Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-06-23

bic that Il should DC The very Safeguards de-
signed By the Constitution. II IL has such jurisdc
toe, are Wholly unavailing. Trial BY jury in all
cases our English ancestors deemed as Story
correctly tells us) "tho grcsi bglvark Of their
civil and political liberties, and watched with an
unceasing Jealousy and solicitude. IL constituted
one OF the funda mental articles OF Magma Charta.
"nEllHs liber homo eapiaf4r nee insSrisonefsr aHf
sxHlef. sm aliqu0 m0do dssfrgGfur. dc. nisi per
I>gale Isdician DaTiEm susyBm. Ua per Ie9em
ferr0 This great right The A nericsB colonists
brough, with them a. their b.rihright and ioher-
itznce. IL landed with them II jamestown and
on the rock Of Plymouth. and Mas equally priced
By Cavalier and Puritan, and ever since 10 the
breaking out Of The rebellion has been en-
joyed and esteemed the perfection aud proud
privilege OF their posterity At times
during the rebellion il has been disre-
garded and denied The momeDtOus nature
Of the crisis brought about By that stupendous
crime involving as il did the very lie Of the ma
ton. has caused the people to tolerate such dis
regard and denial Bat the crisis, thank God
has passed. The authority of the Government.
throughout our territorial limit Is reinstated 20
frm that rejecting men heTe-and elsewhere arc
convinced that the danger has passed never 10
return The result proves that the principles on
which the Governmen rests have impaired to IL a
vitality that vii! cause il to endure for time, IN
spite OF foreign invasion or domestic insurTec-
ton: and one Of those principles. the choicest
one, is the righ. in cases Of criminal prosecn-
tons to a speedy and public trial by an impartial
Jury" and ia of treason 10 the addition al
securities before ayeried 10. The great purpose
of Magma Charta and the Constitution was TO
quote Story again. "to guard against spirit
Of opposition aud tyranny on the part Of rulers,
and against a spirit of violence and vindictiveness
on the part Of the people" The appeal Tor
safety can. under such rcumstances, scarcely be
made by innocence. in any other manner than by
the severe control of courts of justice, and by the
firm and impartial verdict Of jury s~orn to do
right, and guided solely by legal evidence aud a
sense of duty in such n course there IS a double
security against the prejudices Of judges who may
partske OF the wishes and opinions OF the govern
mcnt, and against the passions Of the multitude,
who may demand their victim with clamorous
precipitancy" And Justice Blackstone. with the
same deep sense of its value, meets the predic-
ton of foreign writer, "that because Rome.
Sparta. aud Carthage. at the time when their lib
eres were lost. were strangers TO the trial by
Jury" - Bla, 379) That right so val
ued and esteemed by our fathers to be accessory
10 civil liberty, so important to the very existence
of free Government. was designed by them to
be made TO depend for it. enjoyment upon the
war power. or upon any power entrusted TO any
department Of our Government, IL a reflection
on their intelligence and patriotism.
! Mr. johnson then proceeded, at considerable
length. to establish the proposition that "the AR
ticles OF war, if they provided for the punish
ment OF crimes on trial, and authorized such a
court this. do not include such parties are
on trial; aud, until the rebellion, | am not aware
that different construction ever intmated
Ii Is the exclusive fruit of the rebellion.
| In the course of his elaborate argument Mr.
johnson saws As counsel tor of the parties
| should esteem myself dshonored il | attempted
to rescue my client from a proper trial fer the
offense charged against her by denying the juris
dlctiOn OF the commission upon grounds that
did not conscientiously believe TO be sound. End
ir what have done have not more had in view
the defense OF Mrs Surratt than the Constitu
ton and the laws. In nv view, in this respect
her cause is the cause OF every citizen. and let il
not be supposed that am seeking TO secure i'm
punity TO any one who may have been guilty
of the horrd crimes of the night of the 18th oil
April Over these the civil courts OF this dis
trict have ample jurisdiction, and will faithfully
exercise il il the cases are RENTED TO them,
aud il guilt is legally established. will surely
award the punishment known TO the laws. God
forbid that such crimes should 60 unpublished. In
the black catalogue OF ofenses these will for
ever be esteemed the darkest and deepest com
mtted by SHINING man, and, III common with TIE
civilized world. do | wish that every legal pun
ishment may be legally inflicted npon all who
participated in them
word mere gentlemen. and, thanking you
for your kind attention, | am done. | have not
remarked on the evidence in the case OF Mrs
Surratt. uor is il nv purpose But il Is proper
that refer TO her case in particular for a single
moment That woman we'll educated and, ss
far as we can judge from all her past life, ss we
/ have il in the evidence. deyout Christian, ever
kind. affectionatc and charitable. with no motive
disclosed to us that could have caused a total
change in her very nature. could have partci
pated in the crimes in question il is almost ion
possible to believe. Such belief can only be
forced upon a reasonable uususpecting. unprej
udiced mind by direct and uncontradicted evil
dence coming from pure and perfectly unsus-
pected sources
Have we these Is the evidence uncontra-
dc;edE Are the two witnesses. Wiechman and
Lloyd, pure aud unsuspectedl OF the particu
lars of thoir evidence | say nothing. They will
be brought before you by my associates. But
this conclusion in regard to these witnesses mus,
have weight in the minds of the court, and is
certainly strongly impressed upon my own. that
II the facts which they state as to their
connection with Booth aud Payne are true, their
participation in them is much more satisfactorily
established than the alleged knowledge aud par
tcipstion Of Mrs. Surratt
As far, gentlemen, as | AM concerned, the case
is now in your hands.