Part 14 (1/2)

CHAPTER XI

REPORTING SPEECHES

”Words are like leaves, and where they most abound Much fruit of sense beneath is seldom found.”

POPE.

I. a.s.signment

Report a speech, lecture, or sermon in two hundred words.

II. Explanation

It is easy to obtain the material for this a.s.signment because one has only to attend, listen, and take notes. Indeed, in some instances, speakers are ready and willing to furnish reporters with copies of what they intend to say. The part of the task which requires skill is what is known as boiling down, condensing, or reducing the report to the dimensions required by editors. This involves: first and foremost, a determination not to misrepresent in any way what is said; second, the ability to select the essential points; third, an eye for such detail as may be used to spice the report without making it too long. Too many reporters, in their anxiety to make a good story, observe only the last of these requirements, and in consequence are unjust to speakers. In the arrangement of the material, it is well to begin with a statement of the main point of the speech and to follow it with such details as s.p.a.ce permits.

III. Speech Construction

Every good speech, however long, has only one main point. Its details serve only to ill.u.s.trate and enforce this central theme. The reporter needs to bear this in mind. He must discover the central point, or thesis, before he can write a good report. A knowledge of the principles underlying speech construction is therefore of great value to him, even if not essential. Fortunately, these are comparatively simple. Nearly every good speech, from Demosthenes down, has consisted of the following parts in the following order:

1. _Exordium, or Introduction._ A bridge from the audience to the subject, designed to conciliate and interest.

2. _Status, or Plan._ An outline of what the speaker intends to say.

3. _Statement of Facts._ A presentation of the situation on which the orator intends to found his argument.

4. _Argument._ Here is presented in detail the plan or conclusion which the speaker has in mind, with the reasons in favor of it.

5. _Refutation._ A reply to objections which have been or may be urged against the plan.

6. _Peroration, or Conclusion._ This may be a summary of the speech, a good-humored bit of color, a picture of the benefits to be derived from the adoption of the orator's plan, or an impa.s.sioned appeal for action.

Sermons and political speeches are usually argumentative and hence of this type. Sometimes, however, an orator and his theme are so well known that he omits all except 3 and 4; occasionally all except 4 disappear.

Lectures often contain only 3, as their purpose is only to convey information. Usually, however, a speech without an argument is like a gas engine without gas; it has no ”go.” The speech that does not aim to get people to do something is usually flat, stale, and unprofitable.

IV. Models

I

LONDON, March 22, 1775.--Conciliation as a means of allaying the present discontent in the American colonies was advocated in the House of Commons to-day by Mr. Edmund Burke. He proposed that Parliament abandon the idea of taxing the colonies, and instead place on the statute book an act acknowledging that the various colonial legislative bodies have the power to grant or refuse aids to the crown. Though his speech, which lasted over three hours, was heard with respect, the measures which he proposed were defeated by a strict party vote, 270 to 78.

Mr. Burke spoke with a dignity and power which have not been surpa.s.sed even by the Earl of Chatham. His mastery of the subject was so complete and the form of his speech so perfect that competent judges p.r.o.nounce it a cla.s.sic. His speech is to be printed at once as a pamphlet.

In outline Mr. Burke said: ”As I have studied this American question for years, have held fixed opinions on it since 1766, and have nothing to gain except disgrace if I suggest a foolish solution of the problem, I believe that you will hear me with patience. My speech will consist of the discussion of two questions: (1) Should we attempt to conciliate the Americans?

(2) If so, how? America is already powerful by virtue of population, commerce, and agriculture. The chief characteristic of the American people is their fierce love of freedom. There are only three ways to deal with this spirit: (1) To remove it by removing its causes; (2) to punish it as criminal; (3) to comply with it as necessary. Its causes are irremovable, being the love of independence which caused their ancestors to leave England; their religion in the North, which is the Protestantism of the Protestant religion; the fact that in the South they hold slaves; the general diffusion among them of education; the circ.u.mstance that they speak English and that an Englishman is the unfittest man on earth to argue another Englishman into being a slave; and the 3000 miles of ocean, between us and them. It cannot be treated as criminal, there being no way to draw up an indictment against a whole nation. Indeed, you have already tried to do this and failed. There remains no way of treating the American spirit except to comply with it as necessary. I propose, therefore, to erect a Temple of British Concord with six ma.s.sive pillars by granting to America in six propositions the identical rights which for generations have been by acts of Parliament secured to Ireland, Wales, Chester, and Durham, except that, owing to the distance of America from England, each colony, instead of sending members to Parliament, shall have the power, through its own legislature, to grant or refuse aids to the Crown. If adopted, these measures, I believe, will subst.i.tute an immediate and lasting peace for the disorders which Lord North's measures have created. The unbought loyalty of a free people, thus secured, will give us more revenue than any coercive measure. Indeed, it is the only cement that can hold together the British Empire.”

II