The American. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1857, 1857-09-19
OURTEENTH DAY.
WEDNESDAY, August l2, 1857.
SPEECH OF
SPEECH OF M
5VESP ASIAN ELL Is, Ese
IN THE DEFEND

VESP ASIAN ELL Is, Ese
5 5s5i3 IN THE DEEEN0E
Iat MR.. vESPASLAN ELLIS May it please the
court, gentlemen of the jury-I am not In the hab,
OF making apologies for the manner or The matter o
what Ipropose say and shall not do it now, though
am placed in an embarrassing situation The elo
quent and able speech Of my colleague Mr., Scott
made On yesterday, has covered almost the entire
K ground which proposed to occupy; and that too
SO much more ably than can do it, / feel em.
barrassed In following him. s
There has been one sentiment especially uttered in
the progress of this case in which very sincerely
concur. allude to what fell from the lips of the
honorable Representative of the United States on
this occasion, when he called upon you to do justice
to all parties justice to your own partyjustce to
yourselves and justice to the country in the trial Of
this case 1t was proper, a just, and an appro-
PIRATE warning. II was proper and even necessary
on the occasion which is now before us, because,
4 you all know-as zoe all know-as the country knows,
the most strenuous and concerted efforts have been
made by the partisan press, and by the official re-
psrts Of public bodies which have been printed and
scattered throughout the Union, to make impress
sion unfavorable to our defence. would call upon
you 1.-THE language of the learned gentleman who
appears in behalf Of the prosecution; would call
upon you in the language Of my distinguished col
league Mr. Scott to discard il you can, every senti-
ment adverse to just decision in this case and to
forget if it be possible that you have any political
Z opinions You owe il to yourselves you owe it to
tie defendantsyOu owe it to the country and to the
cause Of constitutional liberty to discard all political
feelings; and yet we hardly deem it possible,
thatyour minds have not been permanently influenced
by the various publications Ihave alluded to- in rea-
tion to the proceedings of the first day Of June.
4 may state as somewhat remarkable fact, that
the whole press of Washington volunteered from the
beginning, to excuse the municipal authorities and
to condemn those trial in this prosecution 1t can
not have escaped your observation, (and some inn
preston must have been made on your minds from
reading IT'D that it has been proclaimed here through
the public press, in official reports, and copied else
where, that one hundred and twenty odd witnesses
have been heretofore legally examined, and that the
result Of such examination to establish the fact,
that there awful fearful riot in this city,
on the first day of June, and that the military force
of the United States was properly called out and
properly used, in quelng this pretended riotl AND
YET NO SUCH RIOT EXISTED! Gentlemen, you would
be more than human, if impressions had not been
made on your minds by those authoritative publca-
tons. ALI men form their opinions, more or less,
from what they read, and it is vain for any man to
say, that his mind does not receive lasting impress
sions from the presses of the party to which he is at
,tached
1t may be, do not say it is otherwise, that those
presses which have given one-sded reports of this
matter both official and editorial were honestly in
fuenced, and that they believed they were giving
the truth to the public. But among many of the
remarkable circumstances which have occurred on
the trial Of this shows, beyond all question and
controversy, that the publications to which have
referred were not fair expositions of the facts Why
gentlemen, here are four men on trial. whom
the learned Representative of the United States asks
yoH to dcguit,-and yet these were regularly in
dicted by the Grand Inquest of the county, after
examination, as they have said, of one hundred and
twenty witnesses Now, where is the evidence on
which these four men indicted? Could not the
witnesses be named and summoned who appeared
before the grand jury Of this county and gave the
testimony on which these four men were indctedf
II no such witnesses can be produced, it follows
necessary consequence, and one from which the
grand jury cannot escape, that their indictments
were improperly and unjusty made. will not as
set that they were made for political effect but gen.
tlemen, you can draw your own inferences. say
the indictments were made, and in passing along,
may be allowed the further remark, that they were
made by body Of men, not one Of sohon belonged 10
The political party Of these detendantsi repeat then,
that it behooyes you to be cautious and If possible
to remove from your minds the impressions which
must have been made upon you by the publications,
editorial and official To which have alluded.
But WHY this prosecutieni Why the prosecution
Of fifty or sixty Americans by designation for the
present is but one batch) when no inquiry has been
made into the and circumstances of the deaths
of fourteen individuals, who, standing lawfully and
peaceably in their own doors, or on the sidewalks,
unwarned of danger, and unconscious of offence,
stricken down by the balls and buckshot Of the
military Ny answer is this: This prosecution was
necessary TO effect certain political purpose What
is thaty 1t was necessary TO SCREEN to Shield and to
exempt from punishment the very men who ought
now to be standing before you their trial The of
fcers of this corporation--the civil authorities Of
Washington, have got the Jockey word" of the
Americans" must here allude to fact which is
not in proof, though generally known, that although
the proper affidavits were made and rendered not
single justice of the peace could be found in this city,
who would issue the necessary process, TO arrest
and prosecute the officials of this CITY, for the nuy-
ders committed on the lst day of June II Whatever
may be the FORM therefore, of the proceedings here
and the form is in legal shape Ais IS suJstdntoly
politicat prosecution not designed to be by the
attorney of the United States, but so designed by
those who originated it Who they are | know not,
and therefore cannot say.
Gentlemen, allow me here TO state, that if that
class of persons who have been denominated Plug
Uglies were here on their tria-f the men had been
arrested who here from Baltimore to interfere
Gas is said with our election, should stand here
TO vindicate them: should not stand here and say
e no matter what his position or character may be,
who more abhors the actors in mob or riot than
lido. There is no man who would 20 further TO ar.
! rest noting, or TO suppress mob--none who would
20 further TO prevent, or TO punish those who are
Il guilty Of such disturbances than would
6 In my professional capacity, if called upon to de
fend the worst man in the community for any of
fence, should feel bound to stand forward in his
legal defence, but as politician, and citizen,
condemn and abhor riotpg and would 90 as far as he
who goes nrthest TO put il down. and TO punish those
- who are concerned init But let II not be said or
this occasion, that stand here TO defend men guilty
of rioting l am here for the purpose of defending
gdmen who are charged with rioting, but who in my
judgment, are guilty of no offence whatever agains
> . tho laws of the land Y tH
\ I stand here indeed, as an advocate, bit at th,
same time have no hesitation in saying that if my
services had not been demanded by any portion o
these men, would cheerfuy have rendered then
to defend them against charge of which, believe
they not only not guilty but charge which, il
Ii my opinion, originated ia pdytiSan malice. e @
4 Gentlemen, the weather is entirely too oppressive
and L have suffered too much already during thi
long trial. 70 20 into heightened detail of oil tn
facts and circumstances Of this case. shall there
fore pass rapidly over it as may be consisten
with my duty. ! find even now, though addressing
you under no excitement am scarcely in cond
u ton to stand up before you.s
The first question which presents itself Is, whethe
% the case which you considering was an affray
q riot2 And the next question is, If there was
riot. who committed it2 | shall here assert wha
viii not be denied the other side that no matte