Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, by CHAUNCEY A. GOODRICH, in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the District of Connecticut PRE FACE. MR. HUME has somewhere remarked, that "he who would teach eloquence must do it chiefly by examples." The author of this volume was forcibly struck with this remark in early life; and in entering on the office of Professor of Rhetoric in Yale College, more than thirty years ago, besides the ordinary instructions in that department, he took Demosthenes' Oration for the Crown as a text-book in the Senior Class, making it the basis of a course of informal lectures on the principles of oratory. Modern eloquence came next, and he endeavored, in a distinct course, to show the leading characteristics of the great orators of our own language, and the best mode of studying them to advantage. His object in both courses was, not only to awaken in the minds of the class that love of genuine eloquence which is the surest pledge of success, but to aid them in catching the spirit of the authors read, and, by analyzing passages selected for the purpose, to initiate the pupil in those higher principles which (whether they were conscious of it or not) have always guided the great masters of the art, till he should learn the unwritten rules of oratory, which operate by a kind of instinct upon the mind, and are far more important than any that are found in the books. Such is the origin of this volume, which contains the matter of the second course of lectures mentioned above, cast into another form, in connection with the speeches of the great British orators of the first and second class. A distinct volume would be necessary for American eloquence, if the lectures on that subject should ever be published. The speeches selected are those which, by the general suffrage of the English public, are regarded as the master-pieces of their respective authors. They are in almost every instance given entire, because the object is to have each of them studied as a complete system of thought. Detached passages of extraordinary force and beauty may be useful as exercises in elocution; but, if dwelt upon exclusively as models of style, they are sure to vitiate the taste. It is like taking all one's nutriment from highly-seasoned food and stimulating drinks. 1 As to the orators chosen, CHATHAM, BURKE, Fox, and PTT stand, by universal consent, at the head of our eloquence, and to these ERSKINE may be added as the greatest of our forensic orators. Every tolerably reported speech from Lord CHATHAM is of interest to the student in oratory, and all that I thought such are here inserted, including eight never before published in this country. All of BURKE's speeches which he prepared for the press have also found a place, except that on Economical Reform, which, relating to mere matters of English finance, has less interest for an American. In room of this, the reader will find the most striking passages in his works on the French Revolution, so that this volume contains nearly every thing which most persons can have any desire to study in the pages of Mr. Burke. Six of Fox's great speeches are next given, and three of PITT's, with copious extracts from the early efforts of the latter; together with nine of ERSKINE'S ablest arguments, being those on which his reputation mainly rests. Among the orators of the second class, the reader will find in this volume four speeches of Lord MANSFIELD; two of Mr. GRATTAN'S, with his invectives against Flood and Corry; Mr. SHERIDAN'S celebrated speech against Hast ings; three of Mr. CURRAN'S; Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH's famous speech for Peltier; four of Mr. CANNING's; and five of Lord BROUGHAM's, including his instructive discourse on the study of eloquence in the Greek orators. Some of the most finished letters of JUNIUS are given in their proper place, with remarks on his style as an admirable model of condensation, elegance, and force. In the first fifty pages will be found nearly all the celebrated speeches before the days of Lord Chatham, from Sir ROBERT WALPOLE, Lord CHESTER. FIELD, Mr. PULTENEY, Lord BELHAVEN, Sir JOHN DIGBY, the Earl of STRAFFORD, and Sir JOHN ELIOT. The selections in this volume extend through a period of two hundred years, and embrace a very large proportion of the most powerful eloquence of Great Britain. The following are the aids afforded for the study of these speeches : (1.) A memoir of each orator, designed to show his early training in eloquence, the leading events of his public life, the peculiar cast