The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-06-06

Cross- examined: [ am familiar with the
naturalization laws. The first step is to
declare the intention, upon the evidence of
two witnesses; then it is two years before
the full papers can be obtained. In the
cases mentioned by me two years could not
have elapsed. There were large number
Of cases of the kind, but we paid no atten-
tion to them, except to look ever them at
leisure. I did not have the power of rejec-
ton, but Mr.. Hayes did. don't think the
registering officer cared whether voters
were rightfully registered or not. Hayes
examined cases which bore evidence of
fraud upon their face. L called his atten-
ton to several cases, but do not remember
any particularly, except that of Schmidt.
Testimony Of James Hayes.
James Hayes, Superintendent Of the Va
ter Works, deposed that he was President
of the last Board of Registration in Mar
shall Ward. Persons sometimes offered
declarations of intentions, and on being
rejected would return on the same day or
no note of such cases. Did not compare
dates of the two papers. Did not remem-
ber case of John Schmidt. In one case there
was conflict between the answers Of the
applicant and his papers. 1t was Ger
man (whose name he did not know thirty
six years of age, who said NE had beer in
the country two years. He was taken off
by Benedict Howard. Captain Coghlan,
who was looking on, said he was not a party
to any such proceedings, although Con-
servative.
Go s-examined: But could not swear
that the papers of said German came from
Judge Meredith's Court. Was positive
that the papers were signed by Mr.. Chris
tian as clerk. sa-a
The court then adjourned until II o'clock
to-day.
Judge Meredith's Letter.
Before the proceedings were commenced
the following communication from Judge
Meredith, in reply to one summoning him
to appear, was handed to General Granger ::
"RICHMoND, June 4th, 1868.
General r. s. Granger, commanding, &C.:
"Sir,-I received On yesterday co.
munication informing me that you would
be present this morning at the Mayors
office to commence the investigation of
charges made against the Circuit Court of
the city of Richmond, wherein it is al
legged that certain aliens have been unlaw-
fully admitted to the rights Of citizenship,
and have had full naturalization papers
issued to them in violation of law If by
this proceeding you propose to act as an
appellate tribunal to review my orders ad-
mitting these foreigners to citizenship, and,
if the judgments be erroneous in your
opinion, to revise them, then it is matter
in which / have no interest; the parties
whose rights Of citizenship are involved in
the inquiry arc the parties interested, and
should be present. ...a.. rrs..
stBefore you enter upon this investlga-
tion I would call your attention to deci-
sion of the Supreme Court of the United
States, rendered in the case of Spratt's ad-
ministrator Us. Spratt, 4th Peters, 40S, in
which it was decided that the act of the
court admitting James Spratt as q citizen,
was judgment of the Circuit Court; and
this court cannot look behind it and inquire
on what testimony it was pronounced ~
"The various acts Oh the subject of natu-
ralization submit the decision upon the
right of aliens to courts of record. They
are to receive testimony, to compare it with
the law, and to judge on both law and fact.
If their Judgment is entered on record in
legal form it closes all inquiry; and like
any other Judgment, is complete evidence
of its own validity"
elf, however, you do not feel yourself
bound by the decision of the Supreme Court
of the United States, and propose to review
my judgments in these cases admitting GER
tain persons to be citizens of the United
States, then it will be necessary for you, in
order to perform this duty properly as nn
appellate tribunal, to hear each case upon
the same evidence, and none other, upon
which heard and decided it. How is this
to be done? As the evidence on which I
acted is not matter of record, and as | can
not recall from memory the evidence on
which I based my judgment in any one of
this large number OF cases, have no means
of ascertaining the truth of the evidence that
may be taken inthe investigation before you;
nor can tell whether it YVES the same eyi-
dence on which l acted. If the evidence
be not the same, then your judgment and
mine in the same case must necessarily be
different, your judgment being biased on
the testimony heard by you, and mine on
that heard by me. But this does not show
that my judgment was erroneous, for it may
have been, as it was in fact, founded on evil
dence deemed to me sufficient, and even if
the witnesses in each case are the same, it
does not follow that they will give the same
evidence before you that they gave before
me they may have been tampered with
since they were heard by me, and i'm
proper influences used to control them be-
fore they are heard by you, and hence an ap-
pellate tribunal never reviews the judg-
ment of lower court, except upon the
same evidence heard by that court, and re-
quires the lower court to certify and fur
nish the evidence upon which the case Is to
be reviewed, and this rule applies IN all
cases where the judgment of one tribunal
is sought to be reviewed by another, no
matter what may be the ground of alleged
error, whether it be that the lower tribunal
allowed illegal testimony to be introduced,
or based its Judgment upon insufficient tes-
timony. And if the testimony of, per-
sons who may have been present at the
trial be received to show that in their
opinion the judgment of the court
was erroneous, either because it re-
ceived illegal testimony, or based its
judgment on insufficient testimony, or omit
ted to hear testimony ON some material
point, the proceedings are alike irregular and
illegal. Nothing would be easier than TO
procure persons to attend the court, and af-
ter the trial of the cause was over, by per-
jury and false afidavits, furnish evidence
which, if believed, would reverse the Judg-
ment of the court. Many such perjured
witnesses can be procured ata cheap
rate. If such proceeding were tolerated,
the judgments Of every court would be
liable to be overthrown by Illegal and per-
i11red festimnnu Rnt the laH wisely con-