The Express.
London, England, 1849-11-20 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 20, 1849.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

The Wowing giosainge from the papers of the
Wag say ark to throw ht on the 'tats of the
• Wail, *d arllkfk r* gre fl
••r4w • •
• r.k. .
; • ant Ath-
c __l • • is
the Askta-
Tkft. the pe
l • • n ehe the
BI 4 that • • los seat
to Pert Limbs* smog k the Imam
slid madekkomiloillso 1117patz:
ieriiinni, Iwo medg'.. the
drift , if! ke look
kb • kg
hommiti= libeerirs_f_d_cgr -
the as MG es cf e
"I""feror elmtialb` Won Wths
published merespoodemen abaci 200 as be expected to be`
P`t au_ aally,—it Is the @pia* of ilk amorksiahtt
thenesitketh round tin. thit esadeis,
all claim to the coalidemse tithe ishakthate of this abides;
and that the serrespeael semmliee be requested to write
tow names" of the limited= Is atoordeases with the
team of this rasping= sad to take oath ether step with
referees* thereto as ;hey Ray deem advisable." By this
reselatiem—says the Shipping OsseMe—mad the ether ow
sures whist have reently been adopted k the newsy, it
may be herd that the Philanthropic Boats will he ia-
oilseed Is mails its amity at Istiow,—or, at leak, to mho,
it sky to kw missies which are anitent to reosive its
quetimalk imam The Importance of at sees psalms h
stop to the notorious Illissey of skis Juvenile Coavist Tree-
(hr so* is its real character) is aseal-
Ctirdhslithe daVelhet whisk it had already predator
es the syrem of akigratisa is mosidered.
lIMIGILLSIOII.-- Tory Inked in Table Bay om
Tuesday lut with IS momisd ample, 49 single nava. Us=
women, and 75 minima. The mows of the
their several train, have less published inuirate'Goorfte.
They are Welly sigrkaltheal laboaters, hat there as okay
of maid trades smug *ea; =dome of duet perms are
said to how gold a large proportion of the =mem of the
many. "It will, however, be hardly wafted"
the
mid Mercantile Gantt* of y slates—
dist seasalsominable injustice which was ia,
the seas 111, by the Let ship has been ,we ell
also in the papist lease. Their testimosiall eff IM
raster weeoteirso from them in Loadoe, sad bare.
base zetommod to them here. This, it will he
ls eltogetkor a new praetko,, adopted toe seam nkmosest
masa, stela asp resemptios of estimation, after he
samanshem, kr. seek equally =known theeen, by ceder of
Earl Choy." We sot to be wondered et that thia skew
sollaary gmeelise should emits the seepisimse of the adealels,
when it is kaown that the entignat kip', with the
ym the animalism eseassimisassa, ha= hese " takes
of "kr the osaveyease kh mho, ed
et some of the
jamoile .waste hem the Pfkask 53eietY._ _ and
them is .it believed, are not the oaly vorebsatis whisk the
boas goverament are endeavouring to thrust tap= us by
▪ akin adotatem of" oar =signet skips. Who sap desist
dot ow of the Load= thievee---whose ronfereses, is July
Yet tors with Lord Ashley, " u a missionary= behalf of
ilsren'lik" wast
the
rsalbviesetfol.7 mach try. ic r•rio.;
of that conferenee exaated mule
in this colony at the time it wee resolved. But
salmegook meats ha= shown that we were far more deeply
iatooksd la Lord Athley's proceeding' Shea we then
thaeght. One soonest of that conteronce is given in another
whose, taken from the Weekly Chronicle After reading
this, the aolosiets will, perhaps, disomer the object e( keep-
ing beck the characters std testimonials pommeled easi•
grants of good character. Bat each a proceeding, prompted
by. such a motive, is molt base and dbareditable in Me ems-
stssioners and Earl Grey, end most cruel is its amq upon
the emigrants themeclns. The colonists regret the seed=
to which many respectable and worthy men amongst them
will be exposed ; but with these facts before ns are can
scarcely advise orexoect the inhabitan's of this piseaticannish
their stopiclons. until emigration to the Cape of Giod,llope
is conducted epos a differ'* systems.

PUNISHMENT OF DEATH. ,

the abolition of
-4
Sit XI:1g, wtoss 17d °petit. r4ay eventing et tk
*lles L
reuse Betel, fleathwark. Tim 'desk well takh.
