Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-04-26
IraAN1rY AND cRIME.

COmullttcu, AuUtbib0 Sou6us
in the act to ground the defense upon
alleged insanity Awrntshwsiks into
the store of a peaceab1e tradesman, an
entire stranger to HIM, and kills him
before the eyes of his family. without
the slightest %provocation. There can
be no doubt as to the murder or who
did It; there Is no possible defense but
insanity, and straightway there is an
effort made to prove that the murderer
ia not responsible for his crimel For
tunately, in the case referred to, the
jury were not to be humbugged, and so
the criminal was condemned to the
death he deserved, and society was re-
lieved from the danger Of that form Of
insanity, 80 far as that man Is con-
cerned. The line between the respon-
sibility of reason and the irresponsi-
bility of insanity, is one which there
are insessant efforts TO draw, but when
done 1t is generally with doubtful sue
cess. Lawyers and juries are engaged
for a longer or shorter time with In
quiries prevalent to the criminal
charge itself, but intended to decide
no, what the accused has actually done'
nor what the Interests Of society re-
quire should be done to him, but what
is the moral guilt which attaches to
| his action. We should ecoaomize a
vast deal or useless investigation, and
protect the interests of the community
much more effectually than Is done at
present, by taking a wider view OF the
true purposes Of Jurisprudence and the
nature Of human responsibility. Great
criminals may be divided into two
classes. The first are those who are by
nature fairly endowed with conscience
and affection, but who, under the IN
fluence Of some temporary overmaster-
ing passion, such as anger, Jealousy,
avarice, revenge or the like, are car
ried away into guilt. These criminals,
when their passions have subsidized, and
conscience again makes itself heard,
display real remorse for their crimes,
and genuine regret for the misery they
have caused. The second class con-
sists Of those who are deficient in moral
sense and intellect; these r com
monty to be found among the wretched
offspring Of vice and disease. Their
power of affection is limited, and
though they may be capable Of know
ing that certain actions are held by
mankind to be right, and certain others
wrong, yet the love for the right and
hatred for the wrong are 70 feebly de-
veloped in them rs to be insufficient to
counterbalance any whim of mischief
or temptation to crime which may
come to them. Fromothis.elas spring
the most degenerate criminals. Their
crimes are usually committed from
motives which are entirely dispropor-
toned to their enormity, as In the
cases Of Probst and T%raupmann, each
of whom murdered an entire family
for the sake Of few dollars. With
such monsters It will almost always
be found that their previous life has
been one Of unredeemed selfshness
and depravity. They also generally
display on their trial the most aston
ishing cold-bloodedness, and are the
persons least affected by what Is going
on. They feel the same indifference as
to their fate in the next world, and
rarely confess their guilt, or If they do,
1t is in some disingenuous or dishonest
way. There are . third class Of GRIM
inals, wo are frequently Of the well
educated, intellectual kind, such as
public defaulters, e~mbszzlers, swim
oilers and imposters, who, however, as
they very rarely resort to violence,
may be left out Of present consider
alton. What, then, should be done
with the dangerous criminals? Are
we to 60 on perpetually inquiring In
each case whether the man IS morally
| responsible or not?- Or should we
simply deal with facts, and find q man
guilty or not guilty, according to the
evidence, and leave the Court and the
Executive to punish him accordingly?
"A system which in some cases might
produce unjust suffering to the GRIM
inal and shock the feelings Of the COM
munity. The truth is that We cannot
undertake in any exact way to appor-
ton punishment to moral response
bility, for the simple reason that we
cannot measure the moral delinquency
Of any human being, nor the force of
the temptation which induced him to
commit the offen>e. This power be-
longs to Omniscience None. What,
then, does common sense counsel us to
do? Obviously to confine ourselves to
considering what it is really for the
interest, first, Of all Of the community,
and. secondly, Of the criminal him
self, that we should do with him. We
should then, perhaps, see that it is
practically Of minor consequence
whether some Of the criminals upon
whom a great deal Of time is wasted,
are morally responsible or not.
WrTu the confirmation of Judge
Bradley the United States Supreme
Bench is once more full. We give a
list Of the Judges, with their ages and
the dates Of their appointments, as
follows: 27t1
Age. App't.
Salmon P. Chase, Of Ohio. 90 1864
Nathan Clifford, Of Maine .......6s 1858
Samuel Nelson, Of New York 1T ls45
David DAVIS, OF Illinois. ...........5 1861
Noah II. Swayne, Of Ohio. .........60 1859
Samuel +. Miller, Of Iowa.........H 1859
Stephen j. Field, Of California. .... SO 1853
william Strong. Of Pennsylvania. 81 1870
Joseph P. Btadle,, Of New Jersey..S7 1870