The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-11-02

surrounded itself, by kind of elect
i've affinity of ideas, with appropriate
imagery and illustration. and
stands out at last in bold relief in full
proportions.
or all the orators who have held
-, their hearers spcllbound by the witch
cry of their words and gestures, Rich
ard Brinsley Sheridan was apparent
ly one of the readiest and most spon-
taneous. Nothing, however, can be
further from the truth than this sup
position. He stored up Ills wit, like
Butler, the poet. When this great
trickster, Sheridan, died. there were
found among his papers drafts of all
speeches, which had been written and
rewritten, previous to their delivery,
with the utmost care. The private
memoranda of his speeches show the
exact places where the sudden eXcla-
nations We're to be introduced.
Daniel Webster told Peter Harvey
that his own great speech in reply to
Hayne, which is the high-water mark
of modern eloquence, but which at
the time was supposed to have been
dellsered without preparation. had
been substantially prepared long be-
FORE When called upon suddenly to
reply to the fiery Carolinian's attacks,
which so alarmed the New England
ers Mt the Capital, he was entirely at
ease and ready for the fray; for, as
he said, he had ''only to turn to his
notes, tucked away in his pigeon
hole" and refresh his recollection.
IF Hayne," he said, "had tried to
make a speech to fit my notes he
could not have hit them better. No
man is inspired by the occasion; 1
never was" At another time when
questioned by a young clergyman
about 1.-THE speeches which he (NIr.
Webster) had delivered upon the spur
of the moment" he opened his large
eyes with apparent surprise, and re-
piled: Young man, there is no such
thing as extemporaneous acquisition"
One of the most remarkable in
stances of an apparently impromptu
speech, made under circumstances
which seemed to preclude all POSSIBLE
lty of preparation, but which, never
theless, had been carefully written
| hAfNrnlcnd +Lo
was the exordium of the great Mary
lander, William Pinkney's, famous ar
gument before the Supreme Court of
the United States in the Nereide case.
The following account of the circum-
stances under which his exordium
was delivered we give from memory
as we heard it narrated in the class
room of the Harvard Law School by
Joseph Story, one of the justices be-
fore whom the case was argued.
Among the giants at the bar with
whom Mr. Pinllncy was wont to grap-
pie was the Irish exile Thomas Adds
Emmett The first case in which these
men were pitted against each other
and i'll which they tested each others
Inetilc. was one of maritime prize law.
and Pinkney. being perfect master
of that branch of the law, in which
his antagonist was but moderately
versed. gained an easy victory. Not
content. however. with that, he was
naughty and ovcrbearing in his man
ncr. as he was too apt to be when
contending With foeman not worthy
of his steel. Stung by his contemptu-
Gus treatment. Mr.. Emmett determin-
cd to remedy his own deficiencies, and
for the next four or five months de-
voted himself almost exclusively to
the mastery of that department of the
law in which he had failed to cope
with the great Marylander.
At the end of that time he was
again engaged as counsel in opposi-
tion to Mr.. Pinkncy in the celebrated
case of the Ncrcde. on the decision
of which depended the ownership of
Il large and valuable cargo.
Mr.. Emmet's address on this occa-
sion was a masterpiece of arguments
learning and eloquence. and placed
him by universal consent in the very
front rank of American lawyers. In
his eloquent opening he spoke of the
embarrassment of his situation, the
novelty of the forum, and the deep
interest which the public took in the
case. He spoke in glowing terms of
the genius and accomplishments of
his opponent, whose fame had ex-
tended beyond the Atlantic, and then,
i'll language the most delicate and full
of pathOs, he spoke of the contrast
presented by his own life to that bril-
liant career-of the mournful circum-
stances which had exiled him from
his native land-and of the ungraci-
GUS treatment he had received from
MIR. Pinkney at the former trial. All
this was said with an air so modest
and in tones so touching. that his
hearers, including the veteran attor-
neys and gray-headed justices of the
supreme court, We're moved to tears.
When he had concluded, Mr.. Pink
ncy at once arose to reply, and pref
aced his great argument-which in it's