The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-04-11 00:00:00

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

The .Standard says that it ie q iite erosible, of
cooree, that the Government Are in p eseeelot of
private information which woad I juatify the granting
of the rest he, but, if so, it ought to have been made
public. The mere desire to perform an act of courtesy
te ni exert«, for interfering with the curs, of justice
in a CAM of the g t charaoter known to the law.
Toe announcement is couched it such exculpatory
terms that it entracte he c mad inane., of a weak
caws, if not of • feeling that the step taken is altogether
wrong. The Secretary rd State, we are mewed, has
always been willing to '.5 ard a lequate time for the
due examination of circumstances &listed on respon-
sible authority in favour of • convict ender sentence
of death ;" ant, anticipating the difficulties in carrying
out the death after a long del ry, two instances aro
quoted in which this haat actually been done. All this
would imply that Sir William Hare urt has on better
information as to the nature of the supposed evidence
than the rest of the public have, and Us. there can be
no presible elates for complying with President
Arthur's desire. We hope that the Government will
be sharply queetioned in the Houle on the subject
The Duly Nero says that It would be a very gray.
step indeed to order a man's execution after testitn try
sail by • legal functionary tm exonerate him, or to dis-
prove hie moral reeponsihility, had actually been
forwarded to the Home 0 lice, but before it had
reached its destination. Sir James Manefield refused
to put off the trial of Bellingham, who abet Mr.
Spencer l'erceval, until witnesses could be brought
from • distance to prove the prisoner's insanity. But
such a precedent would scarcely be followed now.
The fact that in this instance the testimony comes
from beyond the POA. and that the poatponement is
requested by the head of a foreign executive, has from
this la mint of view no bearing upon the question.
The Lek, BATA :—The respite of Dr. Lamson might,
in a meaeure, have been anticipated, and the respite
in his case may, we trust, be regarded as a preparatory
step to a commutation of the death sentence. No
doubt hie respite will cause disappointment and die-
satisfacti in in the minds of the blood for id mod and
life for life theorists, whilst it will afford relief to those
nib -s look upon capital puniehmente with detestation
and horror. Though it was almost impossible within
the circumstances for the jury ti have come to any
other conelusion than they did, and though the
" sentence of the court" was accepted by the general
voice, there his been from the day of the trial an
indistinct and unmutterel feeling that Lemma
might not, after all, suffer the extreme penalty.
The respite of Lam-on, preparatory, we hope, t a
Permanent reprieve, is in reality another stone thrown
at the old barbaric tree. It will be very difficult to
hang the man now he has been respited, and it will be
more difficult to her g any great criminals who may
make • great stir in the world in future. Every mac
saved from the tender embraces id Marwood takes •
thee out of hie snored rope. One of the best evidenoes
of the growth of a healthy public opinion on this
queation Is that Marwood I. looked upon with moue-
canoe and loathing. Put him in a crowd, and people
would move out of his way as ladies at a ball would
move out of the way of a chimney sweep with a bag
of soot on his back. Merwood, in fact, is a cruelly-
treated public functionary. He in universally boy-
cotted. No one with ordinary feelioga will eat with
him, sit with him, go to Church with him, or to wen
In his company. People shrink from him as they
would • leper. Why ouch treatment? Is he not •
servant of the State? Is he not the final fulfiller of
the majesty of the Law? If capital ponishments are
mcc"arrY, if they are, wa millions of Christiana main-
tain, in harmony with the Divine and everlasting Law,
why regard their supreme executor with horror ?
Because public sentiment is outgrowing the notions of
barbaric times, and preparing to bury the gallows
" amid the wreak of things that were."