The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-11-16


give life for life.
Eye for eye tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
foot fer foot.
Burning for burning, wound for wound.
stripe for stripe ~
Net SO. She asks nothing of the kind at your
hands. Punishment has already been swift
and sure. The measure OF her vengeance for
the great wrong committed against her is fulf
and her Vindication Is sample before the world.
She met her invaders on the spot and those
who lifted their hands against her are, most
OF them, Ia the graves to which Eirgtnians
consigned them; lew bound In her prisons.
aad a few Others wanderers and tugitiyes on
the face OF the earth The Executive and citi-
zeas Of Sonr State guided the bolt which fell
upon this mad offspring Of ioathsone fantti-
cisIn. and the invasion perished at a siagie
blow And, ia the spirit of the ans wer Of Cushi
10 King David, wouid say TO you The ene-
mics OF the State of Virginia, aud all that rise
against her To do her hurt be as these men
are" But as the great King of Israel rose up
and went TO his chamber. and wept over the
untimeis fall of Absolem, the rebeiiious son of
his own ioins, who had lifted his parricidal
hand against the life of an indulgent father,
may not the world commend similar emotion
IN the breast OF jury of Nirginians over the
sorrowful fate of The youthful prisoner al the
bar You will probably say that the lives of
| your citizens have been sacrificed answer
that Is lamentaby true; but 1t is also true that
life has been taken already 10 atone for life; that
| the blood of murdeEsge, older aud wiser than
| the prisoner, has been poured out iii response
| the ground. You will say that the soil o. your
State has been polluted by the foot of the traitor
| | answer that that footstep rested but as for a
moment on your border, and was swept away
by whiriwind OF patriotic indignation. You
/ will say that your law has been violated; your
| dignity and honor as q free people insulted
! answer, that, alas IL is too true; but answer
i also, that il is equally true that your laws
| have been fully, thoroughly, and justly vindi-
| Gated. Here IA this Court, again and again, the
| sword of justice. welded by an even hand, has
| fallen upon the miserable remnant of the con-
| federated band who impiousiy mocked the IN
| tegrity OF the American Union by assailing
| the institutions OF Virginia. The leader stands
| AZ the foot of the gaiiows, aud on its height
| will expiate many crimes against the pesrce
| and laws OF TINS country-not least amongst
| which is the crime OF enlistiug young men,
| such as the prisoner, in a cruise OF piracy
against you and /, and all law abiding citizens
| of tins happy Union Let the leader OF the
| muliny on ship board perish but If is appears
| that young men have followed false guidance
| and been bound in the despotism of an iron
| WILL order them back To duty, ana give them
! one more chance 10 show whether they are
| worthy OF life or death. Virginia can mus al
| ford 10 act Ii is one OF the Chief dressings OF
! power that ii can extend mercy 10 the WeaH )
| ana the crown leWel OF courage IL haSHahiih-
ity 10 the fallen.
But there is another point on which Fir-
| giuia though mourning for the death OF her
| citizens has trumphantly met the asperslons
and caiumnies OF the enemies OF beI domestic
institutions by reason of tie late outbreak at
Harrer's Ferry. The Institution of domestic
slavery to-d day stands before the "ofid more
fully justified than ever before in the history
of rhis or, indeed perhaps. of any other coun-
| try. The Iiberator, urged on ny iaise ana
| spurious philanthropy, deceitfui and sinister
in its origin. and selfish and corrupt IN lis
| practice, came Ia TO your midst 10 set The bonds
man free, and though Violence tore him from
his master. though liberty was sounded III ms
ear, though a leader was proclaimed to lead
| hlm 10 the promised land, though an lmpIous-
! IL Self-styied Moses of deiiyerance came III
the might of the sword and placed arms ol
| bold attack and strong defence in his hands
| vet what Il spectacle do we behold. The bonds
man refuses 10 be free; drops the implements
OF war from his hands; is deaf TO The caii oi
freedom; turns against his liberators. and, by
| instinct, obeys the }aJunctlon OF Paui oy re-
turning 10 his misteri Shall this pass foI
nothingi Shall no note be made Of this piece
of the logic of our Government! Shall the
voice OF the African himself die unheard on
the question OF his own freedom No. 1t shai
be perpetuated. 1t shall be put in the record
| The slave himself, under circums fances tht
: most tempting and favorable 10 his love oi
freedom, if he has any; surrounded by men
| aud scenes beckoning INN on to vengeance, tc
! liberty and dominion; with the power o.
