The Express.
London, England, 1852-04-15 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 15.

Tne miring Arctic voyagers seem destined to 'v-
olume the heroes of u many and as wild legends as
SEHAsrIAN of Portugal, or JAMAS IV. of Scotland,
Men fancy they discover traces of them or their
vessels in the strangest places and manners. The
tales of etdirroyants are treasured up; the yarns of
the forecastle are hearkened after; and if the lost
mariners are not quickly found, they may perhaps
next be talked of as conveyed to fairy-land for a sea-
son. and their return looked fir for centuries to come.
The last tale that has aroused the wonder of the
public is that of the expedition ships having been
seen drifting from the north, embedded in a field of
ice, over the Newfoundland Ranks. It comes forth
under the auspices of the .tdmirslty—rather a suspi-
cious source ; but of that hereafter. Lot us first
examine the evidence on which the talc rests.
On or about the 20th of April, 1851—eo runs the
story--about 5 a.m., two three-masted vessels were
seen from the deck of the Renovation, then about 30
miles from Cape ltace, imbedded in a field of ice.
The witnesses upon whose authority the tale is told,
are said to be Mr. CUWARD, the master of the Reno-
vation ; Mr. SIMPSON, his first mate; JUIIN DAVIS,
an able-bodied seaman then aboard the vessel; and

Mr. Ltscii, a teusengcr.
Mr. Cowsito is not at present in this country
but four persons—Messrs. STOREY and CLEPou,
also masters of resets, the wife of Mr. CLEUGII,
and Mr. COWARD'S brother—are said to have
heard him tell the story. There is no material
difference in their versions of what he said : one
is more particular, another less so; but all agree in
the main. It is in effect as follows. When on the
set edge of the Bank, Mr. Cowaao was called up
one morning, about 5 o'clock, by his mate, to see two
ships imbedded in a field of ice. At the time the
mate warned him the ice was about a mile distant; TO TN. IDITOR OP VIII DAILY News.
by the time he got on deck it was abreast of his yes- 8114—The extreme sentries of the law was put in
seL Ile saw through his soy-glass two vessels, with keep on Tuesday morning eel the murderer John
Do person about them. They were ,s two three- Keane. The advocates for capital punishment might
masted ships, having their masts struck and yards have had the usual opportunities for observing on this
down, andmy. They were "near each other, cession the probable effects of the execution as a
the owe upriyAt, the ether with o slight iodination." " g Ikea lessnm" There was the usual hallooing,
Mr. Con Aan apologises for his not having examined hooting,
_paratang, cheering, and hissing. The
them more closely, by saying that ho did not think crowd lighting out for ahobday, and they enjoyed
of Sir bolls FLANICLIN'S ships at the time, and that it with as mark gusto as their friends who were at
he was in a hurry to avail himself of the fresh wind the moment heitetung down to Greenwich would en-
and clear atmosphere to get out of the region where joy thein. If there was no morality in the lemon,
fogs are *relent. it is certain that there was acme elsewhere. It was
Of the statement of Mr. SIMPSON, the mate, we jut as dsgmWtff as the ono so graphically described
have two versions, both emanating from the try our greatut nrmg !Mehl* Mite time
Inspectinghuh-
Commander at Una. They only lam not, however,p=sts.now to enter upon
in the one of a later date containing some tho gassrirm I only beg
&tails omitted in that of earlier date ; which the advocates el priminmeets to pay a due
is curious, however, inasmuch as it is stated to the coastantly repeated seems of brutality
I. the first that Mr. Sinrsos recollected nothing :SardasbanassAct.. which take phis at public execu-
but what is therein contained. From the statement Bons. my now is, to direct attention to a
attributed to 31r. Stursos, it would appear that subject oonisoserd with there executions, upon which
Mr. COWARD did not see the ice or the vessels. In then surely can be no room for any argument at
one report of what Mr. Sim PSON says we are told all. I allude to the torture inflicted upon the
that, " The master was very sick at the time, end criminal over and above that contemplated in the
the mate could not take upon himself to bear up for mates& The knowing: is an extract from the
the iceberg," And in the other, that, " The master Pa
retort of the fronts—••
INS sick in bed, and when Mr. SIMPSON called him a stung Ms m the int azontiwir ned it roughly
over the nose of the eafw awl was very auk sa
and stated that two vessels were insight un an ice- hdiedin•i l reread the =eV The sep,wwas assess, then
berg, he was too unwell to take any notice, and eoisuy-"Siek, and did not appear to be well greased. • •
answered very well ; Mr. SIMPSON, therefore, did When the fatal moment arrived, the esehelasat of the
not like to take the responsibility of bearing up to crowd was integre. There was a wades jerk, the drop
f and
sl the body of the culpri still etaveleect with life for
examine the vessels." These statements are quite aell, t, in the air. Ft,or seen tun nimd. there
Irreconcilable with Mr. COWARD'S, that he was on were 'gum 71ife, and the muscular power of the man ex-
deck and saw the ships. The mate, too, gives the hibited itself in convulsive throes.
