While his manner was natural,
his matter seemed equally void of art. When by the examination and
cross-examination of witnesses, he had obtained his facts, he formed his
theory of the case, and unfolded it to the jury in the simplest possible
way. It was plain to see, however, that the argument was a continuous
chain of demonstration, every link of which seemed to be of equal
strength. Some of his speeches to the jury, could they have been
preserved as they were delivered, would have been invaluable specimens
of dialectics for the use of students. I heard the late William Maxwell
say, that it was vain and even fatal to attempt before a jury to find
the defective links in the chain of Mr. Tazewell's arguments, for the
process would become too refined for their comprehension; and that his
own mode of argument in such cases was to let the reasoning of Tazewell
pass, and press with all his force some plain views of the case. Some
lawyers are successful in the elenchical mode of argument--to use a
logical term--that is, in demolishing the structure of their opponents,
while they fail in the deictic, that is, in raising on its ruins an
impregnable fabric of their own; but it was difficult to decide which
process was the most thorough in the reasoning of Tazewell.
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