The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1851-10-07
The Death Penalty.


j. creasiog panty opposed TO The inhicliou o
: death by Iaw.o Ths party exerrs a certain
moral inilueuce--n what direction!- N. Y
Tribune. p ra saF na'
q 10 the direction, sir, Of the prison aud tn,
| gibbet No single cause has contributed 81
much 10 the increase ofcrime in England n,
! America, as false sympathy with criminals. =
The school OF quack philosophers Of which
: We are sorry TO say the Tribune is the TO,
faithful organ, are Of all men.responsiblc for rh,
spreading coDtemp and violation Of public law
Charity OF their motives shall not soften oul
depunciation OF their acts. Mincing apollo
gies and side long compliments are preposter-
, on in matter of such vital consequences.
These men have for years been engaged in ca
Illuminating Law, in degrading Justice, and ia
| obscuring aud confo nnding all ideas Of Right
f and Wrong. Their ostenslble mission has been
TO reclaim the errng by the law Of love, but
their actual employment all the while has been
The confederation aud the projection Of scoun-
dresr;. They have incucated that crime as
more of weakness than sin--iha, God and
Society are primarily responsible for it, the
one for having imposed upon the criminal a
nature capable OF yielding 10 temptation, and
the other for not removing from his path all
| occasions of temptaton and all forms Of evil
influence. They have either denied or ignor-
ed the great fact Of responsibility, and have
virtually taught that man is the sport Of cir
cumstances. Their doctined strip OF all dis
guise has been that the passions and malevo-
lence Of men are swayed entirely by external
incentives, and do not proceed from auy active
| principle Of evil within; and that, therefore,
| guilt is nothing more or less than simple mis-
| fortune, and consequently deserves mediiah ON
aud not punishment.
How is il possible that ideas like these
should have been kept for years in general
currency without working mischief! Will
you sow the wind. and then wonder that YOU
reap the whrlwi1dl Do you quail before The
armed men that have sprung from the dragons
teeth yourselves have widely scattered and
deftly ploughed in. Ycumurmur now because
il is so bard TO procure verdict of Guilty
Esgains, the murderer; but do you not know,
aud are you mol humilated, ye opponents of
capital punishment, and all this is your owu
doing! You have proclaimed from the house
tops all over the land that human life is invio-
liable, and that society has no right 10 inflict
the penalty of death. Your high-sounding
cant has mystlfied the understanding and de.
bauched the conscience Of many an honest
juror, and led him. after swearing to find
verdict according TO the evidence, TO cover his
soul with the guilt Of perjury, anJ in the very
teeth Of the law, cheat justice Of her own
Tis thus through your agency that proved
denote strong degree OF either peryersity or
ef1orntery that you should now make use OF
the very mischief your doctrines have caused
as an argument in their favor! Yes so il is
The Tribune o! yesterday very cody objec
ted TO the Death Penalty, that 'sit notoriously
renders conviction Of "A capital crime difficult |
even when the guilt is beyond a reasonable |
doubt, and thus increases the temptation to |
crime by increasing the chances of mpunity."
II is not the Death Penalty, but the nnscrupu-
lous warfare upon il BY its enemies that has
done this; aud the time we verify believe, is fast
coming when they will have to answer for il
before enlightened public opinion.
The certalnIyof punishment operates in
deed with vast effect 10 defeiing from crime
No one can doubt thar the crime of murder
would be thing almost uuheard of, if 10 the
Provincial government. a thunderbolt we're
sure 10 blast the murderer the moment his in
ferna deed were consumated. The nearer So
ciely secures this inevita5lcncss OF capital pun
ishment in cases of murder the stronger does
it make the safeguard Of human life. Every
man in private or public life. whose acts tend,
or whose Influence goes, to diminish certainly,
whether he designs il or not. inflicls a grevions
wrong upon society. The cases are very rare
when the clear judgment and unperverted
conscience Of Jurymcn honestly applied, with
all the facilities which the present method OF
our legal trail affords, are unable to convict
The murderer of his guilt; and, consequently.
the cases are rare when capital crime need es
cape lis capital punishment. In truth, there
could be no surer mode OF ofincreasng the un-
certainty of anything like effective punishment
for murder, than establishing imprisonment for
life, for the death penalty. Putting the chan
ces OF escape entirely out of the question, ex-
perience is proved that the complete fuIflment !.
Of a sentence OF Imprisonment for life, imposed .
before the criminal has passed the meridian of
his days, Is among the most uncertain of al
earthly uncertainties. Such sentences have,
Tor long time, been very numerous for man :
slaughter and other crimes of similar gtade -
Yet, is there single felon, in an American .
prison, who has been in confinement for 30 /,
years! Are there who have been IN confine.
nent 90 years! Are there so who have been !
n confinement 10 years? We do no believe .
{. The same morbid sensibility that has /,
;aused governors TO abuse their pardoning L
power. Add, indeed, if the doctrines OF these ;
opponents or the de ath penalty are true, the .
Governors have had so small show Of reason on u
heir side. Ii Is said that the main end ofthe .
OF crime is the reformation Of the /.
rlninai. The villain must be fool who a
Won't reform, and put himself on his good be-
lavior 10 save himself from life long imprison-
nen; the day he docs reform, the object Of .
lis punishment, or rather his medication, is /"
'ained, and the government is in duty bound
o set him free again. 1.-THE trechories ofthe W
Tribune, IN reference TO crime and punish
nenb propounded thousand times over, are d
orrect, society has no more right to keep y !,
animal in penitenliary after the reformation 81
4 his morals, than il has to keep person who r
las been made 10 lunatic asycm, after the r
Of his reason. II
This kind OF business will never answer.- "
he sooner The opponents of Capital Punish :,
neDt give up the trade of .ndiscriminate u v
nashing up Of Right and Wrong into a pat. '. "
Mt treacle.' and csndying over blood stained y :.
murder, the better for themselves, and the bet :.
on for the comuoity whose Interests they have ~ -
I heart. The plan Of making martyrs Of reI- "
ms who have justly forfeited their lives TO y
etributiye justice, destroys every sanction of !. -