Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-02-25

=" "a PohiS'uiS treason nom extending
the consequences OF guilt beyond tn,
person OF It's author; or, In other words
that punishment for treason does no.
: work corruption Of blood, or forleitur,
OF interests In property, except so far as
those interests pertain 10 TIE person of N,
: 9Do@T, Mr., justice Story-whose mem
DRY l hold In the profoundest reverence
seems to 20 further, and his Language
would naturally enough indicate that
"a punishment for treason, there can
be no forfeiture Of esta te hcvond the life
OF the offender, | nave ever admired
the judicial scholarship of Mr. Justice
STORY, and been accustomed to receive
MS opinions with the greatest respect.
III, however, his reasoning upon this
suhlect-which, TO say the least, is some
what desultory and unsatisiactoy--wi
only bear the. construction which the
gentleman upon the other side give it, |
must with great humility disagree with
the learned commentator
| The Constitution Is to be construed in
accordance with the intention of it's
trainers, and that intention may be de-
termined TO some extent by an examin-
alton of history cotemporaneous with
the adoption of the Constitution. Our
fathers were striking out upon a system
entirely different, in most respects, from
that of England. They had seen the
effects OF bills of attainder, and hence
wisely provided that no bills of attain
der or er post tacto laws should be passed
by Congress. They had seen the effect
OF attalnder of treason under the com
mon law whereby corruption of blood
was worked and Unbeatable qualities
destroyed, Hence they provided that
upon an attainder of treason, there
should be no corruption of blood They
had seen interests in the realty absolutely
rested in the innocent DESCENDANT, forever ia
ken in fee upon the attainder of the an
cestor, Estates in England were held
generally by virtue of feudal grants
from the Crown, and each tenant
held only a life estate, and hence cor
ruption of blood was necessary, as a
consequence of an attainder of treason,
to destroy the entail, and revest the title
in the Crown, Otherwise the heir would
inherit, for in entailed estates there is
an interest IN esNe in the remainder-man
during the life of ancestor an interest
that may be legally encountered by way
of mortgage.
In this country at the time OF the
Revolution and the adoption of the Con-
stitution, entailed estates abounded, and
the Constitution leaves it wholly to the
States to regulate the descent of proper
ty and to allow or prohibit entails and
they now exist, probably in large num-
in hn ~ L., 20
terms of years, or the lives of persons
in being when created; but still entailed
estates where one person has the life
interest and another the remainder; and
the Constitution undoubtedly provides
against legislation which shall deprive
innocent persons of their legal rights IN
eSse for the crime of an ancestor through
the doctrine of corruption of blood
But memo est horeS eiUeHtiS and because
the conviction of the tenant in tail shall
not work injury to the remainder man
through corruption of blood, can it be
said that treason may not be punished
by depriving the convicted person of
that property which belongs solely to
him, to which no one else during his
life has any legal claim, and that he is to
be permitted before he mounts the scat
fold to dispose of it for the furtherance
of the very cause for engaging in which
we deprive him of life Could the ia
theirs have gravely discussed this ques-
ton of forfeiture and inserted in the
Constitution the mere shadow without
a particle of substance? Did they
mean that for the highest crime known
to the law the forfeiture should attach
only long enough for the convicted felon
to be transported from the prison to the
scaffold Z No, sir, our fathers never
were cheated by shadows, or grasped at
straws. They meant something by the
insertion of this clause. Forfeiture was
to have some practical operation as
punishment for treason. If so, the for
fixture was intended to operate upon the
interest of the offender in whatever es-
tate he possessed, and upon the whole
of that interest and nothing more and
wisely and humanely, contrary to the
English law, it was not intended to OPP
crate upon an interest IN csSe--a vested
interest-in an innocent descendant to
the property in possession of the con-
victea traitor by virtue of an heirship
which the ancestor himself could nei
Their divest nor affect. In other words,
the forfeiture could not operate upon
any title or interest not resting in the
person attainted and this, in my judg-
ment, is all that was intended by the
clause "or forfeiture beyond the life of
the person attainted."
The tears which we have seen.shed
here in behalf of innocent heirs are croc-
odile tears; tears like those of the play
actors on the boards, got up for the oc
casion, for effect; always bottled and
ready for use no more like the tears
which flow from the true fountain than
the muddy waters of the Potomac are
like the waters of the crystal brooks
which leap from the moutains of my
own noble State. Suppose the innocent
little children do suffer in estate Suf-
fering is the consequence of crime. There
is an authority on this point. / hope
the gentlemen on the other side will rec
ognize it and be comforted thereby. 1t
is older and higher than Blackstone or
Mansfield or Marshall or Story; more
potent than the editcs of kings or the
Judgment of courts. 1t is the authority
- Nx1 no, IN fhnsn ~