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IV. DEBATE.

This form of discourse, which is a personal contest between combatants, wherein the larger aim is truth and the immediate end victory, has its system of procedure and tactics, too intricate to be detailed to any great extent here. It may be of service, however, to give some of the more important features of debate in the form of practical rules, with brief comments thereon.

1. Make sure of your question - its interpretation, its limits and extent, its exact point at issue.

The ideal, in the preparation of the question, is to find the point where the contestants are at one, so that all may have a common basis of reference clearly determined by definition and enunciation. Of course this is not always equally possible, and sometimes it is not possible at all; but even thus, the fact that the issue lies in great part in the definition of terms or the determination of the question is of the utmost importance to discover. It is each debater's business at the outset, therefore, to fix his own position firmly; and thereafter he should hold to it consistently.

2. Regulate your work by locating justly the burden of proof.

Whoever proposes an innovation, or asserts some fact or principle not generally held, must take upon himself the labor, or burden, of proving it; he must make the attack. The other side, the side of the established order of things, or of reigning public opinion, has the advantage of the defensive, or as we say, has the presumption in its favor. A man is presumed innocent until he is proved guilty. A custom is presumed good until it is demonstrated to be bad. This makes it an important matter, determining as it does the method of procedure, to locate rightly the burden of proof. In some questions, questions of speculative truth or of expediency, there is practically no burden of proof; while in others it has a cardinal significance.

3. Concede where you safely can, and not grudgingly but generously.

A wise concession not only makes the appearance of fairness greater, but fixes more definitely and pointedly the issue. On conceded points there is no contest; if then they are dismissed, the scene of the contest is better bounded. It is not infrequently wise to yield to your opponent in every point except the one wherein you would make him yield to you.

4. Waive whatever is irrelevant, that the argument may be confined to one simple and clear course.

To waive is not the same as to concede. It is simply postponing some consideration which, though not yielded, is not in place here. This is often an important matter. An unscrupulous opponent may seek no better fortune than to involve the debater in some irrelevant discussion; it may often serve him the good purpose of preserving a lame cause from attack.

5. Be fair and honest toward the position and arguments of your opponent.

This applies both to the statement of an opponent's views and to the estimate of an opponent's argument.

Scrupulous fairness in statement, without attempt to modify the opponent's words in order to favor one's own side, is the only procedure that pays in the long run. It pays for your own argument; for if the opponent's position is strong, to whittle at it is only to attempt evasion and thus indirectly to confess that you are baffled; whereas it demands a fair encounter. It pays also in fortifying your position; for if in representing your antagonist you leave some unrecognized point, some underrated principle, it will work to your discomfiture.

So also, when an opponent's argument is found impregnable, honesty requires that the fact be fairly acknowledged. Subterfuge and evasion in the face of an evident truth may be the natural

impulse of a wounded pride, but they are ruinous tactics for a broad and noble cause.

6. Finally, bear in mind the sound principle of literary ethics, that truth is worth more than victory.

A victory in defiance of truth and conviction is sure to be transitory; the logic of events will sweep away its fruits and the reasoner with them. In literature, as in life, the only safe resource is a stern alliance with the results of the deepest convictions of truth; mistaken such convictions may indeed be, but they should be honestly held, not repressed.

This naturally suggests a very important question. Ought then a lawyer to argue a side that he knows to be unjust? Is it not rather his business to defend whoever will employ him, whether in a good or in a bad cause? Concerning this question one important concession is to be made. Every cause has certainly the right to be represented so far as it is just; every accused person is entitled to as much defence as lies really in his case. The truth is seldom found wholly on either side; and even after the fact of guilt is established, there still remains the question of its degree. So far as he sees truth and valid defence every one may certainly go; if he goes deliberately further he has merely the right that any man has to belie his convictions and do the truth a wrong,no more and no less.

CHAPTER VIII.

INVENTION DEALING WITH PRACTICAL ISSUES:
PERSUASION.

Portic palaces." Argument can demonstrate with all clearness what archet

"IF to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, { chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes'

were good to do; it can convince the intellect that the truth of a question is here or there; but when it comes to the actual doing, argument alone supplies no impulse. To the satisfaction of the intellect something must be added that shall awaken feeling and interest, and so inspire the will to embody the truth in action. To impart this impulse is the business of persuasion.

Persuasion, like argumentation, deals with truths; but with truths of a particular kind. Practical truths, such as have a definite issue in character and action, personal truths, that come home to men's business and bosoms, such are the material with which persuasion works; nor can it be truly potent except as it can fasten on a practical point, and make the whole thought concentrate itself on that. In a word, the whole sphere of duty, interest, privilege, happiness, conduct, is open to the work of persuasion; no small sphere indeed, for conduct, as Matthew Arnold is fond of saying, is three-fourths of life.

NOTE. A reasoner who is endeavoring to demonstrate that the planet Mars is inhabited is indeed handling an intricate argumentative problem; he is seeking to find a truth, or at least a balance of probability; but if he solves the problem ever so clearly the answer cannot in the smallest degree appeal to the hearer's will. An interesting thing it is to know, but there is no point that can be a claim on him to do. On the other hand, when Demosthenes ceases presenting to his audience a truth which is also an appeal, and has given it the requisite power of diction and delivery, his hearers cry, "Up! let

us march against Philip!" The truth has taken possession of their will, and wrought its purpose in an impulse to action.

Such material, with such an object, enters like a rightful sovereign every domain of literary presentation. The splendors of description, the grace of narrative, the accuracy of exposition, the sternness of argument; employing the highest resources of diction, whether plain, impassioned, or imaginative; all that will arouse interest and concentrate attention, is according to occasion the proper handmaid of persuasion. For in persuasion thought is brought up to a determinate issue between man and man. So here we reach the very centre and sum of the art of rhetoric. If in general rhetoric means adaptation to the requirements of a reader or hearer, here it means such adaptation in its highest and most intimate sense. For it must be adaptation to the whole man, not to his mind alone, but to mind and heart and will. The work is great; great also must be the resource. Whatever is necessary to rouse men from indifference, turn them from prejudice or opposition, sober them from unhealthy excitement to wise and thoughtful action, belongs to the comprehensive sphere of persuasion.

As in previous chapters, we will discuss this subject of persuasion first in its principles, and then as it is employed in works of literature.

I. THE PRINCIPLES OF PERSUASION.

"To be a persuasive speaker," says Professor Bain,1 "it is necessary to have vividly present to the view all the leading impulses and convictions of the persons addressed, and to be ready to catch at every point of identity between these and the propositions or projects presented for their adoption. The first-named qualification grows out of the experience and study of character; the other is the natural force of similarity, which has often been exemplified in its highest range in oratorical minds."

1 Bain, "The Senses and the Intellect," p. 543.

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