The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-27 00:00:00

To THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

We, your Majesty's commissioners appointed " to
inquire into the provisions and operation of thelaws
now in force in the United Kingdom, under and by
virtue of which the punishment of death may be in-
flicted upon persons convicted of certain crimes, and
also into the manner in which capital sentences are
carried into execution, and to certify to your Ma-
jesty under our hands and seals, or under the hands
and seals of any five or more of us, our several pro-
ceedings in the premises, and at the same time to
report to your Majesty our opinion whether any
and what alteration is desirable in such laws or any,
of them, or in the manner in which such sentences
are carried into execution," humbly report as follows :
1. We have been occupied a considerable time in
taking evidence upon the question referred to us.
Many witnesses have been examined, and a care-
ful summary of their evidence precedes this report.
In addition to this oral testimony, certain ques-
tions have been addressed to, and answers received
from, nearly all the nations of Europe, and some of
the States of the United States of America, with
regard to the laws relating to the punishment of
death existing in those countries respectively.
The opinions of all her Majesty's judges in Eng-
land, Ireland, and Scotland, as well as of other
eminent criminal lawyers, have been requested upon
the expediency of making any alteration in the laws
under which the punishment of death may now be
inflicted upon persons convicted of certain crimes.
In answer to this request some of the judges have
sent in statements of their views, while others have
attended before the commission and verbally stated
their opinions. The whole of this evidence, both
oral and documentary, will be found in the appen-
dix.

2. The commissioners forbear to enter into the
abstract question of the expediency of abolishing or
maintaining capital punishment, on which subject
differences of opinion exist among them, but they
are all of opinion that certain alterations ought to
be made in the existing law.
3. The only crimes now practically punishable
with death in the United Kingdom are treason and
murder ; we say practically, because in Scotland
there remain many other offences which are still in
point of law liable to be so punished, though in fact
such a case never occurs. We strongly recommend
that this anomaly be no longer allowed to exist, and
that all such obsolete laws be repealed.
A list of these offences will be found in the Ap-
pendix, p. •
4. We have then, first, to consider whether, as-
suming capital punishment to be retained, we should
recommend any change in its present application to
the crime of treason, and upon this point we have
come to the conclusionthat no alteration is required.
The statute of the 11 and 12 Vic., c. 12, commonly
called the " Treason Felony Act," without in any
way abrogating the ancient law upon that subject,
has introduced a new and more merciful law, which
in all but cases of extreme gravity will probably su-
persede the former. The maximum punishment
under this act is penal servitude for life, which seems
sufficiently severe in cases of constructive treason
unaccompanied by overt acts of rebellion, assassi-
nation, or other violence. With respect to treason
of the latter character, we are of opinion that the
extreme penalty must remain.

5. We now arrive at the consideration of the crime
of murder and its punishment, and in treating this
difficult question we think it convenient briefly tc
refer in the first instance to the existing state of the
law.

6. By the law murder is the unlawfully killing
another with malice aforethought, and this defini-
tion appears to us to be correct in principle.
Unfortunately these words have not been confined
to express malice aforethought, or as it is sometimes
called malice in fact, but have received a less natu-
kia collsGi u,Uun which has long been adopted as the
settled law of the land. It has been held that malice
in its legalsense imports nothing more than a wicked
do injury to the person of another with-
out any just cause or excitau,
is killed in consequence of any such wicked inten-
tion the law will infer malice aforethought, though
no express enmity or preconceived design can be
shown; not indeed a particular, but a general ma-
lice aforethought, arising from the extreme depra-
vity of disposition shown by the act. This doctrine
of implied malice aforethought goes even beyond
this, and it is carried to such an extent that the law
always infers it when a person in the act of commit-
ting a felony, even of a trifling nature, kills another,
though there may be in fact no premeditation, and
no intention to kill, or do serious injury.
When homicide is committed in the perpetration
of crimes of great enormity, such as those enume-

