Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1840-1842, 1841-05-12
To THE EpIroRs OF rnE VINO.

er OF John Long, an account of which murder wa
published in the whis some short time since. A
the earnest solicitation of the Bar, the Judge fur
nished it for publication, hoping that it might b
! some aid to the cause of TEMPERANCE. Its fore
and eloqucnce will speak for themselves. Ii Wal
delivered in the most impressive manner by III,
Judge, and listened to with breatI.lesS attention b,
the audience. While the Judge was delivering il
the prisoner seemed deeply affected.
II is my painful duty, in conformity with you
conviction, to pronounce upon you the sentence o
the Law for the murder Of John Long. Merciiul il
the verdict which the jury have rendered in you
case compared with the magnitude of your offence
The murder OF which you have been convicted. wa:
perpeuated by you wi, signal marks of cruelty, IN
the hours OF nsht-in the presence OF your dismay
ed famly-upon your guest, pariaking under your
own uoof OF the convvial hospitality TO which you
had invited him-and his life blood was poured out
at your FIRE side The most ferocious heart would
have revoed from the rerpetration of such crime
attended with such circumstances, unless its malis-
nancy had been las It appears in this case) infura-
ted by the demon Of Iniorteaiion.
| The circumstances Of yo-T case peal with thun-
derng remonstrance Upon the of every drunk
ard IN The country and throughout the land to awak-
en- him from the false security in which he is indulg
ing his cherished Intsmpertnce. Where the
ground rf his confdencel That which Is your
wretched fate To-Day, may II not be his to morrow
What is his security that when he has in his besol-
ted and frantic sensuaIity deIhroned his reason the
only ruler that directs human act ons and has in
famed the rebel passions heir vi dest and 6ercts,
uproar-where Is his security that in the frenzy OF
ms intOxlcailon, he may not be provoked, by the
Kicking Of dog, other trivial offence, real or
imaginary, to a bullet axe, and PROSTATE
the offender Smorg the dead2 And then, as in your
case, when the morning light shall rouse him from
his dis ractng slumbtTs into which his exhausted,
supplied nature has sunk after the dread catastrophe
OF his noe .urrnl revels, and he shall behold around
hun he tremendous mt MORALS OF his last nights
deeds-'he walls bespaItered wi gore, tho blood
smok ng upon the hearth, and the CHASTITY features
| and the sthened corpse of the companion he has
murderec-Oh, who can tell the agony OF remorse
and fear which shall lEen oveIwhe NJ him7 Tie
/ horr deed can never lie undone. Words upon
worlds, II he had them, would be cheap to procure
the removal Of the rocks and the mountains cover
the deeds, If OF iom tie eyes OF God from the yves
OF man. Where shall he find hicing place which
the fears Of ecerated conscience trust in ssfety
TO depoSiie the memoir ais Of his crime7 The snow
covering the ear h, will no. IN their 1lless purity,
hide The bloody corpse-the Garth, scaled IN impene
trab'e FROST will not yield for It hiding place. The
dawn is speeding on with increasing light, and be-
fore II has walked the word, some cUncealmenI must
he found. Then the limbs OF the murdered man
are severed, that his TelIct may be fitted 10 hiding
| place benea h the floor Of the dwelling But they
cannot rem ain there concealed. Ano her night TO 0
on--and, IN despair, he apples the torch oil confa.
grafton 10 his home, now the haunted house OF the
murdered, that this funeral pile may consume the
terrific rects ard the bood-Stained traces Of the
crime! But he devouring flame refuses TO consume
the smoudeTns carcass, and 1t IS dragged from the
smoking tmbeTs, and borne TO the recesSes OF the
woods, and there, for while, It rests IN Stiffness
and again II borne 10 Tecesses yet deeper and more
remote; and when II has there been cofhned in the
hollow oil tree the guilty fear subsidies at least for
time, into an iliusory hope that a safe hiding
place has al last been found. The wrelched man
! returns, and attempts 10 resume his wonted abors
and occupations, with the dread secret burning and
struggling IN his bosom.
| But the secret cannot be suppressed. The faul-
| term tongue and embarrassed look and preverica-
ting idlsehoods trembling his lips are betraying
hiHl-ano the ashes are giving up the unconsumed
bones 10 testify against him, and a conycting con.
