New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-12-19
Ne(u Orleans 1ailp Crssttnt.
MONDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 10, 1859.
ARGUMENT or HON. DANIEL W. VOORHEES,
OF rERRE HAurE, INDIANA,

OF rERRg BAuTE, INDIANA,
Delivered at charles,own Va soy. s. 1852 upon NE trial
OF John 2. Cook
With the Permission Of the Court IA
Gentlemen Of tie Ju,,y-!The place occupy in
standing before you at this time is one clothed with
a responsibility as weighty and as delicate as was
ever assigned to an advocate in behalf OF an I'M
fortunate fellow man. No language that can en-
poy could give any additional force to the cireuin
stances by which ] am surrounded, and which
press heavily on the public mind as well as ON
my 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
character of citizens of the ancient and proud
Commonwealth of Virginia. and of the American
Union, bear to you passport OF friendship ana
letter of Introduction.
| 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
returns to the home of his ancestors, and to the
household from which he sprang. come here not
as an enemy, but as friend; with interests com.
mon with yourselves, hoping for your hopes, and
praying that the prosperity and glory. of Virginia
may be perpetuated. Nor do forget that the very
soil on 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 institutions were there
established as they are here. Not only my own
State of Indiana, but also four other great states
in the Northwest, stands as enduring and lofty
liberality. Her donation to the general Govern
ment made them sovereign States; and since God
gave the fruitland Of Canaan to Moses and Israel,
such gift of present and future empire has never
been made to any people. Coming from the bosom
of one of these States, can forget the featy and
duty which owe to the supremacy OF your laws,
the sacredness Of your citizenship, or the sover-
eighty of your State? Rather may the child forget
its parent and ste with unnatural hand the author
of its being!
The mission on which have visited your State sto
me- and to those who are with me, one full of the
bitterness and poison Of calamity and grief The
high, the sacred, the holy dutyof private friend
ship for a family fondly beloved by all who have
ever witnessed their Illustrations of the purest
social virtues, commands, and alone commands my
presence here. And, while they are overwhelmed
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, whenll say that one great gratiication pure
and unalloyed has been afforded us since our mel
ancholy arrival in your midst. 1t has been to wit
ness the progress of this court from day to day,
surrounded by all that is calculated to bias the
| minds Of men, but pursuing with calmness, with
dignity and mpartiaty the true course Of the law
and the even pathway of justice. would not be
true to the dictates Of my own heart and judgment
did not bear voluntary and emphatic witness to
the wisdom and patient kindness of his honor on the
bench, the manly and generous spirit which mas
characterized the counsel for the prosecution, the
| true, devoted and highly professional manner of
the local counsel here for the defence, the scrupu
ous truthfulness of the witnesses who have testified
and the decorum and business OF the Ilrles, who
have acted their parts from the first hour of
this court to the present timel speak in the hear
| ing of the country. An important and memorable
page in history is being written. be omitted
| that Virginia has thrown around a band OF deluded
men, who invaded her soil with treason and murder
all the safeguards of her constitution and laws, and
placed them in her courts upon an equality with
| her own citizens know of what speak. and my
| love of truth and sense of right forbid me to he
! silent on this point.
| Gentlemen-I am not here on behalf of this pale
| faced iair-haired wanderer from his home and the
paths of duty, to talk to you about legal technical.
tiles of law born of laporios 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.
| But does that fact debar him from human sym
patty? Does the simple act snite the erring
| brother with leprosy which forbids the touch OF
| the hand of affection? Is his voice of repentance
and appeal for forgiveness stifea in his mouth? II
| So the meek Saviour of the world would have re-
cooled with horror from Mary Magdalene and
| spurnel the repentant sorrow OF Peter who be
| trayed him. For my client ayow every sympa
| thy. Fallen and undone. broken and ruined as he
is by the fall yet from the depths of the fearful
| chasm in which lie lies | hear the common cal
| which the wretched make for sympathy more
clearly than if il issued from the loftiest pyramid
of wealth and power If He who made tie eartl
| and hung the sun and moon and stars on high II
give light and created Joint heir of etcrna
| wealth, and put within him an immortal spark o.
celestial flame which surrounds His throne coult
| remember in mercy executing justice when His
| whole plan of Divine government was assaied AM
| deranged; when His law was set at defiance ant
| violated: when the purity OF Eden had been de
filed by the presence and counsels OF the serpent
| why, so can Land can Non, when the wrong AM
| the crime stand confessed. and every atonement i
made TO the majesty Of the law which the prisoner
| has in his power to make.
| Let us come near to each other and have Il pro
| per understanding. | am laboring With You for al
~,
heart and of the leading attributes by which it i,
governed throughout the world. By virtue of those
attributes | feel that we may annhilate The dis
! lance that separates orr homes, sweep away al
I! binding excitement, and sit down together anG
reason upon this most tragic and melancholy
| affair becomes citizens of the same Government
| proud of the same lineage, actuated by the SAME
interests, and forever linked to the same destiny
Iou are not mere ly empanneled in your capacity as
Jurors to pass upon the life of this erratc youth be
fore you, but the nation cannot be divorced from
deep and permanent interest in your deliberations
The crime for which the law claims his life as for
felt is one connected with question of the weigh
test national import-a question which, without
any fault of yours, has rudely strained and shaker
the bonds which embrace and hold together the
States of this Union. This trial is incident to thai
question, and must be met in the face of the whole
nation, and in the view of the entire American
people, as matter of universal interest and con
Germ. The very nature of the offence now undei
discussion lifts us all to point of observation OF
Which, ildNt loIE Deul tLell
anxious looks. And the pressing, ever present
and determined question of the hour. which now
sits with you in the iuryboN, and win retire witt
you to your deliberations your verdict, is low
| shall you most fully meet the requirements OF the
! American people at large: best conduce to the
peace and repose of the Union: allay the rushing
| winds that are abroad the face Of the grea
deep: say peace, he still to the angry elements o.
passion and reasonable agitation and at the same
| time do all your duty as honest and conscientious
| men administering the laws of Your State? If i
| shall be in my power, in some measure, to poin
out the course by which these great objects may
be attained, / shall mark this otherwise sad day OF
which address you the brightest to me in thu
calendar of time. And, further, if these objects
are to be attained on your part by invoking into
your midst and following the winning counses o
the meek-eyed and gentle angel OF mercy, if yol
can faithfully discharge your oatls as jurors ant
at the same time best meet the Obligations which
rest upon you American citizens by temperns
the bitter cup which justice comments to the lip
of the prisoner with the ingredient of clemency,
know you, by the universal law of the human heart
will rejoice in such an opportunity. and join in tn
public and private happiness which will flow from
your verdict. By the help of God, and appean!
to Him for the purity of the motives which animal
my breast | now proceed to demonstrate such
course as both inst and wise in the of John f
Cook.
First of all things, gentlemen of the jury, is you
duty to Virginia. Whatever she requires at you
hands, that you are to give. Your first love belong
to her; she is the matron who has nursed you
and the Queen Mother to whom you owe allie
glance. As an advocate and defender at home Q