The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-07-28


Oh our colleges So, too, another class who
may feel in themselves capacity as well as
an honorable ambition to supply growing dc.
mand Tor better leaders in the platform or in
tue forum than such as come up by chance
ought not longer to be made to trust the un-
certain guidance of theoretical spectators
Wltnout confidence in themselves, or faith in
their occupation, but should raise up a new
body OF instructors, especially trained in the
art OF lmparting to them a share OF their own
enthusiasm, as well as the control of every ele-
ment that can contribute to the formation of
noble style and exalted OratOry. And in using
these terms beg, once for all, to caution you
that do not intend to convey an idea of the
mere mastery of the necessary attitudes to en-
gage sympathy or invite applause, but of the
deep foundation of intellectual moral and
physical culture upon which all external ac.
complisbments may be naturally and healthily
superinddced.
oRATORY FORCE.
The speaker then proceeded to notice the
current. opinions respecting oratory-that it is
an art altogether unworthy of study and rid.
culed as on level with the art of the dancing
master. He regretted that such opinions pre-
vailed. Oratory is not trick. 1t is great
force In the state. Neither is it an inborn
faculty. 1t is the result of study combined with
natural ability. The facilities to promote his
usefulness ought nowhere to be so abundant as
it Is in our colleges. He desired to warn his hear
ers against misconception. The oratory which
he would have taught was not the mere con-
struction of paragraphs or of the modes enun.
ciating so as to produce the greatest effect.
This education Is deeper ami broader 1t en-
twines itself into all other branches of knowl-
edge. The mind must first be stored and next
be disciplined itselh Logic, philosophy and
history are as indispensable as rhetoric. Refer
ring to the eloquence and Oratory of the an-
clients and their knowledge of philosophy etc.,
be asked does the orator of to-day shine by re-
Election in the pulpit, the forum or the plat
form? Not as he should do.
Passing from the general consideration of the
propriety of infusing into the abodes of educa-
tfon an elevated and comprehensive fashion of
study of all questions of worldwide interest,
whether guided through the pen or by the voice,
L now come to an exposition of my reasons
why held the present moment most particu-
lsrly calling for a development of the qualities
l most desire to see cultivated among the youth
OF our colleges and universities. Perhaps may
be wrong, but to my eyes an important change
in the modes of both thought and feeling has
been wrought during the last ten years in this
country; change, however, not absolutely con-
fined within our borders, though marking it's
progress with the most rapidty here. On this
occasion l shall not attempt to span the entire
extent of so wide an arch. My time is short,
and confine myself to speculation upon two
topics olny:
1. The decline of senstiveness to the force
of purely moral obligation in civil life.
2 The spread of Indifference, if not of skep-
ticism in the church, on the one hand, ana Of
ritual worship on the other.
MORAL OBLIGATIONS IN CIVIL LIFE.
In dealing with the first subject, far be it from
me to inspire you with the apprehension of a
vehement political harangueS My desire is to
kaan for & oil
excepting that which has for its object some
ends to which education at our colleges may be
usefully quickened. You are doubtless all so
far familiar with the organism of our forms of
civil government as to render it surperfluous for
me to allude to it. 1t will be enough, if you
comprehend the nature of the fundamental
distribution of power into three parts, each
intended to act as check upon the other. All
this has been laid down so clearly in the origi.
nal papers of the Federalist, on tAe structure
of the Constitution that shall take it for grant
ed you understand it fully. These three active
forces, the executive, the legislative, and the
judicial departments are the several levers by
which the ponderous machinery of state is kept
on straight and even course. No change or
modification can happen to either which will
not be likely to more or less impair the efficacy
of the rest, as well as the steadiness of the gen.
Cldi ihoNCLACat3tO l. VI SEcdJ uduy years LQlS
admirably contrived machine worked with as
little friction as could be reasonably expected
| from any contrivance of merely human origin
| and little was heard of imperfection seriously
threatening its operations for the future with
| equal exactness Neither was the confidence
| thus earned ill-founded. Unfortunately, a
| principle of corruption was permitted to creep
| in, which disturbed the proper action of the
| machinery. The executive power was rashly
| confided to feeble hands, and the consequence
q arua char Of 70 ;tolo
has been transferred to, and divided among,
| those holding for the moment the legislative
power, to whom it was never the intention to
intrust it. Out of this solitary change have
issued the seeds OF moral disintegration which
have blossomed and borne fruit far and wide.
Hence the Obtuseness to the conception of
obligation which has been made 80 patent of
late years. still more in the tone of discussion
than in the actual legislation of the land. Here
it is that the question of the philosopher,
Hobbies, appears to have much greater force in
the detail than in the connection in which he
applied it: "What is it to divide the powers of
the commoDwealth.but to dissolve it?'' To all
great political trusts corresponding weight of
responsibility must be- attached, or there is no
security. The surrender of this power of pat
ronageI in large measure into the hands of
three or four hundred legislators, with no per-
manent responsibility, is equivalent to the
formation Of a1eqnal number of beds of cor
ruption, in which the whole welfare of the
country is made subordinate to the interests of
narrow and selfish combinations of men, spread
over the entire surface of the land Can it,
then, be cause of surprise that there has been
decline OF sensitiveness to the force of purely
moral obligation in civil life?
CORRUPTION OF POLITICAL PARTIES.
But when / allude to this growing corruption
OF parties in our country where free institutions
are established and the will of the majority
governs, differences of opinion on important
questions are inevitable among honest and in
dependent thinkers. Action can only be direct
ed by the will of the greater number, who unite
in sentiment SO far as to effect that result The
selection of agents follows the same rule. Thus
it is plain that the necessity of association, to
arrive at practical results,is imperative. Hence,
it follows that so long as opinions conflict with
each other, the right of control must be vested
in one or two aggregations of individual voices,
and, finally, in that one concentrating the
greatest number 1 likewise concur in the
proposition that it is not only right but also a
duty OF every citizen to attach himself to one
of these associations to the extent that he may
deem his own views of the general good pro-
NOTED thereby. Purely solitary voting is in its
utility much like the act of a soldier who
should fire his piece to bring down the sun.
All this reasoning, however, must be pred-
Gated on the fact that the opposing forces are
free from all but legitimate influences, contrib
uting to the attainment of honest ends The
very instant evidence is given justifying a con-
viction of the supremacy of corrupt cOunsels,
guided by venal agents, for selfish aims, the N
the duty to secede from all participation in
If ever the time should arrive when the ver-
min swarming in official hot-beds become
sufficiently numerous to spread compile tely
over the network OF party organization, the N