The indictment, in its noble Tudor phraseology, went on to point out that in order to achieve his purpose Burr, “with a great multitude of persons whose names at present are unknown to the Grand Inquest aforesaid, to a great number, to wit, _to the number of thirty persons and upwards_, armed and arrayed in a warlike manner, that is to say with guns, swords and dirks, and other warlike weapons as well offensive and defensive, being then and there unlawfully, maliciously and traitorously assembled and gathered together,” did “falsely, and traitorously and in a warlike and hostile manner array and dispose themselves against the United States.” The indictment added that this force on the same day had left the island “with the wicked and traitorous intention of descending the river and taking possession of the city of New Orleans.” “... a great multitude of persons ... to wit, to the number of thirty persons and upwards....” Not since the three famous tailors entitled their manifesto “We, the People of England” had so little been made to sound like so much. Thus the indictment set for the prosecution the exacting task of proving that thirty persons, mostly youths, assembling on an island in the Ohio River for little more than twenty-four hours, constituted levying war against the majesty and might of the United States of America. To render the charge even more difficult of proof the prosecution admitted at the outset that the alleged arch-traitor, Aaron Burr, was not even present in person at the warlike assemblage! But was his presence necessary to prove his guilt? In the habeas corpus proceedings in the case of Erich Bollman and Samuel Swartwout the Chief Justice had delivered an opinion indicating that it was not. The prosecution lost no opportunity of reminding him of it. It was on this opinion that it had largely counted on a conviction. So, in his opening remarks to the jury, Mr. Hay once more quoted from the Chief Justice’s opinion: “... if war be levied, that is, if a body of men be actually assembled for the purpose of effecting by force a treasonable purpose, all those who perform any part, however minute, _or however remote from the scene of action_, are to be considered as traitors.” Mr. Hay went farther afield. He delved into the English authorities to demonstrate that in Great Britain, under the statute of 25 Edward III, on which the American theory of treason was based, the crime of treason might be committed not only in the physical absence of the principal but also without the bearing of arms.