The Arkansas advocate. [volume], December 09, 1836, Image 2

About The Arkansas advocate. [volume] (Little Rock, A.T. [Ark.]) 1830-1837

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All KANSAS A DVOCA'l'K.
LITTLE HOCK, DECEMBEH 0, 1836.
»D10K«T TIIINUB RIUIITCY, •IOCIHINU TB* W Rl I. Ot TUB COMBOS."
U. S. District Court—Arkansas District.
The United States
V9.
Ta-wan-ga-ca, or Townmakcr—an Osage Indian,
charged with a murder committed in the Indian
country west of Arkansas.
The United States
vs.
James Love—a Cherokee, charged with the name
crime.
In the first case, Judge Johnson decided, after
hearing the argument of counsel, that the prisoner
must be discharged. The grounds for the opinion, ns !
given by the Court, were the following:
The Court said that the prisoner had been indicted
for murder ut u term of the Superior Court of the late
Territory of Arkansas. That Court was competent to j
try him for the crime, as a law of the United States had
conferred upon it jurisdiction of capita' crimes commit- j
ted in that part of the Indian country west of Arkansas, i
The Superior Court of the Territory had ceased to cx- ;
ist, and no trial in this case was had. The District j
Attorney pro tempore now moves the Court here to j
commit the prisoner to jail, and produces to the t ourt,
as evidence of the commission of the crime sufficient
to authorise the committal asked for, the original in
dictment found against the Osnge at u term of the Su
perior Court of the Territory. The first question
which arises is, whether this Court bus jurisdiction of
the ofi’ence.
The act of Congress establishing the Arkansas Dis
trict Court gives it “tho same powers that were by law
given to the Kentucky District Court, by an act estab
lishing the judicial Courts cf the United ttate.s. The
act referred to was passed in } 789. It gave to the
Kentucky District Court no power to hear, try or de
torinme uny matter arising tieyona tiro limits or him
State of Kentucky. All the laws giving to the Circuit
and District Courts of the United States jurisdiction of
crimes committed in the Indian country have been
passed subsequent to 1789. Tlio Courts ol the I nited
States are Courts of limited jurisdiction, and the Su
premo Court has decided that as their jurisdiction is
excepted out of the jurisdiction of the State Courts,
they can take no jurisdiction and possess no power,
except such as is expressly given by acts of Congress.
The law establishing this Court refers expressly to the
law of 1789, and gives to this Court all tiie powers
which by that law were given to the Kentucky Court.
This Court, in defining its own powers and limiting its
own jurisdiction, has no other guide than the law of
1789. Congress has conferred upon it no other pow
ers. und a jurisdiction no more extended, than by that
uci given io the Keinui ky Court. rl tic special grant j
of particular powers in this case excludes the possibili
ty of assuming any powers not. expressly granted.
This Court cannot assume to itself any of the powers,
or clothe itself with any of the jurisdiction, granted to
the Kentucky Court by laws subsequent to the act of
1789.
Congress has specifically defined the boundaries of
the State of Arkansas, and by giving to this Court on
ly the powers given to the Kentucky District Court by
the net of 1789, it has given this Court no jurisdiction \
beyond those boundaries. Several laws were passed
subsequent to 1789, giving the different U. S. Courts
jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Indian coun
try. The provisions of none of these laws are declar
ed by Congress to apply to this Court. This Court is
referred solely to the law of 1789, and the possibility
of taking jurisdiction by virtue of any subsequent law
is absolutely excluded.
IN or 13 this C ourt the successor ot the superior
Court of the Territory. That Court has ceased to ex
ist. Tills is a new Court established by a special law,
and having specific and limited powers. Congress has
neglected even to continue over to this Court the bu
siness of the United States pending in the late Superi
or Court. They have not day, nor are they triable
here. This Court neither succeeds to the business !
nor to the powers of that. The powers of that Court
were far more extensive than of this; and much as this
Court may regret that it has not the power, still it is
clear in the opinion that it can claim no jurisdiction be
yond the limits of the State. Upon this ground the |
prisoners will be discharged.
