alter the established laws or religion to punish to introduce of a public concern to the execution of some general law by an armed force or for any other purpose which the government in matters of a public and general concern it is therefore true as laid down by mr in s trials p that what in england is called of war in this country must be called direct of war although this seems not to be assented to by judge ith s possibly because he did not examine that point as thoroughly as he did the doctrine of treason generally before that passed the dangers from arbitrary of treason were great and grievous and the complaints against them as vehement as they were just war in england against the king or his government the consists of direct and express of war against the king s natural person it against his government or his authority in his political person in america the crime is defined in the constitution it consists in war against the united states in england it consists in an opposition to the king s authority or here it is against the constitution and government in england when it is intended against the life of the prince it may consist in mere imagination in the mere design or intent of the mind but in this country the offence is against the government the political person only and it is actual war as it is against the government not against a natural person it may be said to be but of treason which produced so much terror and alarm formerly in england and against the of which gentlemen have so cannot take place in this country they are expressly excluded by the constitution upon the whole i contend that the meeting on s island the intention of which is to be was an act of treason that the assemblage with such intention was sufficient for that purpose and if it were not sufficient this court cannot stop the the jury must proceed with the inquiry i have finished what i had to say i beg pardon for the time of the court so long i thank it for its patient and polite attention i am too much exhausted to and to ch a court as this is i am sure it is unnecessary this is an exhibition of some of the most prominent passages of a speech which fills seventy pages of an volume and which occupied several hours in the delivery i have excluded the s speech a large portion of the argument which dealing in minute of law and in the analysis of legal could scarcely be expected to interest the general reader and which would be still less satisfactory to members of the legal profession who have familiar access to the full report of the trial it may be remarked of this speech that having been made at a time when the speaker was yet in the vigour of youthful manhood and somewhat noted for the vivacity of his imagination and the warmth of his feelings he may be supposed to have made this effort at disadvantage under the necessarily imposed upon him by the nature of the subject and the to which he spoke it was aa argument upon mere questions of law sufficiently and in their nature to forbid any very free excursion of the and to defy the attractions of the orator himself to the most severe and mind in the of the nation doubtless felt his inclination constantly by the presence in which he stood he could not lose the consciousness of an ever present imposed upon him by the place and the subject both logical precision and compact legal we cannot but remark in the perusal of the speech how apparent is the inclination of the speaker to escape from this and to his mind in the more congenial fields of display and how obviously he has felt the of the argument like a stone tied to the wings of his fancy to bring him quickly back on every flight to the labour of his task at that period in the life of william his fame was much more connected with his efforts before a jury than in addressed to the bench and we cannot help feeling some regret while upon the peculiar power of the advocate and looking alone to our own satisfaction that this celebrated and important trial had not offered him an occasion to argue the questions of fact with which it as well as the points of law to which we have the description of the abode of which furnished a legitimate opportunity to the indulgence of mr s peculiar vein of eloquence in this trial seems to have inspired one of the witnesses with the same of poetical rapture in giving a sketch of this paradise chat xiv testimony of mr a most gentleman who is yet alive to recall to memory the scenes which so attracted his youthful fancy � mr charles � had visited the island upon the invitation of its proprietor just at the time when the conspiracy was said to be nearest its point of explosion as he had seen nothing on this visit calculated to awaken his alarm for the peace of the country his testimony was introduced into the trial for the which immediately followed the on the charge of treason this testimony was recorded in a written a few from which will gratify the reader by him to compare mr s glowing with the actual impression which the scene made upon mr on saturday evening the sixth day of december this arrived in the course of his journey home at the shore of opposite to the island of mr and having first learned with some surprise that mr was yet on the island crossed over to his house in a violent storm of wind and rain that evening and 