The Portland daily press., 1865-05-20

the outside oracles Unpopular thoughts, blum
dering, profuse and protiigate in disseminating
their thunderings on this grave subject of
treasoaY He may have his reasons for de-
crying the judicial soundness of the Supreme
Court OF Maine. Judging from the reported
cases that body do not very often seem to con-
eur with his Viewsupo legal questions. There
may be some matters more personal to him.
self upon which he would be disposed to an
ticipate and denounce in advance an unfavor-
alb e judgment; but he would notsurely choose
to class those conservative jurists, whose
opinion upon the question he haspresumed to
discuss, is SO coatemptuoustg antagonstic to
his, among persons who have no higher con-
siderations to govern them than mere part
IAN politics, or party views and prejudices.'
In second article the Advertiser under
takes to convey the falsehood that the Savan-
nah pirates were never tried; that the public
mind bloated with an indignant expectation
and desire for their trial, conoiction, and exc
cutioa as pirates, ,Oas defeated of that indig-
ndnt expectation, that on sound, sober,
thought, as ,oepredicted in our col1mns,' the
government soon abandoned all such preten-
tons. The mendacity of this statement is
none the less complete, that it has a. mere fig
ment of verify to Htaud upon. The fact is the
pirates aoere tried; in Philadelphia they were
convicted; in New York the Jury disagreed.
The convicted prisoners were not executed,
not because the government Abandoned in
any way its claim to consider them as felons,
but because the rebels threatened to murder
an equivalent number of our prisoners Of war.
1t was the government granting belligerent
rights in the language of Judge Grier, 'ds a
necessity to save the lives of our prisoners
It was not listened to a moment as legal de-
fence. The trial went on TO conviction, the
criminality of the acts was most solemnly az
hrmed but the political power, for reasons
of public policy, interposed and arrested the
sentence. fss-,1 p
This interposition of another department of
government to hold the hands of the judicial
power is no novel feature of our system of
government. In the best administered states
| it may be said that the actual criminals are
only dectnGted. Multltudea 90 unpunlshed,
untried even, because there is no one that has
an interest or feeling to compel him to make
complaint. The magistrate in his discrt ton
refuses to grant process against certain
| offenders. The prosecuting officer turns
more complaints away from the Grand
Jury than he entertains. or the persons ac-
tualfy tried and convicted, notshalf perhaps
are fully punished. Execution clemency in
| terposes to cut shoit or retrieve rom SEN
fences of courts. Besides these ordinary chan
nels of discre ton and mercy, in times of civil
commotion when the law breakers become an
organized force, perhaps even a temporary de
fdcto government, and embrace large por-
ton Of the citizens of the state, there is lodg-
ed from necessity in both the executive and
legislative power wide discretion to condone
offences either before or after conviction, by
amnesties, pardons, and declaratory absolu-
tions. All writers on International law rec
ognize this as one Of the necessary powers OF
civilized government, and the courts of our
\ own and other countries yield to the public
policy expressing itself through those chan
| nels.
This functionSis a political and not a judi.
ciGt one Its authority is to be sought in the
pracedeDts OF history, rather than of courts
/ Hence it will become necessary in completely
presenting the subject of the rights of govern
ment to punish judieially traitors who have
levied war against 1t, to consult the usuges oil
the government in past ages, which we pro
pose herea ter cursorily to do.
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