New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1843-04-14
for The Tribune.
For The Tnbune.
r,nttaI Punishment.

u, Ed;,or perceive, from yesterdays nd
,e that You are not vet disposed to hold up on the
Ca,;,,1 Punishment question. This, however, is
,,tcr Of regret to the friends OF the law since 1t
affords them opportunities TO reply You say OF the
st,tue which takes life for murder, that 1t Is vlr-
dctiyc" (mcaning thereby revengeful), 1t
appeals to the lower instincts OF our nature,
81 license to the private indulgence Of revenge
ful passions, and that you hold IN adherence
the elemental ideas Of Justice on which 1t is found
cd Now ii must be confessed, that il such is It's
character it is very bad law, and that your exc
Grafton Of it is most Just. But what shall VIC DO
with our Bibles Have we outgrown them en-
tircly or has the God of the Bible shared IN tile
universal progresslon of which we hear so much
You, Mr.. Editor, have not the most remote idea
of this. Permit me, then, to present view oil the
subject which deem unanswerablc. and to which
request your rigid attention. We will say nothing
OF the Patriarchal law recorded III Genesis and the
common Interpretation of which you deny to be
correct. You will admit, however, that among
the Laws which the Almighty gave to the Jews,
there was a special Injunction to take the lie OF
tho murderer which admits of no doubt or amo-
guitv,-that this was not merely a permission,
native, no discretionary lcgisaton,- the Ma
ton was to be held responsible and severely
punished if the wilfll murderer was suffered TO
escape. This can be most fully proved, if de-
MED. Now 1he question is not whether that
Jewish law is vet binding on us express
statute. There is involved principle OF far
higher importance, lying at the very foundation
of all faith in the Old Testament Revelation,
which we arc bound to meet without shrinking
Did the immutable Jehovah, the same yesterday,
to-day and for ever, not only permit, but abso-
lutcly command and enjon law which Is re-
vcns elu, which appeals to the lower Instincts OF
our nature, which gives license to the private
indulgence Of revengcfu passions, and which de-
serves that the elemental ideas of Justice on which
it is founded should be held in Adherence
You may, perhaps reply, that so barbarous was
the condition of the Jews, so teroclous their ma
ture and so frequent the cases OF murder among
them, as to require such law. On this matter
of fact we would Join direct issue with you,
and would be willing to institute a comparison
between the slandercd Jews, and our own en-
lightencd age. There is, however, higher qucs-
ton to be disposed of, since, according to your
own argument, this law, so sanctioned by the i'm
mutablc God, has direct tendency to excite the
revengclul and ferocious passions Of our nature,
and thus not only to keep, but also to render,
people barbarous. ! might make some remarks
with respect to the legal and theological word
cindictiuc, and that improper use of 1t which
forms the chief fallacy in the arguments Of your
self and of the Democratic Review; but this
would require a discussion of the very ground
work of moral truth. Your attention is requested,
for the present, to the question presented above.
With respect to your remarks on the other crime,
on which you invoke the vengeance OF the law,
cordially agree with you. You here follow the
dictates of sound and virtuous moral sense,
which, permit me to say, seems on the other
question TO be clouded by too great fondncss for
a iavorte abstract theory.
AS to the poetry on your other page, have but
one thought to offer. 1t brought to mind the sen
tcncc of Capital Punishment, OF the penalty of
death, pronounced upon all our race after the
fatal transgrcsson i'll Eden. Vast mullltudcs are
suffering this penalty every passing hour. In
ordinary cases, it is inflicted through physical
agcnts, by the hand of the Almighty himself ;
while of the murderer it is declared, that "by
Nun shall his blood be she'd Now l sec not
why the strong appeal to compassion is not as
applicable to every one of these cases, as to that
which SO called forth the sympathy of the poet.
A difference may exist in the uncssentlal clrcum-
stances of time and place, but this Is nothing
compared with the event itself, and more than
balanced by the consideration of the superadded
guilt Of the murderer. 1t is not sufficiently borne
in mind, in this age of naturalism, that death is
ever tho execution of penalty. Each one OF tho
doomed sons of Adam night cxclaim:
A little liie-oh SURE, a little life,
A little spot 10 breathe through TIN, darn cell
for whatever may be the attendant circumstances
under which each one awaits the executloner nc
must enter the gloomy cell alone, and alone en-
durc the sentence
Whilst the whole world with blessed breath is ritt
And the pure breezes blow
To every leaf and flower that blooms below
Each one must hear, obey and suffer mot the
debt of nature,) but the stern mandate of that
law which said "dust tho" ar, and unto dust
thou must return Is it indeed "a little life
Why, then, did not the poet remember and
make his murderer feel how rUthessly he had
shortened II
What mean, Mr.. Editor is this: that all this
fine sentimcntalism might with Just as much pro-
prictv and truth be uttered in complaint of that
Divine Law TO which we arc all subject Its
claim to be truthful representation Gas all good
poetry in some sense ought to be- depends upon
tho assumption that capital punishment for muir
der is unjust. The poet had no right to take
this for granted. If wrong on this point, his SEN
timcntalisn with all its moving appeals, becomes
gross iinplety. Y.
TREATY WITH TIE SAcs AND FoxEs-Thc red
man is disappearing like the mountain mist. The
once numerous naughty and warlikc Sacs and
Foxes, so long a terror to the northwestern pio-
nccr, have sold erery acre Of their laad, and are
to live hereafter on a yearly stipend granted them
by the government.
The Madisonian publishes the ratified treaty
made with the Sac and Fox Indians on the llth
OF October. By this treaty the tribes of Sacs
and Foxes ccdc to the United States, forever, all