New-York tribune., 1867-05-02

hours after their capture, I've tried sumnarily by
court martial by The officer who cap
turcd them, ard, "ir fornd guilty, II erca
"opb Of the feet Of belonging 10 Tic band,"
shall suffer death within twenty-four hours OF
the capture And Article IS prohibits any request
fer pardon being made. Then there is another
article providing tlat any person who shall sup
ply the Liberals with money or other means,
or "put within their reach subsistence shall
suffer death IS in Article provided. WCro
these mere paper menacesY Far from it, MIR.
Seward, under date Nov. o, 1865, wrote TO our
Minister in Paris, that of the prisoners taken
by the Imperial forces under Gen. Mcndez at
Santa Anna Amatlan, there were put TO death
Generals Arteaga and Snlo2ar, COlCncls Diaz, Pa
raCho, Vita Come, Perez Milicna and YillanOs,
five ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, eight commanders. and
number of subordinate officers, all OF the
regular army of Mexico. This was one Of many
cases. There is additional proof that these
DEGREES were not issued against thieves and
robbers; for separate Article Q9) treats spe-
cialy of them, providing that thieves shall
4" be tIicd and sentenced in conformity with
" Article I, no matter ,phGt the nature and Gi'-
culpstances Of the theft" man driven TO
despair by hunger may steal % cents worth of
bread he il TO be summaTy tried by court
martial, and put to death in twenty-four hours
All this is oflcial-of record. We could fill
dozen columns with stories of Outrages said
TO have been committed by the invaders;
stated "a circumstantially as Mr.. O'Sulliyan's
complaints of Liberal cruelty. But we doubt
their accuracy. Such pictures are usually over
drawn-always, when yndctlye feelings exist
ia the minds of the naITators. OF what were
not Northern troops and Northern generals
accused by the COniedcratcs! Ii was not
BcauiegaTd alone who talked OF beauty and
booty" No crime Infamous hut was sad
died on the hated Yankees. Do we say all
this to excuse the cructies which seem
To have been recently exercised against
| Imperial prisOncrsl BY no means. There Is
no excuse for cold -bloOded murder; none. in
our view of it, even when it takes the respect
! able name of capital punishment. II the Mex
! lean Liberals desire to win the respect OF civ
! ilizcd nations, they must learn that TO initiate
| wrong-dOiug is to bc oneself a wrong-docr
! But we say it to show how terrible the provo
cation under which these Liberal leaders have
sinued. How should ne feel if foreign troops
were TO ovcrm aud desolate our country.
and then to condemn every. patriot taken
| i'm arms in her defense to fclOns
death2 How did the Rebels feel when
they considered their country invaded and pill
LACED 10y what they called Lincoln's HesSiansl
Is it certain that atrocities worse than any
which come reported to us from Mexico were
! not pcrpctlated in the South on captured Union
soldiers by the hmdrcdg We believe there is
good evidence that there were. Let It's not act
! the Phariscc, thanking God that we are not rs
other men, or even rs these Mcxicans. Counsel
we believe they need let it he tcniperatcy
| given We have already interviewed TO save
| Macmillan from the fate To which his unhoy
| ambition doomed thousands of men, for no
other crime than that of defending their native
country That j. well enough An eye for
an eye, tooth for tooth is Jewish doctrine,
not Christian.
| But as for further intervention in Mexican
affairs, we have small faith either in its Justice
or its efficacy. The symptoms of the case do
not seem To us to warrant MIR. OSuliyans
prescription of 10000 United States troops
headed by Banks and Sherman Men, to at
tain permanent freedom, must themselves work
it out Reforms forced upon a nation by out
| side pressure are cXOtiCs, and have no hardi-
hood of growth. Let us give the Mexicans a
! fair chance Let MS wait and whether
when the first heat of the blood subsidies
they do not correct the errors they are now
| committing; and let us not ofciousy cncum-
| Der them with help till We are quite sure they
| need it.