charge of
judge Thomas H. Ghoison to the
Grand Jury Empaneled for the Circuit Court held in the city of
Petersburg on Thursday, may 22, 1862.
[published by request of the Grand Jury.]
Gentlemen of the Grand Jury:
I heartily congratulate you that you assemble to-day, owing no allegiance whatever to the
Government of the
United States.
Happily for us and our children, and for the cause of humanity, we are now separated forever.
No matter what the diversity of sentiment among us a few months ago, now every patriot rejoices that
Virginia is no longer united with a people whose madness or fanaticism has sustained a Government which has trampled under foot every principle of liberty, while it has distinguished itself by unparalleled perfidy and hypocrisy.
The most violent enemy of the
North never dreamed it possible that
Lincoln and his advisers were capable of such startling meanness, outrage, and oppression.
Let us rejoice that we are no longer of them.
In no age — in no nation, was there ever a more obnoxious despotism than the
Government called the
United States.
At this day
Lincoln can appoint whom he please a commanding officer, and that officer may establish such rules and regulations us he please — suspend the laws, writ of
habeas corpus, and all, as he please, take up and throw in prison whom he please, and refuse to tell friends, lawyers, officers, and courts, for what or where he has incarcerated him.
And this enormous oppression is mystified because it is alleged that we are rebels and that all over the country there are persons who sympathize with us. Every print in the
North which had the boldness to question the propriety of the war waged against us, and to advise peace, has been hushed.
Every man, who has had the spirit to raise his voice against their acts of tyranny and oppression, has been incarcerated.
In down trodden
Maryland the representatives of the people, who had not opened their months, are seized and thrown into prison for fear they would advise.
‘"resistance to tyrants."’ And, to crown all, defenceless and unoffending women have been arrested, and committed to rough and unfeeling rowdies as their prison keepers.
And all this, not because the victims of their inhumanity plotted or desired the overthrow of the
Government of the
United States, but because they condemned or opposed, or were supposed to condemn and oppose, the war waged against the
Southern people.--The rulers at
Washington, having determined on our destruction, have hunted down and imprisoned as felons every man who dared intimate that war upon us was unjust.
There was no disloyalty to the
North--the offence has consisted in desiring justice for the
South.
In comparison with such tyranny the
Spanish Inquisition was tolerable.
Religious fanaticism could be pleaded as some excuse for the one, while the tyrants at
Washington cannot offer in extenuation of their barbarities a true purpose to serve either God of man.
In
Great Britain,
Burkes opposed the ministerial measures which led to the
American Revolution, and then used all his power and eloquence to heal the breach.
Yet his loyalty to
Great Britain was not questioned.--
Chatham,
England's matchless orator, for more than ten years opposed the arbitrary meanness adopted towards the
Colonels, and urged their abandonment, and openly declared, after the declaration of American Independence, that the conquest of
America was impossible; and his last great effort in Parliament — the theatre of his glory — was an attack on the unjust and impolitic proceedings of the Ministry towards the Colonies, at the close of which he fainted and fell backwards, and in a short time thereafter, breathed his last.
So that it may be said he died battling for the Colonies.
Yet his country men never doubted his loyalty, but honored him with a public funeral, and magnificent monuments were erected to his memory in
Westminster Abbey and
Guild hall.
Our enemies, however, regard all who will not declare fore subjection right and proper disloyal, and hope to crush opposition by their incarceration.
But how vain must such efforts proved.
As long as God gives men a love of freedom and stout hearts there will be rebels against tyranny.
We have protested before the world that all we asked was to be ‘"let alone,"’ We have deprecated war as a great calamity, and declared our readiness to agree upon fair terms of separation.
Our desire for peace has been construed into timidity, and our propositions have been answered with insult and threats.
They tell us we are traitors — that they have the power, and will reduce us to obedience.
To the
Union they say we own an indisacluble allegiance, and substantially, that they will make us. Union driving men by invading our country, burning down our houses, turning loose our slaves, insulting our women, and murdering our men. And it is with such a people that we are now at war!
It is not strange that in such a contest our soldiers should perform deeds of almost marvellous heroism, and that our enemies should be seized with panic and flee the battle-field in the wildest disorder.
None but wicked rulers wage such a war. None but misguided soldiers volunteer to fight in such battles.
I mourn with you, sentiment, that in this unhappy struggle gallant officers and brave men have fallen.
It could have been avoided.
Had we consented to be slaves, and to serve our masters all the days of our lives, we would have been ‘"let alone"’--that is, no armies would have been sent among us, except the army of tax gatherers to ‘"eat out substance"’ Still, while we mourn our dead, let us thank God that thus far He has given us the victory.
