t judgment is
required. The state of a king shuts him from the
world, yet the business of a king requires him to
know it thoroughly; wherefore, the different
parts, by unnaturally opposing and destroying each
other, prove the whole character to be absurd and
ridiculous."

_Junius._

"The right of election is the very essence of the
constitution. To violate that right, and, much
more, to transfer it to any other set of men, is a
step leading immediately to the dissolution of all
government. So far forth as it operates, it
constitutes a House of Commons which does not
represent the people. A House of Commons so formed
would involve a contradiction, and the greatest
confusion of ideas; but there are some ministers,
my lord, whose views can only be answered by
reconciling absurdities, and making the same
proposition which is false and absurd in argument
true in fact."--Let. 11.

I give the following dilemmas:

_Paine._

"If you make the necessary demand at home, your
party sinks; if you make it not, you sink
yourself; to ask it now is too late, and to ask it
before was too soon; and, unless it arrive
quickly, will be of no use. In short, the part you
have to act can not be acted."--Crisis, ii.

_Junius._

"This confession reduces you to an unfortunate
dilemma. By renewing your solicitations, you must
either mean to force your country into a war at a
most unseasonable juncture, or, having no view or
expectation of that kind, that you look for
nothing but a private compensation to
yourself."--Let. 25.

But those methods of argumentation are only a species of antithesis, and
may all be reduced to the one fundamental form of comparison. This may
remind us of the fact that all improvement arises from comparison,
whether in language, government, or personal experience.

I have one marked feature of argumentative figure to point out, and this
is, _interrogation_. This is insinuation without direct attack, a sort
of flank movement, when charges are made that can not be proven, or when
too evident to need proof. This style is also not only co