The Sun. — 1821-11-03 (London, England)

BAN , 20:0. case of Stre-rong-gisce otherwise celled Tommy .cony, a Seneca Indian, was argued at the bar of the Supreme e;ourt, on Tuesday and Wednesday of the present week- 'Tuffs Indian was initiated at a late court of oyer and terminer in the county of Erie, for the murder of an Indian woman. By his eettnsel he pleadedi to the jurisdiction of the-court, that tne Seneca nation of Indians was a sovereign andindependent.naTion, exercising exclusive jurisdie ion over all °inflicts comini,t4d by one Of the nation upon any other of the Same nation, wienra the territory belonging to them ; and teat theprisoner, as well as the person killed, were persons belonging t..) the; Seneca nation ; and the off-nee, ii any, was noultny:ted wiehin the territory. To this plea, -a replication was filed in the court below, denying the allegations of the plea, and an issue cl fact was joined, which was tried by a jury, who found for the prisoner, according to his plea. 'the court below tillspendcd „wing judgment,-acid the pi oceedings Were removed by certiorari into the supreme court. A motion was there made by the attorney general for judgment, that the prisoner answer further, notwithstanding the verdict of the jury. The argument. was opened on Tuesday by Mr C. Spencer, in behalf of the people. He was followed by Mr. Oakley, -in behalf et the prisoner : and on Taxesday and Wednesday, .Mr. Talcott, the attorney general, replied. On the part of the people it was contended, that the jury had undertaken to find inference of law, rather than fact; that the maxim which declared juries judges of the law as well as the fact in -criedinal cases, applied only to those cases where the merits had been put in issue by a general plea of n6t guilty. That, therefore, tine court were not bound by the finding of the jury to admit the conclusions of law contained in their verdict. That the facts set forth in the verdict did not establish the sovereignty of the Senecas ; and that from treaties, laws,. and public documents, it appeared abundantly, that they had not claimed or exercised sovereignty since 1620; that they had repeatedly and formally acknowledged the jurisdiction of the English Government, and had by a formal grant, in 1726, transferred the whole of their territory to the British crown. It • was 'further contended, that during the Revolution,- the Senecas were the enemies of this country, and were conquered ; tleit they acknowledged tneir conquest and subjection'. by a ,treaty of peace, anl by variods treaties since. In behalf of the .prisoner, various technical exceptions were made, and - particularly chat the finding of the jury in a capital case was conclusive on the court, both as to the law and the fact. That if it was to be opened, the counsel contended that it would appear that the Indian tribes in this country had. always been recognized and treated as independent by the Date!' and English governors ; that although the Senecas were conquered did not necessarily imply a change of government or of laws; that since the conquest they had been treated as independent both by the United States and this state;- that if jurisdiction was acquired over them by conquest, it was that of the United States and not of this state, and that the United States had never ceded it to this state. It is impossible to state at length all the grounds taken in behalf of the prisoner, but these are supposed the most material. The discussion produced a very thorough examination of all the laws, treaties, documents, and public history of the Indians • and the Court intimating that there was considerable difficulty in the question, ' allowed the prisoner to be bailed in 1000 dollars, to appear at the next court of oyer and terminer of Erie county, and took time to consider the case.  GRASS HOPPERS ! !—Extract of a letter from Fort Ossage, dated June 13, 1821.--immense swarms of Grass-hoppers are overrunning the whole country, and literally eating it up. Our gardens arc nearly all destroyed, and we have no reason to hope that any thing will be saved of them.