The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-03-08


the noble bandits booty.
->-0s-Sp ~ -r
COnAseati0n Of Property.
We reproduce below, says the Prince
Georgian "a Maryland paper), o portion Of
q very able article recently contributed to
the Louisville Journal, upon the much
agitated topic of contiscation of property.
AS the writer is evidently strong Union
man, and as his object -is-declared to be 70
prevent the enactment Of foolish laws
which must eventually be rrpudiated by
the courts, his words have'a peculiar sig
niticance for the people of Maryland who
are thTank~ss4S, H. ~b---.-:--Ap --;sh--S.-.
savbs iittSSssstiSS : which he : exposes. The
argument is sound and fairly put. Be-
ginning with the clauses of the ConStitu-
tion forbiddihg Congress to pass bills of
"attainder," hO. proceeds to show, by
quotations from the; best law authors, that;
in legal sense, all these proposed meas
ures, such as conflscation acts, &c, fall
under tffat designation. Whenever the
Legislature assumes to itself the exercise
0fjudicial powers, the acts passed impo-
sing penalties -upon persons are necessa-
rily bills Of attaipder. If this be so, the
writer is entitled to draw the important
eU0SsNssJa ttEst gHHSeg SAe SsNs<iNktsz7,
not even Congrcss--to say nothing Of n
State Legislature-has the power to visit
any pains, penalties, forfeitures or coniis,
cations whatever, up0n individuals by
name, or classes of men by description,
either for treason or any other offence
whatever. In a word, the power of at
taintiDg the citizen, in q political sense, is
unknown to our law. The design seems
to have been to cohfine phniShments to
the regions of the Courts, and to the
hands of judges and .juries, and to pre-
serve the people from the dangers of pO-
litcal vengeance, or the prosecution Of sue.
cessful factions, which formerly wrought
such ruin and'wrctchedness in the moth
er country. ..:
is known as judicial attainder," as de-
rived from that clause of the Constitution
allowing forfeiture f.goods as punish
ment for treason, but declaring that nc
attainder for treason shall work forfeit
ure except during the lite of the offender.
The attainder" here spoken of does not
diminish the force of the former branch
Of the argument, but evidently means Ca
ly the effect Of a Judgment Of guilty, in a
regular Court, upon a charge of. treason.
Nor does tho power given to Congress by
the latter clause conflict with the former,
because still Congress cannot forfeit prop
crty by an act of its own, dircctly-the
power here conferred being merely to
pass general act naming forfeiture for
life as the penalty for treason, to be en-
forced by the Courts. No mere acts Of
Congress, therefore, will operate TO forfeit
sF conliscate the prQpsrty Of any man no
matter how much treason he has commit
ted-and the only way any forfeiture can
be imposed is by the sentence of United
States Court, just as in any other crimi-
nal prosecution. First catch your rebel {;
then fetch him back within The Federal
lines; then indict and convict him, in the
regular Federal Court. for treason-and
then, and not before, you may forfeit his
life interest in his property, if he has any.
The writer notes the consequent folly
of an attempt, in any way, to forfeit slave
propcrty.-+As no forfeiture can be made
except ior the life of the offender, how
can the negro be freed at all 1t would
hardly be said that when oEce made free,
by u fOFfeitusIe, he could again be made a
slave. The only way in which such for
fixture could be made would seem to be
BY forfeitihg the 'title'of the owner, treat:
ing him as eiFilly dead, and handing the
negro over to the party who would be his
heir if he were dead in fact. Else the
Government itself must turn slave holder
and become itself the proprietor Of the
forfeited lfe-interest; or else slave
dealer, by selling out that interest to some
other party.
Several other. points Of interest are
touched upon by the writer--among them
the ridiculous black-mail assessment re-
Gently attempted he levied upon the
Southern rights people Of st. Louis by
Gen. Halleck, and the equally indefensihle
attempt Of the Legislature of Kentucky to
punish treason against the Federal Gov
ernment, under the guise of Furnishing
treason against the State: -.
mo GiU ofattainder shall be passed.
No State shatt pass any GiU Of attaintler.
Consultation OF the United States.
Bills of attaindcr are said by Woode-
son, in bis Lectures, to be acts of the su-
preme power pronouncing capital senten-
ces where the Legislature assumes judi
cial Inagistraey, and bills of pains and
penalties, those which int1ict milder pun
lshments, But it is believed that bill oi
attainder is a generic term comprehending
both description of acts. Such. ut least,
is believed to be its true Specification, as
used in our constitutions. Thus it is
said by the Supreme Court in Fletcher ca
Peck, q, Crach. 1873; "a bill OF attainder
may affect the life Of an individual, OF
may e0bfiseate his property or botli."-
So, also, IL is said by Judge Tucker, iu
his edition of, Blackstone, vol. /, page
29l bills of attainder are Legislative
acts, passed for the especial purpose cf
attaihting particular individuals of trca
son or felony, or inHicting pains and pen
altieS beyond on contrary. to the common
law" That the term should be receiY
ed in the large sense thus given to it, Il
.consonant with the true republican char
acter Of our institutions. A condemnato
ry act of the Legislature intiicting upor
an individual, or class of individuals
pains and penalties is as much within thu
reason of tue prohibition as if it inflicted
capital punishment. They are both equal
ly hostile to the principles Of civil liberty
and the spirit of0ur written constitutions
They are equally engines of tyrsnpxs aAG
equally nnsuited to the gov
ernment of free people. ."--l Dana, 900
"Bilis of attainder have generally des
I ignated their victims by name but theJ
may do it also by classes or by genera
description fitting q multitude Of persons
Either mode is equally liable to moral Ant
constitutional ceLsure. Nor viii tthesl
suggestions be answered by the ObyiOu
difficulty if not impracticability Of "a
forcing forfeiture by direct criminal pro
ccedings against such . host Of nnknowi
delinquents. If ths power attempted &
be assumed is wholesome one, and Nh
! wisely. eouitablv execnted in tffs irssESs.ese