of his genius, and the distinctive characteristics of his oratory. It ought to be said, in justice to the author, that these sketches were completed in every essential particular, long before the publication of Lord Brougham's work upon British Statesmen. (2.) A historical introduction to each of the speeches, explaining minutely the circumstances of the case, the state of parties, and the exact point at issue, being intended to place the reader in the midst of the scene as an actual spectator of the contest. These introductions, with the memoirs just mentioned, form a slight but continuous thread of political history, embracing the most important topics discussed in the British Parliament for more than a century. (3.) An analysis of the longer speeches in side-notes, giving the divisions and subdivisions of thought, and thus enabling the reader to perceive at once the connection and bearing of the several parts. (4.) A large body of explanatory notes, bringing out minuter facts. A few of these, on CHATHAM's early speeches, are from the Modern Orator, and also some definitions of law terms in two of ERSKINE'S, p. 637-83. (5.) Critical notes, as specimens of the kind of analysis which the author has been accustomed to apply to the several parts of an oration, and which every student in oratory should be continually making out for himself. (6.) Translations of the passages quoted from the ancient and foreign languages, with the poetry rendered into English verse. The passages are usually traced to their sources, and the train of thought given as it appears in the original, without a knowledge of which most quotations have but little force or beauty. For the same reason, the classical and other allusions are traced out and explained. (7.) A concluding statement of the way in which the question was decided, with occasional remarks upon its merits, or the results produced by the decision. Great compression has been used in preparing this volume, that all who are interested in the study of eloquence may be able to possess it. Each page contains the matter of three ordinary octavo pages in Pica type; and the whole work has in it one sixth more than Chapman's Select Speeches, or Willison's American Eloquence, in five octavo volumes each. In conclusion, the author may be permitted to say, that while he has aimed to produce a volume worthy of lying at all times on the table of every one engaged in speaking or writing for the public, he has hoped it might prove peculiarly useful to men of his own profession; since nothing is more desirable, at the present day, than a larger infusion into our sacred eloquence of the freedom, boldness, and strength which distinguish our secula Sept. 1st, 1852. CONTENTS. Walpole, ib.; deprived of his commission, ib., becomes leader of the Opposition, 54-5; comparison between him and Lord Mansfield, 55; gains a complete ascend. ancy in the House, 56; unites with Mr. Pelham, and is made Paymaster of the Forces, ib.; exhibition of dis- interestedness, 56-7; on the death of Pelham comes out against Newcastle, his successor, 58; attack on Mans- field, "Felix trembles," ib.; attack on Fox, "conflux of the Rhone and Soane," 59; drives Mansfield out of the House, ib.; is made Prime Minister on Newcastle's res- ignation, 60; dismissed soon after, and all England in commotion, ib.; restored, his influence over all con- nected with him in government, ib.; power of his elo- quence, "Is there an Austrian among you?" "Ut videre virum," 61; Opposition extinguished, 62; triumphs of his policy and arms in all quarters of the globe, ib., France sues for peace, 63; Spain joins her, ib.; he pro- poses war against her, but overruled by Lord Bute, ib.; resigns, ib.; makes his "Sitting Speech" against Lord peace, attack on Mr. Grenville, "Gentle Shep- herd," 65; opposes the King respecting John Wilkes and American taxation, ib.; contemptuous retort on Justice Moreton, 66; withholds his support from the Rocking ham administration, ib.; forms his third ministry, and is raised into the House of Lords, 67; his loss of health and inability to administer the government, 68; resigns and retires, ib.; comes out at the end of three years against the Grafton ministry, 69; it falls before him, ib. ; support of America, 70; declines in health, ib.; his death, 71; characteristics of his eloquence, 71-5. SPEECH on a Motion for an Address on the Marriage of SPEECH on the Spanish Convention.. SPEECH on the Impressment of Seamen.. SPEECH in reply to Horatio Walpole.. 