Mud. 7 Oen& by dr. C. Guzratemleherea
D y the M.P,
theroWendektie: illfixthecEll il
Mei
Mee Walsworth eind Mr. Websi the
or, Weeklies-4140i; kes.
'TM resnalles m'oweled. the semsehly comprkieg • Imp pet
pardon orkenthers of the gesisty of Frieeds.
ThiCKAIRMAN said thae brim the pad wedi- bee ier
latitude ef this sastropolls bulked mother, sad a pardon-
hen_ hilfeedffies eggedmilWeielliessieg aneeplaisa es te the
jute ei gse gnat ON* ON. Inalto hp gteggYrie t the
moral leseeMei the kw haling bum oneveym he uus ems by
the emegrahms, se poblis stranglieg, of a Rea anel. s Mk.
AWg....isemeni mina was email, sad wai throveged
teacher, ' al:l6Zr GSA
cllifdere .:reigit bt.heellemh:gel
made tM nomplopses were to be believed, the multitude
was ewe whisk
geel: , 1011 Mira Loon, ,
the.4.ldeu hear.)
Thedonde, sild the meat the eight i pre-
de* el Ike the bears a darkness they
diansked the migkhombesd wide their obscene and filthy
holhasiost, steak brand sod disgusting jests, and their bold
amildering hkesheasies. There ears westeed pupils tee.
(Sew, kegs.) Isms of thirty elallinge sad three guineas
wine poid neaten ea wbkh to latorthe moral lesson. There
wen lemakfasts, sad lades—(oh, burning scandal
is 1111= then aerated!) —(bmar, hear, and cheers)—
Milo with specieramess got • sight.' the onsagied reale-
imam (Hear, bear.) He °enraged he would ea willingly
=Wan much with the ladies who •so boiled al
that was amiable aud loveable he the chanter
of woman, as to be pressen at reuse like these,
crowding the court sad the plans of executio• to witness the
mental tenor and the mortal *gannet Me kidemereataree
It might be imagineel by sometime epee meldegtkees Miss
were better lined to be mothers, wives, co elampletees, through
what they Itsel witnessed; but there wee too teeth of Maria
Manning about them for him (the chairman) to feel very
comfortible in such company. (Hear, hoer.) But the deed
had been done. The advocates of the gallows said that a
great morel Lesson had bees tamg d. He muted that hums
pity had been outraged, MOO= illiewood. and God mated.
(Cheers.) Hassanity had hoes mimed in the ologists's SI
well as in eke criminals. No me, he believed, left the semi
uninjured by what he had witnessed. Religion had hese
disgraced. (Hear, hear.) Dying lips received the
sacramental emblems of a Saviour's dying love—
(hear' kear)—et least ma usrepentsat murderer wee
battered up with home of a line to some. The whole
of the closing eosne.wee • piece of solemn mockery, cake-
land to dishonour therreligion whelk they melsemel, smiths
God whets they professed to worship. ' And the pekoe big
spend. A tweready roue had eoaveyed is the teseslent
corners of the country, aye, sad to other countries, the mart
minute particulars in references to the strangled ntakfadeen
telling law M•-.sing made an indifferent breakfast on
the morning of hie mutation ; how hie wife did a little
better; hew they were both misted on their way to the '
scaffold ; how Mumble end hangman each endeavoured to
make the matter mere easy, the cm meanie the way to
Heaven, iced the other making easier the passage from
earth ; how the criminals met on the wsy to the scaffold,
how they kissed, and how tom embraced, bow they shook I
hands, and expressed a hope that they should mat hat
Heaven. All these things dispersed by means of the press
throughout the country were calculated—(wbo could deep
it 1)—to stimulate a morbid desire even for public execre-1
floe. Scean like these were calculated to nerve the rofflan's
arm, and to stimulate everythieg that was base Je human
nature ; and he wee much mistaken if the people of Ragland
would not sooner or later reap • dire and bitter harvest of
deeds of violence and blood from the seeds sown on Tuesday
last at Hommongerdans Gaol. (Hear, hear.) Now, it
was the fashion with many seltetyled influential organs of
the press, who still advocated the sontinumen of capital
punishment, to use hard words against the mob who attended
such scenes—to all them "the brutal mob," " the de-
graded mob," " the debased mob." He had little sym-
pathy in the use of terms like these, coming from
such quarters. If the mob were brutal, degraded,
end debased; and it the proof of this were attend-
. see on such scenes, how, in the name of common sense,
could they exempt from censure the law which provided such
scenes, the legislator who made the law, or the organs of
