Making the Outline. — The terms of the question having been decided upon, each half of the section, as affirmative or negative, should hold a meeting to counsel upon the line of argument to be followed. This outline of the argument, or exactly what line the debaters intend to pursue, should be clearly and carefully made, as it constitutes the purpose which that side of the debate intends to accomplish. After the outline has been decided upon, it is well to divide it into as many parts as there are speakers on that side, in order that the speeches of leader and followers may tend toward the accomplishment of the same purpose.
Preparation of the Briefs. — Each debater, taking within the general outline that share of it which he is to present, should then begin the preparation of his brief. He should go carefully through, one by one, the six steps given on page 15. The value of the debate to a student's training will depend upon the patient manner in which he pursues the six processes, one by one, to the completion of his argument. By this patient step-by-step work, and by the making of his speech to his class as an audience, and by these things only, can he hope to become a successful debater. The student who neglects the step-by-step process, and who gathers his arguments in a disconnected manner, no matter how good the individual arguments may be, is wasting his time and opportunities — he is working purposelessly. (The student will find much better advice than can be given in this work in Baker's Principles of Argumentation^ Ginn & Co., or in Brookings and Kingwalt's Briefs for Debates, Longmans.)
Division of Time. — Each section, the two sides agreeing, should be allowed to divide among the speakers the time allotted for the debate.
Chairman of the Debate. — As presiding over an assembly is an important part of a speaker's training, a student should be allowed to preside over the debate, each section choosing its own chairman from the remainder of the class, and no student acting as chairman for more than one debate, in order that as many students as possible may have this practice.
Programme. — Upon the day of a debate the section debating should present to its chairman a complete and carefully made out programme containing the question, the names of the debaters in the order in which they are to speak, and the time allotted to each, as a memorandum for the use of the chairman. It is best that the question for debate be neatly written on the blackboard in front of the class, prior to the debate itself, in order that those listening to the debate may know the exact statement of the question.
Briefs to be given to the Teacher for Examination..-Of course, each debater has carefully prepared a brief ol his argument, in which the authorities he gives in support of the statements he makes are cited — volume, chapter, and page. This brief he should hand to the teacher for examination after his debate.
Taking Notes. — One of the most important parts of a high-school student's training is the ability to take notes of a speech or lecture. This power is absolutely indispensable in university life. A beginner will find it very difficult to make an outline or a brief of a long and elaborate speech or argument simply from hearing it. He should begin the acquiring of this power by taking notes of short speeches. No better opportunity for such a beginning can be found than in making out a brief of each student's speech in debate while it is being delivered, in order to acquire the important power of listening and of taking notes at the same time. These briefs should be carefully copied on uniform paper, and used in the preparation of a decision upon the debate, and then handed in to the teacher for examination and criticism as to the student's ability to make out the brief of a speech as he hears it.
DECISIONS UPON DEBATES Purpose. — The purpose of decisions upon debates should not be so much to see who wins as to learn to divest one's self of prejudice, and to learn to weigh evidence, thus developing fair-mindedness.
Weighing of Evidence from the Briefs taken. — Each student should aim, in preparing a decision upon a debate, to arrive at a just decision based upon the argument presented, and without prejudice as to speaker or to previous opinions. The student should sit down, having before him the briefs that he has taken of the speeches made by the debaters, and without prejudice or preconceived opinions he should proceed (1) to a careful examination of the statement of the question; (2) then to a careful examination of the briefs in the order in which the speeches were delivered, carefully weighing the arguments presented, until he has arrived at a decision for which he can give good reasons when called upon.
Time of the Decision. — As the purpose of deciding is to learn to weigh evidence, the debate should not be decided at once, as such action is likely to be hasty and to prevent the weighing of the evidence. The decision, therefore, should be postponed for at least one day, in order to give each student time to go through the process mentioned under the caption "Weighing of Evidence from the Briefs taken."
