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 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