Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-09-02 00:00:00

CAPITAL PUNISII4ENT.

TO THE RIGHT REVEREND DOCTOR GRAHAM,
LORD BISHOP OF CHESTER

My LORD,—A poor fellow-creature was slaugh-
tered in this city on Friday morning last, on
circumstantial evidence ; in other words, he was
slaughtered because men supposed that he had
. committed murder.. It was truly marvellous to
see men, women, and children going to witness
the slaughter. I have been informed that much
fuss was made about a confession ; that is, men
did their utmost to induce the poor man to confess
that he murdered a gamekeeper. Why torment
the poor fellow about a confession ? he had already
been condemned to die a cruel death. Suppose
the man had been guilty, and that he made a con-
fession, he would have been afterwards hanged like
a dog. Perhaps the men who condemned him
were doubtful as to his guilt, and consequently
were most anxious about a confession. The thief
on the cross made no confession to poor mortal
men who slaughtered the Redeemer, but shouted
with all his might to his expiring Saviour, " Lord,
remember me when thou contest to thy kingdom "
The Redeemer replied in the following beautiful
words—" To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
Had there been no reply to the poor thief, we
might be doubtful about a death-bed repentance.
I have been infsrmed that the man Corbett would
have upset heaven and earth if he had the power,
rather than John Blagg should have escaped the
gallows. I wonder how this great sinner will feel
when gasping for breath on his deatiebed. and an
eternity staring him full in the face. Well, my
Lord, the gamekeeper must have been shot by
some one. I regret to say, gamekeepers are too
much like police-officers—give them power. and
they are tyrants. John Bebbington and John
Blagg are slumbering in the tombs to-day in
consequence of the game laws. The game law
is an accursed law; in fact, it is the law of
devils, and ought not to be the law of men
professing Christianity. According to my judgment
John Blagg had as much right to the game as
Edwin Corbett. Proud rich men of earth mon-
opolize and slaughter the game as if they had
created them ; yes, my Lord, and they monopolize
everything on the earth as well as what is
called game, and call the lands after their own
names, as recorded in the 43th Psalm. James,
understood proud rich men, hear what he says in
the v. chapter,—'' Go to now, ye. rich men, weep
and howl for your miseries that shall come upon
you ; your riches are corrupted and your garments
are moth-eaten ; your gold and silver is cankered,
and the rust of them shall be a witness against
you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire : ye
have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Behold the hire of the labourers who have reaped
down your fields, which is of you kept back by
fraud, crieth, and the cries of them which
have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lerd
of Saboath." I often see reported in news-
papers, that such, and such parties slaughtered so
much game within a certain time. I sea nothing
to boast of in this. When the noble creature man,
fell from his original high position, the whole
creation felt the blow of this fall, and are
groaning and travailing in pain together—
so says Paul. The lion, the lamb, and the
majestic • eagle, felt the blow of this fall
in common with every other creature. The lion
once eat straw like the ox—he eats now the flesh
of other animals in consequence of the sin of man.
The inhuman butcher now thrusts his knife into
the neck of the pretty little lamb, and the flesh of
the same lamb is eaten by the human family in
consequence of the sin of man. Some persons
might say—" Was cot the lamb created for the
food of man ? " I say, no such thing; not a single
animal was slaughtered for the food of man for
two thousand years after the creation of man.
'Uhe same persona might again say—" Did not
Adam and his beloved wife make themselves
garments of the. skins of amimals when whipped
out of Paradise. I say, exactly so; the animals
in question wereolot slaughtered for food, but as a
sacrifice for sin. Thus sacrifice for sin commenced
outside the gate of Paradise, and ceased riot until
the great and final sacrifice on the cross. The hu-
man constitution was not forined for animal food but
fc.r -rogotatiuu as recorded in the 29th vereo of the
tet chapter of Genesis. Well, my lord, lam dis-
guested with the pride and foolish distinotion,of this
country ; I make no foolish distinction between
the human family, because the great Creator made
no distinction in the material forming the body
of the only man ever created. We hear much of
royal blood—l am at a loss to know what kind of
blood it is—suppose a few drops of my blood and
a few drops of what is called royal blood, was
carefully packed in jars and sent •to Professor
Taylor of London, who is supposed to be the most
eminent chemist in England, could he say which
was what is called royal blood, and which was
mine Remember, my lord, I don't despise roy.
tray, I love them as brethren, because they are
flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone. It is not
against royalty so called that I am protesting, but
against pride and foolish distinction of this poor
fallen earth. There is no distinction between
the babe of the rich mother and the babe of thepoor
mother in the womb, neither is there any appar-
ent distinction at the birth, both are born naked
and doubtless lovely to behold—!he poor slave
who is still subject to the tyrants lash in the far
west, is as precious in the sight of the Creator as
any of the monarchs of earth. If I had a voice
powerful enough to reach across the mighty Atlan-
tic; I would shout with all my might; hold on
ye blood-thirsty wretches, don't you know that the
poor slave was in the loins of his father in Para-
dise as well as you. Well, my lord, we are in a
sad state in this country—the people are going
headlong to hell as fast as they well can do, under
the very noses of the ministers of the gospel; I
am afraid many ministers of the gospel are not in
earnest; too many of them are too proud to preach
as they ought to do ; and too many of them suffer
the grass to grow under their feet in the pulpits,
and dust to accumulate on the cushions,
and don't speck out.as men regardless of
consequences. Luther used to hammer the
truth into the hearts of the people of
his day. The fact is, my lord, we have too many
Oxford and Cambridge men in the pulpits of
England—men puffed up with pride—who crawl
the earth as if they were gods rather than men.
The poor fishermen were not Oxford and Cam-

bridge men. Yet we are told that Peter, by his
preaching, converted three thousand souls in one
day. It is recorded in the 44th verse of the 2nd
chapter of Acts, that all who believed were toge-
ther, and had all things common. It is also
recorded in the 45. h verse of the same chapter,
that they sold their possessions and goods, and
parted them to all men as every man had need
Now, my lord, you, no doubt, understand this very
well. The rich who had property sold it, and
gave part of the produce to the poor, according to
their need. If the falsely called Christians of
England followed the example of these men, we
should have a very different state of things
People talk much in these days about education.
My lord, take my word for it, no education can be of

any real solid advantage unless men and women be
educated to know the value of human life. If law-
makers had been educated to know the value of
human life, there never would have been game
laws; if the falsely called educated gentleman who
slaughters his fellow in a duel had been educated

to know the value of human life, such a thought
never would have entered his head ; if the captain
and the two mates, found guilty of murder in
Liverpool a few days ago, had been educated to
know the value of human life, they would have
treated the poor sailor as a brother; if English,
French, Russians, and Turks had been educated to
know the value of human life, there would have
been no Crimea war; if law-malcers of Eng!and
had been educated to know what it cost to redeem
the souls of men, John Blagg would not have been
executed ; if it be true that a great day is looming
in the distance, hidden things of darkness will be
brought to light on that day. The tyrants of
Egypt of old, who compelled the people to make
bricks without straw, will stand in their lot on the
earth on that day, and be judged for works done
in the body, as well as the
.Jeffries and Gurneys of