"Have Men of Action Been More Beneficial
to the World Than Men of Thought?" Debate Speech of
Lee M.
McAfee
for the
Dialectic Society, June 2, 1857
1
McAfee, Leroy Mangum, 1837-1873
Cover page
Cover verso page
Page 1
Mr President and Fellow Members.
When I survey the question, so wide is the field, and so nice are
some of the distinctions to be drawn that I am compelled to say.
"That never in my breast before,
Did ignorance so Strugle with desire
Of Knowledge—as in this moment".
2
But in entering apon this subject I would preface by
saying it is far from my intentions to depreciate the value, and diminish the
high estimation of men of learning, and exaggerate the importance of men of
action. Nor do I intend to advance "theroies of my own, which cannot be
supported by any course of reasoning however subtile". I hope however that
I may not fall into the same error, as the
gentleman
who just proceeded me; who in his eagerness to
pluck the mote from the
first
speaker's
eye, has overlooked the beam in his own,
3
and has virtually brought down apon his own head the censure intended for
Page 2
his opponent. And I confess I was greatly surprised at the gentleman;
for it does seem to me, if he had listned attentivly to the gentlemam, who had
the honor of opening this discussion, he could not have done his speach such
injustice, and so grossly missrepresented his argument. He says that my
colleague's first step is to "assail men of meditation as being skeptics,
and science and literature as vehicles of their obnoxious tenets". Now
this is a great mistake, for the first speaker emphatically disclaimed any such
intention. He distinctly stated that thought when directed in the right
channel, in searching out the hidden truths of nature, in discovering the laws
that regulate the universe, had accomplished some of our greatest benefits. But
he also said that when man without any counteracting influences, turns into his
own dark soul with no other companion but his own
Page 3
gloomy thoughts, then was the time of danger, then they were liable to
become skeptics. And this I beg leave to say is no new theory of his own, nor
absurd dogma supported only by the ignorant; nor have new viens
4 of
knowledge to be explored to establish its truth.
For it has well been said that man without any safeguards may
explore the regions of thought to a
scertain point and if he goes no further, he in nine cases out
of ten becomes skeptical. And in support of this we have examples not only of
those who have been ruined in this way, but the testimony of those who have
struggled with the same difficulties, and have been so fortunate as to master
them. But my opponent has said the point in question is not, "from which
we are to expect the most good or evil, but from which we actually experience
it". which is I think stated correctly. And since the gentleman would have
us argue the question from
Page 4
experience and history,
I beg you not to let your patience be wearied, if I am forced to allude to a
few facts
only that are trite and somewhat
threadbare. Although they are common and seemingly uninteresting, yet I love to
have examples in support of the principles I hold, that are hoary with age, and
about the correctness
5 of
which there is no debate. I come not to theorize and speculate about the
matter, for this is not our province, ours is to deal with men of action, not
speculative and theoretical. We do not strain your judgement, nor appeal to
your credulity to accede to the justice of our claims, and the correctness of
our conclusion. We refer you to the actual facts and concerns of life. It is
not a mere fancy or
6
image of a heated immagination with which we have to deal, but the stern
realities of life. We do not call on you to believe the effects
of which are possible, not probable
that may have resulted from the expressions of opinions,
Page 5
but we ask you to give the due weights to facts which
are strown apon every page of history, where men not only expressed their
opinions, but acted them out from which alone the benefit is derived. I grant
sirs that the man of thought may have some share in the matter—that he
proclaims principles which are beneficial, but I ask you, is not he the
benefactor, who secures the recognition of those principles—who puts them
into execution? Of what avail was the announcement of the freedom of the seas
to
France,
Spain, or
Holland, when
England was
mistress there?
"
Brittania needs no frowning bulwarks towering on the
steep;
Her march is on the mountain wave—her home is on the
deep".
7
What cared she for
8 the
statesmen of
Spain, the
egotists of
France, or the
cries of
Holland in
behalf of human rights and the sacredness of neutral flags? Had they lungs of
leather, and throats of brass and cried aloud against Bri
ttish oppession, and avarice until doomsday, they could
Page 6
have availed nothing. No, there was need of an active
people, not only to proclaim, but the energy of a
Tromp
9, a
Rugter
10 to
carry into execution by their mighty arms that great principle of international
law. So strong is the love of power and so agreeable the gratification of
ambition that neither "words nor turfs of grass" have any effect on
the heartless oppressor. Entreaties and lamentations cannot reach the tyrants
heart for it is cased in steel. It takes the might of the strong man to extort
from him the recognition and respect due to the rights of man, and the law of
nations. But the opposition seem to lay great stress apon the warrior as being
a great scurge to humanity The warrior is one of the most important characters
of a nation—he is the right arm of the government. And it must be
recollected that chastisements are the greatest blessings, for it is said,
"whomesoever the
Lord loveth he
chasteneth".
