I have one marked feature of argumentative figure to point out, and this is, interrogation. This is insinuation without direct attack, a sort of flank movement, when charges are made that can not be proven, or when too evident to need proof. This style is also not only common to both Mr. Paine and Junius, but so prominent that it attracts attention at once.
It is frequently the case with Mr. Paine and Junius that "language fails," that is, it is poured forth in such torrents of abuse that the reader is made painfully aware of it, and to recapture the mind of the reader, they artfully charge it to the impossibility of doing justice to so bad a subject. For example:
| Paine. | Junius. |
|
"There are cases that
can not be overdone by
language, and this is one."—Crisis,
i. |
"But this language is too
mild for the occasion. The
king is determined that our
abilities shall not be lost to
society."—Let. 48. |
|
"There is not in the
compass of language a sufficiency
of words to express
the baseness of your king,
his ministry, and his army.
They have refined upon
villainy till it wants a
name. To the fiercer vices
of former ages they have
added the dregs and scummings
of the most finished
rascality, and are so completely
sunk in serpentine
deceit that there is not left
among them one generous
enemy."—Crisis, v.
"We sometimes experience
sensations to which
language is not equal. The
conception is too bulky to
be born alive, and in the
torture of thinking we
stand dumb. Our feelings
imprisoned by their
magnitude, find no way
out, and in the struggle of
expression every finger tries
to be a tongue. The machinery
of the body seems
too little for the mind, and
we look about us for help
to show our thoughts by.
Such must be the sensation
of America whenever Britain
teeming with corruption
shall propose to her to
sacrifice her faith."—Crisis,
xii. |
"Our language has no
terms of reproach, the mind
has no idea of detestation,
which has not already been
happily applied to you and
exhausted. Ample justice
has been done, by abler
pens than mine, to the separate
merits of your life
and character. Let it be
my humble office to collect
the scattered sweets till
their united virtue tortures
the sense."—Let. 41.
"In what language shall
I address so black, so cowardly
a tyrant. Thou
worse than one of the
Brunswicks and all the
Stuarts."—Let. 56.
"The king has been advised
to make a public surrender,
a solemn sacrifice in
the face of all Europe, not
only of the interest of his
subjects, but of his own personal
reputation, and of the
dignity of that crown which
his predecessors have worn
with honor. These are
strong terms, sir, but they
are supported by fact and
argument."—Let. 42. |
In the last parallel above, it will be noticed, the strong terms were called forth by a sacrifice of national honor with Great Britain, and a prospect of it in the United States. I call attention to this in this place to save repetition of proofs, showing that proud spirit of personal honor so prominent in Paine and Junius, and from which they both say: national honor is governed by the same rules as personal honor. I now pass to notice the most prominent mental characteristics.
MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS.
If the reader will carry forward in his mind what I have already said on style and the object for which Mr. Paine and Junius wrote, it will greatly aid me in reducing the size of this book. I shall act on the principle of this suggestion, and while I give new matter upon new subjects, the reader will find the parallels greatly strengthened by what has already been said. The reader will also apply the facts already brought forward to the passages I shall hereafter present, so that, like a two-edged sword, it may be made to cut both ways. And first of avarice and the miser:
| Paine. | Junius. |
|
"Could I find a miser
whose heart never felt the
emotion of a spark of principle,
even that man, uninfluenced
by every love but
the love of money, and capable
of no attachment but
to his interest, would and
must, from the frugality
which governs him, contribute
to the defense of the
country, or he ceases to be
a miser and becomes an
idiot."
"Every passion that acts
upon mankind has a peculiar
mode of operation.
Many of them are temporary
and fluctuating; they
admit of cessation and variety.
But avarice is a
fixed, uniform passion. It
neither abates of its vigor
nor changes its object."—Crisis,
x. |
"Of all the vices avarice
is most apt to taint and corrupt
the heart."—Let. 27.
"As for the common sordid
views of avarice," etc.—Let.
53.
"The miser himself seldom
lives to enjoy the fruits
of his extortion."—Let. 20,
note.
"I could never have a
doubt in law or reason that
a man convicted of a high
breach of trust and of a notorious
corruption in the
execution of a public office,
was and ought to be incapable
of sitting in the same
parliament."—Let. 20. |