Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-04-15
COufiscafiOn.

When Artaxerxes, the king sent Ezra the
scribe, 20 Jerusalem, he conferred ON him very
great authority, and. among other powers which
he directed him To exercise aud enforce was one
thus expressed: And whosoeyer will not do the
law of thy God and tie law of the kim let
judgment be executed speedily upon him. wheth-
er unto death or 10 punishment or To contscatiOn
OF goods, or to Imprisonment" We do not at
present remember any earlier cOnfscation act
than this decree, but from very early times Gov
crnments have claimed and exercised the right
OF depriving subjects of property as a punishment
for crime; and rs in this quotation the punish
ments seem To- be stated in the reverse order Of
their magnitude. il would seem that then, as in
later periods. the con6scaton of property has
been the next higher grade of punishment to i'm
prisonment. and lower than Punishment or death ;
although It has not unirequently been coupled
with one of the other three enumerated penalties
of disobedience
There are two ways in which the law may de
prive criminal OF property as punishment for
crime. The one is by fine. and the other by
conhscati0n We know Of nothing ia our own
Constitution or laws which forbids the Govern
ment 20 impose fines on traitors or other crm-
mails 20 any amount commensurate with the grade
OF the ohense. and to authorize the levying OF
the hne cut of his goods or lands But Con
gress have Mt thus far 10 permit this power
To rest idle ia their legislation relating to the re
belliou. and are now considering a conhscation
act. the design of which j 10 reach the property
Of all rebels, whether brought TO trial and con
yiction or not.
Senator Trumbull, gentleman of great abiI-
~ and lelrning, and a strong defender of the
Constitution. presses his bill. now before the Sen
ate. with great determination. Substitutes have
been prepared which will, IN due time. we sup
pose be offered ami there IS no doubt that Con
eress will pass some act having in view the pun
Ishment OF rebels by deprivation of property Ii
Is not our purpose 70 discuss any OF these plans
nj present. We presume no one Objects 70 the
prOpriety Of using cOnhScation as one of the pen
alties OF treason but it strikes Us that some Of
the considerations which ere offered in favor OF
sweeping acts OF this kind deserve more careful
examination than they have received and that
on reelection. u viii appear that some OF the rea-
sons urged IN favor OF the bill are not sound II
gentlemen will confne their attention strictly 70
the legitimate aud proper object OF the conhsca-
ton power. and vii devise acts which shall meet
that object. they viii produce better results of
legislation than II they seek 10 use a power given
for one purpose 70 effect another result
COnhscation OF goods and lands is a punish.
ment OF crime. The power 10 conE,cate i a
power granted. or existing in government CO
incident with the power OF gov eminent 20 pun
ish ofenses This is theonly true object OF the
power.
IL Is said that by this power the Government
MAJ re imburse itself for portion OF the eNpen-
Ses OF the war. The idea Is. we are persuaded.
Uiopian In the hrst place, the property owners
oi the south are not ia arms, and the ccnfsca-
ton OF the goods and lands OF ali the active
reoeis IA service would probably not amo-ni
% so large sum a. the twentieth part OF
what some Imagine the available property of
the rebellion. Besides this the experienee of his
tory shows that the process Of coniiscation. the
costs, expenses. and What nav be susnme.l nm in
the expressive word the ''stealings" reduce vast
y the receipts by Government. and absorb the
greater portion OF the proceeds IL i hardly
worth While % say that this can be avoided We
have had a years experience IN the country of
shOddy and army contracts. and know tolerably
well what can be done IN the stealing line Again.
the mere legal process OF cOnfscafing the lands
and goods OF few Thousand rebels would occu
py courts for years. aud would be prolonged into
remote future Probably no one ease. involy
Ing property OF any amount. would take less than
week Ia the trial. the examination OF witnesses
% prove the owner a rebel and the defence which
ingenious counsel would put in on his behalf