The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1878-12-11
ChOate Before a jury .

The power with which Rufus Choate.
the eloquent Massachusetts lawyer, con-
trolled the minds of a jury, is depicted
by E. +. Whipple, who says, in Harpsr's-
Magazine:
IL jury trials his main object was to-
influence the wills of the twelve men
before him. He addressed their under
standings; he fascinated their -in.agina-
tons; he stirred their feelings; but, after
all, he used all his powers in suhordina,
ton of that one primal power which
dwelt in his magnetic individuality, BY
which be subdued them, bringing on that
part of their beginning which uttered ito
reluctant "yes'' or ':no," the pressure of ..
stronger nature as well as Of y larger
mind. AS an advocate, he thoroughly
understood that men 10 the %ggregatos
are not reasonable beings, but men with
the capacity of being occasion ally
made reasonable: if their prejudices are
once blown away by a superior force Of
blended reason and emotion-in other
words, by force Of being. His triumphs:
at the bar were due to the fact that he was:
powerful man, victorious over other
men because he had stronger manhood,
Il stronger selfhood, than any body on.
the jury he addressed. On one occasion
I happened TO be witness in case
where trader was prosecuted for OBJ
tanning goods under false pretensions.
Mr. Choate took the ground that the
seeming knavery Of the accused wa:s due
to the circumstance that he had deficient
business intelligence-in short, that he
had unconsciously rated all his geese a.
swans. He was right in his view. The
! foreman of the jury: however, YVES a hard
headed practical man, model Of business,
intellect and integrity, but with an in
| capacity ct understanding any intellect
or conscience radically differing from his
own. Mr.. Choate's argument, IS far as
the facts and the law were concerned, was
through in an hour. Still he went on
speaking. Hour after hour passed, and
yet he continued to speak with constantly
increasing eloquence, repeating and re-
| capitulating, without any seeming reason,
facts which be had already stated and
arguments which he had already urged,
The truth YVES, as I gradually learned,
that he WAS engaged in hand'to-haDd-:'
or rather in a brain-to-b brain and heart
to-heart-contest with the foreman, whose
resistance he was determined to break
down, but who confronted him for three
hours with defiance observable in every
rigid line Of his honest countenance:--
"You fool was the burden of the advo-
Gates ingenious argument; "you -ascalr'
was the phrase ]egibly printed on the
foreman's incredulous face But IT last the
features OF the foreman began - relax.
and at the end the stern lines melted
into acquieecence with the opinion Of the
advocate, who had teen storming at the
defenses of his mind, his heart and his.
conscience for five hours, and had now
entered as victor. He compelled the
foreman to admit the unpleasant fact that
there were existing human beings whose
mental and moral constitution differed.
from his own, and who were yet rs honest
in intention as he was, but lacked his
clear perception and sound judgement.
The verdict was Mot guilty" It was q
! just verdict, but it was mercilessly as
sailed by merchants whe had los: money
by the prisoner, and who were hcunding-
him Gown as an enemy to the human,
race, as another instance of Choate's lack
of mental and moral honesty in the de-
Tense of persons accused of crime. The
fact that the foreman OF the jury that
returned the verdict belonged to the class
that most vehemCntly attacked Cheate
was sufficient of itself to disprcve such
allegations. As I listened to Cnoate's
argument in this case, l felt assured that
he would go on speaking until he drop
ped dead on the floor rather than have
relinquiahed his clutch on the soul Of the
one man on the jury whom he knew
would control the opinion Of the others.