Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1865-07-11
SECOND EDITION
FOUR O'CLOCK, p. NJ =.
THE TRIAL OF THE AssAssINs
THE MANAGEMENT OF tn
DEFENCE EVIDENCE 40
OTHER QUESTIONS,

l
The army and Nary Journal, commen,.
stgy upon the manner of conducting the late
trial of the conspirators, says;
| The defence seems to have been wretchcdly
| conducted for tho most part. Rovordy johnson
was tho only professional gentleman Of we'll
known skill aud experience, At the very outset
he became, unfortunately involved In personal
alteration of the bitterest character with the
President OF the Court Martial, and sevC al Of its
members. Anybody reading that strange episode
strange, at all events, according to ordinary
| IDEAS Of u court Of justice-will see how essen
tally ne was to occupy false and suspicious po-
sition, Whenever Afterwards he appeared before
| the Court. In fact, with only q slight cross-cx-
a'ninaton In the caso Of his own especial client,
| he withdrew from tho conduct Of the trial. He
| drew oil, ~ " In disgust or despair, until his
| final argument against the jurisdiction Of the
Court-tho ablost one OF the trial, aud the thing
| chiefly worth second reading. OF course, each
| reader can form his own opinion Of Its morits.
| The other counsel for the defence were not more
| fortunate than Mr.. johnson. Some OF them seemed
to be frivolous and inexperienced young men,
who wasted the time and patience Of q court
which certainly did not possess any more pa
tience than ordinary courts by foolish questions
to witnesses, and by discussing constantly mat
tors which could not help thor clients in any
eajo, while the very disputing about them dam
| aged their own appearance. The evidence lii, at
length, some Of the most ridiculous pleas imagin-
able were set up. IN some cases crime was ad
mittcd, and very inconsequential and tame ap
|
| with the proverbl coolness Of the profession,
NJ II the Judges were parcel Of stupid jurymeu.
And In very few instances bad the evidence been
led carefully up from the start to franc the basis
| After ell, however, there was some excuse for
the weakne'F OF tho dctence. The odium OF the
crime, the conclusiyoncss Of tho te9timony, the
| state Of public -eling, and some other reasons
prevented much display Of skill. II Is very plain
that It would have made no Rpprcciable di fer
once In the re ut II the attorneys for the defence
had been much stronger men. Aud SO, too, the
conduct OF the prosecution is susceptible Of some
| explanation. Tho court does not seem to have
taken great deal Of interest In the Identical
prlsonors at the bar, after the FIRST few days It's
chief anxiety seems rather to have ben to intro
duce evidence on other que stions, entirely dier-
ent from those concerning the already doomed
wretches before 1t, and involving another aud
a higher class Of persons. The conduct, during
the rebellion, Of Davis, Lee, Deauregard Sanders,
Clay, &c, wa the subject chiefly Interesting to
the court. The New York hotel confagrations.
the hollish yellOw-feyor plot OF blackburn, Ito
| worse than savage treatment of our prisoner
tho Canada raids-thege and similar topics we ,
~ carefully iuvCs igated as II II was for thcsc
purposes the court was conyers5 II Is hard to
| understand what these had tOuu with tho sub
ioc In hand. But after all, lot 1t DO how It will
We arc glad that these horrible atrocities Of the
most accursed Of rebellions were so cOnspicuOusly
Got forth-a matchle3s train Of infamy, which
| eliminated in the murder OF the good President
Lincoln-a fitting close.
1t will be easy for tho Journal to under
stand, after little timc, the full bearing
which the evidence "on the other questions )
will have But without applying any por
tion of the evidence to cases which IN,
arise in the future, it is clear to us that The
count desired to show the country that the
leaders of the rebellion, in locking the
Independence, "a secondary consideration
by the way,) were not pursuing that homo =
able warlike mode recognized and practic
upon by the civilized nations of the 9 IL.
but that they resortcd to evory name1ble,
cowarJly, barbarous and uncivilized means
hat could be devised to destroy unpro tcctcd
cites and innocent and unarmcd commur'
ties. The court deemed it necessary to 20
largely into tho taking of testimony, which
might appear irrelevant to some, in order to
show to the country and the world that as.
sassinntiOn was not an improbable agency
4 or such men as DAVIS & Co. to employ
They who would impol, clothing intectc d
with the yellow fever in which innocei
babes werc to be wrapped that they mig d
die in their cradles, would plot the assa 'sina-
on of the chief agents of u government:
armed men who would seize IN unarmed
vessels upon the high seas, and murder a
crew. would do nything. The evidence 4
other questions" it will be observed, ther
fore, roally has n direct bearing upon tie
mRin question, namely, that there wr7 n
great conspiracy, consisting of variety OF
anti-war agencies, of which JEFF. DAVIS
was the chief, to take tho life OF the nnton
In this view We do not conceive that any Of
the testimony taken before the commissioners
was irrelevant or bnwise.