Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1863-02-21
The Bloomsbury Riots and An
drew Curtin let Him be
Impeached.

lmpeacnoQ.
"The power of pardoning Offences"
says Bacon's Abridgment, Vol. 7, page
4O6, sis inseparably incident to the or own;
and this high prerogativc the king is in
trusted with upon a special confidence that
he will spare those only uhoSe case, couLi
II be foreSten, the law itself may bo pre-
suned willing to have excepted out Of its
general rules, which the wisdom of man
cannot possibly make so perfect as to suit
every particular case.' In other words,
the pardoning power is to conviction,
what equity is to law; the correction of
that wherein the law on account Of its
universality, is deficient. This is the COM
mon law of England, and was adopted by
the Legislature Of Pennsylvania by the
Act of l777, as being properly ada pied
to the circumstances of the Inhabitants. g"
1t has never been changed but by the
constitution of Pennsylvania, it bee anne
vested in the Governor. On the other
hand, the 18th section of the 2nd article
of the constitution, requires that the Gov
ernor "ShaI Mke care Htat Me iQWS Le
| faHhtUDy erecutei." Whilst the Sth ar
ticle requires the Governor to be bound by
a solemn oath Ito suppo. the constitution
of this commonwealth, and perform the
duties of his Office with fidelity
By the light of the foregoing premises,
it may be readily seen that the question
whether the law, on account of its uni
versatility, is deficient in gi7en case,
constitutes the only criterion, by which to
ascertain the legal and constitutional lin.
its to the Governors pardoning power
1t follows also as an nfallible corollary,
that when the iuterpcsition of executive
eemency is applied for, the Governor
should use at least, reasonable diligence,
in ascertaining the facts and circumstances
of the case, before exerting this "high
prer ogative of the king Hence sac
and correct pl actice coeval with the COM
mon law has generally prevailed i'll En-
gland and in this country, of requiring
information from the judges presiding at
the trial whether the conviction was
produced by :he deficiency Of the law Oh
account of the uuiversality of its princ-
pies, more than by the wilful guilt of th'
convict, before granting pardon. L
not, the constitutional duty Of the Gov
ernor pudtr his solemn oath, is as plan
as the meridian sun. "lle shall take
care that the laws be faithfully executed,
So sensible was even ''King Curtin" o.
his official duty in the exercise of this
high prercgatye Of the crown" that even
he, issued an order from tie Executive
Office that in all applications for pardon
notice should be published in news paper
in the ncighborhood oi the applicant and
also be served personally upon the District
Attorney who prosecuted the convict so a.
to give opportunity for hearing both sides
In the pardons Of Irving and Dcnnisou
the two only successful applications to An
drew Curtin from this county previous tt
the "riot pardon" the executive order was
complied with, notice of the applications
were published, we've served personally
upon the District Attorney, and recon.
mendalions from the President Judges be
fore whom they were respectively tried
were obtained.
, Now what circumstances in the Blooms
. burg riot case induced king Curtin t,
hasten 10 show his clemency On the very
day that sentence was pronounced, un-
known TO any body except the convict
. and their pa,ticepS Cran1inis ? The dc.
PENDANTS were convicted OF q riot an,
h assault and battery upon William Eye
a and sentenced to very hght fine. Th
# evidence developed the most aggravate
4 and outrageous case of the kind that eve
: appeared in our courts. As may be see
G by the synopsis of evidence in anothe
= column, correcting some Of the infam ou
r falschooGs OF Lying john the eyidenc
! was overwhelmingly against them. Eve
= Joshua Comley, one of their own counse
l.. and "tarred with the same stick aite
?, boasting that he would not have take
o them" (the rioters) "oh from Eyer il /
had been there; !" aud after graspng ;
!. straws and resorting to quibbies and quirl
3 during the whole trial, Showing that evel
tually if he improves he will do to joi
the celebrated firm of ''Quirk, Snap an
Cannon, } even he admitted finally tn;
:, - one at least was guilty. Guilty of GRIN
d upon which Judge King, of Philadelphia
justly remarks as follows: "rhe divid
ing line of guilt between tumultuous an
riot ons a SSp,pb . ueS assaniated for the M