The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1858-05-11

AT Canandaigua, being some three or
four hundred miles west Of New York, he
stopped; and the first knew of him was
as an apprenticed clerk, or rather student
at law, in Mr.. N. Howell's law Office
that gentleman being the most learned
and able lawyer for hundreds Of miles
round. 1t was while in that relation, that
the Prince Louis Philippe, late King ol
the French. then fugitive from France,
and wanderer over the wids of America,
came through the almost interminable for
ests of the west, to the remote village of
Canandaigua. He was fine tall fellow |;
anG as John Greig was an European ms well
as himself, and they were both far from their
ancestral homes, they became boon com.
panions. / saw them shod in Indian moe
casins, with rifles and knapsacks, go out
after the deer and wild ducks on tho bor-
ders of Canandaigua lake. The intimacy
thus formed was renewed in after years,
under very altered circumstances.
The shepherd boy passed through his
regular studies at law, was admitted as a
solicitor barristcr, and then as counsellor
at the several courts; and on the invitation
of his former master, he entered into part
nership with him, and enjoyed an extern
sive practice. During this connection, the
young Scotchman distinguished himself as
an able advocate and special pleader, gath
ering fame from all ranks of clients; and
had he continued in that profession, no
doubt he had attained its highest honors.
But very singular circumstance rendered
his profession distasteful to him, and he
quilted it to return to it no more.
A few adventurous pioneers had pene
trated the forests to the foot of Lake Erie,
and thrown up few log huts on the spot
where the city of Buffalo now stands
These outlandish men, doubt not, were
worse in their moral characters than the
tribe of Seneca Indians inhsbiting the Buf.
falo tracts, lying about two miles from the
new settlement. The whites carried raw
whiskey into the country as part Of their
stores; and they freely used their Jfre-wa-
ter, as the Indians call it, in their trading
intercourse with the natives. 1t was not
unusual, therefore, for wild and unseemly
revels to occur in the night time, at one
or more of these log huts; and quarrels of
a desperate character sometimes ensued
between the red and white men. At one
of these, an Indian warrior known to the
whites as stiff armed Joe, killed two of the
pioneers in desperate fray. There was
fault on both sides, no doubt; but when
the fatal blows were struck by the warrior,
his victims followed him in his retreat
when he suddenly turned upon them and
despatched them with his tomahawk.-
This red warrior was captured, and impris-
oned at Canandaigua, and indicted by
white grand jury for wilful murder. In
the absence Of the Attorney General, John
Greig, the shepherd boy Of Perthshirc,
was specially commissioned as public pros
ecutor of the red warrior. The celebrated
Indian Chief and orator Red Jacket, who
was at the head of the tribe where the
homicide had occurred, appeared as sole
advocate for the accused warrior. Greig
knew but little Of the ilustrious chief
when he took his seat opposite to him at
the trial. Rcd Jacket was always too
proud as savage king to speak in any
language known in Europe, though he un-
derstood French and English we'll On
this occasion, two able interpreters were
present, who were instructed by the Court
to give the literal meaning to the testimo.
ny Of some IHdan witnesses, and to trans.
late at length into English whatever might
fall from Red Jacket.
should have said that the presiding
Judge was mono other than Chief Justice
Kent, whose works on jurisprudence are
famous even in England. Two days were
occupied in producing evidence before the
jury. In this process, as well as in the
cross examination, the native orator dis
played the most consummate skill and a.
droitness. He knew that the homicide
had occurred in a drunken brawl, when
the witnesses minds were befogged with
the fumes of liquor, and their recollections
of the Incl ents would necessarily be con-
fused and contradictory. Hence he avail
ed himself of the legal right to separate
the witnesses, and allow none to be pres
ent in court except the one under examina-
ton. In this way he obtained from them
a confused medley Of facts, abounding in
discrepancies and contradictions.
/ need not detail John Greig's forensic
efforts on the occasion; suffice it that his
speech to the jury was classical, neat, and
legally correct, while his questions to the
witnesses were pertinent and searching
On the third day Of the trial it was the
chieftain's providence to put forth the pris-
oner's defence-and what defence 1t
was highly intellectual treat. The ora
tor first raised the great constitutional
question, whether an alien people could
assume jurisdiction over the aborigines of
the country, and try them for alleged
crimes committed in a country bestowed
upon them by the Almighty. In discus
sing this, he said the Indians right to the
country was coeval with creation itself;
whereas, the pretended right of Europeans
to any portion of the soil was acquired by
fraud, force, or aggression, and thereby
rendered nugatory by the paramount law
Of nature. This was plea to the jurisdic
ton Of the court; on the close Of which, |
Red Jacket folded his arms upon his breast,
and came TO a solemn pause. Then, fast
ening his piercing eyes on the chief justice
as il he would rivet his very soul by scru-
tiny, he asked laconically, "What says the |
great iaw man to thisi"
Chief Justice Kent replied that the
auestion raised WINS n yerv orava one in. |