rated in clause 12, this inference may not be impro-
perly drawn.
7. The extreme severity of this construction has
been somewhat mitigated by the law of manslaugh-
ter, which is defined to be the unlawful killing of
another without malice express or implied. In order
to reduce the crime from murder to manslaughter,
the law allows evidence of provocation to be given
to rebut the inference of malice, which would other-
wise be drawn from the act of killing. Here, how-
ever, again certain arbitrary rules have been intro-
duced into the law, which most materially restrict
its beneficial operation. It has been established by
the decisions of our courts that no provocations by
words, or looks, or gestures, however contemptuous
and insulting, or by any trespass merely against
lands or goods, is sufficient to free the party killing
from the guilt of murder, if he kills with a deadly
weapon, or in any manner showing an intention to
kill, or do grievous bodily harm. In those cases,
though the suddenness of the provocation may rebut
in point of fact the express malice aforethought, it is
not allowed, on account of its supposed insignifi-
cance, to overcome the general malice aforethought
which is implied by the law from the wickedness and
cruelty of the deed. Without entering into the
many nice and subtle distinctions which prevail upon
this subject, it is enough to say that the practical
result of this state of things is most unsatisfactory.
A man who, in a sudden fit of psssion, aroused by
insult to himself or his wife, kills the person who
offers the insult, is, by law, guilty of the same crime
and liable to the same punishment as the assassin
who has long meditated and brooded over his crime.
A great majority of the witnesses whom we have
examined have expressed a strong opinion that this
branch of our criminal law requires revision and
amendment, at least as far as the punishment is con-
cerned, and we have unanimously arrived at the
same conclusion.
8. We proceed therefore to offer such recommenda-
tions as we think expedient for altering the present
law of murder. It appears to us that there are two
modes in which the change may be effected.
9. The first plan is to abrogate altogether the
existing law of murder, and to substitute a new de-
finition of that crime ; confining it to felonious
homicides of great enormity, and leaving all those
which are of a less heinous description in the cate-
gory of manslaughter.
10. The other plan is one which has been exten-
sively acted upon in the United States of America,
where the common law of England is in force ; this
leaves the definition of murder and the distinction
between that crime and manslaughter untouched,
but divides the crime of murder into two classes or
degrees, solely with the view of confining the
punishment of death to the first or higher degree.
11. We have given both these plans our serious
consideration, and we are of opinion that the re-
, quired change may be best effected by the latter,
which involves no disturbance of the present dis-
tinction between murder and manslaughter, which
does not make it necessary to remodel the statutes
relating to attempt to murder, and does not inter-
fere with the operation of those treaties with foreign
Powers which provide for the extradition of fugi-
tives accused of that crime. The object proposed
can be attained by a short and simple enactment,
providing that no murder shall be punished with

death except such as aro particularly therein men-
tioned.

These should be called murders of the first
degree ; all other murders should be called murders
of the second degree, and punished as hereinafter
recommended.
12. We recommend therefore :

(1.) That the punishment of death be retained
for all murders deliberately committed with express
malice aforethought, such malice to be found as a
fact by the jury.

(2.) That the punishment of death be also re-
tained for all murders committed in, or with a view
to, the perpetration, or escape after the perpetra-
tion, or attempt at perpetration of any of the fol-
lowing felonies :—Murder, arson, rape, burglary,
robbery, or piracy. _ _

(3.) That in all other cases of murder the punish-
ments be penal servitude for life, or for any period
not less than seven years, at the discretion of the
court.

13. Our attention has been called to the frequent
failures of justice in cases of infanticide.
The crime of infanticide, as distinguished from
murder in general, is not known to the English
law. The moment a child is born alive it is as much
under the protection of the law as an adult.

14. We have considered whether the failure of
justice, which undoubtedly often occurs in such
cases, may not be obviated by some change in the
law which shall add to the protection of new-born
children. The principal obstacle which now pre-
vents the due enforcement of the law is the extreme
difficulty of giving positive proof that the child al-
leged to have been murdered was completely born
alive.

