Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-11-25
SPEECH OF HON, DAN'L ". VOORHEES,
OF TERRE HAUrE. INDIANA.

iSfEECH OF HON. DAN'L w. VOORHEES,
/ OF rERRE HAUrE, INDIANA. "a
Delivered at Charlesto,cm, "a, Nor. s
1859. upo, the Trial Of JOHN e. Cook
1 indicted for Treason, Murder and Ancat
ing Slaves to Rebel at the Harper's Fer
sy Insmrectio's.
WIrH TtfE PERMISSION OF TIE CouRT--
Gentlemen Of the Jury: The place I &C
cupy in standing before you at this time il
one clothed with a responsibility as weighty
and as delicate as was ever assigned to an
advocate in behalf of an unfortun ate fellow
man. No language that can employ coule
give any additional force to the circumstan
ces by which | am surrounded, and which
|press so heavily on the public mind as wei
as on my own. ! come, too, as a stranger
to each one Of you. Your faces I know on.
lily by the common image we bear to oul
Maker; but, in your exalted character O
citizens of the ancient and proud Common
wealth of Virginia, and of the Americat
Union, bear to yon passport OF friend
ship and letter of introd uction.
I come from the sun5et-siae Of your West
ern mountains from beyond tie rivers that
now skirt the borders of your great State ;
but come no. as an alien to foreign land
| but rather as enc who returns to the home
of his ancestors, and to the household from
which he sprang. [ come here not as an
enemy, but Is friend with interests com
mon with yourselves, hoping for your hopes
and praying that the prosperity and glory
Of Virginia may be perpetual. Nor do |
forget that Tie very soil on which I live, in
my Western home was once owned BY this
venerable Commonwealth as much as the
soil on which I nov stand Her laws there
once prevailed, and all her institutions we're
there established as they are here. Not on
" my oNn State of Indiana, but also four
Other great States il the Northwest, stand
as enduring and lofty monuments Of Virgin
las mngnani1hity and princely liberality =
Her donation to the general Goaernment
made them sovereign States; and since
God gave tie fruitful land Of Canaan to Mo-
ses 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 fealty and du-
ty which owe to tie supremacy of your
laws, the sacredness Of your citizenship, or
the sovereignty Of your State? Rather
may the child forget its parent and smite
with unnatural hand the author of it's be-
ing! s,
The mission on which I have visited your
State is to 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 duty of private friendship for fam
lily fondly beloved by all who have ever
witnessed their illustrations Of the purest
social Virtues, commands, and alone COM
mands 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
when say that one qualification, pure and
unalloyed, has been afforded us since our
melancholy arrival in your midst. It las
been to Witness 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
impartial'ty, the true course of the law
and the even pathway of justice, | would
iidt be true to the dictates Of my own heart
and judgement, did I not bear voluntary
and emphatic witness to the wisdom and pa
tent kindness of lis Honor on the bench
tile fsahly and generous spirit which has
Characterized the counsel for the prosecution;
the true, decoted, and highly professional
niatner 6f tie local counsel here for the de-
fence; tie scrupulous truthful ness of the
witnesses who have testified, and the deco
rum and business Of the juries who have
acted their parts from the first hour of this
Court to the present time-I speak in the
hearing of the country. Animportaut and
memorable 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 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 be silent on this
point. e 43 L4a
Gentlemen, [ am not here on behalf Of this
pale faced, fait-haired wanderer from his
home and the paths of duty, to talk to you
about legal technicalities of law born Of la
borious analysis by the sight of the midnight
lamp. I place him before you on no such
ground. He is in the hands Of friends who
abhor the conduct Of which ho has been
guilty. But does THAT fact debar him of
human sympathy? Does the simple act
smite the erring brother with leprosy which
forbids the touch Of the hand Of affection
Is bis voice ofrepentance and appeal for for
giveness stifed in his mouth If SO, the
meek Saviour Of the world would have re-
coiled with horror from Mary Magdalene,
and spurned the repentant sorrow of Peter
who betrayed him. For my client avow
every sympathy. Fallen and undone bro
ken and ruined as he is by the fall, yet, from
the depths Of the fearful chasm in which he
lies, l hear the common call which. the
wretched make for sympathy more clearly
than if it issued from the lofticst pyramid Of
wealth and power. If He who made the
earth and hung the sun and moon and stare
on high to give it light, and created man
joint heir Of eternal wealth, and put within
him an immortal spark of celestial fame
which surrounds His throne, could remem-
Der mercy in executing justice when His
whole plan Of Divine government was as
sailed and deranged; when His law was set