New-York daily tribune., 1844-03-06
capitai Punishment.


alike assaed the opinions held by your subscribers
This was true position and rejoice 10 see YOU
assumeit Such poetry serves but TO keep alive the
narrow prejudices of Sectaranism, without dong
the least good. II the advocates OF one sect believe
another to be wrong let them not appeal TO the pas
| sions, bat go to work in manly and digiheo uis
cusson to refute their
| believe Capital Punishment to be rlght-you De-
| licve it TO be wrong. Discuss your side iairy ana
| will candidly read and weigh your afguiheh'[
| Heretofore you have done so IN your papei-ahd
have learned to honor your motives and admire your
beneyoleuce even when your logic failed 10 convince
| me- | am no enemy OF free discussion. II our
criminal code is wrong in this respect letconynclng
proof be placed before the public mind. Let the
question be calmly and dispassonatey argued. If
this course be adopted you may in time destroy that
which you believe to be al evil Until this morning
the tone ofyour paper on this subject has been dgn
fed, but must confess that the publication OF the
article over the signature ''Draco, the Tribune of
to-day, rather surprised me. Is it argumentative?
No Is it manly? No! Does it refute a single
proposition made by the advocates Of Capital Pun
ishment? No Is it that kind of Satire which
will sometimes do much towards overthrowing an
evil No! Finally, is it slang fitted for the taste
of buffoons and scofners OF sacred things Yes
Now, that cause which must be built up by assail-
ing Christianity-s ministers and lts emples-is IN
truth weak one If it will not stand on its own
merts-and its advocates must rdicule that which
is sacred TO elevate it-l ask if does not rest
sandy foundation? will venture to affirm beliey-
Ing that YOU will not deny it, that had the article OF
:: Dracon appeared in the columns Of the Herald,
which it is only fit to grace, you would have been
sorry TO have seen your cause advocated IN such
manner. 1t is no slight offence 10 cast reproach
upon religion The attack on Mr. Cheever is to-
tally uncalled for-there many things about MIR.
c. that do not admire; nevertheless, he believes
that his position in regard to Capital Punishment is
right, and until he be convinced by argument that
he is wrong, must he be held u for ridicule
Must conemptuous slang be cast upon his motives?
But if the course of Draco' is to be adopted, let
il, at least possess slight degree of dignity. Sup
pose Mr.. Cheever and Mr.. OSullivan in their de-
bate had resorted to tie language and style Of
" Draco, who would have been convinced who
bettered! IF he would have Capital Punishment
abolished, let him labor in an honorable way 10 re-
move it. If he thinks to accomplish this object by
his adopted mode Of warfare, he is nightly misak-
en-. Let us have more such side-thrusts at
large majority Of The Ministers of the Gospel for
even if their opinions are wrong, they nave nsnt
TO hearing, and the way is opened by which their
reasonings if false, may be proved so. And II IN
any case they have stepped down from the dignity
oftheir office advocate their cause it is no excuse
for others follow their evil example, but rather
to show by better course Of action, that the Laity
in this respect are superior to the Clergy.
| ain sure that the article cf /" Draco'' will give
offence to large number Of your readers. Some
perhaps will be silly enough to try and strike ter.
ror to your SOUL by the cry of Stop my paper
For one, to use homely phrase am not so fool
sh as 10 bite my nose off to spite my face. an,
confident that no man of an enlightened mind will
object 10 fair and free discussion Of the subject in
your paper provided it be carried on in a proper
spirit. While admit your perfect ri ght to publish
and to refuse what you please, may not hope that
the subject Of Capital Punishment will hereafter be
treated with the gravity and calmness which 1t de-
serves? D. F.
March @
Remarks on the ab0Ue.
ID. F. writes in child-like innocence of the
law which governs the universal appreciation of
Satire-namely, that it appears pertinent, caus-
tic, legitimate, capital, when it is used on our
side; but if attempted on t'other, why then it is
sure to be absurd irrelevant, scurrilous and ahu-
sive For instance, the clever Temperance alle-
CORY, written by an eminent Clergyman of this
City, entitled Deacon Giles's Distillery,' to US,
being Tee total, seems in themain caustic, peril
nent powerful, and just, Though it contains some
irrelevant and very harsh reflections on Reli-
gous denomination who are at least as generally
friendly to Temperance as the writer's own peo-
ple;) but if we made or sold rum, sflould oouDt
less consider it personal, viperous, mallgnant'
scurrilous libel. This is human nature
There is nothing more personal TO Mr. Cheever
in the communication of Draco than would be
the bare assertion that he is the most eminent and
jealous advocate Of Capital Punishment in our
City-a position not forced upon but chosen by
him, and which we are sure he is not at all
ashamed Of He advocates, ably and ndustr-
ously, the doctrine that we required by law Of
God to put murderers to death, and have no right
to substitute another punishment, whatever our
convictions of the philanthropy and policy of such
change Now whether God does indeed re-
quire us to put manslayers to death, we will not
here discuss but this we are sure, if two and
two make four, that it is not degrading to any
man to be the appointed executloner Of a solemn
law of God, and it neither casts reproach nor
ridicule on any man who comes to us saying
God commands this community to do this or
that; to respond to him, " Sir, the community
will appoint yoa its agent to execute what you
tell us is the law of God.'-This is all that is i'm
piled by Draco; and if it be not legitimate,
then we cannot reason. D. F. says this is no
argunent-that it wants dgnity-and that he is
not convinced &c.-but he virtually negatives
all this when he asserts that the suggestion casts
ridicule on Mr. G.. and is a reproach to reh.
gion.
D. F. says that Draco would better become
the Herald. He appears to forget that the Her
aid is on his side of the question.
He has no right to assume that great MAORI
ty of the clergy are with him. Some whole de
nominations are against Capital Punishment,