Litchfield enquirer., 1874-01-08
pr. HoIland's Lecture.

l tnaJ assembled to hear Df. Hollands second lecture was not quite as large as that which attended his lecture l.:.;t wi.,- ter 1t was certainly as we'll pleased. For The discourse oflast Friday seemed mucl. better suited to the true sphere C: t.9 lecturers power. No one will claim that Dr. Holland is great, original thinker. It is not in the promuIgation of sound new opinion, but in the clear enunciation and powerful enforcement of sound old opinion that his strength lies. He treats old truths with such skill and force, and yet handles them so delicately, and shows them in such new aspects, that they seem almost like new truths to his hearers. In short Dr. Holland is one of the most en- 1nent, if not the most eminent, of our lay l preachers. He has the courage and the insight that one would have supposed should have made him reformer, but his conservative tendencies have led him to seek as his special field of usefulness the perfection of the old work cut out for the human race rather than the designing of anything new. He is the priest of an old faith, not the prophet of new one
 We cannot attempt to give anything like full resume of Fridays lecture and will only refer to few of the more inn portant points discussed. His subject was the elements of power. Self Control Dr. Holland ranked as the basis of all personal power. The man who cannot control himself cannot control others
 "Will' he considered one of the most necessary elements of personal power. He instanced the success of Gen. Grant. The steadiness of purpose that enabled them to triumph over obstacles before which men of equal ability had failed was the most remarkable quality in such men as Grant and Wellington. Nor could will be supplied by training. It was nat ural gift, not to be confounded, as is so of ten mistakenly done with obstinacy.
 Courage he ranked also as one of the chief elements of power The lack of this quality he considered the special weak ness of our politicians. The courage that dares to maintain an unpopular principle is lacking in most of those who win dis tinction in politics. He instanced the great contest between Douglass and Lin coin in Illinois as remarkable example of the conflict between policy and princi- pie; and maintained that it was after all the men who adhered to the latter that won permanent distinction. While agree ing with Dr. Holland entirely in the be- lief that the statesman must combine in dependence of thought, with an honest expression of that thought and thorough conscientiousness of action, we cannot consent to see Lincoln ranked as the ex- ample of the statesman, and Douglass as the mere demagogue. Mir. Lincoln was very much of a politician himself, pecu- liarly honest and far sighted one, but by no means fond of expressing unpo pular opinions. On the other hand Douglass was one of the most courageous men, ,mor- ally as well as physically, that ever lived. He was the leader of the Democratic op- position to the extreme pro-slavery creed of the Southern Democracy, that paved the way for the Union uprising of the North in 1861. His speech at Mobile, while running for the presidency, in which he plainly stated that if elected he should use force if necessary to maintain the Un- ion, was very plucky and anything but popular performance.
 That personal magnetism which is the peculiar attribute of the great orator, Dr. Holland justly ranks also among the gifts of nature. It must be noted, however. that the sympathetic nature which enables the orator to influence others also makes him peculiarly subject to the counter-in fuence of others on him. Hence the pre- dominant will that makes the great gener- al, is seldom found in combination with the acute sensibility and sympathetic tenn perament on which the magnetism of the orator is founded Dr. Holland justly remarked that the speaker must have his feelings under control, however. The man who would make his audience weep must not begin by weeping himself.
 Earnestness and Self Confidence are al- so prime elements of personal power. Dr. Holland forcibly stated that ''earnest- ness at white heat was enthusiasm" Un- doubtedly, too, no one can be a leader of men without thorough self-contidence. Men ill general have wonderful instinct that enables them to measure accurately the degree of real self-ccnfdence in their leaders; and the one who has the most thorough faith in himself is the leader that most thoroughly controls the faith of others.
 Dr. Holland spoke most eloquently of the element of Expression. The <" art of putting things" is perhaps the most inn portant attribute of personal power. Dr. Holland lamented the neglect of this art among Americans as a national weakness. The art of conversation is something we have had no time to cultivate as people, and the power of clearly expressing thought in writing is seldom, and but superfcially, taught among us. Writers cultivate themselves as best they may, but they have no thorough training in the art of expression upon which to build. In this connection the lecturer took occasion to expose the popular falla- cy that mere knowledge is power" He maintained, on the contrary, that knowl- edge is in many cases utterly powerless. It is only the coal in the steamers hold, that needs utilization to become motive power, or anything more that ballast. Many man has spent lifetime in acqulr- ! inc knovledce of which he has made m