Junius Unmasked Part 11

If individuals have no virtues, their vices may be of use to us. I care not with what principle the new-born patriot is animated if the measures he supports are beneficial to the community. The nation is interested in his conduct, the motives are his own."--Let. 58.

"I am not so unjust as to reason from one crime to another; though I think that, of all vices, avarice is most apt to taint and corrupt the heart."--Let. 27.

"Charity with them begins and ends at home."--Exam. of Prophecies, Appendix.

"His charity has improved upon the proverb, and ended where it began."--Let. 27.

"Gut a verse."

"Gut a resolution."

The above are a few of the similar figures which have come under my eye.

The careful reader will, doubtless, find many more, as I have given my attention to a multiplicity of subjects in this investigation, and many parallels would thus escape me. But I have given more than sixty, which ought to arrest the attention of any thinking man. Together with the above may be taken parallel phrases _frequently_ used by both; for example: "I affirm," "Excess of folly," "In point of," "Give the lie to," "For several reasons," "Branded with," "It signifies not,"

"Circ.u.mstanced," "For my own part," "In short," "Forever," "Common cause."

I now pa.s.s on to those figures of speech which come in the form of argumentation, as ant.i.thesis and interrogation.

Ant.i.thesis is a species of word painting. It is to an argument what light and shade are to a painting. There can, therefore, be no argument without ant.i.thesis in some form. It may be defined, contrasting or placing in opposition opinions, sentiments, and ideas. The following are examples:

_Paine._

"At home and abroad."

"A government of our own is our natural right; and when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced that it is infinitely wiser and safer to form a const.i.tution of our own in a cool, deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance. _If we omit it now_, some Ma.s.sanello may hereafter arise, who, laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate and discontented, and, by a.s.suming to themselves the powers of government, finally sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge."--C. S.

_Junius._

"At home and abroad."

"If we see them obedient to the laws, prosperous in their industry, united at home and respected abroad, we may reasonably presume that their affairs are conducted by men of experience, abilities, and virtue. _If, on the contrary_, we see an universal spirit of distrust and dissatisfaction, a rapid decay of trade, dissensions in all parts of the empire, a total loss of respect in the eyes of foreign powers, we may p.r.o.nounce, without hesitation, that the government of that country is weak, distracted, and corrupt."--Let. 1.

As would naturally be expected from what has already been brought forward, in regard to the mental const.i.tution of Mr. Paine, he abounds in this figure and style of argumentation; and it is the same with Junius. Sentence after sentence, and period after period, are in ant.i.thesis. The expressions, "On the one hand, and on the other," "At home and abroad," "On this side, and on that," are the constant companions of both. Hence the method, also, in both, of bringing forward contradictions in the conduct and character of individuals, or in any proposition they are attacking. This is the language, also, of ridicule; the contradiction makes it absurd, the incongruity ridiculous.

Ant.i.thesis is, therefore, an argumentative figure of speech, in which contrast or comparison is made to present an image of things or principles to the mind. It is to rhetoric what light and shade are to painting. In no other way can a writer paint a picture. Hence, when Mr.

Paine says, "Were I disposed to _paint_ a contrast," and when Junius says, "Imagine what you might be, and then reflect upon what you are,"

they reveal the gift of that tremendous power they exhibit in their productions.

It is from this const.i.tutional arrangement of the mind which makes a man a good mathematician. For, if one will trace a mathematical process of reasoning, he will find it to be a system of comparisons or ant.i.theses--and nothing else--having foundation primarily in _equality_.

The idea of _equality_ is the origin of mathematics. It was, therefore, a mathematician who wrote Junius. We can not go wrong in this conclusion, for we reason from first principles, and we would expect to find his style and language a.s.suming mathematical preciseness, and only equaled by Mr. Paine in argumentation.

From what has already been said, we would expect to find the frequent use of the _dilemma_, and the _reductio ad absurdum_--or, that the contrary of what is true leads to the _absurd_.

_Paine._

"There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore, the different parts, by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and ridiculous."

_Junius._

"The right of election is the very essence of the const.i.tution. To violate that right, and, much more, to transfer it to any other set of men, is a step leading immediately to the dissolution of all government. So far forth as it operates, it const.i.tutes a House of Commons which does not represent the people. A House of Commons so formed would involve a contradiction, and the greatest confusion of ideas; but there are some ministers, my lord, whose views can only be answered by reconciling absurdities, and making the same proposition which is false and absurd in argument true in fact."--Let. 11.

I give the following dilemmas:

_Paine._

"If you make the necessary demand at home, your party sinks; if you make it not, you sink yourself; to ask it now is too late, and to ask it before was too soon; and, unless it arrive quickly, will be of no use. In short, the part you have to act can not be acted."--Crisis, ii.

_Junius._

"This confession reduces you to an unfortunate dilemma. By renewing your solicitations, you must either mean to force your country into a war at a most unseasonable juncture, or, having no view or expectation of that kind, that you look for nothing but a private compensation to yourself."--Let. 25.

But those methods of argumentation are only a species of ant.i.thesis, and may all be reduced to the one fundamental form of comparison. This may remind us of the fact that all improvement arises from comparison, whether in language, government, or personal experience.

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._

"There are cases that can not be overdone by language, and this is one."--Crisis, i.

"There is not in the compa.s.s 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 sc.u.mmings 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.

_Junius._

"But this language is too mild for the occasion.

The king is determined that our abilities shall not be lost to society."--Let. 48.

"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.

"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.

"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 repet.i.tion 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 pa.s.s to notice the most prominent mental characteristics.

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS.