New-York daily tribune., 1842-12-29
rhe punishment OF Den.h.

seut at the East during the week that the tragedy
of the Somers was developed and made the para
mount topic of newspaper discussion. Some ot
the comments INDUCED in the columns of this pa
per Editorial and otherwise) were SO adverse In
spirit as we'll as in bearing to the views am known
to entertain in relation to Punishment generally
and especially the Punishment of Death, that they
may well have occasioned surprise among that
large class of readers who do not know or con-
slider that no one person ever does or can write all
the Editorial matter which appears in Daily
journal of the present time and that the views oi
those associated with the responsible Editor OF
journal in preparing matter for its columns may
very materially differ on the questions aside from
its main purpose which are continually arising,
from those he is known to entertain. In order to
prevent all confusioa and misapprehension here
after on this point, have thought best TO make
few explanatory remarks in regard to the Punish
ment of Death. The fact that both my partner
and my associate in the Editorial department OF
The Tribune cherish sentiments differing from
mine suggests :hs obyions propristy OF speaking an
this esppess9as s esass tbc
opponents ot tapral Punishment who deny abso-
utely and in al cases, the right 'c sal--7
Life. This deoial seems :-.- on tae current as
psicn that G.versslvnt is q compact, to which
eyery member in the community is impliedly
marty: and that, no man having right to take his
own life, meme ha. right to bind himself by com.
pact upon fragrant violation whereof his ine shah
be- forfeited: ergo, there exists and can exist no
right In Government or Society to adJudse LIE
forfeited and take it. 1t seems to that all this
is overtime ard contradicted by facts Of daily oc-
currence and notoriety. am accustomed to re-
g,rd Government not as an absolute compact
bstveen all the members of community, hut
rather as the result of combination between the
Just the wise, the virtuous, the order LOVING, (or
those at least, who have sense enough to perceive
the necessity of a general preduminance of Just
ice and Order) to repress the outrages OF the VI
cious, the turbulent the covetous, the cruel and all
who are so mentally darkened or morally per.
verted as not to realize that the Individual good
should be sought in subordination to and harmony
with the Universal well-being, and cannot be COM
passed otherwise. The desperately depraved, the
wilfully criminal, appear to me not as voluntary
parties to the Political compact, in any practical
sense-but as its natural enemies-the objects OF
its unreaxing hostility. In fine, the primary OBJ
ec, the express purpose Of the real parties to the
compact implied in Government being SELf-pRE'
sSRvATIoN, it would be manfestly absurd and SD
icidal to limit the pswer assumed and exercised
thereby in such manner that the great end should
be defeated.
For instance: A tribe Of savages inhabiting an
island in the Pacific are afflicted by an intense
rufhan who has killed one or more OF their num-
Der, and who, i, is morally certain, will kill more
If he has an opportunity to do SO. They have no
means of con6ning him securely, OF are unable to
guard safely aud support him in idleness. In this
case, think they might lawfully pat him to death.
So far, then, hold that the question of absolute
right must be decided in favor Of the advocates Of
Capital Punishment. This position does not deny,
because it does NOT consider, the Nom Resistance,
NoGovernment doctrine. The existence of Gov
ernment, and tho necessity for it, are assumed as
self-evident or admittedly
6as do question, in the first place, the right of
Nian 10 infct any Punishment yndictivcly, or
SIMPLY bscause an offence has been committed.
vengeance belongs TO God, and we are assured
tha' ne will attend TO 1t, without any officous aid
IRON human hands or organizations So much
torture fos 50 much crime, objectto altoge,her-
al any rate, as human duty or deed. Iwould
impose 30 punishment because the calpris ha, done
wrong, eas because so only can wroag be prevent
ed, or the offender reclaimed. selspreserva,;on
appears to me TO form the only juasihable bas. on
which the right to iafics Punishment at aE ca, be
rested, though the good of the punished NAV yc,v
properly be humaney and earnestly sought in as.
,srnining the charaeeer and extent of such punish.
men, Still, the right to infiios pain on such =.
have not explicitly aud personally sahsesiIed 10
the Political compac. must rest on tho jus,isabl,