camberwell). 36. A Plea for Conciliation in 1876 (Thomas F. Bayard). 39. Reply to Hayne (Webster). 40. First Settlement of New England (Webster). 41. Second Bunker Hill Monument Speech (Webster). 42. Other Speeches by Henry Ward Beecher in England during the Civil War. 43. Public Opinion (Wendell Phillips). 44. The Abolition Movement (Wendell Phillips). 45. Lincoln's Election (Wendell Phillips). 46. The American Doctrine of Liberty (George William Curtis). 47. The Puritan Spirit (George William Curtis). 48. Oration on Garfield (James G. Blaine). 49. The Impeachment of Warren Hastings (Edmund Burke). |