Washington sentinel., 1854-01-31

ported by the press, Is frightfuily large. III
should awaken OH the part OF the community a
lively apprehension for the condition of the flu
ture. The district attorney for the county of
San Francisco, in his speech at the trial of
Drew for the murder Of DR.. Gillis, is reported
to have said that there had been t,celre hundred
murders committed in San Francisco within
the four last years, and that there had been but
one conviction. We presume the number of
convictions throughout the State has not been
much larger than that Of the bay city Now, it
becomes matter Of earnest inquiry how it is
that these violators Of law arc enabled to es-
cape through its meshes-how it is that, with
all the paraphernalia of justice with which our
State is armed crime is rampant and criminals
cheat Justice out of her rights-how it is that
the poor miserable strect-loafers are dealt so
summarily with by the ministers ofjustice, and
the great knaves, those who commit crime
upon larger scale, are permitted to run at
large, and go .unwhipped Of justice? These
are terrible evils that stare us in the face, turn
whichever way we may. Life and person have
in reality no security from our laws. Men are
forced, or at least they think they are, to load
themselves down with deadly weapons as a
necessary means of selEprotection. This effect
Of most dangerous cause operates, in its turn,
as powerful means to produce the very evils
to prevent which these arms of death are en-
ployed."
This prevalence of crime does not seem to
be confined to the new State of California, nor
to the other States of the Union, nor to this
continent. English journals tell the same sad
tale, and unite with us in lamenting the alarm
ing frequency Of deeds of sin and crime.
The London Post, Of the 10th instant has
quite long and sensible article on this sub
ject, part of which we extract. 1t says:
/" Our columns are crowded daily with re-
ports of the trials, before the police magistrate
or the Judge Of the higher criminal court, Of
men detected and arrested in the commission of
personal outrages of-the most brutal and the
most revolving character. Now, it is case Of
man set upon by three or four associates,
jumped upon, kicked ferociously with nailed
boots, or stabbed insidiously with treacherous
knife now a keeper shot down without provo
cation, and without lemorse, by ruffian
poacher. Sometimes it is horrible history Of
a wife sick and enfeebled by long and habitual
illusage, dragged out of bed by the hair of her
head, punched ithheavy fists, and finally kicked
and danced upon by a brawny frantic rufian, the
woman being in the last stage Of pregnancy /;
at others it is still more revolving story of ter
rible brutality inflicted on little child still
more helpless and still more feeble; while now
and then, but not 30 often, the offender is not
rufiian man, but a rufiian woman, unsexed
and utterly brutalized by habitual excess. Of
whatever nature the cases, and Of whatever
class those whose shockingly and painfully illus
trate them, the devil who infames the brain
with mad thoughts and devices, who opens the
mouth to give vent to horrible blasphemies,
who lifts the arm to strike and the foot to kick,
who puts hell in the heart and lends impulse
to the limbs, is STRONG DRINK. 1t is in the
gin palace that is learnt or begotten the wick
|
liquor is the excuse commonly made for the
rufian husband and father by the much.endur-
ing wife, when called upon by the police magis-
trate to bear witness to her wrongs. 1t will be
said, perhaps, by those who are benevolently
anxious to look at the best side Of things:
These are exceptional cases which come before
the police courts, and the actors in the shock
ing scenes are the refuse of the courts, the
lanes, and the alleys, in which they live. We
wish we could think SO; but the class of men
who are brought up before the magistracy, and
the circumstances which are brought to light
by the examination Of themselves and their
neighbors lead us to different conclusion,
and compel us to infer that the shocking occur
rences which the grasp of the officers Of the
law drags into open day, and brings under the
notice of the public, are not rare and excep-
tional, but are familiar to daily life in the
haunts Of large masses Of our population"
What is the cause Of this general prevalence
of crime It becomes legislators, statesmen,
and philanthropists to reflect on this question,
and to endeavor to devise measures to arrest it.
Both Of the journals from which we have
quoted attribute it to the increase of drunken
ness. The cause is different, we apprehend and
drunkenness may be regarded as but one Of
the sad results of that cause. The remote
cause is, perhaps, the want Of good moral tone
in society and high standards of virtue among
men and women who should set good examples
to their countrymen. We do not speak of pru.
dish puritanical rigidity and sourness, for such
things we abhor; but of those lofty, elevated,
high.toned sentiments that should mark the lady
and the gentleman. Corruption alwaysbegins at
the top of society, in what is called the first
class and gradually works its way down among
the masses. Whatever may be the cause of
the evil complained of it deserves alike the
notice of public and private men for they all
have an interest in the preservation of good
morals and good manners. If the fault be in
the laws, it devolves on Legislators to correct
that fault if it be in private and social systems