The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1805-05-03

now between the great and the little, every
! thing but the point In Queltion is forgotten |;
Erfkine and his cauie are fovereign over ALL
Now flows the fountain of juitice, now are ex-
| plored the recelies of iniquity, now are the
deep foundations of fraud broken up. His e.
'oquence becomes torrent which fweeps a.
way every mound which art or fubterfuge had
! RATED |; longer has the law Jingle hard fea-
ture no perplexities, no uncertainties, no l.
die eva!ions Saturnian Jove defends, with
his equal flales canning retires III flame !;
oppreiion lets go its victim and innocence is
| ieated on the throne of equity. At length, Err
Kline hinielf, by degrees, is forgotten and for
gets hntrif ; he rifles tn an effort not his own,
and inks under hyperion feelings, while the
Judge and jury, convinced even TO enthulafm,
are impatient to withhold the verdict.
Erikine will fuller nothing on being exanin-
ed as man ; his protection has not defaccd his
original features of greatness. When engaged
in weak or unjuit cauic, he never facr6ces
his har6ihood of honor to the views of his eli
ent. lie fays all that ought to be faid yet ne
| yer commits his own dignity by urging 4 cor
! rupt principle. You fee nothing of the attor-
uey, Erasine is counieilor you fee no parti-
Fan of petty advantage, Ertkine is gentleman.
He is ferrous, or witty, at pleature, and.
when the location offers, and he is dipofed to
defend, he can like Rofcius, turn OF 4 cafe in
| which are prefen;ed him, fome appear, on trial
| to have originated in mirth, and Others in i'm
pudence; this Proteus is ready in moment to
throw off the profeliional buikin, and tread the
fock.
l have followed Erfkine to the Houie of Com.
| mons, forming to my mind the attitude of a
man, treadins empires under his feet, and hold
ing i'll his hands the defines of the world. If,
in petty court of law, he could move heaven
in behalf OF poor orphan, or an opprefIcd
widow, furely, i'll prefence Of the Brtiih par,i-
ament, when the fate of nations is depending,
the front of oppolition muh cover beneath his
frowns, or follow in the wake of his triumphant
path. But the moment he enters parliament he
disappears. He is only one among five hun-
dred. An Arab would never kill Erkine, un-
leis he caught him in his gown, band, and
Wigs with theie he Teens to put of his whole
virtue. As ftatefnan Erfkine is nothing.
do not fay he is great man in little room !;
but ErflSine, addretiing twelve men, in court
of law, and in the BrtiNl parliament, addrefiing
the fpeaker in behalf of the nation, is not the
fame man. He commences, indeed, on broad
foundation, but Attends, like a pyramid, and
either produces an abortion, attains to the
point, and terminates where lie fhould have
begun. In parliament, he difcovers nothing of
that copious prcciion, that attending order,
that captivating luency, that earneit conviction,
which, at the bar, ftamp him Erikine. In
parliament, he labors with a harrow through
the inpedments of politics now it catches
hold of Pitt, then it interferes with aftragglng
limb Of Hawke!bury, now it tears away the
kirts of Arlington, prcfently 1t is to be lifted
over the body of Windham. He concludes,
and the impreflion which he made is already
efaced.