Liberty is the child of oppression, and has ever been baptized in the blood of the brave.
These reflections have been suggested by the stirring events which have transpired since the last session of this Court.
We have formed new relations, and hence new duties have arisen.
Treason against this Commonwealth no one thought of twelve months ago. Now there is treason, open and avowed; and a portion of the people in the
Western part of the
State, counseled and advised of the
Government at
Washington, and in plain violation of the
Constitution of the United States, have attempted to set up a separate Government.
Treason against the
Confederate States will fall within the jurisdiction of the
Courts of that Government; but it is your duty to inquire whether there be in your midst any who are traitors to
Virginia.
I refer you on this subject to the Code of
Virginia, on, 199, page 783.
It is also my duty, gentlemen of the
Grand Jury, to call your attention to all violations of the criminal laws of this Commonwealth.
Most of you are familiar with the duties you have to perform, and I shall not stop to give you these laws in detail.
It is our duty to execute these laws as they are written.
We have no authority to Inquire whether they are wise or not. We are public servants, and have no authority to grant pardon or immunity.
Law would be a mere mockery if Judges and jurors were at liberty to execute it or not as they pleased.
I beg you, gentlemen, also to recollect that in time of war, tumult and confusion, as well as in times of peace, the only sure bulwark of liberty is law honestly and faithfully administered.
In such times, above all others, it is the duty not only of courts and juries, but of all good men, to frown down all violence and wrong.
In this day and generation the law is too slow for many people, but reassured every act of wrong and aggression suffered or permitted, inflicts a serious injury upon society.
You may not see it at the moment, but the seed has been sown, and will surely bear fruit.
Educate a people to hold the law in light esteem — to think that they may take it into their own hands, and you must, in the end, have anarchy, confusion and misery.-- As I have heretofore said, there is no order without law — there is no liberty without order.
The foregoing part or this charge was prepared last fall and delivered at several of my fall courts.
Since then our arms have met with sad reverses.
Many a noble spirit has sealed his devotion to his country with his blood, and many brave soldiers have been incarcerated as prisoners of war. But these reverses, so far from leading the patriot to despair, will only induce greater determination and higher resolves.
He is unworthy of the name of patriot who is loud and vociferous in his protestations of devotion to country while all is prosperous and peaceful, and yet quails and trembles in the day of adversity and the hour of peril.
As much claim has be to be regarded a friend who is prodigal and pressing in his officers of kindness, while you are independent and above the frowns of the world, and yet when misfortune and calamity overtake you and cast their dark shadows along your pathway, turns away, without even raising a hand to help.
That man, who now counts the value of property, or calculates the danger of battle, has no love of country; no conception of the true value of freedom.
It is surely a sad thing to live in a day of revolution, but the brave soul indulges in no unnecessary repining, but renews his enemies, buckles on his armor, and marches forth as a man to meet the foes of his country.
He feels that he is in the line of duty, and that no sacrifice is too great in the cause of liberty.
He battle is not only for his own rights, but recollects that the chains prepared for him will also be used to bind his children and his children's children.
I have spoken in no featured terms, yet I have not dealt in language of exaggeration.
Witness the preparations now being made for our slavery.
In the Federal Congress measures are proposed by which every man who has aided in the defence of the
South is to have his slaves let loose and freed, and his lands sold or parcelled out among our enemies.
In the last few days a Federal General.
Hunter, has, with a single dash of his pen, declared all the slaves in
South Carolina,
Georgia, and
Florida free, while the
monster at New Orleans has issued an order that all females in that gallant city who offend a hireling soldiery, by gesture or look, are to be treated as hariots — an order which, for brutality and wickedness, has no parallel in the history of civilized warfare, and by which he invites and licenses his army to violate our women.
Let every true man, therefore, utter but one sentiment, ‘"Victory or Death."’ We must conquer in this contest or become ‘"hewers of wood or drawers of water."’
I offer you, gentlemen, no apology for the character of this charge.
Our allegiance is due to
Virginia and the
Confederate States, and no facts or arguments are out of place which tend to show the justice of our cause, and the oppression and tyranny of our enemies — especially at a time when they stand almost at the gate of our city, with arms in their hands, for the purpose of our destruction.
In the casualties of war they may come among us as conquerors--God forbid such humiliation — but if they should, every one who claims to be a man should recollect where his allegiance is due, and be ready to act as a brave man and determined patriot.
No man who believes our cause just can ever swear allegiance to the
Lincoln government without committing sin in the sight of God, and bringing upon himself a disgrace which no time can wipe away.
The memory of such a man can never be revered, even by his own offspring.
