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your grasp? And all assemblies are crowds alike. No, eloquence is a bit;
and if the bit breaks, the audience runs away, and rushes on till it has
thrown the orator. Hearers naturally dislike the speaker, which is a
fact not as clearly understood as it ought to be. Instinctively he pulls
the reins, but that is a useless expedient. However, all orators try it,
as Gwynplaine did.
He looked for a moment at those men who were laughing at him. Then he
cried,--
"
So, you insult misery! Silence, Peers of England! Judges, listen to my
pleading! Oh, I conjure you, have pity. Pity for whom? Pity for
yourselves. Who is in danger? Yourselves! Do you not see that you are in
a balance, and that there is in one scale your power, and in the other
your responsibility? It is God who is weighing you. Oh, do not laugh.
Think. The trembling of your consciences is the oscillation of the
balance in which God is weighing your actions. You are not wicked; you
are like other men, neither better nor worse. You believe yourselves to
be gods; but be ill to-morrow, and see your divinity shivering in fever!
We are worth one as much as the other. I address myself to honest men;
there are such here. I address myself to lofty intellects; there are
such here. I address myself to generous souls; there are such here. You
are fathers, sons, and brothers; therefore you are often touched. He
amongst you who has this morning watched the awaking of his little child
is a good man. Hearts are all alike. Humanity is nothing but a heart.
Between those who oppress and those who are oppressed there is but a
difference of place. Your feet tread on the heads of men. The fault is
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