The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-10-19

the Ministry, that would be Sut1clent,
gentlemen, to convict him of being one
of the conspirators, or being guilty OF
conspiracy to commit treason and if the
jury find from the evidence that defen-
dant was party to a project to overturn
the government or change the constitu-
ton by force of arms, or the display OF
such force, he should be convicted. It is
not necessary that he shall be proven to
have done anything further than the
| giving of his assent to such project. 1t
is not essential that the Crown should
produce direct and positive evidence of
such assent, the fact of conspiracy may
be inferred from circumstances and the
concurring conduct of the defendant
need not be directly proved.
l am reading you from the requested
charge from the Government.
''The meetings at Palama wherein
was discussed and pursued project of
torcibly overturning the Government, if
| the jury believe that such meetings
! took place, were illegal meetings. If the
| jury believe that the defendant was
| present at any of such meetings, such
| presence unless explained to their salts
faction may be ground to infer his COM
plicity in their object" OF course, you
understand the way that Mr.. Crownin-
berg and Mr.. Cummings and Mr.. Tesla
explained their presence there; | sup
pose the Government would not charge
them as being co-conspirators if they be-
lleve their statements; that is to say, if
they have no other evidence than as
given by themselves that they came
there under an invitation to a social
party and on their refusing to take oath
IC1V, H.
were put under guard and finally es-
capped or were let go after considerable
discussion, their only offense, if it be a
punishable ofense, would be the knowl-
edge that such things were contemplated
and not revealing them to the authori-
ties, this was an offense originally when
this statute was enacted, but unfortun-
ately there being no governors at pres
which any person takes the place of the
governor, SO it would be probably impos-
sible to convict them OF having a guilty
knowledge of the plot to commit treason
and not disclosing it.
eff the jury believe from the evidence
that the defendant knew the unlawful
purposes of any meeting attended by
him and assented either expressly or
tacitly to such purpose, he should be
convicted provided the jury further be-
lieve such object to have been the levy
ing of war against the authority of the
Hawaiian Government, which is sub
stantially the same as the other, and sit
is not necessary for the Grown in order
to secure conviction. to show that the
defendant took an oath to preserve
secrecy or to otherwise promote any
illegal purpose, if his assent was given,
that is sufficient" and as has been said
frequently, "such assent may be infer
red from all the circumstances of the
case as disclosed by the whole evil
dence."
l cannot charge number six Mr.. At
ney-General, perhaps l need not COM
ment upon it. [ would merely say this,
that person not knowing of any of the
preceding proceedings, but merely going
in on the palace premises on the morn
ing of the 30th and assisting Mr.. Will
coX's party could not be convicted of
conspiracy, although he might be con-
Victed of treason.
shall not give number seven either,
as being unnecessary.
Now, gentlemen, [ am also requested
to charge on behalf of the defendant,
and charge you on the other hand,
"unless the jury can find that the de-
PENDANT agreed with Wilcox or others to
commit treason, or in other words, that
he combined with Wilcox or others to
accomplish by their united action a
criminal purpose, he is entitled to an
acquittal."
Certainly, unless the Government
have shown to your satisfaction that the
defendant had combined with others to
commit treason, then they have not
proved their case and he would be emit
tied to an acquittal.
''To convict the defendant mere
discussion between him and others about
entering into conspiracy,"-Q suppose
the attorney means before it was formed)
FOR about the means to be adopted for
the purpose to commit the treason, is
not sufficient unless the scheme or is in
fact assented to and concurred in by the
parties so that their minds meet for the
accomplishment of the proposed unlaw-
full act" I charge you that that is the
law; at the same time, it is not neces-
sary that every part of the plan OF the
chief mover, Mr.. Wilcox, should have
been disclosed to all of the confederates;
it is not necessary that their minds
should have met in every part of the
scheme. Yon can conceive, gentlemen,
how it might be the case in some con-
spiracies to commit treason, that the
leader would alone know all of the plans
which he intended to adopt, and if he
had large body of armed men and told
them enough to secure their consent,
enough so that they would come with
him up to certain point, that would be
sufficient to convict them of conspiracy,
even though the consequences or all the
subsequent acts were not developed to
them.
'The understanding, combination or
agreement between the defendant and
Wilcox or the defendant and others to
effect the unlawful purpose charged,
must be proved to sustain a verdict of
guilty." give you that instruction.
GA mere sympathy not exhibited in
overt acts is not sufficient to constitute
the offense," but acts may be those from
which assent may be inferred.
There may have been many sympa-
thizers, but unless they went TO the
meetings, unless they assented in some
way, unless they took some part in the
conspiracy, unless they joined the con-
spiracy in some way, of course they can
not be punished for that.
1.-The conspirators must enter into an
agreement to effect a common purpose
and with criminal intent" That is
but the repetition of the definition of the
law of conspiracy, and as l said before,
ga mere passive cognizance OF the illegal