Appointment of Judges. — As it is desirable that each student should have training in the weighing of evidence, for no one can prepare an argument who can not weigh evidence, it is not best to appoint judges to decide a debate until the day set for the decision and its discussion, in order that each student may expect to be chosen as a judge, and that he will, therefore, prepare himself by the study of the question and the briefs that he has taken. Upon the day of the decision, all the students being prepared to decide, three judges may be chosen who are to render, upon slips of paper as usual, a decision upon the debate. After having rendered their decision, each one of the judges should be called upon to justify his decision from the briefs that he has taken. Thereafter the decision should be open for discussion by the remaining members of the class, from the briefs that they have taken- ]No student should be allowed to assign a reason for his decision by saying, " 1 have decided for the affirmative (or negative) because I thought they presented stronger arguments." He should be required to show from his briefs why the arguments were stronger. If desirable, the decision of the judges may be followed by a second decision by the class as a body. This plan will insure the greatest, possible amount of practice in the methodical weighing of evidence.
SOME CAUTIONS IN DECIDING 1. A student, in sitting down to his briefs, should first try to forget that he has any friends upon the debate.
2. He should try to forget his preconceived opinions upon the question. He is not deciding upon the question, but upon the arguments presented.
3. He should make an effort to ascertain the tru^h of the evidence cited in support of statements.
4. He should beware of the effect of a " last speech," being careful not to overestimate its value on account of its having come last.
5. It is not fair, in debate, to use the influence of the name of some sacred book by quoting from it, as final proof, some statement unsupported by further evidence. Such statements have no weight as evidence.
6. Mere assertions, ordinarily, have no value as arguments.
Criticism. — A student who is earnestly seeking the development of his argumentative power, and of his power of speaking while upon his feet, is also seeking criticism; for it is, first, by improving his good qualities, and, secondly, by getting rid of his bad qualities, that he must attain the powers he seeks. It is best, after a decision has been rendered and discussed, that each debater should have an opportunity " to see himself as others see him ", therefore, his speech and his presentation of it, for his own good, should be open to discussion. The first point that should be discussed should always be on the positive side, or what was well done. After this has been discussed, those faults of position, want of earnestness, want of clearness, want of force, want of close adherence to the subject, etc., should be freely discussed. Each student must overcome his own faults, and must, by a rigid self-examination, rid himself of these faults and replace them by excellences.
The study of the audience to which a speech or argument is to be delivered is necessary to the preparation of the speech or argument; and as every great speech or argument must be suited to the audience, it will be necessary in the study of Burke's Speech to know something of his audience — the House of Commons before which he spoke; therefore some pupil from the class should be detailed to present a report upon Burke's audience, the House of Commons of 1775. He should take care to present information upon the following particulars: 1. What is the House of Commons?
2. Its organization and customs.
3. A blackboard drawing of the House of Commons, or a picture of the same passed around the class.
4. The political parties of the time, and the one in power; their principles.
5. Some of the prominent statesmen who listened te Burke.
6. The circumstances under which the speech was made.
7. The probable location from which Burke made hi? speech.
$, The conduct of the House during the speech.
THE ORATOR HIMSELF The entire class should participate in the study of Burke's life and his public services, a sketch of which is given on page 25. It would be better, however, if a deeper study of this subject could be made. An outline is herewith given. The following of this outline in study and recitation will prevent the usual wandering of the students. If the attention of the students be called in advance to the necessity of this study and the method of carrying it out, most of it can be prepared from the other preliminary reading done by the students. A familiarity with the outline given will enable the student to take notes upon it to some extent while doing his preparatory historical reading.
Morley's Life of Burlce, in the English Men of Letters Series, is the best life for the high-school student. The article by Morley in the Encyclopaedia Britannica is excellent.
OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF BUEKE'S LIFE (Note to the student: Take notes on the outline as you read.)
I. BIRTH.
A. Time.
B. Place.
C. Parents.
D. Ancestors.
1. On the father's side.
2. On the mother's side.
II. CHILDHOOD, BOYHOOD, AND EARLY MANHOOD.
A. Incidents of.
B. Tendencies.
C. Formative influences.
D. Education.
1. In boyhood.
2. In early manhood.
INTRODUCTION 2i III. MANHOOD.
