Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/882

 852 TREASON TREBIGNE crime, has no application whatever to treason. We are warranted by the language of Chief Justice Marshall in saying, that if a rebellion were so extensive as to spread through every state in the Union, every individual concerned in it is not legally present at every overt act committed in that rebellion ; nor can it be said that even the commander-in-chief of the rebel army, or the head of the organized rebellion, is legally present at every such overt act. But while a man may be actually absent, yet if he have counselled or procured the treasonable act, he is a principal traitor, not because he is legally present, but because in treason all are principals. This question of locality has yet another importance. A person charged with this crime can be tried only within the state or judicial district in which it is committed, and the alleged criminal has indeed a strict right to be tried by a jury within that state or district. A wide extent may be given to this rule, by the doctrine that in treason all are principals, as above stated; but it can apply only to those persons who would, in the locali- ty in which they reside, be either principals or accessories if there could be accessories to this crime. For if a person commits his own act of treason in a certain locality, and is not con- nected with any one committed elsewhere, so as to be, in this way, a principal in the act, he can be tried only within his locality ; and if the judicial tribunals of the United States can- not or will not perform their proper functions within that state or judicial district, he cannot be tried anywhere. It is certain, too, that the overt act which is alleged to be a treasonable act, must have been done with "a treasonable purpose." We have on this point high author- ity for saying, that if the object of the act be to prevent by force the execution of any public law of the United States, that is a treasonable purpose, for it aims at overthrowing the gov- ernment as to one of its laws. So, if the pur- pose be to overthrow the government at one place, large or small, that is a treasonable pur- pose. What, then, is adhering to an enemy, or, in the language of the constitution, giving him aid and comfort? It is perhaps impos- sible so to define these words as to make their meaning any plainer. But, again on high au- thority, this meaning may be illustrated thus : If a conspiracy to levy war against the United States be in actual operation anywhere within it, any citizen, residing anywhere else and at whatever distance, if he supply the rebels with arms or any munitions of war, with provisions to be used in support of the war or of the rebels while carrying it on, or money, or intel- ligence or information, and even if none of these things reach the rebels, he becomes a traitor in the place where he resides. So it would come under this branch of treason, if forts, castles, or ships of war were delivered to the enemy, or if the accused had joined the enemy's forces, though no battles or conflicts take place. The same principles would un- doubtedly apply, whether the treason charged were committed against the United States or against any one of the states, qualified only by any special provisions of the constitution or law of that state. As all treason consists of hostility against a state by one who owes it allegiance, so only one who owes this duty, in some way, may be a traitor. But it is held that this modified allegiance may be that of an alien residing in this country and enjoying the protection and advantages of its government. The allegiance of an alien, however, or the possibility of his becoming a traitor, ends with his residence in this country ; while the duty of allegiance goes with a citizen wherever he goes ; and wherever he may be, he becomes a traitor by hostility against the government in violation of this duty. We have seen that no one can be convicted of treason except on the evidence of two witnesses ; but with this ex- ception, the trial for treason is conducted in all respects like any other criminal trial for a capital offence. If convicted, the traitor may be sentenced to death by the ordinary means of execution ; but by act of congress of July 17. 1862, the punishment in the discretion of the court may be imprisonment for not less than five years and a fine of not less than $10,000. We have no remnant of that fero- cious cruelty which was considered necessary in barbarous ages, and in statutes often out- lived them. Until the 30th year of George III. the convict of treason forfeited his prop- erty to the crown, was drawn on a hurdle to the gallows, there hanged, then cut down, dis- embowelled, and his entrails burned before life was extinct ; and the body was then beheaded and quartered. TREASURE TROVE (literally, found treasure), a term applied to money, coin, plate, or other forms of the precious metals, found hidden, for which no owner or depositor can be dis- covered. By the common law of England such property becomes vested in the sovereign, if it appears to have been concealed with the inten- tion of reclaiming it. In all other cases, as where circumstances show that the treasure was intended to be abandoned, it belongs to the finder, who by a special order in council is also entitled to the commercial value of ancient coins and other objects of antiquarian interest, under whatever circumstances they may be found. The civil law formerly gave the trea- sure trove to the finder ; or if found on anoth- er man's land, it was divided between them ; but the practice in continental Europe has in modern times been similar to that in England. TREBBIA (anc. Trebia), a small river of K Italy, rising in the Ligurian Alps, about 15 m. N. E. of Genoa, and emptying into the Po 3 m. above Piacenza. On its banks the Romans under T. Sempronius were defeated by Hanni- bal in 218 B. 0., and the French under Mac- donald by Suvaroff, June 17-19, 1799. TREBIGNE, or Trebinie, a town and formerly the capital of Herzegovina, European Turkey,