The Van Buren press., 1859-12-23

the prisoner has been cast. That he has
been poisoned by its breath should not cut
him off from human sympathy rather
should it render every heart clement toward
him. Tie never sought place or station.
but sought merely to devclope those doc
trines which evil and traitorous persons had
caused him to believe were true. Ministers
editors and politicians-Becchcr, Parker,
Seward, Giddings, Sumner, Hale, and a
host of lesser lights Of each class-who in
this court room, who in this vast country,
who in this wide world shall read this trial
believe them not guilty as charged in the
indictment in all the courts to deeper and
more fearful extent than John L. Cook /?
a isari sss gfrssE1 Is act Fs~rc sosnl-e ;r con
trast with the blazing light Of the meridian
sun than is the guilt of such men in COM
parison with that which overwhelms the
prisoner. They put in motion tho mael-
strom which has cngulphed him. They
started the torrent which has borne him
over the precipice. They called forth from
the caverns the tempest which wrecked him
on sunken reef Before God, and in the
light of Eternal truth, this disaster at Har-
pers Ferry is their act, not his May the
ghost of each victim to their doctrines of
/ dlsunlon and abomination sit heavy on
their guilty souls May the fate of the
prisoner, whatever it may be, disturb their
Slumbers AMI paralyze their arms when
they are again raised against the peace OF
OF the country and the lives of its citizens |!
know by the gleanl of each eye into
which | look in this jury box, that if these
men could change places with young Cook.
you would gladly say to him, g Go, erring
and repcntant youth, our vengeance shall
fall on those who paid their money. urged
the attack and guided the blow" Let me
appeal to you, gentlemen of the jury, in
the name of Eternal truth and everlasting
right, is nothing to be forgiven to youth, to
incxpericnce, to a gentle, kind heart to a
waywar'l and peculiar. though not vicious
character, strangely apt to be led by present
influences, gcneraiiy anu ii,.e
been over the mind of the prisoner. | have
shown you, also, the false and malirn-
ant coun sells = in behalf Of this sad enter
prise emanatinS from those in place, pow
| or and position. 1t might have been your
prodigal son borne away and scduced by
such counse!s as well as my young client
Do with him as you would have Your own
child dealt by under like ci,sRm stances.
He has been stolen from tho principles of
his ancestors and betrayed from the teach
ings Of his kindred, If he was your own
handsome child, repcntant and confessing
his wrong to his country, what would you
wish aJury OF strangers to do ? That do
yourselves. BY that rule guide your vcr
diet and the poor boon Of mercy will not
be cut OIL from him.
He thought the country was about to be
convulscd (: that the slave was pining for
an opportunity to rise against his master
that two thirds of the population of the
country, North and South, would flock to
the standard of revolt that q single day
would bring ten, fifty, yea, a hundred thou
sand men, to arms in behalf Of tho insur-
rection of slaves. This is in evidence Who
are responsible for such terribly false views,
and what kind of a visionary and dreaming
mind has entertained them ? That the
prisoners mind is plant to the impress
sions, whether for good or for evil by which
it is surrounded, let his first interview in
prison with Gov. Willard, in the presence
of your Senator, Col Mason, bear witness
His error was placed before him. His wrong
to his family and his country was drawn by
patriotic and at the same time an afec
tionatc hand. His natural being at once
asserted its sway. The Influence of good,
not of evil, once more controlled him as in |
the daysof his childhood and now he~e, !
before you, he has the merit of loyal citi |
zen making all the atoncmcntin his power
for the wrong which he has commttcd.-I
That he has told strictly the truth in his
statement is provcn by every word of cyi- |
dcncc in this cause.
Gentlemen, you have this case. Isurren-
der into your hands the issues of life and
death. As long as you 1.-Two a more impor- |
tant case than this you will never be called |
to try. Consider it, therefore, well in all
its bearings. l have tried to show You the
facts which go to paliate the conduct of the |
prisoner. Shall | go home and say that in |
justice you remembered not mercy to him?
Leave the door of clemency open do not /
shut it by wholesale conviction. Re
member that life is an awful and sacred
thing--rcmember that death is terrible
terrible at any time and in any form.
Come to the Bridal Chamber, Death
Come where the mother feels,
Fo- the first time, her first born's breath !;
Come when the blessed seals
That close the pestilcncc are broke,
And crowded cities wall its stroke
Come in Consumptions CHASTITY form,
The Earthquakes shock, the Oceans storm;
Come when the heart beats high and warm
With banquet song, and dance and wine.
And thou art terrible. The groan,
Tho knel. the pail, the bier,
And all We know. or dream, or fear
OF agony are thine"
But when the frightful mien Of the grim
monster, when to the chill visagc of the
spectre of the glass and the scythe. is added
the hated, dreaded spectre Of the gibbct, we
turn shuddering fl oln the accumulated hor-
ror. Oh, spare this boy, and those that
love him from such scene of woe.
Ipart from you now, and most likely for
ever When we next meet-when l next
look upon your faces, and you on minc--it
will be in that land and before that Tribu-
nal where the only plea that will save you
and l from a worse fate than awaits the
prisoner, will be mercy. Charity, the
paramount virtue all else is as sounding
brass and tinklinS cymbal. Charity suffer-
eth long and is kind. Forbid it not to como
into your deliberations, and when your
last hour comes, the memory that you al
lowed it to plead for your erring brother,