, 1864-01-28

From Our Regular Correspondent
WA8HrsoTox, Jan. Is, 1854.
TIE CoHrIscATIoN B1LL-TE LAW OF. TIE
CASE.
The debate on this bill continues to be
quito acrimonious on the side Of the Copper
heads. On this, as In the matter of the war,
they most confoundedly hate to have the
rebels hurt. Here is the clause of the Con-
stitnt!on having special bearing upon the
subject:
"The Congress shall have power to declare
the punishment Of treason, but no attainder
Of treason shall work corruption Of blood or
forfeiture except during the life OF the per-
son attainted." ".'i "a
The Coppclhcads contend that, under this
clause, personal, hut not real property, can
be confscated. The Union men contend that
it gives Congress the power to confscate
both personal and real property. Now tho
criminal courts OF: the country make no such
distinction as do the Copperheads. The
act creating the Recorders Court Of the city
Of Chicago, for instance, gives the city the
right to reimburse itself for the expenses Of
trying and convicting criminal; BY selling
his property to pay the same not his per-
sonal, but both his personal and real proper
ty. Thus, II q man can be fined and confined
and his property sold to pay the cost Of ex-
penses of the same, for the crime of stealins
q few chickens or secondhand coat, why
cannot he be fined and confined and the cost
and expenses Of the same be reimbursed to the
State, for the crime Of treason "No," says
the Copperheads :; 81 they are our erring
Southern brethren, and we must not fight
them too hard orpunlsh them too severely {;
it Is inhnman to them, md especially to
their poor wives and children" All crime,
morally and physica1ly, is visited upon ths
family Of the drunkard; morally by the
shame attendant upon II, and physically by
its punishment. It is impossible to separate
the innocent from the guilty. in this respect
Even communities and nations are involved
posing them. Next, what is the meaning of
CORFU plon Of blood? It has reference to the
laws enacted in feuda} times, and the coun-
tries in which the law Of primo gcniture eI-
lists. Corruption Of blood prevented d man
1rom inhssing the estate q his .tt REASONABLE
and vested It in another: But there is no
right Of primogcniture In the United States.
Heal and personal property stand on the
same footing They are subject to tho will
OF the owner. There is as much justice or
injustice in the United States In conflscating
the one MS the other. The children have as
uuch usuGuct in stocks, bonds, money,
ETC., as they have in town lots md
land; but they have really no rights in them.
The father is the absolute owner. The chill
drcn have no Interest therein, except ns the
father wills. He can dispose Of his property
to whom he pleascs. And when he sells and
deeds piece Of land to any one, he writes,
ITO him and his heirs forcyer.n Meaning
thereby that he gives full and perfect title
&c does not deed absolutely to the heirs.
If he did they would have claim to the pro-
perty. Tie man Who purchases can sell and
decd to others than Ills heirs without consult
Ing them. How then can heirs Of traitors be
wrouged by cont1scating the property of said
traitors, If they do not own and have no In
tercst in that propertys And Is there. any
greater wrong to them In confscating real
estate than personal property They have
as much interest in one aa the other. Again,
is there any greater wrong in taking the fath-
cr'e property than his lifey Does not the
taking Of his life, supposing the traitor hns
no property, int1ict as great IN injury on the
children US the taking Of the propertye In
both instances you take the support of the
family. 1t is necessary to do so, because the
salvation Of the State requires it. The clause
Of the Consultation says there shall be no
forfeiture except during the life of the per-
! son attaiuted. In old times they were in
the habit Of attainting traitor alter his
death. and thus By retrospectiye law depri-
wing his hsirs Of the property: Soon entire
tom gave rise to untold ,eyils and unsettled
tie stability Of society and property. The
Constitution wisely forbias forfeiture, except
during the life of the traitor. That'is tic
property which he did own during his life,
but is now not his, but perhaps that Of 10y
al citizen, eEall not be forfeited. Previously
In 1p lima nf {x,T IA,
net Of attainder extended to felonies Of ail
kinds; bnt by the 53th Of George III, Cap.
