The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1859-12-30

| ne~ed Applause
Now, gentlemen, 10 my own humble
task:
Fellow citizens-A citizen Of one o
the northern States of this Union, at the
head of other citizens, on certain Lord:
day, on that day of holy rest, entered
armed-armed for murder and treason
into the State of Virginia, burst open the
houses of private citizens, and seized them
and their property by force, and .laugh.
tered in the streets inofensive unarned
men. He undertook then and there to es
tablish revolutionary government, and
proposed to arouse there, to kinde
there, those flames of civil and servie
war, and to bring upon that peaceful com.
munity and State, all those horrors oi
massacre, desoation and devastation, ra
pine and ravishment that follow in the
train of civil and servile war. So enga
ged, he was arrested in the very act oil
blood, rcd handed, with his murdered vic
tins at his feet, and held to trial bv the
jnstice OF the Commonwealth of Virginia.
He was deliberately carried before court
of examining magistrates; he was, in the
due course of law presented to the grand
jury of the county; he was by that grand
jury indicted and arraigned before the
courts Of the State. Before these courts
he received not only justice, not only mer-
clful treatment, but even more than, in
the ordinary course of the administration
of justice, is granted to prisoners in this
Commonwealth. He had such counsel
assigned to him as he chose; he had those
counsel changed at his will for other coun-
sci; and as he was deliberately and fully
tried, and upon that full and deliberate
trial he was convicted Of violation ofthe
laws of the State of Virginia, and upon
| that conviction he was sentenced, and up
on that conviction he was executed by the
authorities Of the State of Virginia: APP
pause, and cries of ''Good,' "Good."1
He was executed as having Justly for
feited his life to the peace and the laws of
Virginia. Nay, in anticipation of this, he
enjoyed all possible resources of argument
and investigation of the law to see ifthere
were any defect in the proceedings of the
trial, and all such questions of law as his
counsel-able and learned men-found to
be competent were carried to The highest
Court Of Appeal of the Commonwealth of
Virginia, aud there considered. | say to
you, gentlemen, that upon these facts
John Brown was duly and lawfully tried,
convicted and executed [applause; that he
rendered up forfeited life to the justice
of the State of Virginia; unless, gentle
men, it were the fact-for no other posi-
bio ouart;,p of l,,y oonIJ ,+,,l - a. . ,u,,,
that the State of Virginia had no juris-
dict;on of the offence committed. If the
State of Virginia had jurisdiction, then
her determination Of that question was to
be unappealable on this earth. That is
the law of the land, that is the law OF the
State of Massachusetts,; and there are very
many gentlemen here who well remember
when prisoner was capitally convicted in
the State Of Massachusetts,, on due trial
before our courts, how indignant the peo-
pie of Massachusetts were that certain per
sons and journals of the States of New
York and Pennsylvania should presume
insolently to questian the legality CT this
action of the Courts of Massachusetts. 1t
was for US to determine that question,
we said, and we said truly; that is
the fundamental principle of State sove-
reignty-our undisputed right to try a
criminal found red d-handed on our own
soil.
Was there conflicting jurisdiction in this
case' Gentlemen. it happened to me,
when administering the laws of the Uni
ted States, to render an opinion that the
armorv at Harper's Ferry is under the ex-
elusive jurisdiction of the United States,
and in no part of the jurisdiction of the
State of Virginia. That opinion was true
| know it. | know it as well as l know
The multiplication table, or that the square
of the hypothenuse of a right anged tri
angle is equal to the square Of the two
sides, Loud applause The counsel for
John Brown said that this opinion was i'll
compatible with the progress of the trial,
inasmuch as John Brown must be indicted
in the courts of the United States, and
could not be tried in the courts of Virgin
ia. To this point of law, founded upon
my opinion, the counsel for the Com
monwealth replied, improvidently, incon-
siderately, unwisely, that my opinion was
not good law; that it might be good law in
Massachusetts,, but it was not good law in
Virginia. aid thereupon the trial proceed
ed Isay that it was an ill-advised sug
gestion on the part of the counsel for the
| Commonwealth, because it created the i'm
preston through the Northern States that
Virginia had really usurped the power o.
the United States. For the law did no
rest upon my opinion. There were adiu
dications of court after. court throughou
the Union which established it. ga,
that was an i'll advised suggestion.
Gentlemen, if it had been so, say here
: what in private l have said to others,
myself would have done that most invid
ious thing for me TO dol would hav
gone to the State Of Virginia,-I woul
have appealed TO Judge Parker, of tn
Circuit Court, to Senators Mason all
Hunter, and to Governor Wise of Virgin
ia l would have appealed to them b
every consideration of an old and lon
friendship and respect,-I would have az
peaed to their sense of honor and regard
not 10 the United States only, but to tn
Commonwealth of Virginia, to desist fror
f that procedure. Nay, | would have gon
, one step further; / would have presente
myself before the Chief Justice Of the Uni
ted States, and ! would have obtaine