The debater

Front matter

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Part I. Complete Debates

SUBJECTS.

1. Which is of the greatest Benefit to his Country,

the Warrior, the Statesman, or the Poet ? - 1

2. Are the Mental Capacities of the Sexes equal ? - 25

4. Does Morality increase with Civilisation ? - - 73

6. Have the Crusades been beneficial to Mankind? 119

7. Is the Character of Oliver Cromwell worthy of our

Admiration? ------ 141

8. Which was the greater Poet, Shakspere or

Milton? - 166

9. Which has done the greater Service to Mankind,

the Printing Press or the Steam Engine? - 189 10. Which does the most to make the Orator —

Knowledge, Nature, or Art ? - - - 210

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VI CONTENTS.

Part II. Outlines Of Debates

SUBJECTS.

PAGE

1. Which does the greater Injury to Society, the

Miser or the Spendthrift? - - - - 231

2. Is universal Peace probable ? - 234

3. Which was the greatest Man, Bonaparte, Watt,

or Howard ? 237

4. Which are of the greater Importance in Edu-

cation, the Classics or Mathematics ? 240

5. Are Brutes endowed with Eeason ? - 243

6. Is Duelling justifiable? 247

7. Is Modern equal to Ancient Oratory ? 249

8. Is the Character of Napoleon Bonaparte to be

admired? 253

9. Was the Execution of Charles the First justi-

fiable? 257

10. Which is the more happy, a Barbarous, or a

Civilised, Man? 261

PART ni.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION.

1. Which was the greater Man, Oliver Cromwell or

Napoleon Bonaparte ? 264

2. Was the Execution of Mary Queen of Scots

justifiable? 264

CONTENTS. Vll

PAGE

3. Has the Invention of Gunpowder been of Benefit

to Mankind ? 265

4. Which is the more valuable Member of Society,

a great Mechanician or a great Poet ? - 265

5. Which was the greater Orator, Demosthenes or

Cicero? 266

6. Which is the. more despicable Character, the

Hypocrite or the Liar ? - 266

7. Has the Fear of Punishment, or the Hope of

Reward, the greater Influence on Human

Conduct? 26;

8. Is Corporal Punishment justifiable ? - - - 267

9. Was Brutus justified in killing Caesar ? - . 267

10. Should Emulation be encouraged in Education ? 268

11. Which was the greater Poet, Milton or Homer? 268

12. Is Military Renown a fit Object of Ambition? - 269

13. Is Ambition a Vice or a Virtue? - 269

14. Has Novel- reading a Moral Tendency ? - - 269

15. Is the Character of Queen Elizabeth deserving

of our Admiration ? - - - - -270

16. Is England rising or falling as a Nation ? - - 270

17. Has Nature or Education the greater Influence

in the Formation of Character ? 270

18. Which is the more valuable Metal, Gold or Iron ? 271

19. Is War in any case justifiable? - 271

20. Has the Discovery of America been beneficial

to the World? 271

21. Can any Circumstances justify a Departure from

Truth? 272

22. Is Sporting justifiable ? - - - ' - - 272

23. Does not Virtue necessarily produce Happiness,

and does not Vice necessarily produce Misery,

in this Life? 272

24. From which does the Mind gain the more Know-

ledge, Reading or Observation ? - - 273

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Mil CONTENTS.

