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modest , unassuming world : I say , then , that my theory would convert the hot-copper of some noblehearted men into the molten gold of conviction . It would mate their truth like unto a lodestar , attracting all eyes and ears unto it . I don't say that all men are to act as I would have them , because it would ruin some of the strongest even to try . You get deep utterances -out of Maccall in his volcanic way . But you would hear his voice no more if you refused him the freedom of an occasional rant . The fiery heart of Klngslev , so eloquent with passion , would grow
cold if you asked him to pause over his generous accents- The Purgatory of Suicides would collapse , if you abstracted the Chartist vehemence . I do not include Thomas Carlyle in this classification . He does more than stir men ' s blood , he stirs their brains . . In him burns the furnace of genius ? , by which the mould of his thought , intensified , is cast into beauty and strength . The old rhetoricians were not like you . They defined rhetoric as the art of persuading the minds of men . You practice it as the art of irritating the minds of men . It is of very little use to have right upon our side , and you think it everything .
" Of very little use that we have right upon our side ? My dear theorist , you are at sea . Why , what would you have upon our side ? " he demanded vehemently . " That also which would make the right victorious " I replied . " We ought to know , with the wise Jansenist , ' that when we seek to move the minds of the people , it is a small thing to have the right on our side , and it is a great evil to have only the right , and not to have also that which is necessary for making it relished . ' You have never thought of this . Out of all that may in truth be said , you have no business to say anything but that which will diminish the evil you hate . You and I , as good soldiers of the people , should weigh every word as a weapon , and use none but such as thin the ranks of the eiiemv . "
" Well , there ' s something in that , I allow , said my friend , lighting his second cigar . " Take a cup of coffee , Ion , and tell me , " added he , " do you mean to say that the Kingsleys , the Coopers , and the Maccalls , are of no value to us ?" " I have never said so . They fill the world with a noble shout , but is there any reason why the shout should not also be a power ? Is propagandise to be an accident or a design—an ebullition or an art ? Your friend , Lloyd Garrison , does well with his Vesuvian lava floods ; but the question is , could not he and his brave colleagues do better ? What you have done to-night is
better than doing nothing , but your inquiry ought to be , have you done all you should ? The enthusiast is content with doing something—the propagandist aims at doing the lest tiling . Why is the artist-spirit , which charms all men on the . stage , for ever absent from the platform ? Why is not the propagandist an artist ?" " You will tell me , " I said , stopping my propagandist friend as he was about to reply—" you will tell me that passion moves the world , and intellect only criticises it . " " Well , I should have told you so , " Ik ; interposed ; " but go on . "
" Passion docs nothing of the kind , it only inflames men—it does not save them . I low is it that this 1511-lingNgate talent of invective ; has crept into high advocacy ? To denounce , to vituperate , io exeernfe , is the attribute of the mob . Indignation is brought to perfection at the corner of every alley . Passion is victorious in every stew . The fishfag can confidently compete with the Member of Parliament at that game any day . The hate of one another is the easiest , the idlest , the vulgareHf , the most impotent of all arts . Yet no sooner docs . Indignation mount the rostrum than the iippluutic of the mob lifts it into a profession ; and when a dictionary of fruitless superlatives fulls upon the head of an audience , and , worse than fruitless , disastrous invectives , which multiply the popular enemies , wo hail the orator as a " generous soul / a ' noble nature , ' a
' large-heart ed man . " While tins ready-made and unthinking eloquence in applauded to the echo , many a poor devil is toiling in silence and obscurity , in training himself or training others to do the real work . In the hour of eon Hid , he holds back his strong heart as with a bridle , lest , like ; an impatient courser , it . should start , before ! ( be race is oJM'ii . His iron valour is husbanded like the veteran's —not squandered like the raw recruit ' s . lit ) searches ? or tlioHft words your friend I / owell describes , where he ^ r rites— He tier far it , iis io Npeak One simple word , which now and then Hliall waken their free nature in flic weak And lriondlctiH tioua of men ; To wrilo Hotiiu oari > ent vorHe or line , Which , B «« iUiii | jf ji , i ( , tin , praise of art ,, Shall muku a oWror faith and manhood shine-In the untutored heart .
