491. Are the present facilities of intercourse between Europe and the United States favorable to the latter?

11*

492. Which is the greater deprivation, loss of sight or loss of hearing? 493. Is the designation, “Irritabile genus, so often applied to authors, just.

494. Is there any authoritative standard of taste?

495. Do modern discoveries in geological science serve to confirm or weaken our faith in the Mosaic account of the creation?

496. Was the execution of Mary Queen of Scots justifiable?

497. Can there be a virtuous ambition?

498. Ought children be compelled to attend school, at certain hours, by force of law?

499. Ought street beggary to be tolerated?

500. Which is the more useful member of the community, the lawyer or the clergyman?

501. Which is the most serviceable to mankind, the farmer, the mechanic, or the merchant?

502. Ought a teacher of youth to be himself a parent?

503. Are brutes endowed with reason?

504. Is the spendthrift more injurious to society than the miser?

505. Has the invention of gunpowder proved more useful than hurtful to mankind?

506. Which is the meaner character, the liar or the hypocrite ? 507. Which was the greatest general, Alexander, Hannibal, or Napoleon?

508. Ought the colonization of the African race to be encouraged? 509. Ought the election of President and Vice-President to be taken entirely from the Senate and House?

510. Ought the national government to make appropriations for internal improvements?

511. Are the moderns superior to the ancients in rhetorical science? 512. Would the peaceable accession of the Canadas be beneficial to the United States?

513. Had the allied powers a right to place a king over Greece? 514. Which is the more serviceable to his country, the statesman or the warrior?

515. Does morality advance equally with civilization ?

516. Is universal peace probable?

517. Which was the greater orator, Demosthenes or Cicero?

* An irascible race.

518. Is military glory a just object of ambition?

519. Which was the more powerful agency in producing the French revolution, the tyranny of the government or the excesses of the priests and nobles?

520. Are not popular superstitions favorable to the growth of poetry? 521. Is there sufficient ground for a belief in the alleged deterioration of animals and vegetables in America?

522. Are not the public, in this country, generally deprived of the official services of our best men, by the reckless abuse of the press during election times?

523. Ought the Catholics to have a separate school fund?

524. Was Cromwell a patriot ?

525. Was Napoleon's banishment to St. Helena justifiable?

526. Ought a representative to be bound by the will of his constituents?

527. Should government prohibit private mails?

528. Is it probable a republican government will be the prevailing one in the world?

529. Were circumstances in past ages as favorable to the growth of literature as they are at present?

530. Should the present popularity of a literary work be taken as an index of its real merits?

531. Ought a college or university to be located in the city or in the country?

532. Ought a man to propose himself for a public office and advocate his own claims to preferment ?

533. Is Puseyism compatible with Protestantism?

534. Is man a free moral agent?

535. Has the love of money more influence upon mankind than education?

536. Should the laws of justice ever be turned aside to favor the cause of humanity?

537. Was the late United-States Japan expedition a just one ?

538. Does not a multiplicity of books rather clog than deepen the channels of learning?

539. Is the character of Jefferson worthy of admiration?

540. Was the execution of Lady Jane Grey justifiable?

541. Was it not the purpose of Shakspeare to delineate, in the conduct of Desdemona, a character really indelicate and even unnatural, though apparently noble, refined, and every way commendable?

542. Was there a greater field for eloquence in ancient than in modern times?

543. Was the bankrupt law justifiable?

544. Are our liberties more endangered by aristocracy than democracy?

545. Were the crusades beneficial?

546. Is party spirit beneficial to a country?

547. Is a fugitive slave justified in taking the property of others to aid his escape?

548. Is offensive war justifiable in any case?

549. Has the discovery of the New World benefited mankind? 550. Are newspapers beneficial to the community at large?

551. Does the turpitude of a crime consist wholly in the intention? 552. Are populous cities beneficial to a country?

553. Is there reason to believe that the sages and philosophers of antiquity secretly discredited the popular religious systems of their day? 554. Is Pope's "Essay on Man" justly chargeable with an infidel tendency?

555. Ought universal suffrage to be allowed?

556. Ought ambition to be used as a motive for educating youth? 557. Was the conquest of Granada.by Ferdinand and Isabella justifiable?

558. Is Hogarth's theory, respecting the fundamental source, or principle of beauty, correct?

559. Was Kossuth justifiable in resigning his post as governor of Hungary into the hands of Görgy, and in fleeing his country?

560. Is the practice of reciting the speeches of others, as an exercise in elocution, on the whole, beneficial?

561. Is it really a measure of prudence to issue what are termed 'expurgated editions of the classics ? "

562. Does universal suffrage lead men to value electoral rights? 563. Which is the more useful to society, intellectual or physical labor?

564. Can we profit more by the excellences than by the defects of others?

565. Is the character of Archbishop Laud, generally, justly estimated?

566. Which is the more effective external means of securing favor, dress or address?

567. Which is the more destructive element, fire or water?

568. Can any process of reasoning take place in the mind, without the aid of language, orally or mentally?

569. Had the ancients more virtue than the moderns?

570. Is prejudice a sin?

571. Is there more to approve than condemn in the character of Oliver Cromwell?

572. Which has been the more serviceable to mankind, the printingpress or the steam-engine?

573. Is the maxim, "Where there's a will, there's a way," always true?

574. Would it be of advantage to fix the rate of wages by law? 575. Is there an absolute standard of honor, as of right?

576. Is the maxim, that "Men should surrender some of their rights," safe and just?

577. Do democratic institutions promote a desirable form of manners and character?

578. Are there more worlds than one?

579. Are early marriages conducive to the well-being of society ? 580. Is it a wise policy for Americans to send their children into foreign countries to be educated?

581. Ought the right of church property to be vested exclusively in Bishops or any other ecclesiastical dignitaries?

582. Which of the lower animals is the most useful to mankind?

SECTION XIV.

FORMS OF A CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS SUITABLE FOR A LITERARY OR DEBATING SOCIETY.

TT being one of the first duties, upon the formation of a Literary or Debating Society, to provide a system of rules and regulations, whereby the objects of the society may be more certainly secured, it is customary, for that purpose, to appoint a committee to draft a suitable constitution, as also such by-laws as may seem expedient.

In so doing, it is convenient and useful to have at hand forms which have already been submitted to the test of experience; for these serve as guides in ascer taining what has elsewhere, under the like circumstances, been found necessary or desirable.

And, although every essential aid, perhaps, in cases of this kind, might be found in that part of the present work* which treats of the Rules of Order in Deliberative Assemblies, still, that nothing, in this regard, may be wanting, we present, in this Section, literal copies of the constitutions and by-laws of two societies now in successful operation. Of course, they are not given as models to be implicitly followed, but as forms to be altered, modified, and adapted to circumstances. It is wisdom to avail ourselves of the experience of others.

* Sections IV. and V.