The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-10-17

death. During the performance at the theatre he
had time to select his victim, and during the Sc
cond act, he stole upon his intended prey-a beau
tiful young lady, lately married, and soon To be-
come a mother-and stabbed her MORALLY in the
breast. This done, he gladly resigned himself
into the hands of the officers, in the hope that the
gullotine would soon put end to his life, of
which he was heartily tired The reason of this
disgust with the world is not known but it is be-
ieved and hoped that his punishment will be COM
muted to imprisonment for life, which, to
hat had soed his hands with such innocent blood
to compass his own death, would be the most terri
BILE punishment the law could nhct. II hardly
seems proper that man should have the power to
force the stake to guiotine him, and il certainly is
establishing dangerous precedent thus to
courage maniac, bent on self destruction, to take
somebody ese's life as a means of rendering his
own calling and election sure.
In connexion with the recent conviction of the
EUenement newspaper, and the condemnation of
Victor Hugo, jr., to nine months imprisonment,
there is reflection OF which every one will ac-
knowledge the justice. The effect of all political
jurisprudence, and especially in judgments upon
the press, is almost always the opposite of that
which is desired Its object is TO point out the
guilty person to the contempt of all honest people,
and its result is to ccntralizc upon him the SYM
PATTY of nearly all OF them Any member of the
jury that sentenced young Hugo would have felt
proud to take him by the hand after the passage
Of the verdict Yet he considered worthy Of
nine months imprisonment which 10 about thirty
five times long that to which a f@~a is con
demned who steals your pocket hand kerchief.
With the latter individual juryman would pro
badly refuse to shake hands, or even to speak.
Now, il penalties are graduated according to the
Nervousness of the offence TO the degree Of dis
esteem attached to them by society, the pick
pocket deserves imprisonment for life, if Victor
Hugo deserves it for nine months The penalty
for beating your friend, your wife, is from five
to thirty days. take the average of this or seven
teen days. and it is evident that the editor OF the
Epenement, instead of accusing the government of
France of being allied with foreign kings and en-
perors, might have beaten sixteen women or his
own wife, supposing him to have one, sixteen
times, for his term of nine months. And as for
the number of pockets he might have picked, with
out subjecting himself to longer confinement,
cannot undertake to cay. / leave the subject to
other and profounder legists
Among the signs OF the times, you will not fail
to notice the manner in which the United States
are characterized by the leading European papers.
If an opinion is formed Of US here, from the news
ourselves regarded as nation of rogues, thrifty
and strong indeed, but thriving in crime and inn
morality and therefore threatening to the peace Of
the world 1t seems be the purpose of the English
at all times to deame and debase us before man
kinds and this harmonizes with the interests Of the
present government of France as well as those of
the other despotic powers. We can of course
Pect nothing but abuse from the London press in
such state of things. The following extract,
from SO staid a paper as the London Morning
Chronicle, need not astonish US. II may at least
to keep advised of the real state of feeling
in Great Britain toward the United States, which
ought never TO be forgotten, either by our Govern
ment or our people:
at not political propagandism, nor religious
enthusiasm, that induced Lopez and his daring
companions to embark In the Pampero. 1t may
have been, on the part of the Americans quasi
national undertaking, but it was neither more nor
less than an act OF piracy. Probablyto the popular
mind the affair presented itself rather political
speculation in which financial considerations
not altogether lost sight of. From former expe-
rience Of the laxity of transatlantic morality, we
may reasonably conclude that the prevailing sem
ument in the United States Is not one OF respect
for the rights and property of other powers. The
hlhbuster party in the southern part of the Union
issued scrip upon revenues which were not
their own, much in the same way as the re-
pudiating States abandoned the obligations into
which they had entered, principally upon the
ground that foreigners would be the chief sufferers.
dozen years ago the sedate Penney lvanians fur
nishcd unfortunate illustration OF American in
tegrity-not having reached that point of pros
perity at which public honesty becomes a lucrative
investment. The present offenders are furnished
by the South and the West; and it would seem that
the national genius has ripencd under more ge-
NAL climate. As compared with the conduct OF
the repudiating States, the Texan and the in
vasion of Cuba clearly development. The
steady going gentlemen OF the North were satisfied
with perpetrahng gigantic fraud, but the more
ardent and patriotic citizens of the South attempt
species OF burglary on an extended scale. In
word, whatever arcenous tendencies may exist in
the Yanke mind, become piratica in the neighbor-
hood of the tropical attitudes" FRANCO.