The Portland daily press., 1865-05-20

ior purposes OF business, ana topiy the artS OF
peace and to elaborate the mechanical ingenu-
tiles of the age.
Gan Belligsrent Rebels be punished as
Traitors.
i" His Majesty's defeasipe weapons are his
guards and his offensive weapons are the loaoS.
Rebels are not to be overcome by opposing force
to force, but to be puaished by laws" Lord
Keeper Guilford.
1t has been audaciously claimed by an
eager advocate Of traitors in this city that JEFF
Davis is protected, as belligerent, by natu.
raj and national law from any amenability to,
the civil law of treason. To hold that he is
so amenable is pronounced the grossest error
that ever entered into the Judgment Of intelli-
gent n,'-an error which the least research
Into the principles of war and international
law would correct In former article we
have shown beyond controversy that the prin-
ciples of national and international law regard
all rebels as criminals, and require the punish
ment of all the heads of the mischief We pro-
pose in this paper to make similar research
into the principles of the municipal or national
law. 80
The Constitution itself of the United States,
defines the crime of treason in terms univer-
sally well known and that have already been
| quoted in this discussion. OF the seven acts
| declared to constitute treason In the English
statute Of Is Edward Sd chap. 2, it declares
only taco TO be treason, viz: 1. Levying war
against the sovereign,-2. adhering to his
enemies. Adherence to the enemies of the
sovereign, the government, by one owing al
legiance to it, either within the realm, the re-
public, or elseschere, is by the old English stat
ute, and by the act of Congress of 1890 de-
| clared to be treason. AS the terms used in
the old English law and In the Constitution
and law Of the United States are precisely the
same, the whole course ofjudicial decisions in
both countries from Edward Sd down, may be
properly appealed to for an Interpretation of
those terms, If indeed from their plainness they
were even capable of any doubt. We shall
satisfy ourselves with single glance, and the
assertion, that in all the judicial history of
treason as embodied in the state trials Of the
two countries, there cannot be found an in
stance where man who owed allegiance to
the government arraigning him, put on trial
for levying war against that government, was
permitted to plead successfully that he had so
teuied scdr, in other words he had been a bel.
kgerent, in defence of his treason.
But the opinion Of the American Judiciary
State and National, has been officially declar-
ed upon the point Of the liability of beIlgerent
rebels in the present war to trial and punish
ment under the municipal law. Privateers-
men acting under commissions from the Pres
ident of the called Confederate States were
in the autumn Of 1861 brought into PhiladeI-
phia and New York, indicted for Piracy and
tried before the United States Courts. IA
As to the defence based upon the priyateers
commission "both Courts held' that thew could
only look to the declarations Of the executive
and legislative department for the political re-
latlons OF the new Confedtracy-and they did
not mply-from the exercise of belligerent rights
by the Federal government any remuneration or
waiver Gifts muncial rights as sovereign towards
the inhabitants of the seeded States" Trial of
Officers, &C., of Savannah. Trial of William
Smith for Piracy.
Judge Sprague, in the United States District
Court Of Massachusetts,, in the case ofthe Amy
Warwick, tried in 1862, affirmed, speaking Oh
rebel privateersmen
They are at the same time belligerents and
traitors, and subject to the Liabilities of both
while the United States sustain the double char
acter OF belligerent and sovereign and have the
rights of both. These rights co-exist and may
he exercised at pleasure. Thus we may treat
the crew OF areoei privateer, as merely prisoners
OF war, or asptrGtes and traitors"
Judge Davis, declaring the judgment ofthe
Supreme Court of Maine in the case of the
Golden Rocket, tried during the present war,
asserted:
I'm a civil war those who prosecute HOSTILE
ties against the established government are also
traitors: Their acts are robbery and murder on
the land and piracy on the sea. There may be
good reasons after the contest is closed for alb
solving many OF them from their liabilities to
punishment as has sometimes been done in cases
of rebellion. But this can be done only by the
legislative power; nor does it change the nature
of the crimes they havecommitted. .
- It is not claimed that thew
were not citizens of the United States The fact
that they we're citizens of states, that have re-
vOlted and are engaged in civil war, did NOT
change the nature Of their acts, except to add to
their enormIty. The commission, under which
they acted, was itself piratical, making all con-
cerned in issuing it accessories before the fact to
all the piraces committed underit. The preten-
ded government that authorized such commits
sion, being designed to overthrow the only
righttul government, made treason of all the
roooeries or murders committed under its au-
thorlty on land or sea. In icing
treason such acts did not cease to be robbery
andplracy, the same as if they had not heen
committed In execution of a conspiracy to sub
vert the government
As late as December 1862, the United States
Supreme Court in the Prize Cases held this
language decisive of the question in contro-
versy:
Ahe law of nations is also called the law of
na,ure' It IS founded on the common consent az
weLa as lne common sense of the world. II con !
taihs no sueh anomalous doctrine. as thar which
this Court are now for the FIRST time DESIRED 10
pronounce, TO wit: That Insurgents who =. ~ ~
risen in rebellion against their SOVEREIGN. ~
PEELED her courts, established a revolnt;onarr
government, organized armies and commence
hastilities, are not enemies beause thew are trai
tors. tits nroro
sition never doubted, that the belligerent party
who claim to be sovereign, may exercise both
0etiagerent aid sovereign right. Treating the
other party as belligerent, and using only the
milder modes of coercion which the law of ma
tons has introduced to mitigate the rigors of
war, cannot bea subject of complaint by the
party to whom it is accorded as a grace or gran
ted as necessity Prize Cases ID Block 535.
Now does the Editors of the Advertiser
class Judge Sprague, Nelson, and Grier among