s own free act does not exempt him from punishment.
This was the precise point on which turned the celebrated case of
Guiteau, the murderer of President Garfield. His trial before the
Supreme Court, District of Columbia, December, 1882, was one of the most
interesting that have ever occurred in this country or elsewhere in
connection with the plea of insanity. In his very able and exhaustive
instructions to the jury on that occasion, Judge Cox states the rule
that is to guide the jury in these words: "It has been argued with great
force on the part of the defendant that there are a great many things in
his conduct which could never be expected of a sane man, and which are
only explainable on the theory of insanity. The very extravagance of his
expectations in connection with this deed--that he would be protected by
the men he was to benefit, would be applauded by the whole country when
his motives were made known--has been dwelt upon as the strongest
evidence of unsoundness. Whether this and other strange things in his
career are really indicative of partial insanity, or can be accounted
for by ignorance of men, exaggerated egotism, or perverted moral sense,
might be a question of difficulty. And difficulties of this kind you
might find very perplexing if you were compelled to determine the
question of insanity generally, without any rule for your guidance.

"But the only safe rule for you is to direct your reflections to the one
question which is the test of criminal responsibility, and which has
been so often repeated to you, viz., whether, whatever may have been the
prisoner's singularities and eccentricities, he possessed the mental
capacity, at the time the act was committed, to know that it was wrong,
or was deprived of that capacity by mental disease."

What furnished the clearest proof, gentlemen, that Guiteau's opinion
concerning the expediency of killing the President resulted not from an
insane delusion but from his own reasoning is contained in a paper which
he had himself drawn up to justify the murder.

It is an address to the American people, published on June 16, in which
he says: "I conceived the idea of removing the President four weeks ago;
not a soul knew my purpose. I conceived the idea myself and kept it to
myself. I read the newspapers carefully, for and against the
Administration, and gradually the conviction dawned on me that the
President's removal was a political necessity, because he proved