11
Take
Alexander who is always brought forward to illustrate the
evils and
Page 7
miseries attending ambition, and the
horrors and bloodshed that stain the laurels of the warrior. But when we
examine the results of his career, we and all who are acquainted with the facts
of the case are compelled to acknowledge with reverence and awe the workings of
a divine Being.
12
What then did the career of this scurge of humanity, as the opposition would
have, accomplish? It staid that flood of ignorance and barbarous superstition,
which like a mighty avalanche threatned to sink beneath its turbid tide, all
the learning and civilization of which the world could boast. It not only
overthrew an Oriental dynasty but established
European
rulers in its stead. It broke the monotony of the Eastern world by the
impression of Western energy and superior civilization, even as
England's
present mission is to break up the mental and moral stagnation of
China by
pouring apon and through them the impulsive current of Anglo-Saxon commerce
and
Page 8
conquest. But was this all? No. It shed a flood
of
light over the whole Eastern continent,
causing the steeps and vallies to smile with life, joy and happiness, and the
barren sands and bleak hills to bloom and blossom as the rose. It committed to
the
Saracens
the priceless treasures of
Grecian
civilization to be preserved from the
Vandalism of
the North and the corrosion of the
Middle
Ages. It bequeathed to
Alexandria
a legacy, that was in after times to make glad
in after times the benighted hearts of
millions, and to beget in man a gratitude which time could never efface. And
how can we estimate the benefit of this single man, this pest of the race, to
christianity however paradoxical it may appear?
For how could
have
christianity diffused itself so widely, and taken such
deep root, had not
Alexander engrafted the
Greek
language into the Eastern world. His career had the beneficial influence of
civilizing
13
their barbarism, and preparing them for the reception of the glorious
Page 9
principles of
our
religion. But for him, nations whose language and barbarism had been
unsurmountable barriers would never have heard of
Christ and
felt the benign influence of his holy religion, and this fact, the advocates of
our
religion, have
been proud to
acknowledge as it shows very conclusively, that aught of apparent evil much
good may be done. But let us refer to an important crisis in the history of the
world, let us visit the ever-memorable
field of
Tours where was fought one of those few battles of which according to
Mr
Hallem
14 a
contrary event would have essentially varied the drama of the world in all its
subsequent scenes, which variation if we can form any opinion from the
circumstances would have been any thing, but beneficial. Here we see arrayed
against each other the good and bad qualities of the race.
Rome's
destroyers from the South have met those of the North. On one side depends for
success all the good elements of society, the legislation, the arts and
Page 10
government of which
Rome boasted
and which we are proud to inherit. In fact all that is beneficial to the world
is at stake and now contends with superstition, ignorance and paganism. The
Mussulman elated with success and burning with revenge,
against the
christian hurls his herculean
15
force, to which there had never been a barrier, apon the giant of the West. But
happily for humanity, for civilization,
christianity and all that is good, noble and
praiseworthy, that mighty incubus was hurled back with defiance by the powerful
arm of
Charles
Martel, a man of whom
christianity should be proud and for whom all lovers of
the progress of the arts, sciences, and learning should feel the deepest
16
gratitude. But what should we say of those prime movers of that memorable
revolution—
the
reformation, the novelty and boldness of whose deeds in defiance of the
spiritual thunder
and
sent dismay to the heart of the Pope [
Pope Leo
X or, less likely,
Pope Adrian
VI] and shook
Europe from
centre to circumference.
Page 11
The beneficial influence of this event is incalculable, and it must
be admitted that men of action brought about this, for all the philosophy,
logic, eloquence and every thing else of the kind could not have reasoned the
Pope [
Pope Leo
X or, less likely,
Pope Adrian
VI] out of his power, nothing but force could ever have made him yield.
And thus if we follow the progress of man through all its changes we will find
in almost every instance where there is a crisis in the affairs of men, that
action has been the means of deliverance and safety. The truth of this
assertion can not be denied, for our own minds sustain it, when we read history
in invariably suggesting action as the last resort, and the most effectual.