the press who were for the continuance of the law ? (Hear,
beer.) The execution on Tuesday last had shaken the gibbet
to its foundation. (Cheers.) It had brought out writers in
the daily pipers who had never before, so far as he was
aware, written oe the subject of capital punishments, in-
cluding a man of whom he desired to speak with great
remect—Charles Dickens. (Cheers.) Judging from a letter
of his which appeared in an early number of the Daily News,
Charles Dickens was with them in principle. That gentle-
man was now an advocate of secret executions as a greet step in
the right direction. Now he (the 'barman) confessed that
he differed from him. (Cheers.) He gave his fun Mat
for integrity of purpose ; but he was anxious that there
should be no mistake or misunderstanding as to their owe
views on this matter. (Hear, hear.) He was not labouring
nor were hie bleeds kbonrieg, to substitute one kind et
strangling for another. They were not anxious to unbeaten
execution amid the silence of the prima cell for executim en
the public scaffold. They were not, and he trusted they
never would be, prepared to advocate assassination in the
stead of public execution, or to introduce unitary, inquisition-
like execution in the place of that execution which,
in accordance with the feelings and the will of 1
N.mishasen, had up to this time been performed
in the tight of day. (Cheers.) No. if they must have
strangling still, for the rood of the community, he woo not
prepared en the su'utitution of misuse for public strange-
laden. He was glad that come of the most practical men of
the present day—men who had endeavoured practically to
enlighten end elevate the minds of their fellow-creatures—
were of his own way of thinking on this subject. He held
is his band a letter from a man who wee not second even to
Charles Dickens in the influence which he exercised over
the Dubin mind for the public benefit; he referred to Dour.
lea Jerrold In a letter which he had received from him,
Douglas Jerrold said, "The genius of English society
will n permit private hanging. Sorry should I
be to know that mystery was be Laded to the
ie.fliction of death. The brutality of the mob even is
preferable to the darkness of secrecy." (Chem.) Again,
he pail, " Once allow secret executions, and yin bow to the
continuance of capital punishment, and they are last
passing away, gradually gives up by the baffled legislature."
(Hear, hear.) He preeeediel, " A strange Christianity,
truly, to ask the prayers of the congregation for a brother
and sister, sad then, to show the sacredness of life, to kelt
them." (Hoer, bear.) Richard Cobden said, " Take heed
of the new dodge—private executions. That is abandoning
three-north, of the grounds upon which the Calcraft party
defended capital punishment, as an example of terror to the
evil dimmed. Their private hinging would be simply
assassination." (Hear, Ulm.) The following letter was from
Mr. Bright :
Reform Club, Nov. 19, 1849.
My Dear Friend,—l am icon not is be at your meeting
this realm. The canoe of capital punishment abolition is
making rapid regress, and there is only one rock ahead, and
this I feel certain we shall avoid—l allude to the compromise
which is proposed by those who an anxious that hanging
should continue, bat that it should be dons in the secrecy of
the prison. This is no compromise, in our view of the care.
Our wain arguments against the present system would
Kill remain against the private hoagies, whilst, in
my view, every srmscomt upon which capital punishments
hare hitherto been defended would be entirely overthrown.
This notion of secret executions in our prisons is monstrous,
and can be entertained for a moment by the people of
this country. It seems to be dictated by the mere liking to
put somebody to death, and is as unphilmophical as it is un.
cluietian, and contrary to sll the feelings and practices of our
country. The scheme is the refuge of thine who are driven
from their present position, but who have not the courage to
slept the only alternative which is before them. It cannot
b s adopted in this country; I don't believe it will
find favour in parliament, and I don't see how even
the Home Secretary can support it, for it will in no degree
relieve the increasing difficulties of his penitent. Let es keep
to our creed on this subject, sad the " moral lemon " of the
gallows will soon be at an end.—Believe me very sincerely
thy friend, lonic Burette.
