The prairie news. [volume] (Okolona, Miss.) 1851-1875, 1859-08-04

al tSSHuiIf uhobiO w tS'N>S
cisely where the error was, yet feeling
sure that he had heard no such evidence
The fact was, Choate had the basis fact
all right; he was only painting and in.
flaming it with his own colors; but the
paints on his pallet were, TO his adverse
ries, as the sky of Italy to the sky ofSwe.
den, and they were wrought on his can
vas in even more perplexing and bewll-
dering hue by the impassioned heat OF
bis unbridled sensibility.
Brilliantly was this capacity exhibited
in the case of Captain Martin, indicted
in tie United States District Court for
casting away his vessel off San Domingo,
with the intent to procure the insurance.
The Government had been at the cost OF
sending special agent to Hayti for evil
dence. and he had brought with him "a
black man from Souloque's Empire, call
ed by the swelling appellation Of" Duke
Pine All he.other evidence vas man
! ageable, but his testimony was very ugly.
He swore positively through an intepre,
ter, that he diyed down under water and
examined the Iogwood cargo Of the ship,
aud her starboard bow, and, in the latter,
be found great smooth hole, not rough
enough for IA rock to have made, and
which evidently was The death. wound of
the ship. AIlthe oiher parts of the proof
oi The Government might be got over !;
some uf them, indeed, We're somewhat
! favorable but that awful hole threat
ened to swallow up case, captain, advo-
cate, and all. All the rest he managed
adroity and apty; but when, on the sec
ond day of bis argument to the jury, he
came to that part, he didn't think AT all !;
he rose right at the wall.
He told the jury, in his terms that they
need not think he was afraid of that dark
Duke, hut,ing his black head among the
logwood, fathoms- deep under water; and
then all at once he opened bis whole ar
mament in such double broadside of
eloquence, and fiction, and ridicule, that
he riddled poor Duke Pine himself into
ID honeycomb. And then, taking advan-
tage Of felicitons circumstance in the
captains conduct, to wit; that he did
not fly when accused, he concluded with
a singularly noble, simple and scriptural
burst, which came in like some grand
trumpet choral to crown his lyrical ora
ton. Gentlemen of the jury, the ac-
cused man paused; he did not fly, for he
turned his eyes upward, and he was think
ing Of the sublime promise, ..'When thou
gocst through the fire thou shalt not be
burned, and through the deep waters
they shall not overflow thee. Aui.
saying these words, the great advocate
sank into his seat. The jury acquitted
The captain, and the expenses Of the Bar
ronet Pine to America were charged by
tfe government, We presume to "pruii
and loss as pleasure excursion to Bos-
tom Of The duca diver.
1he extraordinary ailluence aud die
lion which Mr. Choale possesses is drawn
from all the resources of literature ana
mems talk, common and uncommon
from the Bible and the newspapers from
some Homeric stanza, and from the chat |
of our streets from books the people
love and books they never heard Of sim
pie words, long-legged words, all mixed
up and stuck together like some bizarre
mosaic showing forth some splendid sto-
ry, in all its infinite variety OF hues.
The perorstion of one of his arguments,
as We now recall it from memory, after
an interval of nine years, was an affect
ing illustration of the tender and beaui-
full traits of his speaking. 1t was al, ar
gument to single judge, sitting without
a jury, to hear libel for divorce Dan
iel Webster WIS on the other sde, ami |
he supported the husbands petition for
divorce on the ground of the alleged |
wrong of the wife. Choate defended the
wife on the ground that the principal wit
ness was not to be believed, and that the
wife was falsely accused by the husband,
who, perhaps, was impatient Of the mat
chain. He wound up a close
and clamorous attack upon the witness
whosw0re TO certain improprieiies of a
young man with the lady, his client, by
the vehement declaration, that it this
were True, Illat young man Is the ~
of America; j" this he uttered
with vehement and impassionate energy,
:" fire in his eye and fury on his tongue;''
and then he made full stop he looked
into the stern, grand face of Websterj
he looked at the scowling husband and
the fearful wife; he looked at the solemn
Judge; his eyes seemed to moisten with
his thought, and presently grave, calm
and plaintive tone brok the deep stiffness,
:. Whom God hath joined together, let no
man put asunder." II
81 bescech your Honor, put not away
this woman from her welded husband. to
whom she has been ever true, but keep
them still together, and, ere long, some Of
the dspensations of life, some death-bed
repentance of false witness giving up
L :. f.l,ahood xu;th har slvino hraofh /,