The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-10 00:00:00

PETTED MURDERERS.

In referring to the proceedings preliminary to
the execution at Bedford of Joseph Castle, for the
murder of his wife, the Hertford Mercury says:—
We publish the details for the purpose of entering
our protest against the treatment which this pro-
foundly egotistical murderer experienced at the
hands of those in whose custody he was'placed. It
is long since we have read anything so thoroughly
disgusting as the record of the daily life of this
petted inmate of a condemned cell. We have always
been opponents of the punishment of death, on the
ground that it is unauthorised, brutal, brutalising,
useless ; but if w e had ever looked with favour on
the gallows as a Focial defence or a moral teacher,
our faith in its efficacy would have been shattered
by the arguments which are presented in the treat-
ment of Castle. Here was a man convicted of the
murder of his wife under circumstances of extreme
atrocity. The crime was not the result of sudden
passion ; the murdered woman was not struck down

by an angry blow, which did injury beyond the in-
tent cf bun who delivered it, nor was the crime re-
gretted. The murder was deliberate, premeditate d ;
and from the time of its commission to the last mo-
ment of life the law allowed him the murderer had
no thought except for himself. While he had yet days
to live, he was only intent on what he should cat
and drink, and selfishly and morosely sensitive if
the pleasures his sensual appetite demanded were
not furnished on the instant, and without objection.
Even when his sands were nearly run out, and
while the hammer was yet ringing upon the bolts
of the gallows, he was solicitous only about himself.
He had no regrets, and experienced no repentance,
so far as the report discloses. For his wife, sleep-
ing the sleep of death in the bloody shroud he had
wrought for her with guilty hands, he had no sor-
row. She seems rarely to have occurred to his mind;
and the heinousness of his guilt appears to have been
wholly unfelt. He grew restless towards the
last, but gave utterance to the language of terror
rather than of grief and self-abasement. But this
phase passed away, and when the hour appointed
for the execution drew so near that the unexpired
minutes might he easily counted, and the decent
feeling of the officials suggested that the man who
was appointed to die should be aroused from his
slumbers to confront the awfulness of his position—
the murderer petitioned for a little more sleep,
which "he thought would ewe his mind." It is
not for us to question that in his latest moments
better thoughts were given to him ; or that hope,
who never bars her golden gates, opened them to
him in his extremity—if perchance the self-seeking
man, in the dread tumult of the death-hour, sought
peace through repentance. Our object is—without
repeating the recital which appears elsewhere—
to indicate the fact that throughout his imprison-
ment and after his condemnation, Castle was
brutally sensual, and selfishly indifferent to every-
thing except the gratification of his appetite, and
to his own personal danger; and that it was upon
this man the officials of the gaol lavished their
sympathy and regards in such a manner as to
make condemnation to death rather a thing to be
desired than avoided by that class of morbid
egotists which furnishes us with murderers and
suicides. It naturally suggests itself to one's mind
as most proper in the case of a murderer that, after
his condemnation, whether he be sentenced to be
hung or to be imprisoned, as little notice should
be taken of him as possible. He should receive the
prison allowance of food, and the visits of the
chaplain. For all else he had better be kept out
of sight and out of mind. It is utterly revolting
that a man convicted of the worst of crimes should
be feasted and petted till his mind is overwhelmed
with a sense of his own importance. There is no con-
ceivable
reason why we should feel more interest in
the murderer than in the pickpocket, whom we re-
lentlessly consign to hard fare, the trcadwheel,
and forgetfulness—really nothing, except the fact
that he is doomed to die. That probably is the
explanation, and in itself constitutes a strong argu-
ment against a punishment which developes, even in
a gaoler, the kind of sympathy which boarding-
school girls used to feel for the villains of the sickly
romances they read. But while the penalty of death
remains, let us summon to our assistance enough of
common sense, if not of hardness, to carry the law
into effect with as much dignity and decency as is
possible under the circumstances. Let us cease to
fatten mur.lerm fn. the gallows as oxLn for milt
and to conciliate their
o
rbeef andhumoursby plumgiN.hig them the
fowl, option of roastpudding.
Justice should be stern, though not cruel; and she
makes one doubt whether she be not a counterfeit
when she unites the functions of the restaurateur
with those of the executioner. Certainly much
harm is done by the imprudent sympathy of her
ministers for those whom she has doomed to die the
death; and p.:rhaps the Beech wood tragedy, so
closely following on the heels of the disclosures of
the discipline eteserved in the county gaol at Bed-
ford, mly to some extent have been caused by them.
'Co desperate men, foiled in their unlawful pursuits
and with the fear of a renewal of vulgar imprison-
ment bt?fore them, the honours accorded to Castle,
and the observe.tion concentrated upon him, may
have been too powerful a
provocative to crime,
which being as heinous, might be regarded as en-
titling them to equal indulgence and to a similar
ovation.

