| OCR Text |
Show 62 W cndc11 Phillips. hi~ brothl'r to liberty - Virginia ha:-; nothing, notl1ing for those qualities but a ~c:dl(Jl(l ! (Applau:-; '.) Jn hl'r broad dominion she can only afTt)nl him six f ·ct for a gran.: I God help the Commonwealth that bills suC'h w •komc to the nob\ ·st qualiti' that cnn grace poor lnnnan 11atun•! Y 't that is the acknowletlgment of Gor ernor 'Vi:e him:::;elC ! I will not dignify ~uch a honle with the nnme of a JJ espoti,w1.; ~in re De ·pot ism j~ ~om etime::; n~:~ gnanimou ·. 'Vitncss Rus. ia, eovcring Sehnmyl with generous protection. Compar that with mad Virginia, hurrying forward thi gha, tly trial. They . ay it co. t the ofn<· ' l'S and p ' t" on 111 r c!' ponsible positions more efl<.nt to keep hundreds of starll <'Ll sohli<·rs from . hooting the iiv pri -cm er~, sixteen mnrines had made, than it co::;t those marines to tak ' the Armory it s<• lf. Soldiers and civilians-both alike-only a mob 1~mcy in g it self a government! And mark you, I have said tlwy we re not a governmenl. They not only arc not a government, but they lw.ve not v 'n the remote ·t idea of what a gon'rnnwnt i-. (Laughter.) Tlwy do not begin to have the f~lint es L conception of what a civilized gov ' rnment is. H ere is a man arraign d before a jm'y or about to b . Th' Htat of Virginia, as he call , her. If~ iH about to try l1im. The fir~t . tep in that trial i. a jury; the second is a jmlge ; and at the h ad stands the Chief E xeeuti'\"e of the State, who hold~ the power to pardon murder; and yet that very Exccutiv<', who, nccorcling to the principle of the sublime. t chnpter in Algernon Sydney's immortal book, i bound by the very r esponsibility that re ·t on him, to keep his mind impartial a, to the guilt of any per. on arraigned, ha.'tens down to Richmond, hurries to the platform, and proclaims to the a~. em bled Commonwealth of Virginia, ''The mnn is a murderer, and ought to be l.nmg." Almo t every lip in the State might have said it except that single lip of it Governor; and the moment he had uttered the. e words, in the theory of the Engli ·h law, it was not possible to impannel an imparLial jury in the Com- Wen dell P hillips. ~onwealth of Virginia; it w:1s not po. sible to get the mntcrwl.' and the machinery to try him ac<"unlillg to '\'l' ll the ug!I e~t patt ern of' Engli~h juri~pru d ' IH'\'. A11tl yet tl1c· Governor does JJ Ot know that he has writt ·n him ~~lf tlown non ~om~os,. nnd the Commonwealth that II ' gov<·ms Rupposcs lt:-;elf strll a Clrri :-;tinn polity. 'l'lH'}" haYc r10L the f~1 i 11 t t c·onct•ption of what goes to mnke up goYe rnnH'nt. T he wor ~ JcfT'r·ies tlu~t ever, in his mo:-;t drunkeu lwu r, cl itnlH·d up a Inrnp-po:-;L 111 tbe str '(' t !-l of London, wou ld not have tri ·d a man 'rho coultl not i'itand on hi :-; fi.-ct. Th(' l'e j ~ 110 Ruch r e<"onl in the blnekc'st ro11 of' tyranny. Jf' J etli·ic's roultl · p 'ak, h' would thank ( ;u<l that at l a~L hi ~ name llliubt be tak •n down f'mm tl1e gibbet of Ili:-;tory, si nl'e the '~rginia B<·nch l1a~ mncle hi:-1 w or~t ~H't whit<•, sl'l n gain~t the blackn es~ of tlri::; mod ·rn inf:uny. (App lause.) And yet ·the New York press daily prints the :lC{'OIInts of' the tr/al. Trial ! In the mwH's of' llolt nnd Sorn<"r:-::, of' Ilalr and Erskine, of' Par:-;ons, l\Inr:-;h:dl, nnd .Jny, I protPst Hgn in. t the n~m e. Trial for lif'e, in Anglo-Saxon di al ect~ lw.4 n proud, historic m 'aning. J t in<'lud (':-~ in di('tm cnt by jmp:t rtial )H'ers ; a copy of su ·h in<1ietmcnL nn<l a li~t of wit iws:-:<'s fu rni:.;hcd the prisoner, with alllplc• time to . nutinize l>oth; liberty to choo.-e, and time to get co un ~cl; a , ound l.>o<ly and a soun ~l ~nind to aJTa11ge one's <h·f(.• nc·o ; I JWC<l not a<ld, a judge and Jury impartial a the Jot of human ity will acJIHi t; honored bulwark and afeguarcls, ench on t h • trophy nncl r 's ult of a century's struggle. \Voundecl, fevered, lying half uncon-cious on hi. pallet, unn.l>lc to land on his fert, the trial half fini -hed before his first r eque. t for nid had r eacl1cd his fri ends,- no list of' witnes-es or knowleclge of them till the crier, calling the name of some a. ~as -in of hi comrade ·wakes him to con. C'iomnc~. ; the judge a tool, and the pros-' ecutor seeking popularity by pandering to the mob; no decent form obse rved, antl the c.. nee of a fair trial wholly wanting, our History and Law alike protest against degrad .. |
