“We stand the latest, and if we fall, probably the last experiment of self-government by the people.  We have begun it under circumstances of the most auspicious nature.  We are in the vigor of youth.  Our growth has never been checked by the oppression of tyranny.  Our Constitutions never have been enfeebled by the vice or the luxuries of the world.  Such as we are, we have been from the beginning:  simple, hardy, intelligent, accustomed to self-government and self-respect.

“The Atlantic rolls between us and a formidable foe.  Within our own territory, stretching through many degrees of latitude, we have the choice of many products, and many means of independence.  The government is mild.  The press is free.  Religion is free.  Knowledge reaches, or may reach every home.  What fairer prospects of success could be presented?  What means more adequate to accomplish the sublime end?  What more is necessary than for the people to preserve what they themselves have created?

“Already has the age caught the spirit of our institutions.  It has already ascended the Andes, and snuffed the breezes of both oceans.  It has infused itself into the life-blood of Europe, and warmed the sunny plains of France and the lowlands of Holland.  It has touched the philosophy of Germany and the North, and, moving onward to the South, has opened to Greece the lesson of her better days.

“Can it be that America under such circumstances should betray herself?  That she is to be added to the catalog of republics, the inscription upon whose ruin is, ‘They were but they are not!’ Forbid it, my countrymen! forbid it, Heaven!  I call upon you, fathers, by the shades of your ancestors, by the dear ashes which repose in this precious soil, by all you are, and all you hope to be, resist every attempt to fetter your consciences, or smother your public schools, or extinguish your system of public instruction.

“I call upon you, mothers, by that which never fails in woman, the love of your offspring, to teach them as they climb your knees or lean on your bosoms, the blessings of liberty.  Swear them at the altar, as with their baptismal vows, to be true to their country, and never forsake her.  I call upon you, young men, to remember whose sons you are—­whose inheritance you possess.  Life can never be too short, which brings nothing but disgrace and oppression.  Death never comes too soon, if necessary, in defense of the liberties of our country.”

You can advantageously read aloud many times a speech like the foregoing.  Stand up and read it aloud once a day for a month, and you will be conscious of a distinct improvement in your own command of persuasive speech.

W.  J. Fox

The following is a specimen of masterly oratorical style, from a sermon preached in London, England, by W. J. Fox: