Part 26 (1/2)
”In executing a inia, in the year 1794, I had to pass through the county of Prince Edward, where Mr Henry then resided Understanding that he was to appear before the circuit court, which ed withfor myself the eloquence of this extraordinary orator It ith some difficulty I obtained a seat in front of the bar, where I could have a full view of the speaker, as well as hear hiratifying my curiosity; for the whole day was occupied with the examination of witnesses, in which Mr Henry was aided by two other lawyers In person, Mr Henry was lean rather than fleshy He was rather above than below the coht, but had a stoop in the shoulders which prevented hi as tall as he really was In hishis fra, which exhibited no indication of any great care in the dressing
Over his shoulders he wore a brown ca the worse for wear The expression of his countenance was that of solemnity and deep earnestness His mind appeared to be always absorbed in what, for the tih and spacious, and the skin of his face more than usually wrinkled for a man of fifty His eyes were sht blue color, and twinkled much in their sockets In short, Mr Henry's appearance had nothing very reht readily have taken him for a common planter, who cared very little about his personal appearance In his manners he was uniforht into the court-house, when the exaes put it to the option of the bar whether they would go on with the arguton, Junior, the attorney for the State, a nity of person and ness to proceed immediately, while the testimony was fresh in the minds of all Now for the first tih it was short, it satisfied , which I had particularly desired to have decided: namely, whether like a player heHisthe court was profoundly respectful He would be willing to proceed with the trial, 'but,' said he, 'ht of responsibility which rests upon , probably, on the exertions which I may be able to make in their behalf (here he turned to the prisoners behind hiht I hope the court will indulge ' The impression made by these feords was such as I assurethem in print In the countenance, action, and intonation of the speaker, there was expressed such an intensity of feeling, that all ain did I question whether Henry felt, or only acted a feeling
Indeed, I experienced an instantaneous sympathy with him in the emotions which he expressed; and I have no doubt the same sympathy was felt by every hearer
”As a s were deferred till the next es were soon on the bench, and the prisoners at the bar Mr
Carringtonopened with a clear and dignified speech, and presented the evidence to the jury Everything seemed perfectly plain Two brothers and a brother-in-law met two other persons in pursuit of a slave, supposed to be harbored by the brothers After some altercation and mutual abuse, one of the brothers, whose na, and presenting it at the breast of one of the other pair, shot him dead, in open day
There was no doubt about the fact Indeed, it was not denied There had been no other provocation than opprobrious words It is presumed that the opinion of every juror wasthe testi as constable on the occasion, appeared to be a respectableof what follows, it uish him from another of the name, was commonly called butterwood Harvey, as he lived on butterwood Creek Mr Henry, it is believed, understanding that the people were on their guard against his faculty of ment, did not resort to the pathetic as much as was his usual practice in crihout, to cast discredit on the testi the law respecting riots to be read by one of his assistants It appeared in evidence that To in commission; and that with a posse of men he had entered the house of one of the Fords in search of the negro, and had put Mrs Ford, in her husband's absence, into a great terror, while she was in a very delicate condition, near the time of her confinement As he descanted on the evidence, he would often turn to To man--and with the most sarcastic look would call him by some name of contempt; 'this butterwood Tom Harvey,' 'this would-be constable,'
etc By such expressions, his contempt for theononof the smallest credit This impression, however, I found I could counteract the moment I had time for reflection The only part of the speech in which he ly, here he dwelt on the irruption of the company into Ford's house, in circumstances so perilous to the solitary wife
This appeal to the sensibility of husbands--and he knew that all the jury stood in this relation--was overwhel If the verdict could have been rendered immediately after this burst of the pathetic, every man, at least every husband, in the house, would have been for rejecting Harvey's testi him forthwith”[431]
A very critical and cool-headed witness respecting Patrick Henry's powers as an advocate was Judge Spencer Roane, who presided in one of the courts in which the orator was ed after his return to the bar in 1786:--
”When I saw hie Roane, ”he must necessarily have been very rusty; yet I considered hiood lawyer It was as a criminal lawyer that his eloquence had the finest scope He was a perfect ic or the co of his s of his hearers, in a manner that baffled all description It seemed to operate by mere sympathy, and by his tones alone it seeh at pleasure Yet his gesture came powerfully in aid, and, if necessary, would approach alive soic and comic effect in two instances that ca one up from Louisa as a schoolmaster, but had turned out badly, and was very unpopular The killing was in the night, and was generally believed to be murder At the instance of the father and for a reasonable fee, Mr H undertook to go to Greenbrier court to defend Holland Mr Winston and es Such were the prejudices there, as I was afterwards informed by Thomas Madison, that the people there declared that even Patrick Henry need not coht a jury with him On the day of the trial the court-house was crowded, and I did not move from my seat for fourteen hours, and had no wish to do so The exareat part of the tie was eloquent, but Henry left no dry eye in the court-house The case, I believe, was hter only; and Henry laid hold of this possibility with such effect as to et that Holland had killed the storekeeper, and presented the deplorable case of the jury's killing Holland, an innocent man He also presented, as it were, at the clerk's table, old Holland and his wife, ere then in Louisa, and asked whatof this venerable pair at this awful moment, and what the consequences to the the life of their son He caused the jury to lose sight of the , and ith old Holland and his wife, whom he painted, and perhaps proved to be, very respectable All this was done in a , and a tone so irresistible, that it was impossible for the stoutest heart not to take sides with the criminal The result of the trial was, that, after a retireht in a verdict of not guilty! But on being reree of hohter
”Mr Henry was equally successful in the cooner and the plaintiff were travelling to Richoner knocked down a turkey and put it into his wagon Complaint was made to the defendant, a justice; both the parties were taken up; and the wagoner agreed to take a whipping rather than be sent to jail But the plaintiff refused The justice, however, gave hiht The plaintiff's plea was that he holly innocent of the act committed Mr H, on the contrary, contended that he was a party aiding and assisting In the course of his reentle to do with the turkey I dare say, gentlemen,--not until it was roasted!'