What did
Demosthenes think was the last resort of
Greece in
his celebrated
Phillipics? He knew what alone could save them, but
he failed by his eloquence, pathos, and vehemence to arouse the
Greeks from
their inactivity and
Greece fell
a prey to despotism. Mark the
Page 12
onward course of
England to
glory prosperity and power. See the barons assembling at
Runnymede and wresting from their
king the
Magna
Charta the very foundation of
English
liberty and prosperity. Behold her rising from the sea in all her magesty and
power, and her long lost glory restored by the hand of
Cromwell. And the
revolution of
1688, to which every
Englishman
looks with pride and admiration, was the direct result of the
English
rising in mass in support of the
Christian
religion, and hurling from the throne a heartless tyrant, and thus
practically establishing that immortal principle the sovereignty of the people
and tearing from their hearts those senseless idols the divine right of kings
and passive obedience. Yes these the proudest monuments of the
English
people were the fruits of men of action which at once established forever the
glory and happiness of the nation. Take for example the
Germans a
people whose charasteristic is meditation and thought,
Page 13
and what is their condition? The freedom of the professor's chair and
the comparative freedom of the press have been the only exceptions to a
condition of affairs tending to dwarf the nation to a state of passiveness and
childhood in respect to nearly every thing social. Political feeling denied all
outlet through the forms of a free constitution has created outlets elsewhere.
Action being prohibited speculation has come into its place. Thus has it been
in a great part in
Germany.
The
Germans are
prolific as authors because doomed to barreness in so much besides. It has not
been good for the national mind—for its well balanced health, that so
much power should be thrust away from the practical and made to converge on the
speculative. And this is the inevitable
result
to which thought will tend unless we
17
have the action to reduce it to practise and thus confine its wanderings and
recieve its benefits. If its products in other things had been of greater
extent, its products in the form of books
Page 14
would
have been of better quality. Its abstractions would have been mellowed by
experience, its idealism would have been less divorced from the actual.,
Iit would as the consequence, have
exibited a more robust, a more equally developed intelligence and feeling, and
would have learned to look with a m
eanly contempt on a multitude of conciets which it now lauds
as a pro
of
f of genius—as passports to a wonderful immortality. But
let us leave for a while the discussion of historical examples and examine our
own feelings and thoughts on the subject. To what side of this question do they
seem to incline? When we refer to our own thoughts there is a response heard
which says in unmistakable accents, "life is real, life is earnest".
18
We cast our eyes around in our immediate sphere and all things say.
"Trust no future—how'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act—act in the living
Present!
Heart within—and
God
o'erhead!"
Yes,
"Be not like dumb driven cattle!
Be a
hero in the strife!"
19
Page 15
This is the teachings of
surrounding things. Action is the source of our benefits. From this fountain
gush the countless blessings that sweeten the bitters of life and soothe the
cares of a truly laborious existence. There is a saying that it is one thing to
think about a thing, and another to do it. Ah! what a vien of true, sound
practical wisdom does this open! It is the testimony of aged experience which
says the benefit is derived from acting out the thing. We read beautiful
theories on government, and essays on morals, but does the world recieve any
benefit, if we have not the men to put these things into execution. "Some
things look beautiful on paper, but work wretchedly". The thought may be
concieved and the idea known and still no benefit result. But say you men of
thought, have been more beneficial than men of action? Look at the
Chinese who
had been acquainted with the compass and the art of printing long before
Western energy had sought out these energies of progress, and what have they
Page 16
done? They have even been acquainted with gunpowder
from time immemorial, according to
Voltaire, and the art of printing they invented in the
time of
Julius
Caesar. But after all what are they? What has the East ever been to the
West but a repository of the sciences and the arts? It is true the East has
been the cradle of religion and the sciences, but it has been
only the cradle—a mere box in which they have
been kept for a more active race. And although now their learning and science
exist only in name yet from these very nations, we derived the first elements
of philosophy, astronomy, and the sciences. And here I ask to what do
historians attribute the decline of ancient nations, but luxury, and how does
this bring about the result? Its direct tendancy is to enervate and effeminate
the people begetting in them a desire for repose and ease, and thus the whole
system becomes relaxed, and fallen humanity is left to flounder in deep waters
of vice and sinful lust. But the Eastern races are caracterized
Page 17
by a desire of ease, and having no high state to
degenerate from have ever groveled in the dust of ignorance ignominy and vice.
