Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1817-11-25

| ter of whatever 0tJeCt nc a''e''P'~f -'
produced, bY this reana truer repre-
seu,a,ior. Than any Of hrs predecessor
who finished erfry hair. In like mlnne'
Mr.. Henry by G few moster .rrk's upon
the evidence, c.a'd in general .tamP apo"
the cause wh ever image or character
he pIeascd and convert 1t into ira 5edy
! or comedy, at his sovereign w'Il. and
with ! mower which no Efforts ri his adj
! yersary could coun. eract. lie never
wcaricd the ;u,y by d.y aHsi minute
ANALYSIS of the evidence he did rot ex-
PEN, MS strength in flushing Me mas /;
he prudaccd all his Eish effect By these
rare master suches, and By the ress'less
skill, with Which, in ve'y lev o'd',
he could mould and color tie prominent
facts of a cause to his purpose. He had
wonderful address 700, in leading OF the
minds If his hearers from The cohtempla
tim of unfavGrab!e points, il at any time
they were too stubborn to yield to his
mower of Transformation. lie b"Su'led
the hcarer so far from them, as to dinl-
nish them by distance, am, soften, il not
entirely cast into shade, their too strong
natural coo.s. 1t this distance too, he
had better opportunity Of throwing un-
on them Il false ghi, by IN apHa' entity
casual ray of reIrac ton IRON other points
in the evidence, whose powers TO man
better knew how to array and Concentrate,
in order TO disguise or eclipse an "hnos-
ious fact. II required a mind OF unrom'
mon vigilance, and mos; !nt7actsble tenn
per, t. resist til, charm with which ic
decoycd away his hearers il dcma .ded
a rapidly Of penetration, which IS rarely
ii,ever, to be found in the jaTy box, to
detect the NEGLECTED. jrgg'e by which
he spread his nets around them it called
tor a stuhbnrnness and obdutacy of soul
which does not exist, TO SIT unnOved I'M
der the pictures of horror or Of pity,
which started from his CANVASS. They
might resolve if they pleased, to decide
the cause against him, and to disregard
every thing which he could urge in the
defence Cf his ciirnt. But ii vas all in
vain. Same ieint in en- unexpected di-
rcc,ion. threw them rif their g9a,d, ana
they were gone: some banry phrase,
burning from tie soul, sOme image fresh
from natures pint, and boa ins her own
beautiful and genuine Impress, struck
them with delightful surprise, and melted
them into Cancellation /; and corciiistion
towards Mr.. Henry was victory iue,ita-
Bile. In short, ne understc d the human
character so perfectly kner so well all
its strength and all its weaknesses, tcse-
tier with every Path ard by-way which
winds around to the citadel OF the best
fortified heart and mind, that he never
failed 10 take them, either by stratagem
or storm. Hence he was, beyOrd doubt,
the ablest defender of crimiTals in Nir-
siuia. ard will probably never be equalled
again.
These extracts furnish abundant in
formation to the reader of the p... crs
of Mr.. Henry as an advocate, and in
what his peculiar excellence consist
ed. Frcm this subject our author
turns, to give us short, but exceed
ingIy! clear an. interesting account
Of tue steps taken by the British mi
nistry against the colonies immedi-
ately after the repeal Of the stamp act,
and the nature and degree of the OPP
position on their part, which he closes
in parc s., with the following obser-
vatluhS:
t" 1t is Tot my purpose to rec ord the
series Of measures which led to tie
ACKNOWLEDGMENT of the British EN-
pirc. This is the function Of the his
torian. My business is only with
Mr.. Henry and. for my purpose,
nothing more is necessary than 10
REGAL the general character of the
contest, for the purpose of showing the
part which he bore in it. The reyo-
luton may be truly said to have com
menccd with his resolutions in l.6s.
From, that period not an hour Of set
tied peace had existed between the
two countries. i. is true, that the e.
mption produced by the stamp act
had subsidized with its repeal and the
people had resumed their ancient set
dement's and occupations but there
was no peace of the heart or of the
mind. The rumbiing of the volcaEo
was still audible. and the smukc of
the crater continually assembled. min
gIcd not unfrequent!y With those
flames and masses Of igEi,ed matter
which announced new and more ter
rible explosion.