The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1865-11-28
AnImnortnnt Decisioh.

An important DECISION,
The decision of Judge Trigg, of the us.
District Court mt Nashville upon an appl-
cation for a writ of hdbeds corpus, In the
case Of Dick McCann. Is one Of considerable
importance. McCann, after having sur
rendered and been paroled in the usual
manner, was arrested by the State authofi-
ties of Tennessee and imprisoned upon The
charge of having sat IN confederate Court
martial which tried, condemned and exc
cuted one Haun, for acts committed CON
trary to the laws OF war. Ffhfg1
! Judge Trigg decides that q Federal Jndge
has no jurisdiction in the case of an indi-
vidual held by State authorities fOr offences
not committed against the United States.
The application was therefore denied but
before reaching this decision. the Judge
went over considerable ground. He quotes
I Nattel, Wheaton and other authors to show
/ that the late war was civil war; hence
| that any act of Confederate Court mar
! tinl, duly organized Is hota punishable
/ ohense. After quoting u great many
authorities, Judge Trigg adds:
! Now with the facts of the late rebellion.
, AZ it is usually called, staring us all in the
! face, and in view of the authorities Just
! cited, and especially that emanatng from
the highest judicial tribunal in our country,
1 am at Il loss to perceive how any Judge
or Court. whether State or Federal can
| assume the responsibility of pronouncing
otherwise than that 1t was Il civil war-that
the parties engaged In it wen belhgerentS,
and. as such. entitled to exercise every
right accorded to them by the laws of war.
1t will, of course, be conceded that, II il
Were civil war, and the parties engaged
in it were belligerents in the sense of in
ternational law, then whatever one of the
belligerent parties might do in conformity
to the law aud tiSages of war, so also might
the other party.
1T Is my opinion, therefore. that If the
charges made against IIaun. AS the same are
stated in the petition. were true he would
be an offender against the laws of war,
and might properly be tried by a mil
itary court. And that the members of
such court, If they acted in good faith even
though they may have given a wrong
Judgment, can not be held personally re-
sponsiblc upon al Indictment, or other pro-
ceeding, civil or criminal, in state court.
for the part they may have enacted in such
trial. The laws Of war being part of the
laws of nations. and consequently are laws
of the United States, the courts of the re-
Spective states are as much bound to re-
spect them rs are the courts of the United
States
As Il decision from a Federal Court that
the south possessed belligcrent rights. and
that whatever zone of the parties might do
in conformity with the law and usagcs of
war, might be done by the other party
the above Is of much more than ordinary
Importance. In its concessions may be
found II solution of the difficulty which be-
sets Chief Justice Chase in his efforts TO So
cure Il trial of Davis Chicdgo Times.
II
| The spread of the cholera IN southern aud
central Europe is creating a terrible panic,
which of course aids the disease in its raw
ages. We ought to get ready for its visit
to our shores next Spring, and by timely
sanitary precautions mitigate its horrors rs
much as possible. Some cases have already
occurred on board of steamers coming
| hither from Europe. II .......t
LII = ----4Nl
| 1t is rumOred that a crushing reply to
| Earl RuSselrs arguments against England's
responsibility for the rayagcs of the Alaba-
ma and other British pirates is in course
of preparation at Washington, and will
soon be sent across the Atlantic.
According to some of the Toronto pa
pers, the people of that city, and the Cana
dians generally, are ranging under the ter
rible Fenian scare. " Toronto and its
environs are picketed with regulars and
yolunteers,and everything kept in readiness
for conflict
An actor in the Park theatre Brooklyn,
while attempting to come down from a
theatrical mountain, by means of the limbs
of theatrical tree, broke one of the limbs
and tumbled promiScuously to the floor,
whereby one of hislown limbs was badly
| fractured.
At last accounts from Bombay east In
dies), DR.. Livingstone, the celebrated
traveller, was there, preparing for another
| tour of exploration into portions of Africa