As for the civil rights of the people and the bulwark of a constitution, they
have none but their lives, their fortunes and their property are
20
all dependent apon the will of a capricious tyrant. Such is the condition of
this
21
unfortunate people sunk into the deep depths of superstition, ignorance, misery
and woe. But say you they have not civil and riligious liberty like we have,
and you must not expect so much from them. I would ask why have they not had
it. They had the same enlightenment that we had. We recieved all from them and
ours is only an improvement made apon the original stock and why have they not
done likewise? It is simply
on account of that
easy inactive luxurious
ease
disposition. They want the energy, the
activity of the Western races. They have not the ever active blood that courses
the Anglo-Saxon viens,
"Whose progress is upward wherever he goes,
Whose motto hard
labor whatever he does."
Yes, "give civil and religious liberty and you give
everything. knowledge, and science, heroism
Page 18
and
honor, virtue and power. Deny them and you deny everything: in vain are the
gifts of nature: there is not harvest in the fertility of the soil: there is no
cheerfulness in the radiance of the sky: there is no thought in the
understanding of man and there is in his heart no hope: the human animal sinks
and withers; abused, disinherited, stripped of the attributes of his kind, and
no longer formed after the image of his
God".
There are stars which cluster around the brow of liberty, whose
splendor ages can not bedim. And who I ask have been the forerunners of this
heavenly messenger—the apostles of liberty? And here my colleague, who
said that the apostles of liberty had been always men of action, has been
grossly misrepresented. The gentleman who just addressed you instead of quoting
the language of my colleague as he spoke it reverses the words, and says that
men of action have
always been apostles of
liberty, conveying the
22
idea that all men of action have been apostles of liberty, and cites in triumph
the spoilers of
Poland. Now
if the gentleman has committed this error unconsciously he is excusable,
Page 19
but if he has been guilty of the fallacy knowingly it
argues very little for his stock of argument to resort to such an aid as well
as his fairness in the discussion, to say nothing of his desire to find out the
truth which is the
true aim of all
discussions. The whole of his speach therefore based upon the pervention of the
only legitimate construction
23
that can be put apon my colleague's remark goes for naught, and still his
assertion that the "apostles of liberty have always been men of
action". stands out in bold relief unharmed by the gentleman's fallacies
and unrefuted by his argument. But the opposition will say that men of thought
first set the ball in motion. I admit that men of thought have a part in
exciting revolutions, but they can go no farther. Like
Voltaire and others before the
French
revolution, thy care not how the people are to be rescued from the
vortex of base and angry passions, but heedlessly urge them headlong to the
brink of the presipise by false theories and principles which instead of
proving a benefit proves a direful curse.
Page 20
Search
the writings of the French authors and point out, if you can, a practical
theory of government in them. With their despicable dogmas they gulled the
people and by a vain hope, and a mere phantom of liberty and peace they illured
them to destruction. But the gentleman says, "whatever may be the opinion
entertained of
24
this
revolution, the motives of the enlightned minds that first put this ball
in motion were purely patriotic, and their cause the cause of liberty".
Quite a nice palliation for such horrible consequences. "Their motives
patriotic". We do not discuss the "motives" of men but as he
proposed in the outset, the good or evil arrising from men of action and men of
thought. And I emphatically deny
25
that the motives of these "enlightned minds" were purely patriotic.
For any person who knows any thing about the case knows that the flame of pure
patriotism burned fainter and feebler in the breast of
Voltaire, one of the prime movers, than any other flame,
for his only object was to establish an aristocracy of talent at the expence of
the people. And the gentleman in order
Page 21
to free his
side from this "assassin of nations" says that if "he (my
colleague) contends that
Voltaire embarked in
politics in this period his is the province to defend him, because then he
became a man of action" attempting by another of his quirks to create the
impression that my colleague said that
Voltaire embarked in politics in the
French
revolution and thus place him in an awkard position before this Hall
when all who listned know that my colleague contended for no such thing.
