CHAPTER II. PERSUASION.

LESSON LXIX.

I. Persuasion in Argument.-Pure argument is rarely found except in the propositions of science. The insurance agent, the lawyer seeking to influence the jury, the preacher luring to brighter worlds, are not satisfied with mere intellectual conviction. Conviction may result from many things besides argument; it may come from ignorance, superstition, prejudice, passion. Conviction to issue in action must have the support of the feelings. Arguments that appeal to our sympathy, cupidity, pride, honor, that seek to move us to action, are of the nature of Persuasion. "Deductions have no power of persuasion. The heart is commonly reached, not through the reason, but through the imagination, by means of direct impressions, by the testimony of facts and events, by history, by description. Persons influence us, voices melt us, looks subdue us, deeds inflame us " (John Henry Newman). The orator, the preacher, the advocate, depend for success on their powers of persuasion. The method of persuasion is to put the argument in such a way that it will tell most upon the hearer-to enlist his sympathies, touch the motives that move him, appeal to his own experience of life and his own method of reasoning.

II. Theme: THAT AN APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE IS JUST.

A portion of a speech delivered in Birmingham, December 4, 1866, in favor of the Reform Bill for extending the franchise to artisans.

These opponents of ours, some of them in Parliament openly, and many of them secretly in the press, have charged us with being the promoters of a dangerous excitement. They have the effrontery to say that I am the friend of public disorder. I am one of the people. Surely if there be one thing in a free country more dear than another, it is that any one of the people may speak openly to the people. If I speak to the people of their rights, and indicate to them the way to secure them, if I speak of their danger to the monopolists of power,-am I not a wise counsellor, both to the people and to their rulers?

Suppose I stand at the foot of Vesuvius or Etna, and, seeing a hamlet or a homestead planted on its slope, I Isaid to the dwellers in that hamlet or that homestead: "You see that vapor which ascends from the summit of the mountain. That vapor may become a dense black smoke, that will obscure the sky. You see the trickling of lava from the crevices in the side of the mountain. That trickling of lava may become a river of fire. You hear that muttering in the bowels of the mountain. That muttering may become a bellowing thunder, the voice of a violent convulsion, that may shake half a continent. You know that at your feet is the grave of great cities, for which there is no resurrection, as histories and aristocracies have passed away, and their names have been known no more forever."

If I say this to the dwellers upon the slope of the mountain, and if there comes hereafter a catastrophe which makes the world to shudder, am I responsible for that catastrophe? I did not build the mountain, or fill it with explosive materials. I merely warned the men that were in danger. So, now, it is not I who am stimulating men to the violent pursuit of their acknowledged constitutional rights.

If a class has failed, let us try the nation. That is our faith, that is our purpose, that is our cry. Let us try the nation. That it is which has called together these countless numbers of the people to demand a change; and from these gatherings, sublime in their vastness and their resolution, I think I see, as it were, above the hill-tops of time, the glimmerings of the dawn of a better and nobler day for the country, and for the people that I love so well. -John Bright.

III. The Method of Persuasion. The foregoing argument begins with a refutation of the charge that those who advocate the appeal to the people foment dangerous disorder. The speaker sets up the general principle that popular discussion is the right of the people, of whom he is one. The right to address the ruling classes is admitted; he has done his duty to them in warning them of danger; wise in counselling then, he argues that his appeal to the people is wise. Then follows the argument by analogy-Vesuvius and the duty of warning the people of dangerous eruption; national discontent and the duty of warning those who are in danger from it. As he is not the cause of the volcano's erup

tion, so he is not the fomenter of national discontent. Either the classes or the masses must act. But the classes have failed to remedy national grievances, therefore the people must act. The people feel the need, they are moving, and their movement means national salvation.

The elements of persuasion consist of (i) the personal element ("I am of the people"), (ii) in the epithets discrediting the opponents of his views ("effrontery," "monopolists of the power," etc.); (iii) in the terrible impressiveness of the analogy; (iv) in the iteration of great words, nation, faith, cry, countless numbers; (v) in the vision of the happy future which the extension of the franchise will bring near.

IV. Composition.-I. (i) State simply the pure argument of the passage. (ii) Reproduce the arguments with what strength of appeal you can give them.

2. Write an appeal in favor of popular educationThat education should be free, obligatory, and universal. 3. Write a plea for the establishment of free public libraries.

4. Refute from history the proposition that the suffrage is the birthright of manhood.

5. Support or refute the proposition that judges be elected by the people.

LESSON LXX.

I. Theme:-PLEA BEFORE CONGRESS FOR A WELCOME TO LOUIS KOSSUTH.

Kossuth (kosh' oot), leader of the Hungarian revolution of 1848, was unable to cope with the power of Austria and Russia. He escaped to Turkey, whence he was carried by an American frigate to England. He visited the United States in December, 1851, and was received with great enthusiasm.

I will suppose now that the opposition made to this resolution to welcome Louis Kossuth is effective. I will suppose that the measure is defeated. Where, then, sir, shall he find welcome and repose? In his own beautiful native land, at the base or on the slopes of the Carpathian hills? No! the Austrian despot reigns absolutely there. Shall he find it in Germany, east or west, north or south? No, sir; the despot of Austria and the despot of Prussia reign absolutely there. Shall he find it under the sunny skies of Italy? No, sir; for the Austrian monarch has crushed Italy to the earth. Shall he find it in Siberia, or in the frozen regions of the North? No, sir; for the Russian czar, who drove him from his native land and forced him into exile in Turkey, will be ready to seize the fugitive. The scaffold awaits him there. Where, then, shall he go? Where else on the face of broad Europe can he find refuge but in the land of your forefathers, in Britain? There, God be thanked, there would be a welcome and a home for him. Are you prepared to give to the world evidence that you cannot receive the representative of liberty and republicanism, whom England can honor, shelter, and protect?