Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-11-26
FRIDAY MORNING. NOV. %. 1885
THE PARDONING POWER.

THE PARDONLNG POWER.
1t is safe to say that no officer of gov
eminent desires the possession of the par
doning power or would accept it's painful
responsibility if he could avoid it. It is a
power in most States fixed on him by law,
which he is sworn to exercise when so d.
rected by his judgment and conscience,
and which he cannot divest himself off,
He is therefore to be commiserated. Tt is
relic of feudalism which civilization
has not yet been able to wholly displace,
and some Of its incongrulties are 80 glarlug
that they force themselves on our atten-
ton. But even with that drawback it has
come IN civilized communities to be de-
liberateIy counted on as. one and the final
process by which convicted man may es-
cape; so, when criminal is convicted, the
first enquiry is as to the chances of Exec
utiye Interference. There is hardly IN
this day&sa conviction under Federal or
State laws, Of any criminal who has friends
enough to stir his case. that there isn't an
appeal for pardon or Communication made
to the President or Governor. Having
gone out of the realms of law into the
jurisdiction of feeling, the appeal is ma
turally reinforced by large numbers of
signatures-a sort of viva voce vote, as it
were, by the people on the question Of
what punishment or lack Of punishment
shall be accorded the criminal. In some
States, like Pennsylvania for instance,
there is Board of Pardons composed of
number of men selected for character
and isdom, to consider these petitions;
--,bua il Inc majority OF them, as in Virgin
"a, the granting of the petition hangs on
the views, feelings, sentiments of one man
the Governor. This power given to an
Executive is a standing menace to the jury
box and the bench and its exercise tends
to lower the respect of the people for both.
In Virginia the law investing the Execu-
Live with the pardoning power is simply
absurd. Here the process of law is slow,
tedious, and thorough. A criminal is
ing the case is thoroughly examined into
before they are admitted to the jury box.
They convict. and in their action the court
must concur or it goes for nothing. From
the lower court the convict gets to tie
Court of Appeals. There the case is di-
vested of every thing like sentiment. and
for harangues cold briefs in type are sub
stituted. A majority of this court, court
removed far from the reach of outside
pressure, after long deliberation affirm
hn nd 10
taken before the Governor. Not on new
evidence, but to be reviewed by him On the
evidence as it appears in the record, and
the convict to be set at liberty or awarded
some lighter punishment than the compe-
tetent courts have found was due under
{the law for the crime of which he is con-
victed. A simple test will show the alb
surdity OF the thing. Ii petition was
gotten up asking the President OF Gov
ernor to set aside the Judgment of court
and order new tTISl there would be a
- sThrtwind OF Indignation; but a petition
that asks him not only to set aside the
verdicts of the courts but to substitute bis
Individual opinion in place of them-a far
more suDversiye Measure, is accepted a.
reasonable. A constitution that gave the
Federal or State Executive the right to SET
aside the action of courts and order new
trials would be far nearer the line OF
Il common sense than one that authorizes
MIN to set aside decisions and try the case
himself, as the pardoning power, in effect.
does.
All who baye watched with any interest
the criminal jurisprudence of this coun
try. must have marked the rapid growth
of the uncertainty, not Of the law, but
the uncertainty of the execution of the
law. The pardoning power has entered into
the criminal law as recognized factor
and it Is no novel announcement, ow, to
read that the attorneys who defended "A
criminal are also pressing his pardon as
a part of their duty to their client. The
Judge presiding in the sentimental Court
of Review must hear them. as well as the
other Judges in the courts of law and evil
dence who have preceded him. It is hard
to impress the majesty or the dread of the
law when its execution becomes uncertain,
and when aJ the very gate of the prison
or the steps of the scaffold there stands
yet another power outside of the law,
armed with a pardon or a Communication.
It is claimed that the law is the sum of
human wisdom, but if that is true and
human wisdom has been exhausted III
arriving at proper conclusion, it seems
that the man who can interfere and set it
aside should have super-human wisdom
and not alone the intelligence that belongs
to common clay. He'll loses half its force
by being SO far off, and if from the edge
of the world we could see its lurid
light there would be, more earnest
sAtTuggle to escape 1t. And 30 it is with
the punishment of crime that lies at the
end Of long and tortuous roads. Crimi-
nails tread on each others heels in the lane
leading to the gallows, each thinking the
way SO long that he will never reach 1t.
The pardoniny power may be said to be
direct impeachment of the jury system
and of the. judicial bench. If it is not,
then the President and the State Cover
nors should be learned lawyers. To re-
view the work Of courts, a man ehould be
an expert in the law 1t is also relegat-
! ing of the judicial power to the. populace.
petition which only bears ten signatures
d hardly receive respectful considera.
Mt one with five thousand would
ATiops and grave attention of him
fke power. So 1t becomes a
with the largest vote re-
.. consideration. The
kQn, tn activity of
ii counsel, the