, 1863-10-08
FROM WASHINGTON.
Session Of the United States
District Court.
TEE CONFI8CATION CUES.
TION.

quence ofthe rehe1lion, and will noH be re-or-
ganized under circumstances Of peculiar In
terest to the public. The chief business be.
fore the court, for long time to come, will
be the enforcement Of the Confscation Act
The newly appointed Judge for the Districts
Hon. John G. Underwood, late fifth Auditor
Of the Treasury, who, though native OF
Western New York, has resided in Clark
county, Virginia, for thirty years past, where
he married aud has raised family Judge
Underwood is q radical Republican, and
gentlemen of fine intelligence and attain
ments. His Opposition to slavery has been
Uniform from his youth up, and In 1856 he WAS
expelled by the mob from hishome, for daring
to attend the Philadelphia Republican Con
vention. I am happy to say that his "better
half" though Virginian, and near relative
Of ofstonewa1l Jackson, is as loyal to freedom
and: Union As her husband. She has United
States flag, made In 1856, in Clarke county, Of
materials purchased at the store Of Turner
Ashby, e1nce notorious guerilla chief. The
flag sFas intended for the Fremont party Of the
county, In which character 1t Was hung out
at Mr. .Underwood's house, until the mob
Threatened to destroy 1t. Mr. Pierpont, the
venerable poet, has celebrated this flag In
rome beautiful lines. =, -.
learn that more than hundred processes.
or orders Of seizure, have been already Issued
By the District Attorney, and that Judge Un-
derwood's court will open with about seventy
caees on the docket. I'M also permitted to
stats that he will make deciaion under tbs
confecatton act which will atartle the Con-
Eeryatives from their propriety. To UNDER
stand fully the nature Of this Forthcoming de-
cie1ou, it mill. be necessary to cite clause
from the confecation net, approved July II,
1869. 1t Is as follows:
"sEo. s, And b II further enacted, Tint to In
sure the speedy termination Of the present rebel
lion, It shall be the dnty OF the President of the
United States to cause the seizure ot all tho estate
and property, money. stocke, credits, aud effects
Of the pereonB hereinafter named In this section,
and to apply and use the same, and the proceeds
as1ss sstss for the support Of the army Of the United
Here follows description Of tho several
classes ct offenders whose property Il to be
seized, They embrace all persons rho Bhall
thereafter act As officers Of the army or navy
in the service Of tie pretended Confederacy;
or WHO shall hereafter accept Office In the
service @ Of any State which has claimed to
The Attorney General is said to have raised
the point that the net, which evidently con
templates the sale Of rebel property in ptr-
petulty. exceeds the bounds Of the Constitu-
tion. BE maintained that under the Consti-
tuition, the forfeiture Of the estate Of traitor
could only lat during his lifetime, and that
Immediately upon his death, albeit By hang.
Ing for his crime, his estate would revert to
his heirs, who are not Implicated with him.
It must be confessed that this has been the
Of the Constitution, and the President Der.
haps coiDcidiDg with the Attorney General,
had some hesitation about signing the net.
Accordingly, to remove bis objections, joint
resolution Of tho two Houses was agreed to
On the came day, which, among other things,
"Nor shall any punishment or proceedings
ssunder said act, be SO construed as to work
*'a forfeiture Of the real estste of the offend.
Ser beyond his natural nfe."
Notwithstanding this joint resolution,
1gdge asts{es VII decide that the for
Lutte and perpetual. In thfs District of Co
lumhia the 9uprtme Court, lately established
by Congress, have decided otherwise, md the
consequence has been that some Of the finest
rebel houses IN the city have been sold, under
the ccntis scation act. Ut less than two years.
rent. If Judge Underwood'a Forthcoming
decision ehon1d be sustained, It's eff.ct will be
to apgn ent the public revenue by millions,
and 1t hence becomes a matter Of first rate
importance. 4 very able pamphlet appeared
last year. In the western part OF New York,
pnder the auspices Of Judge Foote, Of thst
State, IN Whlch the popular theory OF f,r.
feiture is discussed With much ability. I am
led to believe that Judge Underwood will
base bis decision upon similar train Of rea-
eon1pg, which, OF course, will be supported
by original views Of his own.
