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 VISUAL BASIC® 2010
PROGRAMMER’S REFERENCE

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xli

PART I IDEI
CHAPTER 1 Introduction to the IDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
CHAPTER 2 Menus, Toolbars, and Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
CHAPTER 3 Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
CHAPTER 4 Windows Forms Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
CHAPTER 5 WPF Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
CHAPTER 6 Visual Basic Code Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
CHAPTER 7 Debugging. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

PART II GETTING STARTED

CHAPTER 8 Selecting Windows Forms Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
CHAPTER 9 Using Windows Forms Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
CHAPTER 10 Windows Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
CHAPTER 11 Selecting WPF Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
171
CHAPTER 12 Using WPF Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
CHAPTER 13 WPF Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
CHAPTER 14 Program and Module Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
CHAPTER 15 Data Types, Variables, and Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
CHAPTER 16 Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
CHAPTER 17 Subroutines and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
CHAPTER 18 Program Control Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
CHAPTER 19 Error Handling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
CHAPTER 20 Database Controls and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
CHAPTER 21 LINQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
CHAPTER 22 Custom Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

ffirs.indd i 12/31/09 9:04:47 PM

 CHAPTER 23 Drag and Drop, and the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
CHAPTER 24 UAC Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

PART III OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING

CHAPTER 25 OOP Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
CHAPTER 26 Classes and Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
CHAPTER 27 Namespaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
CHAPTER 28 Collection Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
CHAPTER 29 Generics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

PART IV GRAPHICS
CHAPTER 30 Drawing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
CHAPTER 31 Brushes, Pens, and Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
CHAPTER 32 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749
CHAPTER 33 Image Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
CHAPTER 34 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781

PART V INTERACTING WITH THE ENVIRONMENT

CHAPTER 35 Configuration and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
CHAPTER 36 Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
CHAPTER 37 File-System Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
CHAPTER 38 Windows Communication Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871
CHAPTER 39 Useful Namespaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881

PART VI APPENDIXES
APPENDIX A Useful Control Properties, Methods, and Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
APPENDIX B Variable Declarations and Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
APPENDIX C Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 929
APPENDIX D Subroutine and Function Declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937
APPENDIX E Control Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941
APPENDIX F Error Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 947
APPENDIX G Windows Forms Controls and Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949

ffirs.indd ii 12/31/09 9:04:48 PM

 APPENDIX H WPF Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033
APPENDIX I Visual Basic Power Packs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1041
APPENDIX J Form Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045
APPENDIX K Classes and Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1061
APPENDIX L LINQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
APPENDIX M Generics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075
APPENDIX N Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079
APPENDIX O Useful Exception Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091
APPENDIX P Date and Time Format Specifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095
APPENDIX Q Other Format Specifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
APPENDIX R The Application Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1105
APPENDIX S The My Namespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1109
APPENDIX T Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1125
APPENDIX U File-System Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131
APPENDIX V Index of Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1149

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171

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ffirs.indd iv 12/31/09 9:04:49 PM
 Visual Basic® 2010
PROGRAMMER’S REFERENCE

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ffirs.indd vi 12/31/09 9:04:49 PM
 Visual Basic® 2010
PROGRAMMER’S REFERENCE

Rod Stephens

ffirs.indd vii 12/31/09 9:04:49 PM

 Visual Basic® 2010 Programmer’s Reference
Published by
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ffirs.indd viii 12/31/09 9:04:50 PM

 For Terry Pratchett, whose genius is slowly being
stolen from himself and the world.
www.terrypratchettbooks.com

ffirs.indd ix 12/31/09 9:04:51 PM

ffirs.indd x 12/31/09 9:04:51 PM
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ROD STEPHENS started out as a mathematician, but while studying at MIT,

discovered the joys of programming and has been programming professionally
ever since. During his career, he has worked on an eclectic assortment of
applications in such fields as telephone switching, billing, repair dispatching,
tax processing, wastewater treatment, concert ticket sales, cartography, and
training for professional football players.
Rod is a Microsoft Visual Basic Most Valuable Professional (MVP) and
ITT adjunct instructor. He has written more than 20 books that have been
translated into languages from all over the world, and more than 250 magazine articles covering
Visual Basic, C#, Visual Basic for Applications, Delphi, and Java. He is currently a regular
contributor to DevX (www.DevX.com).
Rod’s popular VB Helper web site www.vb-helper.com receives several million hits per month and
contains thousands of pages of tips, tricks, and example code for Visual Basic programmers, as well
as example code for this book.

ffirs.indd xi 12/31/09 9:04:51 PM

ffirs.indd xii 12/31/09 9:04:51 PM
 CREDITS

EXECUTIVE EDITOR VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE GROUP

Robert Elliott PUBLISHER
Richard Swadley
PROJECT EDITOR
Adaobi Obi Tulton VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER
Barry Pruett
TECHNICAL EDITOR
John Mueller ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Jim Minatel
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Eric Charbonneau PROJECT COORDINATOR, COVER
Lynsey Stanford
COPY EDITOR
Kim Cofer PROOFREADER
Nancy Bell
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Robyn B. Siesky INDEXER
Jack Lewis
EDITORIAL MANAGER
Mary Beth Wakefield COVER IMAGE
© Erik Isakson / Tetra images/ Jupiter Images
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Tim Tate COVER DESIGNER
Michael Trent

ffirs.indd xiii 12/31/09 9:04:52 PM

ffirs.indd xiv 12/31/09 9:04:52 PM
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THANKS TO BOB ELLIOTT, Adaobi Obi Tulton, Kristin Vorce, Kim Cofer, and all of the others who
worked so hard to make this book possible.
Thanks also to John Mueller for giving me another perspective and the benefit of his extensive
expertise. Visit www.mwt.net/~jmueller to learn about John’s books and to sign up for his free
newsletter .NET Tips, Trends & Technology eXTRA.

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ffirs.indd xvi 12/31/09 9:04:52 PM
 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION xli

PART I: IDE

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE IDE 3

Different IDE Appearances 4

IDE Configurations 5
Projects and Solutions 6
Starting the IDE 7
Creating a Project 10
Saving a Project 13
Summary 15
CHAPTER 2: MENUS, TOOLBARS, AND WINDOWS 17

Menus 17
File 18
Edit 21
View 23
Project 24
Build 29
Debug 30
Data 30
Format 31
Tools 31
Test 35
Help 37
Toolbars 37
Secondary Windows 37
Toolbox 39
Properties Window 40
Summary 41

ftoc.indd xvii 12/31/09 8:47:22 PM

 CONTENTS

CHAPTER 3: CUSTOMIZATION 43

Adding Commands 43
Making Keyboard Shortcuts 45
Summary 46
CHAPTER 4: WINDOWS FORMS DESIGNER 47