M. Philip Taglioni, the author of many ballets
applauded by the Parisians, and father of the celebrated
danseuse, has recently, notwithstanding his advanced age
of 83, undergone the operation of couching for cataract.
On the third day after, on removing the bandages, the
patient had the happiness of again beholding the counte-
nance of h>s daughter,

The Opinione gives the tt
under date of March 21, by
mendatore Joeteau, the S
Berne, in answer to the Swi.
" Turin, _
"Monsieur le Commandeur,—M. Tourte has
handed me a copy of the note you will find enclov,ll,
by which the Federal Council directs the attention
of the King's Government to the juridical pesitit n
of the neutralised provinces of Savoy. Ile cites to
this end the treaty of 1561 between Savoy and
Berne, and the European stipulations of 1815.
"On leaving m ith me a copy of this note M.
Tourte addressed to me another, in which, referring
to the proclamations of the governors of Charabery
and Annecy, announcing an approaching general
vote concerning the annexation of Savoy to France,
he protests, in the name of the Federal Council,
against any vote or any other act whatever, the re-
sult of which might produce a change in the pry-
sent state of things in Savoy. You will also find
enclosed a copy of the note from the Swiss envoy
extraordinary.
" I answered M. Tourte verbally that I did not
understand how the conduct observed by the King's
Cabinet in this affair could have been a cause of
recrimination on the part of the Federal Council.
" In fact, it would have been sufficient to read
the answer, which through the medium of his
Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Paris I had given to
the communication wherein M. Thouven el demanded
guarantees for the security of France, to convince
one's self that the King's Cabinet, unable to refuse
to acknowledge the validity of a vote to be legally
given by the inhabitants of Savoy, had nevertheless
only made this declaration upon the assurances ex-
pressed in the notes of the French Cabinet, that it
would take into serious consideration the interests
of Switzerland. I further observed to M. Tourte
that I still htss understood by what right Switzer-
land p7otestiid against all voting tending to show
legally the wishes of the inhabitants. There is
therein a singular forgetfulness of his Majesty's
rights of sovereignty, which it is rather difficult to
explain, even when taking into account the inter-
national stipulations invokedby the Federal Council.
" I do not, then, think it expedient to dwell on
this part of the communication made by the Helve-
tic Confederation, and I shall confine myself to a
few remarks on the value attached by the Federal
Council to the treaty of 1564 and to the transac-
tions of 1815.

" The treaty of Lausanne of October 30,1564, be-
tween Emmanuel Filibert and the Lords of Berne,
in stipulating the restoration to the house of Savoy
of the entire lordship of Gex, also the part which
they (the Lords of Berne) had conquered from the
district of the Chablais situated beyond the Lake
and the Rhone, also all they had ocPupied of the
Gonevois, &c.,' declares in the 14th article that
neither party shall alienate these countries to an-
other Power.

" This limitation of the right of sovereignty
was from its very nature transitory, and would
naturally disappear with the causes that had pro-
cured its admission. It would cease by the tacit
or expressed agreement of the contracting parties,
or else through the effect of the general stipulations
that have subsequently regulated the public law of
Europe.

" We see in fact that the clause above mentioned
was in 1601 considered to be abrogated, when by
the treaty of Lyons Charles Emmanuel I. ceded to
.France the lordship of Gex with all its appurte-
nances, and when neither Berne nor the other con-
federated cantons offered any remonstrance or pro-
test against the use which the house of Savoy made
of its right of sovereignty. Moreover, two years
later, the stipulations in the 14th article of that
treaty of 1364 no longer appear in the convention
concluded at St. Julien between Charles Emmanuel
I. and Geneva with the knowledge and consent'
of all the Swiss cantons. Finally, in the treaty of
June 3, 1754, stipulated between King Charles Em-
manuel 111. and Geneva, under the kindly media-
tion of Zurich and even Berne, it is expressly said
--` By means of the arrangements t ffected by this
treaty and the explanations accompanying it, all
other claims of whatsoever nature they may be
are herewith cancelled and annulled on both sides
for ever.'

"The preceding considerations demonstrate most
clearly that the present claims of Switzerland have
no foundation. The treaties of 1815 still less fur-
nish any ground for the pretensions of the Ft deral
Council. By these treaties the provinces of Cha-
blais and Faucigny were restored to Sardinia, who
had lost them in 1792. Is there in the private trea-
ties, or in the final act, or in the protocols of Vienna,
any arrangement or word restoring to validity the
14th article of the treaty of 1561 ? Absolutely not
one.

