The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-06

' Luverne. In his address to the Confeder- ates in reunion there. MT. Hefiin assaile0
 Judge Jones of the United States District Court for the charge delivered by the
 Judge 60 jury in one of the peonagc cases. Mir. Hefin's remarks were criti-
 cised by The Advertiser, General John
 B. Gordon, commanding the U. c. ",
 and by many others. MT. Hefin's state-
 ment follows:
 'In public speech at Luverne. Ala,
 on July 17th, I criticised a portion of
 Judge Thomas c. Jones' charge to the
 jury in the case of the government vs. J. F. Turner, in which case the defend- ant was charged with peonage. Consid- erable comment for and against my po- sition has been made by the press of the country.
 q ask a candid consideration of the facts. The Montgomery Advertiser. in its partisan zeal has been very unjust and unfair to me. Realizing that it's po- | sition in defending a portion of the Judges remarks to the jury is utterly ur- l tenable. it seeks to obscure the real ts- sue which grows out of an "unwarrant- ed and unauthorized assault on the jury l system" It seeks to hide from view a serious attack on the right of trial by jury. because in this particular instance 1t happened to be a very dear friend who had offended against time -honorei institution. Some of the other papers. I am sure. did not know what the judge l really said to the jury in the Turner case. In these criticisms. The Advertiser has not seen fit to publish his exact lam guage, and, hence, some excuse exists for those papers who got their impress sion of my position from that paper. To l the end that the truth may be known, and my position rightly understood by the people who have honored me. and tz-fIzr T following:
 | I desire to say, in the outset, that am not. as The Advertiser has suggested. a candidate for Governor. Neither am I a l candidate for Congress. However, if my condemnation of an act of a Federal judge is correct. I am utterly unable to see how the robes of office. or a political ambition. imminent or remote. can affect the justice of my position. If in a | speech to the plain people Of Alabama. I insinuated that the zeal of a Federal \ judge was inspired by a desire for pro- motion at the hands of a Republican President. who is the greater sinner myself or the judge who impugned the motives of good and reputable men con- stituting jury of his peers?
 l have in no sense assailed the record of Judge Jones as a Confederate soldier. I give him due credit for every brave deed done. I honor and revere all those who wore the Grey. all those who fought | so gallantly and who suffered so much for our beloved Southland. I feel now that I am honoring and serving them best when I speak out my humble con- victions in defense of the dignity and integrity of the institutions that they love. And, of these institutions, Mir. Paley has truly said: "The wisdom of man hath not devised a happier institu- ton than that of juries. or one founded in a juster knowledge of human life or human liberty.''
 care not whether the judge be named
 Jones or Spear-whether he lives in Ala
 bama or in Ohio My contention is that
 no judge has the right, legal or moral. to
 coerce jury into finding a verdict to
 his liking: Mat the jurors are the sole
 judges of the facts, and they must find the verdict according to their own con victlon and conscience: that they are en- titled to protection from insults and abuse of the presiding judge. We can | not be too strenuous in our efforts to guard the dignity and integrity of the | jury system of our country. The time to treat cancer Is in it's incipiency The tendency of medical science is toward preventive measures. If we would keep the body polite healthful and pure we must destroy the germs of disease as | soon as we discover them, and apply the | and impaired. Hence say the 'trespass by the judge upon the domain of the | jury, the invasion by him of the jury's province, should be speedily condemned, even though it be done by an humble citizen. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty is a maxim containing as much truth to-day as 1t contained when uttered by an eminent philosopher ages ago.
 When ex-Governor Thomas G. Jones was appointed Federal judge. either wired or wrote him congratulations. I applaud him in using all fair means to enforce the law. do not yield to him or any other man a greater disposition than have to give to every citizen of this State "equal and exact justice" regardless of his color or previous condi- tion. It was only when. according to my honest convictions, he had invaded the sacred province of the jury, had used Language of denunciation and intimida-
 tion that no judicial authority on earth
 could warrant, and had set a precedent
 fraught with gravest danger to that an- cient institution-that great bulwark of
 the peoples rights and liberties-the
 right of trial by jury" that exercised
 the right that is mine as an American citizen to criticise his official conduct,
 and to speak publicly my views concern | ing this most remarkable occurrence in | IAlabama-nay this unprecedented occur
 renee in the annals of jurisprudence in
 this countryi In doing so, I defended from unwarranted attack and abuse a jury that had been legally constituted the final tribunal to decide the issue of fact
 between the government of the United
 States and one of it's citizens. This jury
 was part and parcel of our great judi
 cial system, and entitled to all the re- speet and consideration that the judge himself was entitled to. judge has
 no more right to insult the juror than the juror has to insult the judge. 1 It was on Saturday when the jury, in
 the discharge of a sworn duty, returned
 from the jury room to inquire of the
 court the full legal significance of the
 words Intentional" knowingly" and
 ''willfully," which were in the indictment
 under consideration. This was not. as
 some papers assert, when the jury were
 being finally discharged, but pending the
 consideration of the case. In reply to
 their respectful inquiry the judge told
 them, among other things: That 1t was
 not in his power to punish them for
 contempt, but if they did not find this defendant guilty. they would stand per- jured in the eyes of God and dishonored
 in the sight of men, I lay down the
 proposition that there is not a reputable lawyer in the State of Alabama who will 1