The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1853-12-17

seemed the foam of folly, and his finest
satire, horrible profanity, when con.
trasted with the inimitable 'sallles and
exterminating sarcasms of the stranger,
| lntersperscd with jest and anecdote that
filled the forum with roars of laughter.
Then, without so much as bestowiny
an alluson on Prentiss, he turned short
on the perjured witnesses of Hopkins,
tore their testimony into atoms, and
hurled in their faces such terrible invec-
tive that all trembled as with the ague
and two of them actually fled dismayed
from the court house.
The excitement of the crowd was be.
coming tremendous. Their united life
and soul appeared to hang on the burn
ing tongue Of the stranger. He inspired
them with the powers ofhis own passion.
He satuIa ted them with the poison of
his own malicious feelings. He seemed
to have stolen Natures long hidden Sc
cret of attraction. He was the sun to
the sea of all thought and emotion,
which rose and fell, and boiled in bill
lows as he chose. But his greatest tri.
umph was to come.
HIS eye began TO glare furtively at
the assassin, Hopkins, as his lean, taper
tigers slow y assumed the same direction.
He hemmed the wretch with a circum-
valuation of strong evidence and impreg-
nable argument, cutting off all hope Of
escape. He piled up huge bas,ions of
lnsurmountabIe facts.
He dug beneath the murderer and
slanderer's feet bitches of dilemmas,
such as no sophistry could overlap, and
no sketch of ingenuity evade; and having
thus, as one might say, impounded his
victim, and girt him about like a scnr-
plon in circle of fire, he stripped him.
self to the work Of massacre.
Oh! then, but it was a vision both
glorious and dreadful to behold the
orator. His actions, before graceful as
the wave of the golden willow in the
breeze, grew impetuous as the motion
of an oak IN the hurricane. His voice
became trumpet filled with wild whirl-
pools, deafening the ears with crashes
Of power, and yet interminsled all the
while with sweet under-song of the
softest cadence. His face was as red as
a drunkard's-hls forehead gowed like
a heated turnace-his countenance look
Ell haggard, like that of maniac; and
ever and anon he flung his long, bony
arms on high, as if grasping after thun-
derbolts. He drew picture of murder
in such appalling colors, that, in COM
plrison. hell itself might be considered
beautiful. He painted the slanderer so
black that the sun seemed dark at noon
day when shining on such an accursed
monster; and then he fixed both portraits
on the shrinking brow of Hopkins, and
he nailed them there forever. The
agitation Of the audience nearly amount
ed to madness.
AL at once the speaker descended from
his perilous height. His voice walled
out for the murdered deud and Hcing-
the beautiful Mary, more beautiful ev-
cry moment, as her tears flowed faster
till men wept, and lovely women
sobbed like children.
He closed by strange exhortation to
the jury, and through them to the by
standers.--He entIeated the PANEL, af-
ter they should bring IN their verdict
for the plaintiff, not to offer violence to
the defendent, however richly he might
deserve it; in other words, ''not to lynch
the lain, Hopkins, but leave his pun.
ishment to Cod" This was the most
artful trick of all, and best calculated to
insure vengeance.
The jury rendered a verdict of fifty
thousand dollars; and the night after.
wards, Hopkins was taken off his bed by
lynchers, and beaten almost to death.
AS the court adjourned, the stranger
made known his name, and called the
attention of the people with the an
nouncement-"l John Taylor will lreach
here this evening at early candle light y
The crowd, of course, all turned out
and Taylor's sermon equaIled, if it did
not surpass, the splendor of his forensic
effort. This is no eXaggeration. have
listened to Clay, Webster and Calhoun
TO Dewey, Tying and Bascom-bu'
have never heard anything in the form
of sublime words even remotely approx
mating the eloluence Of John Taylor
massive as a mountain, and wildly
rushing as cataract of fire. And this
is the opinion of all who ever heard the
marvellous man.
Speech of George Coleman,
| THE HoRsE TtIIpp