New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-02-18
NETWORK TRIBUNE.
ENGLAND.
CAPITAL Punissmert-Nr. Cobden,s Pamphlets
-Regasafioas OF the Banx Of England.

\ A~-'o A%-hANbs
Capital Punissment-,Ir.C obde n,s Pamphlets
Resolutions of the Banx Of England.
couerpo-srrre 81 The y. n. Trisass
LONDON, Friday. Jan q. 1883.
! The Tunes OF Jan. % contains the following
observations under the head Of Amateur
Hanging"
Ak bss cf.su been Ssd chat in tbs couu,,ya
public execution Is generally followed closely Or In
s,snces Of death by banging ether sac;tSl acc;iea
a. in consequence The poxerul ect which the eve.
eEron OF aEoted criminal produce upon morbid and
III msiBrsd mind
OF the several cases which are alleged by
The Times in illustration Of this remark, Que is
that of lunatic at Sheffield, who, after taking
with other lunatics respecting the execution OF
Barbour, put an end to his existence by hanging
himself Another case is that Of 4 boy OF Ii
years, who also hung himself
The doctrine 10 which the enumeration of
these facts was intended 10 give its support, is
ore which no reasonable man would be likely TO
. guess, il being no less than direct apotheosis
OF the hsngman, while capital punishment, is ex-
tolled as the siimd ratio OF society. This IS
done in leading article of the leading journal"
TIE Morning AdreatSer, in some very bitter
but just structures on tie hanging predictions
and bloody logic of TIE Times, has the following
mNtIccitnE udtd Vu 10 VI stdA
EAecusoasof Murders and SeStsS
MILAN. March - Hannah Saddle. March p
Pet.ey. March 20 NJ O. Newton. March -
J. q. GleesoD--i
Murders a: Liv
Smith March n eUpOol. .......-March q
Mdrder and Sui
Howe. March 81 eide at Leicester. April
Poisoning at Bath. April
W Bailey .......Apnls
JWsrd murders bis
Lsndkh. .........-.APril tn9ther. April 10
Sarah Thomas. May fGrdley. April Ii
Doxy parricde.. A 3ril u
J Bailey kills ms two
children and him
self. .-......-... April IL
J Grifths. ......ApTil Is Clss Oserton. April Ia
j. Rush. April 81 Daniel Houls,on. Mays
This table, as The Times comedies shows not
only suicides, but also murders of the most
atrocious kind, following closely upon the exc
cuton of criminals. it is astonishing, that the
article in question does not even produce sim
Gle argument or pretext for indulglng in the
savage theory therein propounded and il would
be very difficult II not altogether impossible, 10
establish any principle upon which the justice
or expediency OF capital punishment could be
founded, in society glOning in It's civilization.
Punishment in general has been defended as
means either OF ameli0rating or OF intimidating.
Now what right have you 10 punish me for the
ameliOration or intimidation OF others Aud
besides, there is histOy-there is such thing as
staIisties-which prove with the most complete
evidence that since Cain the world has neither
been inundated nor ameliOrated by punish
ment Quite the contrary From the point of
view of abstract right, there is only one theory
of punishment which recognizes human dignity
in the abstract, and that is the theory of Kant,
especially in the more rigid formula given to IL
by HegeL Hegel says:
"Punlghmcut is the rsA Of the criminal 1t l. act
of his will The violation OF right has been pro-
claimed by the criminal his right His crime IL
the ne CATION Of right Punishment is the ncgaton Of
tbs lcga,ion and consequently nm affirmation OF right
solicited and forced upon the criminal by himself
There is NO doubt something specious in
this formula, inasmuch as Hege, instead Of
looking upon the criminal as the mere OBJ
ject the slave of justice, elevates him 10 the
position Of free aud selLdetermined being.
Looking, however, more closely into the mat
ter We discover that German idealism here,
as in most other instances has but given
transcendeDtal sanction 10 the rules OF existing
society. Is it not delusi0n 10 substitute for
the individual with his real motives, with multi
tarious social circumstances pressing upon him,
the abstraction of iree-win one among the
many qualities of man for man himself This
theory, considering punishment as the result Of
the criminals own will, is only q metaphysical
expression for the old 4" jus taliOnis" eyeag0inst
eye tooth against tooth, blood against blood
Plainly speaking, and dispensing with all para
phrases, punishment is nothing bat means of
society to defend itself against the intraction OF
its vital conditions, whatever may be their char
acter. Now, what q state OF society is that,
which knows of no better instrument for It's
own defense than the hsngman, and which pro-
clsms, through the "leading journal of the
world it's own brutality as eternal law
Mr. A. Quetelet, in his excellent and learned
work, "PfiOmme 1t ses facults,' says:
There is a budget which pay with irightiGl regn-
larry Il is that OF prisons DUNGEONS aud scafO1s.
We might predict how many individuals will stain
their hands with The blood OF their fellowmen, how
mnpy will be iorgers, how many will deal in poison,
pretty nearly the same way We may torctsl the
nusl births and deaths
And Mr. Quttelet, in a calculation of the
probabilities OF crime published in 1879, actual
IL predicted with astonishing certainty not only
the amount but all the different kinds OF crimes
committed in France in 1899 That il IL not 50
much the particular political institutions OF a
country as the fundamental conditions OF mod
EN- bourgeois society in general which produce
an average amount Of crime in a given national
fraction OF society, may be seen from the follow
ing tables, communicated by Quetelet, for the
years le222f We find in number OF one hun
bred condemned criminals in America and
France:
Under twenty one years ........... 10 10
Twenty.one 10 thirty. -.-.......-..- "A 50
Thirty u forty ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - -
Above forty. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. IL 70
Total. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 100 100
Now, il crimes observed on a great scale
thus show, in their amount and their classifi-
cation, the regularity OF physical PHENOMENA