A. Seeking a profession.
B. Final choice.
C. Location.
D. Political circumstances.
E. Political contemporaries.
F. Conduct in public life.
G. Conduct in private life. H. Success.
I. Financial affairs.
J. His rank as an orator. K. Great works. L. Greatest work. M. Death.
1. Time.
2. Place.
3. Incidents ot.
4. Condition of finances.
5. Place of burial. N. Four phases of his life. 0. Descendants. (?)
P. Best books about him.
Q. Characteristics.
R. Miscellaneous incidents.
S. Memory gems.
T. Works best worth reading.
IV. His INFLUENCE UPON MANKIND.
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF EDMUND BURKE EDMUND BUEKE, " one of the greatest names in the history of political literature," was born, according to the most probable account, at Dublin, January 12, 1729, new style. Little is known of Burke's family. It is known that his father was a well-to-do Protestant attorney of Dublin, and that his mother, who was a Roman Catholic, was a member of a reputable family of the name of Xagle. It is known that Edmund had one sister and two brothers; one brother, Garret Burke, being older, and the other, Richard Burke, being younger than Edmund.
At the age of twelve Edmund was sent to Ballitore, a short distance from Dublin, to a school kept by an English Quaker named Abraham Shackleton. The two succeeding years, which Burke spent at this school, proved to be of great value in forming the character of the future statesman and orator, for Shackleton was a most excellent teacher and a noble man. Later in life Burke attributed the foundation of his character and ability to the teaching and influence of Shackleton.
In 1743, at the age of about fourteen, Burke was sent to Trinity College, Dublin, where he remained until he received his bachelor's degree in 1748. Burke's student life was not marked by careful and serious following of the course of study. He preferred to read in accordance with his own pleasure in the library of the university, or to take long rambles in the country about Dublin. It must not be thought that he did not improve his mind while at the university; he simply preferred to follow the bent of his own intellect, a safe method for those only, perhaps, who in later life evince the possession of genius. So we find him making deep excursions of his own, in the library of the university, first into the realm of natural philosophy, then delving into mathematics, then into logic and metaphysics, then into history, and turning at length to read widely and deeply in the realm of poetry. He left the university with but a fair degree of scholarship, but with his mind saturated with a deep and broad information which was to be of inestimable value to him in his future career.
Of his companionships while at the university little is known. Oliver Goldsmith was a student at the Uni» versity of Dublin at the same time, but it is not known that they were acquainted there. Their sincere friendship in after life as fellow-members of the famous " Literary Club " in London can not be told in detail here.
In 1750 he went to London to study law at the Temple.
Of the next nine years of his life but little is known. It is known that he turned from the law to become a writer, thus deeply displeasing his father, who was a stern and severe man, and who was so incensed at his son's disregard of the father's wishes that he cut off Edmund's allowance and left him to shift for himself. He became one of the many young writers who frequented London at this time, doing " hack " work and practicing debate and oratory in the debating societies which were maintained by the young lawyers and writers of the time. In 1756 he published A Vindication of Natural Society and A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas on the Sublime and Beautiful. The first of these, which was a satire upon the writings of Bolingbroke, a noted writer of works of a skeptical nature, brought him some reputation in England, while the second attracted some attention in Germany. He attempted several other works during these nine years, but they are of little value. It may be said that his most important work, as far as his future was concerned, was in connection with Dodsley's Annual Register, a publication which gave annually a summary of all important events, especially those of a political nature. It will be seen that the acquisition of information necessary to a writer upon a work of this character must have helped to make Burke that encyclopaedia of political information which astounded the hearers of his speeches in Parliament at a later date.
In 1756 Burke married Mary Jane, daughter of Dr. Xugent, a physician of Bath. The marriage proved to be a very happy one.
In 1761 he accompanied William Gerard Hamilton, secretary to Lord Halifax, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to that country as Hamilton's assistant. In 1763 Hamilton procured for Burke a pension of three hundred pounds a year; but the independent Burke, upon find, ing out that Hamilton had expected to purchase outright, not only Burke's services, but also his political independence, by means of the pension, quarreled with Hamilton, and, to regain his political freedom, threw up his pension after having enjoyed it but a year.
In 1765 Burke became private secretary to the Marquis of Eockingham, Prime Minister of Great Britain. Kockingham's ministry remained in power but a year, but there sprang up between the marquis and Burke a friendship which was interrupted only by the death of Eockingham in 1782. In 1766 Burke took his seat in Parliament for the borough of Wendover, and on January 27th of the same year, he made his first speech in Parliament, an effort of such splendid eloquence and logical argument as to bring him at once prominently before the public. His history from this time on is a part of the history of Great Britain.
