New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-01-06

patici 10 he not more dangerous TO the community
than the murderer II Society can protect isof from
the insane by combining them would not the same re
sraint apply TO the criminal
Does man commit crime from the workings OF @
heart innate depraved from the force Of circuu'
stances p,ess ng heavily upon al organization weak
ened by sfipaton sadly defective in early educa-
ton and moral trainingi II from the former cause, 10
Il not strange that the number Of murders Ia not legion
II from the latter is it not wonderful that there are 30
fewi
We assume in the argument, that the Government
possesses not the right to declare forfeit the life Of any
member Of the social body an for this reason thattce
power thus exercised is not legitimate one, having
been obtained from those who had not the right 70 DEL
eeate H. for when it can be shown that mans LIE DO
longs to bmsel independent Of superior claims, then,
and not till then, can It be admitted that Society pos
sesses the right to take that ife Life given us by
our Creator and is subject TO Hin and Him aone and
f. man to atsume power which should only be exer-
cised by the Deity is but another proof of his AFRO
gapce and Heaven-darpg presumption.
Government was instituted for o wise and benefcent
purpose; il coDiemplates in its functions and opera
tons the exercise Of those powers only which were
delegated to it by the people II has for is object the
peace and order the promotion Of virtue and moral
i,y, aud the suppression of vice and crime; to which
end enacts laws to protect the weak and poveress
opaint the Entertainments of the oppessor and to 90
cure to every individual the free and uprestraned exer-
cise of bis God given rights.
But Government is ever aggressive. II not only
tenaciousy elngs to those powers which were dele
gated 70 it. but is constantly seeking to arrogae TO
= he If
ment when in the hands Of ambitious men. The his
tory Of the Past whose pages are written in crimson,
impresss us with the truthfuness Of this lesson: Self
ish and corrupt men have been found ready ani will
ing to control the affairs Of State and through Gov
erpment as in instrumentality have perpetrated OUT
RACES and crimes which as individuals they would have
ushed to acknowledge, and which, without the sem
bance Of Government, could never have been COM
mitted France during the " Reign OF Terror" is q
melancholy instance Of what Government, in the bands
of tyrGnts, may become. lcStead of securing to 80
eiety those bessDgs which should flow from its legd-
nate functions it became the most terrible invader of
the rights of the people. Thus find that when de
signing men seze upon and mold Government to
gatify selfish and ambitious schemes, it becomes
the reflex of their own minds, and 10 no longer
the great buwark on which rest the rights of the gov
great scapseoats for individual iniquity. Too long
have they been made the instruments of torture to
crafty spirit of malevoleuce which still turks in the
hearts of those who while protesting Christianity, still
advocate the Penalty Of Death for crime, and urge its
execution in the name of the Lord.
In seveJpg the ties that bound the mother conn
try, and in establishing Republican form OF Govern
men it but natural that the several States should
retain, to very great extent those laws which had
governed them dependency Of Great Britain, and
that among other powers retained and still exercised
the power {, declare forfeit human ife stanfs prom
nent That the exercise Of this power has been pro-
ducive Of no good and of incacuabie evil must seem
clear to every individual who has reflected upon the
subject; for as we carefully scrutnize the operations
of Government, we viii end, that, whenever it has
NANTES ed tender regard for human life, An ncreas
ing care for the unfortunate and downrodden aud has
evinced an earnest desire to minister to the welfare of
Society, in the came pri. have the governed made
manife,t their appreciation of the benign influences
which prompted it, exhibiting in their conduct to
another the benevolent workings Of those influences
derived from Government. When State, by the abo
on Of its barbarous and cruel laws disturb
The moral element which pervsde Society, and refuses
10 become instrument to assault the public morals
by the infection of horrible punshments then will the
governed partske Of the spirit Of forbearance,
and by cultiyatng the principles Of benevoence thas
Observable in Government, press 70 higher and no
bier aims.
Government is the grand exempar 10 which the eyes
Of the people are ever tuned 1t is regarded as the
grand nucleus around which should ever cluster the
concentrated elements of wisdom, benovolencs, pu-
riiy, and virtue. Loyalty TO its behests ia sentiment
which is ever cbers ned by the governed and only
when Government, through continued outrage, op-
preston and wrong forfes the confidence of the peo
pie that they rhe and subvert II.
To minister to the best interests of humanity; to In
cite man to good and noble action, to ehersh and ca
yate the principles Of beDevolence and charity and 10
encourage the growth Of the moral eleaen. by
ample worthy of imitation should be the first desire Of
Government. To this end jadcial murder should no
longer be sustained by State profeSedy ChrslIan in
principle
/; the killing of one human being by another Is
branded q crime, the act when perpetrated by
Society cannot be called virtue. II the individual
man peads in e1tenuston of his crime uudoe excite
ment, sva,ee or revenge, it avas him not; and yet
bis plea stronger one than Government urge in
justification of the legal murder of that individual.
Government, can present palliaton for its
conduct, unless it be 10 crafty spirit of vindctive-
ness which is found among the Liberal and sectarian
portions of community, and this feeling it has no
moral or legitimate night to entertain or encourage
BY referring to the pages Of the Past, IL will be
found that this cruel punishment instituted in
age when Society in a rude and uncvilized oondi
ton-that it engendered and begat the very crimes it
sought to preventhai has ever proved the prop Of
tyrants and the shield of cowardy despotsthe pndo
of kings and the secret powe of the Church-that il