"
"That is my feeling, sir, and it drives me almost wild sometimes."
"For your comfort, then, in my earlier litigations--I have had sixteen
lawsuits for myself and other oppressed people--I had often that very
impression; but the result always corrected it. Legal battles are like
other battles: first you have a skirmish or two, and then a great
battle in court. Now sharp attorneys are very apt to win the skirmish
and lose the battle. I see a general of this stamp in Mr. Wheeler, and
you need not fear him much. Of course an antagonist is never to be
despised; but I would rather have Wheeler against you than Oldfield. An
honest man like Oldfield blunders into wisdom, the Lord knows how. Your
Wheelers seldom get beyond cunning; and cunning does not see far enough
to cope with men of real sagacity and forethought in matters so
complicated as this. Oldfield, acting for Bassett, would have pushed
rapidly on to an examination by the court. You would have evaded it,
and put yourself in the wrong; and the inquiry, well urged, might have
been adverse to Sir Charles. Wheeler has taken a more cunning and
violent course--it strikes more terror, does more immediate harm; but
what does it lead to? Very little; and it disarms them of their
sharpest weapon, the immediate inquiry; for we could now delay and
greatly prejudice an inquiry on the very ground of the outrage and
unnecessary violence; and could demand time to get the patient as well
as he was before the outrage.
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