Because
Voltaire was dead with old age before the
26
time of
the
revolution. But the gentleman must be hard run for argument, when my
colleague in the bitterest irony applies the ephithet philosophers to the
instigators
27
of the
French
revolution, to take it up and ask, "would he have philosophy
blotted out because a
few of its devotees have
deserted its pristine faith"? And here again his impetuosity carries him
too far, and he asks, "would he leave
28
the untutored mind to the fearful ravages incident upon reading atheistical
works"? When at the same time the authors of those atheistical works are
these French philosophers, as he calls them, who he says have been handed down
as the champions of liberty and whose crimes for attempting to overthrow the
worship
Page 22
of their
God, he tries to
palliate by saying "thy
never
conspired against the
liberties of their country"—whose infedelity
he says sprang from some dark corner of their hearts, and not from the limpid
fountain of philosophy. Quite a plausible palliation this, for their infidelity
and conspiracy against
God. But there
is a field for argument in this subject which has been but slightly alluded to
and that is
christianity. Who I ask can calculate the beneficial
influence of
christianity
?
upon the moral social and political condition of mankind, so
fvast and extended are its influences
that like grasping infinity the human mind shrinks from the attempt. Infinity
alone can comprehend
alone the depth
& breadth of its influences. And in this great arena where so much good is
done we most "show our faith by our works."
29
Action is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and
Omega
Practice what you preach and then your labors
will not be in vain. Ah when we see the missionary watering the parched
and thirsty deserts with due from on high and sowing the seeds of eternal life,
which are to mature and ripen in eternity
istself how
30
the tear of joy steals down the cheek of the
christian, and the bosom of the patriot heaves with
delight! Ah! this is a benefit which will outweigh the world! These are the
never fading laurels that encircle the brow of the man of action, benefits
which will survive the "wreck of matter and the crush of worlds".
31
Transcribed by
Jno A. Sloan
for
Lee M.
McAfee
.
Endnotes:
1.
Dialectic Society Addresses, UA. The speech, which was once
bound and subsequently unbound, consists of a cover sheet and twenty-two
numbered pages of text. The cover sheet contains the following information:
"Debater's Speech/Delivered/By/
Lee.
M McAfee
./of/
Cleaveland Co. N.C./June 2
d 1857."
A second hand has written "
McAfee
" at the top of the cover sheet. On the verso
of the cover sheet
McAfee
has written "Have men of action been more
beneficial/to the world than men of thought?" Below this query appear two
columns. The left column is headed "Aff." and lists "
Thos H Brown
" and "
Lee.
M McAfee
." as speakers taking the affirmative
side of the question; the right column is headed "Neg." and lists
"
H. C. Jones
" and "
Wm M Coleman
" as taking the
negative side of the question. The
Dialectic Society Addresses, UA, also house
McAfee's
inaugural address and a senior oration dated
October 24, 1857.
2.
Dante
Alighieri,
"Purgatory," The Divine
Comedy, XX.124 (c. 1300).
3. An allusion to
Matthew
7:3 : "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's
eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"
4. n has been written on top of
w.
5. "the correctness" has been written on top of
which.
6. or has been written on top of
of.
7.
Thomas
Campbell,
"Ye
Mariners of
England" (1801): "Britannia
needs no bulwarks,/No towers along the steep;/Her march is o'er the
mountain-waves,/Her home is on the deep."
8. for has been written on top of
from.
10. Possibly
Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruyter
(1607-76)
,
Dutch
admiral who fought under
Maarten Tromp
in the first of the
Dutch wars
(1652-54), captured English holdings on the
Gold
and
Guinea
coasts in the second
Dutch War
(1664-67), and saved
Dutch
ports from attack by the
English and
French in
the third
Dutch War
(1672-78).
11.
Hebrews
12:6 : "For whom the
Lord loveth
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."
12. B has been written on top of
b.
13. ing has been written on top of
ation.
14. Probably
Henry
Hallam,
View of the State of
Europe
during the
Middle
Ages
, 2 vols. (London: J. Murray, 1818).
15. e has been written on top of
u between h and
r.
16. deepest has been written on top of
great.
17. we has been written on top of
he.
18.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
"A Psalm
of Life" (1838).
19.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
"A
Psalm of Life" (1838).
20. are has been written on top of
is.
21. this has been written on top of
these.
22. the has been written on top of
that.
23. construction has been written on top
of constitution.
24. of has been written on top of
on.
25. deny has been written on top of
say.
26. the has been written on top of
this.
27. ors has been written on top of
ion.
28. leave has been written on top of
have.
29.
James
2:18 : "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew
me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my
works."
30. how has been written on top of
How.
31.
Joseph
Addison,
Cato, V.i (1713).