Debut

The custom was evil, and is now, I believe, abandoned. It led to
much irreverence among thoughtless young men--to an equal disregard
of that solemnity which should naturally attach to the court
of justice, and to the life of the prisoner arraigned before it.
A thoughtless levity too frequently filled the mind of the young
lawyer and his hearers, when it was known that the poor wretch
on trial was simply regarded as an agent, through whose miserable
necessity, the beginner was to try his strength and show his skill
in the art of speech-making. It was my fortune, acting rather in
compliance with the custom than my own preference, to select one
of these victims and occasions for my debut. I could have done
otherwise. Mr. Edgerton freely tendered to me any one of several
cases of his own, on the civil docket, in which to make my appearance;
but I was unwilling to try my hand upon a case in which the penalty
of ill success might be a serious loss to my friend's client, and
might operate to the injury of his business; and, another reason
for my preference was to be found--though not expressed by me--in
the secret belief which I entertained that I was peculiarly gifted
with the art of appealing to the passions, and the sensibilities
of my audience.

Having made my determination, I proceeded to prepare myself by a due
consideration of the case at large; the history of the transaction,
which involved the life of my client--(the allegation was for
murder)--and of the testimony of the witnesses so far as it had
been suggested in the EXPARTE examination before the grand jury.
I reviewed the several leading principles on the subject of the
crime; its character, the sort of evidence essential to conviction,
and certainly, to do myself all justice, as effectually prepared
myself for the duties of the trial as probably any young man of
the time and community was likely to have done. The case, I need
not add, was hopelessly against me; the testimony conclusive; and
I had nothing to do but to weigh its character with keen examination,
pick out and expose its defects and inconsistencies, and suggest
as plausible a presumption in favor of the accused, as could be
reasonably made out from the possibilities and doubts by which all
human occurrences are necessarily attended. Something, too, might
be done by judicious appeals to the principle of mercy, assuming
for the jury a discretion on this subject which, by the way, they
have no right to exercise.