Star.
London, England, 1829-04-28 00:00:00

JOSE DE EPINAL

BUENOS AYRES.

!ROM LA GAUT* soutcAurn, ItiaWARY 21.

It is said that Admiral Brown will take the com-
mand of the squadron which is t 6 carry on operations
on the coast of Uraguay. This is the same thing as
cutting out fresh triumph for him. The standard of the
Republic can never be humbled in the hands of so gal-
, law a seaman.
The few accounts which arrive from the interior ex.
cite sentiments of pity. The savages have tutacked the
city of Mendoza, and the citizens were compelled to
take up arms for the purpose of repelling so teirible
an aggression. The Governor of Sao Louis found him-
self besieged by a parcel of Indians, and without daring
to put his nose out of his own home. There are no a:•
counts from the other points of the Confederacy, but
their position cannot be a very Lettering one, if we are
to judge from the few elements of war that are as yet
collected for the newly-planned ci stades. Would it not
be more profitable for them to turn their arms against,
thelndians rather than against their own brethren?
The climate of the New World does not seem alto-
gether to possess the same degree of uniformity and fix-
edness as the less blessed regions of the old continent.
In the valley of Quito the temperature has diminished
several degrees since the year 1740, the period when
the French Academicians La Condamine. Godin, and
Bower, visited Peru. The :bores of the Mississippi
are no longer so salubrious as when they first afforded
shelter to European colonists. The Bermuda Islands,
which were previously considered a delightful abode,
are now disagreeable and unhealthy.

The aggregate of all the observations made upon
America do not furnish us with any revelation of the
secret causes of the alterations, which appear to be
beyond the reach of human ken and industry.

BUENOS AYRES, Fn. IS.
The execution of the Chieftain Mesa took place yes.
terday on the e.planade of the fort—the residence of
authority, and in sight of the stational flag, which h.
had offended.

We are not insensible to the death of any one man ;
the loss of a citizen is ever painful; but society requires
the exemplary punishment of offences against public
order. and a just application of the 14w is the most solid
guarantee of our individual safety and of our political
existence. A famous modern publicist bolds that an
individual. whom the laws have placed in the hands of
the hangman, may consider himself as more free than
a courtier at a despot's table.

This idea is eaceedingly correct. In a well.regulated
Republic a man must commit crimes to incur punish-
ment. whilst in an arbitrary Government the rod of the
tyrant strikes without distinction the innocent and the
guilty
In Europe, the question of whether the punishment
of death ought to be expunged or not from all
codes. has been amply discussed. The celebrated
Beccaria was the first who raised his voice against
scaffolds. in which he followed rather the impulse of
a• generous heart than the decisions of .a profound
convictioo. There has been no lack of philanthropists
since to revive this argument, and to give it mere force,
because. as civilisation advances, life becomes more
valuable. Amongst the authors who have advocated
the abolition of the penalty of death, sad the small num-
ber of legislators who have abrogated it, the most mo-
derate have limited themselves to demanding a.diminu-
tion of victims where only political crimes are in ques-
tion. An illustrious contemporary (Guisot on the
Penalty of Death in political matters) observed that
parties ate not culpable when only expressing their opi-
lor these are the most sacred patrimony of free
men ; and that, owing to the debate of the tribune and
the press. should events subversive to public order hap-
pen, it is unnecessary to create new words to punish
known crimes.

Starting from this principle. it is easy to justify the
sentence pronounced by the Judges of Mesa. without
offending the inclination of charitable souls. The satel-
lites of Notices are not culpable on account of mete
theories, sustained with more or less warmth. What is
punished ate his enormous excesses in the countfy—nh
threats and attacks on individual property—bas vio-
lence, his depredations, and assassinations, for which',
positive laws exist, and an established jutisprudence.
fdebo, therefore, has mated a deserted, and gat as at-
bitrary punishment. .