BUEKE'S POLITICAL LIFE AND PKINCIPLES The keynote of Burke's political life and principles and of all his future political action may be summed up as follows: He was an earnest and intense believer in human liberty, but that human liberty must be based upon the principles of the English Constitution. He was an enemy to innovations. He strove earnestly for human liberty and happiness, but he strenuously resisted any radical change in the English Constitution. He held that it was not a change of form in government that was needed to bring about liberty and happiness, but only a fair and just administration of government under the principles of the existing constitution. It has often been said that Burke made an absolute change in hi? principles in his fierce resistance to the French Eevolution. This is not true. He stood for the existing Driiv ciples of the constitution fairly and justly administered. He was not so much opposed to the struggles of the French for liberty as to their reckless overturning of all established religion and of the monarchical form of government. His conduct in this matter was entirely consistent with his earlier career, only his opposition to radical constitutional changes grew fiercer and fiercer as he advanced in years. Under this interpretation only can a fair and just estimate be placed upon Burke's political career.
Burke's political life may be properly divided into three periods — his life with respect to the affairs of England and her American colonies, his life with respect to England and her government of India, and his life with respect to the French Eevolution.
Burke and American Affairs. — It may be said, despite the fact that during this period Burke was simply a member of Parliament, that nevertheless he was the principal factor in the Whig opposition to the policy and the party of the king. This period is marked bythree great speeches, which, for breadth of informa* tion, clearness and force of argument, and splendor of presentation, have possibly never been equaled. These speeches were the Speech on American Taxation (in 1774), the Speech on Conciliation with the American Colonies (in 1775), and the Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol (in 1777). The last, although not delivered orally, may also be classed as a speech. " It is no exaggeration to say that they ('the three pieces') compose the most perfect manual in our literature, or in any literature, for one who approaches the study of public affairs, whether for knowledge or for practice. They are an example without fault of all the qualities which the critic, whether a theorist or an actor, of great political situations should strive by night and by day to possess. If the subject with which they deal were less near than it is to our interests and affections as free citizens, these three performances would still abound in the lessons of an incomparable political method." The truth of this statement can not be discussed here, but the student who follows the study of these three speeches far enough will find out that Morley does not exaggerate.
The further discussion of Burke's "American Period " is left to the student in his study of the Speech on Conciliation and the history leading up to it, for which study provision is made elsewhere in this book.
Burke and the Affairs of India. — After the close of the American War Burke turned his attention to an equally great question — the question of the maladministration of the affairs of India by the East India Company. This period is marked by two tremendous efforts — the Speech, in 1785, On the Nabob of Ar cot's Debts, and Burke's speeches, in 1786, at the prosecution of Warren Hastings, the chief administrative officer of the East India Company. The student should consult for a study of this period some extended life of Burke, or Macaulay's Essay on Warren Hastings.
Burke and the French Revolution. — The closing years of the " Indian Period " ushered in the French Eevolution. Earlier in life Burke had visited Paris, where he was well received and entertained by the ablest men and women of that city. While in Paris he had seen the beautiful but ill-fated Marie Antoinette. The treatment which the fierce republican patriots of the Erench Eevolution accorded to this woman, whose qualities and whose beauty had touched the sensitive Irishman most deeply, aroused his generous nature to a fiercer heat than it had ever before known; and in 1790 the world, which had always considered Burke an enemy of kings, was electrified by his publication of Reflections on the Revolution in France, in which he fiercely attacked the revolutionists, and rose to sublime heights of eloquence in defense of the hapless queen. His reputation as a defender of the people against the misgovernment of kings was at once changed into that of a most ardent defender of kings. The Reflections must be read in order to realize the fierceness of his attack upon the revolutionists and their defenders. The common belief, however, that Burke in this affair changed his principles is incorrect. Burke was always a conservative. As has been said before, he was a believer in the reform of government under its existing system and principles, and he had always been radically opposed to changes in the form of governments. Pope's lines may be said to define Burke's position: " For forms of government let fools contest; What's best administered is best."
