New-York tribune., 1867-05-30
TEXAN BRTG1NDdGE.

The Infamous Quantrcl we observe, is still
raging in unhappy Texas. Ii may or may not
be an argument in support OF the natural
deprayity of man that no civilization, however
high, can totally eradicate the traces of our
original barbarity In the tunutu0us violence
of great cities, in the cruel supcrstitons of
remote provinces, in codes of spurious honor
in the grasping sclfshness of uncnlightened
commerce. in the sanguinary license of war, and
in the constant recurrence to private revenge
we may still read our connection with the
infants of our race, and find the heart or the
hand of the proto-murderer still black with
plotting, or crimson with execution. Under the
best of circumstances, a great country has
always dsreputable frontiers which defy both
judicial and military authority. government
stretching over many degrees of latitude will
be disregardcd in one corner and cheated in
another until steady and prosperous popula-
| ton comes TO the aid of the law, and violence
is no longer the rule but the exception II is
true indeed, that when the best has been done
crimes, and even great crimes, do not also-
gether cease; but they remain recognized
obliquitics, to be promptly, certainly and con-
dignly punished, not by extra-judcial tribunals
but by the dispassiOnate and methodical process
of law.
The excesses of Quantrell and his red-hnded
gang upon the Texan border recall the stories
of travellers and novelists, the traditions of
Italy and of Spain. These banditti, who still
profess to be fighting for 1.-THE COnfedemcy,'
make robbery their business, and murdcr their
recreation They joke while they punder and
they chuckle while they kill. They take pos
session of this plantation or that, and amuse
their involuntary entertainers 10y telling stories
of yesterdays murder, or of the arsons and
burglaries of last week. They extort hidden
money by threatening death, and, when the
place of conceament has been discovered, they
make short work of their deluded and con-
fdng victim. They have, it seems, refine
ments of dabolical delight and inventions of
enthusiastic iniquity. IL hate said the chival-
rous Quantrel "to kill a man that il stubborn
"and shows fight, or says nothing or tells me to
"kill him and be done with il. But do like to
Z" get after q Dutchman, and hear him pray for
"God TO spare him. j always make them get on
" their knees and look me in the face, and while
"they pray blow their faces 10 pieces This
is the fastidiOus gentleman who is ravaging
Il considerable extent of territory with lire
and sword, and recalling to many a poor Ger
man emigTant the stories which he heard in
his boyhOod Of Schndelhannes OF of some other
noted RObber of the Rhine. To pastoral and
inoffensive people, the downfall of the Con
" federacy" has brought no peace and they are
still looking 10 the Government to which, at
the peril of their lives, they remained loyal
and devoted, for efficient succor and protec-
ton.
mo will NVa EYnx L. Il. 4.
fractions. In the course of few months,
the facetlons Quantrell will be shot or hung,
and his band of cut-throats dispersed. This,
unfortunately, viii not recall the murdered to
life, nor restore their property to the plundered
aud impoverished. The longer the delay, the
greater will be the misery; the closer the
struggle, the more cruel will these outlaws be-
come, and the more reckless of their own lives,
ninety and nine times forfeited. Falling into the
hands of those whom they have so cruelty perse-
cuted, the danger is that we shall be treated to
fresh examples of rude border justice, and the
substitution of one form OF violence for another
No doubt Texas would be well rid of Quantren
and his followers under any conceivable cir-
cumstances of capture and execution; but the
benefit to be permanent must come through
the forms and processes of law. The Govern
ment, we know, is full of business; but as q
matter of mere justice, to say nothing of
humanity and policy, it should give practical
assurance to the Union men Of Texas who all
through the war were so wickcdly prosecuted,
that it is strong, humane, and a paternal
Government, and that il is quite equal to the
task of protecting them from the crimes of
fifty Quantrclls, it, in Gods providence, 80
manv should be loosed uuQn them. What is