New-York tribune., 1908-11-02
Mr.. REID's SPEECH.

Mr.. REIDS SPEECH
The occasion which you are honOring with
your presence to-day is OF kind long since
familiar TO you What story Of the great
Georgian and Victorian times might in fact be
reconstructed from the tablets in memory OF for
mer residents. which you have already set up in
the streets OF BATH Your town has been
haunt Of great men; the very air is filed yet
with the shadows OF the mighty. Foremost in
your civic record comes naturally your old
member, the masterful Chatham, and hard after
his vet more r1asterfuI SON Then you have
cOmmemOrated the stay among you OF Britatn's
greatest sailor, Lord Nelson, and of British SOL
diers who won irnperishable renoWn in two re-
mote continents, Lord Give in Asia, General
Wolfe in America. You have cherished likewise
the memories Of residents of gentler fame Here
on this very North Parade, as your tablets show.
dwelt Goldsmith, whom to this day all men love.
ard Wordsworth, whom all admire On the
South Parade is seen your tribute 20 the best
novelist Britain had to that tine produced SIR
Walter Scott, while there is place for another
to Of the greatest men OF letters she ever
produced Samuel Johnson. Your other novel;
lists range from Henry Fielding and Jane Austin
to Charles Dickens, and your poets from George
Crabbe to Thomas Moore and Walter Savage
Landor, while with impartial hands you have
placed tablets also for Gainsborough, the artist;
Quin the actor and HerscheE. the astronomer
And vet gentlemen Of Bath. in all this brilliant
galaxy you have left the greatest 10 the last
He was more nearly your own, too than many
of the others 1t was here he found his devoted
wife Perhaps the most fruitful period OF his
great public career he spent as the representa-
tive in the House OF Commons for your nearest
neighbors the people Of Bristol Here he came
habituaIly for rest and enjoyment; and here he
was upon him. In this very house he spent the
last months in which any activity was left him.
and he only quilted ii for the serene and beautt-
ful deathbed at Beaconsheld-
Did go too far in rating him the greatest you
have yet commemorated2 1t IS not so far as
Macaulay went. He said quite simply that Ed
mund Burke was "the greatest man then liv-
ing We may be sure the eminent historian
and almost onenisctent critic forgot neither OF
two other great men then living William Pitt
or Charles James Fox, when he deliberately
chose that suDerIative. 1t Is not SO far as Gren-
-h,or, -a9I hat TlTTr- Fu ~ -rHf
tics what Shakespeare Is to the moral world In
considering that eulogium, however, I must con-
whether GrenviIIe meant that politics had Moth
inc to do with morals. or merely that Shake
speare had nothing to do with politics, It Is not
far Macintosh went. who considered
Burke without a parallel in any age or Coun-
try. unless with Cicero and Lord Bacon; OF so
far as Lord Morley went. who, seeking another
standard Of comparison. pronounced him your
greatest man since Milton"
There is an estimate in another place by this
last accomplished statesman and man OF let
ters which I would like to quote He said that
Rurke's ais one of the greatest names in the his
tory Of political literature. No one that ever
lived used the general ideas OF the thinker mora
successfully to Judge the particular problems OF
ters OF the high and difficult art OF elaborate
composition
That last. indeed. has been one OF the COM
plants against him Even now we hear occa-
sional1y from some Parliamentary authority,
whose own speeches no doubt have their errect
at the moment. but are found few years later
dry as last years prairie grass and ~
readable as a table OF lOgartthms. that NJ
Burke would never do for the practical House
of Commons of these tirnes-he is too rhetorical
and ornate. 1t may be so; it is not for ne 70
defend the taste OF the day in political Discus
sions.
And yet what could be t4rser. what could go
more directly like an arrow, 10 the heart OF tls5
matter in hand. than many OF the epigranuatic
sentences which sprinkle almost every page OF
his speeches Take very familiar example
1T looks to me narrow and pedantic 10 apply
the ordinary ideas OF criminal justice to this
great public contest do not knew the method
of drawing up an indictment against whols
people" Has any recent orator. free from the
alleged fault Of too much rhetoric. condensed
into fewer and more cogent words the argument
against an historic error in the statesmanship ot
more than one land? Or take another example
Gentlemen say America is object worth
fighting for. Certainly it is. II fighting peopls
be the best way OF gaining them" Or again.
Nobody shall persuade me, when whOls peO-
pie concerned. that acts OF lenity noe
nant sentence into which he pat the whole phi-
losophy of his opposition TO the French RevOlu-
ttOn; Whenever separation is made between
liberty and justice, neither Is in my opinion
safe" Or again. IN obiecting TO the emplOymsns
of HesSian soldiers against English cOlonists-i
Il fairly acknowledge have not yet learned IN
faIight in fnd{ne Fort EniDbauseT IN tDs heat
OF the British dOminiOns-' Or. to take final
example, what could better expose the inbecility
OF the proposal 90 treat privateering piracy
and service in the colonial army as treason ana
to enforce against both. where opportunity OF
fered, the penalties In the statute OF Henry VII.
than his scornful phrase: They think the de-
featS IN America can be compensated BY tho
triumphS or Tyburn
II illuminating flashes like these are a feuls IN
political discussion, they at least fault not
too common among the public OF our day-
Would that more debates were too ornate and
rhetorical" after this convincing fashion, viii
not say in your Parliament. for tt would be un-
becoming in me to express any opinion about
that; but perhaps I may venture 10 say, would
that there were more or them in our houses OF
Congress!
Mr.. Burke Illustrated cOnspicuOusly. IN this
very neighborhoOd. another quality not TOO com
mon among public men-hOWever IL may
be with yours He scOrned to pander TO the
prejudices OF his constituents. or bow 20 every
gust Of changing opinion. in order TO hold their
votes. Even when first candidate In Bristol
he took pains TO make II clear that he would not
recognize their Instructions always binding
his action. Your representative owes yOus Ne
exclaimed. mot his industry only. but his JGeS-
ment. and he betrays, instead OF serving you.
II he sacrifices il 20 your opinion" Later, Wne2
this attitude had excited discomfort, ne toio
them II they did not permit their members 70 aSs
upon a very enlarged view OF things. they would
at length tnfalibly degrade their national repre-.
sentatton into confused and scutting hustle or
local agency. He knew efforts had been made
TO injure him In their eyes. but "the use or char
~ uOfa ar cal X