15. We have given this important and difficult
subject our serious attention, and we have arrived
at the opinion that an act should be passed making
it an offence, punishable with penal servitude, or
imprisonment at the discretion of the court, unlaw-
fully and maliciously to inflict grievous bodily harm
or serious injury upon a child during its birth, or
within seven days afterwards, in case such child has
subsequently died. No proof that the child was
completely born alive should be required. With
respect to the offence of concealment of birth, we
think that no person should be liable to be con-
victed of such offence upon an indictment for mur-
der, but should be tried upon a separate indictment.
The accused should not be entitled to be acquitted
in either of the above cases if it should be proved on
the trial that the offence amounted to murder or
manslaughter.
16. There is one point upon which the witnesses
whom we have examined are almost unanimous,
viz., that the power of directing sentence of death
to be recorded should be restored to the judges.
We 'think this change desirable.
17. Upon another important point there is also a
great preponderance of opinion against the present
state of the law. The witnesses whom we have ex-
amined are, with very few exceptions, in favour
of the present system of public executions, and it
seems impossible to resist such a weight of autho-
rity. We therefore recommend that an act be
passed putting an end to . public executions, and
directing that sentence of death shall be carried out
within the precincts of the prison, under such re-
gulations as may be considered necessary to pre-
vent abuse, and satisfy the public that the law has
been complied with.
18. There are other questions of great importance
upon which we have taken evidence, viz. :
(1.) The:propriety of allowing an appeal on mat-
ters of fact to a court. f law in criminal cases.

(2.) The mode in which the Crown is advised to
exercise the prerogative of mercy by the Home
Secretary.
(3.) The present state of the law as to the nature
and degree of insanity which is held to relieve the ac-
cused from penal responsibility in criminal cases.
It is obvious that these difficult questions are not
confined to capital crimes only, but pervade the
whole administration of the criminal law. They
therefore require a more general and comprehen-
sive treatment than the terms of the commission
under which we act will admit. We think, there-

fore, that while we should not be justified in making
any recommendation to your Majesty on any of
these points, we should fail in our duty did we...not
humbly solicit your,Majesty's attention to them as
requiring further investigation.
All which .we humbly submit to your Majesty's
ennead eratio n.

Wreck of the Ibis —Loss of Seventeen Lives

- -4.10.- -

The following full details of this disaster, which
has turned out to have been more serious than was
supposed from the last account, are from the
Cork Constitution:—

The This left London on Monday for Cork. Bally-
cotton -was made about half-past one o'clock on
Wednesday afternoon. The weather then being
thick, Captain Holland stood a little in towards
the land in order to make Poor Head, but when
off Ballycrooneen Bay the engines suddenly broke
down, the after crank pin having broken. The
weather at the time was fearfully bad, a gale blowing
from the south-west, and a raging sea prevailing.
When Capt. Holland found his vessel drifting on a
lee shore he ordered the flag of distress to be run up
—the royal ensign with union down, and hoisted the
telegraph " machinery damaged ;" and immediately
after all-sail was set to try and wear the ship, which
was fast running into the bay, but all to no purpose
—she would not answer her helm, so severe was the
gale, and seeing her fast drifting in shore Captain
Holland ordered two anchors to be let go—one at
65, and the other at 45 fathoms. Capt. Holland
next ordered one of the boats to be lowered, and
sent the second officer and three men in her to try
and communicate with the shore. During this time
the usual signals of distress were made, which were
observed by the coastguard at Ballycroneen, who
came down to the beach, but could render no assist-
ance. The officers and men pulled back again to
the ship, and after great difficultywere got onboard,
but the boat was swamped during the night. The
Ibis continued to lie to her anchors, but laboured
violently, the sea at times making a clean breach
over her, and at others sweeping her decks. Just
when all hope was failing, a steamer was seen
moving a-head outside, and Capt. Holland burned
blue lights, but she passed on her way. Capt. Hol-
land supposed that, owing to the thickness of the
weather, she did not notice him. Meanwhile the
coastguard men despatched a messenger to Queens-
town to obtain assistance, and on Thursday morn-
ing at about half-past 9 o'clock the Sabrina .came
to her aid. She had taken with her the two stoutest
hawsers in the company's stores, one 7 inches in
diameter, and which had never been used. As soon
as the Sabrina came to the Ibis she made attempts
to get the hawser on board, but three times they
failed. However, the fourth attempt was success-
ful, and when Capt. Holland found his vessel under
way, he slipped both his chains, which had been
made ready for doing so with buoys attached. He
then ran aft to take the bearing of his ship's head and
see that she was paying off the land, but before he
got to the wheel the hawser snapped, and the Ibis
drifted in shore until she struck on the Julian
rock, where she stuck fast. The sea broke in fury
over the vessel, drenching the passengers, who were
all on deck, and carrying away part of her bul-
warks. The rock is about a mile from the shore,
and on it she remained for a few hours, when she
parted in two, her after-part going down into deep
water, leaving nothing but the mizenmast seen, but
her forepart stayed on the rock, and was afterward
drifted into within about 100 yards of the shore,
where up to Friday evening it remained, standing
as if it lay in dock. The fore and main masts were
up, but the funnel was gone. Along with the
Sabrina, the Cormorant, which was bound for Lon-
don, also came to the Ibis. When several of the
attempts on the part of the Sabrina to pass the
hawser to the Ibis failed her captain lowered his
lifeboat, and at the risk of his life and those of the
men with him, tried to pass a rope between thetwo
vessels, but could not do so, and returned to his
ship, when he and his crew were picked up, but the
boat was lost. The hawser between the Sabrina
and Ibis was conveyed by means of the steamers
United States and Lord Clyde, which left the har-
bour on receipt of the news of the disaster. After
the vessel struck, Captain Holland saw that the
only way of saving the lives of those on board was

