The Sun.
London, England, 1826-08-23 00:00:00

EXECUTION of A. and M. MIEAND.

LANCASTER, Au n. 21.

The whole neighbourhood, for miles round, was this morning
thrown into a state of unusual excitement by the immense mass of
people that kept crowding on towards the Castle, opposite St.
Mary'. chttrch, *here a temporary scaffold had been erected
for the execution of the two M'Xeandst. As early as six, o'clock
every avenue leading to-the fatal spot was filled, for the eXeciitiott
was appointed to take'_ place as early as seven, in.,order that the
Judges, who, on their way to the Court, would have to pass that
particular place, might not be offended by the sight of the sus-
pended corpses. At about half-past five o'clock, the two cri-
minals were conducted to the chapel, where they received the sa-
crament, and remah►ed absorbed in prayer for upwards of an hour.
Alexander (the murderer) was fervent and sincere in devotion, ex-
hibiting, in all its intensest agony, a heart-broken and despairing
spirit; but Michael was cold, collected, and sullen ; not, how-
ever, from fortitude, but from the natural operation of
a vindictive, ungenerous nature. A few minutes after
seven they were pinioned, when the Under Sheriff and his
officers entered the chapel, and demanded, according to este-
blitthed form, the bodies of the two criminals. The procession
then set forward from the chapel to the place of execution, at the
exterior of the north-western part of the castle. Michael walked
with a hesititing step, appearing now fur the first time dismayed,
hut Alexander was more composed, and his lips moved from time
to time in all the fervor of sincere prayer.
As the clock from St. Mary's struck seven, a window which
opens like a door, and which led to the place of execution, was
thrown open, announcing that the hour of death had arrived. A
hushed, dead stillness reigned at this moment throughout the
mighty multitude, that had hitherto been swayed and moved to
and fru like the billows of some agitated ocean. All eyes were di-
reeted towards the scaffold, at which in a few minutes appeared
the murderers. Their appearance was frightfully impressive. ►Mi-
chael's countenance was distorted as if with convulsion, his eyes wild
and staring—his lips blue and quivering—his cheeks bloodless
and palsied with the fever of his apprehensions. He stood there
upon the scaffold, a striking emblem of the power of the human
passions, when suffered to riot untamed upon a naturally bad
heart; while his brother Alexander seemed resigned and subdued
to his fate. They remained for upwards of ten minutes engaged
apparently in prayer with the clergyman in attendance, when the
executioner approached to cover their faces with the caps. For
one short minute, and just before the veil was bound over them,
the eyes of both the brothers wandered in a quick restless manner
over the crowd immediately below them, 'as if taking their last
farewell of earth ; the signal was then given by the clergyman, the
fatal bolt withdrawn, and the world closed fur ever on the mur-
derers.

It seems that up to the period of hie execution, Michael, as being
only an accessary, had indulged in the confident hope of a reprieve.
So earnestly too had he asserted, not only his entire innocence
of the crime, but even his utter ignorance of the fact itself, that
the under Sheriff had deemed it right to make further enquiries :
in consequence of this he waited on Mrs. hears, the woman who
gave evidence of his identity, but finding that she still persibted in
her statement, namely, that Michael was the man who stabbed
her, he became satisfied of the justice of his sentence, and discon-

tinned all further interference. When Alexander was informed
of his brother's diclaration of innocence, he exclaimed " Oh God
forgive lii►n ! he is guilty, and well he knows it : it was he who
stabbed Mrs. Blears below stairs, while I murdered the woman in
the room above, for which I hope God will forgive me, as I was
drunk when I did it."

.
While on the subject, we will here just add a few words re-
specting the punishment of death. It is really a more awful con-
sideration than the law in England seems willing to acknowledge,
to deprive a man of existence, while his unrepented crimes yet
hang like dark shadows'on his mind; for any offence short of Mur-
der. We have Gospel authority—that is'the religious law of the
land to authorize the one—while common humanity imperiously
interdicts the other.. We allude more especially to the punish-
ment of forgery by. death; a singular instance in which the pro-
verbial generosity and good sense of Englishmen seem to be
strangely cramped, and even extinguished. Is the immortal soul of
man—that diviner essence of his being, which, in one state or ano-
ther, is doomed to survive throughout eternity, to he placed in the
same scale of value with the basest dross of the country—the, com-
paratively speaking, worthless coin of the realm? God and hu-
manity forbid ! the bare idea is revolting to every principle of jos •
tiee. In this present ease, however, the punishment was well pm..
portioned to thenthmee, for " he," says the Author of our religion,
' who fights by the sword amit expect to perish by the sword."