earnestly beseech you to take heed! You are standing upon the brink of a precipice -- then beware! It will go forth, your judgment, if sentence shall go againt the Queen. But it will be the only judgment you ever pronounced, which, instead of reaching its object, will return and bound back upon those who give it. Save the country, my lords, from the horrors of this catastrophe- -save yourselves from this peril-rescue that country, of which you are the ornaments, but in which you can flourish no longer, when severed from the people, than the blossom when cut off from the roots and the stem of the tree. Save that country, that you may continue to adorn it-save the Crown, which is in jeopardy-the Aristocracy, which is shaken- save the Altar, which must stagger with the blow that rends its kindred Throne! You have said, my lords, you have willed-the Church and the King have willed- that the Queen shall be deprived of its solemn service. She has instead of that solemnity, the heartfelt prayers of the people. She wants no prayers of mine. But I do here pour forth my humble supplications at the Throne of Mercy, that that Mercy may be poured down upon the people, in a larger measure than the merits of their rulers may deserve, and that your hearts may be turned to justice!"

CHAPTER IV.

THE CONCLUSION OR PERORATION.

Purpose.

The third and last division of an argumentative discourse is the conclusion or peroration. Whether it is an essential part or not, whether it should be brief or extended, whether it should reinforce conviction or supplement it with persuasion, depends on the subject and the character of the previous discussion. Its purpose is to secure final effectiveness, whether by refreshing the memory, driving home and clinching arguments, pointing out clearly their application, or stimulating to action by appeal to feeling.

When it

Omitted.

Frequently the peroration is omitted. If a speech is brief, if every explanation has been satisfactory, and every argument complete and convincing; if the plan has been clear and the order of presentation so natural that the memory readily recalls May be the whole; if it is evident that an audience is won at the close of the discussion, no peroration is necessary. It would be likely to do more harm than good. What had been convincing to the audience, might now seem to them not convincing to the speaker. It is a good thing to know when to stop. In some of Burke's long speeches, frequent summaries at the close of definite lines of reasoning, and the persuasive character of the whole, take the place of a formal peroration.

The work of the peroration may be argumentative; not that new arguments are to be introduced, but those already presented may be given additional force, by

Argumenta

tion.

massing, by new connections, or a new order. They may gain force by amplification at a vital point, or by being put into sharp contrast with an opponent's arguments. In Burke's American speeches what tive Perora- he calls the conclusion consists (aside from answers to objections), of a continuation of argument, presented in a new way, shown under a new light and from a different point of view, and with more pointed statement of the different effects of adopting one or another policy. In sharp antithesis and incisive statements, he amplifies what makes for his proposition, and diminishes what makes against it. In some of his speeches, Webster appeals at the close to the judgment only.

tion.

One common and effective method of deepening conviction by a peroration, is to recapitulate. This refreshes the memory, gives the body of arguments momentum, and affords opportunity for more Recapitula- effective arrangement, if for any reason this is necessary. Recapitulation is desirable if arguments have been long, numerous or complex. Webster sometimes uses this method alone, and sometimes combines it with appeal. At the close of The Case of Ogden and Saunders, he says:—

"To recapitulate what has been said, we maintain, First, that the Constitution, by its grants to Congress and its prohibitions on the States, has sought to establish one uniform standard of value, or medium of payment. Second, that by like means, it has endeavored to provide for one uniform mode of discharging debts, when they are to be discharged without payment. Third, that these objects are connected, and that the first loses much of its importance if the last also be not accomplished. Fourth, that, reading the grant to Congress and the prohibition

on the States together, the inference is strong that the Constitution intended to confer an exclusive power to pass bankrupt laws on Congress. Fifth, that the prohibition in the tenth section reaches to all contracts, existing or future, in the same way that the other prohibition in the same section extends to all debts existing or future. Sixth, that upon any other construction, one great political object of the Constitution will fail of its accomplishment." 1

He closes the Speech on the Murder of Captain Joseph White, with a summary of what has been proved, the points upon which the jury must be satisfied, and an appeal to the jury to be faithful to duty.2 He closes The Presidential Protest, with a succinct recapitulation of the points in his opponent's doctrine, so stated as to bear in themselves evident antagonism to the spirit of the American Constitution, and follows this with a brief statement of what must result if these be true. Then he expresses his confidence that the people will approve the Senate's action:

"The President is President. His office and his name of office are known, and both are fixed and described by law. Being commander of the army and navy, holding the power of nominating to office and removing from office, and being, by these powers, the fountain of all patronage and all favour, what does he not become if he be allowed to superadd to all this the character of single representative of the American people? Sir, he becomes what America has not been accustomed to see, what this Constitution has never created, and what I cannot contemplate but with profound alarm. He who may call himself the single representative of a nation, may speak in the name of the nation; may undertake to wield the power of the nation; and who shall gainsay him, in whatsoever he chooses to pronounce as the nation's will?

"I will now, Sir, ask leave to recapitulate the general doc1 Great Speeches, 188. 2 Page 329.

trines of this Protest, and to present them together. They

"That neither branch of the legislature can take up, or consider, for the purpose of censure, any official act of the President, without some view to legislation or impeachment ;

"That not only the passage, but the discussion, of the resolution of the Senate of the 28th of March, was unauthorized by the Constitution, and repugnant to its provisions;

"That the custody of the public treasury must always be intrusted to the executive; that Congress cannot take it out of his hands, nor place it anywhere except under such superintendents and keepers as are appointed by him, responsible to him, and removable at his will;

"That the whole executive power is in the President, and that therefore the duty of defending the integrity of the Constitution results to him from the very nature of his office; and that the founders of our republic have attested their sense of the importance of this duty, and, by expressing it in his official oath, have given to it peculiar solemnity and force;

"That, as he is to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, he is thereby made responsible for the entire action of the executive department, with power of appointing, overseeing, and controlling those who execute the laws;

"That the power of removal from office, like that of appointment, is an original executive power, and is left in his hands unchecked by the Constitution, except in the case of judges;

"That, being responsible for the exercise of the whole executive power, he has a right to employ agents of his own choice to assist him in the performance of his duties, and to discharge them when he is no longer willing to be responsible for their acts;

"That the Secretaries are his Secretaries, and all persons appointed to offices created by law, except the judges, his agents, responsible to him, and removable at his pleasure;

"And, finally, that he is the direct representative of the American people.

"These, Sir, are some of the leading propositions contained in the Protest; and if they be true, then the government under