that of many of our writers of verse. He speaks in
figures, images, symbols; and the musical cadence of his sentences reflects
the influence of his wide reading of poetry. Not only in figurative
expression, but much more in spirit, he belongs with the poets of the
revival. At times his language is pseudo-classic, reflecting the influence
of Johnson and his school; but his thought is always romantic; he is
governed by ideal rather than by practical interests, and a profound
sympathy for humanity is perhaps his most marked characteristic.

Third, the supreme object of these orations, so different from the majority
of political speeches, is not to win approval or to gain votes, but to
establish the truth. Like our own Lincoln, Burke had a superb faith in the
compelling power of the truth, a faith in men also, who, if the history of
our race means anything, will not willingly follow a lie. The methods of
these two great leaders are strikingly similar in this respect, that each
repeats his idea in many ways, presenting the truth from different view
points, so that it will appeal to men of widely different experiences.
Otherwise the two men are in marked contrast. The uneducated Lincoln speaks
in simple, homely words, draws his illustrations from the farm, and often
adds a humorous story, so apt and "telling" that his hearers can never
forget the point of his argument. The scholarly Burke speaks in ornate,
majestic periods, and searches all history and all literature for his
illustrations. His wealth of imagery and allusions, together with his rare
combination of poetic and logical reasoning, make these orations
remarkable, entirely apart from their subject and purpose.

Fourth (and perhaps most significant of the man and his work), Burke takes
his stand squarely upon the principle of justice. He has studied history,
and he finds that to establish justice, between man and man and between
nation and nation, has been the supreme object of every reformer since the
world began. No small or merely temporary success attracts him; only the
truth will suffice for an argument; and nothing less than justice will ever
settle a question permanently. Such is his platform, simple as the Golden
Rule, unshakable as the moral law. Hence, though he apparently fails of his
immediate desire in each of these three orations, the principle for which
he contends cannot fail. As a modern writer says of Lincoln, "The full,
rich flood of his life throu