Litchfield enquirer., 1871-05-18
DIVINE AUTHORITY.

q .g DIVINE AUTHORITY. ay 6e-etr| a Even God Himself, the Great Law.giyer, deigns to make appeal to this confidence in His administration of justice. in order to restrain the passions of his subjects, say. ing in Paul. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves but rather give place to wrath = for 1t is written. Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.''5 And when human government cannot make like apI peal, armies and constabularies are of no avail. The instinct of wild justice fings1 aside police clubs like grass, and leaps with an irresistible fury upon it's victim. Who has ever known lynch law to pre- vail, and private revenge and assassination to abound, in communities where strong and faithful government is quick to Hollow crime with thorough trial and adequate penalty? Such acts as these are the oppro- brium of any government, as it is written, ''Whosoever judgeth his brother judgeth the law" The murderer of every assassin. ated malefactor, of every victim of the hasty sentence of the lynch coRrt, is re- corded to the shame of derelict State. The Government, the citizens, YOU. by your dereliciions, are become accomplices with the assassin in these deeds of blood! A CHANGE TO MAKE MONEY.
 What now has the State of Maayland to say for the sesnrity of public order against the instincts of private revenge and pub lie justice outraged by the infamous crime of the ssducer or adulterer? When for gery has been tampering with your bank account she rebukes your headlong re- venge, saying This is my business. She lays her hand upon the enlprit, and filings h1m into a felon's dungeon. and clothes him in disgrace and casts him forth from the honors of the citizen. When murder has broken into your dwelling. or, raging in the streets, has made the very stones to cry out with the voice of brothers blood, she stretches out her sword to suppress the tumult of the outraged citizens, and points to the gallows and the executioner, saying Vengeance is mine" But when lust and adultery are neighing at your door, and defling the sanctuary of your home, des. polling you of treasures which cannot be valued with gold. embittering your life with bereavement such as the clumsy arts of the murderer could never have ac. complished has the majesty of this sovereign State to say to her subject whose bosom is boiling with grief and just re-t venge? What, but to pat him on the shoulder and tell him "be quiet, now; be cool! There may be money in this thing if you will manage 1t right" O foolish peo- pie hear the word of God, if you will not re gard the voice of your brothers blood, "Jealousy is the rage of man, therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom, neither will he rest content though thou givest many gifts" Proverbs vi: 34 and 35. .ssg
 ... .a5. A sANaurNA RY nnnR- ---------
 fJo! tJo! Lot not the State that at- tempts to abrogate the law of God, and erect adultery into Q lawful act, think that thereby it protects the criminal from hurt It puts him under law more sanguinary than the code of Draco. It initiates from that moment common law stronger than any statute, which does more than author. ize assassination which invites scorn upon all law and all authority implies that the law shall be affronted and insulted in its own courts, misinterpreted by its own expounders. and that juries are to kiss the book to solemn oaths, in open expecta- tion that they shall perjure themselves be. fore they leave the box, and march forth under the applause of the people.
 THE LAW AS STATED BY THE ATTORNEY
 GENGHA1
 With great clearness of statement the acute and able Attorney General of the State in the late trial thus defined, in the form of an imaginary statute, the principle under which it must have been obvious to him that the prisoner against whom he ap- peared was to be acquitted. Enacted into the form of law it would read thus: "Ev. cry person, upon being informed that his wife, daughter or sister had been seduced in- to intercourse with any man, shall be and he is hereby constituted grand jury, court, petit jury, sheriff and executioner, fully authorized and empowered upon such in- formation as he may choose to believe, to condemn, and at his convenience, and by any means or instrument or weapon of death he may choose, to put such man to death, without 8 moments notice or warn ing, and this shall be deemed and held iustiiable homicide" Against such an he said. common sense and ,ommon reason would protest.
 A PUNaENT PARAPHRAsE..
 Yes: but Mir. Attorney General and cit. 1 izens of Maryland, hbat is hbe laaO. It has not been engrossed on parchment; it has perhaps not been enunciated from the Bench-but it is the law; and while the rest of the statute and thecommon law book continues as it is,you may argue in vain to break the uninterrupted series, if not of judicial decisions, Ut least of jury verdicts. by which 1t is sustained. It is . fierce and cruel law. It is law that makes no dis as the Mosaic law does, be. tween the grades of these crimes of i'm purity which it punishes It is-a most in effective law, atoning for the general im- punity of the worst crimes that infest so- ciety by now and then an outburst of dead ly fury. But 1t is the laaO, for all this, and will continue to be. so long as the only al- that you have to offer for it is the more naonstrous absurdity of such law as this: ,4aa a5 aa4AasE aaeis 4sla <
 "Any person committing adultery shall on conviction be punished only by fine of not more than ten dollars Seduction, prostitution and all other crimes against chastity and against the peace. purity and honor of the family shall be free from all punishment; ard any person committing them shall be protected by the power of the State from all violence, damage or an, noyance which may be attempted in con sequence against his person or estate, { whether by personal or by public yen- geance. and shall be eligible as before to all officers of honor and emOlument."
 AN OPEN QUESTION.
 Tha laornod Atfornnv Honara1 ia rioht