Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-07-01
THE RECENT TRIALS AT KNOX
VILE.

The readers Of this paper have been duly
advised from day to day Of the progress and
incidents Of the recent trials at Knoxville
against Major MCCAIN and others, and we're
notified on yesterday Of the second verdict
Of acquittal Unless the prisoners are held
under some other malignant prosecution we
presume they are discharged from legal Gus
tody and set at liberty under their paroles as
soldiers, given when the Southern armies
surrendered in the spring Of 1865. The in
dictments for the alleged murder Of HAUS
and the HARNIONs were the charges under
which they have been, for nearly year, I'M
Justly held, and this solemn mockery Of JUS
tice enacted, and while we congratulate
them as individuals on the result, We think
the country has yet greater cause to re-
joice.
The parties MCCANN, KAN, RAMSEY and
RoDDY were Confederate officers duly com
missioned, and duly paroled under the
GRANT-LEE and SHER1sAN-J oHNsTo,, terms
Of capitulation. Relying upon the good
faith Of the Government they returned to
their homes, but we're shortly liter arrested
and indicted for participation in the proceed
ings Of a Confederate court-martial held at
Knoxville in December 1851, for the trial q
citizen bridge-burners, three Of whom were
condemned and executed. The arrests were
made by State authority at the instigation
Of private prosecutors, and the trials just
concluded have been held in a State Court.
The United States Government, through all
Of its officers, civil and military, have de-
clined to take steps against them, and the
highest military authority, Lieutenant-Gen-
eral GRANT, recommended their release,
while Judge TRIGG Of this L. S. Judicial
District, gave an opinion, on a motion be-
fore him, for the privilege Of the writ -of
habeas corpus, that the State Courts had ne
cognizance Of the ofense with which they
we're charged. They we're held nevertheless,
and for the ends of truth and JUS
tice, which though often tardy are al
ways sure, it was perhaps better that the
wrath and vindictiveness oftheir prosecutors
should wear itself out before a court and
jury.
Their acquittal under the circumstances is
a gratifying evidence Of the return of sanity
and sense Of justice. They went to trial
with no hope Of favor or Partially in the
rulings or construction Of the law as they
might be delivered, and before juries selected
from a community whose feelings had been
strongly agitated by the events to be brought
under review, and relying for defense upon
counsel who had stood opposed to them in
the civil war, the character Of which
was necessarily to become a subject Of
discussion. In every sense in which an
arraigned party can be so considered,
they were aliens and strangers TO all proba-
bic kindly and merciful construction, and
botally excluded from all chance of favorit-
ism. They stood naked in the presence ftheir
enemies, clad only in the vesture Of law and
right, and in this they passed the ordeal as
did the prophets in the fiery furnace, with
out scorch or smell of fire on their garments,
and stand forth to-day, witnesses to the tri-
umph of laws and justice over persecution
and malevolence.
That HAUN and the IIARAIoNs were de-
priyed Of their lives was not denied-that
the military court which condemned them to
this fate was Of Confederate or "rebel' au-
lhority was admitted-but that these men,
as actors in that scene were murderers, and
were not in all their doings within the pur-
view and under the authority of the law Of
nations and the code which controls belliger-
ent rights, was not and cannot be proved.
An intelligent jury Invested of prejudice and
looking only to the law and the fact could
not find otherwise.
The result of this trial should have the
wholesome effect Of restraining the passions
which iustigate such suits. 1t is the duty Of
the courts and the administrators of the law
to discountenance and discourage all like |
They are born in the spirit of /
mischief, and can possibly come to no good |
The public officer who lends his influence |
to promote it is unfit for his position, and is
preparing for himself a pit of damnation
whose depth is bottomlcss, and out of which |
there is no resurrection.