and he pronounced the word--'roasted'--with such rotundity of voice, and coesture, that it threw every one into a fit of laughter at the plaintiff, who stood up in the place usually allotted to the cries”[432]
Finally, we must recall, in illustration of our present subject, an anecdote left on record in 1813, by the Rev Conrad Speece, highly distinguished during his lifetio,” he then wrote, ”I was at the trial, in one of our district courts, of a ed with one, in execution of his office as a constable, to arrest a slave who had been guilty of so opposition in the business, the constable took several men with him, some of them armed They found the slave on the plantation of his master, within view of the house, and proceeded to seize and bind hi the arrest, ca her efforts unavailing, she went off to a barn where her husband as presently perceived running briskly to the house It was known he always kept a loaded rifle over his door The constable now desired his co care to keep the slave in custody, while he hily ran towards the house When he arrived within a short distance of it, theout of the door with his rifle in his hand
Some witnesses said that as he came to the door he drew the cock of the piece, and was seen in the act of raising it to the position of firing But upon these points there was not an entire agree near a s in the yard, at this instant fired, and the fire had a fatal effect No previous ainst him; and his plea upon the trial was, that he had taken the life of his assailant in necessary self-defence
”A great mass of testimony was delivered This was commented upon with considerable ability by the lawyer for the coed by the friends of the deceased for the prosecution The prisoner was also defended, in elaborate speeches, by two respectable advocates These proceedings brought the day to a close The general whisper through a crowded house was, that the uilty and could not be saved
”About dusk, candles were brought, and Henry arose His
'Gentlemen of the jury,' said he, 'I dare say we are all very ued with this tedious trial The prisoner at the bar has been well defended already; but it is my duty to offer you some further observations in behalf of this unfortunate man I shall aim at brevity But should I take up more of your time than you expect, I hope you will hear me with patience, when you consider that blood is concerned'
”I cannot admit the possibility that any one, who never heard Henry speak, should be ave to these feords, 'blood is concerned' I had been on h the day, pushed about in the crowd, and was excessively weary I was strongly of opinion, too, notwithstanding all the previous defensive pleadings, that the prisoner was guilty of murder; and I felt anxious to kno the matter would ters underwent an instantaneous change I found everything within ,--'Yes, since blood is concerned, in the nao on; ill hear you with patience until the rising of to- of the soul ned, as if our very breath had been suspended The spell of the ician was upon us, and we stood like statues around hienius, every particular of the story assuht and proth he arrived at the fatal act itself: 'You have been told, gentleation to avoid the supposed necessity of firing, by leaping behind a house near which he stood at that moment
Had he been attacked with a club, or with stones, the argument would have been unanswerable, and I should feel ive up the defence in despair But surely I need not tell you, gentlemen, hoide is the difference between sticks or stones, and double-triggered, loaded rifles cocked at your breast!' The effect of this terrific ireat orator's peerless manner, cannot be described I dare not attempt to delineate the paroxysm of emotion which it excited in every heart The result of the whole was, that the prisoner was acquitted; with the perfect approbation, I believe, of the nuave such transcendent force to the eloquence of Henry? His reasoning poere good; but they have been equalled, and ination was exceedingly quick, and commanded all the stores of nature, ashis subject His voice and delivery were inexpressibly happy But hisof his cause, hich he spoke Such feeling infallibly communicates itself to the breast of the hearer”[433]
FOOTNOTES:
[416] Winston, in Wirt, 260
[417] Ware, Administrator of Jones, Plaintiff in Error, _v_ Hylton _et al_, Curtis, _Decisions_, i 164-229
[418] Wirt, 316-318
[419] _Ibid_ 312
[420] Edward Fontaine, MS