Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1859-11-25

Upon the trial Of john L. Cook indict-
Cd for Treason, Murder, and Incl
ting S,ares to rebel at the HaYpers
Ferry Insarreetion.
WIrH THE PERMISSION OF THE CoURr--
Gentlemen Of the Jury The place |
occupy in standing before YOU at th,
tine is one clothed with responsibility
ss wcishty and as delicate as was ever
assigned p an advocate in behalf,of an
unfortunate fellow-man. No language
that can employ could give any addi-
tional force to the circumstances by which
am surrounded, and which press so
heavily on the public mind, as well as on
ny own. | come, too, as a stranger to
each one Of you. Your faces | know
only by the common image we bear to
our Maker; but, in your exalted char
acter Of citizens of the ancient and proud
Commonwealth of Virginia, and of the
American Union, bear to you a pass
port of friendship and letter of intro
Iuction.
come from the sunset-side of your
Western mountains-from beyond the
rivers that now skirt the borders Of your
grea, State but / come not as an alien
TO = foreign land, but rather as one who
returns to the home of his ancestors, and
10 the household from which he sprang
/ come here not as an enemy, but as
friend with interests common with your
selves, hoping for your hopes, and pray
ing that the prosperity and glory of Vir
GINA may be perpetual Nor do forget
that the very soil Ga which | live in my
Western home was once owned by this
venerable Commonwealth as much as the
soil on which | now stand Her laws
there once prevailed, and all her insti-
tations were there established as they
are here. Not only my own State of
Indiana, bat also four other great States
IN she Northwest, stand as enduring and
lofty monuments of Frgiuia's magma
ninity sEd priucely liberality. Her do
nation to the General Government made
thern sovereign States; and since God
-sve the fruitful land Of Canaan to Moses
asa Israel such gilt OF present ana
future empire has never been made To
au7 reepIe. Coming from the bosom Of
2is iera States cen f5Tgot ihs ieRl
81 and juty which I owe TO the suprem-
acy Of your laws, Tie sacrednoss Of your
citizenship, OF the Sovereignty Of your
State? Rather may the child forget its
parent aud smite with unnatural hand
the author of its being
The mission on which ] hare visited
your State is to me, and to those who
arc With me, one full of the bitterness
and poison of calamity and grief The
high, the sacred, the holy duty of pri-
vate friendship for a family fondly beloved
by all who have ever witnessed their
Illustrations of the purcst social virtues,
commands, and alone commands, my pre-
sence here. And, while they are over
whelmed By the terrible blow which has
fallen upon them through the action of
the misguided young man at the bar, yet
! speak their sentiments as well as my
own when ! say that one qualification,
pare and uualloycd, has been afforded us
since our melancholy arrival in your
midst II las been to witness the pro-
gress Of this court from day to day, sur
rounded by ell that is calculated to bias
the minds of men, bat pursuing with
calmness, with dignity, and impartiality
the true course Of the law and the even
pathway Of justice | would not be true
10 the dictates Of my own heart and judg-
ment did ] net bear voluntary and enl-
phat:s witness to the wisdom and patient
Aindness Of his honor on the bench, the
maniy and generous spirit which has
characterized the counsel for the prosccu-
lion, the true, devoted, and highly pro-
fessional manner Of the local counsel
here for the defence, the scrupulous
truthfuiness Of tie witnesses who have
testified, and the decorum and business
OF she juries who have acted their parts
from the iirst hour OF this court to the
present tiine--1 speak in the hearing Of
the country. An important and memo
rablc page in history is being written.
Let it not be omitted that Virginia has
thrown around band Of deluded men,
who invaded her soil with treason and
murder, all the safeguards OF her Con-
stitation and laws, and placed them in
her courts upon an equality with her own
citizens. know Of what ! speak and
nay love Of truth AID sense Of right for
bid me to be silent on this point.
Gentlemen, am not here on behalf
Of this pale-faced flir-haircd wanderer
from bis home and the paths Of duty to
talk to you about legal technicalities of
law born OF laborious analysis by the
light Of the midnight lamp. place him
before you on no such ground. He is
in the hands Of friends who abhor the
conduct of which he has been guilty -
Bat does that fact debar him of hJman
sympathy? Does the simple act smite
the erring brother with leprosy which
f5rbids the touch Of the hand Of affec-
ton? Is his voice Of repentance and
appeal for forgiveness stifled in his mouth?
Ii So the meek Saviour Of the world
would have reeoiled with horror from
Mary Magdalene, and spurned the re-
pentant sorrow Of Peter who betrayed
him. For my client ayow every sym
pa;hy. Fallen and ubdone; broken aud
ruined ss be is by the fall, yet. from the
depths Of the fearful cbaslD 10 which be
lice, hcor sbs common call which the