I find, on looking at your letter, that I must preach a little more. Don't think of Congress for ten years to come :-make your fortune first. I am not indeed of the opinion of Crassus or Lucullus, (or whoever it is mentioned in the beginning of Cicero's Offices), that the man who aspires to be the leader of a republic should be able to supply an army by the current revenues of his estate. But he ought to have enough to liberate his mind from all anxiety on that score, and enable him to devote himself, soul and body, to his country. And I take it for granted, of course, that you will not be in such a hurry to make your fortune, as to leave any doubt on your liberality as you go along. If you awaken a prejudice of that sort, you are gone for life. Hence, since you are not to screw for a fortune, you will find ten years short enough to accomplish the object. By that time, too, your mind will have become chastened, (or if you please, chastised,) by experience, and you will see the fallacy of many a fair and beautiful theory that now amuses your fancy. By that time you will have discovered that we are not an agricultural people merely, for we shall have a fleet of thirty sail, and our commerce will cover every sea. The spirit of manufactures, too, will have spread from the north to the south, and our country will be a pretty large epitome of all the pursuits of human life. So far, I had by fits and starts, as leisure would permit, advanced in answering your letter, when I was summoned to Washington by private business. I returned last night about nine o'clock, and have taken the first morning to finish my letter to you. I made a speech whilst there, in a prize case. It was rather better than my former one, and I hope friend Dabney will have no great occasion to scold about it. More it does not become me to say,-nor, indeed, could I say more with any regard to the truth. my * * * * * * * I regret extremely that my engagements in court would not permit me to pay my respects to your friend, Mr. Correa, except at a distance. For he, too, honoured me by being one of my hearers. Had it not been for the ostentatious appearance of being acquainted with the great, I would have advanced from my seat and offered him my hand. On this account, I could give him only a bow, and express my respects by my countenance. * * Give my love to the Chancellor, and believe me as ever, Your friend, WM. WIRT. TO JUDGE CARR. RICHMOND, February 27, 1817. I do, indeed, my dear friend, felicitate you from my bosom's core, on the comparative restoration of a wife so much beloved and so worthy of it, too. God grant that all your hopes on the subject may be realized!-of which, I think, there can be no reason to doubt, from what you tell me of the past. May Heaven bless her with the return of permanent and perfect health, since this only is necessary to make her one of the happiest of human beings! I would say more of what I feel, but I would not be thought a flatterer, even by my friend. I have committed another fraud on you; for I have been to Washington, and I made a speech, sir, in the Supreme Court four hours and a half long! Does not this alarm you? And will you not be still more alarmed when you are told that the court-room was thronged, -fifteen or twenty ladies, many members of Congress, and, what is worse than all, the venerable Correa, whom I heartily wished at Portugal; besides Walsh, whom, if I had known to be there at the time, I should have wished at But the subject was not to my taste. It was a prize case--an appeal from North Carolina—a mere question of fact, i. e., whether the captured ship and her cargo were neutral or hostile property. As counsel for the captured privateer, I was bound to contend that they were British; my adversaries, on the contrary, (Gaston and Hopkinson, against whom I stood alone,) insisted that they were Russian; and this issue of fact was to be decided by the analysis and synthesis of about five hundred dry, deranged ship documents, which were to be read and commented on. You perceive the utter impossibility of clothing such a subject either with ornament or interest; and when you are farther told, that there was not one principle of dubious law involved in the case, you will as readily see that there was no opportunity for the display of any cogency of argument. It was, therefore, matter of surprise to me, that the ladies stuck to us till dinner-time; and of still greater surprise, that the Abbé and Walsh remained till the close of the argument,-as the latter informed me on the next day. If any reliance is to be placed on the intimations given to me from different quarters, the speech was quite a creditable one; and this is as much as ought to be expected in such a case by any judge of equity and good conscience. I have other cases there which will come on at the next term, and which will enable me to show what little I have of law or argument; the one is a batture case, in which I have been employed against Livingston, by a family in New Orleans; another, a case from Virginia, in which I have been retained by the Literary Fund Society, on a question of the right of an alien to take the benefit of a devise of lands directed to be sold and the proceeds remitted to Scotland. This latter case will show Wickham and myself in opposition; and though I shall probably lose the cause, I will give him a heat for the glory. You cannot conceive, or, rather, you can (which, as Cabell says, is "the same thing,") what a rejuvenescence this change of theatre and of audience gives to a man's emulation. It makes me feel young again, and touches nerves that have been asleep ever since 1807, (the era of Burr's trial.) It puts me strongly in mind of some of our carly campaigns, when I was struggling from my native obscurity into light. Could I have supposed when you and I were threading the hog-paths through the wilds of Fluvanna, and trying to make our way at the bar of that miserable court, that a day would ever come when I could dare to hold up my head in the Supreme Court of the United States, and take by the beard the first champions of the nation! Who shall tell me after this that there is no God; no benignant disposer of events whose pleasure it is to raise the weak and lowly and down-trodden, by his own sovereign and irresistible fiat? No, sir, the prosperous events of my life have flowed from no prudence or worth of my own; but I feel at this moment, most gratefully feel, that they have been kindly forced upon me by an over-ruling providence. * * * * I carried to Washington the manuscript of Patrick, with the resolution of sending it to you, if a safe conveyance offered; but none such presented itself. You must, if possible, see it before it goes to the press. I shall be ill at