Setting Designer Options 47

Adding Controls 49
Selecting Controls 50
Copying Controls 50
Moving and Sizing Controls 51
Arranging Controls 52
Setting Properties 52
Setting Group Properties 52
Setting Different Properties for Several Controls 53
Using Smart Tags 54
Adding Code to Controls 54
Summary 56
CHAPTER 5: WPF DESIGNER 57

Editor Weaknesses 58
Recognizing Designer Windows 59
Adding Controls 60
Selecting Controls 60
Copying Controls 61
Moving and Sizing Controls 62
Setting Properties 63
Setting Group Properties 63
Adding Code to Controls 64
Summary 64
CHAPTER 6: VISUAL BASIC CODE EDITOR 67

Margin Icons 68
Outlining 70
Tooltips 72
IntelliSense 73
Code Coloring and Highlighting 74
Code Snippets 77
Using Snippets 77

xviii

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 CONTENTS

Creating Snippets 78
Architectural Tools 80
Rename 80
Go To Definition 81
Go To Type Definition 81
Highlight References 81
Find All References 81
Generate From Usage 82
The Code Editor at Runtime 83
Summary 84
CHAPTER 7: DEBUGGING 85

The Debug Menu 86

The Debug ➪ Windows Submenu 88
The Breakpoints Window 92
The Command and Immediate Windows 94
Summary 95

PART II: GETTING STARTED

CHAPTER 8: SELECTING WINDOWS FORMS CONTROLS 99

Controls Overview 99
Choosing Controls 104
Containing and Arranging Controls 105
Making Selections 107
Entering Data 108
Displaying Data 109
Providing Feedback 109
Initiating Action 111
Displaying Graphics 112
Displaying Dialog Boxes 113
Supporting Other Controls 113
Third-Party Controls 114
Summary 115
CHAPTER 9: USING WINDOWS FORMS CONTROLS 117

Controls and Components 117

Creating Controls 119
Creating Controls at Design Time 119
Adding Controls to Containers 120

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Creating Controls at Runtime 120

Properties 123
Properties at Design Time 124
Properties at Runtime 128
Useful Control Properties 129
Position and Size Properties 133
Methods 134
Events 134
Creating Event Handlers at Design Time 135
WithEvents Event Handlers 137
Setting Event Handlers at Runtime 137
Control Array Events 139
Validation Events 139
Summary 144

CHAPTER 10: WINDOWS FORMS 145

Transparency 146
About, Splash, and Login Forms 149
Mouse Cursors 150
Icons 152
Application Icons 154
Notification Icons 154
Properties Adopted by Child Controls 155
Property Reset Methods 156
Overriding WndProc 156
SDI and MDI 158
MDI Features 159
MDI Events 162
MDI versus SDI 164
MRU Lists 165
Dialog Boxes 167
Wizards 169
Summary 170
CHAPTER 11: SELECTING WPF CONTROLS 171

Controls Overview 172

Containing and Arranging Controls 172
Making Selections 175
Entering Data 176
Displaying Data 177
Providing Feedback 177
Initiating Action 178
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Presenting Graphics and Media 178

Providing Navigation 180
Managing Documents 180
Digital Ink 181
Summary 181
CHAPTER 12: USING WPF CONTROLS 183

WPF Concepts 183

Separation of User Interface and Code 184
WPF Control Hierarchies 185
WPF in the IDE 186
Editing XAML 186
Editing Visual Basic Code 190
XAML Features 192
Objects 193
Resources 196
Styles 197
Templates 199
Transformation 201
Animations 202
Drawing Objects 205
Procedural WPF 210
Documents 216
Flow Documents 216
Fixed Documents 218
XPS Documents 218
Summary 219

CHAPTER 13: WPF WINDOWS 221

Window Applications 221

Page Applications 224
Browser Applications 224
Frame Applications 226
PageFunction Applications 227
Wizard Applications 230
Summary 234

CHAPTER 14: PROGRAM AND MODULE STRUCTURE 237

Hidden Files 237

Code File Structure 242
Code Regions 243

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Conditional Compilation 244

Namespaces 253
Typographic Code Elements 255
Comments 255
XML Comments 256
Line Continuation 260
Implicit Line Continuation 261
Line Joining 263
Line Labels 263
Summary 264

CHAPTER 15: DATA TYPES, VARIABLES, AND CONSTANTS 265

Data Types 266

Type Characters 268
Data Type Conversion 271
Narrowing Conversions 271
Data Type Parsing Methods 274
Widening Conversions 275
The Convert Class 275
ToString 275
Variable Declarations 276
Attribute_List 276
Accessibility 277
Shared 278
Shadows 279
ReadOnly 281
Dim 282
WithEvents 283
Name 284
Bounds_List 286
New 287
As Type and Inferred Types 288
Initialization_Expression 289
Initializing Collections 293
Multiple Variable Declarations 294
Option Explicit and Option Strict 295
Scope 298
Block Scope 298
Procedure Scope 300
Module Scope 300
Namespace Scope 301

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Restricting Scope 302

Parameter Declarations 302
Property Procedures 304
Enumerated Data Types 307
Anonymous Types 310
Nullable Types 311
Constants 312
Accessibility 312
As Type 312
Initialization_Expression 313
Delegates 313
Naming Conventions 315
Summary 317
CHAPTER 16: OPERATORS 319

Arithmetic Operators 319

Concatenation Operators 320
Comparison Operators 321
Logical Operators 323
Bitwise Operators 324
Operator Precedence 325
Assignment Operators 326
The StringBuilder Class 328
Date and TimeSpan Operations 330
Operator Overloading 333
Operators with Nullable Types 336
Summary 337
CHAPTER 17: SUBROUTINES AND FUNCTIONS 339

Subroutines 339
Attribute_List 340
Inheritance_Mode 344
Accessibility 345
Subroutine_Name 346
Parameters 346
Implements interface.subroutine 354
Statements 356
Functions 356
Property Procedures 358
Extension Methods 359