" But the Federal Council invokes the 23d
article of the treaty of 1816 between Sardinia and
Switzerland. This article is thus worded. :--' The
stipulations of the ancient treaties, and especially
of that of June 3, 1754, such as are not expressly
cancelled by the present treaty,. are confirmed.'
Can any one in good faith believe and maintain
that by a vague phrase, having no precise import,
Sardinia could have consented to revive a stipula-
tion dating three centuries back ? It is enough
to put the question to obtain its answer. The
stipulations alluded to in 1816 referred to the
2 facts3d article,en a
conventions,
might
b havead beenbeen
trade and the facilitating of communication between
allthe t
ot two
the
essentialcen t countries,
sovereignty,
rtleliagednntnayrwreehreoirfeehenlce
reference at
in the same act defined expressly as far as the neutra-
lised provinces were concerned. For the rest, by this
able, perhaps, to resuscitate the stipulations existinc,
in 1792, but not those which,
ls)yamtletephsurabsseeqinuetnhetatst,
cancelled for 200 years.

"It is, however, fair to acknowledge that the
transactions of 1815 created fox the provinces of
Chablais and Faucigny a special juridical state rela-
tively to Switzerland. The neutralisation of these
countries was chiefly established for the sake of
Sardinia, who demanded and obtained it as a com-
pensation for a territorial cession to Geneva, and,
consequently, to the confederation, as we have
already had occasion to observe in the communica-
tions that were exchanged last year between the
two governments. But if Switzerland believes that
this neutralisation is useful to her, we do not oppose
the taking of her interests into considera-
tion.serioeusanlinheaisabned
France herself had formally declared it, and
cAo-emheavvuebrleieg.istle,rheids
pointthat
oug declaration t
o
be which
examined
settled in concert with the Powers that signed the
treaties of Vienna,
quite foras m
it
uoi a
concernsis
thethe private general inte-
rests of con-
venience Europe of Sardinia or Switzerland, The King's
Government is persuaded t hat the Helvetic Confede-
ration will be heard at the discussion, and for our
part we are disposed to support every proposition
calculated to preserve intact the permanent interests
of the Swiss nation. We have given too many
proofs of our sympathy with and friendship for
Switzerland, for the Federal Council not to be con-
vinced beforehand that it will find in Sardinia,
should the case require it, the sentiments that hav,~
hithello inspit.cl her conduct.
"I beg you, M. le Commandeur, to read this de.
spatch to, and leave a copy of it with, the President
of the Confederation, and to accept, &c.,

" CAYOUR."

THE PAPAL EXCOMMUNICATION.--Mr. G.
Bowyer, •
m p., has written to a contemporary as follows
..._,, I see that, by some mistake, 3 our translation Of the
papal excommunication represents the decree as being
signed by two officers, styled ' Apestolical Curser' and
' Magister Curser.' The fact is that the title of those olli-
cets is ' Cursor,' a Latin term, signifying an officer who
serves a process, &c. I beg you to correct this error b'y the
insertion of a letter or otherwise, as it will otherwise cause
much annoyance to your Roman Catholic readers." . .
this lively amiable little chorister been a. bird of
IiilvE01(-37; (LI ,41)1;r1iiilleyIIA N I) ITS A MIA CTI ON s.—.llid
foreign extraction, it is impossible to say at what I
,' iivileuaeutlave would ever have been rated in E.ngland, almost
eevery
ei.e,
and such a voice, would have captivated
"fashionable"Bt bird. Be'
and, by consequence, he is not a
and every heart in this happy land.
not a few ; and all
But he is not foreign. -
has, notwithstanding, sensible patronswho pay him proper homage
domestic musician of
heart, an
affectionate
friend, and a
c l powers, when he is at
first-rate excellence.. receive in return a loving
f.or he is continually
Entre noes, the
more "airs" he gives himself 1 .
practisingShilling"ho m e , '
Tarn:::
wtsius re :a)iiii:r:
,s:n:g.,HIG,
oWii sioxvv brilliant;
.o.n
ciaatzth:in:
better for us.—iickl's

/THEATRE ROYAL,- DRURY LANE.-
-,11- The Public and Subscribers are respectfully informed
that the Manatoement have entered into arrangements for the
production of ENGLISH OPERA with most eminent Ar-
tistes.
In consequence of the great success of MARITANA, and
by desire, it will be repeated THIS EVENING, the 10th, and
To-morrow, the 11th.
Halevy's admired opera, THE QUEEN'S MUSKETEERS,
is in active preparation.
The Band and Chorus will be numerous and efficient. Mu-
sical Director and Conductor, Dr. JAMES PECH.
Reduced Prices—Stalls, 4s ; dress circle, 3s ; first circle,
2s 6d ; pit, 2s ; upper boxes, Is 6d ; gallery, Is ; upper gallery,
6d ; private boxes from lOs 6d upwards. The Box-office,
uncla the direction of Mr. Nugent, open daily.