New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-06-12
RESPECT FOR LAW.

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pointed to execute them. These agents
are known as judges, district attorneys
narshals, sheritfs, police magistrates
policemen, etc. They are clothed will
the whole power of the State or nation thai
employs them. AS rule they are un
hinchingly devoted to their duties, and
seldom fail to discharge them acceptably.
An auxiliary called jury has been at
tached to all criminal courts, for reasons
which were once deemed satisfactory.
Taken altogether the system is an
admirable one when it is put
in operation in virtuous communi-
ties, where it is infamous for judge
to yield to the influence of bribery and
popular clamor, and for jurors to perjure
themselves. The better portion of the
press declines to discuss the merits OF
cases on trial in which the lives of human
beings are trem bling in the balance, and
therefore car efully refrain from making
inflammatory appeals to the political,
social and religious prejudices which it is
generally quite possible to excite in cele-
brated trials. But this wholesome prac-
tce prevails only in the most virtuous
communities. In some that We know OF
the sensation press enters upon the scene
the moment it is known a crime has been
committed. either as the defender or the
| - Ia &c
travestied, under pretense of reporting it.
The lawyers in whose interest these vol
unteer journals appear are aattered,
pulled and lauded in every allusion that
is made to them, while the opposing
counsel, and all the witnesses on the same
side are badgered and bespattered with
the unhappy vehicle that conveys it, and
| injurious to the morals of the community
| that finds it on the breakfast table
Were the practice to become general
for newspapers to take sides in criminal
trials according to the political prejudices
or pecuniary interests of their conductors
society would soon relapse into the bar
barities Of pagan Greece, where every
family had a god of its own, and the pas
sions of the mob, assembled at the mar
ket place, formed the only justice to be
had at any price. We have seen that the
democracy Of the Greeks run to seed and
fructifed in the establishment of tyranni-
cal rulers and finally to complete subju-
cation. The fatal defect in their system
was that they had few or no laws which
could bind the mob; no regularly consti-
tuted rulers cloth with sufficient power
to enforce them at all times, and, being
wotully deficient in public virtue, there
was little or no security for the life, lib
erty or property of even the privileged |
classes. and the danger spread rapidly to
the imperfec. States themselves. 1t is
not necessary to allude to the causes |
which conspired to build up such sys-
tenn, which was that of a pure Democracy, |
or a government of the people direct, |
with laws which could be changed
at any time to suit any occasion or any |
phase of popular whim. History is sudi-
GENTLY explanatory. 1t teaches US, more
over, that the majority of the public ex-
ecutions were those of men who would
be deemed innocent by an impartial jury
of the present day, and for acts which
had frequently received the sanction Of
the populace.
The American people have made great
in the rude jurisprudence
of antiquity. Men are now controlled by
law and reason. Acts are pointed out |
which are declared to be offenses, and at
tended with prescribed penalties. In an
Gent practice, if the culprit could urge
some plausible excuse for his villainy,
some good motive" it often happened
that he could raise the popular clamor in
his behalf, and SO 60 unwhipt of justice.
In like manner, virulent demagogue
could and often did suddenly denounce
political rival on the market place, and
by employing slight foundation of truth,
mixed with falsehood and violent appeals
to the prejudices of the unthinking rabble,
succeed on the instant in obtaining de-
cree Of condemnation quickly followed
by execution. Such a wretched system
deserved to be swept away in execration,
and he who, with the light of the present
century before him, will appeal to the
preiudices Of men instead Of reason; will
give false III mors for facts; and do every
thing that is possible to screen the guilty
or punish the innocent, is one of the
greatest enemies of society.
The criminal history Of this State for
the past quarter of a century is sad
chapter. The most atrocious Offenders
have been subjected to farcical trials and
released as matter Of course. The prac-
tice has become SO notorious that it is
common subject Of remark. As the facts
Of murder become known, we hear the
chances Of the perpetrator being punished
'They will never get New
Orleans jury to hang that man is said of
four-ifths of the murderers. Latterly,
however, there has been something of a
turn il the tide. Under the new jury
law, several panels composed of conscien-
tious men have been obtained, and the
friends Of offenders, long deemed privil-
eyed, grow frightened. Even the ancient
right OF shooting free niggers" is threat
ened. Hereafter, when a high toned