The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-10-01
Charge OF Judge Kane--Ths Law OF Trsa-

| the Christlana outbreak, Judge KANE thought
proper to offer an opinion in regard 10 the law
Of treason for the consideration Of the jury be-
fore they acted on the BILL 1t is lucid expo
sition Of the law on that subject. We copy the
charge from the Philadelphia Bulletin:
CHARGE.
| GENTLEMEN OF THE GRAND jury: II has been
represented to me that since met last, circuIn-
| stances have occurred in OF the neighboring
counties of our district which should call for your
prompt scrutiny. and perhaps for the energetic ac
| ton of the court.
IL is said that citizen Of the State Of Maryland
who had come into Pennsylvania to reclaim fugi-
tive from labor. wns forcibly obstructed in the at
| tempt by body Of armed men, assaulted, beaten,
and murdered; that some members Of his family
who had accompanied him in the pursuit, were at
| the same time and by the same party maltreated
and grievously wounded and that an officer of
justice, constituted under the authority of this
court, who sought to arrest the fugitive, inn
peded and repelled by menaces and violence while
proclaming his character and exhibiting his war
rant 1t is said, too, that the time and manner of
these outrages, their asserted object, the denunca
tons by which they were preceded, and the stimuli
aneous action OF most of the guilty parties eynced
| u combined purpose forcibly to resist ald make
tutes enacted in pursuance of it; and il is added,
in confirmation of this, that for some months back
gatherings Of people. strangers as well as citizens,
have been held from time TO time in the vicinity
of the place of the recent outbreak al which ex-
hortations were made and pledges interchanged to
hold the law for the recovery of fugitive slaves as
OF no validity. and to defy its execution.
Such are some OF the representations that have
been made IN my hearing, and in regard to which
II has become your duty, as the grand inquest of
| the district to make legal inquiry Personally, 1
know nothing OF the facts or the evidence relating
TO them. AS member of the court before which
the accused persons may hereafter be arraigned
and tried, have sought to keep my mind alto
gcther free from any impressions of their guilt or
innocence, and even from an extra judicial know
ledge OF the circumstances which must determine
the legal character OF the offence that has been
perpetrated IL ID due to the great interests of pub
llc JUSTICE no less than to the parties implicated in
criminal charge, that their cause shall be in no
wise and In no degree prejudged. And in refer
ring therefore to the representations which have
been made to me, have no other object than to
point you to the reasons for my addressing you
this advanced period OF sessions and to,cnabIc
you to apply with more facility and certainty the
principles and rules of law which shall proceed
to lay before you.
II the circumstances to which have adycrted
have in fact taken place. they involve the Highest
crime known to our laws. Treason against the
United States is defined by the Constitution, art
them, or in adhering to their enemies giving them
aid and comfort" This definition Is borrowed
from the ancient law of England, Stat g. EHtp g.
stat. 5, chap. 2, and its terms must be understood
OF course in the sense which they bore in that law
and which obtained here when the Constitution
was adopted. The expression "levying war;" 80
regarded, embraces not merely the act of formal or
declared war, but any combination forcibly to pre-
vent or oppose the execution or enforcement of O
provision of the Constitution, OF public STATUTE
If accompanied or followed by an act of forcibleop
position in pursuance of such combination. This
IN substance has been the Interpretation given to
these words by the English judges, and it has been
uniformly and fully recognised and adopted in the
courts of the United States (See Foster, Hale, and
Chase, Marshall, and Washington, j. j., of the Su-
preme Court, and of Peters, d. j., in United States
VS.. Yigol, United States Mitchell, United States
va. Fries United States vs.. Bollnnan and Stcart-
tcout, and United States vs. BtUr.)
The definition, as you will observe, includes two
particulars, both of them indispensable elements Of
the offence. There must have been combination
or conspring together to oppose the law by force,
and come actual force must have been exerted, or
the crime OF treason is not contaminated.
The highest, at least the direct proof of the
combining, may be found in the declared purposes
of the individual party before the actual outbreak;
or it may be derived from the proceedings of meet
ings in which he took part openly, or which he
either prompted or made effective by his counte-
nance sanction commanding, counselling, and
instgatng forcible resistance to the law. Ispeak,
OF course, of conepirng to resist law, not the
more limited purpose to violate TO prevent
application and enforcement in particular case,
or against particular individual The conlbina-
| ton must be directed against the law itself.
But such direct proof of this element of the Of
fence is not legally necessary to establish its exist
ence. The concert of purpose may be deduced
from the concerted action itself, it may be in
ferred from facts occurring at the time, after
wards, as well as before
Besides this, there must be some act of violence
as the result consequence of the combining. But
here again, it not necessary to prove that the in
divdual accused direct personal actor in the
violence. II he present, directing, aiding, abet
ting ,.counselling, counenancing It, he ia in law
guilty OF the orcible act Nor iseven his personal
presence indispensable. Though he be absent at the
time Oft actual preparation, yet fhe directed tho
act devised or knowingly furnished the means for
carrying it into effect, instgaed others to perform
it, he shares their guilt In treason there
accessories.
There has been, fear, an erroneous impression
on this subject among portion of people. If
it has been thought safe to counsel and instigato
others to acts of forciblc oppugnaon to the provi-
sions of n statute, TO nfamc the minds of the igno-
rant by appeals to passion, and denuncatons of
the law oppressive, unjust, revolving to the con-
science, and not binding on the actions OF men
to represent the Constitution of the land a
pact OF iniquty, which il were mcritorious to vio
late or subyert-thc mistake has been grievous
one; and they who have fallen into il may rejoice,
if peradventure their appeals and their counsels
have been hitherto without effect. The supremacy
of the Constitution, in all its provisions, is at the
| very basis of our existence a nation He whose
| conscience, or whose theories of political nd-
vidual right forbid him to support and maintain it
in its fullest integrity, may relieve himself from
the duties citizenship by dvesting himself of its
| rights But while he remains within borders,
he is to remember that successfully to instigate
reason, he is to commit it.
| shall not be supposed to imply in these remarks
that have doubts of the law abiding character of
| our people. No know them well without
the most entire reliance on their fidelity to the Con-
stitution. Some OF them may differ from the mass
as to the rightfulness the wisdom of this or the
other provision that is found in tho Federal COM
pact-thcy may be divided in sentiment as to the
policy of q particular statute of provision
in statute; but it s their honest purpose TO stand
| by the engagements all the engagements, which
| bind them to their brethren of the other States
They have but one country; they recognise no law
ofhgher social obligation than its Constitution and
tho laws made in pursuance of it; they recognise
no higher appeal than TO the tribunals it has ap-l
pointed; they cherish patriotism that looks be-
| You'd the union Oft the States.
| That there are men here, as elsewhere, whom a