James Lea, affirmed.
Mr. Rodney. Please relate to the Court the occurrences which took place at a circuit court of the United States at Newcastle, and whether you were summoned as a grand juror at that court.
Mr. Lea. I was summoned by the marshal of the district of Delaware as a grand juror at the circuit court held in the month of June, 1800. I attended agreeably to that summons, and was qualified as a juror. After receiving a charge from Judge Chase, we retired into our room, and remained there for some time. There appearing to be no business for us, we returned into our box. The usual question was put to us, whether we had found any bills? We said that we had not. After some time, Judge Chase addressed the grand jury, and observed that a very seditious disposition had manifested itself in the State of Delaware, in the county of Newcastle, and particularly in the town of Wilmington; that a seditious printer lived in that place, who edited a paper called the Mirror of the Times and the General Advertiser, who was in the habit of libelling the Government of the United States, and that his name was ——, he said he would not mention his name, but that it was our duty to inquire if any seditious publications had been made; that he would not discharge us that day, nor until we had made the inquiry. Several of the jurors addressed the judge for leave to return home, stating that they were farmers, and were extremely anxious to be on their farms, as it was harvest time. Some conversation passed between Judge Chase and the attorney for the district, after which he said he would not discharge us until the next day. We returned the next day into court, and after sitting some time in our box, we retired to the jury room. A file of newspapers was produced by some persons, and we examined them. We found nothing in them of a libellous nature, in our opinion, excepting something relative to Judge Chase, which some of the jury thought came under the sedition law. We sent for the attorney of the district to inform us as to the nature of the paragraph. He told us it did not come under the sedition law. We went into the jury box, when a conversation of some length took place between Judge Chase and the attorney of the district, after which we were discharged.
John Montgomery, sworn.
Mr. Randolph. The subject on which it is understood you are capable of giving some information to the Court is the conduct of Judge Chase, at a circuit court of the United States, held for the district of Maryland at Baltimore, in May, 1803, or about that time.
Mr. Montgomery. The point, I presume, on which I am called to give testimony, relates to a charge to a grand jury delivered by Judge Chase, at a circuit court where he presided, and Judge Winchester was associated with him. It will not, from the nature of the subject, be expected that I shall be able to detail, in the precise language of the judge, the whole of the charge which was delivered in 1803 at the May term. Though not one of the bar, I was present at the court, and took a chair among the gentlemen of the bar. After the grand jury were impanelled, Judge Chase addressed them. He appeared to address them from a written paper that lay before him. He proceeded in the usual manner to charge the jury as to the duties expected to be performed by them. After he had thus far proceeded in his charge, he mentioned, that before the jury retired to their chamber, he would make some observations, and that they would be considered as flowing from a wish for the happiness or welfare of the community. He stated that it was important that the people should be fully informed, particularly at such a crisis; that falsehood was more easily disseminated than truth; and that the latter was reluctantly attended to, when opposed to popular prejudice. I cannot pretend to state the sentiments delivered by the judge, in the order in which they were delivered. I can undertake to state, from my recollection, the substance of those he delivered. To the best of my recollection, the judge stated that the Administration was weak, relaxed, and inadequate to the duties devolved on it; and that its acts proceeded not from a view to promote the general happiness, but from a desire for the continuance of unfairly-acquired power. The language unfairly-acquired power made a strong impression on my mind at the time; and when the judge called the attention of the jury to the observations he was about to make, I was prepared to expect something extraordinary from him, as I was at Annapolis when he pronounced the valedictory address which Mr. Mason, in his testimony, took occasion to mention. The judge stated the violation of the constitution that had taken place by the act of Congress repealing the judiciary act of 1800, and the consequent removal of sixteen judges; that it had made a violent attack on the independence of the Judiciary. He also found fault with a law passed by the Legislature of Maryland in 1800, the effect of which was the removal of all the judges on the county-court establishment. He stated that those acts were a severe blow against the independence of the Judiciary. He stated, that since the year 1776, he had been an advocate for a representative or republican form of government; that it was his wish that freemen should be governed by representatives chosen by that class of citizens who had a property in, a common interest with, and an attachment to, the community. The language might have been in the words of our constitution. He found fault with the law passed by the Legislature of Maryland, which he styled “The Universal-suffrage Law.” He stated that that also affected the independence of the Judiciary, and to the best of my recollection, he explained his ideas in this manner: that every free, white male citizen, in the language of the constitution, having the qualification of age and residence, though he had not a property in, an interest with, and an attachment to, the community, being suffered to choose those who constituted the Legislature, and the Judiciary being dependent on the Legislature for their support and continuance in office, few characters of integrity and ability, who are competent to discharge the duties of judges, would be found to accept appointments held by such a tenure. He stated that these measures were destructive of the happiness and welfare of the community; that they would have a tendency to sink our Republican Government into what he called a Mobocracy—the worst of all possible governments. At the close of the judge’s charge, he, in an impressive manner, called on the jury to pause, to reflect, and when they returned to their homes, to use their endeavors to prevent these impending evils, and save their country. He said that the people had been misled by misrepresentation, falsehood, art, and cunning; that, by correcting these errors, the threatened evils might be prevented—or words to that effect.
Samuel H. Smith, sworn.
Mr. Nicholson. Please to state what you know of the charge delivered by Judge Chase at Baltimore.
Mr. Smith. The charge of Judge Chase having been published, I did not expect to be called upon to state in detail its general contents; supposing that the only inquiry made would be on the correspondence of my recollection with the contents of the published charge. I do not know that I should be able, under these circumstances, to give a particular statement, from memory, of its contents. On the evening subsequent to the delivery of the charge, I committed to paper the most important features of it, which were published in the National Intelligencer, and which form part of the printed testimony received by the committee of inquiry. If I could be indulged with access to it, I should be enabled to state more correctly my knowledge of the charge.
[Mr. Smith here, with permission, read the following, extracted from the National Intelligencer of May 20, 1803:—