Page:United States Reports, Volume 2.djvu/354

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348 Cass ruled and adjudged in the " " ¥79S• V”`·* The Uurran S‘ra·rss wp: Mrrei-tru;. NDICTMENT for Hgh Trealbn, by levying war againlt I the United Siam. lt was alledged, that the prifoner was one of the party that alfembled at Cou¢be’.r Fort, armed; that he proceeded thence to Gen. Nevillfi, and allilted at the burning of the gcneral’s houfe; that he attended with great zeal at the meeting at Bradad': lield; and that on the day prefcribed for figning a fubmillion to the government he was intoxicated, re- fufed to lign himfelf, and was aélive in dilfuading others from ligning. he eircumltance of the pril`oner’s being at Cem-b¢’.r was proved by a number of witnelfes; his being at .Br¢d¤¢·l’: Eeld, by one witnefs and his own confeliion; but there was only one politive wituefs to the fa& of his having been at the burning of `general Nevillfr houfe, tho' a fecoud witnefs {aid •* it ran in his head that hehad feen him there," and a third de- clared that he had paifed him on the march thither. The fcope of the teliimony as it refpe €`ted the general objcél of the infur- reflion, and as it particularly applied to the prifoner, will be find iitmciently Rated in the courfe of the arguments and r . Thee Attorney of the Diltri& {Rawkj having clofed the evi- dence, proceeded to {tate the law, iu fuppott of the profecution. So frequently and fully has the offence of lcvying war againlt ¤ the government been defined, that a doubt can hardly be raifed upon the l`ubj_e&. Kings, it is true, have endeavoured to aug- ment the number, and to perplex the delizriptions, of trcafons, as an iniirument to enlarge their powers, and to opprefs their £ubje&s; but in Republics, and, particularly, in the American Republic, the crime of treafon is naturally reduced to a lingle head, which divides itfelf into thefe Conliitutional propolitions: til:. Levying war againlt the government, and adly. Adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort :—In other words, exciting internal, or waging external, war, againll: the State. The fecond branch of the crime, thus delignated, renders it tm- lawful and treafonable for any citizen to adhere to a foreign, ppblic, enemy, whether afailini the frontiers, or penetrating to the heart, of our country. ut while fuch a coyoperation »· dangers the fuceefs and profperity of the community, the ef- feéls ever, ofered the written verdict, fealed up, to the Clerk. But rue Coun faid, that the paper could notbe received. '1`he foreman then pronounced the verdict, nina nate, and again offered the written ver- ict; but me Coun- repeated, “ We cannot open, or recieve it." Nothing was faid, publicly, of the ]ury’s having adjourned. The defendant was eveataally pardoned.