Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory - Delivered to the Classes of Senior and Junior Sophisters in Harvard University #220055

Finally the discourse may apply to several propositions, entirely distinct and separate from each other. In such cases the orator is sometimes compelled by the abundance of his subject to di vide his discourse into several distinct orations, each of itself complete. The proposition is sometimes used to express the object to be obtained in consequence of the measure proposed; and in these cases a number of subordinate propositions may be combined for the accomplishment of one. Thus in Burke's speech on conciliation with America, immediately after the exordium and the narration, he says the proposition is peace. Not peace through the me dium of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to arise out of universal discord, foment ed from principle in all parts of the empire; not peace to depend on the juridical determination of perplexing questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace; sought in its natural course.