The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-15 00:00:00

POSSESSING
THE LARGEST, CIRCULATION, •

AND 13 THE

BEST ADVERTISING MEDIUM

IN LIVERPOOL.;

SMALL ADVERTISEMENTS

SIXPENC E EACH.

The NORTHERN TIMES is delivered every morning at
Subscribers' residences, within five miles of the Liverpool
Exchange, by special messengers, by Eight o'clock, for the
Annual Subscription of zel 18s. Oct. in advance.
OFFICE. 19, SOUTH JOHN-STREET,
LIVERPOOL.

L .42 e fttjrii

a °Nadi', DECEMBER 15, 1856.
E DAY'S NEWS.

TH

By the time our publication of to-day is placed
upun the table of the greater par..., of our readers,
another human being will have perished upon lite
scaffold.
.The law will have vindicated its majesty,
and public' revenge had its satisfaction. Neve' the-'
less, t.ve again question the expediency, the
the efficacy, or the justice of legal strangulation.
As journalists, we have opposed its infliction ; an&
true to our principles, we must not allow any
suitable opportunity to pass without urging in
emphatic terms the abrogation of a system that is
as equally unsuccessful in effecting the objects for
which it was intended, as has been the notori-
ous " ticket of leave" scheme. The last twelve
months have been most fruitful in public execu-
tions. lt has been to Calcraft a complete harYest.
During the period we mention he haS been Profes-
sionally engaged in very many of the counties of
England. With rope in hand and cap in pocket,his
symbol of death and destruction, he commenced
the year by operating upon Jonathan Heywood at
Kirkdale, and we suppose he will end it by giving
the law's last finishing touch to wretched Jackson
at the ancient city of churches—Chester. Old arid
young, male and female, have submitted to his fatal
process of pinioning, and afterwards to the other
dread but momentary ceremonies which precede
the drawing of the fatal bolt. Thousands upon
thousands of the population have gone forth to
witness these revolting scenes. But if we can
credit the reports which have been published after..
their occurrence, not only were the witnesses, but
the convicts themselves, unmoved. Indeed, the
later, we are told, have walked up to the fatal beam
with firm step and unmoved nerve. The near
approach of appearing before the Great Judge of
all mankind presented no terrors to alarm—the
thoughts of a murderer's doom brought no feelings
of regret fee a life misspent, nor did the scrutinizing
gaze of the congregated thousands of fellow beings
who assembled to gratify the feelings of a morbid
curiosity. To the last moment the doomed con-
victs, if we take their conduct from the hour of
Isentence to that of execution into account,' have
regarded themselves convicted martyrs and dying
heroes. The last night of their existence, we are
told by the prison aut horitit s, they have eaten
well and slept soundly, rose next morning without
trepidation, received the Sheriff's visit, and ob-
served the hangman's entrance with much com-
posure, if not complete indifference. And as
regards the multitudes who saw these wretches
" cast off," the effect has besn equally as fruit
less in quelling crime, for in no period of our,
criminal annals have the offences of that de
seription been as rife—within the present half
century—(at least) as they are now. Nor is it in
one portion of the country where such a
melancholy state of things exist. In England,
in Ireland, and in Scotland too, these fatal deeds
of barbarous and savage ferocity are of common
occurrence The gallows there is no cure for
the crime of murder. As well naig'at, we expect
that the youth, who peruses the pages of Rob-
inson Crusoe, and sips in the hair-breadth
escapes on sea and land, through which he passed,
the privations which he endured, and the solitary,
dangerous, and romantic life which he led, would
have an effect of putting an end to his longing for
entering upon the adventurous career of a sailor.
The details of a bloody carnage on the battle
field, the heart-rending accounts of what our
glorious troops suffered and endured before Sebas-
topol, and the sight of the maimed and the sick
who returned therefrom, could not abate the
ardour for, or the love of martial glory, or eradicate
an eager desire to be amongst the strife and din of
arms, the participation of the soldiers sufferings
and privations. No more then, will capital punish-
ments repress crime and outrage. If society is to
be protected, the disgraceful exhibitions of the
scaffold must be given up, and some other mode of
punishing those who embrue their hands in inno-
cent blood ; adopted one in consonance with the
sprit of the age in which we live, and which
will be dictated by reason and common sense.
We have given in another column details of the
ravages of the storms of last week. The disasters
both by sea and land are truly appalling, Many
a ' fellow creature has perished by this terrific
raging of the elements. We remember no period
(save 1839), when such. disasters have been the
result of a winter's storm. Deeply do we commis.
aerate with the poor and needy who are victims to
its ravages, and hope that, considering the season,
Christian benevolence will step forward, and, as
soon as possible, generously aid in relieving
suffering humanity.
A public return of much interest to the nation
at large has just been published by order of the
House of Commons, on the motion of Mr. W.
Williams, the would-be successor of the late Mr.
Hume. The return is an official account of the
income and expenditure of Great Britain during
the two years at which we were at war with Russia.
According to the tables of this return, the year
ending the 30th of March, 1856, was wholly spent
in Warfare, yet the expenditure of action was less
than that of preparation. - The income for 1855 was
64,091,171/, and for 1856, 70,552,145/, and the total
expendittire above the income in the two years
was 29;000,000. The return, as a whole, is a most
interesting one, and demands a separate and more
lengthened notice than we can bestow upon it
under this head. . .
As yet nothing is definitely settled . respecting
the,Southampton election, which will take place in
February: Two Liberals and one Conservative are
on the field as candidates. The liberals are still
split among themselves, and should not the breach
shortly be healed, Sir I dward Butler will in all.
probability occupy the seat vacated by the new
Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Mr.
Bailie Cochran is up for Lanarkshire, but if we can
attach any importance to the statement put forth
in our respected contemporarY, the North British
Daily Mail, he has no chance, as the people of that
county cannot, and do not relish his political
principles and past public career.
, The mortal remains of the venerable apostle of
temperance, Father Mathew, were consigned to
their .-find '
resting place on Friday last.
time the corpse remained uninterred
'upon thousands of the very humblest
During
thousands the
of the citizens of Cork flocked to where the body
. to pay their last sad tribute
was laid out in state
of pious and affectionate respect to the remains of
one who lived and moved so long in the midst of
them, diffusing an odiom of sanctity around him,
gion by his
and lending grace and dignity to reli