The reader is not to suppose that the foregoing is
the whole opinion of the Court It is simply a brief
abstract of it—written down from memory. No one
can doubt that the opinion was correct. Under the
existing law of Congress, crimes committed in the In
dian country west of Arkansas are punishable no
where. Congress should therefore remedy the evil oc
casioned by their own oversight and the haste with
which they brought us into the Union.
For the Advocate.
November 20th.
To the Hon. Sam C. Roane,
late President of the State Senate:
Sin—I had positively resolved not again to speak to
the people through the medium of the press. That re
solution I avowed, nor did I imagine that anv contin
gency could induce me to change my deliberate deter
mination. I would have been gratified had circum
stances permitted me to remain silent—for however
guilty may be the criminal, the task of him who indicts
the punishment is no pleasant one. I had not antici
pated the disgraceful scenes which have occurred, and
which now force me to break a silence I had intended
should be eternal.
In addressing you, I of necessity address a large
portion of the Legislative body, of the higher brunch of
which you were the presiding officer. The brief day j
>f their power and yours is over, at least for the pre
ient—and they and jou deserve the heartfelt gratitude
jf this people. Not because you have done your duty
is upright, independent and patriotic tnen, us pure and '
lofty Reprt sentutivea of the People—but because you
iiave taken the most extraordinary pains, and gone
widely out of your way, to demonstrate to what lengths
of unutterable folly, to what depths of unfathomable j
degradation men can ubuEe and humiliate themselves j
when they become tainted w ith the poison of sycophan- J
cy and servility, and the leprosy of corrupt political I
principles. [
I exec from my remarks, at the outset, all those j
agents of the people who were slaves through the in- j
sttnet of ignorance. Unfortunate it was for the coun- J
try that so many men of this .stamp were there congre
gated—so many incapacitated by nature from judging
between right and wrong, between virtue and corrup
tion, between their duty and dishonor—still it were un
just to permit any feeling harsher than pity io exist to
wards them. Although they were almost crifhinal in
aspiring to a situation for which they were manifestly
incompetent, although they have been unconsciously
instrumental in disgracing and dishonoring the State,
yet the mental intention was wanting—the free will,
which is the primary ingredient in the composition of
guilt. Obeying the dictates of mercy, if not of justice,
1 pass them by, and speak only of you and those who
like you sinned against knowledge. Of you and such
as you your country had a right to expect something.
Whenever you ask that stern, uncompromising monitor
how your country’s expectations have been fulfilled, the
information will doubtless be supplied.
I miii sorry to give you pain, and beg of you to con
sider yourself a martyr for the good of your country.
If the couch upon which you recline should not prove
a bed of roses, you can console yourself with the re
flection that by your own hands it has been made.
You shall have companions in your torture. Of the j
rank and file of your party there was here and there an I
accountable being. Some of them I will name ere I J
conclude.
Revenge, Lord Bacon says, is a kind of wild justice.
In the present case it is the incarnation of patriotism.
1 may have been, 1 may still he accused of having been
urged into the political arena by motives of personal
hatred, private revenge and disappointed ambition.
Be it so. The country might be destroyed while its
defenders are waiting the slow and lingering, though
natural process of public remorse. It is unfortunate
for the State that every adventurer thinks it right to rob.
every profligate to dishonor, and every blockhead to
govern her. When such men obtain rule, it is the pe
culiar province of the press to chastise them, the pecu
liar duty of the patriot to castigate them with a scourge
of scorpions.
Our children will hardly bring themselves to believe
the history of the last session of the Legislature. 1
have never seen in any part of the world, i have never
read of in the pages of sober history, I have never fan
cied in the most disordered freaks of my imagination,
n cabal so utterly shameless and so avowedly unprinci
pled a3 the leaders of the dominant party in that body.
