New-York daily tribune., 1843-10-18
For the Tribune.
s. Morals are no better. and the fish no


FRIEND GREELEY VIII you indulge me IN a
word of friendly admonltion Did | not know
YOU, should feel myself forced upon the con-
clusion, that you, like too many of your brethren
Of the editorial fraternity, are too mcrcenary, or
too reckless to feel proper regard for the conse-
quences of your editorial conduct. But know
that you arc neither mercenary nor reckless, and
therefore, am compelled to place you in the
only remaining category, which is that you, like
many other human beings, arc too clrcumscribed
in your comprehension, too finite in your percep-
tions of TRUTH not to be ever and greatly liable
to onesided and partial view Of things. Did
you scientifically and thouroghly understand
the elements Of mans nature, and how those ele-
mcnts are combined in the human constitution,
and how they act slngly and syncrgeticay IN
producing all the simple and complex phcnomlna
of human being, you would be less e1cusable than
you now are, for the discrepancies and incompat-
Utilities into VIII ch you frequently fall.
You have boldly taken, and rcsolutcly main
tanned, the position that capital punishment is
wrong-that the life Of the murderer ought not
to be taken, and one Of the strongest reasons you
offer in support of your position is, that the ta-
king of the life Of the homicide serves to render
murders more frequent 1t is reasonable to sup
pose, therefore, that you wish to discountenance
everything that serves to render murders more
frequent; and yet nothing can be more certain,
more inevitable, than that your daily publication
of accounts of murders and suicides serves great.
" and tearfuy to multiply those dreadful deeds.
And, be assured if our newspaper press cont.
nues its present course in this respect it will not
be long before our whole land will be drenched in
homicldal and suicidal blood, and your pages will
need to be greatly enlarged to be sufficiently am
pie to contain the record of all the cases OF yio-
lent death. | am aware that the conductors of
the newspaper press generally choose to deny the
truth Of the doctrine which now advance, and
50 do rum-selers choose to deny that their traffic
IN intoxicating drinks Is injurious to society; and
both classes, Tor the same reasOns-the merccnarY
defence Of self interest 1t is believed by the con.
ductcrs OF the press that such bloody vlands are
most agreeable to the tastes Of the reading pub
lie, and will secure the most extensive patronage.
But, friend Greeley, the noble lorttudc and per-
severance with which you have, through so many
years of editorial labor, struggled with poverty ra-
ther than cater for a depravcd public taste, has
fully demonstrated that, from whatever other
causes you may err, It cannot Justly be charged
to merccnary spirit. |, therefore, suppose it is
because you have not given sufficient attention to
the subject III question, to have clear and full
apprehension OF the true principles pertaining to
1t, that you have, IN the matter | complain Of
gone with the multitude to do evil; :" and there.
fore 1t is that have come to YOU with this friend
ly admonItion.
Let ME assure you, my dear sir, that the mur-
ders and suicides Of our country and times, are,
TO use the language OF the transcendentalsts. far
less o6ect'rc than subjeetire; or iu other words
the reaI 'notdtcausc Is very rarely, in ;.nv cons
derable measurc tic motive contemplated bv the
mind The real metal cause is not to be looked
Tor out OF t;lc I,erpctraor OF the deed, but IN him
that cause is his morbid physiological psychoogi.
cal condt,0n-thc diseased physiological diathe
ELS OF his soul, winch gives potency to the mo:
tive contemplated by the mind, that it otherwise
could not have, and at the same time. wholly
excludes from the lnInd the deterrlng influence of
all the penal consequences which human and d.
vine law can attach 10 the crime. And this con.
diton, my dear Greeley, this morbid diathess Of
the soul-thls real ntcrna! notal cause is, in no
small degree, produced and excited to terrible ac-
tlvlty by the newspaper publications of which |
have spoken. pray you, therefore, for humani.
ty's sake, sancuiy your otherwise excellent paper
from TINS horrible pollution OF blood.
There Is volume Of philosophy, in relation to
this matter, IN that single line OF Lord Bvron,s
which have placed at the head OF these rcma1 ks
Having stated that in the East criminals are
seized, tried and sentenced without parade, with
out noise, without ostentation few knowino any
lhing about II except the culprit himself and the
necessary 'unctlonarles of the government-th.t
II condemned to death, the criminal is taken at
nign'' wfen no eyes see and no cars hear save
nose OF the e1eeutoners and put into sack
WIN quantity OF stones, and taken far ont rnon
lne .. water and thrown into the deep. OF ali
~nlch, says the noble poet, with profound truth
,u.aess me pubic mind and feelings are wholly
oal1iosIaed, and BIZ It wholly nn1en.a vad un