“Who is Blennerhassett?” he inquired in his melodious voice. “A native of Ireland, a man of letters, who fled from the storms of his own country to find quiet in ours. His history shows that war is not the natural element of his mind. If it had been, he never would have exchanged Ireland for America. So far is an army from furnishing the society natural and proper to Mr. Blennerhassett’s character that, on his arrival in America, he retired even from the population of the Atlantic States and sought quiet and solitude in the bosom of our western forests.” Let the Chief Justice be secretly amused. Mr. Wirt was not going to deny himself the superb opportunity of holding his audience spellbound with his oratorical gifts. “But he carried with him taste and science and wealth; and lo, the desert smiled! “Possessing himself of a beautiful island in the Ohio, he rears upon it a palace and decorates it with every romantic embellishment of fancy. A shrubbery that Shenstone might have envied, blooms around him! An extensive library spreads its treasures before him. A philosophical apparatus offers to him all the secrets and mysteries of nature. Peace, tranquillity and innocence shed their mingled delights around him. “And to crown the enchantment of the scene, a wife, who is said to be lovely even beyond her sex and graced with every accomplishment that can render it irresistible, had blessed him with her love and made him the father of several children. The evidence would convince you that this is but a faint picture of the real life.” The speaker’s countenance changed from joy to distress and his voice assumed a solemn tone. “In the midst of all this peace, this innocent simplicity and this tranquillity; this feast of the mind, this pure banquet of the heart, the destroyer comes. He comes to change this paradise into a hell. Yet the flowers do not wither at his approach. No monitory shuddering through the bosom of their unfortunate possessor warns him of the ruin that is coming upon him. “A stranger presents himself. Introduced to their civilities by the high rank which he had lately held in this country, he soon finds his way to their hearts, by the dignity and elegance of his demeanor, the light and beauty of his conversation and the seductive and fascinating power of his address. The conquest was not difficult. Innocence is ever simple and credulous. Conscious of no design itself, it suspects none in others. It wears no guard before its breast. Every door and portal and avenue of the heart is thrown open, and all who choose it enter.