The Waynesburg Republican. [volume] (Waynesburg, Pa.) 1867-18??, 1868-01-15

were never even presented to my
notice. Criminals were liberated from
prison after sentence, and clamors rails
ed in relation to their pardon in cases
in which no appeal for clemency had
ever been made. Upon investigation,
it had been ascertained that a custom
prevails in the Court Of Quarter Ses-
sions of Philadelphia, to reconsider,
remit and change sentences, weeks and
months after their delivery, and in
this, much of the misrepresentation
has originated. During the last year,
as many conyicts were liberated from
the Moyamonsing Jail as were pardon
ed by me from all the prisons in the
Commonwealth. Besides which a
number more have had their terms of
sentence reduced. How, or when, or
under what authority, this custom orr
ginated, it is impossible to learn but
that it is liable to abuse, and is with
out the sanction of lave, seems evident.
The sentence of a convict is matter
of grave importance, and should re-
ceive most serious consideration before
it is determined upon and delivered
for when it has become a matter of
record, the criminal passes beyond the
jurisdiction of the court, and there is
no legal or constitutional remedy even,
for errors that may be committed, cx-
cept through appeal to the Executive.
fla Judge can remit or shorten a SEN
tence, he can increase it, and that is
power dangerous to allow any one to
WELD. And further, if it be lawful
for the judge Of one court to remit
sentence at pleasure, it follows that
Judges of all other courts should be in
vested with the same prcrogative and
it requires no argument to show to
what dangerous extent it might be
used. Happily, the custom appears
to be confined to the court named, as
Judges in other courts disclaim any such
authority.
Former Legislatures have had their
attention called to the fact that persons
are now confined in our county prisons
under sentence ofdeath, some of them
for many years, whose death warrants
were never issued, and towards whom
the several Governors, during whose
term they were sentenced, could not dis
cover sullicientcause for the exercise of
the pardoning powor. The custom
has been for each Governor to decline
issuing death warrant which had
been withheld by his predecessor.
Hence, these convicts, sentenced to
death, for whose execution the previ-
Gus Governors did not issue warrants,
and whom, it is presumed, they be-
lieved deserved a milder punishment,
must either be pardoned or remain
prisoners for life. TO remedy this the
Governor should be vested with au-
thority to commute the death penalty
in the cases only to which allusion has
been made, to such II term of impris-
onmcnt as his Judgment would ap-
prove, and to remove the convicts from
county jails to the penitentiarics.
A brief reference to the condition of the
country will be proper, and will doubtless be
expected by all for the suppression of the re-
belion and who are now equally in earnest in
their wishes and endcavorsto secure an early,
final and permanent settlement of our national
difficulties, upon the basis Of loyalty and patri-
0tsm.
Contrary to the hopes of the great masses of
our people, that portion Of the country which
was lately in rebellion has not yet attained
complete tranquility. And this seems to have
been inevitable for all history teaches us that
people who engage in the perpetTtion of high
crimes cannot entirely nor Immediately escape
their consequences. Nor, perhaps is it de-
sirable that they should. However this may
be, it is certain that perfect repOse cannet be
secured until the insurrectonary States shall
resume their original practical relations to the
General Government
HOw, When and hrongh ohom, this can be best
done, is the great question of the present.
That the views and conceptions of single
individual, however high he may be acciden-
tally and temporarily exalted, should be allow
cd to control or detsrsdpp.4is question, can
not f9Ea3fsltent bs'conceded. The Con-
stitutiOn provides that the United States shall
guarantee to every State in the Union re-
publican form of government. and where the
will of the eople is the acknowledged law
of the land, it requires an extraordinary
amount of political e1'rontery to asume that a
Chief Executive of the nation to any degree or
under any circumstances, is tie United States
And yet in effect or substance, if not in
plain terms this was assumed shortly after the
surrender of Lee and his armed forces, by the
President; and he has continued to act on
this assumption, even in his late annual mess
age, in which. while claiming, in words un-
hhONh W Jul iOiNihtuCi5 otl lllSlltulDuS,
to be the elected defender of the people
he arrogantly calls on Congressto ''immedi,
ately strike from the statute book" its recon
struction laws.
That Congress twill surrender its plan of
reconstruction" to this manifestly despotic
demand, cannot be even imagined or conjec-
tured. That plan, carefully matured as it was
and fully approved when it was a.direct issue
before the people, is eminently just wise and
patriotic. 1t insists that men who were loyal
in acts during the rebellion, or loyal in their
feelings should alone participate in tine imme-
date government Of the ''insurrectionary dis
tricts." Going beyond the mere surface. it rests
ultimately on the important doctrine, that the
destinies of the nation can only be safe 'in the
hands of its friends !" Of those whose political
and moral natures remain sufficiently pure to
feel the impulses of patriotism and the obliga-
t;ono Hf n,fbe