The American. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1857, 1857-08-26
With the law and the evidence and that they mean to

with the law and the evidence and tthey to
give these parties fair and impartial trial. say
shall believe this until the contrarys demonstrated
/ do not know, gentlemen notwithstanding the
Introductory remarks of the prosecuting attorney,
that should have alluded to this topic, but for
the course Of the gentleman who was associated
with us in the early part Of the defence, Mr. RAD
cLIFFE, but who drew from us suddenly the other
day. That gentleman has been for long time
practitioner In this Court and muchaccust0med to
| figure at criminal trials Lately lie has received
i an executive appointment in another Court. He
/ was not content to withdraw in silence, but he
sought the opportunity to make speech. The
pretext was to say something on behalf of party
for whom he had been specially retained, but it
was soon apparent that his object was not 80 much
to defend his client, for against him at that time
no evidence had been given, proving any criminal
connection with the riot but to defend quite another
/ person whom he unexpectedly found crminally
arraigned that person was himself the crime be-
ing his engagement in the way of his profession,
i to defend one of the parties to this indictment.
i Gentlemen, his defence was addressed to his polt-
ical friends; it was from his political friends there
fore, that the accusation came. We learn that his
defence was successful; on our part we only regret
that clients lost the services of an advocate 80
/ adrot. For myself, | belong to neither of these
parties. No combinations Of either have ever en-
braced me. / stand here upon my professional re-
sponsbility, to defend these persons according to
my best ability, without regard to the nature of
the offence, the quarter from which the accusation
comes, or the influences under which it is pressed
forward. am conscious of no feeling calculated
to blind my judgment, or obscure my sight touch
ing anything that belongs to the proper merits of
the case, and expect to argue 1t fairly and cam
didly. / shall make no rude assaults upon the
feelings Of any party implicated in it; but at the
same time those who have figured most conspicu-
49,. Laryo %Ia,n
conduct criticised where criticism is just. am no
apologst for violence and awlessness. My senti-
ments are all conservative. would have the pub
lie authorities respected, and the laws observed,
but to be respected, the public authorities must
themselves be respectable. Properly to enforce
the law, they must not transgress the law
On the first day Of June, under the provisions OF
your city charter, an election was to be held Tor
certain municipal officers. Among other places
appointed for holding that election, was the first
t precinct of the Fourth Ward AT an early hour
Of that day, large number of persons, Of foreign
birth, said to be naturazed citizens Of the United
States repaired together to that poll, and in col
# umn exceeding hundred in number, took pos
session of the polls. That, ofitself, was an extra
}. ordinary spectacle, or rather, an extraordinary
!, event. It may be material to inquire, what gave
rise to it, We are not left altogether in the dark
as to the origin Of it, because we are told that it
a was brought about by preconcerted arrangement
However discrepant the testimony may be on other
e points, however conflicting may be the proof and
the witnesses in other respects, there is no con-
a fct, no discrepancy here. This party of foreign
voters did assemble at an early hour, and did
press together in body upon the polls, claiming
priority of right to vote all other persons. 1t
could not have accidentally happened. That is
impossible. 1t was the result of arrangement and
3 concert--previous arrangement and previous con-
: cert One witness tells us that there was talk
III the city previous to the election, that all such
: Voters were to be voted in, in the early part OF
t the day, and that those OF the American party, il
they voted at all would have to vote in the after
t noon, through file of Marines. But we are not
left, gentlemen, to speculate about the previous
s arrangement We have it from one of the princ
pal witnesses for the United States, who told us
0 he Justice OF the Peace, and volunteer recipi
t ent of the commission ola policeman for that day
0 | l mean Mr.. Justice Dom. He, Justice of the
$ Peace, and, therefore, peace oificer--a special
# policeman, and, therefore, charged with other du
ties, stationed himself at the polls busted himself
!; | In the conduct of the election-guarding, as he
said, the outlet through which persons, when they
had voted passed off, Yet he tells US that he had
taken special interest in these foreign voters, and
was one of those who actively exerted themselves
to bring them to the polls. He was active,
working partizan, busy in bringing up the Irish,
} and banding them together at the polls. JUS
tiality-an officer of police, whose duty required
equal impartiality, lent himself TO these purposes
, as one Of the instruments by which this foreign
| array was marched to the polls; and he stationed
himself at an important point, claimed to partici-
pate in the business of the ele ,tion and upon the
stand he acknowledged the interest which he took
in the vote of that class. Then, again, there was
J a Corporation officer named Owens, who told us
, that he performed the part of challenger on be-
4 hnlf IF at WIG m
al and TO stand aoof between contending parties;
but yet we find that he, with his associate Dom,
was instrumental in the successful achievement Of
' this preconcerted plan. These were not the only
men. Goddard was there, another Official and a
candidate himself for party favor. Thus, so far as
r arrangements we're made on the part of the city
< authorities to preserve the peace, TO keep order
and quiet, and secure fair-dealng at those polls
s you find il committed TO men who stood in the
/ condition of Dom, Owens, and Goddard-parti
zans in the contest interested in its result-men
e through whose agency this foreign legion had
banded together and taken possession of the polls
l am not here, gentlemen, to question the right
of man to vote, because he had his birth in ano-
ther Jurisdiction. l am not here TO question the
lawful right of any naturalized citizen Of the Uni
ted States having the local qualifications prescrib
cd by your charter to vote in your elections; nor
am to be understood as questioning the legal
right of any one of that banded legion, if he pos
sessed the qualifications, to cast his vote; but l
do say this--that know of no law, no considera-
tion civil or POLITICAL that entitled those foreign
born to privileges over our native-born | have
no sympathy with the sentiment, elsewhere ex-
pressed, that those whom poverty or crime has
cast upon our shores, have greater rights to
exercise civil or political privileges, than those
whom Providence produced on our soil; but
do say that when one of two political parties
shall band together for the purpose of claiming
priority of votc-sha band together, and in solid
phaanx, take possession Of place Of voting by an
arrangement preconcerted, with design avowed
before hand, it is calculated to lead to distur-
bance, and to breach Of the peace, whether il is
done by the native or by the foreign born. It must
lead to disturbance. Unjust lead to breach Of the
peace. So that in tracing, gentlemen, the origin
of the morning riot, justice to the parties, and JUS
tice to this case requires to begin investiga
tons at the threshold, so that we may find out the
responsible authors, and lay at their doors the