Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1846-05-02
GIVE should be glad 70 hear again ffoI
our correspondent. st. Mar
For the Wisconsin He,ald.
CapitaI Punishment.

Capital PunShmeht.
Ma. EplToa The minds Of mul,i,udes as
well as my own, are somewhat unsettled with
respect to this mode Of punishment. | should
have fewer doubts with respect to iis abolition,
had confidence in the wisdom and sincerity
of those opposed to this penalty. There IS
fearful and fatal proportion Of duellisis. muir.
derers, war.dogs, black-legs, and villains, who
prey upon society, in favor Of ostracsing the
guillo.ne and the gallows. The most sincere
advocates for this measure are the members Of
a certain religious sect, who entertain doubt
fol theory with respect to the nasu'e and object
of punishment, in general--thnt 10 design is,
or ought to be, the reformation ofl.he Grimm
al. Death is no Reformer-too inpatient to
unrave the perverse kinks of depraed nature,
he cuts the Gordon kno. at once kind hand
might have uDravelled and Strengthened the
thread. We Rave too much to rist, in adopt
ing any mere theory, plausible asst may sP-
pear. We are like crew at sea 1--WE canno.
consent tina. the bottom panks OF the vessel
should be torn of, TO test the theory of some
visionary ship carpenserwho may prefer cob
web or oi.clo,h bottom. presumethat many
individuals mistake the horror which death in.
spires for objections to the punishment. Per-
haps all the while, they mentally admit the
necessity of the penalty. The brutal annihia.
lion of the Van Ness family by Freeman, who
had experienced the regenerating effects of FIVE
years. service in the Auburn State Prison, has
convinced many of the theorists of New York
lha, there are some cases of depravity too
obdurate for their quack nos,rums, and that
sneerngly defy all the posions, pills and pre-
scriptions, mineral and botanical, of their NOR
al Beihesdas, murders, burglaries. ihefts, and
crimes, have an affinity for each other, and
break in upon society through the same gap in
flocks and herds. First, Madison ]. M'Kay
was murdered in October last-,hen Dane
wood. and recently Delassaux-the brief inter-
walls Of these agea acts s Ssas u saa g ge
mems theories with respect to capital punish.
ment were sweep. away like cob.webs. A. the
trial Of Brewer, not an individual owned he
had any scruples agains; finding man guilty
Of murder, il the evidence should justify it,
Agains. the gosamer theories Of Charles Dick
ems, wish to array the sound logic of Thomas
Carlyle. Dickens has examined the listing
around the web Of humanity with an artists
eye but he knows little about the web itself.
He can portray the heartlessness of Alderman
Cute, and the wrongs and sufferings of Meg
and Trotiy; bu, no knows not what motives,
wta. fears, what hopes nestle 10 the heart OF
man and s,rangle the embryo purposes of guilt.
His principal argument is, that capital punish
ment is itself fascinating. Now Ibis may be
true Of those eccentric. non.descriss specimens
Of human nature. among whom romance wri-
ter selects his heroes. Shall we mistake these
monsters Of humanity for man himselfi IL
Dickens would inierrogate not his cabiue.
specimens. but man as he really finds him, if
he does no, envy the glory of public execu-
ton. the interrogator wond be regarded as
anomalies. the perversions. the eccen,riciiies of
human nature, cannot understand il In its every
day dress. Says Thomas Carlyle -" But,
indeed, neither has nature, any where that
hear Of, succeeded in abolishing capital pun
ishment. Act with the due degree of perver-
si,y. and you are sure of being put TO death by
conscience. delirum tremens, dyspepsia, or
struck through by the kindled rage Of your
fellow men. What can the friends of humanity
dol Twaddle, ill they become bore to us,
yonder in Exeter Hall. An advocate in Aras
once gave up good judicial appointment and
retired into frugality and privacy rather than
doom one culprit to death by law. The name
of this advocate, let US mark il well, was
NaremiIliGn Ro5espierre. There are sweet
kinds Of swaddle thai have deadly viralsnce
OF poison concealed in then, like the sweet
ness of sugar of lead. Aye--make jus, laws.
and execute them strictly as The Gods still
do" Jim.