The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1850-03-06

never hesitate to glut the lust Of avarice or
revenge, when there is prospect Of es-
cape. This courage is increased by past
impunity; and in contemptuous defiance !
Of the penalty of law, he will add murder
to murder. Well do remember OF read.
ing an account in the public prints of
Judge in one Of the western states, who
before sentencing criminal to die for
murder, reminded him that he was then
for the fourth time about to condemn him
to the gallOws. On three several occa-
sions the officer of law had consigned
him to the murderer's doom, but the par
doning power was exercised, and he was
liberated. Call you this beneuolence, ye
pretended friends OF humanity, so loud in
your declarations against the barbarity
Of capital punishment! Was it humanity,
was it mercy to The poor widows, and
helpless children whose homes were made
desolate by the cruelty Of this assassin?
Shall one family after another be stricken
to the earth, and the gray hairs Of aged
fathers and mothers be bowed down with
sorrow and brought TO the grave, in order
to spare the life of one whose hands have
been repeatedly stained with innocent
blood! No; the welfare OF society, the
peace and security of families, the voice
Of mercy, unite with the voice Of eternal
Justice, and all cry aloud, "Ye shall take
no satisfaction for the life of the murderer;
he shall surely be put to death" Some
men, in the delrium of a disordered fancy,
seem to imagine that the object of all law
ought to be to make the transgressor hap
py. Blind to the enornnity of his guilt,
they pretend TO pity the poor criminal,
and then assert his claim to our benevo.
lcnce.
Be not deceived with this heartless
mockery. Shall we trust the arch deceiv-
or rather than the God of truth Who
was the captain of that mighty host who
made war upon the Bible, and Knocked
the power Of its authorl Who, but the
great soul murderer. ife is the prime in
stigator Of all that sck'y pleading which
arrays itself in opposition to Gods holy
law. His work is summed up IN Lying
against the Lord. speaking oppression and
revolt, and uttering from the heart words
of falsehood" "He gds falsehood with
the glitter OF benepolence, that truth may
be neglected in the street" Oh, it would
be sport worthy the prncipalities of hell,
could these pretended friends Of light
enthrone the goddess of reason upon the
ruins of Jehovah's sanctuary, and discard
the law Of God to make room for the code
Of nfdelity. Remember infdel France
Let it ever be recorded as startling me-
mento, that the wretched Robespierre, the
Infamous despot, who drove thousands
E upon thousands of his unofending coun-
trymen to the bloody guillotine! Robes
pierre, who converted Paris into vas
slaughter-house, and revelled like hun
cry wolf among flock of timid sheep
Robespierre was the very man who. previ
GUS to all this. wrote pamphlet advocating
the total abolition of the penalty of death
He was an infdel-a man of vast benevo
lence-a worshipper Of the Goddess o
Reason. But no sooner had he climbed
the giddy pinnacle CT power, than he gave
, the world proof of the love an infde
chershes for his species. Such are the
; tender mercies of men who profess to bt
more benevolent than the God of mercy
himself
Shall infide!s legisate for us! Shal
, our law-shal Gods laws-be trampled
under foot to suit the superior taste OF mer
who believe that "death is an eternal
, sleep'' Shall we commit the sword oi
Justice to the hands of libertines. who ac-
knowledge no law but lust and fury, be-
cause they would be more merciiul than
the God of the Biblel No: in the name
Of Humanity and Religion, in the name
of Truth and Justice, in the name OF God
! our Creator and the whole human race
we answer, No. From the heavens above
| and the earth beneath, from the graves o
murdered thousands, history lifts up he
: warning voice, and prophecy utters he
]. awful denunciations. as the voice OF Eter
nal Justice comes sweeping over the lant
like the roar Of many waters, like the pea
, of seven thunders, -" Whose sheddetl
, mans blood, by man shall his blood b.
r shed, for in the image of God made h
!. man." u. X. Y.
t5- The Legislature of the sold Do
:;.,, hova adonfed sfronu slavery res