PAGE

25. Have the Gold Mines of Spain, or the Coal Mines

of England, been more beneficial to the World ? 273

26. Which was the greater General, Hannibal or

Alexander? 273

27. Which was the greater Poet, Dryden or Pope? - 273

28. Which has done the greater Service to Truth,

Philosophy or Poetry ? - - - - 274

29. Is an Advocate justified in defending a Man

whom be knows to be Guilty of the Crime with which he is charged ? - - - - - 274

30. Is it likely that England will sink into the Decay

which befell the Nations of Antiquity ? - - 275

31. Are Lord Byron's Writings Moral in their Ten-

32. Do the Mechanicians of Modern equal those of

Ancient Times ? 275

33. Which is the greater Civiliser, the Statesman or

the Poet? 276

34. Which is the greater Writer, Charles Dickens

or Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton ? - - - 276

35. Is the Principle of Utility a safe Moral Guide? - 276

36. Was the Deposition of Louis XYI. justifiable ? - 276

37. Is the Use of Oaths for Civil Purposes expedient ? 277

38. Is a Classical Education essential to an English

Gentleman? 277

39. Are Colonies advantageous to the Mother Country? 277

40. Which does the most to produce Crime, — Poverty,

Wealth, or Ignorance ? - - - -277

41. Is the Unanimity required from Juries conducive

to the Attainment of the Ends of Justice ? - 278

42. Is it not the Duty of a Government to establish

a System of National Education ? - - - 278

43. Are the Intellectual Faculties of the Dark Races

of Mankind essentially inferior to those of the White? 278

CONTENTS. IX

PAGE

44. Is Transportation a fit and effective Punish-

ment? 279

45. Should not all Punishment be Reformatory ? - 279

46. Is a Limited Monarchy, like that of England, the

best Form of Government ? - - - - 279

47. Is not Private Virtue essentially requisite to

Greatness of Public Character ? - 279

48. Is Eloquence a gift of Nature, or may it be ac-

quired? 280

49. Is Genius an Innate Capacity ? - 280

50. Is a Rude or a Refined Age the more favourable

to the Production of Works of Imagination ? - 280

51. Is the Shaksperian the Augustan Age of English

Literature? 280

52. Is there any Standard of Taste ? - - - 281

53. Ought Pope to rank in the First Class of Poets? 281

54. Has the Introduction of Machinery been generally

beneficial to Mankind ? - 281

55. Which produce the greater Happiness, the Plea-

sures of Hope or of Memory ? 282

56. Is the Existence of Parties in a State favourable

to the Public Welfare ? - 282

57. Is there any Ground for believing in the ulti-

mate Perfection and universal Happiness of the Human Race ?------ 282

58. Is Co-operation more adapted to promote the

Virtue and Happiness of Mankind than Competition? 282

59. Was the Banishment of Napoleon to St. Helena

a justifiable Proceeding ? - - - - 283

60. Ought Persons to be excluded from Civil Offices

on account of their Religious Opinions ? - 283

61. Which exercises the greater Influence in the Civi-

lisation and Happiness of the Human Race,

the Male or the Female Mind ? 283

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PAGE

62. Which did the most to produce the French Revo-

lution — the Tyranny of the Government, the Excesses of the Higher Orders, or the Writings of Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau ? - 284

63. Which was the greater Poet, Byron or Burns ? - 284

64. Is there reasonable Ground for believing that the

Character of Richard the Third was not so Atrocious as is generally supposed ? 284

65. Does Happiness or Misery preponderate in Life ? 285

66. Should the Press be totally Free ? - - - 285

67. Do modern Geological Discoveries agree with

68. Did Circumstances justify the first French Revo-

lution? 286

69. Could not Arbitration be made a Substitute for

70. Are Annual, Triennial, or Septennial Parlia-

ments, most in harmony with the British Constitution and Character ? 286

71. Which Character is the more to be admired, that

of Loyola or Luther ? 287

72. Are there good Grounds for applying the Term

" dark " to the Middle Ages ? - 287

73. Which was the greater Poet, Chatterton or

Cowper? 287

74. Are Public or Private Schools to be preferred ? 288

75. Is the System of Education pursued at the Uni-

versities, in accordance with the Requirements of the Age ? 288

76. Is the Decline of Slavery in Europe attributable

to Moral or to Economical Influences ? - - 288

77. Is Anger a Vice or a Virtue ? - - - 288

78. Which was the greatest Hero, Alexander, Caesar,

or Bonaparte ? 289

CONTENTS. XI

PAGE

79. Which was the worse Monarch, Richard the

Third or Charles the Second? - - - 289

80. Which was the greater Man, Franklin or Wash-

ington? - 289

81. Is it probable that America will hereafter become

the greatest of Nations ? 290

82. Should not greater Freedom of Expression be

encouraged in Debate ? 290

83. Which was the greater Poet, Chaucer or

Spenser? 290

84. Is the present a Poetical Age ? - 290

85. Was Louis XIV. a great Man ? - 291

86. Is it the Duty of a Government to make ampler

Provision for the Literary Writers of the Nation? 291

87. Which is the greater Poet, Mrs. Howitt or

Mrs. Hemans? 291

88. Should not all National Works of Art be entirely

free to the Public ? - - - - - 291

89. Are not the Rudiments of individual Character

discernible in Childhood ? - - - - 291

90. Is not Satire highly useful as a Moral Agent ? - 292

91. Has not the Faculty of Humour been of essential

Service to Civilisation ? 292

92. Is it not to Emigration that England must

mainly look for the Relief of her Population ? 292

93. Does National Character descend from Age to

94. Do the Associations entitled " Art Unions," tend

to promote the Spread of the Fine Arts ? - 293

95. Is it possible that the World will ever again

possess a Writer as great as Shakspere ? - 293

96. Is the cheap Literature of the Age on the whole

beneficial to general Morality ? 293

XU CONTENTS.

PAGE

97. Should not Practice in Athletic Games form a

Part of any System of Education ? - - 293

98. Is not the Game of Chess a good intellectual and

moral Exercise ? - - - - -294

99. Have Mechanics' Institutions answered the Ex-

pectations of their Founders ? 294

100. Which is to be preferred, a Town or a Country

101. Which is the greater Poet, Wordsworth or

Byron? 295

102. Which is the more baneful, Scepticism or Super-

stition? 295

103. Is the Average Duration of Human Life in-

creasing or diminishing ? 295

104. Is Life Assurance at present conducted on safe

and equitable Principles ? - 295

105. Are there good Eeasons for supposing that the

Kuins recently discovered in Central America

are of very great Antiquity ? 296

106. Do Titles operate beneficially in a Community ? 296

107. Would not Pulpit Oratory become more effective

if the Clergy were to preach extemporaneously? - - - - - - - 296

108. Is not Intemperance the chief Source of Crime ? 296

109. Should not the Study of History be more en-

couraged than it is ? 297