The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-23 00:00:00

Mr, Charles Gilpin, M.P., on Capital

Punishment.

Last night a lecture was delivered in the Surrey Chapel
by the Rev. Newman Hall, on " Capital Punishments."
Mr. Charles Gilpin, M.P., occupied the chair, and the
chapel was crowded by an audiencs composed chiefly of
working men.

Mr. GILPIN opened the proceedings, and after some
preliminary observations said :—This is a subject on
which I have long taken an active and earnest interest.
It is now close on twenty years ago since shortly after
coming to London I was the means of getting in Exeter
Hall as large a meeting us could be assembled on the sub-
ject of capital punishments. We had a wall filled plat-
form. Mr, E wari, the memter for Dumfries, a roost
active and intelligent lab mrer in the cause, was in the
chair ; and we hid Lord Nugent, Mr. Bright, Daniel
O'Connell, and other well-known persons present.
We had the Church represented by Dr. Mortimer and
the Rev. Henry Christmas —we had Dissenters of
various denarninations—we had, in,leed, the Church of
Christ represented. That meeting uttered an emphatic
denunciation of the gallows and the principles upon which
it was maintained. (Acplaus:.) Time will only allow ma
to glance briefly at the reasons why I think—why I know—
that capital punishment ought to be abolished. In looking
back upon my earliest years I remember that one of the
earliest impressions which took hold upon my mind in con-
nection with that Christian teaching of which I had the ad.
vantage, was a strong repugnance to the putting of men
and women to death upon any plea whatever. I had a child's
reason ; but that reason has grown with my growth. I
asked whether it were true that a man was, or was not, fit
to die. According to my teaching and yours, a man was
prepared for death, or he was not, and, if not prepared for
death, we know the consequences. If a man be prepared to
die—repentant, forgiven; and redeemed —then it seemed to
the child, as it seems to me, that for the murder of a fela
low-man a man should not be hanged. If a man is not
repentent and forgiven, and consequently not prepared to
die, then it was something that made the child's mind shud-
der that a fellow-worm should take from a man or woman
all possibility of repentance and condemn him to an eternity
of woe. In going over the dreary and dismal criminal re-
cords of the last 2:5 years I can show you cases illustrative
of the unsoundness of every argument that is urged upon
us for the maintenance of capital punishment. I hold that
there is no object of a good, righteous, and just law that
can be carried out by capital punishment. A boy under
16 years was executed some years ago at Newgate. He

had shot his master in a most deliberate manner. He
had bought the pistol, bullet, and powder some days
before. He had gone to see some persons hanged, and
after having seen them hanged formed his own opinion
as to the amount of suffering that was to be endured.
He shot his master : he was sentenced to death, and
a personal friend of mine who saw him in a cell