Now, Charles Dickens did not consider the public mind
prepared for the entire abolition of capital punishment. If,
indeed, he formed his idea of the public mad from what he
called " the desert was's" which surrounded him in front of
Horstnnager-lone Gaol, he (the chairmen) could not dis-
pute hie position ; if, again, he formed it from the conduct
of the gentlemen who had champagne breakfasts end of the
ladies who plied their opera-glasses, hie opinion was easily
accounted for ; but, as regarded the middle and working
classes of England, he would declare that, leaving attended
public rearing, from Edinburgh to Exeter, he did not be-
lieve that Charles Dickens, with all his talents, could fairly
convene • public meeting in any part of the king.
dons and carry a resolution in it in favour of 1
wont hanging. (Hear, hear.) Amongst the writers on:
this subject was a enceinte. signing himself " Milo," who
stated in the TWnes that he did not believe it to be within
the range of probability for the debt of an execution to prove
an incentive to crime. Now it was redly sad that gentlemen,'
often wrote on subjects of which they knew nothing.
(Leughter.) A little inquiry would have satisfied this gen-
tleman that a very lugs proportion °fells criminals executed
had been present at previous executions. A clergyman of
Bristol, the Rev. Thomas Roberts, visited 167 penmen
under sentence of death, of whom he found that 164 had
attended executions. (Hear, hear.) The course of the ad-
vocates of this punishment must be straight orward. They
must neither be deterred by open enemies, nor turned aside
by friends who did not possess their own faith. (Hear,
hear.) He was thoroughly convinced that the thy
was not far distant when the common sense of the commu-
sky, and the common Christianity of the country, would
doneness the gibbet, andiweep It from the face of the land.
(Cheers.)
Mr. EWART, M.P., then proposed the following resolu-
tion :
" That in the opinion of this mane the punishment of
death is opposed to the spirit of Christianity ; that it does
sot answer its design of repreming crime!; that its effects
are grossly demoralising ; that it sometimes ceases the
dentruA on of the innocent by judicial process, and at other
times favours the eaceepe of the guilty, thus promoting the
aims it is intended to repress, and that it ought to be ins-
melktely and totally abolished."
He had not habitually attended public meetings m this
subject, In conjunction with those friends of the cams who
were so well entitled to • tribute of praise ; but on ea coca-
Mon like the present, he could not refuse to take his place
by the side of that able and courageous advocate of capital
punishment, the chairman. (Cheers.) They were convinced
more temeially, bemuse they had lately bad an intercedes and
hestruothe exhibition brought home, as Bacon expressed it, to j

their own business and bosoms. The great epistles was what
• Virg Mein sash an exhibition. Tee organs
of pa
sitiaces the avocets' of espied punish-
ment="titilt. the suction was a positive social
t MO* paean wee diffused by it in
Welty. If no morel Rood were effected,
It was Ompeedble Is conceive any religious benefit.
How could dolt 'he desined reftiou which was against the
vital priseirder of the Chris religion? (Hear, hear.)
nowt mild they beesieldered to set exuding to its pre-
cepts lithe, tea bent the criminal the power of repentance ?
(Hear, keira_37ntil the advocates of capital punishments
awed that repentance could be compelled within twelve
aye, they were sating against the vigil principles of the
Christian religion in depriving a fellow-cresture of life.
(Hear, hear.) The noses had declared that In the recent
executions the majesty of the law had been vindi-
eat* (Cheers.) In his opium, the whole memo-
nisi ail punishment of the gallows wee the vary
&Otter* of majesty. (Hear, hear.) The hen. end issued
gentlemen proceeded to_ vest* a passage bet Fiddhlle
which it was ended the{ at i& erheiaal had Wes
senteoped to death, the judges Amid adjourn foe four jays
at the expiration of which the prolaktnent should be et
out la the front of the Old Batley soleauly sad in theft pile
estoweeshase. Dinidsuanciyaonnees inilgerte?tha(atestlz
hearjudge.)e wire laod
wnibessoliut
to the question of rivets executions, to' which he at once
declared his otter repugnance. (Hear, hear.) They
wanted to abolish the system altogether, not to make
it worse by making it private. (Hear, hear) They
had no doubt but that the fondle lades would all
honestly persons their duty, but was that a reason why
Beglishmen should give up one of their greatest public_prin-
ciples that of publicity in all judicial proceedings ? (Hear,
hue.) They might a well be asked to 'instep the trial by
jury because they were sure that the judges would honestly
perform their duties. (Hear, hear.) No, such a system 'I
would never be adopted, publicity was of the very muse
of our institutions, and publicity was what Rutigliano I
would cosiest to abandon. (Loud cries of " Hear,
hear.") Bat even supposing they conceded the prin-
ciples of private executions they could net exclude
'the prom, and if they admitted the press lusty detail
of the execution would be minutely recorded and
carried to the length and breadth of the land. (Hear, hear.)
