If you display the slightest doubt about your own
case and your own witnesses, they wiU be at once
suspected to be far worse than they are; they will
be heard with a prejudice against them, and small
errors which, unsuspected, would not have been
noticed, are instantly enhsted to confirm the fore-
gone conclusion of the audience. Hence, too much
emotion, too much anxiety, too much elaboration,
and too much effort, in an opening speech, are
calculated to damage the cause, by exciting a
suspicion that it is not so good a one as it should
be, and then it becomes a difficult task for you to
combat a prejudice as well as to convince. You
should reserve your energies and your eloquence
for the reply.
