The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-30 00:00:00

EVENING SUN

word more before I leave this subject ; for another
opportunity may not occur to vindicate the course of
our State. It is false that the authorities of New
York have been delinquent in this matter, in refer-
ence to these transactions ; the authorities have done
all they could. Governor Marcy issued his procla-
mation, he went personally, and it will be observed
that the information of the acts of the insur-
gents arrived at Albany about the 16th of Decem-
ber, and there was but scarcely a week before this
catastrophe occurred. I stand boldly here and say
that New York has done her duty, and her whole
duty in this case. Her Sheriffs, her District Attor-
neys, tied her officers have done their whole duty, and
the very time the excitement took place, and was
quieted, but for the foul and fatal deed, all would have
gone off peacefully. There was no neglect of duty in
the State. So far from this, there is no proper and
just cause of complaint either against the Goverment
of the United States or of this State for neglect of
duty, or attempts to put down all interference on the
part of our citizens. New gentlemen, I will leave the
subject.
Judge Gridley here intimated that the Coast would
adjnurn until to-morrow morning.
TUESDAY, OCT. 12, 1841.
The Court re-assembled this morning at a quarter to
eight o'clock, at which time many ladies were in attend-
ance, and the Court was completely filled in every part.
As soon as the Jury had been called, and the Court had
properly opened, the Attorney-General resumed his ad-
dress to t'se Jury in which he was interrupted last night.
TEe Learned Gentleman closed his remarks at
half-past twelve o'clock, having spoken since eight
o'clock this morning, besides one hour last night, making
in the whole five hours and a half.
The Court then took a recess for dinner. At one
o'clock the Court was again organized, and the
_Court
room became filled in every part ; the audience was
much greater than at any other time during the trial,
a great number of ladies forming a part of it. When
the Jury had taken their seats, and silence and order
were enforced in the Court,
Judge Gridley proceeded to charge the Jury. He
spoke as follows :
Gentlemen of the Jury—l congratulate you on your
at length arriving at the present stage of this long-pro-
tracted trial. After your patience having been drawn
upon for six days in listening to the trial, and a day and
a half in listening to the argument of Counsel, you have
at last arrived at that period when you are called on to
discharge the last and deeply solemn duty which devolves
upon you. I congratulate you also upon the auspicious
circumstances under which you approach the perform-
ance of this duty. We know, it is true, that a deep and
pervading interest is felt in this case throughout
the entire land. We are also aware that a portion of
the public press has, from the commencement of this
controversy, teemed with inflammatory and passionate
articles. We have likewise heard of popular commotions
in various parts of the country, and in particular in the
county where the indictment against the prisoner was
found. Still, though these disturbing influences may
prevail elsewhere, we can at least say that they have not
entered this solemn temple of justice. If the waves of
excited popular feeling have swept along in other quar-
ters, they have not reached the portals of this building,
consecrated as it is to the faithful administration of that
justice to which the people and the prisoner alike appeal.
During the proceedings here, it may also be remarked,
we have seen attentive auditors in the persons of loyal
subjects of Great Britain, who not long since were in arms
in defence of their soil ; and, on the other hand, we had
the presence of inure than one distinguished actor in the
scenes of blood and suffering connected with the recent
abortive attempt at revolution in the Canadian pro-
vinces. Yet although these individuals, as well as others,
who have been present, must have been deeply inter.,sted
auditors and spectators of what has occurred, not a sin-
gle murmur has been heard—not a single ebullition of ex-
cited feeling has escaped. All has been quietness and
good order, and a signal proof has been given that here
is a spot where justice can be purely administered, and
that here, if no where else, the decision of an upright,
intelligent, and honest jury, will be acknowledged sove-
reign and supreme. It is under these auspicious circum-
stances that I invite your attention, Gentlemen, to the
questions connected with this great and important case.
Allow me to offer a simple additional passing remark,
and it is this—in order to appreciate properly the ques-
tions on which you are to pronounce your judgment, it
will be necessary that you should keep your minds en-
tirely unembarrassed by the consideration of other mat-
ters which have in reality nothing whatever to do with
the merits of the case. The counsel on one side and the
other, as it was their duty and right, have presented
such arguments,anddiscusscd such topics as they deemed
I.kely to serve the interests of the parties whom they re-
present. But the tribunal which tries has also duties to
perform altogether different from those incumbent on
the advocates entrusted with the interests of those who
are placed at its bar. The case of this prisoner, Gen-
tlemen, I may simply say, is to be tried like that of any
other person indicted for the' same offence. The first
question is, has any murder been committed ? And the
second question is—is the prisoner at the bar guilty of
that murder ? On the first question, Gentlemen, the
Supreme Court of this State, as you have already learned
during the progress of the trial, has decided. Their
authority is binding on you and me. We are sitting here
to dispense justice in the Circuit, Court, and must be go-
verned by the decision of that superior tribunal which
has sent down this issue to be tried here. That there is
no longer an open question, but an adjudicated one, and
with it you have no concern. The circumstances out of
which the indictment originated are briefly these :—ln
December, 1837, a body of Canadian re!ugees and Ame-
rican citizens occupied Navy Island, fortified themselves
there, and opened a cannonade upon the Canadian main
shore, where some 2,500 or 3,000 men were assembled to
protect their territory. Aid was afforded to these occu-
pants of Navy Island by certain individuals in Buffalo ;
and one William Wells, the owner of the steam-boat
Caroline, for the purpose of promoting his own in-
terests, as he swears before you, had the steam-boat
cut out from the ice when it lay in Buffalo creek, and on
the morning of the 29th December, the fatal day, that
boat made her first trip from Buffalo to Schlosser, touch-
ing at Navy Island ; and that after that, on the same
day, she made two trips to Navy Island from Schlosser ;
that it was instrumental in conveying armed men, arms,
provisions, and one piece of ordnance to Navy Island.
