The daily Butte record., 1858-02-17
COMMUNICATIONS
Mr.. Lee and Vigilance.

Mr.. Lee and Vigilance.
1t occurs to us that the lover House Of our
Legislature, following in the wake Of one
Lee Of Ell Dorado. are making Judy Fitz-
simmons of themselves.
OF the merits Of the bill proposed by this
Scion we have but little to say. 1t is better
adapted for the atmosphere of st Petersburg
or the Sublime Porte than the somewhat toll
Grant institutions that control the United
States. The chief constituent Of his measure
is severity almost fsndish "a severity and
Observation-Disclosures Of penalty which will
render tie law imperative. Mostly do we
condemn this effort Of the ambitious legisla-
tor on the ground of the utter uselessness of
the enactment he proposes.
We know but little of Mr.. Lees antece-
dents. In the protracted debate which has
pursued his bantling, it has not transpired
that this distinguished individual assumed
any prominent part in decrying or person
ally resisting the outrages Of the Vigilance
Committee of 1856. We remember the peri
cd full we'll when the proceedings of that
corrupt and irresponsible body held the en-
tire State of California in awe. IL required
some nerve for a man in those dark and rev
dictionary days, even at distance from the
| scene of inquisitorial murder, to avow him
self opposed to mobs and butchery. For an
editor to cry out against the usurpation of
law and the mockery Of justice was to en-
velop him in odium and to blast the sheet
with which he was connected. We have
reason to fear that in the hour Of battle and
storm Mr.. Lee was sheltered in his own
silence and supineness and now that the
bugles have sounded retreat of the foe he
is as brave as Falstaff.
God knows we have already laws enough
to meet any emergency. The entire physi-
cal power Of the State can be exhausted in
the suppression of mob violence, if we enjoy
a brave and earnest executive. The same
statute is leveled against an organized band
of murderers, as though a deadly blow was
inflicted by single individual. 1t is the
merest farce for Mr. Lee and his wordy as
|
insufficient to meet the outrages perpetrated
! in San Francisco. 1t is idle at this late day
to dilute terms. Every one concerned in
the death of the four unfortunates executed
by the Vigilance Committee were murderers,
and are now subject to the extreme penalty
Of the law. Can Mr.. Lee by any new mea-
sure, enforce duty upon Grand Jurors' Can
his wisdom stimulate prosecuting attorneys
to more active labor orpurify courts of Jus
tice' The surest mode of bringing discre1it
upon all law is the attempt to enforce the
execution of an impossible law or one of Sc
verify of penalty totally disproportioned to
the offence. Thus Mr.. Lee would try a
rioter at San Diego in Siskiyou, and would
hang equally with his intelligent and design
ing principal, poor street walker who was
caught on the confines of n Vigilance mob.
The law, if incorporated in our statutes,
will be o nullity. 1t will be q matter of
mirth to evil doors, and source of ridicule
to our present Legislative body.
We advise Mr. Lee to drop the subject of
Vigilance. 1t will be no round in his ladder
of fame. 1t may be q most excellent topic
to enable frothy and sophmoric legislators to
exhale memorized speeches properly sea-
soncd with quotations Beyond such pur-
pose it is very bad. The people think that
they should not dsburse their money to sus-
tain ambitious young men for weeks even
that they may give uttorance to ridiculous
platitudes.
Vigilance is over for the time, and we
hope for ever. Mr.. Lee was right when he
sought to exercise it from the Democratic
convention. If our present laws cannot
reach the old offenders. let them be con-
signed to remorse and death bed repent
ance.
There was great farce played last winter
on the subject in our legislative halls. We
had hoped the matter would sleep the pres
ent session. Let the thing drop.
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