It places at his free disposal all
the lands and goods in his district, and he may distribute them without
let or hindrance to whom he pleases. Being bound by no State law, and
there being no other law to regulate the subject, he may make a criminal
code of his own; and he can make it as bloody as any recorded in
history, or he can reserve the privilege of acting upon the impulse of
his private passions in each case that arises. He is bound by no rules
of evidence; there is, indeed, no provision by which he is authorized or
required to take any evidence at all. Everything is a crime which he
chooses to call so, and all persons are condemned whom he pronounces to
be guilty. He is not bound to keep any record or make any report of his
proceedings. He may arrest his victims wherever he finds them, without
warrant, accusation, or proof of probable cause. If he gives them a
trial before he inflicts the punishment, he gives it of his grace and
mercy, not because he is commanded so to do.
To a casual reader of the bill it might seem that some kind of trial was
secured by it to persons accused of crime, but such is not the case.
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