The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-22 00:00:00

SPISIT TECB PS WO ZOITRITALL

In a leader on the Capitalruni !fitment debate, the Times
asks—ls there, then, any valid rea son for asserting that
the substitution of inaprisonmeot and hard labour for
death as the punishment of muzde- r vtould more effectually
deter men from that crime? Ndthing that has been
brought forward by the abolitior acts leads us to believe so,
and the direct testimony of thoeie best acquainted with the
criminal classes negative such a supposition. It is gene-
rally admitted that the most reckless and violent have a
thorough fear of the gallows, which secondary punish-
ments do not inspire. It will, perhaps, be answered,
" Why not, then, hang for eves ything? If death be the
best deterrent, and society have the right to inflict it,
why not bring the coiner and forger to the gallows, as of
old ?" The answer is short. Murder is a crime so pre-
eminently hurtful to society that it is advisable to dis-
tinguish it by a punishment above every other, and by
one which may be held up before the eyes even of a man
who is undergoing the most extreme sentence for a
minor offence. Secondly, the crime of murder, in
contradistinction to ordinary crimes of larceny or fraud, is
. generally the offspring of that kind of savage disposition
which only the fear of death will efficiently control. If
the opinions of those conversant with prisoners are to be
taken, there does exist a salutary fear of the death penalty
among the worst class of the population. A man will rob
a house or waylay a traveller, but, in the very heat of the
act, or at the very height of his fury, he will know how
to hold his hand and avoid the actual killing of a human
being. It is said, and we doubt not with perfect truth,
that the reason why the proportion of murders to minor
crimes is so small— why the deed so often stops short of
the capital offence, even at the risk of leaving a witness
of the scene—is, that there is among the criminal class the
very strongest fear of actually causing death. They
know that the pursuit will be far more keen if a murder
be in7question, and that, if caught and convicted, a very
different doom awaits them. If this be the effect of the
law, it is certainly a most important advantage to society,
and one that should not be thrown away in deference
either to sentimental humanity or to vague theories of
abstract juries.
The Daily News has an elaborate article to answer the
views set forth by Mr. Mill in the Capital Punishment
debate. Mr. Mill thinks that where the sad contingency
of the innocence of a prisoner convicted of murder on
plausible evidence is more than infinitesimal, the sen-
tence of death should be commuted. A recommendation
to this effect should be made by the judge, not solely
where the proof of guilt is open to the smallest suspicion,
but wherever (to use his own words) there remains any-
thing unexplained and mysterious in the case, raising a
desire for more light, or making it likely that further in-
formation may at some time be obtained. As murders
are seldom committed in the open day, or in the presence
of witnesses, there are few crimes of that character
which would not come under this category. The as-
sassin would be able to speculate more hopefully, and
with more reason than ever, on the chances of escape
from the extreme penalty. It is probable, too, that
public ideas of evidence would receive a shock
if it were once authoritatively proclaimed that the testi-
mony which is insufficient for one purpose is sufficient for
another ; that it may be too weak to justify loss of life,
and strong enough to justify loss of all that makes life
valuable. The benefit of the doubt which the English law
mercifully extends towards the accused is in his case to take
the form, not of liberation, but of penal servitude for life.
Practically this would be intolerable. Mr. Mill's plea for
capital punishment fails of its purpose. The reluctance
deliberately to inflict death, which is at the root of the
movement which he combats, does not spring from any
superstitious regard for human life apart from the purposes
of living, but from a desire to give these defeated purposes
a new chance of partial fulfilment. Be this as it may,
there is little room for doubt that the feeling which refuses
to tolerate public executions will soon prohibit any execu-
tions at all. What the eye cannot endure the mind will
not long bear with. In abandoning publicity a great part
of the arguments for capital punishment are surren-
dered.