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Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
testimony that he was able to present it in its logical connection as
to time, purpose, and circumstances; tracing the plot through the
evidence before him, from its incipiency to its completion, step by
step, showing the bearing and relation that one thing sustained to
another in a most conclusive and unanswerable way.
He had systematically and logically arranged the testimony,
which had necessarily been presented in a most desultory and
unsatisfactory way, from the fact that the evidence had to be taken
just as witnesses were found to be present. By great care and labor
the judge had arranged the evidence just in the order in which he
would have chosen to introduce it had the witnesses all been at his
command at the moment he would have chosen to use them.
Having thus arranged the testimony, he simply read it to the jury,
stopping when necessary to comment on it and interpret it. His fair,
natural, common sense interpretation of the facts proven could not
fail to bring conviction to every intelligent, and candid mind. That
the proof before him had brought to the mind of this eminent and
experienced advocate and jurist the most complete conviction of the
prisoner's guilt, is shown throughout his argument. He did not,
however, leave the matter of his own convictions to be the subject
merely of inference, but left himself on record on this point as
follows:—
"In this case I feel justified in saying, that the prisoner is proved
to be guilty, and in as overwhelming a manner as any man was ever
proven guilty in the history of jurisprudence. I appeal to any judge,
any lawyer, any man who has had experience, if there was ever a
case where the guilt of the party, was more clearly demonstrated.
He is proven guilty not only beyond a reasonable doubt, but beyond
the possibility of any doubt. There is not a man of you who can
doubt it. It has been a strange case. It was a strange providence
that brought the man back here to be tried. And now that he is here,
you, the twelve men who in the providence of God have been
selected to try the case, are to say whether what he has done is
right or not right; whether he is guilty or not guilty.
 "That is for you to say, not for me. I know he is proved guilty.
About that there can be no doubt. I do not believe that any of you
have any doubt whatever on that subject."
That the purpose of this conspiracy was to assassinate the heads
of the government from its very first inception, is made clear by the
whole run of the evidence brought out on the two trials. Atzerodt, in
his confession, which he had gotten up to be used in his defence,
claims that he was a member of a conspiracy to kidnap the
President, and carry him to Richmond. John H. Surratt, in his
Rockville lecture, claims the same thing. They both claim that when
Booth laid aside this plan as impracticable, and proposed to change
it to a conspiracy to assassinate, that they withdrew, and would
have nothing further to do with it. It is evident that the statements
of both are false, both as regards the original purpose of the
conspiracy, and also their abandonment of it. Surratt in his
confessions to McMillen stated that he received a letter from Booth
in Montreal on the 10th of April. This letter was written from New
York, and summoned him to Washington at once, as it had become
necessary for them to change their plans and to act quickly.
He left Montreal in obedience to this summons on the 12th of
April, and was in Elmira on the morning of the 13th. In his defense
of an alibi, he tried to prove that he remained at Elmira until after
the 15th, and then returned to Montreal, where he arrived on the
18th.
His counsel argued that the plan up to that time had been to
capture, and that it was then for the first time that Booth had
determined to assassinate; that this was the change of plan referred
to in his letter, and that, as Surratt, according to their plea, never
saw him after this change of plan had been determined upon, he
knew nothing about it, and was never a member of a conspiracy to
assassinate. He admitted that he left Montreal in response to Booth's
letter, but claimed that he did not go any further than Elmira, in his
defense.
 This, also, is his story in his Rockville lecture, in which he admits
that he was a member of the conspiracy to capture the President,
but asserts that he was never a member of the conspiracy to
assassinate him. Why did he obey Booth's summons which required
him to come at once to Washington? Why did he come by way of
Elmira? He says in his lecture that he went to Elmira in the interest
of a plan to liberate the rebel prisoners that were held at that place.
He had just been to Richmond, carrying dispatches from Davis and
Benjamin to their agents in Canada. Active measures were at once
resorted to to accomplish the assassinations that had been planned
without delay, and had the scheme been fully realized it was no
doubt a part of this plan to bring into active service at once all the
secret treasonable military organizations throughout the North,
liberate all the rebel prisoners held in Northern prisons, and
inaugurate a new rebellion in the North, in aid of the existing
rebellion in the South. Surratt admits that he went to Elmira on this
business. He went there no doubt to arrange with other conspirators
there for carrying out this purpose when notified of the success of
the assassination plot. No doubt similar arrangements had been
made at Chicago to liberate the prisoners at Camp Douglass; and
perhaps at other places. The partial failure of the assassination plot,
and the signal triumph of our arms, admonished these Northern
traitors that they had better not enter the arena of actual war, and
frustrated all the plans of Jefferson Davis and his Canada Cabinet.
Surratt's admissions are right in the line of our theory, and tend to
prove its correctness; but his claim that he was only a member of a
conspiracy to capture is manifestly untrue. Let us hear the
conclusion of that eminent jurist, Judge Pierrepont, founded on a
careful consideration of all the evidence on this point. "Now you see
gentlemen, what is meant by a change of plan. In the spring of 1864
the plan was to murder Mr. Lincoln. They laid various plans for its
accomplishment. They thought to do it as he went to the Soldiers'
Home, by the telescopic rifle, and they did not intend, in the event
of concluding to carry out that plan, to let his wife or his child stand
in their way. They then thought to do it by having Payne call upon
Mr. Lincoln, get into conversation with him, listen to his stories, seem
to be interested in them, and then, at that moment, to strike the
knife home, deep into his heart. They at another time thought to
poison him, and for this purpose tried the cup; but it seemed that
that failed them once, and, as Booth said, might fail them again.
They finally concluded they would try to kill him in the theatre,
instead of on his way to the Soldiers' Home, and have Payne kill
Secretary Seward at his house. That plan they carried out. But,
gentlemen, notwithstanding this change of plan, never was there for
more than a year any other purpose than to murder. They had long
since abandoned the idea of kidnapping, for that required too much
machinery, too many men, and subjected them to too much danger;
and the changes in plan that had taken place recently were simply
as to the mode of killing, and the men who should strike the fatal
blow." Here we have the mature opinion of an eminent jurist,
founded on a thorough and careful examination of all the evidence,
and we feel confident that no candid, intelligent man who studies all
the evidence with care can come to any other.
Having had occasion to follow the history of this sad affair from
its incipiency to its conclusion, as revealed by the evidence produced
before the commission, and that brought out on the civil trial, my
purpose in writing this book has been fulfilled. It was, first, to
correct many grave errors in public opinion that have grown out of a
wilful and ingenious suppression of the truth and an unblushing
publication of falsehoods, in order to cover up from view the fact
that the assassination of President Lincoln was the result of a deep-
laid political scheme to subvert the government of the United States
in aid of the rebellion; that it was not merely the rash act of Booth
and his co-conspirators, to whom the work was intrusted; but that
behind these stood Jefferson Davis and his Canada cabinet; that it
was the work of a great conspiracy.
The second object of the author was to vindicate the
government in its method of dealing with the assassins, and to show
that the decisions of the commission were founded on adequate
testimony. And, lastly, to so gather up and present the truth, as
shown by the evidence, that his work might be of some service to
the future historian. He feels that he has kept faithful to his purpose
to present nothing but the truth. He feels that by this he has not
only vindicated the government, but that also in doing this he has
vindicated the commission. He has shown that a military commission
was the only tribunal before which the conspirators and assassins
could properly be tried; that the right of the government to try
offenses of this character is a power inherent in sovereignty as is the
right of personal self-defence a right that inheres to the individual;
that the laws of war recognize this right and justify its exercise. The
wisdom of the government in dealing thus summarily with these
offenders was seen in its effect on the Canada conspirators, who at
first were swearing that "they were not done yet," but who were
driven to their holes by the prompt and wise action of the
government in dealing thus summarily with their hired assassins as
fast as they were caught. The government thus compelled its
enemies to respect its authority.
And, finally, the result of the trial of one of the conspirators
before a civil court, more than anything else, vindicates its wisdom
in sending these prisoners before a military tribunal for trial.

