On Such An Occasion, A Speaker Gives Himself Very Little Chance Of
Making A Favorable Impression On His Immediate Hearers If He Reads
His Speech From A Written Manuscript.
Mr. Sumner did so on this
occasion, and I must confess that I was not edified.
It seemed to
me that he merely repeated, at greater length, the arguments which I
had heard fifty times during the last thirty or forty days. I am
told that the discourse is considered to be logical, and that it
"reads" well. As regards the gist of it, or that result which Mr.
Sumner thinks to be desirable, I fully agree with him, as I think
will all the civilized world before many years have passed. If
international law be what the lawyers say it is, international law
must be altered to suit the requirements of modern civilization. By
those laws, as they are construed, everything is to be done for two
nations at war with each other; but nothing is to be done for all
the nations of the world that can manage to maintain the peace. The
belligerents are to be treated with every delicacy, as we treat our
heinous criminals; but the poor neutrals are to be handled with
unjust rigor, as we handle our unfortunate witnesses in order that
the murderer may, if possible, be allowed to escape. Two men living
in the same street choose to pelt each other across the way with
brickbats, and the other inhabitants are denied the privileges of
the footpath lest they should interfere with the due prosecution of
the quarrel!
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