strong.] ^O [Jan. 6, 



Others understand it, and he entered upon the trial of 

 his causes with a sure conviction, confirmed by his pre- 

 vious study, that he was advocating the right. No unjust 

 or dishonest case would he willingly undertake, and he 

 was able to say after his career at the bar had closed, 

 that ''he had never knowingly committed an injustice 

 toward a client, or the opposite party, or prosecuted a 

 cause that he thought a dishonest one, and that he had 

 washed his hands of more than one that he had discov- 

 ered to be such after he had undertaken it, as well as 

 declined many which he perceived to be such when first 

 presented to him." Add to this the power of a mind 

 equal to the comprehension of any legal subject ; a 

 mode of presentation the best possible ; a rhetoric that 

 was faultless ; an aptness of illustration that illumi- 

 nated the most abstruse matters ; a personal charac- 

 ter without a visible flaw, and it is easy to see he must 

 have been, as he was, a most persuasive and convinc- 

 ing advocate. 



He won the confidence of courts and juries by his 

 entire freedom from trick, or any of the low arts of 

 cunning. He disdained to practice any stratagem or 

 artifice for the purpose of obtaining an advantage over 

 an adversary. His nature was true, and his life was 

 truth unfolded. He was always candid, giving full 

 consideration to whatever made against him. He ap- 

 pealed to no prejudices, but rather boldly met, and 

 endeavored to dissipate them. He was ever courteous 

 in his demeanor towards the court, and towards his op- 



