It was a somewhat frigid gathering until Nasmyth rose. We had all.
dined with our respective hosts, and then repaired to this business
in cold blood. Many were lukewarm about it in their hearts; there
was a certain amount of mild prejudice, and a greater amount of
animal indifference, to be overcome in the opening speech. It is
not for me to say whether this was successfully accomplished. I
only know how the temperature of that meeting rose with Nipper
Nasmyth.
And I dare say, in all. the circumstances of the case, his really
was a rather vulgar speech. But it was certainly impassioned, and
probably as purely instinctive as his denunciation of all. the causes
which appeal to the gullible many without imposing upon the
cantankerous few. His arguments, it is true, were merely an
elaboration of those with which he had favored some of us already;
but they were pointed by a concise exposition of the several
definite principles they represented, and barbed with a caustic
rhetoric quite admirable in itself. In a word, the manner was
worthy of the very foundation it sought to shake, or we had never
swallowed such matter without a murmur.
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