science expodes and bursts open the secret caverns
oi the heart, and the hidous enormity which was
there concealed IS detected to the gaping horror OF
the world. Then the ministers OF the law shall
selze him, and IN agony he shall implore that the
summary execution Of anticipated Justice may al
once end his wretchcd eKistence-and an ignom,-
NOUS trial shall perpleX, and shame end confound
hlm-and the punishment of the law shall crush
him-and the worm that dlelh not sha forever sting
hIm-and the hre that is not quenched ali forever
consume him. Such IS the dismal series Of events
IN regular consequential succession which intoxica
ton has Originated. In this case then the drunknrd
may contemplate the irghtfu graduation of horrors
10 which his darling vice, little as he suspects it, NAV
| be conducting him. This Is the tragedy which
IntempeTance may enact--ths is the catastrophe in
which It's voiary, lie knows not how soon, may be
overwhelmed. Here, IN the fate of this yyrerched
convict may the drunkard read as foT him elf the
price he may be paying for his senseless disgusting
IeVefy and brutal sensuallty-how IOyless, how
ioalhesome the purchase. how vast, how immeisn-
racie the price. Oh It costs all the hopes that man
was born for; all the usefulness and the virtues and
the comforts, and the joys, and the honors which
man can 1--we lOr-ali the celestial bessedness which
man can die for. But vain are all the admonItion,
10 lhe drunsard-no warning, however convincing
can melt or subdGe bim-nO remons,rance however
tsrnhc can inghten him from the perverseness Of his
haDns, Line upon line, and Precept upon precept
iaii upon ms senseess ears. Misery want disease
premature death, embttefed by anguish and re-
morse and family beggary, the daily spectscles
"hch lniemperance holds forth 10 his veU and he
needs them not. Atrocities like the present are
ssm-annuaiiy IN the mnIsiratlons OF criminal Justice
recorded IN the trials of some circuit in the State he
shoulders with horror at the guilt Of the wretrbsd
conYcs, and thinks not of his own danger God
reveals his own eternal, ifreyersable denunciatons
against the SIN of drunkenness land because he has
called and ye refused, and he stretched out his hnnd
and no man regarded but We have set Al nought ms
counsel and would none Of his reprool, be also will
laugh at your calamity, and he will mock when
your fear comes, and your desoIatlon comes as
"mrl"ipd when distress and anguish come upon
you
Mark BeazIey--The retrospect Of your past life
ana Tie contemplation Of your present condition
must doubtless have convinced you, that Il a era
cious Deny formes man for happiness, tlus world Is
not the world where tmly be secured. The p-os.
pecI Of your earthly he Is, according TO ordinary
calculation, bounded by the duration of labor and
suffering, and privation add punishment. There Is
little az 1es which you can hope Tor on this side tfs
grave. But there - world beyond the gave. OF
winch, perhaps, you have thought but lit'e; n that
world, JOY or misery ~ eternal The choice still is
atOVed you, "he her you will make that eternity
OF loy' or that eternity Of misery your own.
Ihe Almighty God, m whose hands are the is
sues OF life snd Of death. merciful as he ia inst
and he IS more ready 10 hear, than We are TO pr,v
tie 10 ever waiting 20 be gracious, even 10 The yicst
sinner coming % him IN faith aHd psnitenre m.
clemeney Of your Jury who did not cut you al m
The mlds Of your SINS, but has afforded you n I,,,,
to cons.der your condition. and to repent nnd no.
De yourself beiYfe God, an overture Of a.. rnerev
Let not the N gntgde Of your guilt hl you VII
despair, and lncfeise your crimes and your vr,,cn
e1nes', by an lnhdel daring which shall set hounds
! " us mereies Of Heaven. The murdered Saviour
- the last agones Of his cruci6xion prayed for tbs
| forgiveness OF hio own murderefs, whilst they were
Iet eHung 81 tie foot Of bs cross in having eroei
heu VIC son o. God; aad his 8tOnng blood was shed
eVe, ior mem, 10 common With the rest q sinful
| WOfid' Though you have sinned beyond the for.
gVeness OF man, yet II you will cast yourself in ps.
| H.ouOe upon SaViouf's merces bis prayers ~ ia
| in'ercede Tor you, and his atoning blood Iii v.,b
you clean and degraded az you nov are Won oo.,,
yel teIoce among the redeemed with on sysrss,,cs
salvation. ~ -" '''''osNuB
Inc sentence pronounced by the Court is. that n,
oOn eitef the rising Of this Court as pos,ibe vo,,
: % saieIy removed and conveyed by The sbefiT n
VIZ" county iothe public jail and psnitentio,v bo,ss
~ "Iihmono and therein to be KEEP, during the