taking to the boats, and ordered all to be lowered.
The crew, it is said, seemed horror-stricken at go-
ing into such a boiling surf in small boats, but
Captain Holland cried out that he would show
them the way, and immediately jumped into one of
the lifeboats. Two of the seamen followed him.
His intention was to go to the Sabrina, if he could.
The sea, however, ran so high, that it was almost
madness to try to go against it, and the two men
with him giving up, Captain Holland ran the boat
for the shore. When about 100 yards from it she
was upset, and the men swept into the waves. The
two seamen were Robert Inkston and Joseph Sulli-
van. On cresting a wave, Capt. Holland succeeded
in grasping an oar, but, good swimmer though be
is, even with its assistance he was tumbled over and
over in the water, until washed ashore almost
insensible. He was caught by some of the country
people who crowded the beach, and taken to a
house, where he soon after regained his senses. Sul-
livan, after a hard struggle, reached the land, but
Inkston perished. He was seen to lay hold of an
oar, but no sooner had he done so than it was washed
from his hands, and he sank beneath the waves.
During all this time the scene on board the ship was
of a most heartrending nature—the passengers
crowded together, and bade one another good bye,
expecting that the next moment would be their last.
Some one thought of constructing a raft, which was
set about, made, and launched. On it went seve-
ral of the passengers, but each one of them before
they. were halfway to the shore met a watery grave-
Among them was a man named Mahony, a seaman•
The remaining passengers remained on the wreck.
until, fortunately for them, the outward bound In-
man steamer City of London was discerned, and
Captain Seaton, of the Lord Clyde tug boat, made
towards her, and informed her captain of the position
'of the This, and asked him to send one of his life-
boats to the rescue of the passengers. This request
he immediately granted ; the boat, manned by volun-
teers, was launched and towed by the Lord Clyde
to Ballycrooneen Bay. She managed to get alongside
the Ibis and to take off the 21 persons remaining on
boardher, and land them safely. Amongst them were
two little boys who stood conspicuously brave
throughout the storm's greatest fierceness—they were
the young Browns, sons of Capt. Brown. One of
them was just being taken by a seaman on the raft,
when he was caught by the stewardess and implored
by her not to go on it. He came back, and be
and :liis brother afterwards got into the City of
London's lifeboat, but so full was it that they had
to lie down on the flooring of the boat. The little
fellows, who were coming home for their Christmas
holidays, lost, as did everybody else on board, al-
most everything they had with them. Nothing but
what the passengers had on them was saved. The
Ibis now lies, her forward part close in shore, and
standing firm on its keel, the after part barely seen,
and with the mizenmast only prominently above the
water. During Friday the shore was strewn with
portions of the.wreek, but very little of the cargo
came ashore.

The latest accounts give the number of passengers
lost as three soldiers, three deck passengers, and
John. Mahony, father of the young man previously
mentioned ; Robert Inkston, Patrick Mehigan,
Chas. Higgins, John Yelverton, Jeremiah Travers,
John Keating, James Egan, and Daniel Riding--
all belonging to the crew of the vessel.

The Cork Examiner of Saturday evening says—
" It has been ascertained that 17 persons who had
been on board the Ibis have perished. Ten of those
belonged to the crew. By a telegram received this
afternoon it appears that another body, supposed to
be that of a passenger, has been washed ashore, and
that the vessel is rapidly breaking up. An inquest
was held on thebodiesfound to-day. Capt. Holland
and the mate were examined, and the latter said
the persons lost on the raft left the ship against his
will. Verdict, found drowned. No other bodies
have come ashore."