Edward Douglass White

“ It belongs to Congress in common with all other legislative bodies which exist, or have existed in America since its first settlement, under every variety of government, and it has immemorially constituted a privilege of both houses of the British Parliament. It seems absolutely indispensable for the just exercise of the legislative power in every nation purporting to posses a free constitution of government, and it cannot be surrendered without endangering the public liberties as well as the private independence of the members. ”

“ It is elaborately insisted on behalf of the government that there is a difference between the timber culture act and the timber and stone act, resulting from the fact that in the one case in the interim between the entry and the final proof a long time must elapse and much is required to be done by the applicant, while in the other a short time intervenes and substantially nothing is required to be done. ”

“ There is no reason to infer that the details of the unlawful conspiracy and agreement are not fully stated in the indictment, and it may therefore be assumed that the persons who were to be suborned, and the time and place of such subornation, had not been determined at the time of the conspiracy, except as might be inferred from a purpose to procure the persons to be suborned to come before the United States commissioner for the district of Oregon named in the indictment. ”

“ But the proposition wholly fails to give effect to the provisions of the conspiracy statute (U.S. Rev. Stat. § 5440, U.S.C.omp. Stat. 1901, p. 3676) , which clearly renders it criminal for two or more persons to conspire to commit any offense against the United States, provided only that one or more of the parties to the conspiracy do an act towards effecting the object of the conspiracy. ”

“ If the entryman has complied with the statute and made the entry in good faith, in accordance with the terms of the law and the oath required of him upon making such entry, and has done nothing inconsistent with the terms of the law, we find nothing in the fact that, during his term of occupancy, he has agreed to convey an interest to be conveyed after patent issued, which will defeat his claim and forfeit the right acquired by planting the trees and complying with the terms of the law. ”

“ We say this, because, as the 3d section re-exacts in the final application a reiteration of some of the requirements concerning the character of the land made necessary in the first application, and omits the requirement as to the bona fides, etc., of the applicant, it follows, under the elementary rule that the inclusion of one is the exclusion of the other, that the re-exacting of a portion only of the requirements was equivalent to an express declaration by Congress that the remaining requirements should not be exacted at the final proof. ”

“ United States, supra, where, although the scope of the privilege was not passed upon, it was declared that a claim interposed by a senator of the United States, of immunity from arrest in consequence of a prosecution and conviction for a misdemeanor, involved a constitutional question of such a character as to give jurisdiction to this court by direct writ of error. ”

“ That any person desiring to avail himself of the provisions of this act shall file with the register of the proper district a written statement in duplicate, one of which is to be transmitted to the General Land Office, designating by legal subdivisions the particular tract of land he desires to purchase, setting forth that the same is unfit for cultivation and valuable chiefly for its timber or stone; that it is uninhabited ”

“ Many of the requested instructions, however, are so clearly without merit, because in effect covered by the charge as given, that we do not deem it necessary to particularly notice them. The only subjects which we think are sufficiently important to require express notice are—
(a) That, even although no request was made to instruct the jury on the whole evidence to render a verdict of not guilty, nevertheless it should now be held that the record establishes such an entire absence of proof tending to show guilt that it should be so declared. ”

“ It is enough if these may tend, even in a slight degree, to elucidate the inquiry, or to assist, though remotely, to a determination probably founded in truth.' . . .
'The modern tendency, both of legislation and of the decision of courts, is to give as wide a scope as possible to the investigation of facts. ”

“ Members of both houses should be free in their persons in cases of civil suits, for there may come a time when the safety and welfare of this whole empire may depend upon their attendance in Parliament. ”

“ These allegations plainly import, and they are susceptible of no other construction, than that the unlawful agreement contemplated a future solicitation of individuals to enter lands, who in so doing would necessarily knowingly state and subscribe under oath material false statements as to their purpose in respect to entering the land, etc., and known to be such by the conspirators. ”