Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, W.T. [i.e. Wis.]) 1843-1844, 1843-05-06
DEFENCE; OF CoM'R.. MACKENZIE:
From the New York Express:
tContinued from last Ueek.

K;nley. Mckee, Green, and some diners, whose
names appear on the Greek paper; have been IN
PRODUCED on bs past Of tho prosecution, and eieva-
ted 10 the rank Of witnesses in court oil Jusiice.
Dv thai 'paper M'Kinley and M'kee had posts
sneeiallv assigned them in the medtated massacre.
They with Green wore brought homo in irons; and
all the consprators stand candidates for trial be-
fore the proper tribunal of their county, for life
DEATH Their own safety required that they should
boldly deny the existence OF the muiiny; aud, if
Mr.. Spsncer correctly estimated their characters,
their denial was aot likely to falter through any
deiicacy of conscience. To felons ieagued in
conspiracy to murder and of piracy, il would soon
a slight thing superadd the crime of wilful false
hood. Comment upon such witnesses would De
useless waste OF time; nor is it worth to martial
against Thorn the phalanx Of opposing testimony;
they left to sink under their own weight.
Tho SANDER Sometimes suggested that the OH
OF tho Somers were rendered nervous by I'M
manly fear, betrays an Ignorance OF tho true char
acter Of tho Amsrical naval ofhcer Of himself
the Commander would, inlths respect, say nothing.
But OF his eleven associate officers, no IL bound
TO say, that were men, in periious circuin-
stances, more cool, collected, and temperate than
they. They proposed no hasty efuson OF blood,
though conscious that their own lives were in mo
mentary peril. After tho discovery of the mutny
five days and fivo nights were given to dispasson-
ate aud solemn elaboration. Nor was tho execu-
tion yecommen ded until it had been gradually as
ccrtained, by melancholy proofs, accumulatns dal-
ly andhoury, that the experiment OF reiterated ar
rests instead of breaking the heart OF The conspira-
cy, had only rendered it moro ferocious and dos
perate. Unmany fear, il is believed, 10 not wont
TO be an inmate in the bosoms of American officers.
Our youthful navy has produced many heroes; per-
haps few towards. Unmanly fear would hereto
fore have been thought strange malady IN our ma
val service II did not "in times that tried mems
souls" display itself in our vessels Of war on tho
lakes or on the ocean. That this malady should
have its first outbreak in the Somer; that II should
have spread from officer to officer until all
were infected without one exception; and that its
morbid influence should, in every instance, have
destroyed tho hoahful exercise OF the mental Wis
ion, tho jugment aud tho memory-s superstition
which, TO gain crcdcncc, should rest on something
besides mere suggestion.
From the arrest of Mr.. Spencer TO the execution
thcIofiicors of tho Somers had upon them heavy
weight OF labor and responsibility. They stood
sentinels on the Dock aud ultimately had no alter
native but to remain there under arms day and
night, watch and watch about. To the refreshing
influence Of quiet sleep they had become strangers.
Fatigue and consuming care wore wasting away
their youthful frames. Nature would have endured
the struggle but little longer. And while their
physical strength was hourly becoming less aud less,
the ddnger was hourly becoming greater and grcnt-
or. Ii was now manifest that the government OF
tho brig had been despoiled of its moral powes II
lost that instinct Of discipline, that loyalty TO au-
thority, "that suboldination OF the heart' which
form TIE conservative elements in that little floating
world, na,iens! ship. Anarchy, deep and wide
spread, was predominant; and physical force had /
BECOME tho sole arbitress- The conspiracy, conf
dent in its strength, matured in its counsels, and
murderous in its resolves, was now ripe Tor action.
lmplements Of wood and Of iron wore always AZ
hand, well suited to the malefactors for hasy
and close combat. A sudden ac-ldsnt shstrneting
the attention Of tho officers; or tho confusion Incl
don't to squall at sea; even tho cover OF dark
night. might AT any moment have brought the mutt
nv 10 n successlui issue. And what would have
been tho consequence l pass over tho oficers
and faithful of the crow as comparatively very
little thing. Tho lives Of military mon, whether
on land at sea, plghted to their country, an!
compared TO the honor OF that country indiViuuai
lifo is as tho drop Of the oecan.--But tho nations
honor was now at stake. An American vessel oil
war was about to become q piratical cruizer. "A
vessel which had been born into our naval iamily'
and eonsocrated as defender TO her countrys glo-
~, and one of the protectors of the great common
wealth ofcivilxed man, was about TO 90 torn from
her sphere fand lot loose a lnwess wandsrer upon
tho deep, carrying along in her devious course hhe
q comet loosened from its orbit, deyHsta'ion, anu
terror. and death. Perhaps no vessel could be
found halter 6ued TO become tho pesi Of the ocean.
Seldom surpassed in speed by anything propelled
bv sails; OF sufficient strength to overcome NOR
chan,mcn; so small and light that, II pressed by
superior force, she might retro beyond ther feach
aud hide herself in shoal water; capable of supply
ing herself nom her prizes with men, naval stores,
provision and water, she might have made her
home on tho seas without ever entering port There,
swirl and destructive as the pestilence, by tarns
showing herself Oh the Atlantic, and then IN the
Pacific and Indian Oceans, shs might have been
tho wods terror for years, without its being anown
from whence the scorge came or whittier u went
Under these circumstances, whatwns tho COM
maader Of the Somers to dol lie was alone Oh
tho ocean. lie could not invoke regular court
martial IIe asked the best and only counsel with
in his reach. lie made written appeal TO his OIL
fieers for their advice. His officers ahs' examin-
ing the witnesses, and with full deliberation, re-
turned him their written unani msus, and solemn
Judgment tina, the death ofthc three ringleaders oil
the mutny was indispensaby necessary for the sah-
~ of tho vessel, aud the lives Of the faithful on
board With this Judgment of the only court with |
in his reach his own opinion concIrTed. The high
sens f,raished no. learned jurisis with whom he
might consult But he had with him volume oil
Natures laws, written by the finger OF God on the
human heat. In that volume he read that neces-
sity ordains its own controlling eanons; ,hstihey
who seek unlawfully to Stay, may themselves DO
slain, without, formal process, when the se-prese-
walton OF the sssailed renders the saeriec inevta-
BILE And, above all, he found, in the same volume,
yae natural elements of national Jurisprudenee ana
there he read, that when, some remote staten,
or on the solitary deep, the commanding officer, by
land bound, as il wele by no oath 10 project,
at the expense Of life, orhundfeds OF lives, The VIZ
tai Interests, and sacred honor ofhis County, shall
had those vital interests and sacred honor about
20 be desplyland neurably wounded by band OF
spos,se islons, and thSi the evil cannot be aveied
but by the death Of those eloss without the oTnal-
ties oflsw he is la duty Bound up his splr-