Even outside of these quasi-official documents there remain signs that there was some division of counsel, if not conflict of opinion, among those engaged in the prosecution as to the most expedient course to take and the more effective remedy to apply to the broken law. Whatever the private opinion of U. S. District Attorney Ashmead may have been, his presentation of the case and his entire part in the trial evinced no lack of preparation or ability and no want of sincerity in the Government’s cause. He shrank from no responsibility that his position imposed. He was, moreover, the direct representative of the Law Department of the Fillmore administration. His chief was Attorney General John J. Crittenden and Daniel Webster was the premier of that Cabinet. There was at that time no “Department of Justice” as now organized; there was simply the office of the Attorney General, and an investigation of the archives of the Department fails to disclose anything whatever with respect to the affray or the trials. There is, however, authority for the statement that the final determination to prosecute for treason was made by Webster and Crittenden, who concluded and advised “that even if a conviction were not obtained, the effect of the trial would be salutary in checking Northern opposition to the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act.”
Some question of professional etiquette arose between counsel who appeared for the State of Maryland and those who represented the United States by direct employment for the Government. Mr. Brent reports that this was “satisfactorily adjusted in a personal interview” with Mr. Ashmead. He further says:
“This gentleman, in the presence of the Hon. James Cooper, tendered to me the position of leading counsel in these trials, which I promptly declined, on the ground that I never had claimed such precedence for myself, as well as on grounds of policy and expediency for the prosecution.
“It was then agreed that the Hon. James Cooper, of Pennsylvania (the distinguished colleague associated with me for the State of Maryland), should occupy the position of leading counsel, which he did with fidelity and signal ability. I will here take occasion to remark that, however unfortunate the preliminary difficulty between Mr. Ashmead and myself, and however prejudicial it may have been to the development of the evidence, by preventing that early interchange of views and information, which was necessary to a thorough preparation of these important cases, yet I received during the trial every social and professional courtesy at the hands of that gentleman, and he was at all times prompt to act upon any suggestion which might be made by either Mr. Cooper or myself.”
JOHN W. ASHMEAD.
U. S. ATTORNEY WHO CONDUCTED THE PROSECUTION.
Whatever may have been the nature of their difficulties or the character of their settlement, there was a good deal of “girding” during the trial from the defense at the relations of the various opposing counsel; and there was some recrimination after the Government’s defeat over the responsibility for what its representatives thought was a miscarriage of justice. When the lawyers were finally lined up the record showed these appearances: J. W. Ashmead, D. A. U. S., G. L. Ashmead and J. R. Ludlow represented the United States: R. J. Brent, Attorney General of Maryland, James Cooper, a Senator of the United States for Pennsylvania, and R. M. Lee, of Philadelphia, appeared as special counsel; Mr. Brent by order of the Governor of Maryland, of which State Mr. Gorsuch was a citizen; Mr. Cooper and Lee also private counsel of Mr. Gorsuch’s relatives: For the prisoner, J. J. Lewis, of West Chester, Th. Stevens, of Lancaster, John M. Read, T. A. Cuyler and W. A. Jackson, of Philadelphia.
David Paul Brown also sat at the prisoners’ counsel table; he appeared for Joseph Scarlet, whose case, with that of others, depended on the result of Hanway’s trial.
Most of these names will be remembered by the general reader as already eminent or soon to so become. The Ashmeads were notably able lawyers; Mr. Brent had high professional position; James Cooper was then United States Senator, from Pennsylvania; Ludlow later became a member of the Philadelphia judiciary; Lewis of West Chester and Stevens of Lancaster were leaders of their respective county bars. John M. Read was later to be a member of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Theo. A. Cuyler was long one of the foremost of Philadelphia’s lawyers. Mr. Jackson, junior counsel and historian of the defense, died Jan. 10, 1857, aged 29, and after less than six years his promising career ended.
The trial was held in the second story room of old Independence Hall and sentimentalists speculated as to whether the cause of Law or Liberty would prevail in a historic building consecrated to both these vital principles of organized society. It had been refitted for the occasion with new gas fixtures and special ventilating devices. The opening day did not attract the concourse that thronged the chamber and corridors as the trial progressed, but the seating capacity of the room was fully occupied.