Further than this, it does not appear that the Caroline
was instrumental in promoting the interests of the oc-
cupants of Navy Island. Now the Colonial Association
in Canada saw fit to regard this boat as a portion of the
armament of the insurgents, and resolved to destroy her.
Sir Allem M'Nab, the Commander of the Provincial
Forces at Chippewa, ordered volunteers to embark in
boats, of which five reached the Caroline, and from them
she was boarded, whilst her peaceful occupants were
asleep in her berths, and with cutlasses, boarding pikes,
and hre-arms, the attacking party chased the persons on
board, wounding some, killing one, and whether others
experienced the same fate we know not—and then hav-
ing set fire to the boat, the attacking party sent her over
the " Falls." This is a brief history of the transaction,
so far as it is necessary for you to consider it for the
purpose of understanding and disposing of this case. The
acts I have described are held by the prisoner's counsel
to have been excused in the individual performing them,
" for the reason, first, because those acts were authorised
—and secondly, because done in self defence ; and again,
because the whole transaction has already become the
subject of recognition between the two Governments, so
as to deprive this Court of jurisdiction over the offence.
These arguments have been laid before the Supreme
Court, and that Court, after great research and de-
liberate consideration, pronounced that this act
of the killing of Durfee, although performed
in the prosecution of an enterprise like that I
have already described, was murder ; and it follows
then, Gentlemen, that all who were engaged in
it are guilty of the same offence ; and it is not ne-
cessary that the arm of Nl`Leod should have struck the
fatal blow to render him guilty. Enough that he was
engaged with others in that enterprise. This question,vs
then, is to be excluded from
your consideration. It
has,
it is true, been dwelt on by Counsel on both sides, in
their opening addresses, and durinss the p3rooi,7rtehsastoift
has
trial. I refer to it, however, to inform
been already adjudicated on and is set at rest. Thiean
.
comes the question—the important question on which
you are to pass—is Alexander M`Leod guilty of that
The Counsel for the people have presented
murder ?
many witnesses before you, the tendency of whose tes-
timony has been to show that the prisoner is guilty ;
and in order, Gentlemen, that you may understand and
appreciate this testimony, I shall briefly place it in re-
view before you. I shall divide it into two classes—the
first branch embracing the direct and circumstantial evi-
dence other than that arising from confessions connect-
ing. the prisoner with this charge—the second class of
evidence will consist entirely of confessions. The first
witness, Gentlemen, who has testified before you, is
Gil-
man Appleby. He is the only witness who was on
board the boat at the time of the attack. lie was the
captain of the boat—he slept 'in the gentlemen's cabin--
he was awoke a little before midnight, as he thinks, by
information that there were boats approaching; he arose,
and, partially dressed, made his way up the stairs, till
he found his farther progress arrested; he retreated,
but again returned, and had opened the door about a
foot, when it was violently pushed open by some
one outside, who then made a plunge at bins with a
sword, which glanced along two of his vest buttons
and struck against the metal button of his panta-
loons ; he was considerably excited, but in that mo-
mentary glance he saw the features of the man thus
attacking him, and his impression then was that the
individual was Alexander M`Leod ; but with all com-
mendable rrudenc,i and caution—for which I honour him
• —this witness says that amid the agitation of the mo,
ment, and in that ha ty glance, which passed in the
twinkling of an eye, he cannot say that it was Al`Leod ;
he had once before seen the prisoner at Buffalo, and it
struck him at the time that his appearance was similar
to that of the individual who thrust at him, but it was
Only one hurried glance, and he immediate) replied to
the question of Counsel, when on the stand here, that
he could not say that it was Alexander, M'Leod. The
next witness is Samuel Drown. Ile resided at Chippewa,
.
and was engaged in tending bar for one Smith, who kept
a tavern there, and he says that he went up on the
evening of this transaction to what was called the " Cut,"
s's /41-199 -t-"-uNtiapra river ; that he was at the entrance
.9.11.11117 u that he was at the beacon light ; saw
tke-124 .assing into the "Cut," and then he thinks
• APl.eod amongst the party embarking in the
rer;:. bog- ;'.ilt-Nits dark ; but the witness expressed the cer-
Is" belief that he then and there saw the
-qrd'isays he went from there to Davis's Tavern,
avret.a_portion of these persons came, and there, by a
•• light:which shone from within the bar-room, or by a
Qtif on the " stoop," although he cannot remember
tany light hanging out there, he professes to have seen
then says that next then again Alexander M‘Leod.:He