Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1859-11-21
The ENDS or Iustice.

The Ends or Justice.
Brown aud bic ASSOCIATES have been con-
vieIsd Of capital crimes, and tho sentence Of
death haa been passed upon them. II is not
probable shat the sentence viii be eOmmu-
ted 10 any one Of theEp, It il barely possible
that 10 may be 80. In any contingency We
hope that Ihs very best course may be pur
sued, and that che proper ends Of justice
may Be met We have been led to think
upon this subject BY seeing al able article
IL relation 20 Il in the N. Y. Observer. After
cAnvassing the reasons offered BY the friends
Of Brown and his aids for eommuting their
sentence, the Observer says "Ths deed, the
object the long, cool deliberate, malignant,
murdsrOus calculations and preparations
with which il was planned, the blood thirsti'
ness with which they murdered the fret ne
gro who fell into their hands, the pertinacity
wish which they held out when their inhu.
man designs we're bhfiied, the slaughter o.
uno6ending citizens, and the svowed purpose
to FaSage the country aud usurp the govern
msnt, there is every element that goes t
constitute the highest crime known to the
laws Of God and man. 1t is moral wonder
that any one, in his senses, who believes
that murderer ought to be put to death
should doubt that these murderers deserve
% die. In every intelligent Christian mind
there is . sense Of wrong, that for a mo.
meut may be obsCured BY sympathy with
suffering so that Il fails to utter itself COR
rootly when IL speaks, but the sober judgi
mont Of the Christian world responds to the
sentence which God has pronounced upon
the murderer Whose sheddeth mans blood
BY man shall his blood be shed.
There are interests most awful to be con-
tsnplsted, whom We decide to extend sym-
patty and forgiveness to such crimes as this
Where is law, where is safety, where is vir.
tue, where is the distinction between right
and wrong, where the difference betwesu
reward and punishment, il we are to par,
don these menH Is there any crime known
to the laws, or any circumstances under
which crime can be committed, or any an
tecedents or consequences of crime that
would call for tho EXTREMIST punishment,
which are not pre'eminently present in this
cass2
"Punishment in the government of God
and man docs not spring from a spirit of
revenge, 1t is the fruit of love. Love de I.
msnds that one who has made war upon
society shall die. Philanthropy, the love of
man, the love Of the human race, the love
of the greatest number requires that mur,
derers be punished, as God, who is love, or.
dSinsd. If We take the absurd ground that
a man who murders his fellow man to bepe,
fit others, shall, instead of being punished,
be honored as hero, our own blood may
Tomorrow be required by band Of con,
spirators and assassins who believe the
country will be benefited by our DEATH
Regicide has been defended on this princi,
pie. But the same logic justifes every
man in taking the law into his own hands,
and Staying his neighbors whenever he
thinks society will be benefited by losing
little blood. In our country the people are
the sovereign. Brown undertook to kill the
white people to set the blacks free, just as
the assassins Of Paris have, age after age, in
the name Of liberty sought to slay the SOW.
Sreign whose government they would over,
throw 1t is all wrong. And we trsmble
less in view of Browns mad freak, than we
do in face Of the fact that there is abroad
in the land a sentiment that would -hield
him and others from the just conseq
of their crimes. When those mon embarked
in this war upon the State, when they pre-
pared guns for the white men, and a thou.
sand spears for the blacks, to be used in
bsrbarous slaughter, when they imbrued
their hsnds in blood BY taking the fret VIC
tim (an honest eolOred man who made no
remittance, but was only seeking to escape
from their hands) and numbering him in
cold blood; when they refused to lay down
their arms after being OverpoweSed, and
continued their murderous work, they threw
away all claim to compassion and put them
selves on the hazard Of the revelation they
had begun. If others can find any cause
for pardoning such crime we cannot"