The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-07-22 00:00:00

a great triumph, if we can dare to use a word of

exultation on such a subject, for the advocates of

the sparing of life

It ShOWs that those exhibi-

tions-which were only a few years ago looked up

to as so many natural incidents in the ordinary
course of things have become too horrible for these
days. The Peers of the Realm, have, in a word, ex-
ploded the doctrine of " example," and have so-

lemnly rebuked those who ask on that score " blood
for blood" as a great public necessity. The Whole

f capital puni

Ihment has, therefore,

itself into the narrowest limits It has, in
—whether that whieh the highest

fact, com

to this

tribunal in the land are of opinion is injurious to
society when performed in public, is to be sanc-
tioned in private ? To give the country the
supposed benefit of a full measure of even-handed
justice, every responsible being who commits
a murder ought to be hanged. This can

not be done, owing to the numbers found
guilty. One in three or five only is selected
for execution, although all are equally guilty, and
those who suffer the extreme penalty of law are
publicly hanged, as we have always been told, for
example—to strike terror into the minds of evil
doers. Now, if this example is found to be no
longer expedient, what becomes of the argument
in favour of putting one murderer to death and
sparing the life of another?

Is it to be supposed that the public desire to have
those lives taken away within the precincts of a
prison which they do not deem necessary to take
for the general good before the world ? Such an
idea betrays a belief that there is a greater degree
of ferocity existing in the Englishman's bosom
than has yet been shown, whereas the suggestion
contained in the Lords' report is the result of a
directly opposite feeling, -and growing conviction
in favour of the total abolition of the punishment
of death, under any circumstances. The whole
subject has, however, been once more brought
fairly under discussion, and_ when the report of
the Peers' Committee has been read and digested
by the public, we are convinced that the arguments
which have been employed against the continuance
of open day hanging, will be found to tell as
strongly against the expediency of private execu-
. There are many deaths more terrible to
meet than that of the gibbet. There is the death of

a man's liberty ; the death of a pitiless slave in
chains ; the death of a self-accused and self-
condemned murderer; the death of on exile,

separated from the scenes of his wickedness—from
all his lingering attachments to home and kindred,
in an impenatrable wilderness, pursued by the
bitterest tribulation at the thought of the past and

but that new birth which robs death, even
on the scaffold, of its sting. Finally, there is no
other subject which could engage the attention of
any people in which religion, morality, and philo-
sophy combine in such perfect harmony as they do
on this one. And the more those who are in favour
of capital punishment reflect upon it, and discuss
it, the sooner they will be convinced that it is a
practice which ought to have ceased with the dawn
of Christianity and the emancipation of the mind
of man from the thraldom of paganism.

Humanity has no refuge from these

tortur

THE WENSLEYDALE PEERAGE.—We have reason to
believe that the question so long pending as to the am-
biguous position of Lord Wensleydale will be immediately
solved by the conversion of the life peerage which that
eminent lawyer now holds into an hereditary peerage.
Under all the circumstances of the case we cannot but
express our satisfaction at this termination of the dispate ;
our suprise is only that so simple a solution of the diffi-
culty should not have been thought of at an earlier period
in the session.—Times.

ST. MATTHIAS'S CHURCH SCHOOLS.—Last night a soiree
was held in St. Matthias's Church School-, great Howard-
street, on the occasion of the distribution of prizes to the
pupils. There was a very numerous gathering of the
members of the congregation belonging to the church, and
of the friends and supporters of the schools, and the fes-
tivity seemed to afford to all the utmost pleasure. After
a very excellent tea, to which full and liberal justice was
done by " Young England," assembled for the occasion,
the company retired to the railed-in space outside the
church, which was canopied over and tastefully fitted up
with evergreens and flowers as a promenade, and while
they there enjoyed the fresh evening air, grateful after
the heated atmosphere in which they had been recently
crowded, the tea equipage was removed and the rooms
Prepared for the more practical business of the evening.
In one part of the promenade, however, a magic lanthorn
was set up, and was a source of boundless amusement to
the children, whose laughter and exclamations of delight
came streaming in at intervals through the door of the
school where their seniors were listening to the instruc-
tive and encouraging discourses on the importance of lay
agencies and visitations, which were being delivered by
the clergymen present. The chair was occupied by the
Rev. Mr. Sheldon (incumbent), and the other clergy-
men in attendance were the Reverends H. Marlon,
It. Dandy, J. Gilmour, and G. Troughton. The
Chairman, before proceeding to the distribution of
the prizes, observed that the examinations had been
strictly carried out on the Government plan of written
questions, and that the utmost impartiality had been
observed in deciding as to the successful competitors. In
the girls' school they had given a special prize for sewing,
because it was one of the most important qualifications a
young lady could possess (hear, hear), and he, for his
part, should confess that he would not give a pin tor any
woman that could not darn a stocking and make a shirt.
(Hear, hear, and laughter.) This prize, consisting of a
very pretty little work-box, was then bestowed on a
little girl named Amy Jarman, whose eyes beamed
with pride and pleasure as she received it. Prizes consist-
ing of books were bestowed for readin.:, writing, &c., on
Sarah Ann Hiley; 2nd prize, Margaret ihnson. Second
division, Elizabeth Trumpet ; third division, Ann Joyce.
Boys' school-Ist prize, 11. Moore; 2nd do., William
Mitchell; second division, Thomas Hunter; third division,
James Corran; arithmetic, Edward Carey. Several
anthems were sung by the choir, which is composed of
voluntary amateurs, during the evening, and the company
separate until an advanced hour. We may mention
that before breaking up a most elegant and beautiful

did not s