The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1865-07-26


! Constitution OF the United States has added:
ain all criminal prosecutions. the accused
| shall enjoy the right 10 a speedy and public
trial, by an impartial jury of the States and
district wherein The crime shall have been
ommited, which district shall have prev
ousy been ascerained by law; and 20 be
informed of the nature and cause OF The ac-
cusaion; 10 be confronted by The witnesses
! against hin, TO have compulsory process
for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and 10
have the assistance OF counsel for his de-
! fence" How this was specially added 10
the Constitution, by amendment, upon the
unanimous demand OF the people, is a fact
too well known to you for me TO dwell upon
it. You may not be so familiar with The
facts that laughs lie founder OF Pennsylvania
The value of ''lrial by ju7y." will relate
them briefly: they will not seem iuappro-
pirate 10 the day dedicated 10 civil liberty
nearly two hundred years ago, William
Penn was tried in Mayors Court OF Lon
don, on charge of ''rioi." You may smile
10 hear that The riot consisted in holding a
! Quaker meeting. The trial was one of the
! inVasions oil the rights of conscience 10
which men were exposed, who, in that day
! did not follow the form OF worship OF the
| Church of England.
The Mayor and the Recorder and the Al
German of London sat as judges, and Twelve
sturdy freemen OF London were the jury
| When William Penn was called upon TO
nIa bae eaiD 3 d.Si hat LAT
: me know by what law it is you prosecuted
me, and upon what law you ground my in,
dictmeni.D They had no law to show, so
they tried 10 silence the prisoner. The Re-
corder cried out 10 the Mayor, "My Lord, if
/ you take not come course with this pesIi-
lent fellow TO stop his moath, we shall not
| be able TO do anything tonight" ''Take
him away!n cried the Mayor, stake him
away, turn him iIio the Bale-dock." To
which the nndiSmayed Quaker answered,
''ls this justice, or true judgment. Must |,
J therefore, be taken away because plead
! for The fundamental laws oi England2 How
ever this leave upon your consciences,
who are of the jury, and my cole judges,
that Il these ancient fundamental laws
which relate 10 liberty and property must
not be indispensibly maintained and obser-
we'd, who can say be hath right 10 the coat
on his back? Certainly, our liberties are
openly to be invaded; our wives 10 be raw
ished; our children shaved; our families ru-
ined; and our estates led away in triumph
by every sturdy beggar and malicious inior-
] Tho ord ofb bna n arfb xvili ha
indge between US in that matter"
But they thrust him into the dock and
gave his case TO the jury. Now mark The
sequal, The unjust judges were willing
enough to say that Quaker meeting was a
riot, but they could not bring an honest jury
10 say it. TLey would not convict the
prisoner Then The Court siormed al the
! jury and threatened them with fine and i'm
prisonment Al this William Penn cried
out from his dock, ''lt is ihio!erable that my
! jury should be thus meuaced. Il this ac-
cording TO the fundamental law2 Are they
not my proper judges by the great charter of
EngIandln Then the Recorder broke in
again, 'My Lord, you must take course
with that same fellow" "Jailofr cries the
| Lord Mayor, "bring letters and stake him 10
| The ground" "Do your pleasure" said Penn,
: 81 matter not your feuers.' Then the Re-
corder spoke these words,--mark theH, Tor
they are The creed of him and all like him,
and there are many like him alive this day.
The Recorder said, "Till now never under
stood the reason of The policy aud prudence
OF the Spaniards in snffering the lnqulsiiion
among them; and certainly i, never will be
well with us, ill something like the Span
| ish Inquisi,ion be i'll England.
But the sturdy English jury were no Span
ish Inquisilion, and They stuck 10 their ver-
diet OF "Hol guilty."
Such is "uial by jury," dear 10 the heart OF
every freeman. The worshipers of arbitra-
~ power hate il; they prefer the Spanish
Inquisiiion or ''lhe something like it," q
military commission.
Let the people whom William Penn
planted on this soil say which system suits
Them besi. Il they have not degeners,ed,
they will declare for ''civil liberty, as their
foreIalhers did upon the lth of July, l776 ;
for which we are here to-day TO honor
them. And now, fellow citizens, in cele.
braling This day, let Pennsylvanians not for
gel lis later illustration, from the great figh,
which to Us, surely, was the greatest o! The
war. Two years ago, the rebel army flush
ed with victory a, Fredericksburg and al
Charlottesville was marching 10 the invas-
ion of the North. You have not forgotten i,
here, for il bad almost reached your doors.
But ii me; at Gettysburg, 10 fair open fight,
the galInat army OF the Potomac, under a
Pennsylvania soldier-second 10 noIe-the
gallant Meade and after three days of des-
perate battle, the rebel host was driven, baf.