Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/337

 gentleman who reported the debates of the convention of Virginia, in 1 788. The second argument was not reported; because, as Mr. Robertson states, he was informed by the counsel, that it would be nothing more than a repetition of the first; and he adds, that he was afterwards told it was much inferior. What must we conclude, then, as to the powers displayed by Mr. Henry in the first argument, when, in the course of the second and inferior one, he extorted from judge Iredell, as he sat on the bench, the exclamation — " Gracious God! — he is an orator, indeed^

The report of the first argument, as deciphered by Mr. Robertson, from his stenographic notes, has been obligingly submitted to the author of these sketches, and he has extracted from it an imperfect analysis of Mr. Henry^s speech. The report may unquestionably be relied on, so far as it professes to state the princi- ples of law, and the substance of the arguments, urged by the very eminent counsel engaged in the cause; and in this point of view, it is to be lamented that so valuable a work should still exist only in the form of a manu- script. But, as a sample of Mr. Henry's peculiar and inimitable eloquence, it is subject to all the objections which have been already urged to the printed debates of the Virginia convention. This manuscript report bears upon its face the most conclusive proof of its inaccuracy in those passages, in which it attempts to exhibit either the captivating flights of Mr. Henry's fancy, or those unexpected and overwhelming assaults which he made upon the hearts of his judges; for in all such passages, (it is believed, without an exception,) the pen has been drawn through the sentence, as origi- nally written, in such a manner, however, as to leave the words still legible; while the same thought, or some-

R r

�� �