Side Lights on the Conspiracy.

John Matthews gives us the substance of a paper put into his
hands by Booth on the afternoon of the assassination, which closed
as follows: "Men who love their country better than their lives—
Booth, Payne, Atzerodt, and Herold."33 It will be observed that Booth
here identifies Atzerodt with the conspiracy and the evidence shows
that he relied on Atzerodt at that time to perform the part he
assigned to him: to assassinate Vice-President Johnson. He had
transferred Atzerodt from the Pennsylvania House, where he had
been boarding, to the Kirkwood House on the morning of that day,
having engaged his room but for one day, and paying for it in
advance. This change was made because the Vice-President was
stopping at the Kirkwood.
 That Booth had visited Atzerodt at his room during the day was
shown by the fact that his coat, containing his bank book and
handkerchiefs marked in his name, was found in Atzerodt's room
where he had hung it up and then forgotten to take it again when
he left. That the purpose was a murderous purpose was shown by
the fact that a pistol, loaded and capped, together with a large
dagger, were found hid away in the bed. Booth had been there
schooling Atzerodt in his part, and had had such assurances from
Atzerodt that he felt safe in coupling his name with his own and
those of Payne and Herold in the paper referred to. Matthews stated
that whilst he was in conversation with Booth, General Grant passed
rapidly down the Avenue in an open carriage, having his baggage
along with him; that he called Booth's attention to this fact, when
Booth left him abruptly and galloped down the avenue after General
Grant. Why did he do this? What did this mean? When Atzerodt had
made his way into the country, and was eating his dinner on
Sabbath, the 16th, at the house of Hezekiah Metz, he was asked if it
was true, as had been reported, that General Grant had been killed,
answered, "If the man who was to follow him had done so, it was
likely to be true." This explains Booth's purpose in galloping after
General Grant when he saw that he was about to leave the city. He
hurried to inform O'Laughlin of the fact and to have him follow the
General and assassinate him on the road or at the end of his
journey, and had told Atzerodt of this arrangement. We can in this
way account for the fact that Atzerodt knew that a man had had
orders to follow him. The fact that Booth, in the paper referred to,
coupled Atzerodt's name with his own and those of Payne and
Herold as "men who loved their country better than their lives"
shows that he fully expected Atzerodt to perform the part he had
assigned him in the tragedy. O'Laughlin was no doubt the man who
had orders to follow the General, but upon reflection, wisely declined
to do so.
Dr. Mudd voluntarily confessed to Captain Dutton, who had
charge of the convicts who were sent to the Dry Tortugas, whilst on
their voyage thither, that he knew Booth when he came to his house
on the morning of the 15th of April; and said that he denied it
because he was afraid of endangering his own life, and the lives of
his family. He also admitted that he went to Washington by
appointment to introduce Booth to Surratt, and that Wiechmann's
testimony on this point was true. Why, if innocent, should he have
been afraid to let it be known that Booth and Herold called at his
house on that morning, and what he had done for them? This fear
could only have come from a consciousness of guilt, and shows that
he not only knew what they had done, but, also, that he was
implicated in their guilt by his previous knowledge of what they were
going to do. John H. Surratt, after he had been set at liberty,
delivered a lecture at Rockville, Maryland, in which he denied that he
ever knew of the plot to assassinate, but admitted that he was a
member of a conspiracy to capture President Lincoln and carry him a
prisoner to Richmond. He asserts that this was Booth's purpose
whilst he was co-operating with him, and that they had spent a
great deal of money ($10,000) in preparations to effect their object.
He claims that neither the Richmond government, nor its agents in
Canada, knew anything about their scheme, and that they alone
were responsible for it. Where then did they get their $10,000 to
spend on it? They were both without means of their own, and
without employment. The Rockville lecture is simply a plausible
tissue of falsehoods, well put together, but altogether inconsistent
with the whole tenure of the evidence in the case. It is contradicted
at almost every point by the testimony we have had under review.
Yet its admissions are important, as they establish the theory of the
conspiracy which we have maintained. He admits that he was
engaged in the secret service of the Confederate government almost
constantly from the time he left college in the summer of 1861, and
that he enjoyed that service greatly, and was very active in it. He
claims that he was entrusted with dispatches for the agents of that
government in Canada, and that he passed from the one place to
the other frequently. He admits that he reached Montreal on the 6th
of April with dispatches from Davis and Benjamin to Thompson. Of
course he does not say that he also carried Bills of Exchange on
Liverpool at the same time for $70,000, or that he carried funds at
any time; but we have had the proof of this fact. He admits that he
went from Montreal on the 12th of April, to Elmira, New York, and
claims that he remained there until after the assassination.
This we have seen was proven to be a falsehood, yet his
purpose in going to Elmira, as claimed by himself, confirms our
theory that the plan of the conspirators was in connection with the
assassinations which they had planned to get up a Northern
rebellion in aid of that of the South, through the agency of the
secret disloyal organizations with whom they were in
correspondence throughout the Northwestern and Middle States,
and to liberate all the rebel prisoners held in Northern prisons to
augment their forces, and in the state of anarchy and confusion,
consequent upon the deprivation of the government of a civil head,
and the army of a lawful commander, they thus intended
inaugurating a reign of terror throughout the North that would make
a further prosecution of the war impossible, and by this means
establish the Southern Confederacy. Surratt says in his lecture that
he went to Elmira for the purpose of preparing for the release of the
more than five thousand rebel prisoners that were held at that place.
The author, after a very careful scrutiny of all the evidence relating
to the question of Surratt's presence in Washington on the night of
the assassination, and of his participation in it, has not hesitated to
express the opinion that this was proven. By all legal rules the plea
of an alibi failed as the vast preponderance of evidence went to
prove his presence as charged. But even if we admit that he was at
Elmira, as claimed, on the night of the assassination, and that he
remained there until the 16th of April, he is not by this admission
disconnected with the conspiracy, but was by his own admission
acting there in the interest of its purposes by setting at large the five
thousand rebel prisoners held there by the government. The effort
to aid the rebellion by this step was contingent upon the
accomplishment of all of the assassinations that had been planned.
The failure to do this rendered his mission there useless. If he was
there, he was there in the interest of the conspiracy. That he had all
of its guilt upon his conscience is shown by the facts of his flight and
concealment.
Thompson and his gang claimed, in the fall of 1864, it will be
remembered, that they had eight hundred men hid away in Chicago
for the purpose of liberating the rebel prisoners held in Camp
Douglass. They were only waiting for a safe opportunity, for which
they were planning to secure an opportune moment. Why did
Vallandigham break his parole in the summer of 1864 and return to
Ohio to become a candidate for the governorship of that state? It
was no doubt in the interest of this new rebellion that had been
planned, and that he might be in a position to carry out the details
of these nefarious schemes. It will be remembered that he had been
elected Supreme Commander of the order of American Knights at
their annual meeting in February, 1863. During Vallandigham's
enforced absence, Robert Holloway acted as Lieutenant-General, or
Deputy Supreme Commander, and Doctor Massey of Ohio was
Secretary of State. The organization was a military one, of which
Vallandigham was recognized as General, and had a complete army
organization, and was, in 1864, arming, drilling, and preparing for a
Northern rebellion, and the accomplishment of the assassinations
that were planned and arranged for was no doubt to have been the
signal for a general uprising. It may be asked, why, if this theory be
correct, was not this purpose carried out? We answer simply
because that God who planted, and has hitherto watched over our
nation, frustrated the scheme. He so ordered the events of his
providence that the carrying out of this wicked scheme became
manifestly impossible. The plan to deprive the government of a civil
head and the army of a lawful commander failed. The collapse of the
rebellion was precipitated so rapidly that it was manifestly useless to
attempt to give it aid. The valor, prowess, skill, and loyalty of our
victorious legions was a menace to copperheadism. This secret army
concluded that discretion was the better part of valor, and sought
safely in seclusion, but not quite in silence. They still continued to
hiss.
 To God's over-ruling and protecting care we owe our thanks for
the preservation of our government, and for the peace and
prosperity with which we have been blessed, and it is in Him alone
that we can found our hopes for the future. Let us reverently study
and learn the lessons of our great civil war, that we may learn to
avert future judgments by putting away all our idols, and all the
abominations of our national life, remembering that it is
righteousness alone that exalteth a nation, and gives to it peace and
prosperity, and that sin is not only a reproach to any people, but that
national sins, if persisted in, justified and incorporated into national
policy, will inevitably call down the judgments of a holy, righteous,
and just God.
APPENDIX.
 PREFACE TO APPENDIX.

