judges seeming contented with his reasons or indisposed to depart from his
principles," as "not very satisfactory to my (the Judge's) mind;" and
accordingly he declares that, in felonies of such high grade, as in cases
of treason, there can be no accessories before the fact, but all are
principals; and, to support this conclusion, he then cites and details at
length two cases, apparently overruling Sir Matthew beforehand; (as he
says) "reported in that book of highest authority known among Christian
nations, decided by a judge from whose decision there can be no appeal and
before whose solemn tribunal all judges and jurors will in the great day
have their verdict and judgments passed in review." One, the case "of
Naboth and Ahab, contained in the 21st chapter of the First Book of
Kings," the other, "that of David and Uriah, recorded in the 11th chapter
of Second Samuel;" at the end of the statement of which case the Judge
remarks, "this judgment of the Lord was not that David was accessory
before the fact of this murder, but was guilty as the principal, because
he procured the murder to be done. It was a judgment to the effect that he
who does an act by another does it himself, whether it be a civil or a
criminal act." This extraordinary deliverance closes with an echo of Judge
Pierrepont's warning to the jury, to uphold by their verdict the District
of Columbia, as a place for "the public servants, commissioned by the
people of the nation, to do their work safe and sacred from the presence
of unpunished assassins within its borders."