found hum callous and insensible to all reasoning
as to the consequences of his crime. That boy went to his
death upon the scaffold like a favourite actor, and died in a
spirit of bravado. Near the same time a woman was executed
for murder. She committed the crime in a fit of jealousy,
but no sooner had she done it then she repented it with her
whole heart. She gave herself up to justice, pleaded guilty,
but at first her plea was not accepted, wed she was kept, I
think, over two assiaas. During that time she wrote letters
of a very touching character ; the chaplain was incessant
in his ministrations, and made no secret of his opinion that
she was a converted and repentant woman. On the day of
the execution the chaplain was with her in the cell. They
read the Bible, and prayed and sang hymns together, until
at last they were startled by hearing the bells tolling to tell
her that her last hour was come. She then asked to partake
of the sacrament, and you all know the beautiful language
in which the minister had to address that convict. I think
he had to call her " a sister in Christ," and yet before the
ceremony was over, Calcraft came to pinion " that sister in
Christ." She bore it patiently, and sustained herself until
she was met by the yells of the crowd, who from the delay
which had occurred, feared that they were to be deprived
of their victim. She fainted away, and was hung insensi •
ble. I recollect both Sarah Harriet Thomas and James
Bloomfield Rush. Their crimes wete very different. Sarah
H. Thomas was a young girl of 18 or 19, and she made the
strongest effort to prevent herself being executed. I have
made a document before me showing that no less than six
men had to drag her out of the cell, and hold her upon the
drop until she was strangled. Then Rush, who had nou-
rished his revenge for a length of time, and had deliberately,
with malice and forethought, committed murder in cold
blood, met his end as calmly and as coolly as a Christian on
his death• bed--not, of course, in the same frame of mind,
but with great hardihood. What good effect does the
ruthless killing of one man by another produce upon the
crowd, which is the great argument of those who support
capital punishment ? I well remember that Daniel O'Con-
nell told us at the Exeter-hall meeting to which I have re-
ferred, of three men whom he himself had defended upon a
capital charge in Ireland, I will give his own words :
"I defended three brothers charged with a capital offence ;
they were young able-bodied men. I was satisfied of their
innocence, but the jury found them guilty, and they were
condemned to die. At that time, especially in Ireland, exe-
cution followed swiftly upon sentence; and accordingly
shortly afterwards I saw those three young men led out to
execution. They were surrounded by a file of soldiers lest
any of the mob should come near them. Their le other was
there. I saw her, armed with the strength of her affection,
break through the file, for the bayonets of the soldiers
lowered instinctively before her. I saw her cling to her
eldest son, a young man, 23 years of age ; I saw her throw
herself upon her second, who was 21 years of age ; I saw
her burst upon the breast of her third son, a boy of 19 ; and
I ask who can make amends to her for that agony ? They
were all executed, and they were all innocent, as it was
afterwards proved." The hon. gentleman then referred to
the case of James Howell, who was executed at Ipswich,
who declared his innocence to the last, and whose innocence
was believed by a large number of people, and the effect of
his death was to break the heart of his wife, who died a short
time afterwards. He also read a letter from an. Indian chief
expressing in simple but striking language the horror with
which he had witnessed an execution in this Christian coun-
try. The hon. gentleman then continued great deal
was made by some people of a certain passage in the Old Tes •
tament, which is supposed in some way to sanction capital
punishment. I don't speak of this as a ground that will is au.
ence the House of Commons. Convince the House of Com-
mons that capital punishment can be seedy done away with,
that it will be for the benefit of society that it should cease,
and you may rely that neither Mosaic nor pre-lKosaic com-
mands will prevent them from eoivg what they believe to be
expedient. (A laugh.) It is remarkable that in the various
public meetings which I have held on this subject, wherever
there has been any opposition it has generally come from
ministers of religion on one ground, " that whoso sheddeth
man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." This is a text
of uncertain interpretation—there are some halt dozen read-
ings of it, and I tell you upon authority that cannot be effec-
tually disputed, that " will" would bo as correct a transla-
tion as " shall." Upon this solitary foundation—one dis-
puted text—it seems that they can build the structure of the
gibbet. GAI once punished a murderer, the worst because
the first murderer. His sentence was, not that Cain shall
die, but that he shall live. I will lay a mark upon him lest
any man finding him shall slay him." It is my earnest
hope and fervent trust now that public feeling is again
rising on the subject of capital punishment—now that the
working men are taking it up, that the time is not far dis •
tent when we shall find the gallows swept away among other
relics of a disgraceful past, and when we shall find our law
in this respect assimilated more in spirit and practice to the
will of Him " who willeth not the death, of the sinner, but
rather that he should turn and live." (Cheers.)
Ihe Rev. NEwMAN HALL then proceeded to deliver his
lecture, and entered with his usual eloquence and ability into
the subject. He replied to the scriptural argument, and
dwelt un the circumstance that juries often refused to con-
vict for crime knowing that death would follow. He be-
lieved that capital punishment was not commanded by the
Old Testament—was repugnant to the spirit of the new, and
opposed to the best interests of society,
A vote of thanks to Mr. Gilpin concluded the proceedings,

---
MARKETS---`his Day.

MARK-LANE.
A limited supply of English wheat was received fresh
up to our market to-day. For good and fine dry samples
there was a steady demand, at full prices; otherwise the
trade was dull, on former terms.
Tee show of samples of foreign wheat on the stands was
by no means extensive. Sales, however, progressed slowly,
nevertheless, prices ruled firm.
Floating cargoes of grain moved off slowly, at late rates.
With barley the market was moderately supplied. Ge-
nerally speaking the tradb was quiet, yet prices ruled sta-
tionary, Good and fine malting qualities, however, were
firm in va'ue.
Very little change took place in the value of malt ; but
the trade was in a sluggish state.
Oats were in good supply and heavy request, at fully the
late decline in value.
Beans and peas met a slow sale at late rates.
The flour trade was quiet, on former terms.
The Corn Exchange will be closed on Friday next.
ARRIVALS THIS
Wheat. liariev. Oats. Flom.
210 210 1,910 CSO i 370
Irish I)
Voroign 1,3:0 1,360 11;!) 120 Bice.
brls