The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-04-24
GREAT YERS.
g. atinued From First Pare.

L
Of atinued From First Page.
the audience that thronged the court
room.>. Senators and representatives in
congress, foreign ministers, and ambas-
sadors, heads of departments and re-
nowned purists were present, while the
galleries were filled with brilliant as
| semblage of ladies:
In front of the bench sat Webster,
| with his large, deep-set eyes wide
( awake, his lips compressed, his whole
countenance in that intent stiffness
which always singularly attracted the
i attention of strangers. Not far from
him was Calhoun in that peculiar atti-
tude in which artists love to picture
him. There were William Writ, Edmund
Randolph, Luther Martin and many
| other great lawyers of that day-a bril-
| liant representation Of the American
bar. But above all was the bench, On
which were seated the great Chief JUS
tice John Marshall and his illustrious
associates. Bushrod Washington, Joseph
Story. B>,kholst Livingston, William
Johnson and Gabriel Davaul. Asso-
ciated with Emmett was Josiah Ogden
Hoffman, who opened the argument for
| Mr.. Pinto. He stood quite at the head
of the New York bar, and had attained
a national reputation. He was unsur-
passed in clearness of intellect and in
legal learning, and when occasion re-
quired his oratorical powers, were I'M
surpassed. He was the father of Ogden
Hoffman, appropriately styled the Annex
lean Erskine. His argument was as
profound as it was eloquent. Among
other points he insisted that, since it is
not the place where thing is which de-
termines the nature OF. that thing. but
the quality of the person to whom it be-
longs, things belonging to neutral per-
sons which happen to be in an enemy's
country or an enemy's ship are to be
distinguished from those belonging to
the enemy. George M. Dallas, of Phil
adelphia, the leader of the Pennsylvania
bar, was associated With Mr.. Pinkney.
whose ingenious argument was founded
largely on the proposition that neutral
cannot lawfully hire an armed vessel OF
our enemy, and in the course of that
trade engage in battle with the United
States. Pinto" he said, "hired an
armed vessed of the enemy, which
fought an American vessel, and would
have captured her had she been able.
There is no case in which restitution
has been awarded under such circun-
stances. Supposing an American frigate
had captured British ship of war la
den with specie belonging to Spain. a
neutral country, would it have been re-
stored?" Mr.. Dallas was followed by
Pinkney, who made the closing argu-
ment for the captors of the Mercedes.
"Pinto," he said, "hired the whole ves-
sci, took on valuable goods and freight
for his own benefit; the vessel was
armed; sailed, fought, and was captured.
Now, it is contended that he could do all
this with IMMUNITY. If he could he was
a chartered marine libertine. Can a
neutral thus surround himself with. all
the pomp and circumstance Of war; and
escape the consequence of his Illegal
panoply? The idea of our opponents
exhibits a discordia verum-an incon-
gruous mixture of discordant attributes:
Cantaur-Ehe figure-half man, half
ship, a fantastic form, having in one
hand the spear of Achilles. in the other
the olive branch of Minerva; the frown
of defiance on her brow, and the smile
of Cancellation On her lip, extending the
garland of peace around the thunder
belt of Jupiter
Chief Justice Marshall, in delivering
the opinion of the court in this case,
commented on this part of Mr.. Pink
ney's argument with dignifed humor,
graceful badinage and judiciary dignity.
with pencil dipped in vivid colors."
he said, "and guided by the hand of a
master, splendid portrait has been
drawn exhibiting this vessel and her
freighter as forming a single figure,
composed of the most discordant mater
ial Of peace and war. So exquisite was
the skill of the artist, so dazzling the
garb in which the figure was presented,
that it required the exercise of cold in
vestigating faculty which ought always
to belong to those who sit on the bench
to discover it's only imperfection; it's
want of resemblance"
Mr.. Pinkney's argument, taken as a
whole, is one of the embellishments of
the American bar. In the course of it
he exhibited his prejudice against Mr..
Emmett in frequent side blows, keen and
pungent remarks, with singing severity,
He was instigated to do this not only by
his prejudice. but in part reply to En-
NETS argument in the court below, in
which he severely criticised decision of
the English Court of Admiralty in a
somewhat similar case, and which Pink
ney regarded as a controlling precedent
for the case at the bar. Emmet's ha.
tired Of England, which had taken pos
session Of his whole soul, led him to
some exceedingly severe comments upon
her maritime laws, and her audacious
treatment Of our sailors and her out
RACES on our commerce on the high