And it would do more mischief than the present system, be-
cause forbidden knowledge had always, unfortunately, the
greatest attraction. (Hear, hear.) But there was no we
arguing the question, because government had already de-
cided against private executions. A member of parliaraset,l
Mr. Rich, had once brought a motion forward in the 1100111!'
of Commons with this view: he (Mr. &wart) had opposed
is, and the government recommended Mr. fifth to with-
draw It, on the ground that he could not hope
for a single vote in its support. (Hese, hear. j They
(theaboUttonists) took their stand on different grounds : they
did not care whether executions were public or private ;
what they wanted was not to have any executions at all.
(Loud cheers ) They objected to capital punishments as
fallacious in principle because it sought to punish mime by
imitating it, a principle which was not recognised in any
offence net capital. They objected to it, because it acted on
the principle of revenge which was a principle completely
condemned by the spirit of Christianity. (Hear, hear.)
That principle wee exploded by su the jurists, by Black.
stone„by &curia, by Filangieri, and it was time it should
be expunged by our criminal code. (Hear, hear) Tiny
objected further to capital punishment, because it often
turned public attention from the crime to the incidents of
the punishment and the conduct of the condemned. How
much.snock heroic interest had been given to the conduct of
Mrs. Manning. One paper had likened her to Clytemnestra,
and another to Lady Macbeth. Was it not time that such
be proceedings should put an and to? (Hear, hear.) They
took their stand on a principle which might be announced in
three words— the 'sentinels of human life. (Hear, hear.)
That principle could not be violated on any ground but that
of imperious necessity, and that necessity has never been
proved—at least he had never heard it proved in the
Douse of Commons. (Hear.) A few years since all death
warrauts were signed by the sovereign, but so repugnant had
the duty become, that only a few iessiou since a biU was
brought into parliament to abrogate the necessity. (Hear,
hear.) The sovereign then shrunk from capital punishment
end the judges of the land were in the majority agaicst
Before a committee of the House of Lords the Chief Justice
gave co opinion (a few years since the judges were all una-
nimous in its favour), Mr. Justice Mauls gave no
opinion, Justice Coltman pronounced against it, as did
aloe Justice Wightman. Chief Justice Wilde said that the
bjections against it were very great. So much for tLe
Reglish judges. The Irish judges were also summoned.
Judge Crampton gave co *pinion; Judge Perrin pree
flounced spinet it, as did also the Lord Cent Baron. He
though., therefore, that they had made some progress on the
judicial bench. (Hear, hear.) Übe was not very much
mistaken, they might reckon on a further accession of
strength in the person of Mr. Justice Tenoned. (Loud
cheers.) The clergy were also coming round, and even Sir
G. Grey himself would abolish capital punishment if the
people only convinced him that it was their universal wish.
The argument in favour of the abolition of the puoishme..t
of death rested on the sacredness of human life and tt e
great doctrine of the necessity of repentance, and with such
bases it could not fail of ul imate success. (Cheers.)
The Rev. H. CHRISTMAS seconded the resolution. The
resolution declared, he oberved, that the punishment of
death was opposed to the spirit of Christianity. That lay
at the bottom of the whole question (Hear, hear.) He
contradicted the assertion that capital punishment was com
manded in scripture. The plug", Whoa° sheddeth
males blood by man shall his blood be shed," was not a
command, but a prediction expressive of God's indignation ;
they were not commanded to hang the murderer up
to a beam. (Hear, hear.) If God's word were re-
ferred to they must look at the examples which
it presented as well as its supposed teaching. Cain was
a murderer, but they did not read of his b dog hung ; Moses
' killed an Egyptian, bat he was not executed for doing so.
Cases of cold-blooded murder were accompanied with the
divine brand, but they did not read of the infliction of capital
punishment for them. If the Jewish law were taken at all,
it must be taken as a whole; if, on the authority of that law,
they hung one man for murder, they must hang others for
bre king the Sabbath or disobejing father or mother.
(Hear, bear.) The New Testament—which was the revels.
tioa of Christianity—was a book of love. (Hear, hear.)
