Judge Peckham Jury Charge Concerning Military Commission

[Marty L.]

In his argument against the constitutional jurisdiction of the commission, Reverdy Johnson quoted at length (Pitman at 261) from a grand jury charge that had recently been given by Judge Rufus Peckham, in New York court, inveighing against the Lincoln commission. The quotation included the following:

"A great crime has lately been committed, that has shocked, the civilized world. Every right-minded man desires the punishment of the criminals; but lie desires that punishment to be administered according to law, and through the judicial tribunals of the country. No star-chamber court, no secret inquisition in this nineteenth century, can ever be made acceptable to the American mind. . . .

Grave doubts, to say the least, exist in the minds of intelligent men as to the constitutional right of the recent military commissions at Washington to sit in judgment upon the persons now on trial for their lives before that tribunal. Thoughtful men feel aggrieved that such a commission should be established in this free country when the war is over, and when the common-law courts are open and accessible to administer justice according to law without fear or favor. . . .

The unanimity with which the leading press of our land has condemned this mode of trial ought to be gratifying to every patriot."

I have been enable to find any record of Peckham's grand jury charge, or what came of it, other than R. Johnson's use of it. I assume, however, that Johnson must have gotten it from, for example, a newspaper account.

Can anyone help me track it down? Thanks very much.