1S05.] Mufe of Crcfs-ExaminaUcn. — Indian Chief In Englaud. 101 



To the Editor of the Monthly Masazine. 



SIR, 



I AM defirous of propofing a query to 

 fome of your various readers better 

 vcifed in tiie uiage of courts of law than 

 myfelf, ' c; poli'cfllng giea'er facilities 

 of relbarch ; out hnve had fume doubis 

 whether it came within the fcope of your 

 work. Conceiving it, howeTer, to be one 

 of your cliief obiciis to fubferve the caufe 

 of general iifefubefs, and anticipating in 

 the reply to my query the exiftence nf a 

 privilege which it is important, in my 

 opinion, to be made as generally known 

 as poflible, I make choice of your wnrk 

 as beft affoid ng the means of a fatisfac- 

 tory ""eply, and alio of mod ufefutly and 

 extenfively circulating that reply. 



" Has a luitr-efs in any of our courts of 

 laio a right to demand, in any cafe-, fhat the 

 interrogatories of the ad'verfe comifel jhall 

 be put through the medium of the court?" 



It mult have ftillen within the obferva- 

 tion of many of your readers, that the 

 gentlemen of the bar, in the practice ot 

 crofs examination, very ficquently ailume 

 a moft unbrid'ed liberty of I'petch and ad- 

 diels, and evince a moft fupreme iiidif. 

 ferenceti) the reputation or feelings of any 

 unfortunate man, who, while his duty has 

 called him to the grave talk of giving an 

 eviJence upon oath, is at the fame time 

 l'bje>5led lo the uncontrouled exercife of 

 iheir wit and banter. I do not, of courfe, 

 mean to call in queftion the propriety o^ 

 crofsexamination ; it is only the grols 

 abul'e of it of which I complain. It is 

 obfervable, too, that the raillery and ri- 

 dicule thus introduced is frequently but 

 little relevant to the caufe. It may, in 

 many inftances, be coniidered as a compc. 

 fition which the counfcl makes with his 

 client for the want of ingenuity to draw 

 forth the dtfired evidence. A counfel, 

 too, in a crowded court, cannot readily 

 confent to be dull and dry : if, there- 

 fore, he cannjt (hine, he will (trive to 

 glitter. 



Within the circle of my own acquaint- 

 ance a cafe occuired in which \h\^ fporting 

 of the opp<jri(e couiilsl was indulged by 

 i ime very rude and equally irr?!evant in- 

 finuaiions, from which no poiribic btiicfit 

 cou'd accrue to his caufe, and towhicii I 

 am very confident that his brief did nut in 

 tlie leift poir.t lead hi.ii. 



Bui there have l-.een iiift inces in wiiich 

 thi» pn61ice lias been carried i'o farasab- 

 fulutcly to defeat the mta:is of juftice, 

 by completely locking tip, it. (trad of 

 drawing forth, that infonnalion whicli a 

 vtiiijcls of a timid mind could oti.erwife 



have given ; and in which a witnef?, by 

 the cauftic taunts of the counfel, has beea 

 thrown into a (tate of phyfical inability to 

 give his evidence. 



If fuch a right exift (and I have heard 

 it J.fierted bv perfonsof confidei able legal 

 infonnalion) as that which forms my 

 query, a witneCs may at once rid himfelf 

 of this humiliating grievance ; as it may 

 be faftly affiimed that queftions put to a 

 witnefs through the medium of the juJge 

 will not be accompanied with that bad- 

 gering which a counfel feels himfelf at li- 

 berty to indulge in when immediately ad- 

 drelfing a w'.tn-fs. And it mult iinquef- 

 tionably be allovveJ tobewor:hy of gene- 

 vA notoriety, as it would tend much to 

 relieve the minds of many perfons upon 

 whom this talk may be impofed, to be 

 previuufly awaie tiiat they can thus blunt 

 the edge of that pertnefs and flippancy 

 which they may meet with from a counfel, 

 by the greater gravity and foleinnity of the 

 judge. 



Tbe infertion of the above wiil oblige a 

 constant reader, and 



A Lover of Justice. 

 July 12, 1805. 



To the Editor of tbe Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



OBSERVING in your Magazine cf 

 this mon;ii fome circumstances re- 

 fpeiliiig an Indian chief who lately vifiied 

 this country, I beg leave to ft;its that in?— 

 ny of thofe circuinlfances are in iccuratcly 

 related, and, at the fanie time, t j fend y<;u 

 an account of the lame pei Ion, dra -vn tVuirj 

 the fjurce of inamate acquaintance and 

 knowledge. 



The perfon who in this country is caiU 

 ed John Norton, is known in his o-va 

 by the appellation of " Teyoninhck.i. 

 rawen," Ahich fignifies * the open dojr,' 

 hs once having, by iiisnegotiari m, open- 

 ed tiie door of peace to his tribe after a 

 Lng and bloody war. 



T'eyoniniiokara A'en Is a chief of what 

 were formerly termed the t'lve Natior.sj 

 to whicli cunfedtracy a fixth h n been re- 

 cently added. Thqir oiiginal h.ibit.ition 

 was on tl'.e Genefee River, whicli falls in- 

 to the Ii>iiti)ern part "f LakeOntaiio — • 

 From this ilK-y Wv-rc driven by the Englidi 

 ini7ii3, an:! eitabrflied iheuifelves on the 

 Oufe or Grand River, that runs into the 

 i^oith-cailtin ixtremlry of Lake Erie.— 

 General H;il:!iinaid, then conmanding in 

 America on behalf of the Engli(h, mad« 

 a military grant of thefe lands on tha 

 Grand llivur 10 the Five N-ttiotis j and 



the 