In 1794 Burke bade farewell to Parliament. His son Richard took his father's place as member from Malton. The king, who, by Burke's attack upon the French Revolutionists, had been changed from an enemy to an ardent friend, determined to make Burke a peer of the realm under the title of Lord Beaconsfield. The patent of nobility was being prepared when Burke's son Richard, who was to succeed him in the title, suddenly died, thus destroying forever Burke's fondest hope of perpetuating his name and greatness through his son. Disappointed and heart-broken, he writes of this time: " The storm has gone over me, and I lie like one of those old oaks which the late hurricane has scattered about me. I am stripped of all iny honors; I am torn up by the roots, and lie prostrate on the earth...I am alone. I have none to meet my enemies in the gate...I live in an i?iverted order. Thev who ought to have sueceeded me have gone before me. They who should have been to me as posterity are in the place of ancestors."
Burke accepted in lieu of the title a pension of twenty-five hundred pounds a year. He who had once fiercely opposed the granting of pensions to favorites was now bitterly attacked in turn. He answered his enemies in his Letter to a Nolle Lord, in which he justified his acceptance of a pension.
In 1796, as his life drew to a close, he rose to one more mighty effort. Pitt, then Prime Minister, had determined upon a peace with France, England's hereditary enemy. At the very mention of peace Burke came to the front with Letters on a Regicide Peace with his old-time eloquence and power. This was his last great effort. He died on the 9th of July, 1797, at the age of about sixty-eight years, preserving his faculties to the end. His last thoughts could hardly have been pleasant ones, for, in addition to his personal disappointments, he passed away just at a moment when his beloved England was in the midst of a mighty crisis.
" Y/ith magnanimous tenderness, Fox proposed that he should be buried among the great dead in Westminster Abbey; but Burke had left strict injunctions that his funeral should be private, and he was laid in the little church at Beaconsfield."
Of his family, no descendants remain except those descended from his sister.
BUKKE'S PKIVATE LIFE His Friends. — Among Burke's friends should be mentioned his old teacher's son, Eichard Shackleton, a grave, pure gentle.nan, whom Burke loved most sincerely. They kept up a constant correspondence, and in later life Eichard visited Burke at Beaconsfield.
There we find the pious Quaker kneeling alone in his chamber praying that a divine hand might guide his great friend in his mighty enterprises.
Another friend was William Burke, who was of no blood relation to Edmund, but who was his almost constant companion during the nine years from 1750 to 1759. Their friendship lasted to the end.
Another was the Marquis of Eockingham. Burke's appreciation of this noble friend is shown in his tribute to him in his Speech on American Taxation.
Another was Charles James Fox, in his earlier days his political opponent, but later his firm personal and political friend. The friendship of the two high souls unfortunately came to an end from an offense which Burke conceived Fox had given him by quoting as refutation of something Burke had said on the floor of the House a sentence from Burke's Speech on Conciliation. Burke's pride was so deeply wounded that he declared their friendship at an end. Fox explained, with tears in his eyes, that he meant no offense, and begged for a renewal of their friendship; but Burke had been too deeply wounded, and he ever after refused a reconciliation.
His happiest associations, outside his family, were among his friends at the famous " Literary Club," where he spent many delightful hours with Doctor Johnson, David Garrick, Sir Joshua Eeynolds, Oliver Goldsmith, and others, whose names are too familiar to need discussion here.
In his friendships Burke was noble, manly, and generous, with the exception of his treatment of Fox, as related above, and a few other cases where trouble and grief had made him irritable in his later years.
Burke's Financial Affairs. — In his financial affairs Burke was no exception to the rule that most prominent men of the time were deeply in debt. His life from the time when his father cut off his allowance until the receipt of his first pension in 1763 was a struggle for a livelihood. After he joined his fortunes with Eockingham, in 1765, he was in easier circumstances from the beneficence of that nobleman, and by means of loans from his friends. In 1769 he performed an astonishing financial feat. With a very limited income, and with no apparent means otherwise, Burke purchased a fine estate of about six hundred acres at Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire at a cost of nearly twenty-two thousand pounds. How a " penniless man of letters " expected to pay for such an estate, or even to support its expense, is incomprehensible; for, aside from a small income resulting from the property and from his profits as a writer, and for a short time from the receipt of seven hundred pounds per annum as agent for the colony of New York, he had no resources. It is known, however, that the property was mortgaged for almost its entire value, and that the sum actually paid — about six thousand pounds —was loaned to him by Eockingham and other friends. He died heavily in debt, having borrowed from Eockingham alone sums amounting to thirty thousand pounds. This enormous debt was generously canceled in Eockingham's will.
