The New Yorkers evidently do not intend to hang Stokes,
the man who shot James Fisk. His counsel alleged in his defence, what is evidently true, that be had been persecuted by Fisk, who used the law as a weapon against him, and who at one time could rely on a verdict against any enemy ; but the jury were not satis- fied with reducing the crime to manslaughter. They quarrelled over his guilt or innocence till they could find no verdict, and
were dismissed. The evident feeling in New York is that Fisk was a scoundrel who "wanted," as Americans say, to be shot, and we should not be surprised to see Stokes, after a year or two of quiet life, sent up to the House of Representatives or made an Ambassador. What with the newspapers, the sentimentality of juries, and the absurd licence given to comae], Americans are I putting gossip upon the judgment-seat.
Previous page