It taught them to instruct the ignorant, to feed
the hungry, to visit the sick, but he did not fiod in
it anything about hanging offenders. (Hear, hear.) As
the result of an extensive correspondence, however, he had
received from five or six hundred clergymen letters contain-
ing t seressions of entire concurrence in the principle of im
mediate abolition. (Hear, hear.) The Archbishop of Can-
terbury had replied to him in a manner which resembled
the answers of the judges, _ declaring his belief that the
matter required, and would repay, a great deal of at-
tention. The Bishop of Winchester thought, to use his
owe phrase, that the subject would be " all the
better for a little ventilation." (Laughter.) Ventilation it
must have through the medium of the expression of pubic
opinioo. (Hear, hese.) The ilishop of St. David's was for
entire abolition: and the lue excellent Bishop of Norwich
declared that, from the moment that he first directed his et
ter,Wa to the subject, he had been of opinion that the mis-
chief attending judicial executions far outweighed the bene-
fit, while on principle be was strongly opposed to them.
(Hear, hear.)
Mr. C. WORDSWORTH sopurted the resolution. He
seid they mat evince their sincerity in this matter by endea-
vouring to influence and to create public opinion. (Hear,
hear.) Sir 0•07,10 Guy hid declared his belief that those
who attended public executions were, for the most part,
themselves imbued with crime. To a great extent, no
&Wit, that observation was true - but what
would the ladies who had been referred to think
of such :a statement? Immense progress had been made
I within a few years in the abolition of' capital punishment.
In the year 1760 —the year in which George the Third
ascended the throne, 160 offences were puni liable capitally.
Ac the present time high treason, murder, and one or two
other offences could done be visited with such punishment.
This showed a gradual advance of public opinion on the sub-
' jut, which was in a greet degree attributable to the disgust
created by repeated spectacles of public 'etude'. In the
latter part of the last century a girl of fourteen years
'of age, who had hid some marked farthings at the bidding
of her mister, was for that offence condemned to be burnt
alive ; and a few years later a woman who had a child suck-
ing at her breast was hung. Eleven years from the time of 'I
which he was speaking, a woman in a state of pregnancy '
'was allowed to bide her time, mad, after the birth of her
child, was torn from it, and handed over to the executioner.
Between 1800 and 1805 Mr. Justice Heath, sitting is Erse:,
sentenced a man to be hung for cutting dowu a cherry tree,
of the value of five shillinge—(hear, hear)—and that sentence
was actually carried into execution. (Hear, hue.) Looking'
at the aspect in which the matter was now re-
garded, it was quite evident that public opinion
had made a great advance in the right direction. I
One argument was, that capital punishment was efficacious
in deterring from crime ,• but had they not bad remarkable
statistical evidence to the contrary, from the Rev. Mr. Tho-
mu of Bristol, who stated that out of 167 criminals he had
attended, 164 had previously been attendants on public
executions. (Hear, hear.) So much for example. He
might also mention the case of Connor, convicted some
unions since at the Old Bailey, who committed a
murder on the very day twelve months on which he had
witnessed an execution. (Hear, hear.) He remembered
another case—that of a man hung for forgery. His
body was given to his friends, and they were afterwards
detected committing the same offence in the room with hie
eorcee. (Hear, hear.) So much for the influence of capital
punishment in deterring from crime. (Hear, hear.) There
was one other point he wished to urge upon the authorities.
Capital punishment was inoperative, because of the uncer-
tainty of its infliction. He himself remembered a case of
' Ipeisouing at Chelmsford, in which conviction war unites-
sally expected because the evidence was clear. But there
was on the jury a member of the Society of Friends, who'
seesidered that the law of God, and of the New Testament, on
.gated member
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public opinion was advancing fast on this
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for hie inaboilist:sice. SirThagahis reosetiajnltreagessesapvoietanMgs:pfeoudkrtnniats.nned::Uth:nifiet:lllwiane:lndott
glorious monument to hie memory. The Grand Duke of
it had been found to be unit even in Russia during
the reigns of the Empresses gactre7ne and Elizabeth. At
home Bentham and Brougham had declared against it, and

it was clearly proved by all the advocates of ab---fl.. on n.,
government had no right to inflict the penistmatet /With."'"
had been made to the hothouses' of suicide. In them
know he concurred; but if it were sinful In a te—...._".
away his owe life, it wee surely equally too to tette a.,—. "'op,
of others. The learned gentleman concluded bye: ,;...f...y ".4
hie full concurrence in the terms of the resolution 11—o
The CHAIRMAN, before putting the resolution, mu
that he did not know the particulus of themes at cf,t,..•
ford, to which the hon. gentleman had alluded, bat fi —'l,,,_
Maud that the Society of Friends had adopted a meth
ellesnial principle of action with regard to thk „Ilk§
Thep had determined, no matter what might be 14---."‘
emu.
wine, never to serve on • jury when the life of a fellow
testers was at stake. (Hear, hear.)