BUEKE'S CHAEACTEKISTICS Personal Appearance. — In his personal appearance Burke was large and ungainly, awkward in gait and clumsy in his gestures. He was very near-sighted, and wore a pair of large spectacles, which, from their clumsiness of make at that time, were not qualified to add to the grace of one's personal appearance. He dressed badly, and destroyed whatever grace there was in his manner of dress by having his pockets stuffed out with cumbrous rolls of manuscript. He spoke hurriedly, and with a strong Irish brogue. And yet there was about him that unmistakable air of the man of great affairs; the well-set lines of the mouth and the furrowed brow betokening the man of deep thought and suffering.
A Great Talker. — Burke was a great talker. Johnson said: " So desirous is he to talk, that if one is talking at this end of the table he'll talk to somebody at the other end;...that if you met him for the first time in the street, where you were stopped by a drove of oxen, and you and he stepped aside to take shelter but for five minutes, he'd talk to you in such a manner that when you parted you would say, 'This is an extraordinary man.' " Johnson also said that Burke was a better talker than listener — a not unnatural thing for the monopolizing old doctor to say. However, he must have been good company; for a few days before Johnson's death Burke called upon him and expressed a fear that himself and his friends might be oppressive to the sick man. " No, sir! " said Johnson, " it is not so; and I must be in a wretched state, indeed, when your company is not a delight to me."
His greatest fault in conversation or in speaking was that of refining his argument or explanation to the point of " splitting hairs." Goldsmith describes him as follows, in his poem Retaliation: " Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such, We scarcely can praise it, or blame it too much; Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind; Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throat To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote; Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on refining, And thought of convincing, while they thought on dining; Though equal to all things, for all things unfit; Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit: For a patriot too cool, for a drudge disobedient, And too fond of the right to pursue the expedient. In short 'twas his fate, unemployed, or in place, sir, To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks with a razor."
Universal Interest. — Goldsmith was not far from the truth when he said that Burke was "fraught with all learning." He seemed able to lead the conversation, no matter what the subject. From the best method of raising cabbages and carrots on his farm to the minutest question of finances, or to one of art or literature, he seemed equally well versed.
Generosity. — He was exceedingly generous. When the poet Crabbe, then unknown and poor, wrote a letter to Burke asking assistance, it happened that Burke was most deeply absorbed in his struggle with Lord North; nevertheless, he sent for the young poet, gave him a sum of money, and finally assisted him to a position as chaplain to the Duke of Kutlaiid. In another case, when he himself was deeply in debt, he paid, with the assistance of his cousin and his brother, the expenses of a struggling painter named Barry, for a period of five years, while the latter was studying art upon the Continent. The painter repaid his kindness with ingratitude.
At another time he became the protector of two Brahmans who had come to England and had been badly treated by the people of London. He took them to his home at Beaconsfield, where he entertained them and gave them an apartment in which to perform the rites of their religion.
The bread that he cast upon the waters returned to him, for his friends — as in the case of Buckingham — seemed to want to shower money upon him, and his good friend Dr. Brocklesby, when Burke was in financial distress, sent him a thousand pounds as a present, and begged the privilege of repeating the like every year.
His Irritability in Old Age. — As Burke grew old he became very irritable whenever a political subject was broached. This characteristic became so marked after his publication of his Reflections on the French Revolution, and the consequent defection of his political friends, that any reference to the subject had to be avoided in his presence. Miss Burney says that if the subject of politics were introduced into a pleasant conversation, his face immediately assumed " the expression of a man who is going to defend himself from murderers." The question of the French Revolution had become almost a mania with him. On account of it he broke his friendship with his best friends. After he had broken with Fox, in the memorable scene related by Morley in the article on Burke in the Encyclopedia Britannica, he was taken home in a carriage by his friend Mr. Curwen;