the additional rank, pay, and emoluments. Not a Kentuckian (and not a Whig) in the present Congress has voted against me; but, on the test-question to lay the bill on the table, Gray, Boyd, Chrisman, and Elliot were silent or absent. Dining with a large party the day that I received your letter, I chanced to mention to a leading Whig the Kentucky compliment, when it instantly occurred to him that the legislature of New York might follow that noble lead. He asked me for the resolution, and some notes, and I have no doubt that my friend (your political friend), Benjamin D. Silliman, followed up his good intentions. The legislature of New York has bestowed upon me two signal compliments, with exactly an interval of a third of a century between them. My bill is held back, that it may not be swamped in the whirlpool of passion created by the Nebraska question. God grant that the revival of the slavery question may not dissolve the Union. The excitement caused by the compromise measures had nearly died out, and I was in favor of letting well enough alone. When you return to the Senate I shall begin to regret having left Washington. Oh, for the old times of Letcher, Crittenden, Preston, Barrow, etc.! I saw Preston in October; he talked much about you. Kind regards to friends. Wishing you all happiness, Your friend, WINFIELD SCOTT. (General Scott to J. J. Crittenden.) NEW YORK, April 3, 1854. DEAR CRITTENDEN,-Herewith I inclose you a copy of General Smith's letter that you supposed would soon reach me. I have sent the original to Washington, with my indorsement, notwithstanding the refusal of the Secretary of War in the case of Major Crittenden, which came to hand since I last wrote to you. Whether the secretary will yield to the second application I think very doubtful. Lieutenant Bonaparte now applies for the first time, and as the French minister will privately support his request, it may give success to both applications. The Nebraska bill stops all business in the House, and the Maine liquor law (with the governor's veto) operates the same way at Albany upon the Kentucky resolutions introduced there. All igns fail in a drought, and I am in a perpetual drought, by being thrown (to borrow a metaphor from Bunyan) into that slough of despond," the committee of the whole House on the tate of the Union. With Mrs. Crittenden within-doors, and Letcher next-door neighbor, I suppose you to be beyond the reach of cares and vexations. Happy man! and may you long continue so. Just received a letter from Coombs, spoiling to VOL. II.-5 get his money, and disgusted with Washington. Your immediate representative (Breckinridge) and mine (Cutting) have agreed to let each other die in the regular course of nature. I heartily rejoice. B. always votes for my bill, and Cutting will, at the next trial, change to the same side. I am called to dinner; never have a good one without thinking of you. Always, as heretofore, yours, WINFIELD SCOTT. Hon. J. J. CRITTENDEN. (J. J. Crittenden to his wife Elizabeth.) ELIZABETHTOWN, April 17, 1854. MY DEAR WIFE,-I have been separated from you for four days, and have not written till now. I have been constantly engaged about my case,* in intercourse with my clients, in consultations with lawyers, examinations of books, etc. To-morrow morning the trial begins; it will be tedious. I care nothing about the labor and fatigue, but much about being kept away from you. The prosecution is carried on with the greatest ac tivity, and, as I am told, bitterness. It is said that there is much excitement and prejudice in the country against Ward. He has, however, many warm friends here. I have several times visited the jail, and it is, indeed, a moving sight to see the interesting and mourning group assembled there of father, mother, wife; and they all seemed ready to embrace me on my arrival, and grew cheerful, as though my presence were an assurance of security and relief to them. They rely on me much more than I could wish or than they ought. I can scarcely hope to be able to fulfill their expectations; but I will try. All my friends here seem to be highly gratified at meeting me; indeed, I could not have asked a more agreeable or flattering reception. I will write to you daily hereafter. I am at my friend Thomas's, with Carneal and Mr. Thomas Marshall. Mr. Burnley is expected here with Thomas. We are delightfully situated. Give my love to all, to Mary, and her children, and tell Anna she must not forget me. Though we are separated, you are ever present in my thoughts. Take care of yourself; be cheerful and happy, and be assured of the constant love and affection of Your husband, Mrs. E. CRITTENDEN. *Trial of Matt. Ward. J. J. CRITTENDEN. (J. J. Crittenden to his wife Elizabeth.) ELIZABETHTOWN, April 19, 1854. MY DEAREST WIFE,-My time is constantly occupied. We go to court at eight o'clock in the morning and adjourn at night. Then comes company and consulation. I am now stealing a moment from the court. This labor seems to agree with me. I was never better in health or spirits. Burnley and Thomas have not yet reached here. I have received your two letters. They were delightful little visitants, and I cherish them as fresh from your hand and heart. My love to all. I have not another moment. Mrs. E. CRITTENDEN. Farewell, my dear, dear wife. J. J. CRITTENDEN. (J. J. Crittenden to his wife Elizabeth.) ELIZABETHTOWN, April 26, 1854. MY DEAR WIFE,-I received