Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-04-12

men may be afflicted with a sense Of |
duty impeliing him or them to act con-
trary TO law and reason. say that such |
a man or men cannot be excused by So |
ciety for such acts. Society can |
no. without suicide allow such |
q man to put his bald naked conviction |
in practise. As soon as he acts upon it |
he becomes an offender against the
State. to be dealt with not according to
what he may think is law and right, but
TO what is Law and right.
don't care how strong such An irregular
conviction of duty may be. even though
the man may claim II 70 be the voice of
God within him. yet if it coustrain him
to unlawful practises he must be
quenched as frebrand amid combuS
tibies. He Is an Internal machine liable
to go of at any minute and disorganlze
society or demolish some precious life.
You, yourselves, must have passed upon
this very question IN several notorious
cases vet fresh III your memory. There
is Freeman, who had or claimed to have
a conviction that to worship his Father
in Heaven he must like Abraham offer
up his son. There are the Utah polyga-
miSts, who stubbornly believe that not
IudIIy Hlcuy WAtCS Ii " oAkok LILO
great Head of the church. And there is
julius Charles Guiteau seized with the
inspiration that the wrath of Jehovah
will consume him If he does not without
too much delay asSaSsinate James
Abram Garfield. You need not to be
told the ono rule that must govern all
such cases. A mans bare convictions,
however honest and earnest he may
H.. 60 t,A En-.
save him from punishment whenever his
practise is contrary to law.
Every one of US. who now holds Of
fee in this Territory, every one of US
who ever has held such office,
every one of US who has ever been an
officer in the army of the United States,
every one of US who is naturalized cit
izen of the United States, has taken a
solemn oath to support the constitution
of the United States. You, yourselves.
as Grand Jurors have just now your
selves so sworn. Those of US, who have
thus expressly sworn. aud those of Us
who have not expressly so sworn, but
who live as citizens under the benign
protection of the flag of the United
states, were bound on the 18th day of
January last and are now and hereafter
bound TO cherish, uphold and maintain
at all hazards, in favor of and against
all persons, that constitution, and the
rights guaranteed thereby. Let US re-
fresh our memory with some of those
rights: mo persOn"-hearken, gentle
men: to these memorable words, worthy
of great and rOOmy hearted people
mo PERSON shall be held to ansIcer for a
capital or ofhertoise infamous crime, unless
-
jury" All, gentlemen, how is it that
Howard, Sullivan and Payne have been
held to answer and you uncalled ON !:
But let Us read on: "Nor be deprived OF
life, liberty or property wttout due pro
cess Of lar" Is a committe of safety
one of the legal institutions of this Ter
ritory or city? Are it's secret sessions,
its undivided membership, its indis-
eliminating judgments which make all
hOmicides murder, its ex post fdctO
legislative fats, its bitter SCOTS at exec
utlve clemency, its rash and pitiless and
brutal executions, are these due process
of law! "Iu all criminal prosecutions,
the accused shall enjoy the right to a
speedy and public trial by an impartial
jury of the State or district wherein the
the crime shall have been committed,
which district shall have previously
been ascsrtained by law, and to be in
formed of the nature and cause of the
accusations; to be confronted with the
witnesses against him; to have compul-
sorry process for obtaining " illnesses in
his favor and to have the assistance of
counsel for his defence" Did even
Sullivan and Howard have anything
like the tiial, tho preparation, the fair
ness here guaranteed? Whoever their
triers were, they had no voice in choos-
ing them. They were allowed no chal-
lenges. They we're granted no jury.
Where was the impartial jury!" And
how about poor Payne, who for aught
you and know might have shown
himself innocent!
Listen to what tho people of this Ter
ritOry have said, affirming most solemn
ly these sacred principles. quote from
their constitution of 9th July, 1873, rat
flied by great majority: mo person
shall be deprived of life, liberty or prop
erty~ without due process of law, or be
denied the equal protection of law.
mo person shall be held to answer for
criminal offence without due process
of law" "The operation of the laws
shall never be suspended, except by the
authority of the legislature" also
quote from the Criminal Practice act
of the Territory: "No person shall be
held to answer in any court for al
alleged crime or offences unless upon
indictment by grand Jury, except in
cases of misdoneanOr before q Justice
Of the Peace or before court martial -
On the trial of any indictment, the
party accused shall have the tight to be
heard by himself or counsel, to meet
the witnesses produced against him face
to face, and he shall have the right to
produce witnesses and proofs in his IA
vor, and have compulsory process to
compel the attendance of witnesses in
his behalf and to a speedy public trial
by an impartial jury" mo person in
dicted for an offence shall be convicted
thereof, unless by confession of bis
guilt in open court, or by the verdict OF
a jury accepted and recorded in open
conrt."
How cheap to US these rights are,
They are our heirlOoms to be preserved
and transmitted to our children. They
seem to ourselves, gentlemen. SO free
and secure that We half forget they are
our own. We are apt wholly to forge,
that they belong equally to others. Yet
we touch them ut every movement; We
inhale them at every breath; they are
like tho glorious air of heaven to as, 60
secure, sollife-givins and 80 free. As
while We are engaged with other things,
the air is forgotten, until from some
nishap We ourselves begin to feel what
it is co smother. and then with despara-
ton We fight for it, 30 do We think little
of these rights until VS. ourselves bsSin
to choke and gasp because to us they
are denied. But these cheap and COM
mon rights have cost something. For a
constitution embodying them, our fore
fathers staked life and fortunes at Run
uymede. For such constitution, our
Revolutionary fathers bled and died.
And all over our country today are men
soldiers once, citizens nOw-myself
among the number, who have fought for
the constitution they bequeathed rs,
and who, to hand 1t down to our chill
dren, entire, with all its precious rights
in it. unfinished, unperverted, not a
line or a word erased, are ready at any
time 70 die. Gentlemen. our constitu-
ton has been dipped in the most preci-
Gus of all fluids. and it has been kyan-
lied in the biuest of blood of all the
rase-the blood of freeman who are
kings. Instruments 40 treated cannot
decay. But they are still liable TO DO
broken up, 1t is our charge to preserve