He pauses for the hour when he may strike the blow from which tyranny will never recover . He lies in wait through weary years to do the work of the people . Like the soldier , he stands at his silent post , as faithfully at midnight as at noon day . Every effort of his patient life is steady gain to freedonu Here one is awakened , there one is taught ,, elsewhere another is won over from the enemy , and thus the ranks of oppression are thinned . But for this man we have no word , of
encouragement : we contemptuously dismiss him , as " cold , " " unimaginative , " " all calculation , " if we do not honour him with imputations of which the disgrace recoils on ourselves . While , for the ready artificer of stale hate , the loud-mouthed retailer of denunciations that seal the doom of the oppressed for years to come , the newspaper awards its first praise . The shout of the blatant philanthropist rings the knell of hope to the wretched . He has gratified the " indignation of his soul , " placed deliverance farther from the captive than ever . At this hour , men are dragging out weary years in penal settlements who would have
been liberated long since had it not been for the sympathy of " large-hearted" men at home . The same kind of advocacy has adjourned the day of popular redress all Europe over . There are shouts of applause at some public meetings which have a cry of Murder in them . Some of the most vaunted popularity of the day is dashed with blood . How far these orators are from appreciating the heroic declaration of Mazzini!—a declaration which none but natures of the highest generosity could make : " I have never in my life yielded to an impulse . " Duty is higher than impulse . " It was now my friend ' s turn to talk . Exhausted
by his own speech , and disgusted at my dubbing him a " Magnificent Blockhead , " he had borne but a small part in the conversation up to this point , and I had , as the reader will think , snatched an unmerciful advantage from his taciturnity ; but he took eloquent revenge upon me before w e parted . Here ends my report . There are subjects which expose one to great misunderstanding . The public will discuss " national defences" to satiety , but the defence of truth , which , if properly managed , would in the end render our national defences less imperative than now , the public cannot tolerate . It is lawful to train soldiers for the Crown , but not advocates for the people . The
discipline of a moral militia is a subject that few would pardon , if properly undertaken . But in those golden student-days , which passaway , alas ! too soon for allof us , we debated all these topics for their own sakes . After the night here spoken of , we never met again ; and I have no means of knowing whether this conversation was remembered by him the next time the intoxicating clamours of public applause greeted his appearance upon a platform . But that my friend was a real personage , they know well enough " down Massachusetts , " and that is my reason for inscribing this conversation to the zealous and impetuous friends of the negro in those parts . Ion .
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" DESKRTKRB OV THE IilTStt BRIOA !)]? . In the Irish elections there is not only tho public interest ; , arising from the delay in ascertaining how far public opinion in that , country accepts the new Government , but there is--- what always accompanies , and often overshadows tho public interest in tho sister country—the personal interest . Messrs . Iveogh and Sadlcir , tho first the Solicitor-Oieneral for I relund , and the second a Lord of the Treasury , were the leaders of that , " Brigade" which originated in the ferment of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill , and which trrew into f , hi ) Parliamentary strength of from sixty to
seventy men , out of tho general election . Thin Brigade had one principle and one plan of ¦ uction—opposition to every English ( Jovcrnineiit which would not repeal the Ecclesiastical Titles Hill , and adopt , Mr . Sharman Crawford ' s Tenant , Right Hill . The sixty or seventy forming the Brigade acknowledged and boasted of this programme ; were elected , in the counties , at , enormous sacrifices on the part , of the poor farmers , distinctly on these grounds ; and at a series of banquets following tho general election there were great congratulations at , the new national prospects opened up by this creation of an " Irish party , " which vviiri to act , together to ignore Imperial interests ,
and to look solely and singly to the chances proffered by ( lie tuctics and combinations of English purlics , Io coerce official England into the required concessions . In the enthusiasm of the period , Mr . Kcogh , an impulsive man , made rash and foolish pledges - perhaps suspiciously protesting too much for permanent intention undertaking that at , no time , under no circumstances , would fie form purl , of any ( iovoininent which would not , accept the Brigade formula of Irish policy . Mr . Sixlleir mode similar vows , which , like a keen man of the world , ho subsequently saw tho necessity of modify ing and explaining away . But in Mm ) ohms of both gentlemen , tho Nation nrui th « YVsi ' ei /' insist that they ha ? o not kept faith with the peopto ; and
