Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1859-11-30
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POLITICAL.

| Washing u" COHStuutIOn OF the I'm
inst, contains the argument of the Hon.
Daniel w. Voorhees,, of Terre Haute, In
diana, as counsel for the defendant,upon
the trial of John K. Cook, indicted Tor
treason, murder, aid melting slaves to
rebel at the Harper's Ferry instruction,
delivered at Charleston, Virginia. 1t &C.
cuples upwards Of five columns. 1t is
u Ost powerful and truly eloquent ad =
dress. As forensic effort, we have rarely
read its equal in brilliant merit, and its
bitter, burning denunciations of those
who planned, and Of those who instiga-
ted and encouraged the instruction at
Harper's Ferry, afford wise and solemn
lesson to American citizens upon pat
riotc duty. Mr.. Voorhees, has perform.
ed a most delicate, difficult, and painful
task, nobly and well. He denounces the
crime Of which his youthful client stood
conicssedly guilty, and, at the same time
makes most touching and beautiful APP
peal for mercy for the misguided you'll.
No one can read his alIusion to the
wretched prisoners father and mother
and sister, couched, as it is, in language
which must reach the stoutest heart,
without feeling deep commiseration for
| them, as well as for the misled and I'M
happy cause Of their deep and bitter
sorrow, and feeling Of horror at the acts
Of those who seduced that miserable boy
to enter upon such career Of crime.
In the commencement of his address,
Mr.. Voorhees, makes the following beau
tiful allusion to the relations existing be.
tween Virginia and Indiana. He says:
81 come from the sunset side Of your
western mountains-from beyond the
rivers that now skirt the borders OF your
great state; but come not as an alien to
| foreign land, but rather as one who re-
turns to the home Of his ancestors,and to
the household from which he sprang. l
come not here as an enemy, but as a
| friend with interests common with
yourselves, hoping for your hopes, and
pray ing that the prosperity and glory Of
Virginia may be perpetual. Nor do |
forget that the very soil on which ! live
in my western home was once owned by
this venerable common wealth Is much a.
the soil on which now stand. Her laws
there once prevailed, and all her institu-
tons we're there established as they are
mere. Not only my own state Of In
diana, but also four other great states in
the northwest, stand as enduring and
lofty monuments of Virginia's magma
nimity and prncely liberality. Her do
nation to the general government made
them sovereign states; and since God
gave the fruitful land of Canaan to Moses
and Israel, such gift ofpresent and future
empire has not been made to any PEG.
pie. Coming from the bosom of one Of
these states, can forget the fealty and
duty which owe to the supremacy of
your laws, the sacredness ofyour citizen
ship, or the sovereignty of your state |!
Rather may child forget its parent, and
smite, with unnatural hand the author Of
its being"
In regard to those dangerous teach
ings which warped and misled young
Cooks mind into the path OF crime, the
eloquent Indianian spoke as follows
Read it. 1t contains thoughts that
breathe, expressed in words that burn !:
"The visionary mind of the prisoner
heard from member of congress from
Massachusetts, that new constitution, q
new Bible, and new God were to be in
augurated and to possess the county,
They were to be ,ae,o, because they we're
to be ant! slavery, for the old Constitu-
ton, and the old Bible, and the God of
our fathers the ancient Lord God Of
Israel, the same yesterday, to>day, and
forever, were not on the side of aboli-
tionism. Is thee no mitigation for his
doom, in the fact that he took his life in
his hand, and aimed at that which a
coward taught hun, but dared not him
self attempt. Base, pusilanimous dema-
gogues have led the prisoner to the bar,
but while he sutfers-it suffer he must -
they, too, shall have their recreant limbs
broken on the wheel. | will not leave
the soil of Virginia, will not let this
awful occasion pass into history, without
giving voice and an utterancc to its
trne purport and meaning, heaping upon
its authors the load of execraton which
they arc to bear henceiorth and forever.
Day after day and year after year has
the balefull simeon OF revolution, anarchy,
discord, hostility to the south, and her
institutions, swept over that section Of
the country in which the lot of the prs-
oner has been cast. Tha. he has
been poisoned by its breath, should it cut
him Oft from human sympathy; rather
should it render every heart clement
toward him. He never sought place
or station, but sought merely to de-
velop those doctrines which evil and
traitorous persons have caused him to
believe were true. Ministers, editors,
and poiticians-Becchcr, Parker, Sew
ard, Giddiugs, Sumner, Hale, and a
host of lesser lights Of each class who
in this court room, who in this vast coun.
try, who in the wide world, who shall
read this trial, believes them not guilty
as charged in the indictment in all the
courts to a deeper and far more fearful
extent than John E. Cook. Midnight
gloom is not more sombre in contrast
with the blazing light of the meridian
sun than is the guilt of such men in CON-
parison with that which overwhelms the
prisoner. They put in operation the
maelstrom which has eugulphed him.
They started the torrent which has
borne him over the precipice. They
called forth from the caverns the tempest
which wrecked him on 4 sunken reef
Al Ia y