Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-08-11

The Law II wriucn--Obey a.
Wonderful is the reverence Of modern de-
mociacy iorLAw; for penal statutes especially,
and even for "crowners quest law, "--lor every
thing which bears the name, except for that
law "whosc scat is mo bosom q God aud whose
voice is the harmony Of the world" That in
their eyes, is the higher law, to be spit upon
by all good democrats,
! During the progress OF the rescue persecu-
tons people were regalod with homilies--line
upon line, and precept upon pr cept--upou the
reverence which good citizens owed to the Fugi
tive Slave Law, and to the courts that were set
to administer it, Little if anything short OF
treason was Il to speak Of Judge Wilson ex.
cept with bated breath and whispering humble
ness. Was he not Court To speak of his
having been once indicted IN Buffalo for kidnap-
ping-wbs it not to deride the civil magietratel
Nay, to bring Courts Of Justice into disrepute
and contempt But to intimate Judge Tanoy
was anything less than inialhbe was little short
of blasphomy.
We have been reminded of this remarkable
zeal in behalf of law and its enforcement by
reading an artiJo in the Cleveland Plaindoaler
Of last week, which is predlcated upon the fol-
lowing state Of fact.
Mr.. r. p Angler Of the Isl-nd House, Tolo.
do, was recently prosecuted under the Liquor
Law Of 1854. Strange as 1t may seem, this
law was enacted by a democratic General As.
sembly-the same which elected Geo Il. Pugh
to the u. $ SCnate-and was not repealed
during the two long sessions Of the late demo
erdtie General Assembly. Mr.. Angler was
convicted, fined and sentenced to twenty days
imprisonment His health suffering in jail,
meeting was held and appeals made to Judge
Fitch and the Prosecuting Attorney to dis
charge him from Jail Neither Judge Fitch nor
the Prosecutor possesses the pardouing power.
The sentence once pronounced, tie Judge has
no more power over 1t than any private citizen,
and the States Attorney just as little. But
because they do not open the Jail doors and dis
charge MIR Angler, they are assailed with coarse
invectives Even the democracy" Of the
Prosecutor does not protect him.
The Plaindealor says:
"Now let this business he understood and
the responsibility of it fall exactly where it
belongs II is Black Republican movement
throughout
We do not understand that the Prosecutor
sought to pack the jury or by any other means
to secure a verdict by indirection. It does not
appear that the Judge was overbearing or or.
dered a false record, or wilfuly Gisregarded the
law in his rulings. No one alleges that the
Sheriff placed one Of the deputies upon the ju.
ry to aid in obtaining such verdict as he wished
The trial, for aught that appears, was not only
according to the forms of law, but according to
its splrlt,-iar and impartial Nay, Mr.. An
gier is coniessedy guilty Of its violation, aud
and the plain duty of the Court was to pro-
nounce sentence. 1t could do nothing else -
When that was done, it could do nothing moro.
Mr.. Angler is said to be a respectable man.
Respectable offenders certainly ought to be
punished first. The common sense of men re-
volts at the dea of permitting the violation in
broadcIoth and fine linen to 70 free, and visit
ing the penalties of the law upon the offender
in low life. Prosecute, by all means, the broad
cloth before the tweeds and bang ups; the cut
glass decanlers first and the JUG, if need be, af
terwards. In any violation, it is the opprobium
of law when offenders in high life escape with
impunity, whi,e the loscl who is mt "respect.
able" is pursued with its clauses OF penalty.
But the complaint Of the PiaindealGr is thus
stated:
"Out of some tour hundred dealers in liquor
open and bold, MIR. r. p. Angler, Of the Island
House. was pounced upon, taken before this
Fitch, fined to the full extent of the law and
sent to the County Jail for twenty days 1t is
unnecessary to here say that Mr. Angler keeps
one of the best and most orderly hotels in
America. His reputation as first class land
lord" is good and wide-extendcd lie iraS dis
Greet leuh his liquors, selling them, as c are in
formed to travellers only. Hundreds of grog.
eres, where the DiieSt Of liquor IS sold and " here
all sorts of rows are continually going on, are
given the go by, aud Angler is taken up"
We believe the democratic Statute of 1854
does not discriminate between first class land
lords" and the keeper of doggeries, nor is the
vIleness of The liquor taken into account in the
penalty The Piandeaicr should therefore vent
its wrath upon the friends Of Mr. Pugh who
framed it with 80 little difference between Ten
dollar Old Utard ard 'red-eye,' warranted to
kill at forty yards and worth twenty five cents
a gallon. Or it might find topic for invec-
ture in the fact that its own friends in the last
Legislature neither repealed the odious enact
ment ror amended it so as TO permit respectable |
men to sell geod liquor discreetly.
Meantime, let us urge upon the PiaiRdeaier |
ob adenco to law, reverence for all written law, |
profound respect for all ministers of the law
Summit Beacon