The personal habit of prostration which urges men into
a degrading obsequiousness to power, the greedy hun
gering after office which turns proud men into slaves,
the craving after money which makes of the covetous
ready tools to be handled by political baseness, the
crawling sycophancy which delights to grovel at the
feet of mediocrity and abandoned demagoguism, the
political perfidy and utter repudiation of faith which is
an indispensible prerequisite to initiation into your
school of political jesuitism, were all in them so thor
oughly mingled and so intimately combined, that nei
ther could be said to have any undue preponderance.
Upon you and these your compeers the weight of
public indignation should fall heavily. Professing to
liave no other rule for your public conduct than the
supreme good of the party, you have brought upon the
country a long train of evils from which n series of
rears will hardly enable her to recover. You have
placed partisan Judges upon the Bench, you have put
lartisan Attornies to prosecute for the State, and tilled
he State lSank with partisan officers. Party has been 1
■our sole watchword. Disregarding every considera- 1
ion which should have animated you, you have thrown
^ourselves with the reckless desperation of a Curtius
nto the fathomless abyss of shame—not, as he did, for
he salvation of your country, but that you might work
lpon her a bitter and abiding curse. ,
Permit me to tender to you and to your compeers my <
earnest and sincere commiseration, \ouhaveimmo- <
ated yourselves upon the altar of party—and your last j;
moments will be agonized by the anathemas of an in- ji
dignant people whom you have betrayed by throwing
the ermine e ver the shoulders of party paupers and po- -
litical vagrants. Unpleasant as may lie the accents of
pity, the thunders of popular reproach are still harder to !
be borne. Your minor transgressions 1 passover. I
care only for the crowning sin of all—the last drop
w hich the cup of your iniquity would bear before it ran 1,
over at the brim.
JMirUe has well said that “it is the nature of tyranny
mill rapacity never to learn moderation from the ill sue- !
cess of first oppressions.” He might have added, that j
much less will it be learned when first oppressions and
early insults and impositions have been successful.
The obedience at first exacted by the party leaders in
the Legislature was promptly rendered, and their early
behests obsequiously obeyed by their ignorant and tim
orous adherents. Flushed with success, and arrogant
in the hour of victory, Jthey threw away whatever of
conscientious scruple and controlling fear they might at
first have felt, and their demands became more exhor
bitant, the tenure of their inferiors’ servitude more de
grading, and the tasks required more slavish and revolt-!
mg. Under the debasing influence of their touch, ev
erything became a party question. Having succeeded
by the |>otcnt alchemy of party organization in trans
forming ignorance into judicial wisdom, they then de
manded that none save their own political adherents
should be elected to the Presidencies and Directorates
ol the State Bank and its branches. Against this or- !
der some for a time rebelled, and held our stoutly—but
the discipline ot the party was too rigid, and the drill
too perfect to allow them long to continue refractory.
I have not learned whether you voted gratuitously
against vour old acquaintance Farrelly, or whether you
vvt re forced to giv* him up by the proscription of the
I riumvirate. Perhaps you sacrificed him as Lepidus
did his brother—for the common weal. Of those be- j
ings who voted on that occasion contrary to their ex- j
press declarations, (openly made in the streets, like a i
prostitute's professions of virtue, and as the event prov
ed, of about as much value,) to their positive promises
and deliberate pledges, I forbear to speak. Idiocv
would be a good plea in bar to an indictment fouud
against them for any crime whatever. The guilt is 1
with you and your compeers.
1 pass by these things. I have a presentment to ;
make against you for an offence of a higher grade_
That presentment it would be well for you to traverse.
I find your name recorded as having voted three times
for Cheater Ashley, when hie stood l.< fore the Legisla- j
lure a candidate for the Directory of the State Lank. |
Did you do so because you believed him to be honest,;
trustworthy and true to his country? 1 imagine that 1 j
ree you start and turn pale. You well knew the char-:
ncteV of that man. Cunning, artful, unscrupulous, rich ;
in all the resources of villainy, unincumbered with eith- j
er principle, honesty or gratitude, a blot upon the face !
of creation, hung on the highest gibbet of public infa- j
my, with the wind of popular contempt and indignation j
blowing through the skeleton of his character, he was i
.still enabled, by means of his wealth and talents, to set
public opinion at defiance, to walk the streets proudly .
in unblushing impudence, and to infect society with the !
contamination of his presence. Galled by the charges
preferred openly against him, he determined to make i
the late Legislature the endorsers of his character, that ■;
it might again pass current. He resolved to have their J
suffrages for some office—what that office might be, be j
little cared. He did at first intend to compel the Le
gislature to send him to the United Slates Senate.