In presenting the great argument of the Hon. John A. Bingham,

Assistant Judge-Advocate, on the trial of the assassins, the author
feels that he does not need to offer an apology to his readers,
notwithstanding its length.
In addition to what he has already said by way of commending it
to the careful perusal of his readers, he will add by way of preface,
the following extracts from Barnes's 40th Congress, Vol. 1, showing
the light in which that great effort was viewed by competent judges
at the time; and also giving extracts from his great argument before
the United States Senate on the articles of impeachment found
against Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, for high
crimes and misdemeanors, in vindication of the high encomiums
bestowed by him on this distinguished statesman and advocate.

Extracts from "The Fortieth Congress of the

United States."
By William H. Barnes:—1st Vol., 40th
Congress.
Mr. Bingham served as Special Judge Advocate in the great trial
of the conspirators, who were tried for the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln, etc. Immense labor devolved upon him during this difficult
and protracted trial, and for eight weeks his arduous duties allowed
him but brief intervals of rest. He occupied nine hours in the delivery
of the closing arguments, in which he ably elucidated the law and
the testimony in the case, and conclusively proved the guilt of the
conspirators. Mr. Bingham's success in this great trial attracted
general attention, and awakened a wide-spread curiosity to know his
history. Soon after the close of the trial, a correspondent of the
Philadelphia Press, having expressed the deep interest he had felt in
arriving at a well founded conclusion as to "the guilt of the
conspirators and the constitutionality of the court," wrote as
follows:—

"Grant me space in your columns to give expression to

my most unqualified admiration of the great arguments, on
these two main points, presented to the court by the Special
Judge Advocate, Gen. John A. Bingham. In the entire range
of my reading, I have known of no productions that have so
literally led me captive. For careful analysis, logical
argumentation, profound and most extensive research; for
overwhelming unravelment of complications that would have
involved an ordinary mind only with inextricable
bewilderment, and for a literal rending to tatters of all the
metaphysical subtleties of the array of legal talent engaged
on the other side, I know of no two productions in the English
language superior to these. They are literally as the spear of
Ithuriel, dissolving the hardest substances at their touch; as
the thread of Dædalus, leading out of the labyrinths of error,
no matter how thick and mazy. Not Locke or Bacon were
more profound; not Daniel Webster was clearer and more
penetrating; not Chillingworth was more logical. I feel sure
that the author of these two unrivalled papers must possess a
legal mind unrivalled in America, and must be, too, one of our
rising statesmen. But who is John A. Bingham, who by his
industry and learning displayed on this wonderful trial, has
placed the country under such a heavy debt of obligation? He
may be well known to others moving in a public sphere, like
yourself, but to me, so absorbed in a different line of duty, he
has appeared so suddenly, and yet with such vividness, that I
long to know some, at least, of his antecedents."

Upon which the editor remarked:—

"The question of our esteemed correspondent is natural

to one who has not, probably, watched the individual actors
on the great stage of public affairs with the interest of the
historical and political student. We are not surprised that the
arguments of Mr. Bingham before the military commission
should have filled him with delight. It was worthy of the great
subject confided to that accomplished statesman by the
Government, and of his own fame. When the assassins of Mr.
Lincoln were sent for trial before the military court by
President Johnson, the Government wisely left the whole
management to Judge Holt and his eloquent associate, Mr.
Bingham, and to the latter was committed the stupendous
labor of sifting the mass of evidence, of replying to the corps
of lawyers for the defence, of setting forth the guilt of the
accused and of vindicating the policy and the duty of the
executive in an exigency so novel and so full of tragic
solemnity. The crime was so enormous, and the trial of those
who committed it so important in all its issues, immediate,
contingent and remote, as to awaken an excitement that
embraced all nations. The murder itself was almost forgotten
by those who wished to screen the murderers, and the most
wicked theories were broached and sown broadcast by men,
who, under cloak of reverence for what they called the law,
toiled with herculean energy to weaken the arm of the
Government, extended in time of war to save the servants of
the people from being slaughtered by assassins in public
places, and tracked even to their firesides by the agents and
friends of slavery. These poisons of plausibility, blunting the
sharpest horrors of any age, and sanctifying the most hellish
offenses, required an antidote as swift to cure. Mr. Bingham's
 two great arguments, alluded to by our correspondent, have
supplied the remedy. They are monuments of reflection,
research, and argumentation; and they are presented in the
language of a scholar and with the fervor of an orator. In the
great volume of proof and counter-proof, rhetoric, and
controversy that forever preserves the record of this great
trial, the efforts of Mr. Bingham will ever remain to be first
studied with an eager and admiring interest. That they came,
after all that has and can be said against the Government, is
rather an inducement to their more satisfactory and critical
consideration. For from that study the American student and
citizen must, more than ever, realize how irresistible is Truth
when in conflict with Falsehood, and how poor and puerile
are all the professional tricks of the lawyer when opposed to
the moral power of the patriot."

