WE are glad to see that the Harvard Union is starting out again so energetically and promisingly. Last year was a poor one for the Union. The attendance, even on occasions when the questions under discussion were live and absorbing, was not calculated to inspire the disputants to any very great exertions. Most noticeable, too, was the almost entire lack of enthusiasm on the part of those who were not leading disputants. Occasionally there would be a good five-minute speech from the house. But such speeches were very few and far between. Now, it was entirely foreign to the original intention of the Union that the debate should be monopolized by four men; for debates depend to a large extent for their vivacity upon the number of different standpoints from which the questions are discussed. Besides, the more often a man speaks, the more interested he becomes in debating. Here, then, is an opportunity for a vast improvement this year. If twenty men would only pledge themselves each time to make five-minute speeches, the effect would be marvellous. We should have debates such as were never excelled in the palmiest days of the Society. This year is a critical one in the history of the Union, for its founders, those who naturally contributed most to its success, went out with '81. There must be a hard struggle, or the society will be in danger of going under altogether. But there is enough good material left. And if each member will only lay aside false modesty, - identical in this case with indolence, - and determine to say something at least in every debate, the prosperity of the society this year will be all that could be desired.