James Innes, the Attorney-General of Virginia, "ranks
first in genius, in force of thought, in power of expression, and in effect of voice and manner"; "public
opinion gives the next rank as an orator to Edmund
Randolph", and "John Marshall (a general of militia)
is inferior in voice and manner, but for talent, he
substitutes genius, and instead of talking about his
subject, he talks upon it. He possesses neither the
energy of expression nor the sublimity of imagination
of Innes, but he is superior to every other orator at
the Bar of Virginia, in closeness of argument, in his
most surprising talent of placing his case in that point
of view suited to the purpose he aims at, throwing a
blaze of light upon it, and of keeping the attention of
his hearers fixed upon the object to which he originally
directed it. He speaks like a man of plain common
sense, while he delights and informs the acute. In a
less captivating line of oratory than that which signalizes Innes, he is equally great and equally successful.
The jury obeys Innes from inclination, Marshall from duty."[1] Another contemporary well summed up Marshall's peculiar powers by describing the "irresistible
cogency and luminous simplicity in the order of his
reasoning."
By many of his political opponents, Marshall was held in slight estimation, and in the Aurora, in 1800, he had been characterized as "more distinguished as a rhetorician and sophist than as a lawyer and statesman, sufficiently pliant to succeed in a corrupt court, too insincere to command respect or confidence in a republic."[2] Jefferson had long been at variance with him,
- ↑ John H. B. Latrobe and his Times 1803–1891 (1919), by John E. Semmes, II, 177–181, 191–197, letter of Benjamin H. Latrobe, May 31, 1796; this account is not cited by Beveridge, who otherwise gives full quotations from contemporary writers as to Marshall's position at the Bar. Marshall, II.
- ↑ Aurora, June 12, 1800.