In Congress Mr. Bingham has had a distinguished career, marked

by important services to the country. In the XXXVIIth Congress he
was earnest and successful in advocating many important measures
to promote the vigorous prosecution of the war, which had just
begun. Returning to Congress in 1865, after an absence of two
years, he at once took a prominent position. Upon the formation of
the joint committee on Reconstruction, December 14th, 1865, he
was appointed one of the nine members on the part of the House.
He was active in advocating the great measures of Reconstruction,
which were proposed and passed in the XXXIXth and XLth
Congresses. The House of Representatives having resolved that
Andrew Johnson should be impeached for "high crimes and
misdemeanors," Mr. Bingham was appointed on the committee to
which was intrusted the important duty of drawing up the Articles of
Impeachment. This work having been done to the satisfaction of the
House, Mr. Bingham was elected chairman of the managers to
conduct the impeachment of the President before the Senate.
On him devolved the duty of making the closing argument. His
speech on this occasion ranks among the greatest forensic efforts of
any age. He began the delivery of his argument on Monday, May
4th, and occupied the attention of the Senate, and a vast auditory
on the floor and in the galleries, during three successive days. At the
close of his argument, the immense audience in the galleries,
wrought up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, gave vent to such an
unanimous and continued outburst of applause as has never before
been heard in the Capitol. Ladies and gentlemen, who could not
have been induced deliberately to trespass on the decorum of the
Senate, by whose courtesy they were admitted to the galleries,
overcome by their feelings, joined in the utterance of applause,
knowing that for so doing the Sergeant-at-arms would be required to
expel them from the galleries. The history of the country records no
similar tribute to the oratorial efforts of the ablest advocates or
statesmen. From so long and so well-sustained an argument, it is
impossible to select particular passages which would give an
adequate idea of the whole. The following historical argument for
the supremacy of the law will always be read with interest, whether
as an extract, or in its original setting:—
"Is it not in vain, I ask you, Senators, that the people have thus
vindicated by battle the supremacy of their own Constitution and
laws, if, after all, their President is permitted to suspend their laws
and dispense with the execution thereof at pleasure, and defy the
power of the people to bring him to trial and judgment before the
only tribunal authorized by the Constitution to try him? That is the
issue that is presented before the Senate for decision by these
articles of impeachment. By such acts of usurpation on the part of
the ruler of a people, I need not say to the Senate, the peace of
nations is broken, as it is only by obedience to law that the peace of
nations is maintained, and their existence perpetuated. Law is the
voice of God and the harmony of the world:—
 "'It doth preserve the stars from wrong,
Through it the eternal heavens are fresh and strong.'
"All history is but philosophy, teaching by example. God is in
history, and through it teaches to men and nations the profoundest
lessons which they learn. It does not surprise me, Senators, that the
learned counsel for the accused asked the Senate, in the
consideration of this question, to close that volume of instruction,
not to look into the past, and not to listen to its voices. Senators,
from that day when the inscription was written upon the graves of
the heroes of Thermopylæ, 'Stranger, go tell the Lacedemonians that
we lie here in obedience to their laws,' to this hour, no profounder
lesson than this has come down to us: that through obedience to
law comes the strength of nations and the safety of men.
"No more fatal provision ever found its way into the
Constitutions of States than that contended for in this defense which
recognizes the right of a single despot or of the many to discriminate
in the administration of justice between the ruler and the citizen,
between the strong and the weak. It was by this unjust
discrimination that Aristides was banished because he was just. It
was by this unjust discrimination that Socrates, the wonder of the
Pagan world, was doomed to drink the hemlock because of his
transcendant virtues. It was in honorable protest against this unjust
discriminati that the great Roman Senator, father of his country,
declared that the force of the law consists in its being made for the
whole community. Senators, it is the pride and boast of that great
people from whom we are descended, as it is the pride and boast of
every American, that the law is the supreme power of the State, that
it is for the protection of each, by the combined power of all. By the
Constitution of England the hereditary monarch is no more above
the law than the humblest subject; and by the Constitution of the
United States, the President is no more above the law than the
poorest and most friendless beggar in your streets. The usurpations
of Charles I. inflicted untold injuries upon the people of England, and
finally cost the usurper his life. The subsequent usurpations of
James II., and I only refer to it because there is between his official
conduct and that of this accused President, the most remarkable
parallel that I have ever read in history, filled the heart and brain of
England with conviction that new securities must be taken to restrain
the prerogatives asserted by the crown, if they would maintain their
ancient Constitution and perpetuate their liberties. It is well said by
Hallam that the usurpations of James swept away the solemn
ordinances of the legislature. Out of those usurpations came the
great revolution of 1688, which resulted in the dethronement and
banishment of James, in the elevation of William and Mary, and in
the immortal Declaration of Rights.
"I ask the Senate to notice that these charges against James are
substantially the charges presented against this accused President,
and confessed here of record, that he has suspended the laws, and
dispensed with the execution of laws, and in order to do this has
usurped authority as the executive of the nation, declaring himself
entitled under the Constitution to suspend the laws and dispense
with their execution. He has further, like James, attempted to control
the appropriated money of the people contrary to law. And he has
further, like James, although it is not alleged against him in the
Articles of Impeachment, it is confessed in his answer, and
attempted to cause the question of his responsibility to the people to
be tried, not in the King's Bench, but in the Supreme Court, when
that question is alone cognizable in the Senate of the United States.
Surely, Senators, if these usurpations, if these endeavors on the part
of James thus to subvert the liberties of the people of England, cost
him his crown and kingdom, the like offenses committed by Andrew
Johnson ought to cost him his office, and to subject him to that
perpetual disability pronounced by the people through the
Constitution upon him for his high crimes and misdemeanors.
"I ask you, Senators, how long men would deliberate upon the
question whether a private citizen arraigned at the bar of one of
your tribunals of justice for a criminal violation of the law, should be
permitted to interpose a plea in justification of his criminal act, that
his only purpose was to interpret the Constitution and laws for
himself, that he violated the law in the exercise of his prerogative to
test its validity hereafter at such a day as might suit his own
convenience in the courts of justice. Surely it is as competent for the
private citizen to interpose such justification in answer to crime in
one of your tribunals of justice, as it is for the President to interpose
it, and for the simple reason that the Constitution is no respecter of
persons, and rests neither in the private citizen judicial power.
"Can it be that by your decree you are at last to make this
discrimination between the ruler of the people and the private
citizen, and to allow him to interpose his assumed right to interpret
judicially your Constitution and laws? Are you to solemnly proclaim
by your decree:—
"'Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice heartless breaks;
Arm it in rags and a pigmy's straw doth pierce it?'
"I put away the possibility that the Senate of the United States,
equal in dignity to any tribunal in the world, is capable of recording
any such decision even upon the petition and prayer of the accused
and guilty President. Can it be that by reason of his great office the
President is to be protected in his high crimes and misdemeanors,
violative alike of his oath, of the Constitution and of the express
letter of your written law, enacted by the legislative department of
the government?
"I ask you, Senators, to consider that I speak before you this
day in behalf of the violated law of a free people, who commission
me. I ask you to remember this, that I speak this day under the
obligations of this my oath. I ask you to consider that I am not
insensible to the significance of the words of which mention was
made by the learned counsel from New York; justice, duty, law, oath.
I ask you to remember that the great principles of constitutional
liberty for which I speak this day, have been taught to men and
nations by all the trials and triumphs, by all the agonies and
martyrdoms of the past; that they are the wisdom of the centuries
uttered by the elect of the human race.
"I ask you to consider that we stand this day pleading for the
violated majesty of the law, by the graves of half a million of
martyred hero-patriots who sacrificed themselves for their country,
the Constitution, and the laws, and who by their sublime examples
have taught us that all must obey the law; that none are above the
law; that no man lives for himself alone, but each for all, that some
must die that the State may live; that the citizen is but for to-day,
that the commonwealth is for all time, and that position, however
high, patronage however powerful, cannot be permitted to shelter
crime to the peril of the Republic."
 ARGUMENT OF JOHN A.
BINGHAM,
Special Judge Advocate,

