CHAPTER IX.

Gen. Pierce as an Orator-His Success in examining Witnesses-His Power as a Pleader-His Plea in the Wentworth Case.

GENERAL PIERCE, as an orator, stands in an exalted position. He has all the natural graces of oratory—is a man to make a deep impression upon an audience by his manner-is impassioned, yet logical, in all his speeches. He never yet made a poor speech, and suceeds best with but little preparation-upon the spur of the moment. Unfortunately, his best efforts are unreported. His finest pleas at the bar are not preserved. As a lawyer, he has long ranked among the very first in the Union. He is not surpassed by a single lawyer in New-Hampshire, in the eloquence of the bar; not even by that brilliant and far-famed man, Ichabod Bartlett, of Portsmouth. He is one of the most skillful managers of suits, and has a peculiar faculty in pumping the truth out of a witness. In this respect he is greatly like the late Daniel O'Connell. A witness in his hands can conceal nothing. He is an excellent reasoner, but his great power lics in his appeals to the feelings of a jury. There is no lawyer in New-England who has greater success in winning verdicts than General Pierce. It is almost proverbial, in New-Hampshire, that a man is sure

of a favorable verdict, with Frank Pierce, as counsel and attorney. His eloquence is of a peculiar nature it is like that of the French, full of brilliancy, animation, and yet is profound. He also has a powerful command of sarcasm, and uses it with great effect occasionally, though it is entirely foreign to his nature to treat any one with severity. It is very unfortunate that the most distinguished of General Pierce's speeches at the bar are not preserved. The only one ever reported we will present to the reader. It was badly reported, but still, it will give the reader a faint idea of his legal talents. It was made in defence of Asa and Henry T. Wentworth, charged with the murder of Jonas L. Parker, March 26, 1845. The case was tried before the Police Court, Judge Potter on the bench, of Manchester, N. H., in May, 1850. The case at the time. excited great attention throughout the country, and the most of our readers will recollect it. The case was a mysterious one, and General Pierce's plea was able, ingenious, and eloquent, and would, of itself, place him among the first advocates of this or any country:

ARGUMENT OF GENERAL PIERCE,

In behalf of Asa and Henry T. Wentworth, before the Police Court at Manchester, July 2d, 1850.

"When your honor indulged me with an adjournment this forenoon, it was with the hope and intention on my part, to abridge materially the remarks

I proposed to submit in this case, as well as to omit a further discussion upon those points so eloquently and ably argued by my friends who have preceded me. It will be my purpose to discuss as calmly and dispassionately as I can, the evidence bearing upon the two respondents for whom I appear.

"My friend who first preceded me, has said that in arguing the case, he labored under no ordinary embarrassment. I must confess that I also am affected by feelings of a similar character. I have, from the outset, labored under great apprehensions -not from the evidence that has been introduced, but from the tremendous and unparalleled, if not unscrupulous exertions, that have been made by the retainers of the Government, to procure testimony, and inflame the public mind against these prisoners. I have entertained, from the first, no doubt of the innocence of the accused. But the extreme danger of the prisoners, I could not but know full well. When I have seen here an array of men from almost every section of the State-when I have seen here the active and energetic sheriff of the county of Rockingham, and his jailor and deputies-all putting forth their utmost exertions to hunt up evidence, and create a prejudice against these men-when I have seen here felons unloosed from the jails of our own and a neighboring State, and wretches raked from almost every locality, to be used as witnesses, I confess I have labored under some apprehensions. It was fearful in itself, and I could not be insensible

of the extreme danger in which my clients were placed. I saw, in the beginning, that their guilt was here a foregone conclusion-not a conclusion to be regarded in the light of an opinion-for nothing is to be dignified with the name of opinion, which is taken up without research, and held without knowledge. It cannot be denied that popular prejudice was fully aroused, and it seemed almost like folly to attempt to secure an impartial investigation. Yet perhaps I should say that this tribunal is as free from partiality and prejudice as the common lot of humanity will permit. No, I cannot say this; for I do not believe it. Your honor would be more than human not to be influenced in some degree by this strong current of popular prejudice. Still, I may be permitted to hope, and I do ask your honor to rise above this prejudice, and to decide the case upon the law and the testimony.

"At South-Berwick the hypothesis laid down by the Government was, that Horace Wentworth was the man who committed the murder, that Clark planned it, and that my clients were near to aid and assist. I take it for granted that they abide by this hypothesis now; for if they intend to change it, every consideration of justice and fairness requires that we should be informed of it. I take it for granted that Horace Wentworth, who, it is charged, committed the murder, and Clark, the man who, upon the hypothesis of the Government, planned it, having proved, what the Government seemed to re

quire, incontestably their absence and innocence, are to be discharged. Taking that for granted, I ought not, perhaps, to suppose, for a moment, that my clients, after an examination of a hundred days, are to be held to answer further.

"The idea of holding the accessaries without the principal, is too absurd to be indulged; and yet, I wish by marshaling this evidence, which has been placed before your honor somewhat disjointedly, to show, not that my clients cannot be holden, but that they also are incontestably innocent. And on this ground, and with this purpose, I shall proceed.

"Let me call your attention to the nature and circumstances of this startling murder-a murder more remarkable for the boldness of its conception, the pertinacity with which the plan, once adopted, was carried out, and the desperate recklessness of its final consummation, than any, so far as I know, that has hitherto marked the history of crime.

"During the evening, Parker is sitting in the saloon. While he is still there, and before it is yet late, the murderer comes to the door of his dwelling, adjoining the saloon, to call him out. The man is seen; yet, with unflinching boldness, he rings the bell. None but the most desperate and hardened villain would, under these circumstances, have dared to go on. He was a man schooled in crime, one who had murder in his heart, and yet, as the testimony shows, could put a smile on his face. All the evidence proves him to have been acquainted with