Where has all the oratory gone?
Sir: Now that the last sentences of the great debate lie spent amongst their predecessors, it is Pertinent to ask one question about the speeches Made. Why was nobody at Westminster able to articulate the passion that lay behind the European movement, or to srystalise the dream behind the myraid forbidding clauses?
In a debate of this kind, rhetoric, however unfashionable, has a vital part to play. It is both sad and unexpected that in six days not one Member has set fire to the imagination, has Prompted a vision, or stirred a lukewarm heart to ardour.
The people at large remain in somewhat trepid doubt. No wonder, for there has been no prophet to convert them, no verbal flaming torch to warm away their reservations or set light to hesitant minds. The European idea is one which needs above all both persuasion and inspiration in its advocates. The means of both are words.
This is not a call for a return to endless nights of rococco oratory, but a reminder that there is still a place for what Disraeli called "the most splendid of musical instruments — the human voice."
Charles Harris 25 Elvasten Place, London, SW7
Previous page