ice-field and its contents a wider berth ;ho does not Now, it will be in:the memory of the reader that
pretend to have been nearer than five miles from them. similar circumstances have attended many late exe-
usidiring, however, that he only saw them so far off cutions. The description of Tavrell's sufferings must
be iswonderfully minute inhisaccountof theappearance be fresh in the memory of many. The woman who
of their hulls. He differs, too, from Mr. COWARD in was lately hung at Northampton was said to have
his account of their condition or position: be says exhibited Aligns of intense suffering before life was
that the larger vessel was on her beam ends (not extinct.
slightly iocrined), and that neither of them appeared Now, unless it can be proved that there is no
to be housed (all was not " made snug "). If they method of extinguishing life without causing a large
have been truly reported, Mr. Cow.teo and Mr. amount of pain to pm cede the instant of death, there
Suirsos have contradicted each other; and yet the is no doubt that such executions as those here
veracity and accuracy of both is vouched for as spoken of are not only inhuman, but, as far as
strongly as were the veracity and accuracy of a the spirit rather than the letter of the law is con-
cerns distinguished traveller, when his ' hbours salted illegal. Time was, indeed, when the pain
used to remark of anything they strongly believed, preceding death was considered a part of the punish-
that "it was as true as if Captain GeLsivea had said ment itself. In the case of executions for treason
it." The log-book of the Renovation might have gone the magnitude of the crime was considered to call
Sr to settle the question, but the log-book is missing for an extra degree of severity in the execution of the
—one more among many suspicious circumstances. sentence. The criminal was designedly kept alive as
Mr. Stiffens is made to say that the ice and long as it appeared that he was susceptible of
vessels were also seen by Mr. Lvscu, a passenger, pun, and then, and not till then, was the deci-
and by all the mates. Did all the mates keep the sive stroke admininistered. Going back, for in-
seam watch? Or is it customary fee meager, stance, to the flourishing times of "our old
to be on deck as early as five in the morning? A nobility," the object of the admiration of
letter, said to have been written by Mr. LYNCH, is her Majesty's Chief Commissioner of Woods and
said to have appeared in the Limerick Chronick in Forests, we find that Sir Thomas Blount, in the
May, 1861. In that letter, which has been repub- reign of Henry IV., was first hanged, then item,-
liked, Mr. LINCII does not say that ho saw the diatety cut down, while yet living, and ripped up
oasts; he says they were seen at " a great die- with a razor. Mark, however, that this ripping up
tonne r and gives no esneent of their appearance. was a pert of the punishment prescribed by law. At
Of the able seams, Jo= Wm, we are merely a still bar period, during the reign, name'', of Eli-
told that he wee at the wheel when the ice and the Wolk sinner punishments were inflicted upon the
vessels were seen, and his amount coincides exactly albellet enteneed for conspiracies against the
with that of Mr. Swope. Rabe. Tbs privilege of sudden death was ho-
The report d what Mr. SIMPSON says, is the only (waft presumed by bribing the executioner. In all
wenn that has been delivered recently. As having ilia -sessik.however, the infliction of pain was legal.
lees taken mine Mr. COWanes story got wind, his It was semlemplated in the sentence. At the
amount has this in its hvear, that it was in presist time a this is changed. The inflic-
tamer to specific inquiries, and line- lima of pain before death has been legally
Gately. Mr. COWARD'S eommaanicst wee nude The seatihition et the bodies of criminals
td"rell
tI7 two rd data a year ago at Claebee. «avian of treader takes plan alter death. So
otl:sn it doss not upper when. The' ems- hes the sentine eltillid Me the 'dads
nay el the neolleatin et his hearers may el aD ?minimise anseenedia theinliedia of 'vi-
be denbeed, whim they state sorbing tar pembliment that ea tessibet limns no part
giant &as what Mr. Swoon says. In of suntan of death, that it hes freinsatly hap-
*, letter attributed to Mr. LYNCH that gentleman peed that the hanginew, keel motives of
does not allege that he saw the vessels, so Mr. Suer- ass, has ling anthelspda peerwreteh
son's statmemat (mode after the loges of eleven I. the air, in order that the sollmeing may be put en
months) that he wee en desk at the time may be sod to as !pick) as possible. 'Deere is no hallbille,
presumed to be MITINISOINI. Of Joule DAVIS WO on record in whin the enesederier has been absokisi
I know that he tells a story similar to that WM by the eerrounding fenstioneries for hie interlines%
by r. Buirsos. At present, then, the ced7 me and the mmendon is, that whilst humanity was in
base from one who sae positively be said to ban seine /epee propitiated by his act, law bilk se =gni-
bees an eye-winless is Mr. Smirecm's ; and it mod sane, Olt.
