Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-03-31
\ me Chronicle and the Communication
Business.

The Chronicle shows an unfairness, which is
unbecOming in a respectable Journal. 1t as
serted that the President had been Influenced
in committing the death penalty to which
C'Brien had been sentenced to Imprisonment
for life by the fact that the murderer was
under the statute, only guilty OF murder in the
second degree. We called for that statute, and
asserted that there was none Of force in the
District which made any degrees in murder
The Chronicle, without admitting the gross error
into which IL had fallen, goes into the specu-
latiOn that possibly there was authority for
committing the sentence, and hence the act of
tie President may amount TO a full pardon III
there was want of power In the President to
commute, perhaps O'Brien NAV trembie lest
tie death penalty yet stands. But this is not
tie question. Ii Is, where is the CGrozicle,s
" statute which distinguishes murder into the
first and seeoBa. degree, and which statute the
PRESIDENTS "Oath" compelled him to obey?
Instead OF answering this question, the Chronicle
seems to put another, which betrays either ig-
IcTsnCe OF disingenuousness. Hear il:
% And by way of supplement. il may be good
CROUCH to explain how the principles of the
ctmInon law acquire their vitality in this Dis
tict IN the absence Of statutory constitutional
Provisions They may have been recognized
Uuder The colonial government of Maryland as
9 part OF the British empire without any direct
enactment But when MARYLAND became one
az the INDEPENDENT states il is difficult to un-
CcIsiand how they could continue in force with
sIt the sanction OF the Maryland legislature.
q lie STAR can doubtless make il clear
Possibly il is known to the Chronicle that this
District was coded BY Maryland. But il seems not
10 be known TO IL that the bill of rights of Mary
land of i11G, and which Is vet in force in that
state, in article Y, declares that ''the inhabi-
tants of Maryland are entitled to the common
law of England, and the trial by jury, according
to the course OF that law, and to the benefit of
such English statutes a. existed ON the 4th of
July, 1.I6; and which, by experience, have been
found applicable TO their local and other cir
cumstances, and have been introduced, used
and Iraetice'i by the courts of law or equity
y his is how the common law, which knows no
degrees in murder, got into the District.
AL this common law, and English statutes
and statutes Of Maryland OF a date prior to the
cession OF the District, except as they have been
repealed or changed by the acts of Congress or
O. the District legislature, remain in full force
and are daily administered in the courts. Un-
der this common law O'Brien was indicted,
tried, convicted, and sentenced to DEATH We
commend to the learned editors of the Chronicle
tie careful reading of Chancellor Kity's re-
Tort, two volumes quarto, ''AIexander's British
Statutes of force Ina Maryland, :" and Cranch's
Circuit Court Reports, six volumes. A few
references TO the decisions of the Supreme Court
Of the United States gbt enlighten them.
We have not denied the exclusive power of
Congress to legislate for the District OF Co
iumbia, or the power of the President to par
CON iii whole or in part. OF to commute. We
only deny that Congress has changed the com
mon law, about murder, in the District of Co
iumhia- And We say that il the President exer-
eised his elemency on the ground that there is
Statute here which distinguishes between muir
Ger in the FIST and second degree, then he was |
nisled. And now we add that such false teach
inSs as the CaroRieIs's may induce murderous
persons to indulge their brutal passions under /
tie hope that the Chronicles law may save their 1
Iecks. VIII the Chronicle confess its error?