New-York daily tribune., 1843-02-06
rhe Debate. on Capital punishment.

now listened 10 an Oral Discussion at the 1aeeI-
nacle continued through four evenings, OF The qles
ton, 'Oueh. Capitnl Punishment TO be abolished
Very large audiences have been in attendance on
every occasion, n,anifesting deep and pervadlng
interest in the subject. Wha, has been the general
impression produced, we cannot pretend to deter
mine, as so much depends on the prepossessions OF
the hearers, and their disposition give weight 10
the cogency Of facts, or to the Preponderancc OF
personal authority, the bodness OF assumption, aud
the felicity OF rhetoric. Indeed, it is so very re-
Gently in the worlds history that men inflicted Ju-
dicia Tortures for the discovery OF crime slaugh-
,e,ed tender and innocent women as wltche.-la and
on the assumption, too, Of an express command
from God: Exod. xxi. 1S and burnt at the stake
those convicted of hcnous crues-to say nothing
OF herc,ics-that those who cherish a fairer than
the ancient ideal OF Justice and hope that 1t Will
ere long become practical through The deveioPe'
nent of a truer Manhood, must notbe discouraged
if the citadel of venerable error should not, ,ield
at the first onset. On this question the cause OF
Reform labors under one especial disadvantage
Of the thousands composing popular audience
no one expects ever to become himself murderer,
while each one feels exposed to feonious assaults
on his own life. The common end irnmemorial
presumption is that the iniiction OF Death Is the
highest terror and the strongest deteTlng torcc
TO The cvil.doer; consequently, the presumption
holds with each man that in demanding the death
of the man-sIayer he is increasing, without draw
back the security ef his own life. his consider
alton has been very dcx;erously though not osten'
ra,iously pressed through this discussion, and OF
course with decided effect. Resting as it does on
an instinct, and appealing to Self.lovc and Fear
the most active principles OF ordinary human na-
,ure, it is with great difficulty counteracted
Throughout this Discussion, the advocates ct
Cap,s Punishment have enjoyed the great advan-
,agc of the closing argument on eachevenlng on The
ground that their side is the negative of the propo
s,ion. On the fourth and last evening. however,
it was confidently expected BY their opponents that
this advantage would be waived, not merely on The
ground of equalizing advantages, but because the
vital affirmation in The Discussion is that OF the
expcdiency and necessity of ntl!cting the punish-
ment of Death; because the argument tor the EX-
pedioncy of Capital Punishment had not yet been
presented, and could not of course be effectively
renlied to. while the whole ground on the other
side had been submitted and nothing but reply
to that argument remained TO be made; and be-
cause Rev. Mr.. Cheeycr stood there with the ar
guncnt of expediency fully written out, and could
Just as well present it before as after MIR. ouii'-
van should reply to it. The technical right to the
great advantage OF the closing argument under
these circumstances was, however, insisted OR tor
the side of Death and conceded and, though
MIR. O'Sullivan had liberty to make bret re-
ionder the hour OF which the opportunity was
presented (very nearly 10 O'Clock was so late that
the audience could not be detained to render that
liberty eAec,ual. Under these circumstances, we
are impeled TO offer in this place very brief COM
ncnt on single portion Of MIR. Cheever's closing
aryument-,hat relating to the Statistics OF crime
simply because, while that argument could not
be anticipated, no opportunity to answer II has, ID
the course of the oral discussion, been afforded.
The argument for the Expedency of Capital
Punishment rests, and must rest entirely on the
superior efficacy of that Punishment in rcpressing
Crime, or at least certain crime. Unless this
superior efficacy be established, all the rhetorical
metcors about protecting the sanctity OF human
lie (by taking IT'D humanity 10 the innocent as
well as the guilty; protection to the lonely ana Tee
BILE woman or child as we'll as impunty to the mur-
dcrer; regard TO the wcl.being OF Society as well
as that of the fclon, sc. &c. must appear to the
calm Reason not more brilliant than unsubstantial.
| They do not touch the point in issue. Now TO all
these appeals to the vindctivc passions and the
selfish terrors excited in favor of judicial Killing
the champion Of its ab-ogation oppose volumes
of Statistics, proving that
| L. Capital Punishment was quite recently deemed
necessary to protect Society against Forgery,
Burglary and Theft as now against Murder.
Just such arguments as you now bring against
its abolition in this case urged in re-
| gard to It's inilclion for those offences. 1t was
predicted that It's abrogation would lead TO uni
vcrsal sa,urnslia Of wickedness and crime. Yet
these prophets OF evil were overruled and the pun
ishmeu, abrogaled; and the effect is that, trhlle
other crimes haze increased, those Of ,ohich the
penalty ,oas moaifcdh hare diminished: or, where
there has been a large general increase of Crime,
these crimes hare not Increased in proportion
to Moss ,chich still remain Capital o. those
,ch,ch are not and nere teerc so.
IL. You say the modification OF the penalty for
Murder will lead to general sacrifice and insecu-
rty of life but, we offer you abundant facts show
ing that other Nations hare abolished Capital
Punishment, eren for Murder; end the resuit
has been no increase bat rery great dtmtnusIon
of the number of marders in those Countries,
as compared ritk chose Of former gears.
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