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0489

From the Clarion.
An Important Opinion.

Our attentive Kosciusko correspondent furnished us last week, the particulars of a trial pending in the Circuit Court of Atala, in which a white man named Winters, was charge with the killing of a negro. The witnesses in the case, were all negroes, and although the evidence was very strong against the accused, there seemed to be an impression that the jury would not find a verdict of guilty. The jury however, returned a verdict in accordance with the facts and the law in the case, and the opinion of Judge Campbell, in pronouncing sentence, was accepted by the good people of Attala as a just view of the case.——We publish this opinion in our columns this morning, agreeing, as we do, with the Chronicle; that "much good will result thereform. This being the first case that has occurred in this State, so far as we are advised, where a white man has been convicted before a jury for the homicide of a negro, upon negro testimony alone, the public mind, without taking time for reflections, was very much exercised at the result. The prevailing opinion of the masses was that no white man could be convicted of any crime, upon negro evidence alone. The cool, dispassionate opinion, therefore, of one so well versed in the law, and so thoroughly Southern in all of his views and acts as Judge Campbell—one who, if it were possible to be biased, in judgement, would be expected to lean to the popular Southern idea, will do much to dispel this hallucination, and correct the public mind upon this question. And again, this opinion speaks in thunder tones the fact so often assailed by the fanatics of the North, that the legitimate rights of the negro will be protected by the courts of the South."——Will some of our radical exchanges republish this opinion, as illustrative of what the statutes of Mississippi provide for the protection of the freedmen?

Opinion of Judge J. A. P. Campbell.

Of the Fifth Judicial District of Mississippi, on the occasion of pronouncing sentence on Sam W. Winters, for the Manslaughter of
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tried for the alleged murder of the freedman Sam. Winters, and found guilty of manslaugher [[manslaughter]]. I approve the verdict, and it is my duty to pronounce the penalty you are to suffer for your crime. The law entrusts me with a very large discretion as to the punishment, and I have found it a difficult task to determine it in your case, which is the first that has been tried before me, and——as far as I know——the first in the State, in which a white man has been convicted of the homicide of a negro, solely on the testimony of negroes. Numerous and earnest appeals have been made to me in your behalf, on this very ground; but they can have no weight with me, for my duty is to execute the law; and it makes negroes competent witnesses, in such cases, and in its view, the life of a negro is as sacred as that of a white person; and in both respects, I think the law is right. The latter is not a new feature in our jurisprudence, for when negroes were slaves, the law protected their lives in the same manner as it did the lives of whites; but it is a new thing in our law to allow negroes to testify against whites in cases when the alleged offence is upon the person or property of a
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you, in view of the grade of your intellect, your training, and passionate and impulsive nature, to say nothing of your interesting wife, and innocent, helpless children, for whose sake I wish I could feel warranted in discharging you, with the admonition "to go and sin no more." But my sentence must signify the reprobation the law has for crime. I must guard my judgment against being carried away by the sympathies of an impressible heart. Human life, whether of the white or black, must be guarded against the ebulitions of passion; an example must be set; society must be protected, and the law vindicated; and although you stand convicted of killing a negro, you must be punished in the same manner as if convicted of killing a white man; for the law makes no distinction in this respect, and I am but an administrator of the law."

Every principle of justice and humanity, every consideration of honor and manliness, alike with motives of policy, combines to require even-handed justice in vindication of the unfortunate negro against the brutal outrages of the lawless white man. The courts of the country are solemnly bound to protect all alike in the enjoyment of life and liberty, and this can be done only by a faithful and fearless execution of the law; and deeply pained as I am by the call of duty in this case, and conscious as I am of the different views that are entertained by many who are very dear to me, as friends—I must obey the dictates of my judgment, and secure the approbation of my own conscience.

I am convinced, from the evidence in your case, that you killed the negro Sam in the heat of violent passion, suddenly excited, and that the act, though palliated by this circumstance, was unjustifiable and unwarranted; and in view of all the circumstances surrounding the transaction and yourself, and from a full consideration of justice and mercy, and public policy, deferring to the unanimous request of the faithful jury which tried you, and has asked me to deal leniently with you, I do sentence you to confinement in the county jail for the period of twelve months, from the date of your conviction, and to pay

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