Arkansas weekly mansion., 1883-10-27
Drunkenness and Crime.


Judging from verdicts of the jurics.
the decisions of courts and the testi-
mony of ..socictv,' one would infer
that 4 man who puts an enemy into his
mouth which steals away his brains
and then commits Il crime is more eX-
cusable than he who. in the sudden I'M
pulse of pas sion, lifts his hand and
deals INJURIES to the man who has in
suited him. The latter has been mas
tered by his surprise, and his repent
ancc is as sudden his crime. The
former has been coolly going onward,
perhaps for years, repeating daily the
sin of which he has ceased to repent,
and putting himself in such a condi-
ton of body and mind as to be ready
on the slightest proyocation to break
the laws of the land and iniure his fcl-
lows. The common law of England,
which has become the law of this coun-
try, has always held that drunkenness
is an artificial, voluntarily contracted
madness which, depriving men of their
reason, puts them i'll Il temporary
frenzy and is an aggravation of the Of
fenSe rather than an excuse for any
criminal misbchavior. "A drunkard,' y
says Sir Edward Coke. ''whO is roiun-
taI'ius drn1on hath no privilege there
by, but what hurt or i'll soever he doth
his drunkenness doth aggravate it
A law of Pittacus in Greece enacted
that he who committed u crime when
drunk should receive y double punish
ment, one for the crime itself and the
other for the incbricty which prompted
him to commit it. The earlier statutes
of Massachusetts regarded the first cN-
cess of an inebriate as criminal and
punished it as Il crime, but our present
laws only allow a fine for the first Of
fcnse and fine or imprisonment for
the second Our Judges, taking their
tone from this moderation, are very apt
to "let eff" persons who have COM
mittcd another offense against the law
with mild punishment when the ex-
cusc of intoNication is offered
A case in point occurred in Pittshcld
recently, where Justice Gamwcll let Il
Young man off with n fine and costs who
had .taken enough liquor to make him
mean and ugIv,' and in tLat condition
kicked Il pail of berries ont of an old
mans hand and put his finger out of
JOINT ON the young rullian'> pleading
that he would not have done it had he
not been drinking. Under the common
law an the statutes of this and o;hcr
States thi, violent dcprving Il man OF
the us of one of his fingers is q crime
called may hem, and punishable by i'm
prsonment or by fine aud imprison-
mcnt: and 4 Judge who listens 10 such
an excuse As intONication for SO grave
An offence dc9rades the ma c>ty of the
Inv and brings his own Office an him.
self into disrcspcct. Nearly every day
we read of, if we do not witness, some
brute who. for the sake of a base per-
sonal qualification, gets himself into
such condition - becomes the
voluntary demon of Lord Coke
that he has to vent his
passions on all about him, beats
his wife and children almost, if not
quite, to death. and if they are only
MANNED he is LET OFF, with Il fine, or if
they are killed, the chances arc about
equal that Il maudlin jury Will either ac-
quit him or find him guilty with Il rec
omnendation to mercy! Beyond all
controversy, drunkenness is only re-
gar,icd Alright when it is considered and
treated as a crime. "As vicious and
incxcusable seliiShncss, hateful to man,
abhorrcd of God, destructive of virtue
and ruinous to happiness. it has within
itself all the sin and misery and infamy
of 4 crime and should be treated
by Judges, iurieS and the community;
and not until then will it cease to be SO
! common, and its baneful influence so
extensive. 1t is wonderful that whole
communities are stirred to their founda-
'tions, and wholesale laws enacted
against the manufacture and sale of in
toxicating liquors when even in such a
State as Massachusetts religion, phllan-
thropv and all the best interests are set
at defiance by the passions of those who
drink, and the interest of those who
supply, and the cOwardice or incOm-
petency of those who execute the law?
-iSpringfeld (NdsS-) RCpubltcdn.