Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1865-11-17
Judge 1, P. Thompson's Charge
tothe Grand Jury.
Staunton Va, Nov, 5th, 1865.
GRAND jury RooM.
Circuit Court of Augusta Co.,

lion. LHcuS Il. HO1nj)sON,
Judge of the Circuit Court &c.
JupGE:-I am instructed by the members
of the Grand Jury for Augusta County, Gf
not incompatible with your idea of propriety)
that you furnish the News papers of the Town
with copy Of the very able, and appropri-
ate charge delivered to them on the conven
ing Of your Court.
Very Respectfully
your obedent Servant,
go. JOHN NEWTON,
Foreman Of the Grand Jury,
S Staunton, Nov. 9th, 1868.
DEAR SIR:--I have received your note OF
| the 9th, inst, asking me to furnish Il copy
of my charge to the grand jury. delivered on
the first day of the term, for publication In
compliance with your request, IL send the
manuscript, granting you permission 70 give
it such destination ay you desire, and remain
| very respectfully, r
~, Yonr obedient Servant, 20.
LUCAS F. THOMPSON.
To JOIN NEwToy Esq. q
! Foreman Of the Grand Jury.
| GENTLEMEN OF THE GRAND JURY.---I con
graduate you npnri the return Of peace, the
reopening of the Courts Of Justice, SO long
virtually closed by the violence Of war, and
upon SO suspicious an occasion az that OF our
reassembling, to inaugurate' the reign Of law
and order, Of the civil authorities, in the
stead OF despotie will or martial law, so hos
tile to- subversiye Of, and so justly obnoxious
to civil liberty When Ii.last addressed a
grand jury of Augusta from this place, our
country was struggling in the threes and
| commissions Of a gigantic civil war, the like
of which, in magnitude and violence, this
country has not witnessed, if any Of its pre-
decessors has, and worst of all wars, a civil,
fratricidal war; and which since then has
eliminated in the defeat and overthrow OF
our arms. Divine oracles inform us that the
race is not always to the swift, nor the bat
tie to the strong, but in this case victory has
perched Oh the banners Of the strong; wheth-
er because might and right were on the same
side, or because a victory vouchsafed to Ms
would have been our eventual ruin and was
therefore denied us by the allwise Disposer
Of human events, are questions dependant
for their solution upon matters Of speculation
and conjecture, which it is not my province,
on such an occasion as this, to attempt to
solve, and which | will leave to. every one
to solve, or attempt to solve, to his own sat
isfaction This is neither the time the place,
nor The occasion fer INDUCING in painful and
gloomy retrospects and mootipg the question
OF the causelessness or justification of the late
disastrous civil war, Instruction, Or rebel
lion, or whatever else it may be called, or OF
the guilt Or innocence of the agents North OF
Soath who inaugu1ated it, and whether Oh
not, but fer the insane agency of these arch
fleets Of ruin, both North and South, fanat-
les, extremists abstractionists, the war may
have been averted. These are questions
corum non judice, before State tribunal. =
They belong 20 the Federal authorities, exc
cutiyes, legislative and judicial, to deal with
in justice, mercy and charity. as to them
shall seem meet and proper, and to the en-
lightencd opinion Of mankind, both Nortl
and South, and OF the civilized world. Since
the past, the gloomy, disastrous past, car
not be recalled, let it be forgotten, or re-
membered only to serve as buoy, or beacon
light, to warn us against the .brakers anc
n,icksands Of the future, and not at all fol
the purpose Of elimination and recriininatior
between brethren, the one class accusing the
other of being the authors of our calanlities
/ Let MS ignore the past, except for the lesson.
it so impressivly reads us, for 2our presen
and future guidance, of the inetfable hor
tors Of civil war, and of the necessity Of mu
fual forbearance, the cultivation of fraterna
rcclings abstinence from sectional prejudices
fanaticism, extreme opinions and political alb
straetions, to avert its recurrence
Speaking for the present, I feel warrant
ed, from my acquaintance with the people o
Virginia and her constituted authorities, ONT
and all. and their sentiments on the subject
in expressing the opinion, that they are with
out an exception, SO far as lhave any reason
to suspect or believe, now loyal citizens o
the United States, having in the most per
feet good faith returned to their allegiance
and resumed their former status, as true ano
loyal citizens of the United States and tn
restored government of Virginia many,
not majority, from preference, a life Ion;
dHu lititultil dttdCiIiHcub " Inc CuIOIl
transmitted to us by our revolutionary an
cestors, with Washington at their head, bu
all as the result and consequence of newt
able necessity, making itavirtue to acquiesc
and submit after the issue has, been decides
against us by aeoge'' of battle, the arbitransen
at arms, the iudicium del, he@ultima rati
regain, from which there is no appeal to an
earthly tribunal, to re-hear, re-judge and re
verse the decision save only the appeal to tn
tribunal of impartial history, whose jurisdic
ton and province it will be to. ,yindicate Q
condemn the justice of our8cause, tho purit
of our motives and our right. and title to sue
cess, though we failed to achieve it, Or tn
reverse. I'll, - fig x
Never since the adoption Of thes Feders
Constitution of l7sg was the Union estab
lished on irmer and sctsufer basis in Vil
ginia than at this moment, net only becaus
OF the preference of some and the acquies
cence of all in the present inevitable neces
sity before referred to, but because of til
| universal conviction, from the test it has mn
dergone, that it is indiasoluble -indestruct
ible Whether this discovery Of the irrefrag
ible strength and consistency Of the Unio
will prove blessing Or a curse will depen
upon circumstances-upo future develop
ments. Having overcome and ayerted for
ox,o,. ,,,,o tha Jo,,roru Of ,x,,,.