The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-14 00:00:00

A JAPANESE EXECUTION.

The appearance of the prisoners was horrible;
the effects of starvation and torture were plainly
visible through the thick white powder which was
upon their faces, and they were hardly able to stand
uptight; but the contemplation of their doom seemed
to have no effect upon their minds. They laughed
and talked quite rationally, bidding their fellow-
prisoners in the gaol good-bye with as much coolness
as if they were going into the country for a day or
two. When all was ready they were conducted to a
small chapel, out of sight,where for the space of three
minutes, perhaps, they received some consolation
from the priests. Then one was led, tottering from
sheer weakness of the body, into a small enclosure,
and told to kneel down upon the brink of a slight
declivity, which he did with most perfect good nature.
The executioner, a shoemaker (as being the lowest
order of Japanese society), armed with one of those
terrible weapons, the sword of this country, stepped
forward and told the prostrate wretch to turn his
head a little more on one side—if he pleased. (I
would have given twelve and a half cents to
but o
get out about this time, for there was a
spot right in the pit of my stomach, very
of
no use to think of such a thing, for I was hedged in
all rounu, and ten feet in flout of nie were the exe-
-50 I put on as good a
cntioner and his victim ;
my power at the moment,
countenance as was in
and looked full at the deed.) The executioner
measured carefully his distance, raised his sword,
and with a shout brought it down with terrible
force upon the willing neck, and the head was
severed from the body. Immediately after the
blow was struck, a man from behind pushed the
victim forward, and he fell prone, and was in-
stantly covered over with a mat, Not a moment
elapsed before the second sufferer was brought for-
ward and asked to kneel beside the first, which he
yan officer
if the same coolness, and when asked b ffiee
if ha saw the other man (meaning the headless e
within a foot of his very eyes), he replied,
mepleod, "Yes,
all right." A second executioner, it
dex-
terity, if possible, than his predecessor, reoperated
upon this one. (I forgot to mention a third, who
suffered at the same time for a different offence.)
The last, kneeling by the side of the other two,
bore his fate with even more tranquillity than
either of the others. My first, impression was that
these men must have been stupified with some
powerful drug to have walked with so much men-
tal firmness to their death ; but I am now convinced
that the effect of the parting words of the priests,
telling them that they were going to a "much bet-
ter country," together with the method of punish-
ment and starvation before death—was to produce
an indifference to life, and so they walked to have
their heads cut off with as much abandon as they
would to their dinner.—Letter from Japan.

EAST LONDON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM MSc).-
etATION.—A public meeting, under the auspices of this
association, was held in the lecture-hall, Three Mills-lane,
Bromley-by-Bow, on Friday evening, when addresses were
delivered by John Noble, Geo.
Herbert Thompson, -14'. 12-8q.,01 the Middle Temple,
-sq., Mr. George De Jersey Evans,
Mr. John Warren, the treasurer, and Messrs. IV. H.
Allen, Thomas Buftham and John Ford, the honorary se-
cretaries of the association. Joseph A. Homer, Esq.,
F. S. S., the chairman of the association, prowled on the
OCCRSiOII.