Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-01
From the New York Freeman's Jorrno, 0,,C-,,
Ole Register gill" O"'h-
JEFFERSON DAVIS,
THE FORTHCOMING 1,RTAI..
PACKING A JURY TO CONVICT HIM
AN ACT TO LEGALIZE THE PACK.
ING OF JURIES.


the present " Infamous Congress" His Sui
phuric Highness must certainly have hel1
up his head, and ceased to blush for his
radical friends, when he read the following
in the morning papers few days since
"Be ii enacted, DC, That no person shall
be held Incompetence to act as a Juror mon
any Grand Jury by reason of having formed
or expressed an opinion upon the matter
to be submitted to such Grand jury for in
yestigation founded upon public rumor,
statements in public journals, or the com.
mon history of the times, provided he be
otherwise competent, and on his oath de-
clare, and it appear to the satisfaction of
the Court that, Notwithstanding such opin.
ion, he can and will act impartialv uDon
the matters to be submitted, and the true
presentment made according to the eyi-
dence ; but the Court may, in its discretion.
set aside any such person.
'SEC. 2. That in trials for offences against
the United States no person shall be held to
be incompetent to act as uror by reason
OF having formed or expressed an opinion
upon the guilt or Innocence of the accused,
founded upon public rumor, statements in
public journals, or the common history Of
the times provided he be otherwise com
petent, and upon his oath declare, and il
appear to the satisfaction of the Court that,
Notwithstanding such opinion, no can and
will lmpartially try the accused upon the
crime charged in the Indictment or infor-
nation, and true verdict aive upon tho
evidence to be produced on the trial, but
the Court may, in its discretion, set aside
any such juror"
The clause in the Federal Constitution
which declares that GO in all criminal prose
cutions, the accused shall enjoy the right
to speedy and public trial by an i1RDaiiH
| ~ has been IOrpttU
stood as intended to place the great con-
mon law right Of trial by jury beyond the
danger of being tempered with by Just such
knaves and ignoramuses as have concoctau
the precious couple of sections cited above
from last weeks d0ings in Congress.
Juries, at the outset, were summoned
from the 0icindge, it is true, because, it was
supposed, they might thus have some per
sonai knowledge of the suitors, as well as
of the matters to be investigated. But, in
the progress CT the common laW-for no
more than Rome was it built in day.
come to be established that cases should be
tried by "impartial men, on testimony
adduced in open Court, and not on the
private, and, oft-times, secret knowledge Of
individual jurors. It was the right to this
mode of trial, SO perfected by experience,
that was intended to be secured by the con
stitutional guaranty to which we have caiici
attention.
Now, what is Impartial jury what
did the expression mean ut common law,
and what does the Constitution mean by
it 4? Simply this-a tribunal composed OF
twelve disinterested and unbiased men
that is, they must have no pecuniary OF
other interest in the question to be tried,
and their minds must be free from all pre-
JUDGE or precopception OF opinion. The
formation and expression of an opinion was
ground of "principal challenge" at com
mon law. A man whose mind was madou p
beforehand, was deemed not an "impar-
tial juror )" and it is the common lawright
of trial by San impartial jury" as we have
already intimated, that the Constitution
seeks to preserve.
Congress, however, undertakes to de-
clare that the formation and expression Of
an opinion shall not disqualify Juror, pro-
vided he will swear, and the Court shall
believe that Notwithstanding such Opiu
ion, he can and will impartially try the
party accused In plain English, a man
who comes into the jury-boX with biased
mind, and, consequently, is not impair
tial," either in the legal or common sense
of the term, shall, nevertheless, be suffered
to remain there, provided he and the Judge
concur in the opinion that. notwithstand-
ing his Partially, he will act with impair
TALLY. We scarcely think either the COM
mon laws or the Constitution designed to
leave the question of the extent to which
juror is likely to be controlled by admit
ted pre- udices, either to his OlOH or UtOHerS
decision. No humane being can deter
mine-much less can another determine fer
him-how far his Judgment may be in dan
ger of being warped by prepossessions,
whether we'll or i'll founded. A partial ju-
: ror might decide impartially; he might
easily swear to do so the Judge might be
lieve he would and yet the law has hith
erto held it unsafe to trust him. With
generous confidence this new act takes his
word, and-the chances.
But we have not yet alluded to the most
singular feature of the bill, and the one
that most completely justfes the title We
have given it. Some months ago, that
supremely despicable scoundrcl, Under
wood to whose level the bench has been
brought down, and not he elevated to it,
testified before a Congressional commit
tee, that, with full swing allowed him,
he could pick out jury in Virginia
safe to convict Jefferson Davis.
Would we be guessing wide Of the malk
if we suggested the possibility of a conncc-
ton between the statute which we are con
sidering and Judge Underwood's hint Of
what he could do if he had fair chance
LIEU us SCI III" Ca5llN1 uuStcL SuCIl d avg
he could carry out such game. The for
nation or expression of "an opinion, !.
provides, "upon the guilt or innocence q
the accused, founded upon public rumor,
statements in public journals, or the con-
mon history of the times" shall be no valid
objection to juror, therefore the judge
may, if he chooses, retain on the panel
every man who has formed and expressed
all opinion against the prisoner. "BuL
the law goes on to say, the court may, in
it's discretion set aside any such juror
Chat is any juror having formed or cz-
pressed an opinion; therefore the Judge
may, at his pleasure set aside every man
who has formed or expressed an Opinion
favorable to the prisoner. To illustrate: a.
B., from reading the newspapers, or from
public rumor, or from common history
some of it exceedingly common-has both
formed and expressed the opinion that
Jefferson Davis is a traitor and deserves to
suffer death; A. B., if Judge Underwo"t
says so, is perfectly competent to sit Oh
Mr.. Davis trial. G. d., man of equal
intelligence and responsibility from the
same veracious sources, has formed an
| a0uallv decided oniniOn that Mr., DAVIS,