that again Ireland has been " sold" by her patriots ; that the Brigade" ia , after all , but a new shape of the old " Irish party "—braggarts at the hustings , sedkers of place in Westminster . Naturally , Mr . Duffy and Mr . Lucas , who had faith in the possibility of coercing Parliament by Irish isolation , and who did not go into the House of Commons to take advantage of its party accidents , and , like other parties , to get the most they could of the measures they wanted , are indignant with Mr . Sadleir , and scornfully furious with Mr . Keogh . ' But why should the Irish ultra Liberals not look at this matter
from the same point of view as the Eng lish Eadicals r The question with Mr . Sadleir ( whoso political honesty wo may assume for the present ) was simply the question which would present itself at tho same time to Mr . Osborne would he serve his country and promote his party views by joining Lord Aberdeen ? Perhaps Mr . Keogh ' s antecedent gratuitous declarations against place disqualified , him from taking advantage of tho sound general argument which justifies Sir W . Molesworth , Mr . Osborne , and Mr . Sadleir in adhering to a Government headed by a Conservative Earl , and to which the chief author of
the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill belongs ; but these questions of " honour" and " consistency" in politics must be determined by practical results . Mr . Keogh , no doubt , in the presence of the new and utterly unexpected circumstances , with an opportunity before him of rendering direct benefit to his country , repented bis premature repudiations of office at Carlow and Athlone Banquets , where priests , who knew little of the House of Commons , or of the complicated worldly ways of serving Ireland , were his auditors ; and if he , like Mr . Sadleir , could answer in the affirmative the query which , his conscience suggested , the reallyhonest course to take was that which he did take . And if
as member of the Brigade" tells a newspaper—he only took office after submitting Lord Aberdeen ' s office to his friends of his party , and gaining their approval , what spot is really left upon his political honour ? We should be sorry to see an able , eloquent man , as Mr . Keogh is , withheld from giving the surety which his presence in the Government is to Ireland that the policy of Ministers shall be a generous , equal policy to both countries . The pure and high-minded motives of Mr . Duffy in creating the Brigade , and in now denouncing this " desertion , " obvious : but ho may rely upon it Parliament is not yet ripe for the " points" of the Brigade .
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HOW JURIES CONVICT IN THE IRISH FASHION . Absurd verdicts , like misfortunes , never come alone . Mr . Kirwan ' s friends have now the consolation of knowing that we have a case on this side the channel , similar to Li 3 . JEcce signum . Tho trial took place on Monday last , at tho Central Criminal Court , John Paxton and Augustus Wynn the prisoners . " Tho jury , after deliberating for about half an hour 50-turned a verdict of'Guilty' against both tho defendants , but , recommended them to mercy . " Tho Recorder inquired upon what ground . " Tho jury said they were of opinion that more evidence might have been produced in support of the prosecution .
" Tho Recorder said , that this was rather tho ground for an acquittal than a recommendation to mercy , and the jury had bettor reconsider tho matter . " Tho jury accordingly again deliberated in tho box a short time , and eventually retired , and after being absent nearly an hour , they again came into court with a verdict of'Guilty ! ' " Is not this uncommonly like O'ConnelPs story of the Tipperary verdict , —" Guilty , but recommended to mercy , on the ground that the jury are not sure ? " By the way , a meeting , in reference to Kirwan ' s case , is to be hold at Anderton ' s Hotel , Fleet-street , on Monday .
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I mo Voicic Kitoiu 1 'iiiJ I { ktt . hr Worm ) . —A portrait of my mother hung over the fireplace : my eyes turned towards it , and for the first time 1 eitnie to a long pause . The picture had an influence that quieted mo ; but what influence I hardly knew , lVrhnps , it led my spirit uj ) to the spirit that had gone from us--pt : rhnpH , those secret voices from the unknown world , which only tho soul cun listen to , were loosed ut that moment , and spoke within nut . While 1 sat looking up at the
portrait , 1 grew strangel y and suddenly calm before it . My memory Hew back to a long illness Mutt I hud suffered from , iui a child , when my little cradle-couch whh placed by my mother ' s bedside , " and sho used to hit by me in the dull evenings and hush me to nleep . The remembrance of this , broug ht with it a dread imagining that who might ; now | , < , hushing my spirit ,, from her place among the angels of God . A Htillno . su and awe « : •;»)!< over me ; and 1 hid my loco in my hands . — CoLLlNB ' s JBatiL
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40 THE LEADER . [ Saturda y ,
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TO OORKKHJ'ONDKNTS . A Hadioat .. —Instead of tho " Delu ^ o , " wo luivo tho " Coalition . " Is Huh worm ) or bettor than Lord Derby , mill what duo is open to iin for Hie day P That in tho wliolu <) uonlion . Piiu . Ai . KTincn . Were not that topic cloned wo should hnvo been happy to have inserted ) ii » coimniiiiicutioii .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 8, 1853, page 40, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1968/page/16/
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