Year: 1859

" oO WI hdtCiidl dtIouuf1eUt necessary Tn our law, as it now exists, upon the subject which forms the heading of this article As the law at present stands it is matter broaching npoa impossibility to procure its enforcement. The very rigor of the law conspires to render it next thing to dead letter upon our statute book. Accompanying the penalty of fine, which 1t Is prescribed shall be imposed in cases of infringement Of the act, is further clause, peremptory in its features, affixng term of Imprisonment, upon each person convicted, of not Jess than one month, this period to be fur ther extended, at the discretion of the court or jury, passing upon the case, as the circumstances ol each md vldual case may seem to require. We have heard it repeatedly deplored, by our aoest lawyers, that the mprisonment clause of the statute has been thus peremptorily written; Tor, the consequence is, as the same is being de- monstrates by every day observation in the halls of our courts of justice that if there be no real loop hole for the escape of the accused, our Junes will manufacture imaginary ones, rather than send clever man to jail for month tor an offence of comparatively minor grade we deprecate the habit, as sorety as any can, and consider 1t as being relic of barbarous times altogether unworthy the enlightenment Of the nineteenth century; besides that it is most dangerous and perncious in its influence upon our social well-beng and economy, and we would hail with rejoicing the placing of an ettectual restrictive upon the deplorabIe and vicious practice. But then it is point which has long since been conceded by the most emi nent of law writers and expoupders, that the severest punishments are not always the surest pro'ectives against crime, and more especially is this true in regard to the checking of those nifapoac nf Io.ear ir,,n ly maaM prohibta, and derive their criminalitv not from anything inherent in the act itself, but alone from the provisions of the statutes; and it has been more than once remark ed that too great strngency in applying the intended cor rectlve, mclines rather to aid the escape of the criminal.

 It IS natural for jurors to look at things with common sense view, rather than in a pur ely technical or legal light; and when they have good reason to infer that the judse himself, as he sits upon the bench, and still more probably half the attorneys at the bar are habituallv given to infractions of this same provision of our code, and, as we apprehend Is not unfrequently the case, half the pannel themselves guilty al the very tme they are unwilling, and rightfully and honestly so too, to lmmure within the con- lines of the walls of one of our invariably loaih- some county jals, a man having any claims to gentlllty, or standing, on account of the self same breach of law. We think, therefore, and do not claim the idea as original, either-that if the imprisonment clause of the act were entirely repealed, or at least if 1t were left discretionary with the proper power as to its iutlicton, as occasion might appear to demand, and a simple fine peremptoIlly imposed, varying in magni- tude somewhat after the form of the statute upon gaming, that the end of the law would be much more frequently and certainly reached ud as natural sequence, iniractions thereof w'nld drpreclate Tn proportion Such being our views we would call the especial attention "t our legislators in general, and especially that of our worthy Senator and Representative to the matter, earnestly hoping some judicious stept may be taken In the right direction as re- sards this subject, before the adiourning of the present session of our legislature"

 The following is portion of a leading article in the South Arkansas Democrat. We con- mend it to the opposition of Amercan-republi- cans of the south

 "Then we ask southern men. why do you so contumaciously persist in heapng defamation and obloquy upon the head of the nation, hen, by so doing, you lend comfort and give aid to the sectional partizans of the north You are indirectly throwing a blight more whitening than the shades of the Upas, over the land lending, bending and piching the talent you possess into the same channel of those who are totally opposed to the south. It is melan- choy sight to look back on cherished hopes which have never been real zed-to see the road once opened for future greatness now overgrown with impossible obstacles-to see the star of our ambition rayess and fading away, and with no power to arrest our destiny however, awful and dreary our future may seem to be. It Is no wonder that men who have lost their all upon the turning of die, should be embttered against the victors; but to persist, when the excitement is over, in traducing the only party that has shadow of nationality connected with it, is wIlfu violltion of the duty we owe to our country, and a crime for which the people will justly hold responsible all men guilty of it, whatever may be their station.

 Proiessng to cherish the institutions of the south and love her because she is our h me- then IonnS Tn the song sung by her enemies of the north, Is consistency indeed and d couven- lent way oi shuftfing the cards Tor the abolition ists to deal"

 The following from the Ouacfila Herald pre- SttS Stdte 'I Case that Se ms to Call Tor legS- latve action. We call the attention of mem hers lthe General Assembly thereto

 WISDOM OF OUR LEGIsLATURE.-W learn rom the Henderson papers that a young man. ln'hor, had been tried at the circuit court for murder, and was found guilty. plea was put up that the late legislature had abolished capital punishment, as the penalty against minors-that the punishment of such, found guilty, is to be imprisoned for life. in the house of correction.u It 50 happe's that there is no house of correc. ton Ill the State, and as the law inhicting pro. per punishment has been abolised there was no law in the State applicable to such offences The prisoner was discharged. - ClarksvsHe (Ien- as) Standard.

 By similar oversight of our own law makers. slave ln this State may be guilty of murder in the second degree yet no punishment is pro- vided. At the late Hempstead circuit court, JadSe Green presiding, case of this kind oc- cured The jury found slave guilty of the above crime, as they might do under the prnvl. slo oi the p'mte' narl act but upon examiua- ton 1t Vas 'ound that he could not be pu shed on account of the defect referred to- lis coun- sel however, applied for new trial, which wa, granted.'

 (ET The editor of the Gazette says we have attempted to be witty on the subject of his age, and tries to create the impression tnat Gov Conway k olIpr tb ha ic Tha oJ;tor of f,Lo