That was an endorsement of his character which they
were not quite prepared to give, although at one time
the chances were in his favor. Ife then looked to the
Supreme Court Bench. That also he found too high
—and his only remaining throw with the dice was for
the Bank Directory. Failing in that he was irretrieva
bly lost. Perhaps the Legislature took pity upon him.
At all events they were complaisant enough to become
his endorsers, and must not blame me for having re
course back upon them. With a prodigal scorn of jus
tice, they have rewarded with honor in public, a man
whom in private they abhor. For you, sir, what ex
cuse have you to offer? You have served Chester
Ashley too humbly not to hate him, you have known
him too intimately to respect him, you have felt him too
long not to fear him. Years ago, you solemnly and as
an officer of the Government, expressed an opinion
with regard to his transactions, which opinion I have
no evidence that you have changed. Yon have been
Cognizant, as a public officer, of the various charges
made against him, and by your deputy you were instru
mental in making the most serious one among them all.
Yet I can explain to myself why you voted as you did.
Heaven constituted you with an obtuseness of intellect
inconsistent w ith much quickness of perception or fine
ness of principle. Incompetent to fill any one of the
many offices which have from time to time been chari
tably bestowed upon you,you have been happily uncon
scious that, except the pecuniary consideration you have
thence received, nothing has ever accrued to you from
office, save disgrace and ridicule. It is your misfortune
that you ever vote and act from instinct and not from
principle. Such is the inertness of your intellect that
the dictates of reflection and reason are only felt sub
sequent to action. They may induce repentance, but
can never cause the adoption of any particular line of
conduct.
I commend you, the Speaker of the House, an hon
orable member from St. Francis, and an equally hon
orable one from Hempstead, to the stool of repentance.
I recommend to each and all of you to betake your
selves to the sackcloth, and to attempt by thorough pe
nitence to atone, if possible, for the enormous offence
which you have committed against the authoritative
dictates of your own consciences. Tou have each re
presented yourselves to the people as something better
than party slaves—as possessed of a nobler nature—as
having the capability for forming an unbiassed opinion,
and independence enough to act upon that opinion after
it has been formed. Strange to say, your country co
incided to some extent with your estimate of yourselves
and gave you honor and office. Unhappy disappoint
ment—miserable bestowal of trust and confidence!
You bade fair to enjoy a long and happy life. The
breath of popular confidence swelled the sails of your
political barque, and you careered proudly and buoy
antly over the azure waters of the political deep. But
you have raised your felonious hands against your own
political existence, and your last despairing shriek rang
wildly over the abyss of that ocean when you voted for
C hester Ashley. With you I am done forever. Of
;im justice will perhaps demand that I should speak
lereafter. I recommend to him to depart from among
is—nor longer to outrage the community with the sa
:ri!ege of his presence. CASCA.
---—4UD**""
Correspondence of the N. Y. Star.
Liverpool, Oct 2, 183G.
Since T commenced this correspondence, some two
■ears since, I have had to discuss some important
luestions, but at no time have the affairs of Europe
iemanded a more dispassionate discussion than at pre
ient. Portugal is in the midst,of a revolution—for it
. -V-° VI
he Constitution of 1830, was an arrangement which
ihe will break when she can—if she dare. Spain is
it the very crisis of her fate, and we apprehend that
France has treacherously cast off the alliance with En
gland, and betaken herself to the boa embrace of Aus
ria. In this dilemma, England has a very difficult
;ard to play, and it is very unfortunate that Lord Pal
nerston is at the head of foreign affairs. lie is a dan
ty in mind as well as in person, arid quite unequal to
neet the subtle policy of Metternich on one side and
Faileyrand on the other,
Louis Phillippe, there is every reason to believe, has
til but declared in favor of Don Carlos. The new
ministry have issued orders for the disbanding of the
Spanish auxiliary legion formed at Paris—have direct
ed that General Lebeau and the Algerine nowin (Spain,
shall at once return ; and have thus decisively shown
hat the Gallic auxiliary expedition, in favor of Spain,
s certainly at an end. The London paper says, in
tddition to this, that “HI. Bideaud, a superior officer,
tharged to convey the orders of the Minister of War,
o Gens, llartspe and Lebeau, arrived at Bayonne on
he 21st of September, and instantly proceeded to La
:arre, where General Ilarispe has a private residence.