ease unless you do. But I am determined to retouch it, in spite of all you can say to the contrary. However, let that pass, sir: the greater part of the book, as it now stands, is the first rough draft. Would you have the painter to quit the portrait after the first sitting, the eye-balls glaring, and the cheeks of "ashy semblance?" I want to put a little more body and character into the work: at present you may rely upon it, it is rather an empty thing. Having the outline drawn, and the features located, it will be easy for me, during the leisure of the approaching summer, to ascertain the parts which demand a bolder swell of muscle, so as to give strength as well as symmetry to the whole. As to colouring, I wish to reduce rather than to heighten. Fear me not, I am no taking your own figure. "I trust I have a good conscience," in this respect. With regard to the particular criticism on the extract in the Portfolio, you and Frank stand alone. No one else has made the objection. I think the break a very happy one; it brings the Assembly itself before you, thus powerfully wrought upon, and communicates by sympathy the strong feelings which agitated them. I have frequently seen an anecdote miss fire, till the relater stated what an uproar of laughter the occurrence produced when it happened. If you were to state the last speech which Louis XVI. made to his queen, In how weak would be the effect, till you related its effect on her. my case, there was no suspending the description of the effect till the close of the speech, because it arose from a particular passage,—that particular passage was to be raised in relief, and there was no other way to bring it about, except by throwing in the shade, exactly where it is. Besides, the historical truth of the story required it; for I hope you and Frank have no suspicion that the incident did not occur just as I have stated it, or that the speech is not a genuine one. Yet I know not how else to understand the remark that the quotation is from an inferior hand. This is strange, after quoting my authority for the speech and if Randolph's manuscript History of Virginia, which I have seen, shall ever come to light, you will discover that all I have said is Quaker drapery, compared with the account which he gives of the affair. * : Once more, Heaven bless you and your fire-side! TO JUDGE CARR. WM. WIRT. MY DEAR FRIEND: RICHMOND, March 24, 1817. I have just been cruelly disappointed. A letter bearing your superscription was handed to me about ten minutes ago, and I was full of the hope of recent intelligence; but on breaking the seal, I find it dated the 23d of last month, and intended for Washington, which, indeed, the address would have informed me, if I had taken time to read it. The anxiety which you manifest in this letter, leads me to suspect that you cannot have received my answer to your folio, written immediately on my return to Richmond, and in which I said as much as my well-known modesty would permit, in relation to my speech in the Supreme Court. I omitted to address that letter via Washington, as I believe I should have done; and it has probably foundered on the way. If you had received, I think you would have answered it. I have only two conclusions to make; either that the letter has miscarried, or that you have received accounts from Washington touching my essay before the Court, which have made it painful for you to answer me, - and as the former is the more agreeable conclusion of the two, I choose to draw it; though I confess I am not without curiosity as to the accounts which you may have received from the city. If I made a bad speech, I was not sensible of it, which, I will say for myself, I am very apt to be, when it is really the case. If I did not make a good one, I was most grossly flattered; as you your self shall judge by the incidents which I will now detail to you, and which I would not detail, but for the apprehension that you may have heard discouraging accounts. First, then, on the second morning after I had delivered my speech, Hopkinson and Walsh came to my room, - and the former paid me higher compliments than I had ever received, to which the latter gave, at least, an implied assent and something more. Hopkinson's manner was not that of a flatterer. It was warm and frank, and he seemed to speak with a generous delight. "I hope we may speak our sentiments here," said he, "to one another, without the suspicion of flattery. Your manner is the very best I have ever seen. Your client has no occasion to regret the loss of Mr. ; he would not, and never could, have presented the cause with half the power that you have done. The play of your imagination is delightful. You could never have carried it to such perfection, but for the habit of elegant composition. I was charmed with your figures, and almost envied your success." In his reply, too, in Court, in deprecating the effects of my speech, he said, inter alia, "I speak it openly the argument of our adversary has been a masterly one," &c. Wheaton told me that the judges expressed the greatest satisfaction with my argument. Decatur, whom I met afterwards in the street, I in a hack, he on foot, came to the door of the hack. "Why," said he, in his rough sailor way, "they tell me you have been playing the devil at the Capitol. What have you been doing with old Correa? I think you must have given him love-powders." Colonel Monroe said to me, with the most beaming pleasure, that he had been told I had covered myself with reputation and glory. These were his words; and when I looked a little distrustful, he added, "Upon my honour, it is a fact, and I was told so, too, by a person who had no political prejudices in your favour." This is part only of what I heard, from which I should not infer, if there is any sincerity in Washington, that there was any thing in the speech to be ashamed of. It is very true there was no scope for deep and cogent argument, for there was little or no law in the case. It was pretty much a matter-of-fact case, like Webb and Watkins at Powhatan, and my speech of that sort,-only chastened in reference to the tribunal. This is a short and true account of the whole affair, so far as I know it. I dare say if the Eastern gentlemen Miss B. speaks of were there, they thought the speech light and frothy; for what is common animation in Virginia, would be thought poetic phrenzy by them. However, I should like to know what you may have heard, and whether you have received my answer to your folio, --as also whether Frank has received a long letter from me, which went off about the same time. In relation to the fate of the Washington cause, it is not decided. The Court thought the cause with me on the evidence, on which the argument turned; but being an |