It is said by some that penal servitude is as severe as
execution. The Herald answers this by the case at Man-
chester. For what, it asks, did their friends and sympa-
thisers petition—for pardon? No, but for penal servitude,
lifelong and hopeless —if penal servitude be ever
hopeless—for any punishment, however ignominious and
severe, short of the scaffold. And Mr. Gregory mentioned
numerous instance: in which, as was well known, the
most unscrupulous scoundrels have avowed that, but for
the dread of the gallows, they would have " knifed " a
victim instead of simply garotting or stunning him. This
confession has been made over and over again, and we
must bear in mind that not a few murderers belong to the
order of men who reflect before they act, and hesitate
long, because, although careless of disgrace, care-
less of liberty—chances they would risk with com-
parative alacrity for the stake of a great prize or a great
revenge— they cannot face all at once the horrid thought
of the hangman. But, apart from this main question,
the public will rejoice to know that the evil which by the
vast majority of persons ha:, long been deemed the chief
reproach of the law inflicting capital punishments is being
rapidly legislated out of existence. It was against the
hardening influence, the demoralising revelry, the loath-
some episodes of public executions that they protested—
against the gin-drenched rabble, the night of uproar and
debauch— the ghastly reflex of the convict on the scaffold,
to be seen in the countenances of so many standing below
him and staring up with hideous curiosity at his face. The
murderer will, for the future, die in comparative secrecy,
with no opportunity for bravado—no exposure of his last
physical agonies to the boastful populace. The provisions
made for securing his execution, for announcing the
moment at which it takes place, for identifying him,
living and dead, and for giving to the outside world a
record of his agony, have already been more than once
explained ; and the reform is one, we believe, which has
been projected in the interest of popular morals and
manners without detriment to justice.
The Star lays down that there were flaws in Mr. Mill's
ratiocination on capital punishment. In the first place,
every perpetrator of aggravated murder is hardly within
the category of utterly incorrigible and hopeless villains.
Secondly, the description of absolutely hopeless wickedness
would apply with much more truth to many habitual per-
petrators of smaller crimes who would not be executed.
Thirdly, Mr. Mill altogether leaves out of view the
religious element of this question. A member of Parlia-
ment who discusses the propriety of execution without en-
tertaining the idea of the future life, does not place himself
sufficiently en rapport with his countrymen to bring them
into harmony with his views.

The Post remarks that the Irish have now put in a new
claim for justice. They want a " Balmoral." They say
that it would tend to supply the link between the people
and the monarchy, the absence of which they so keenly
feel. They have, they complain, had no opportunity of
exhibiting the loyalty which has been lying dormant in
their hearts. They intimate, rather sarcastically, that
Ireland is really worth a little attention of this sympathetic
description. whey declare plainly that it is vain for her
Majesty to expect love from those whom she never con-
descends to visit ; but it is evident that they are more
than content with the representation of the Crown
which is now visible to them. They claim royal con-
sideration, and affirm that it would find its reward in
the gratitude and devotion of a peaceful and law-abiding
community. They willingly albs v that past neglect has
become traditional and habitual, not studied and inten-
tional ; but it has, they add, operated very injuriously.
In short, the pleasure which they are experiencing has
come none too soon, and it remains to be seen whether
their satisfaction may be established, as they wish it
should be, so as to secure for Ireland a better future.
Such is the burden of al interpretation of public opinion
which certainly is entitled to be considered in the spirit
which its expression manifests. There is an opening that
may not again present itself, and that could not again be
made, after a long interval, even by the same potent in-
fluence, without exciting suspicion calculated to neutralise
its purpose.

The Telegraph has a word to say in answer to the Times
diatribe against the leader of the Opposition. At the
termination of the Easter recess the business is resumed
exactly where it was broken off. Mr. Gladstone, it will
be remembered, had carried his motion to go into com-
mittee, and had submitted his first resolution, when Par-
liament adjourned. On its reassembling, therefore, the
discussion would be resumed precisely at the point
where it was suspended - and whatever occasion
ulterior incidents may afford for explanations or
statements on the part of the Cabinet, assuredly
there was nothing in the meeting of Monday to
call for any formal statement from• Mr. Disraeli. Nor
was there anything to demand the special attendance of
Mr. Gladstone, whose absence has been so severely cen-
sured as a neglect of parliamentary duty in the leader of
the Opposition. The situation is so simple as to want
neither explanation nor " statement." The position is
one of ordinary progressive business; Mr. Disraeli has no
new facts to
) communicate, and Mr. Gladstone had no
explanation to ask. The first resolution follows the great
division and majority as naturally as Monday comes after
Sunday, and it will, we believe, be carried by a majority
as great as that which affirmed the goodwill and just inten-
tions of the English people towards Ireland.
The Standard points out the heavy task that it will be
co Sir Robert Napier to take such a place as
eAlagdala
is
described to be. The odds are heavy, and yt_onene_eir
l c
not fear to encounter them under such a leader as Sir
Robert Napier. Whatever may he the issue of this cam-
paien, it is impossible that Sir Robert Napier can emerge
from it without having achieved a reputation second to
that of no other living' English 7eneral. Let us agree at
leaet in this, bef.re the last scene in the drama begins to
be played. tint Sir Reliert Napier has, np to this
ti ITIO, perferne s 1 his work nest ably, wisely, and
brilliantly. 11, has more than justified the choice
of him by the Government, and amply confirmed the
large hopes entertained of him by his friends. He has
not, indeed, conducted the campaign as certain impatient
newspaper critics advised him to do, He has not made a
"clash" with a flying column against Theodore. He who
chased Tantia 'Pollee through all Central India, and
baffled that wily chief in each of his dodges and doul;lings,
might have taken even that perilous counsel and achieved
success. Ent Sir Robert Napier preferred to risk nothing.
His chief glory is that he has made the Abyssinian campaign
as uneventful as a march from London to Portsea Common.
He has marched 300 miles into the interior of Africa, and con-
tinued to report, from the first day to the last. " all well."