your letter of the 23d inst. today. Thronged as my heart was with other matters, it drove them all away for the moment, and took supreme and sole command there, as it had a right to do. I am to speak to-morrow, and to-morrow the case will go to the jury. I feel quite certain the verdict cannot be against Mr. Ward, and I believe it will be in his favor. As soon as it is rendered I will start home. I think it best to go there before we leave for St. Louis; but if you prefer to accompany Mary to Louisville, do so, and we can then determine what further to do. My dearest wife, I have not another moment to write. Farewell. Your husband, Mrs. ELIZABETH CRITTENDEN. J. J. CRITTENDEN. CHAPTER V. 1854-1855. Ward Trial, Speech of Mr. Crittenden-Letter from the Bar of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, and Mr. Crittenden's Reply-Crittenden to L. HuntonR. C. Winthrop to J. J. Crittenden-J. J. Crittenden to R. J. Ward. THE WARD TRIAL. SPEECH OF MR. CRITTENDEN GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY, I agree with the counsel who have spoken on behalf of the prosecution as to the importance of this case. Its magnitude can scarcely be overrated. The State has an interest in it. It is not a desire for vengeance; the State seeks no vengeance against its own citizens. But its interest is a paternal one, like that of a father in the midst of his family. Its interest is that its laws may be administered, and that its citizens shall receive from that administration a just and merciful protection. The defendant has an interest in it. He has everything at stake-his life, his liberty, his character, and the feelings and sympathies of those who by ties of friendship or of nature are associated and allied with him. All these are at stake; and you are the men who have been selected to arbitrate and decide this mighty issue. Gentlemen, we have all cause to rejoice that we live under a government which guarantees to every man the right of trial by jury. Without it, no freeman can be touched in life or liberty. For ages this right has been the inheritance of our race. Our progenitors established it in the Old World; and our fathers have struggled for it as a thing indispensable to the security of their lives and their liberties. You may wonder why it is they have been thus solicitous to preserve this right of trial by jury. You may inquire why they have not rather left it to the courts to try men who are charged with crime. The judges on the bench are usually able and honest men-men of superior wisdom to those who ordinarily compose a jury; men with greater knowledge of law, and men of undoubted integrity. It is not so much from any distrust of the judges, or fears that they might be swayed improperly, that this right has been preserved; but from a deeper and wiser motive. It is not because the people are equally learned with them, but because they are less learned. It is because the law desires no man to be molested in his life or liberty until the popular sanction has been given to his sentence, and his cause pronounced upon by a jury of his peers. The court is expected to render all necessary assistance in stating the law; but his cause, in passing through the minds and hearts of his equals who are trying it, will be divested of all nice technicalities and subtle analogies, ■ and decided on its simple merits, and according to the dictates of reason. The life of a man should be taken on no other judgment. You may lay down the law like a problem in Euclid; you may take one fact here and another there; connect this principle and that proposition, and then from one to the other reason plausibly and even logically that a man should receive sentence of death. But it was to avoid all this that this glorious right has been kept inviolate. It was to bring the accused face to face with his accusers, and to suffer only a jury of his equals, with their warm hearts and honest minds, to pronounce upon a cause involving his life or his liberty. This, gentlemen, as I understand it, is the object of jury trials. Were cases left to the judgment of the courts, a man's destiny might depend on some subtle and difficult question of law; but now it is differ ent. When you consider a case, it is divested of all such questions, and appeals to you as able to judge of the facts-as familiar with the passions and motives of men-as those who will rest it on its simple merits alone, and will only condemn for reasons that are sure, and solid, and satisfactory to your own understandings. You are a jury of Kentuckians; and I have too much respect for you, too much respect for myself, in this important case, to deal with you by means of entreaty or flattery. But I may say that I have confidence in you, and that I look forward with sanguine hopes to the verdict you are to render. I expect you to do your duty manfully and firmly; and I expect you to do it, notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary, mercifully. I expect you to do it on principles compatible with public security, and it is my duty to show you that you may acquit the prisoner at the bar on such principles. The accused is before you in a house of Kentucky justice, and all vengeance must cease to pursue him at this threshold. This is his sanctuary-here the sway of the law is potent. Here the voice of justice-justice tempered with mercy--is heard-that voice which falls in sounds of terror on the guilty |