The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-05-02

you WILL also md that 1t sprang not IRON pol
ltics, that its origin must be sought for In
something deeper far than politics."
Colonel Hamilton continued, saying chat he
had asserted before and still maintained that
the jury in a case of capital felony were the
judges both OF law and fact. He quoted two
decisions to sustain this point, the fret being
In the United States VS.. Wilson and Porter,
and the second a case in % Sumner. In the
first case the Judge distinctly laid down that
principle, and in the other case the Judge ad-
mitted that the jury were to Judge OF the ap-
plicabllity of the law to the case in hand.
That, he said, was precisely what he claimed.
1t was a great, sacred right, and one of the
great bulwarks of liberty which the Pilgrims
of the Mayfower brought with them In their
bosoms. He illustrated the point by relating
that nearly two hundred years ago in London
a poor Quaker, Penn by name, was brought up
in court charged with the terrible offence of
preaching the gospel in Grace Church street,
he not being a Clergyman Of the Established
Church. There was a law on the statute
books which made that an awful offence.
There was no doubt about the fact that the
poor Quaker had preached In Grace Church
street, and the jury were fully charged By the
Judge as to both the law and fact. but when
they returned into court and the foreman was
| asked for their verdict, he answered, mot
guilty, my lord" That was the power they had
| to Judge of the law and the TACT. Is was a
| right guaranteed by the constitution. which
declares that the trial by jury shall be invlo.
late, and it was a right which could not be
taken from them. he called attention to
| another right which had for hundreds Of years
| been guaranteed to the defendant-the right
to be tried BY a jury drawn from the viclnage
in which he liyed-by a jury of his peers and
in Great Britain or this country, until these
| cases arose, where a defendant was tried ex-
| cept before a jury from his vicinagc, and in
I! this case It was q terrible hardship to the de-
PENDANT. Had the trial been in York County
all the defendants witnesses would have been
present. There was only one case on record
where a similar law had been enacted. It
was related In Marshall's Life of Washington,
volume 2, chapter 8, that there was great
commotIon In the rebellious Colony of Massa-
chusetts between the government and the
people on account of the stamp act. In the
n~eighboring Colonies of New York and Con-
necticut they had secret organizations known
as the Sons OF Liberty, and 1t was impossible
for Great Britain to get a verdict of convic-
ton In the courts of Massachusetts. He quot
ed from Justice MARSHALL:
The next measure proposed was a bill for
the Impartial administration Of Justice In the
province of Massachusetts Bay. 1t provided
ssThat In case any person should be indicted
In that province for murder or any other capi-
tai offence, land 1t should appear by informa-
fact was committed In the exercise or aid OF
the magistracy In suppressing riots, and that
q fair trial could not be had In the province,
he should seadthe person, SO Indicted. to any
other colony, or to Great Britain, to be tried"
This act was to continue IL force four years,
and was, as an Edgllsh' writer observes, the
counterpart OF the obsolete and tyrannical act
of Henry VIII, lately revived for the trial, In
Great Britain, Of treas0Es committed IN Amer
lea.
Colonel Hamilton continued: "a few weeks
ago I was riding on the public road leading
from Yorkvllle to Chester, and I came upon a
mansion standing on one side Of the road. In
side of that mansion knew that there was a
lady and some bright, beautiful children; but
there was a vacant place beside the hearth, q
vacant seat at the family table, and a terrible
teeling-that only the desolate know-of va
cancy and loneliness in all the chambers of that
mansion. That was the once happy home Of
Mr.. John S. Bratton, the brother OF the DR..
Bratton who has been spoken of In the testi-
mony In this case, who was as innocent, gen.
tlemen, as any Of you can be-, but who was
still, and who Is now, gentlemen Of the jury,
an exile from home, an exile from his country
and al! that is dear to the human heart. Riding
a little further, I came to an humble log cabin,
and there a silence prevailed like that of the
grave. No smoke was curling upward from
the chimney, and no sound of human life
disturbed the quiet of the dense wood on I 'e
side, or the pine thicket on the other. That was
the cabin of Jim Williams, and 1 say to you, gen.
tlemen, that my heart was filed with the pro-
fouudest sorrow when I reflected on the un-
told misery caused On both sides by these
unhappy occurrences. I could not help think
ing of these two unhappy pictures; and
could not help going to the causes which pro-
duced them. / see them clearly, and I hope
that you will see them as plainly; and l tell
you that, as I hope to be believed hereafter as
as O truthful man, and as I value my lifelong
reputation as a truthful man, I BELIEVED
firmly belleve-that the cause of these organi-
cations was the Introduction of that armed
militla-the distribution Of those guns to the
colored people pending an election. 1t Gre
ated a condition OF things that brought the
community into a state OF semi-warfare. I
will call your attention to the facts, as they
have come out on these various trials. In
the first place, take the County OF Laurens-
there, as you have been told, there was fight.
ing, killing and slaughterlng by the militia.
In Union County there was the murder
of Stevens, a poor, one-armed cripple,
committed by. a whole company of this militia.
Go to Roundtree's country, and there were
the parades and demonstrations Of Captain
Ferris's company. Wherever you go you can
trace these canses as clearly as an effect can
possibly be traced back to Its cause. do not
blame the colored men for their desire to bear
arms. I do not censure their desire to have
militia companies; but I do blame those men
those officers of the State-who turned them