» his measure is tantamount to a declaration in favor
)t Don Carlos on the part ot the new French Cabinet,
ind we have reason to know that Mendizabel and his
colleagues will so regard it.”
?VTow, compare this conduct (mts-conduct ?) of Louis
Phillip©—for he is the government—with what he did
n 1830. M. Lousi Viradot has published a strong
article in the Revert des IJeux JSIondes, in which he
contrasts Louis Phillipe’s past with his present con
iuct. In this article, which has excited great interest
n Paris and London, it is stated that in 1830, Louis
Phillipe sent 100,000 francs, by Count Mole to General
Lafayette, to aid the Spanish refugees in their endea
vor to overturn Ferdinand’s Government. In 1836
he declines to aid Spain in the recovery of her pros
perity hv means of liheral institutions I
The appearance of a libera! policy on the part of
Louis- Phdlippe, in the earlier part of his reign, alienat
ed the Northern Powers from him. lie was very
barely acknowledged, and his diplomatic, represent
anves were actually slighted. IIow is it now, when
he has thrown off the mask and is the very pink of “le
gitimate illiberally? Russia smiles upon the renegade
—Prussia nods approval—Austria fondles him.
Indeco, the Northern Towers have every cause to
be tii lighted with their humble follow er. There was
liberal Ministry—that is dismissed. There was •
quadruple alliance,—that is virtually shirked; there is
a Pretender combating against the lawful government
and ruler of Spain—lie is covetly supported : there isa
liberal movement in Spain,—that is loudly condemn,
cd. As a reward for all these dirty deeds—for mean
and contemptible they are—the Ambassadors of Aik
Il ia, Russia and Prussia, send official notes expressive
of their approbation of the recent change in and mea
sures of the French Cabinets. Kay, as a mark <f
special favor, Count D’ Appony (the Austrian Ambas
sador,) through whose intrigues the upset of Thier’
Cabinet is said to have mainly taken place, has been
rewarded, for (hat, by the insignia of the Order ot'th0
Golden Fleece, at the special instance of the Emperor
of Russia.
One thing is clear;— if France joins Austria & Co
she must cease to have very intimate relations with
England. Light and darkness are not more contra
ry than the true interests of England and the Northern
Fnion. Stand England firm, and the cause of liberty
in Europe, cannot recede. As the sun pursues his
glorious career, though a cloud may dim his brightness
so must liberty succeed in Europe though darkness
may aw hile eclipse its palpable glory. Its career may
be invisible, but its progress certain.
if France has indeed abandoned her alliance with
England, the sooner the defection be avowed, the bet
ter. The policy of Europe should be to maintain a
friendship between Fiance and England : if it cannot
be maintained, the ppace of Europe can scarcely be
maintained either. France knows this, and I should
not be suiprised to hear of another “glorious three days”
—because the spirit of liberty is abroad, and the King
of the Barricades cannot prevent its spread through
that nation whose Icing he became under the fraudu
lent pr-.-tence of being a partisan of freedom, and which
he governs like a despot.
(.•a the 20th September, Con era! Maix, near
robledo, on the confines of New Castile, defeated the
Carlist General, Gomez, and took 1300 prisoners, with
some artillery, and the baggage and camp stores.
Goinez had previously joined his forces with those of
Cabrera and two other Chiefs, so that the defeat is a
great card, (it they know how to follow suit, as we say
at whist) for the Queen's party. Spanish securities in
the money market of London and Paris, have accord
ingly advanced.