145, no attainder for felony, except for trea-
son or murder, extends to the disinherittng
Of any person, or to the prejudice Of the right
or title Of my person, beyond the natural
ing Of this wss precisely that tho act OF at
tninacr should hnSe been consummated dur
irg the lifetime Of the felon {not the rraitor},
it is only necessary to show that the law was
subsequently modified in England, even as
regards murder and treason, aad made pre-
cisely similar to our constitutional provision.
For It was enacted by the Sd and 4th Will,
iv., cap. 106, sec. 10, that when any person
from whom the descent Of any land Is to be
traced ehall have had any relation, who, hav-
ing been attaintcd, shall have died before
such descent shan have taken place. then
such attainder sha1l not prevent any pcreon
from inhcriting such lond, who would have
been capable Of inhcriting the same by trac-
ing lis descent through such relation If he
led cot been attainted. That tllis was un-
derstced as still giving the state power to
absolutely sell the real estate of the traitor is
evident from the fact that still later, By the
18th and 14th Wet, cap. GO, sec IS, no lands,
stock Or chose In action vested In any per
son, or my trust, or By way of mortgage, or
any profits thereof, shall be forfeited BY rea-
COO of attaindcr or conviction for any otfense
ct such trustee or mortgages; but the Court
7f 111y, tnC E+1
18th Wet, cap. IS, sec. s, to appoint new
trustees in lin Of persons convicted Of fel-
ony. But there is another rignt By which
property Of all kinds can be conGscate1; that
is the be]lige1ent right Under this right
spies nrc shot, towns and cities destroyed, In
fact every thing lawful in war done, to the
end TINT the enemy may be defeated and de-
ttroyed. II necessary to utterly subdue and
destroy that enemy, 1t is right and proper to
deprive him Of the means BY which he makes
war upon the state. Under this right confls-
cation Of real property has been the practice
legally proceed to sell all tie property Of
rebel belngerents.
THE ILLINOIS TWO TER CENT FIND.
Judge ]. n. Morris, of Quincy, State Agent,
is still here, representing the interest Of the
two Per cent land fund, involving claim of
Illinois to The amount Of nearly half mil
lion of dollars Judge Morris, Mr. Lincoln
Laying given IN opinion TINT the claim was
Just one, 1as requested an order from the
President to the Commissioner Of the Land
CMcc, directing him to pay the same. Tie
President las submitted the question Of his
right to give such order (thc Commissioner
Of the Land Office refusing to pay the clalm)
to the Attorney General for his opinion, and
the latter has taken the matter under advise
ment-
REPORTED EVACUATION OF nICHMoND-REA-
son wuT NOT TRUE
There were flying rumors yesterday OF
the reported evacuation Of Richmond. This
appeared strange, contrasted with the belief
ut Richmond that our forces were eyacuatln:.,,
Virginia The truth Is, the rebels will not
cvacuatc Richmond and Virginia until driven
ceeded in driving Longstreet ont Of East
Tennessee, (Which he still dominates) con1d
have believed tlls evacuation possible. Vir-
ginia is 10 the rebels full Of defensive posi-
lions and points Of great strategic import
ance. It also contains large number OF
n95sss eas M a and @ sasfR n e. 2sseeps ns15y as
hands Of tho rebels. When compelled to
eyacuate Virginia, they know their last an-
chor Of safety is gone To save the rem ain
der of the Confedc1acy by evacuating Vir-
Glnia, won1d be like man cutting or his
lead to savchis bodyl
It is stated that there will probably be no
duty put on leaf tobacco The growers have
made great efforts to prevent this, and, it is
thought, hare succeeded. They claim that
such duty would prevent its expectation, as
other countries Wonld then be able to sue
ccsefulY compete with OUTS. This Ia also
very heavy blow at spectators who have
purchased large quantities Of the article
Some Of them have invested In both whisky
In the case Of cotton, it will probably fol-
low the course Of gpifite aS It Xonld not do