The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-01-19
RInck on Jury Trials.

Deen making speech, Ilaces WaSnlngJOn' ;
date, 9Th of January; occasion, Democratic
pOw-wow; subject, Milligan decision of the
Supreme Court. jeremiah was patriotic,
almost as much so as when he gave that
opinion in 1850, that the Government had
no right to coerce the secessionists. Jere-
miah was jubilant; the occasion OF his Joy,
as stated by himself, being as follows:-
''Three private citizens of Indiana, perfectly
innocent of any offense-I say perfectly tlao-
cent, because, up to this time, no human oelhg
has ever legally sworn even 10 Oettg OF i tneir
guilt-these citizens were arrested, kidnapped,
and carried before body OF men wholly WiInouI
power to meddle with them-not authOrizeq
even to swear witness ior tnen OF 9SatuSt az 81
them-and there, after a proceeding which 1t
would be mockery TO call trial, they were
ordered to be killed on certain hXed day. In
this condition of things the judicial authorities
intervened, and, l1uh the dtd OF PresldeW J0hn-
son, the victims were rescued"
This is Jeremiah's pOeticol statement OF
the simple facts that, in the fall of 1854, an
extensive conspiracy had been formed in In
diana, which contemplated the violent over
throw of the constituted authorities of that
State, the liberation of the Rebel prisoners
confined within its limits, and the practical
commencement of that "flre in the rear"
which Mr.. Blacks friends were so fond of
threatening during the war; and that said
conspiracy was detected and overthrown by
the United States Government, and the three
chief movers in it tried by a military commits
sion and sentenced to death. These are the
three "innocent" men Of whom Jeremiah so
feeLingLy speaks. Doubtless, in his eyes, they
are greater patriots than any brave Union
soldiers who laid down their lives upon the
battlefield.
Mr.. Blacks allusion to President johnson,
who was present and listened to the speech,
is exquisite. How gracefully and delicately
the Presidents agency in saving these three
"innocent" men from being "killed" is alluded
tol Who would suppose, from reading this
speech, that the findings and sentence of
the very Commission which tried these three
innocent" men, and condemned them to be
'skilled," were officially approved and sane
toned by Mr.. johnson himself, short time
after his accession to the Presidency? Jere-
miah's fulsome and awkward adulation must
have been rather nauseating, under the cir
cumstances, to the "Humble Individual" We
can imagine what his sensations must have
been as the Hon. Jeremiah next proceeded
to deliver himself Of the folloWing:-
"Wnen the causeIcane into the supreme Court
the simple question was whether a citizen
could be lawfully deprived OF his life without
fair, honest trial. before an impartial jury and
regular court. To this there could be but one
answer, and that ans Wer was given unInInlonsty,
all the Judges Welding their full and u1reSerVed
assent to it. They held, in effect, that the pre-
tended trial was conspiracy, ana mat the eGe'
eution If ii had taken place, l0Ould hd0e been
mere Iaqoless murder What else could they do
apjfbO Oln MI M
cedriy forbidden by The Fundamental tdoo that no
one can make any mistake about Il, # ne has
sense enough to k0l1 has right hand from his tet"
Did no vision of Mrs. Surratt and her CO.
conspirators in the assassination Of Abraham
Lincoln-tried and convicted, without Jury,
by military commission, and executed by
the order of Andrew Johnson-hash through
the Presidents mind as he sat and list
eued to this petifogging plea for assas-
sins and conspirators, under the guise
of a defense of the trial by juryP The
Hon. jeremiah so states the decision OF
the Court as to convey false impression,
The Court did not render its decision on the
simple ground that citizen could not law
fully be deprived of his life without trial by
Jury. Indeed there was no question of life
or death before the Court, as the prisoners
had had their sentences commuted to impri
comment. The majority held that this tria
of Milligan by military commission was un
lawful, because there was not at the time
such state of war in Indiana as to obstruc
the regular action of the courts. Had there
been, the trial would have been legal. ThC
minority held that the trial was unlawful, be
cause by a special act Of Congress, passed tC
meet such cases, the accused was entitled t
a trial before regular court
The truth is, that our politicians of thu
Black order rejoice over this decision, no
because they have any special love for tn,
trial by jury, or because that decision esta
blishes the rights of the citizen on any flrme
foundation, but because it covers the case
of a class Of disloyal miscreants who ar
thereby likely to escape just punishment 70
their crimes, and can be held up by them
selves as a sort of shield to their own unpa
triotic and Rebel-sympathzing position dul
ing the war. Very little did Black 81 Con
pany care about the trial by jury when JET
Davis and his minions we're imprisoning, roI
bing, and numbering the Union men of th
South; very little when they were shootin
down our brave boys on the battlefield.
is only when this principle is invoked in sue
way as to benefit, not the friends of til
country, but its enemies, those who sought I
overthrow it, conspirators and assassins, tht
Black is suddenly charmed with the right