: | life aud death over his master in his hands
and the world open before him; with the man
. acle and chain. which was never forged Oh
welded except in the heated furnace of a riot
Gus and prurienI imagination, stricken IRON
his body, turns eagerly and fGndly To the con
dition assigned him by the law not merely o
y
makers but by the law of his being, by th'
law which governs his relation 10 the white
man wherever the contact exists bY the law
which made the hewe OF wood ana drawer:
| of water under government formed by Goo
himself and which, since the world begaf
, down to the present time, has made the IN
!, ferior subordinate 10 the superior WheneVe
/, | and wherever two unequal races nave Deer
| brought together. Let this fact go forth u
the country Let it be fully understood b,
) those men and women who languish and sigi
. | over the condition of your institutions Ina
their sympathy is repudiated. and that the.
{ themselves are despised by both races In III
= South. This, TOO, Virginia has proven
u !, Is there anything left to be done by you
: | verdict in peremptorily taking the life OF tn
. | prisoner and offering it a sacrifice TO heal tn
l wrongs of your State ! I humbly conceive
that Virginia in no respect needs such a s;aefl
: : flee. This much think have shown
D And now let turn TO the prisoner. l
. Virginia through YOU, can afford to be elem
O ent your inquiry will then be, is the object ol
i whom you are asked TO bestow your ciemenc.
worthy to receive it j know the field o
: | which | now enter is filled with preconceive
;, ideas but ia thespirit of truth shall expior
5 it, and by the truth OF what say am VIII
! ing that my unfortunate client may be Judge
q by YOU and moreover, by that God IN who's
q | presence no hidden things exist, and befor
n whom, at no distant day, you and snail sian
"a with him and see him and know him as he II
:, and not as we see him and know him now, en-
;. compassed by the dread and awful calamlte
~ of the present hour.
: Who is John f. Cook He has the righ
e himself to be heard before you but VIII an
L. swer for him. Sprung from an ancestry {
j. ioyal attachment to the American Govern
d ment he nherits no blood of tainted impurity
is His grandfath ather an officer OF the Revoluuo
Ne by which your liberty as we'll as mine wa
le achieved, and his grey haired father, whe i've
t. to weep over him, Il soldier OF the war ol ieI
10 he brings no dishonored lineage INTO you
- presence. If the blood which flows In his VEN
n has been offered against your peace, the sam
II blosd in the veins of those from whose ION
.r he sprang has been offered in fierce shock {
,r battle and foreign invasion IN oenaiI OF III
Il neople of Virginia and the Union. Born OF
N parent stock occupying the middle Walks
~ life and possessed of all those tender and Ok
If mestic virtues which escape the CONTAINING
IF ton of those vices that dwell on the iroZe
q peaks or in the dark and deep cayerns OF sc
q ciety ne would not have been here had prectl
d ana example been remembered IN the prooigi
% wanderings of his short ana cheq quereo me
n Poor deluded boy. waywnrd, misied chHo
il An evil star presided over tiny natal houi an
q smote il with gloom. The hour ia which tn
J. mother bore thee and blessed tiee as hef oiut
= eyed babe upon her knee is ID her now one
"a bitterness she stands near the DIRK Vi tu
/ chill river of death and looks back on 4 nam
;, hith.rto as unspotted and as pure as the IN
d stained snow. May God stand by and sustai
+ her. and preserve the mothers OF virgin
n from the waves of sorrow that now RON owe
l, her.
Is Not only the ancestry of John 4. Cook, bu
V ali with whom his life is now bound up, star
! before the country your friends, ana I'D
i. friends of the Constitution as hanueu ooWh
J. us by the valor and wisdom of Washington
n will not shrink from the full and absolute re
C coguition of my position. You and l, gehtie
n men of the Jury, can have no secrets In I'M
: | case from one another. We will Withdraw
h the curtains, and look each other fuily In IN
: face A citizen OF the State in which hye, wh'
n by virtue of his brilliant and commanding IN
an ..f hlSs nations