1027. BURR'S (A.) TRIAL, Relegated to Congress.—[continued].
I shall think it my duty
to lay before you the proceedings and the evidence
publicly exhibited on the arraignment
of the principal offenders before the Circuit
Court of Virginia. You will be enabled to judge
whether the defeat was in the testimony, in
the law, or in the administration of the law;
and wherever it shall be found, the Legislature
alone can apply or originate the remedy. The
framers of our Constitution certainly supposed
they had guarded, as well their government
against destruction by treason, as their citizens
against oppression, under pretence of it; and if
these ends are not attained, it is of importance
to inquire by what means, more effectual, they
may be secured. [64]
—
Seventh Annual Message. Washington ed. viii, 87.
Ford ed., viii, 163.
(Oct. 1807)
