Frederick Marryat – The Complete Collection

Chapter 68

As to the second point, namely, that when crimes are detected, conviction does not follow, [see Note 5] I have only to refer back to the cases of Robinson and Goodwin, two instances out of the many in which criminals in the United States are allowed to escape, who, if they had committed the same offence in England, would most certainly have been hanged. But there is another point which renders Mr Carey's statement unfair, which is, that he has no right to select one, two, or even three states out of twenty-six, and compare them all with England and Wales.

The question is, the comparative security of person and property in Great Britain and the United States. I acknowledge that, if Ireland were taken into the account, it would very much reduce our proportional numbers; but, then, there crime is fomented by traitors and demagogues--a circumstance which must not be overlooked.

Still, the whole of Ireland would offer nothing equal in atrocity to what I can prove relative to one small town in America: that of Augusta, in Georgia, containing only a population of 3,000, in which, in one year, there were fifty-nine assassinations committed in open day, without any notice being taken of them by the authorities.

This, alone, will exceed all Ireland, and I therefore do not hesitate to assert, that if every crime committed in the United States were followed up by conviction, as it would be in Great Britain, the result would fully substantiate the fact, that, in security of person and property, the advantage is considerably in favour of my own country.

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Note 1. Miss Martineau, speaking of the jealousy between the Americans and the French creoles, says--"No American expects to get a verdict, on any evidence , from a jury of French creoles."

Note 2. America though little more than sixty years old as a nation, has already published an United States Criminal Calendar (Boston, 1835.) I have this book in my possession, and, although in number of criminals it is not quite equal to our Newgate Calendar, it far exceeds it in atrocity of crime.

Note 3. Some allowance must be made for the license of the reporters, but in the main it is a very fair specimen of the recorder's style and language.

Note 4. There is, as will appear by the quotations, as much fun in the police reports in New York as in the best of ours: the style of the Recorder is admirably taken off.

Note 5. Miss Martineau, speaking of a trial for murder in the United States, says, "I observed that no one seemed to have a doubt of his guilt." She replied, that there never was a clearer case: but that he would be acquitted; the examination and trial were a mere form, of which everyone knew the conclusion beforehand. The people did not choose to see any more hanging, and till the law was so altered as to allow an alternative of punishment, no conviction for a capital offence would be obtainable. I asked on what pretence the young man would be got off, if the evidence against him was as clear as it was represented. She said some one would be found to swear an alibi .

"A tradesman swore an alibi ; the young man was acquitted, and the next morning he was on his way to the West."

VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER FORTY SIX.

REMARKS--LYNCH LAW.

Englishmen express their surprise that in a moral community such a monstrosity as Lynch law should exist; but although the present system, which has been derived from the original Lynch law, cannot be too severely condemned, it must, in justice to the Americans, be considered that the original custom of Lynch law was forced upon them by circumstances. Why the term of Lynch law has been made use of, I do not know; but in its origin the practice was no more blameable than were the laws established by the Pilgrim fathers on their first landing at Plymouth, or any law enacted amongst a community left to themselves, their own resources, and their own guidance and government. Lynch law, as at first constituted, was nothing more than punishment awarded to offenders by a community who bed been injured, and who had no law to refer to, and could have no redress if they did not take the law into their own hands; the present system of Lynch law is, on the contrary, an illegal exercise of the power of the majority in opposition to and defiance of the laws of the country, and the measure of justice administered and awarded by those laws.

