The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1861-02-05

leVyIng war.
In the language of Chief-Justice Marshall;
alt is not the intention of the Courts to
say that no individual can be guilty of this
crime who has not appeared in arms against
his county.
"On the contrary, if war be actually lev
ied-that is, if a body of men be actually as
sembled for the purpose of effecting by force
reasonable purpose-dU those aohO per-
form any part, ho1ceUer minute, or hoceper re
mote from the scene of action, and who are
actually leagued in the general conspiracy,
are to be considered as traitors"
AS the Courts have already said to you,
the combination and assemblage of a body
Of men with the design of seizing, and the
actual seizing of the Forts and other public
property in and near Charleston, South
Carolina, and in some other States, is levy
ing of war against the United States. Con-
sequently, any and every person who en-
cages therein is by the law regarded as
levying war against the United States, and
all acho adhere to them are to be regarded as
enemies, and all a0ho giUe them aid and com
fort, an South Carolina or Neac York, or in
any other portion of the United States, or
elsewhere, come within the express provis-
ions of the 1st section of the act of 30th
April, 1870, and are guilty of treason.
aid and comfort to our enemies, it is some
what difficult in all casesto defiHe; but certain
it is that furnishing them with arms, or mu-
nitions of war, vessels, or other means of
transportation, or any materials which will
aid the traitors in carrying out their trait
orous purposes, with knowledge that they
are intended for such purposes, or melting
and encouraging others to engage in or aid
the traitors in any way, does come within
the provisions of the act And it is i'm
material whether such acts are induced by
sympathy with the rebellion. hostility to
the Government, or desire for gain.
Under the second section of the act of
1890, all who have any knowledge of any
such acts of treason, and do not, as soon as
possible, make it known in the manner
therein prescribed, are guilty of misprision
of treason, and subject to the punishment
therefor.
Your inquiries must be confined to- of
fenses committed within the jurisdiction of
this Court, that is, within the Southern Dis
trict of New York, and upon the high seas.
Although there may be question, whether
the jurisdiction of the Court in such cases,
is not more extended, you will for the pres
ent confne your investigations to the limits
prescribed Within this limit, IT is your
any person or persons, have been, accord
ing to the principles of law laid down by
the Court, guilty of treason or mispr;si0n of
treason, and if you are satisfied that either
of these offenses have been committed, to
faithfully end fearlessly present the offend
ers, that they may be punished
1t Is the duty, and it will unquestionably
be the desire of all good and true citizens
to do, in their respective spheres everything
in their power to suppress rebellion, expose
treason, and bring traitors to justice.
QUESTIONS BY THE GRAND JURoRs.-In-
quiries having been made by the Jury in re-
ference to their duties, the Court made the
following observations:
When the Grand Jury were in, the other
day, one of the members of your body sub
mitted certain question to the Court, which
| shall now proceed to answer.
81 FIRST: Whether it is the duty of the
Grand Jury to inquire into violations of the
law which may be incidentally brought to
their knowledge, and which have not been
presented by the District-Attorney, and
which he had no knowledge of p
In reply to that the Court would say,
gentlemen, that you are not necessarily con-
fined to offenses to which your attention
may be called by the prosecuting officer.
If any one of you have reason to believe
that any of the laws of the Federal Govern
ment have been violated, you are at liberty
to inquire into the matter, whether or not
your attention has been cslled to it by the
District-Attorney. Unquestionably you
have the right to make the investigation
The second inquiry is:
4" Whether it is expected of the Jury to
examine into the detention of felons and
Witnesses as to their safety, treatment, and
comfort, and as to whether any persons are
kept an unwarrantable time before trial?
The third inquiry is, " Whether it is ex-
pected that the Grand Jury would present
such defects in the practice in the Custom
House as render it easy for the clearance of
vessels for the slave-trade ?" With respect
to that, gentlemen, it may be well to con-
slider for a moment what is the jurisdiction
of the Federal Courts. First, then, they
can only inquire into the violations of the
Federal laws. The Federal Courts have no
common law criminal jurisdiction, and they
therefore have no jurisdiction over Offenses
that are not created by the Constitution, or
some act of Congress under the Constitu-
ton.
understand that it is the duty Of the
Grand Jury to inquire into all matters that
nro brought before their notice by the prose-
cutting officer. That is we'll understood. II
is well known that English Grand Jurors
have oftentimes-and probably it is a part
of the common law of England-inquired
into such matters but the Court is not
aware of any statute of the Constitution, or
of any practice in Federal Courts which
would make it the duty of Grand Juries to
inquire into and investigate matters en-
bodied in either of these questions.
The Court does not intend to say that you
may not make such inquiry, but then
it is outside of your judicial duties, and, if
you make report to the Court, have no
power to act, and can do nothing more than
file it with the records of the Court; and
therefore it cannot be regarded as the duty
of Grand Juries in Federal Courts to make
these inquiries.
You will now retire, gentlemen, and pro-
ceed with the business before you.
DKE FRUITS.
II 5 doz. quart jars Gooseberries, 3 doz. do.
Black berries, doz. do. Currants, doz do. Cher
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