CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



if he wishes to lead us into the hidden minutiae of 

 their structure and existence. The natural his- 

 tory of household animals would make a work of 

 universal and unfailing interest 



Besides the subjects slightly alluded to in the 

 foregoing remarks, exposition includes a vast 

 range of compositions in politics, law, theology, 

 morals, and many other sciences, besides the wide 

 domain of practical business, where it is required 

 along with the other literary efforts of narration 

 and description. 



PERSUASION. 



We are now to consider the forms of address 

 suitable to influencing the conduct or activity of 

 men. In addition to the spontaneous impulses of 

 any given individual, there are many ways of act- 

 ing upon him from without that are equally effec- 

 tual in determining what he shall do or abstain 

 from doing. He may be made to act through 

 external compulsion, for example, or by the com- 

 mand of his superior, which is moral compulsion. 

 But apart from these, he may be led into action 

 by sympathy with others, and likewise by the 

 influence of the mere will and presence of one who 

 has no means either of coercing or of commanding. 

 But persuasive address differs from all these 

 modes of inducing action upon human beings. It 

 implies that some course of conduct shall be so 

 described or expressed as to coincide, or be identi- 

 fied, with the active impulses of the individuals 

 addressed, and thereby command their adoption 

 of it by the force of their own natural dispositions. 

 A leader of banditti has under him a class of per- 

 sons whose predominant impulse is the attain- 

 ment of plunder ; and it becomes his business to 

 shew them that any scheme that he desires them 

 to carry out will achieve this object. A people 

 with an intense overpowering patriotism, like the 

 old Romans, can be acted on by shewing that the 

 good of their country is at stake. A Christian 

 assembly is supposed to be capable of being 

 roused into action by the prospect of extending 

 the power and influence of Christianity in the 

 world. In a comprehensive survey of the Art of 

 Persuasion, the following things deserve to be 

 considered : 



I. The ends most usually sought by means of 

 persuasive address. These are innumerable in 

 their detail, but the purposes of an exposition will 

 be served by singling out a few of the more promi- 

 nent. In the oratorical professions of the preacher, 

 the pleader, the leader of political assemblies, the 

 newspaper writer, there are certain well-known 

 objects sought to be attained. In opposition to 

 individual egotisms and peculiarities, it is desired 

 to induce a course of action conducive to the 

 interests of the world, or the community at large, 

 or of some part or section thereof, or, it may be, 

 of some single person. In moral and religious 

 address, the larger and nobler ends of one's being 

 are sought to be impressed and made predominant 

 over present and passing impulses. At other 

 times, the thing aimed at is to make the reason, 

 which embraces the comprehensive good of the 

 whole, to prevail over the passions and instincts. 

 It is often desired to produce belief or conviction 

 in men ; which means, not immediate action, but 

 a general disposition to act in a particular way 

 when certain occasions arise ; as when we wish to 



716 



prove that the most effective kind of local govern- 

 ment is a combination of local authority with the 

 wisdom and experience supplied by a central 

 power. And when men are agreed as to the 

 thing that they should do, much dispute may 

 arise as to the manner of doing it ; and the author 

 of each different scheme has to devise ways and 

 means of carrying the minds of the audience 

 with his proposal in preference to the others. 

 There can be no doubt as to the highest and 

 noblest ends of persuasion which are to sway the 

 minds of men in favour of the universal, the eter- 

 nal, and the true, as opposed to the sectarian, the 

 temporary, and the false. To induce men to act 

 upon a delusion is a poor triumph. The projec- 

 tors of bubbles, the inventors of quack medicines, 

 the dealer in puffery and unsubstantial commodi- 

 ties, the panderers to the mob, are all highly per- 

 suasive with little art it being one of the weak- 

 nesses of humanity to be impressed by dazzling 

 hopes and prospects. It requires greater genius 

 and skill to induce men to adopt what will succeed 

 in the end. 



Although the usual end of persuasive address is 

 to turn the existing dispositions of men to some 

 immediate account, it yet falls within the scope of 

 such address to inflame and cultivate the dis- 

 positions themselves, as in the work of the 

 preacher and teacher. 



2. It is essential to persuasion that the speaker 

 should be accurately acquainted with the minds 

 and dispositions of his hearers. The perception 

 of character is indispensable to an orator's success : 

 if he mistake his audience, he cannot hope to 

 move them by his address. This thorough know- 

 ledge of character is an attainment come at in 

 various ways. The primitive source of our know- 

 ledge of our fellows is the consciousness of our- 

 selves, and the assumption that other persons are 

 made after the same fashion. A clear and vivid 

 consciousness of self that self being abundantly 

 rich and varied is the foundation of all accurate 

 knowledge of other men's minds. Next to it is 

 sympathy, which implies that we readily fall into 

 the states of mind indicated by the outward ex- 

 pression given forth by those about us. Like the 

 primitive consciousness of self, this differs very 

 much in different individuals. It is the chief cor- 

 rective of the false assumption that all other men 

 are exactly what we find ourselves to be. The 

 third source of knowledge, and the next to sym- 

 pathy as a means of enlarging the narrow primi- 

 tive conception, is the steady observation of men's 

 whole actions and ways, and of everything that 

 shews their dispositions and characters. We have 

 to note the things that attract and repel them, 

 their usual incentives to action, together with their 

 own expression of what influences and guides 

 them. We can go still farther, and experiment 

 upon all these points by endeavouring ourselves 

 to control their actions by suitable management 

 This combined observation and experiment is the 

 usual recognised source of a knowledge of man- 

 kind. Abundant opportunities of seeing men, and 

 acting with them, against them, and on them, are 

 supposed to be the true and only means of being 

 accomplished in this knowledge. But, after all, it 

 is only a valuable supplement of self-consciousness 

 and sympathy. The fourth source of the know- 

 ledge in question is furnished by the generalised 

 laws and properties of mind included in the scienc~ 