1w1n briefly giye some OF the grounds up-
on which the new theory will bs placed, not
pretending to decide 80 grave question my
tell, but leaving 1t tor the reader to reflect
upon, and to seek further light
The seeond clause Of the third. section Of
the third Article Of the Constitution Ia as fol-
lows: 1.-The Congress ehan have power to de-
clare tie punishment Of TREASON, but no at
tainder Of treason shal1 work corruption Of
blood, or forfeiture except during the life OF
t5e ;atS nttainted And The third clause
ela,es that mo bill Of attaindcr OF er post
facto Law shall be passed"
think TINT 1t was in the year 1874 that
Congress passed an act for the punishment Of
treason. The punishment was death By
nsnglng, tegtther with dne, which WAS not
to exceed given amount. I have not the
etatutes about me, bu: I believe 1t WAS five
thou6and dollars. It will be seen in tbs aboYe
citations from tie Constitution that no dis
friction u drawn between real and personal
estate, and. In fact, the word "esta.e'' ia not
therefore, AZ to the perpetual forfeiture q real
estate, while none is raised as to personal es-
tate, seems to be without any foundation in
the language Or Pusport Of the Constitution.
In Ike manner, the Ecrup1es Of the Congress
OF 1s94, II It WAS Ecruple which caused that
body to impose fine, Instead Of prescribing
fo11tttnre Of estate. eeems to have no foun-
dation, ttnce fine Of five, or even one thou
eand dollars, Would In many cases require the
sale Of both real and personal estate to zal5e
It, ard as q fine Is perpetual In it's operation,
the Constitution would be violated, snppos.
ing the popular Interpretation to be correct,
as well by this method as by direct act Of
ccntiecatlcn in perpctuity.
:, To be consistent, then, 1t would seem TINT
these who deny the right Of condecating real
eating personal estate as wei; and they
should also deny the right OF imposing tine,
Since By tha. method complete and perpet-
1al conhscatlcn Of all property might be ef-
fected BY raising the fines high enough, By
aet OF Congress: The result would be, then,
that traitors can only be puniehed corporeal-
y, either BY hanging. imprisonment, or 9TH
e1Wlfe; and that the Highest Of crimes
agairst eociety would be placed On common
1eEel WIN the common category Of offences
against individuals; The advocates Of the
since It In effect nullifles the power Of the
Cor stitutIon In the punishment Of treason.
Judge Underwood and the authors Of the,
new theory, therefore, 60 back to the Eng1is1
{. common Law, and to the ancient use of Eng-
nsh Words, for the true meaning Of the Ian.
with much ingenuity that the phrase, "no
atta'nder Of treason shall work corruption Of
blood OF forfeiture. except during the life Of
the Icrson attainted," means that the attain.
der shall not work corruption OF blood or
forfeiture, upless 1t takes place "during the
life OF the person attalnted." In other words,
that Congress in declaring the punlshment Of
treason should not forfeit estates which have
already descended By the death Of the guilty
party, Tith1ut trial, as was formerly done il
the term forfeiture Is Of itself absolute. and
admits not Of qualification as to time; aud
Judge Underwood maintains that the term
Except" being used as d conjunction, is,
according to le1fcogiaphers and to former
Of blood. also. could not be temporary as to
the guilty party; and all that the framers Of
the Constitution meant By the Limitation Was
to save the hefr5, who, under the common
Law, could not inherit from their grandfather
through their attainted father.
l. ia obvious that the framer Of the joint
resolution Intended to conform It 20 the lau-
euage Of the Constitution, and yet 1t will be
seen that he quite exceeded It, and gaye 1t
construction which it will not bear when he
fnteTpolates "real eetate," and substitutes
the words, "beyond his natural lfEa," In
place Of Except = during the life Of the per-
The idea that conviction OF treason should
corrupt the blood Of the criminal, and thus
cause confiscation Of estate during the three
weeks which usually elapee between the SEN
tepce and execution: does seem little ah-
suTd. Or, woree sti1l. If in ca-es Of less enor-
nifty, tie criminals life is spared; and while
he is being incaycerated twenty or thirty
years, bis blood is corrupt, and his estate for.
feited, because he had not been quite guilty
enough to be hanged. Corruption Of blood,