American Legal Orators and Oratory speaking of the uselessness of life with out the right of self-defense, be ex
claimed, "Had I no other right than that of existence I would raise my own
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cool-headed, veteran lawyer and a jury orator of rare power.
Few things in the
way of a retort are better than his scorching reply in this trial to one of the
wild hand and throw back my life in the
minor counsel of the prosecution who,
face of Heaven as a gift unworthy of
in descanting at large upon the wonder
possession." Though slightly tinged with
ful array of counsel for the defense and the comparative paucity of equal timber
irreverence, perhaps, there are few senti
ments more stirring or more beautifully expressed, and it has been used by others since on innumerable occasions. The whole of this speech is admirable. The features of Ward's life which had been
graphically placed before the jury, and his peculiar position in the case as the champion of a brother's rights, the fact that he was a gifted young author and, moreover, newly-wedded, furnished Mar
shall with abundant opportunity to dis play his powers of description and of subtle appeal to sentiment.
Then, too,
on the part of the prosecution, errone ously referred to himself as “David go ing forth against the Philistines armed
only with a sling.” To this unique com parison Wolfe replied, mercilessly re minding him that it was not David who went forth against the Philistines, but Samson, and that instead of being armed with a sling, he wielded the jaw bone of an ass to the great consternation and destruction of the Philistines. Then turn ing with a look of mock fear to his fellow counsel he concluded by saying, “And
the great speech of R. B. Carpenter in
I hope that we are not here to be ruth
opening the prosecution had aroused the highest feeling, and it was openly con
lessly slaughtered with the same danger
ceded by the defense that it must be
Crittenden's speech was even finer. This prince of persuasive orators whose tongue, we are told by enthusiastic con temporaries (students of Milton, doubt less), “dropped manna,” pleaded on this occasion with a truly golden eloquence. He was as difierent from Marshall as could well be. With him persuasion was the master object, and never did a musi
answered at once and effectively or all
hope was gone.
This task was under
taken most cheerfully by Marshall, who
in his exordium scored Carpenter in as graceful a strain of irony and sarcasm as ever was listened to by any jury, and then proceeded in that bantering, humor
ous, chivalric style so peculiar to him, until he had swept jury and audience
with him as the leaves of the forest and obliterated the impression made by Car penter’s splendid effort. This speech of
Marshall's is one of those rare creations of genius such as he alone seemed able
to conceive or fashion. Few faults can be found with it from any point of view, and like the speech of Prentiss referred to above, it was crowned with success, though this result was in a large mea
sure aided by the speech of Nat Wolfe and the beautiful address of Crittenden, both of them his co-counsel. Wolfe was a
ous and difiicult weapon."
cian attune his instrument to a more delicate melody than our orator on this occasion. A noble and lofty love of mercy and humanity runs through it all, while here and there is an irresistible appeal to their pride or mercy. There is something beautiful, indeed, in his simple use of the German allegory tell
ing of the creation of man and how, when God hesitated whether or not to create, and Justice and Truth had each advised him “No,” because man would destroy their works and fill the world
with crime, gentle Mercy came and knelt