American Watchman And Delaware Advertiser

From the Hingham Gazette.

The following is a copy of a letter addressed to Mr. Harding, President of the Jefferson Debating Society of Hingham, Mass. by the late Mr. Jefferson, on receiving information of its institution:

MONTICELLO, April 20, 1824.

SIR,--I have duly received your favor of the 6th inst. informing me of the institution of a Debating Society in Hingham, composed of adherents to the republican principles of the revolution; and I am justly sensible of the honor done my name by associating it with the title of the Society. The object of the institution is laudable, and in a republican nation, whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion, not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of the first importance. In this line antiquity has left us the finest models for imitation, and he who studies and imitates them most nearly will nearest approach the perfection of the art. Among these I should consider the speeches of Livy, Sallust and Tacitus as pre-eminent specimens of logic, taste, and that sententious brevity which, using not a word to spare, leaves not a moment for inattention to the hearer. Amplification is the vice of modern oratory. It is an insult to an assembly of reasonable men, disgusting and revolting instead of persuading. Speeches measured by the hour die with the hour. I will not, however, further indulge the disposition of age to sermonize, and especially to those surrounded by so much better advice. With my apologies, therefore, for hazarding even these observations, and my prayers for the success of your institution, be pleased to accept, for the society and yourself, the assurances of my high consideration.

TH: JEFFERSON.