man, I would answer it in the manner I shall do before I sit down. But I shall first reply to it when not made by an honest man. 3. The honorable gentleman has called me "an unimpeached traitor." I ask, why not "traitor," unqualified by any epithet? I will tell him: it was because he dare not. It was the act of a coward who raises his arm to strike, but has not courage to give the blow. I will not call him villain, because it would be unparliamentary, and he is a privy councilor. I will not call him fool, because he happens to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. 4. But I say he is one who has abused the privilege of Parliament and freedom of debate, to the uttering language which, if spoken out of the House, I should answer only with a blow. I care not how high his station, how low his character, how contemptible his speech; whether a privy councilor or a parasite; my answer would be a blow. 5. He has charged me with being connected with the rebels. The charge is utterly, totally, and meanly false ! Does the honorable gentleman rely on the report of the House of Lords for the foundation of his assertion? If he does, I can prove to the committee there was a physical impossibility of that report being true. But I scorn to answer any man for my conduct, whether he be a political coxcomb, or whether he brought himself into power by a false glare of courage or not. 6. The right honorable gentleman says I fled from the country after exciting rebellion; and that I have returned to raise another. The charge is false. The civil war had not commenced when I left the kingdom; and I could not have returned without taking a part. On the one side there was the camp of the rebel; on the other, the camp of the minister, a greater traitor than that rebel. The stronghold of the constitution was nowhere to be found. 7. I agree that the rebel who rose against the government should have suffered; but I missed on the scaffold the right honorable gentleman. Two desperate parties were in arms against the constitution. The right honorable gentleman belonged to one of those parties, and deserved death. I could not join the rebel, -I could not join the government. I was therefore absent from a scene where I could not be active without self-reproach, nor indifferent with safety. 8. Many honorable gentlemen thought differently from me: I respect their opinions; but I keep my own; and I think now, as I thought then, that the treason of the minister against the liberties of the people was infinitely worse than the rebellion of the people against the minister. 9. I have returned, not, as the right honorable member has said, to raise another storm, I have returned to discharge an honorable debt of gratitude to my country, that conferred a great reward for past services, which, I am proud to say, was not greater than my desert. I have returned to protect that constitution, of which I was the parent and the founder, from the assassination of such men as the honorable gentleman and his unworthy associates. They are corrupt, — they are seditious, and they, at this very moment, are in a conspiracy against their country! 10. I have returned to refute a libel, as false as it is malicious, given to the public under the appellation of a report of the committee of the Lords. Here I stand for impeachment or trial: I dare accusation. I defy the honorable gentleman; I defy the government; I defy their whole phalanx: let them come forth! I tell the ministers I shall neither give them quarter nor take it. I am here to lay the shattered remains of my constitution on the floor of this House, in defense of the liberties of my country. 28. For the sound of long o before r in FORGED, hoarse, &c., see §§ 11, See in Index, eld, Bryant. Delivery. Sentiments of tenderness, indignation, reverence, are all to be conveyed in the delivery of this fine poem. The tone should be in the middle pitch, quality orotund, time medium, and the force occasionally loud, especially in the utterance of the recurring monosyllable no. The poem must be felt before it can be properly read. I. O COUNTRY, marvel of the earth! O realm to sudden greatness grown! II. And we, who wear thy glorious name, III. And they who founded, in our land, IV. Knit they the gentle ties which long These sister States were proud to wear, And forged the kindly links so strong V. Our humming marts, our iron ways, Our wind-tossed woods on mountain-crest, The calm, broad ocean of the West, And Mississippi's torrent-flow, And loud Niagara, answer, No! VI. Not yet the hour is nigh when they VII. For now, behold, the Arm that gave That mighty Arm which none can stay, — Pronounce CHIVALRY, shiv'al-ry, PURIFIED, pure'-ri-fied (not purified), MERCANTILE, mer'can-til (not mer-can-teel'), VEHEMENCE, VOLUNTARILY (the a short; see §§ 11, 28). See in Index, EXAGGERATE, PROTEST, QUALm, Spencer. Delivery. See remarks § 49. The style of this piece is for the most part calmly argumentative; though in paragraph 6, something of the warmth of indignation ought to be conveyed by the tone. 1. THAT which we condemn as the chief cause of commercial dishonesty is the indiscriminate admiration of wealth, an admiration that has little or no reference to the character of the possessor. When, as very generally happens, the external signs are reverenced, where they signify no internal worthiness, where they cover internal unworthiness, the feeling become vicious. nay, even then does 2. It is this idolatry which worships the symbol apart from the thing symbolized, that is the root of many of the evils of trade. So long as men pay homage to those social benefactors who have grown rich honestly, they give a wholesome stimulus to industry; but when they accord a share of their homage to those social malefactors who have grown rich dishonestly, then do they foster corruption, then do they become accomplices in all these frauds of commerce. 3. As for a remedy, it manifestly follows that there is none save a purified public opinion. When that abhorrence which society now shows to direct theft, is shown to theft of all degrees of indirectness; then will these mercantile vices disappear. 4. When not only the trader who adulterates or gives short measure, but also the merchant who overtrades, the bank-director who countenances an exaggerated report, and the railway-director who repudiates his guarantee, come to be regarded as of the same genus as the pickpocket, and are treated with like disdain, then will the morals of trade become what they should be. 5. We have little hope, however, that any such higher tone of public opinion will shortly be reached. Throughout the civilized world, especially in England, and above all in America, social activity is almost wholly expended in material development. Something, however, may even now be done by vigorous protest against adoration of mere success. And it is important that it should be done; considering how this vicious sentiment is being fostered. |