, 1840-08-15
From the Lexington (va.) Gazette.
CASE OF o

: expressed, that the President was not obnox
lous to censure for refusing to nullify tn
sentence of The Court martial in the case O
! OF Lieut.. HOoe. These grounds are, 1st.-
That it appears from the face of the recor,
] that Lieut.. Hooe was convicted of the char
J ges preferred against him, on several distinc
I spe clications, to which the negro evidenc,
, had no application whatever,-where j
4 formed no part Of the testimony & therefore
could not possibly have had the least infln
ence upon the decision of his brother officers
; This surely is of itself sufficient. Standing
Justly convicted upon the face of the record
OF the charges exhibited against him, the
sentence of the Court, il seems TO US, should
not be disturbed, merely because improper
evidence was admitted upon one or two OF
the specifications. There are the charges,
fully sustained, even though these specifca.
lions and all the evidence relating to them,
were expunged from the record. A court of
law, certainly, would not reverse the Judy
ment of an inferior, under similar circumstan-
ces. When the judgment of the court below
appears upon the face oil the record to be
substantially right, the appellate tribunal
VIII not reverse IL, merely because some IT.
regularity may have been committed, which
does not impeach the justice of the whole
proceedings. Suppose a man were convict.
ed oil ten murders and sentenced to be ex-
ecutej-would the General Court, with all
the facts Of the case before it, arrest the Jus,
sentence of the law, and grant the murderer
a new trial, because in one of the cases negro
evidence had been improperly admitted d.
gaInst him, though the proceedings in the
nine other cases were not impeachedi-
Certainly not. The man was Justly con.
DENIED for the other murders and would be
Justly executed. The case a, bar is precisely
analogous. Lieut.. Huoe was Justly convic.
ted oil the charges upon which he was mr.
ralgned, upon several distinct specifications,
upon which the negroes were not even ex-
ahmed as witnesses. Upon this view of the
subject we rest our opinion: but there is an
other view of It which deserves the most
serious consideration. Ii is this:
2nd.-By the common Law and the uni.
form practice IN the Navy under it, negroes
are competent witnesses against white men.
They are not permitted to testify againt
white men in Virginia, because that is very
properly forniden by an express law of the
State. They are good witnesses, however.
in many of the free States. They were ten
competent legal witnesses in the CASE
The question then arises. what right has the
Federal executive Ia repeal tie laws of the
land, merely because he may deem them
lnexPedientl Are our Whig friends-are the
lreemen Of this land, prepared tn surrender
this monstrous and despVtic authority IN the
hands OF the Federal Execuinei Yet this
Is the very principle involved in the case, for
the President is universally censured by the
Wing press, because he would not repeal the
law OF the land authorizing negroes to give
against white men. Asa Whip,
as a Republican, intensely jealous of Federal
entertainments, nay more, as an American
ireemen, we tor one enter our protest a
gainst such q monstrous usurpaiion Of power
by the Federal Executive.
Let US not be misunderstood. We are no
for negro evidence against white
men. On the contrary we are strongly op-
To 1t. But lie, the loathsome, the dis.
graceful, the degrading law be repealed by
congress: by the representatives. of the
people; not by the federal Executive.-,
what ireemen ian tolerate the bare idea of
LegiIitionl Give this power to !
your Executive and he is a despot and you
ire his slaves. |.
We have been told by some of our friends =,
it was very mprudent in us to express ,
opinion; that il might be used to ;niure +
he Wing cause. To this we have too brrefIb
ePlies: FIRST: We shall always do justice. n
We trust, even to our worst enemies ..tho' n
he heaven fall" We scorn that pusiIani. +,
nous. criminal prudence which, for party pur. +
'oses, would countenance injustice even to Il
foe. We were taught by maternaI piety b
honesty was the best policy, that the II
ight was always the most prudent; and nav a,
he lightnings Of Heaven blast us If we ever y,
'rget the lesson! We W higher allegi- h,
nee to truth than to party. ri
Our second reply is, that we can't help n
labbing right out whatever we think. We n
bhor all conaalment and scorn all trickery. -,
manly frankness, a Lofty Independence,
nd ingenious candor, we estimate above ali oh
rice, as one Of the noblest traits OF the hu. n
IAN character. In a word, such unfor,un. 7,
is our moral constitution that, Inn
ave can't be silent and ue will not lie" er
We hope our friends are satisfied. We bl
eed not say that the columns of our paper ha
e open to the freest discussion of fha whole ,v