A Right and a Duty

BELONGING to private life as a right, it belongs to public life as a duty; and it is the last duty, which those, whose representative I am, shall find me to abandon. Aiming at all times to be courteous and temperate in its use, except when the right itself shall be questioned, I shall then carry it to its extent. I shall place myself on the extreme boundary of my rights, and bid defiance to any arm, that would move me from my ground. This high constitutional privilege I shall defend and exercise within this house, and without this house, and in all places, in time of war, in time of peace, and at all times. Living, I shall assert it; dying, I shall assert it; and should I leave no other inheritance to my children, by the blessing of God, I will still leave them the inheritance of free principles, and the example of a manly, independent, and conscientious discharge of them.

From ‘Liberty’ (1837) by Julius Rubens Ames (1801-1850). Additional information from ‘The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster’ (1886) by Daniel Webster (1782-1852) with an introduction by Edwin Percy Whipple (1819-1886).
Précis
Webster declared it was his duty to defend free speech, in times of war as much as in times of peace. Though he wished to be courteous always, he would nevertheless not let courtesy stand in the way of leaving to his children the priceless legacy of a commitment to liberty as an ideal, and as a daily practice.
Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

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