IN REPLY TO THE SEVERAL

ARGUMENTS IN DEFENCE OF MARY
E. SURRATT AND OTHERS, CHARGED
WITH CONSPIRACY AND THE
MURDER OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, ETC.

May it please the Court: The conspiracy here charged and

specified, and the acts alleged to have been committed in pursuance
thereof, and with the intent laid, constitute a crime the atrocity of
which has sent a shudder through the civilized world. All that was
agreed upon and attempted by the alleged inciters and instigators of
this crime constitutes a combination of atrocities with scarcely a
parallel in the annals of the human race. Whether the prisoners at
your bar are guilty of the conspiracy and the acts alleged to have
been done in pursuance thereof, as set forth in the charge and
specification, is a question the determination of which rests solely
with this honorable court, and in passing upon which this court are
the sole judges of the law and the fact.
In presenting my views upon the questions of law raised by the
several counsel for the defence, and also on the testimony adduced
for and against the accused, I desire to be just to them, just to you,
just to my country, and just to my own convictions. The issue joined
involves the highest interests of the accused, and, in my judgment,
the highest interests of the whole people of the United States.
It is a matter of great moment to all the people of this country
that the prisoners at your bar be lawfully tried and lawfully convicted
or acquitted. A wrongful and illegal conviction or a wrongful and
illegal acquittal upon this dread issue would impair somewhat the
security of every man's life, and shake the stability of the republic.
The crime charged and specified upon your record is not simply
the crime of murdering a human being, but it is the crime of killing
and murdering on the 14th day of April, A. D. 1865, within the
military department of Washington and the intrenched lines thereof,
Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United States, and
Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy thereof; and then and
there assaulting, with intent to kill and murder, William H. Seward,
then Secretary of State of the United States; and then and there
lying in wait to kill and murder Andrew Johnson, then Vice-President
of the United States, and Ulysses S. Grant, then lieutenant-general
and in command of the armies of the United States, in pursuance of
a treasonable conspiracy entered into by the accused with one John
Wilkes Booth, and John H. Surratt, upon the instigation of Jefferson
Davis, Jacob Thompson, and George N. Sanders and others, with
intent thereby to aid the existing rebellion and subvert the
Constitution and laws of the United States.
The rebellion, in aid of which this conspiracy was formed and
this great public crime committed, was prosecuted for the
vindication of no right, for the redress of no wrong, but was itself
simply a criminal conspiracy and gigantic assassination. In resisting
and crushing this rebellion the American people take no step
backward and cast no reproach upon their past history. That people
now, as ever, proclaim the self-evident truth that whenever
government becomes subversive of the ends of its creation, it is the
right and duty of the people to alter or abolish it; but during these
four years of conflict they have as clearly proclaimed, as was their
right and duty, both by law and by arms, that the government of
their own choice, humanely and wisely administered, oppressive of
none and just to all, shall not be overthrown by privy conspiracy or
armed rebellion.
What wrong had this government or any of its duly constituted
agents done to any of the guilty actors in this atrocious rebellion?
They themselves being witnesses, the government which they
assailed had done no act, and attempted no act, injurious to them,
or in any sense violative of their rights as citizens and men; and yet
for four years, without cause of complaint or colorable excuse, the
inciters and instigators of the conspiracy charged upon your record
have, by armed rebellion, resisted the lawful authority of the
government, and attempted by force of arms to blot the republic
from the map of nations. Now that their battalions of treason are
broken and flying before the victorious legions of the republic, the
chief traitors in this great crime against your government secretly
conspire with their hired confederates to achieve by assassination, if
possible, what they have in vain attempted by wager of battle—the
overthrow of the government of the United States and the
subversion of its Constitution and laws. It is for this secret
conspiracy in the interest of the rebellion, formed at the instigation
of the chiefs in that rebellion, and in pursuance of which the acts
charged and specified are alleged to have been done and with the
intent laid, that the accused are upon trial.
The government, in preferring this charge, does not indict the
whole people of any State or section, but only the alleged parties to
this unnatural and atrocious conspiracy and crime. The President of
the United States, in the discharge of his duty as Commander-in-
Chief of the army, and by virtue of the power vested in him by the
Constitution and laws of the United States, has constituted you a
military court, to hear and determine the issue joined against the
accused, and has constituted you a court for no other purpose
whatever. To this charge and specification the defendants have
pleaded, first, that this court has no jurisdiction in the premises;
and, second, not guilty. As the court has already overruled the plea
to the jurisdiction, it would be passed over in silence by me but for
the fact that a grave and elaborate argument has been made by
counsel for the accused not only to show the want of jurisdiction,
but to arraign the President of the United States before the country
and the world as a usurper of power over the lives and the liberties
of the prisoners. Denying the authority of the President to constitute
this commission is an averment that this tribunal is not a court of
justice, has no legal existence, and therefore no power to hear and
determine the issue joined. The learned counsel for the accused,
when they make this averment by way of argument, owe it to
themselves and to their country to show how the President could
otherwise lawfully and efficiently discharge the duty enjoined upon
him by his oath to protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution of
the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully
executed.
An existing rebellion is alleged and not denied. It is charged that
in aid of this existing rebellion a conspiracy was entered into by the
accused, incited and instigated thereto by the chiefs of this rebellion,
to kill and murder the executive officers of the government and the
commander of the armies of the United States, and that this
conspiracy was partly executed by the murder of Abraham Lincoln,
and by a murderous assault upon the Secretary of State; and
counsel reply, by elaborate argument, that although the facts be as
charged, though the conspirators be numerous and at large, able
and eager to complete the horrid work of assassination already
begun within your military encampment, yet the successor of your
murdered President is a usurper if he attempts by military force and
martial law, as Commander-in-Chief, to prevent the consummation of
this traitorous conspiracy in aid of this treasonable rebellion. The civil
courts, say the counsel, are open in the District. I answer, they are
closed throughout half the republic, and were only open in this
District on the day of this confederation and conspiracy, on the day
of the traitorous assassination of your President, and are only open
at this hour by force of the bayonet. Does any man suppose that if
the military forces which garrison the intrenchments of your capital,
fifty thousand strong, were all withdrawn, the rebel bands who this
day infest the mountain passes in your vicinity would allow this
court, or any court, to remain open in this District for the trial of
these their confederates, or would permit your executive officers to