be sonfased that the minute details he gives, after Simple death is the extremity of the punishment
sera a lane al time, end whoa he only maw the lee enteseglated by the law el the land. Every pain
end vessels at so great a rite__-. sce adiasmi7 see Um over and Ass theesnotesserily attendant upon
=Mr. CoweaD and Mr. Leman ewer mainly the Wilkens et dead% is bilionin pad illegal. No.
I repeated what
gib
te..111.1101111= Joni Davis vertlishie theeseast=dded pens an the 11110111 at-
-told them. This is an y fiemiletion to fondants et in Ragland. John Tswell,
build upon. whose spew figure bad not sulleient inlet to
There is another curious circumstance annected tighten the snow that was to strangle him, is
with this story. Mr. Cmwsan, it is said, told it allowed to hang struggling before the horrified
frequently at Quebec '• it was a commen subject of spectates he a time that appears to them an .
conversation there in May, 1831. But in May, 1861, Elisabeth linekard indicates by her ve
a very warm interest we felt at Quebec, and plushy the intensity of the agoisy which she es-
throughout Americo, in the fate of Captain FRANK- darei bribes life is extinct. All this, however,
Lires expedition. The Canadian nowspa, en were pales without comment. Every one concerned in
eternally harping on the theme. Is it credible that the bloody anomaly of an execution in the nine-
,. statement that two vessels, resembling those of the teenth century is but too glad to get rid of the awful
missing expedition, had been seen imbedded in a subject the moment the law in satisfied (?), and die-
fleld of ice, should have been the town talk of make is stopped by common coast.
Quebec and not reach this country till a year later, At the rink, however, of disturbing the feelings
and then only by accident ? of the sentimental, pray insist upon thawing atter
The story is in itself of so adventurous a nature as tion to these dreadful facts. It is not fit that every
to require strong evidence to make it credible. Two execution in England should be a butchery. We
ships of the tonnage and appearance said to be de- have gradually got rid of every unneeseng barbarity
scribed by Mr. Sineson, which, if they were indeed in our punishment of criminals but this. This must
those of Captain FRANKLIN, must have been em-, go with the rest. Until the arrival of that day'
bedded in the lee to the north of Wellington Straits, which shall remove every bloody page from our
seen drifting over the Newfoundland Bank, towards criminal cede, let it be sacred that the culprit ins-
tbc end of April, in a field of ice, five miles in ex- ;taped to death shall suffer no more than what is
tent ; many witnesses, bearing testimony exactly indicated in the sentence.
consistent, and delivered in circumstances not open I Do I wish then, it may be asked, to intraday
to suspicion, would be needed to support such a tale. Imodos of punishment not hitherto recognised by the
But Mr. Stursom alone can be said to have even the ; laws of England? Am I an advocate for such
ships : he does not tske urn himself to say they ; outlandish horrors as the guillotine and the garotte
were Sir Ions; FRANKLIN 71; and his evidence woad , Certainly. not. If every other capital punishment
be all the more valuable if tested by a searching ; but hanging is un-English, let us not adopt any
cross examination. The story is alma as mar- I other. All that I claim on behalf of those miser-
venous as any one of those about the t, able wretches whom we hurry into another world is
and is supported by evidence quite so vagw and wee that the hanging shall produce instantaneous death.
Now, we do not blame the Admie*ty for inati- It is folly to say that this cannot be effected. A very
tutinginquiries to test the truth of Ude story, or ' small expenditure of practical science would be Buff -
ascertain its rest import. Though it must be can- cleat to discover a method by which the rope should
• hewed, that the eagerness with which the Admiralty produce immediate strangulation. It is well known
opens on the trail of any such apocgphal looking that particular executioners have been in possession
narrative, co:trate strangely -with the apathy of such secrete, and have in consequence acquired an