American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-02-12
tFor yhc American Repuiiiican.l
CAPITAL Pt NlSHMENT.

,NeSSS, EdjtorS,--Ae certain publications that
eElanate from presses that profess to be free
presses but chang fire." when their favorite
iogmas arc questioned, are very Jealous in the
cause OF mercy pray you to open your CO.
!umns TO few remarks on the subject Of the
punishment of GeaF, as the penalty for wi,lll
murder.
will first remark, that tho fact, that inno-
cent men have beer hung foy Tue crime Of muir
der, committed BY others, is no more an argu-
nent against capital punishment than the fact
that innocent mer have been ncarcerated i'll
penitentiaries for thelts committed by Others, is
an argument against furnishing thieves by I'M
prisonment. The abuse Of the law, which con-
sists in furnishing men for crimes they have not
committed, and the Just infection of the laws
penalty on the heads of tic really guilty, are
quite different, things. Men should be told,
and made to understand, chat ten thousand ar
gumonts bro Ight against the abuse Of thing
do not weigh feather against the thing itself
Fire. mercury, opium and Glcohol, when abue-
ed, are terrible agents of destruction; but When
used properly are blessings. The same may
he said Of tle law that dencunces the penalty
of death for fagrant crimes, etc.
Then comes the sophist.y, (tor it does not
deserve the name Of arguc1ent) that seeks c
Scripture basis, perverting The sense, ia its ap-
phcation, of the declaration, 81 will have mer-
cy and not sacrifice" Common sense, that old
fashioned article, if men wculd consult it, will
save them from gross abserdlties. 1t is COM
patible with the principles of the Divine go
vernment that, as a rule Of action, (and it is SO
promulgated) mercy, and not sacrifice, should
govern men in all their actc etc. Bot, unfor-
tunately for tie hypothesis am considering.
men will not have mercy! they ,ciH have sacri-
fee instead Of mercy! Herr, then, is new
face put OH the subject
Take single case, and aralyze it: A man at
public house invites fellow-nan, a stranger
that IS travelling, and stops tor the night on his
Journey homeward, to room with him. The
stranger being deceived by the hypocritical o.
ventures of friendship that are made to him,
consents-in the watches Of the night, the false
friend murders, in cold blood, and from cruel
and mercenary motives, the confdng stranger.
The Divine Injunction, 81 Will have mercy and
not Sacrifice" he spurns; sacrifices the sleeping
man, that he may rob him with 4 greater i'm
punity, and fees 20 Il distant city. Well, the
officers of justice pursue, overtake, arrest, and
bring the culprit to the bar for trial. The cr-
Jninal in the parlancc of our new tangled COM
gnentators, may rise, and assuming an air Of
benlgnant dignity, address the court and jury,
saying-"Hear, ye, what the Lord commands,
will have mercy aAd not sacrifice; therefore
take heed, and harm not a haiT of my sacred
head" Yes, sacred head; head made sacred
by perversion of the truth.
BE it known and remembered, God has not
said, nor his Son whom he seat will have
mercy and not sacrifice, on murder0rS! But he
hath said, cmphatically, "Surely your blood of
your lives will | require, at the hand of every
beast will | require it, and at the hand of man;
at tho hand OF every mans brother will re-
quire the life of man. Whose sheddeth man S
bleod, by man shall his blood be saed; for in
the image Of God made he man." Gen. tx. ),
6. Now let sophistry, with fippant tongue,
say Not Sc, for II will have mercy and not sa-
crifce," aud man shall not shed mans blood.
Ex-Governers Thomas of Maryland, and Por-
ter Of Pennsylvania, have rendered themselves
notorious by their mercy to villains and muir
derers.
Messrs Editors, will venture to predict,
that when the day shall arrive, that the mad
ness of the times shall triumph over reason and
the Scriptures Of truth, so far as to give the
ascendancy to our newfangled mercitul doc
tors, the United States will be called and known
the world over, by the name Of the Paradise Of
Rogues FRANKLIN.