discharge the trust committed to them, for twenty-four hours?
At the time this conspiracy was entered into, and when this court
was convened and entered upon this trial, the country was in a state
of civil war. An army of insurrectionists have, since this trial begun,
shed the blood of Union soldiers in battle. The conspirator, by whose
hand his co-conspirators, whether present or absent, jointly
murdered the President on the 14th of last April, could not be and
was not arrested upon civil process, but was pursued by the military
power of the government, captured, and slain. Was this an act of
usurpation?—a violation of the right guaranteed to that fleeing
assassin by the very Constitution against which and for the
subversion of which he had conspired and murdered the President?
Who in all this land is bold enough or base enough to assert it?
I would be glad to know by what law the President, by a military
force, acting only upon his military orders, is justified in pursuing,
arresting, and killing one of these conspirators, and is condemned
for arresting in like manner, and by his order subjecting to trial,
according to the laws of war, any or all of the other parties to this
same damnable conspiracy and crime, by a military tribunal of
justice—a tribunal, I may be pardoned for saying, whose integrity
and impartiality are above suspicion, and pass unchallenged even by
the accused themselves.
The argument against the jurisdiction of this court rests upon
the assumption that even in time of insurrection and civil war no
crimes are cognizable and punishable by military commission or
court-martial, save crimes committed in the military or naval service
of the United States, or in the militia of the several states when
called into the actual service of the United States. But that is not all
the argument: it affirms that under this plea to the jurisdiction the
accused have the right to demand that this court shall decide that it
is not a judicial tribunal and has no legal existence.
This is a most extraordinary proposition—that the President,
under the Constitution and laws of the United States, was not only
not authorized, but absolutely forbidden, to constitute this court for
the trial of the accused, and, therefore, the act of the President is
void, and the gentlemen who compose the tribunal without judicial
authority or power, and are not in fact or in law a court.
That I do not misstate what is claimed and attempted to be
established on behalf of the accused, I ask the attention of the court
to the following as the gentleman's (Mr. Johnson's) propositions:—
That Congress has not authorized, and, under the Constitution,
cannot authorize the appointment of this commission.
That this commission has, "as a court, no legal existence or
authority," because the President, who alone appointed the
commission, has no such power.
That his act "is a mere nullity—the usurpation of a power not
vested in the Executive, and conferring no authority upon you."
We have had no common exhibition of law learning in this
defence, prepared by a Senator of the United States; but with all his
experience, and all his learning and acknowledged ability, he has
failed, utterly failed, to show how a tribunal constituted and sworn,
as this has been, to duly try and determine the charge and
specification against the accused, and by its commission not
authorized to hear or determine any other issues whatever, can
rightfully entertain, or can by any possibility pass upon, the
proposition presented by this argument of the gentleman for its
consideration.
 The members of this court are officers in the army of the United
States, and by order of the President, as Commander-in-Chief, are
required to discharge this duty, and are authorized in this capacity to
discharge no other duty, to exercise no other judicial power. Of
course, if the commission of the President constitutes this a court for
the trial of this case only, as such court it is competent to decide all
questions of law and fact arising in the trial of the case. But this
court has no power, as a court, to declare the authority by which it
was constituted null and void, and the act of the President a mere
nullity, a usurpation. Has it been shown by the learned gentleman,
who demands that this court shall so decide, that officers of the
army may lawfully and constitutionally question in this manner the
orders of their Commander-in-Chief, disobey, set them aside, and
declare them a nullity and a usurpation? Even if it be conceded that
the officers thus detailed by order of the Commander-in-Chief may
question and utterly disregard his order and set aside his authority,
is it possible, in the nature of things, that any body of men,
constituted and qualified as a tribunal of justice, can sit in judgment
upon the proposition that they are not a court for any purpose, and
finally decide judicially, as a court, that the government which
appointed them was without authority? Why not crown the absurdity
of this proposition by asking the several members of this court to
determine that they are not men—living, intelligent, responsible
men? This would be no more irrational than the question upon which
they are asked to pass. How can any sensible man entertain it?
Before he begins to reason upon the proposition he must take for
granted, and therefore decide in advance, the very question in
dispute, to wit, his actual existence.
So with the question presented in this remarkable argument for
the defence: before this court can enter upon the inquiry of the want
of authority in the President to constitute them a court, they must
take for granted and decide the very point in issue, that the
President had the authority, and that they are in law and in fact a
judicial tribunal; and having assumed this, they are gravely asked, as
such judicial tribunal, to finally and solemnly decide and declare that
they are not in fact or in law a judicial tribunal, but a mere nullity
and nonentity. A most lame and impotent conclusion!
As the learned counsel seems to have great reverence for
judicial authority, and requires precedent for every opinion, I may be
pardoned for saying that the objection which I urge against the
possibility of any judicial tribunal, after being officially qualified as
such, entertaining, much less judicially deciding, the proposition that
it has no legal existence as a court, and that the appointment was a
usurpation and without authority of law, has been solemnly ruled by
the Supreme Court of the United States.
That court says: "The acceptance of the judicial office is a
recognition of the authority from which it is derived. If a court
should enter upon the inquiry (whether the authority of the
government which established it existed), and should come to the
conclusion that the government under which it acted had been put
aside, it would cease to be a court and be incapable of pronouncing
a judicial decision upon the question it undertook to try. If it decides
at all as a court, it necessarily affirms the existence and authority of
the government under which it is exercising judicial power."—(Luther
vs. Borden, 7 Howard, 40.)
That is the very question raised by the learned gentleman in his
argument—that there was no authority in the President, by whose
act alone this tribunal was constituted, to vest it with judicial power
to try this issue; and by the order upon your record, as has already
been shown, if you have no power to try this issue for want of
authority in the Commander-in-Chief to constitute you a court, you
are no court, and have no power to try any issue, because his order
limits you to this issue, and this alone.
It requires no very profound legal attainments to apply the ruling
of the highest judicial tribunal of this country, just cited, to the point
raised, not by the pleadings, but by the argument. This court exists
as a judicial tribunal by authority only of the President of the United
States; the acceptance of the office is an acknowledgment of the
validity of the authority conferring it, and if the President had no
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