et
in order the Democracy by his glorious laws, the philosopher, the
good legislator, entreating you with the gravity which so well
became him never to set the rhetoric of Demosthenes above your oaths
and above the laws; Aristides, who assessed the tribute of the
Confederacy, and whose daughters after his death were dowered by the
State--indignant at the contumely threatened to justice and
asking: Are you not ashamed? When Arthmios of Zeleia brought
Persian gold to Greece and visited Athens, our fathers well-nigh put
him to death, though he was our public guest, and proclaimed him
expelled from Athens and from all territory that the Athenians rule;
while Demosthenes, who has not brought us Persian gold but has taken
bribes for himself and has kept them to this day, is about to
receive a golden wreath from you! And Themistokles, and they who
died at Marathon and Plataea, aye, and the very graves of our
forefathers--do you not think they will utter a voice of
lamentation, if he who covenants with barbarians to work against
Greece shall be--crowned!

FREDERICK A. AIKEN (1810-1878)

In defending the unpopular cause of the British soldiers who were
engaged in the Boston Massacre, John Adams said:--

"May it please your honor and you, gentlemen of the jury, I am for
the prisoner at the bar, and shall apologize for it only in the
words of the Marquis of Beccaria: 'If I can but be the instrument of
preserving one life, his blessings and tears of transport shall be a
sufficient compensation to me for the contempt of all mankind.'"

Something of the same idea inspires the fine opening of Aiken's
defense of Mrs. Surratt. It lacks the sinewy assertiveness of
Adams's terse and almost defiant apology for doing his duty as a
lawyer in spite of public opinion, but it justifies itself and the
plea it introduces.

Until within the recent past, political antagonisms have been too
strong to allow fair consideration for such orations as that of
Aiken at the Surratt trial. But this is no longer the case. It can
now be considered on its merits as an oration, without the
assumption that it is necessary in connection with it to pass on the
evidence behind it.

The assassins of President Lincoln were tried by military commission
under the War Department's order of May 6th, 1865. The prosecution
was conducted by Brigadier-General Joseph Holt, as judge
advocate-general, with Brevet-Colonel H. L. Burnett, of Indiana, and
Hon. Joh