Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1851-02-21

y z II
as best and most elIectually to check those mo.
tives which stimulate to its commission. And
how far capital punishment is conducive to this
end is a matter of the highest consideration
Penal laws which originate from the desire of
retaliation, as far as tn ir spirit and intention sre
concerned, initiate against the divine law of love
But those are not thus repugnant which are de-
vised to deter crime, and which are adapted to
arrest the progress of those who are prone to
deeds of wckedness-w address their fears
for the purpose of arousing their consciences,
by the rigor of declared penalty, and which by
skilfully aiming to counteract those hopes of es-
eape,and those deceitful prospects of qualification
with which vilIainy lures its victims, may stay
ihe hand of contemplated violence, and turn the
head of the undecided offender.
The opinion which prevails to very great ex
tent that the execution OF the convicted criminal
is the only case in which government demands
and takes away the life of human being, is en-
trely erroneous. Government is just as respon-
sible for an act which it might prevent, as for
any act which it positively enoins, and yet how
many hundreds of persons are annually DESTROY
ed by being employed in trades and occupations
which are dangerous to human life, and which
infallbly cause the death Of those engaged in
them. But society knowingly sanctions these
trades and employment, on the ground that the
loss Of life which they occasion, is a less harm
than would be the prohibition Of them. Glass
blowing, mining, the making OF gun powder and
numerous other trades and occupations, are per-
mitted. because it is, on the whole, more advan-
tageous to society to have these classes of oper-
atives, than to save the lives destroyed by their
production. The life of the sailor is still more
dangerous but it is deemed proper that our for
eign and inland trade should be carried OIL, even
at the expense of the loss of the lives of many
of our fellow beings.
1t may be objected here, that in these cases the
sufferers are not killed, but that they voluntarily
incur death, knowing the risk to which they en-
pose themselves; whereas, III capital executions
the criminal is forcibly put to death. But, sir,
as far as regards the present question, it is per-
tectly Indifferent whether the civil authority kills
a man or suffers man 10 be killed. having the
power to prevent his death.
When an army or navy is sent out TO fight a
battle, there is no doubt that many soldiers and
sailors will be killed. Can be said that in these
cases society does not as deliberately sacrifice
the lives of the persons who will certainly be de-
stroyed in performing its commands, as when it
orders the execution to put to death the criminal?
In both cases it sacrifices the life OF the indivdu-
al to the general good. 1t is better that the
country should be defended, that trades and man
ufactures should be carried on, and that com
merce should be encouraged, than the lives of
the persons which must necessarily be sacri-
feed to these objects, should be saved. 1t
! is better that crmna! should die on the
scafioId, than that murder should go unpun-
ished-nor is it true that in the one case the
man is forced to die, while in the other, he
died willingly. The only difference is, that in the
one case the man does an act, or series OF acts,
| Of which death may pr0ba6ly be the cousequ-
/ tlo ,tbg h,,, 80, III
if he be detected death will certainly be the con-
sequence. The soldier goes into battle know
ing he is liable 10 be shot; man commits mur-
der knowing that if he is found out and convict
ed he will be executed. The murderer seeks
! his death Just as voluntarily as the soldier
/ Government addresses itself to the whole CON-
munity, and warns all and every ofits subjects,
that any one who commits certain crime shall
! die. Under these circumstances, the man who
commits this crime has the same warning as be
who enists in the army, and deaths OF the con-
! Wet and soldier stand on the sa;ne footing.
! "Tho fear Of civil punishment" says Robert
Hale, is a motive which the wisdom OF mankind
has superadded to the other motive which op.
crate to restrain men from criminal conduct"
The contempt and hatred of our fellow crea-
lures, and the dread Of punishment from an
invisible Judge, are not always found to be Of
sufficient force to cotrol the unruly passions Of
bad men. The terror of punishment is designed
to operate on the community at large, not on
small number Of people OF peculiar way Of
thinking. The fear and dread of death is as uni
versal as the love and desire of lite there is no
Imprisonment or Punishment, mutilation oflimbs,
no inlliction of labor, or violence, or solitude,
which people in the possession of their sound
sense, and in state of cool judgment, would
not prefer to death
The terrors OF death are not founded or the
physical pain of dying, but from the uncertainty
of the future, and the loss of every thing We es-
TEEN or love or value in this life.
Cases of persons who, when their death was
inevitable, met it with courage, or even with ap-
parent Indifference, DO lot prove that men do not
dread death when ii is not inevitable, and when
they are doubling as 10 the prudence Of commit
ting an act which will entail it if they are netect-
ed
In all secondary punishment it is assumed
that the convict is well fed, well clothed well
lodged, and well attended to. Besides, to the
! unthinkinr multitude the secrets of the prison
house can never be fully revealed; and there
! will always be some room for doubt and hope as
to the lot of the convict. The executoner "a
/ lone infcts punishment the true nature and
extent of which cannot be misunderstood. All
! punishment but death leave some room for hope;
tilefc Is tue nope OF mercy, Abe nope Vi ESCAPE,
/ the hope of obtaining remission OF part of the
sentence by good conduct, of obtaining the fa-
vor OF the TAILOR, or eudng his vigilance, in short,
of profting by some lucky chance, which people,
without being very sanguine, almost invariably
expect will in some way or other be presented
to them.
In every thing human, whatever is future is
uncertain, and wherever there is uncertainty
there is room for hope. Death alone cuts off all
hope, and leaves no possibility OF a lucky chance,
and here is the chief terror Of capital punish
ment-it settles the question at once, and for
, ever.
Trusting, then as we do, entirely to the fear
of punishment, ii is right and necessary that the
punishmen, should be formidable; and as our
law give full liberty of action to the poorest,the
most ignorant, the most brutal, aud the most
dangerous part Of our population, It Is above all
things necessary that the menace by which we
hope TO defer them from crime, should be back
ed By an effective sanction.
In conclusion, sir. premit me to say, that so
far as human reason can fathom and discern the
/ correspondence of motive 10 action, 1t Is to my
mind inevitable that in relaxation Of the existing
penalty of death for murder aforeIhohght, would
he hut diSo,,isad nramiurn for It's more frequent