It must be remembered that fifty years ago, there were but a few white men to the westward of the Alleghany Mountains; that the states of Kentucky and Tennessee were at that time as scanty in population, as even now are the districts of Ioway and Columbia; that by the institutions of the Union a district required a certain number of inhabitants before it could be acknowledged as even a district; and that previous to such acknowledgment, the people who had squatted on the land had no claim to protection or law. It must also be borne in mind, that these distant territories offered an asylum to many who fled from the vengeance of the laws, men without principle, thieves, rogues, and vagabonds, who escaping there, would often interfere with the happiness and peace of some small yet well-conducted community, which had migrated and settled on these fertile regions. These communities had no appeal against personal violence, no protection from rapacity and injustice. They were not yet within the pale of the Union; indeed there are many even now in this precise situation (that of the Mississippi for instance,) who have been necessitated to make laws of government for themselves, and who acting upon their own responsibilities, do very often condemn to death, and execute. [Note 1.] It was, therefore, to remedy the defect of their being no established law, that Lynch law, as it is termed, was applied to; without it, all security, all social happiness would have been in a state of abeyance. By degrees, all disturbers of the public peace, all offenders against justice met with their deserts; and as it is a query, whether on its first institution, any law from the bench was more honestly and impartially administered than this very Lynch law, which has now had its name prostituted by the most barbarous excesses and contemptuous violation of all law whatever. The examples I am able to bring forward of Lynch law, in its primitive state, will be found to have been based upon necessity, and a due regard to morals and to justice. For instance, the harmony of a well-conducted community would be interfered with by some worthless scoundrel, who would entice the young men to gaming, or the young women to deviate from virtue. He becomes a nuisance to the community, and in consequence the heads or elders would meet and vote his expulsion. Their method was very simple and straight-forward; he was informed that his absence would be agreeable, and that if he did not "clear out" before a certain day, he would receive forty lashes with a cow-hide. If the party thought proper to defy this notice, as soon as the day arrived he received the punishment, with a due notification that, if found there again after a certain time, the dose would be repeated. By these means they rid the community of a bad subject, and the morals of the junior branches were not contaminated. Such was in its origin the practice of Lynch law.

A circumstance occurred within these few years in which Lynch law was duly administered. At Dubuque, in the Ioway district, a murder was committed. The people of Dubuque first applied to the authorities of the state of Michigan, but they discovered that the district of Ioway was not within the jurisdiction of that State; and, in fact, although on the opposite side of the river there was law and justice, they had neither to appeal to. They would not allow the murderer to escape; they consequently met, selected among themselves a judge and a jury, tried the man, and, upon their own responsibility, hanged him.

There was another instance which occurred a short time since at Snakes' Hollow, on the western side of the Mississippi, not far from the town of Dubuque. A band of miscreants, with a view of obtaining possession of some valuable diggings (lead mines,) which were in the possession of a grocer who lived in that place, murdered him in the open day. The parties were well known, but they held together and would none of them give evidence. As there were no hopes of their conviction, the people of Snakes' Hollow armed themselves, seized the parties engaged in the transaction, and ordered them to quit the territory on pain of having a rifle-bullet through their heads immediately. The scoundrels crossed the river in a canoe, and were never after heard of.

I have collected these facts to show that Lynch law has been forced upon the American settlers in the western states by circumstances ; that it has been acted upon in support of morality and virtue, and that its awards have been regulated by strict justice. But I must now notice this practice with a view to show how dangerous it is that any law should be meted out by the majority, and that what was commenced from a sense of justice and necessity, has now changed into a defiance of law, where law and justice can be readily obtained. The Lynch law of the present day, as practised in the states of the west and south, may be divided into two different heads: the first is, the administration of it in cases in which the laws of the states are considered by the majority as not having awarded a punishment adequate, in their opinion, to the offence committed; and the other, when from excitement the majority will not wait for the law to act, but inflict the punishment with their own hands.

The following are instances under the first head.

Every crime increases in magnitude in proportion as it affects the welfare and interest of the community. Forgery and bigamy are certainly crimes, but they are not such heavy crimes as many others to which the same penalty is decreed in this country. But in a commercial nation forgery, from its effects, becomes most injurious, as it destroys confidence and security of property, affecting the whole mass of society. A man may have his pocket picked of 1000 pounds or more, but this is not a capital offence, as it is only the individual who suffers; but if a man forges a bill for 5 pounds he is (or rather, was) sentenced by our laws to be hanged. Bigamy may be adduced as another instance: the heinousness of the offence is not in having more than one wife, but in the prospect of the children of the first marriage being left to be supported by the community. Formerly, that was also pronounced a capital offence. Of punishments, it will be observed that society has awarded the most severe for crimes committed against itself, rather than against those which most offend God. Upon this principle, in the southern and western states, you may murder ten white men and no one will arraign you or trouble himself about the matter; but steal one n****r , and the whole community are in arms, and express the most virtuous indignation against the sin of theft, although that of murder will be disregarded.

One or two instances in which Lynch law was called in to assist justice on the bench, came to my knowledge. A Yankee had stolen a slave, but as the indictment was not properly worded, he knew that he would be acquitted, and he boasted so, previous to the trial coming on. He was correct in his supposition; the flaw in the indictment was fatal, and he was acquitted. "I told you so," said he, triumphantly smiling as he left the court, to the people who had been the issue of the trial.