The resolution was then pat, and tarried tuntairausly,
Tito Rev. H. RICHARDS moved the next mole; -•
•
" That • petition (Quailed on the forego* elaele
etreed hy the chairman oa behalf Glebe meting, be
sena Ma reseal by the repreaeutativettit the befeeita
e felt rejoiced at the opportunity afforded him ofj
his (rinds on that side of the river in expreedee •
tbajadicial murder which had recently Mu --" •
Mute neighbourhood. (Hear, hear.) Re
/capered with every faculty to insist N',wit
NW amdismal institutions so degrading en Wage atiy
imement feelings of humanity as the event of
Plallib
mat (Hear, hear.) Tway had a pertiouVe e...
with them; they had the clergy by hundreds ; and tii
hra.
member for Dumfries had informed them that leit
the Home Secretary himself only_ wanted a little pee
to come round to their views. Under such cite 1
he felt justified in prognosticating a speedy abolitimieftle
gallows. (Loud cheers )
Mr. J.ROBERTSON seconded the resolutione Bodge.
teaching the spirit of murder by exemplifying it. Tee 4
ment that evil caul I not be overcome by evil, bet e
good, was one of the grandest lessons of the New Tem&
men& (Hear, hear.) The influence of mercy week Is
bleared in relation to society, and on the realisation of flyl truth by society and the legislature depended, he belime.,
the abolition of capital punishment..
Mr. J. SUOBLE, in supporting the etiolation, IQ be
fully concurred is the argument of the Preeedieg
with regard to the principle of mercy. With regudo ti,
substitution of private for public' asesstinatiou, the 5
Secretary having intimated his willingness to brief 4 Lte
for that purpou it wee necessary that the p4u, aiii
shout! be roused upon the subject. It mit le
very difficult to get • jury to act el I"
nesses—none who did not resemble the mob trek
consent to act. (Hear, hear.) It &prang , ii..
Mr. Cs:craft was entitled to their sympathy ; fee as.•
reported to have said that .' these matters now had reef 3
effect upon him, and made him so dreadfully num& pe
he should have te give up has office of hangmen" Ili
Dicker then proceeded to lecture Cilcraft on his new:
saying that he should be corrected for kites', emly teukei:
his joke., his oaths, and, above all, his brandy. (A (eek)
Mr. Dickens would make private assassination a met al.
spectable proceeding, and the executioner a met
respected individual. (A laugh.) He (Mr. flotib)
had been much amused at reading Mr. Dieluies hoe
whose otject was evidently to make a melodrama& dia
execution. (Hear, hear.) He would not on:y hare h pf.
formed with great solemnity, but he would have
outside the prison walls He would have all the alus°llllll
the City abut'—(laughter); and not oily that, he film
have the bells kept tolling. (Laughter.) There WS le.
tainly something very dramatic sot that, and to pies 4.
crowd i Beet, Mr. Dickens would have the whole lei
air uded in mystery. (Hear, hear.) Away With milt
puerility ; it might do in a fiction, but it was totally lip
plicoble te the business of real life. 'Hear, hear.)
Tne la solutirni was then put sad carried
The CHAIRMAN here stated, I, st any mia,ppretteasim
might ga forth, that many of the judges whom the kw
member for Dumfries had not mentioned bad gut Oa
opinions in favour of capital punishment before the Homed
Lords, but since then Lord Nugent had informed his (Ifi.
Gilpin that the majority of the legal bench had become if.
avocet.. of abolition. (Hear.)
Mr. A. B. STEVENS, moved the third resolution, otlet
the members for the borough be requested to support Os
petition."
Mr. WEBSTER seconded the resolution, contendieg dig
on every ground of reason and just!. capital punishment
should be swept away.
Tail CHAIRMAN said he had reason to know thstffe
W. Molesworth was favourable to the abolition of mod
punishment. Oa the ether hand, he believed that Mr.&
derman Humphery, who voted for the abolition in Mk
voted against it in 1849. (Hisses.)
The resolution was then put and carried.
A vote of thanks to the chairman was carried by acclaim
flop, and briefly acknowledged.