If an alien should have resided here for a number of years, and he should turn out to have been a spy, and a citizen of the United States should have harbored and concealed the said alien, knowing him to have been a spy, he would be chargeable with high treason for aiding and abetting the enemies of the United States within its territory, or at least a misprision of treason.
But the gentleman from Delaware was mistaken in his idea that it was intended to try an offender by a law passed after the offence was committed. By the expression, "as by law is or shall be declared," was only meant such law as should be passed between the present time and the time of committing any offence.
The question on this amendment was put and carried, 44 to 25.
On motion of Mr. Bayard, the blank for containing the amount of the penalty, in the amendment just carried, was filled with one thousand dollars.
The committee rose, and reported the amendments; which having been agreed to,
Mr. Dent moved to strike out the word "months," in Mr. Bayard's amendment, in order to insert "seven years."
Mr. N. Smith hoped this amendment would not be agreed to. He believed the penalty might, in some cases, be too severe, and in others by far too mild. He thought the bill stood well as it was. He did not think there was any uncertainty in it but what arose from the different species of offence which were comprised within this provision—for a person under it might be guilty of the highest crime, or of no crime at all, according to the circumstances of the case. This being the condition of things, to make an uniform punishment for all cases, whether highly criminal, or no crime at all, cannot be proper.
The bill as it stands, without the amendment, provides that offenders shall be imprisoned and punished according to the law which is or shall be made, (before the offence is committed,) and he thought this was the proper footing, as the punishment would then be apportioned according to the offence.
Mr. Bayard hoped the amendment would be agreed to. He did not know that a greater misfortune could happen to any man than to live in a country where the laws are so indefinite that a person cannot ascertain when he commits an offence, or what is the penalty of an offence when it is committed. The gentlemen from Massachusetts and Connecticut tell the House about the aggravation of the offence. What was the aggravation they allude to they have not stated, and no gentleman could form an opinion upon the subject. The fact was of a definite nature, and a definite punishment ought to be made for it. What is the fact? It is the harboring and concealing of an alien enemy after the proclamation of the President. Gentlemen say this offence may amount to treason, misprision of treason, or other offence. If the offence could amount to treason, he owned he did not understand the bill, because the crime of treason is defined by the constitution, and could not be varied by any law of Congress. If, then, the fact amount to treason, it will not be included in this law. If gentlemen wished to punish persons in exact conformity to their degree of offence, they ought to prepare a scale of offence for that purpose. If not, the amendment agreed to in Committee of the Whole, ought, in his opinion, to be concurred in.
Mr. Sewall said, this bill aimed at one thing, and the gentleman from Delaware at another. The bill has in itself a definition of the offence. It has declared certain circumstances which shall put a person in a situation in which he shall answer for his conduct. It declares that a person harboring an alien enemy shall be a suspected person; but the crime and punishment must be ascertained by other laws; and by these offenders are to be punished agreeably to their offences, whether they be great or small.