Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1849-06-08

tbae. NY dear 0eneral, receive the assurances
O my sentiments Of high esteem.
Louis AAroLEoN BoEApARTE.
lNSJFFICIENCY or THE DEATH PUNISH
MENT
A London paper in some comments on
the lale debate in Parliament, concerning
the eXpedlency eff inaicting the penalty Of
death, says:
: Mr. Ewart, who has laid the axe TO the
root of the gallows, on Tuesday last struck
his annual blow at the tree. Ina House of
1876 his motion for the abolition of capital
punishment had 81 supporters, although
opposed officially by the Home Secretary.
Had the bill been introduced by government
or even under ministerial sanction, there
can be lille doubt but i! would have been
successful.
:" The debate of last Tuesday, if il pre-.
scented no novel features, was remarkable
for its freedom from hackneyed defamation
Nobody was found but Mr. Drummond to
twit the adversaries of the drop with mock
humanity and 10 quote a contrOverted pas
sage Of the old tesla ment a clear injunc-
tion OF the new. The other defenders of
the halter abandoned all their former posi-
lions but one. They agreed to rest tleir
case upon a single point. It was admitted
by them on all hands that hanging was an
evil IN itself; and the propriety OF it's con-
tnuance was held solely on the ground OF
eSpediency. The necessity of capital pun.
ishment 10 the protection of society, was
the only justification pleaded for retaining
it. And this necessity is Hypothetical, and
depends merely on theory unsupported by
fats.
" IN an able article on the punishment Of
death. reprinted from the Eclectic Review,
and referred to by Mr.. Ewart, it is shown
that murders in general are rare in proper
ton to the rarity ofexecutions.-' Howard
says the writer, : in his work on prisons,
mentions the following facts: In Loenalen
in 1888, there had been no execution for Ii
years, and there were but few persons con-
ilned and those only for petty offences. At
Utrecht, when he visited it, there had been
no execution for twenty years, and there
was in the prison but one criminal, and his
offence not capital. In Brunswick, with no
execution for fourteen years, the prison for
capital offenders had scarcely been used,
during the whole time. In Denmark, he
found thlt imprisonment for life, with an
nual whipping, which had been substituted
for capital punishment, was dreaded more
than death, and since it was adopted, had /
greatly diminished the frequency of murder.
Russia is also cited by the reviewer, on the |
of the Count de Segur, writing in
1891, as one Of the countries in which caps
ital punlshments were very rare, and in |
which the least number Of murders were
committed. He adduces a direct experi
mont tried in 1865, by the Grand Duke Lee |
OPold Of Tuscany, al the suggestion of the
Marquis Beccarria. The penalty Of death /
was abolished in all eases; and during TWEEN
~ years, only five murders had occurred in |
Tuscany; wilhelm Rome, where death was |
inflicted with great pomp and soIemnity, no /
fewer than sixty murders were perpetrated /
in the space Of three months. But this was
not all. Napoleon restored the death pun
shment in Tuscany, whereupon crime soon
Inc reased with extraordinary rapidly; and
Dnly when judicial homicide began to be
discontinued, did murders grow rare agnln.
Holland, Belgium, France, Prussia and
America, are ins!anced in the same article,
as offering similar testimony; as also the
memorable experiment made by Sir James
when he was recorder at Bonn.
BAY. From May, 1904, to July, 1911, the
penalty OF death was not inflicted by the
court over which he presided. The conse- /
luence was, that the number Of crimes which I
had previously been capital, perpelrated du-
ing the intervening time, was little more
han a third of those committed within
iormer period Of seven years, in which for
y seven persons had suffered death. The
evidence Of travellers even 10 the south sea
Stands and the North Pole, is likewise
brought forward as attestlng the netiiclency
Of the death punishment"
.Sfaiisfics..-A queer old correspondent
says the N. Y. Mirror, has sent us the fol- /
owing statistics:
The number of churches in the Il. States
s 1904; of these. 625 are Catholic. Val +
ne Of church property, 100 millions; minis /
.ers Of the Gospel, 32.533; Catholic priests
709;-number Of communicates in all the |
4;106,551; Catholics, ,01l 500; /
Baptists, 1898; politicians, ortAose who /
live by politics, about 0,GOO; number Of !
lawyers, 81 900; number or doctors good |
and bad) $4,000; Army Of the United States |
5000: Navy $500: professors, teachers,
5000; rogues IN the prls- |
ons % 400; rogues out Of prison--no re-