The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-06-02

ssThat Pardon Again."
The Times of the LIST, devotes two columns
to "that pardon" giving pretended detail Of
the evidence adduced on the trial Of Monroe,
and basing upon the character Of that, its ar
eument against the Governor for pardoning the
prisoner. With this evidence before the jury
Gov. GoRxAN had nothing to do. The fact that
such evidence was insufficient to support the
verdict was certified to him by the Judge pre-
siding at the trial; man in whose word, from
his high repute as lawyer, and his unblemish-
ed character as q man, the Governor was OBJ
liged to con6de, and upon which he was fully
authorized to act. And this too, not merely
through official courtesy, but by the positive
obligations of duty.
The Times in its anxiety to cast reflections
upon political opponents holding high official
position, drags into its discussion of the ques-
ton, matters wholly irrelevant. 1t harps con-
tinually upon the idea that if any remedy was
to be sought against an alleged wrong to the
prisoner, it should have been done through the
medium of new trial. We are not aware that
the Governor has authority to this end; and
we suppose that the court, when it passed SEN
tence on the prisoner, had lost all jurisdiction
in the case. We know nothing of the practice Of
the courts in Minnesota but elsewhere, new trials
are never granted after sentence, except in rare
instances, where new and important facts bear
ing upon the merits of the case, are thereafter
developed.
The Governor was obliged to act as he did,
or disregard the opinions of the Judge who
tried the cause, of nearly every lawyer in St.
Paul who was cOgnizant of the facts, and of
large number of gentlemen, law-abiding citi-
zens, equal in point of reputation and good
judgment with the jurymen who rendered the
verdict. The prisoner was convicted of fel-
ony, punishable by Imprisonment in the pen-
tertiary, whereas, according to the highest tes-
timony his only offence was simple misde-
mcanor, punishable at the hardest by mere con-
finement in the county Jail. If the prisoner was
not guilty of the felony, it was the duty of the
Governor to save him harmless from a sentence
to which he was not subject under the law if
he was guilty of the misdemeanor, he had al
ready suffered confinement proportionate to
the offence committed.
The Times, after going through with the
testimony before the jury, sums up the matter
Us follows:
"a bill Of exceptions filed on the ground that
the Judge had excluded the evidence of the defendant
beng drunk at the time OF the assault On account
Of such exceptions, Judge SHERBURNE refused to
sentence the defendant, although he did not believe
that the exceptions were Of any validity whatever.-
Alter lapse of over two months, the District Attor-
ney was suddenly summoned to the Capitol and in.
formed by the court that it was going to sentence the
deenuant-which form was gone through with as we
have been Informed, merely for the purpose Of cna-
bling the Governor to pardon the ofendc,-,he light
est sentence that could be imposed was accordingly
pronounced. and the next day LOUIS MONROE walk.
ca out OF jail, washed Of all crimnaIi,y by all execu
tive pardon.
"Now the public may sec more in this transaction
than those who participated in intended should
come to the public eye. The pardun was promised
even before the sentence pronounced-lefDre any
motion for trial had been made and before the
logo! ""o Vt correcting the hardship had been ex-
ered."
The editor of the Times could not have ap.
prcciated the extent of the charges here made
against men of hitherto irreproachable charac-
ter. Without any purpose either assigned or
insinuated, without any object beyond desire
to award right to a prisoner unjustly convict
ed, the Times deliberately charges upon the
Governor of Minnesota, Judge of the Su-
preme Court, and the Secretary of the Terri
tory, the crime of collision to thwart the ends
of justice, and rob the penitentiary of victim
in whom they could have no conceivable per-
sonal interest, beyond that attaching to him
as human being. Charges so evidently reck-
less or malicious must fail of producing the in
jury desired. The Governor and the other
gentlemen thus denounced will be sustained, and
their libeller condemned, by the judgment of
all honorable men.
Congressional.
WASHINGTON, May rs.