A. I have not formed any opinion that would prevent me from giving a verdict according to the facts of the case. I have read the account, and I presume have formed such an opinion as most men do from reading an account, if the facts be so and so.
Q. Have you formed any opinion as to whether cruising, under a commission from the Confederate States, is piracy?
A. Yes, sir, I have.
Mr. Evarts objected that this was purely a question of law, and one jurors should not be inquired of.
The Court sustained the objection.
Q. Did you believe the accounts which you read of this transaction?
A. Well, it is difficult to say. There is so much published in the papers now-a-days that is not correct, that I am hardly prepared to say I believe anything I see, without palpable evidence. I believe the fact of the capture of the Savannah.
Q. Did you read what had been done by the Savannah before she was captured?
A. Well, I formed no opinion with regard to that.
Q. Did you form an opinion of the character of the act with which the defendants were charged?