The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1873-01-16

action, and doubtless will not hesitate TO
meet In liberal spirit every just and rea.
sonable demand to be made upon your
deliberations. If q recommendation we're
necessary, / would heartily recommend
such action bat this suggestion occurs to
me, submit it to your consideration: just
now, and indeed for some years to como,
| many of our counties, towns and cities
| are laboring under tho self-imposed in
| Fiction of local Indebtedness, contracted
largely in encouraging the construction
of railroads leading to or running through
their limits. The bonds issued to meet
the Indebtedness, and tho constantly ac-
cruing interest upon them must DO paid.
| In order to discharge these obligations and
| preserve good faith, heavy local taxation
will be necessary for some time. Pru-
donce may therefore dictate, that while as
guardians of tho whole state you must
look first at the public welfare, you ought
not entirely, in imposing taxes for State
purposes, to lose sight of the local burdens
which are to be met and borne by tho
same people who also furnish the means
to meet appropriations for the general OBJ
jects of State care and control.
Gentlemen, 1 respectfully invite your
attention to the consideration of another
subject. think tho circumstances of the
times will permit a brief discussion OF II,
as believe the public feeling and judg-
ment will sanction tho charges recon-
mendcd in regard to il. There is or there
ought to be, no excuse for mob violence in
II FREQ government. No pains shall BIO
spared in providing against any excuse
for this abhorrcnt method of settling
| grievances. 1t is q dangerous expedient,
one TO be CONDEMNED at all hazards, and in
no event and under no circumstances,
though ever SO aggravating, to he excused
pallated or resorted TO. the law must
govern. 1t must therefore DO made to
meet every condition of society, to define,
regulate and punish every crime and out
| rage. 1t must DO certain in its definitions,
consistent but unrelenting in its punish
ments, and everywhere under all oircum-
stances, in every community, punctually,
fearlessly and scrupulously ex-
ecuted. A too tender regard for
human life must not allow the criminal
code to be so written or executed as to en-
courage or indulge daring violations of
either its letter or spirit, or TO afford tho
means under the indulgence OF mere
technical constructions of it for tho escape
of criminals. There is always II feeling of
insecurity in the public breast and to
| some extent loss of confidence in the ef-
| tciacy of law, when the community learns
that one Of its violators has been permitted
| to escape punishment through some mere
form, technicality or improvident delay.
A deliberate violator Of tho law may be
entitled to our sympathy and eventually
70 our mercy, but not until after justice
shall have been substantially served. So
long rs willful crime continues to be n
feature of human society, it must be pun
| ished and if malignant and cruel it must
DO severely punished. Our s0licitude for
tho innocent will not excuse us from u sys-
TEN of criminal Jurisprudence which may,
however faithfully executed, yet DO so To-
nient as TO facilitate the escape of the
guilty. Instead of enlarging, we must
limit and restrain from the oppor-
tunites of escape. That humanity
which is based upon justice will out
weigh, in the long race of life, in advant-
ages and blessings to mankind, that
humanity which is based upon mercy
alone. 1 adore that principle of justice
which holds every man innocent until his
guilt shall be proved by competent evil
dcnce, and that other equally important
provision of our American law which
guarantees every person trial by jury
of his countrymen; but / would, in prac-
tice, decline to carry tho indulgence of
this constitutional right to such extremes
as to afford q protext for battling that
other principle of human justice AS we'll
as divine, which demands that the guilty
shall sufer. In this enlightened age of
the world, and in our now generally
largely populated counties, filled with the
active Industrious and energetic and edu-
| catpl manila II ,vnull barIl p a.au, ,>nas;
BILE any criminal for any oilense or crime
may not receive fair and impartial
trial, in the county where the oflense may
have been committed. Tho policy Of
our law was for years to indulge
tho caprice OF every criminal who, under
| any pretcnsc, would seek to delay justice
and thwart the sanctions of tho law, by
Killing his affidavit, full of perjury, to So
cure n change of venue. 1t was the nee
essary part of every desperate case to resort
to this practice. Lately the policy has been
modified. l think the time has now arrived
when we may safely, IN the interests of
justice, entirely abandon it, ! therefore
recommend To your honorable body the
passage of law disalowing changes Of
venue in all criminal cases. | do not SEQ
but that we may also wisely disallow
changes of venue in civil cases. 1t is not
true, in any civil case, that parties may
not receive ample justice in tho county
| whore the cause of action arises, or where
the suit may be begun. There may possibly
be causes in which the court may be in
tercsted or of kin to the parties; even in
such cases l think it would DO far better
for all parties to abide by law which will
provide n competent person skilled in law
to sit in the case, and thus save to par ties
enormous bills of costs, to witnesses great
Inconvenience, and to tho administration
of justice much loss of time and embarrass-
ment
If any apprehension may exist that in
any possible event competent jurors may
not be found in criminal cases, this may
DO removed by charging the list of COM
petent iurymen. a man in all other re-
spccts deemed qualified to sit as n Juror in
a criminal case, ought not To DO deemed
disqualified because rs n reader of the
nows of the day-a habit, | believe, rather
creditable in the public estimation-he
may have read newspaper accounts of the
case, ne may be called rs II juror to decide
upon. The law should go further, and de-
clare every person competent rs u juror
who may state in open court that no has
an opinion based upon rumor, or even rep
resolutions of the facts made TO him BY
those who may be supposed to know some.
thing of them, provided that any bias or
opinion no may have will not prevent him
from rendering n verdict according TO tho
evidence given in the case. Ii is my
| anininu nnlar tbnga oh Of ,ba l.. -,