The liberation of Polignac and other state prisoners
at Ham was to have taken place, at the suggestion of
the Thiers. The new Ministry, as yet, refuse to con
firm the merciful ordinance.
ii is oaiu nidi uuj uipiuiiicuic ivepresemauves oi eve
ry power except America, England, and Portugal,
have demanded audiences of leave-taking from the
Queen of Spain.
The confidence in Mendizabel remains unabated,
and the army, under Ilodil, are about carrying the war
into the enemy’s line.
Explosion Extraordinary.—The Liverpool Al
bion of Sept. 26th, contains the annexed account of a
stange incident which occurred in the Post Office of
that city on the night of the 24th. — Balt. Trans.
On Saturday night about 9 o’clock, a circumstance
occurred at our Post Office which had nearly proved
fatal to one individual, and might have been productive
of severe injury to many, if the full intention of the con
triver of the wickedness had taken effect, though who
were the intended victims it is impossible to say. We
need not inform our commercial readers, that letters
for foreign countries require that the postage should
he paid or they are never forwarded, but, instead, are
sent to the Dead-lettcr-office in London, there to be
stamped, opened and returned if practicable to the wri
ters. On Saturday night, a number of letters of this
description, which had remained in our Post Office be
yond the regular period, were handed over to a man
named Barnard, for the purpose of being stamped, pre
viously to being forwarded to London by the mail.
Amongst them was a bundle containing seven letters,
all directed in the same hand, and in the Spanish lan
guage, to official personages at Havana. The starrp
is a heavy steel implement, with which the letter is
struck with some violence. lie had got through all
the letters but this particular bundle, and they had been
removed as he operated on them. He also got safely
through the first four of these, but in striking the fifth,
the percussion produced an explosion which shook the
whole building. Every clerk in the office, even those
it the greatest distance, was stunned, and one who
stood within a few yards of the spot was thrown vio
lently to the ground.
f * iivjii lucj recovered, in some measure, irom me
shock, (hey looked round for (he poor man Barnard.
The floor around him was completely covered with
the tatte.ied fragments of the letters, for all the re
maining three had exploded, and lie laid upon the floor
bleeding and insensible. He was found to be shock
ngly injured ; his hands being torn almost asunder,
he portions of the flesh and skin peeled from them.
His face was completely denuded of the skin, and
one of his eyes was forced backwards with such vio
enee that its as an organ of vision is lost irrecovera
jly. The thumb-nail of the left hand was torn off.
and, what is more extraordinary, was shot through tho
left cheek. The poor man is in a very dangerous state,
though hopes are entertained of his recovery. The
bag which contained the othe four letters, having al
ready been made up, it was despatched by the mail
during the consternation incident to the disaster. Mr
Banning instantly forwarded an express to the General
Post office, informing the parties there of what had oc
curred, and Warning them to he careful how they open
ed these letters. It is to be hoped that they may be
found to contain some clue which will lead to the dis
covery of (he contriver of a scheme so diabolical. T ho
explosion was so violent that it put out all the lights
and blew out five panes of glass.
Four south countrymen lately appeared as witnesses
in a will case, at the Lancaster Assizes. Their aver
age ages were 333 years, and one of them had worn
t:;e same coat for his holiday suit 60 years.
Diving.—A certain Lorenzo Giordano, of Fiumara
lias found the means of remaining for six hours at a
time in the deepest places at the bottom of the sea with
the power of walking at the rate of a mile an hour
for his secret he asks the sole right of doing this for
two years and the half of what he finds in his subma^
tine peregrinations."
A Mr. Orchard, of Jersey, England, has invented a
dress, with which he lately performed the extraordinary
feat of diving to the bottom of St. Clement’s Bay,
remaining under water more than an hour. While un
der the water he walked more than a mile in search o
some iron ballast, which was supposed to be at the bot
tom.
The Ling of Bokhara has interdicted his Hindoo
subjects from burning their dead, on the groud that i
is offensive and abhorrent to the feelings ot Mussul
mcn.