95 SPEECH on a Motion to Inquire into the State of the Na- SPEECH against the Quartering of British Soldiers on the His birth, 143; descended from the Stormont family, which adhered to the Stuarts, ib.; sent early to the Westmin- ster school, ib.; his great proficiency, ib.; removed to Oxford, ib.; his studies in rhetoric, ib.; commences the study of the law, ib.; laborious training in extempora neous speaking, ib.; historical studies, 144; practice in elocution, ib.; a favorite of Pope, ib.; extent of his business as a lawyer, ib.; made Solicitor General, ib. ; comparison between him and the elder Pitt, ib.; made Attorney General, 145; appointed Chief Justice with title of Lord Mansfield, ib.; speech at taking leave of his associates at Lincoln's Inn, 145-6; his qualifications His Letters have taken a permanent place in our elo- quence, 163; the rhetorical skill which they manifest, 10.; the result of severe and protracted effort, ib.; labor bestowed on the selection and arrangement of his ideas, ib.; logical cast of his mind, 163-4; peculiar benefits to the young orator from the study of his style, 164; his extraordinary powers of condensation, ib.; of insinu. ating ideas without expressing them in form, 164-5; reasons why indirect attack by insinuation is so pecul iarly painful to cultivated minds, 165; Junius' means of secret information, ib.; characteristics of his style, 166- 7; the perfection of his imagery, 167; who was Juni- LETTER to the Printer of the Public Advertiser..... 173 LETTER to Sir William Draper . Sheridan, 230; writes his Reflections on the Revolu tion in France, 231; characteristics of the work, ib., its errors, ib.; its excellences, 231-32; his separation from Mr. Fox, 232-33; loss of his son, 234-35; pension granted him, 233; his Letter to a Noble Lord on the subject of his pension, ib.; his Letters on a Regicido Peace, ib.; errors of Mr. Burke respecting the war with France, 235-36; decline of his health, 237; his death, ib.; characteristics of his genius and eloquence, 237-40 SPEECH on American Taxation.... SPEECH on Conciliation with America SPEECH previous to the Bristol Election SPEECH on declining the Election at Bristol SPEECH on the East India Bill of Mr. Fox.......... 311 SPEECH on the Nabob of Arcot's Debts... MR. BURKE on the Death of his son CHARACTER of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 382 His birth and education in Dublin, 382; study of the law in London, ib.; study of Lord Chatham as an orator, ib.; settlement in Dublin as an advocate, ib.; election to the Irish Parliament, ib.; moves a Declaration of Irish right, 333; unsuccessful, ib.; moves it again at the end of two years, 384; prevails, ib. ; opposed by Mr. Flood, ib.; invective against him, ib.; opposed to the Union, ib.; chosen to the Imperial Parliament, ib.; de voted to the cause of Emancipation, ib. ; his death, ib.; personal qualities and character as an orator, 385. SPEECH on moving a Declaration of Irish Right 398 399 LETTER to the Duke of Bedford. REMARKS on the Character of the Duke of Bedford (by His parentage and connection with the stage, 399; early REMARKS On the character of the Duke of Grafton (by the 206 dramatic productions, ib.; purchase of Drury Lane His birth and early genius, 437; indulgence of his father ib.; produces habits of dissipation, 438; eminence in classical literature, ib.; distinction at Eaton and Oxford, ib.; early extravagance, 439; enters Parliament, i., first a Tory and in office under Lord North, 440; tury ed out abruptly, ib.; joins the Whigs as a pupil of Burke, 441; his labors to form himself as a debater 443; becomes head of the Whig party, ib.; is made Sec. retary of State under Lord Rockingham, 444; disap pointed in not becoming Prime Minister on the death of Rockinghara, ib.; forms his Coalition with Lore North, 445; drives out the ministry and becomes Sec- retary of State, ib.; his East India Bill, 446; speech in support of it, 447; carried in the House, ib.; defeated in the Lords, ib.; his speech against secret influence, 448; displaced and Mr. Pitt made Prime Minister, ib.; unsuccessful efforts to drive Pitt from power, ib.; West- minster election, 449; Mr. Fox's speech on the subject, 450; decision of the House in his favor, ib.; derange- ment of the King, ib.; Mr. Fox asserts the right of the Prince of Wales to the Regency, 451; King recovers, 452; Mr. Fox's speech against Mr. Pitt for arming against Russia, 453; his Libel bill, ib.; his views of the French Revolution, 454; his speech on Mr. Pitt's rejection of Bonaparte's overtures for peace, 458; comes in under Lord Grenville as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. 459; his |