The Nevada Democrat., 1856-09-03
A Remarkable Story.
(Ftm 0TNustrati0ns Of Mlman life

from "IHustratioas Of Human L!te.'O
The story to which we shall now advert has
the double value of being told, we presume, on
Mr.. Wards personal knowledge, and of illustra- |
ting the extraordinary chances on which human
life is sometimes suffered to depend. The cir
cumstances occurred to the well known Sir Evan
Nepean in the home department The popular
version of the story has been that he was warn
ed by vision to save the lives of three or four
men condemned to die, but reprieved, and who,
but for the vision, would have perished through
the understandings neglect in forwarding the
reprieve On Sir Evans being subsequently
asked how far this story was true, his answer
was: "The narrative romances O little, but what
it alludes to was the most extraordinary thing
that ever happened to me-" The simple fact as
told by himself are these: One night, during
his Office as under-secretary, he felt the most un-
accountable wakefulness that could be imagined;
he was in perfect health, had dned early, and
had nothing on his mind whatever, to keep him
awake. Still he found all his attempts to sleep
impossbe and from eleven till two in the NOR
ming he never closed an eye. AT length, weary
of this struggle and as twilight was breaking
Gt was summer) he determined to try what
would be the effect Of q walk in the park
There he saw nothing but the sleepy sentinels.
But in his walk, happening to pass the home of
flee several times, he thought of letting himself
in with his key, though without any particular
object. The book of entries Of the day before,
still lay on the table, and through sheer lstless-
ness he opened it. The first thing he saw APP
palled hm-"A reprieve to be sent to York for
the coiners ordered for execution" The execu-
ton had been appointed for the next day. 1t
struck him nc had received no return to his or
der to send the reprieve. He searched the min
utes he could not find it there. In alarm, he
went to the house of the chief clerk, who lived
Downing street, knocked him up Git was then
past three,) and asked him If he knew anything
Of the reprieve being sent. In great alarm, the
chief clerk could not remember.
"You are scarcely awake,' said Sir Evan;
''recollect yourself-it must have been sent"
The clerk said he now recollected he had sent
it to the clerk Of the crown, whose business it
was to forward it to York.
"Good," said Sir Evan but you have his re-
.cept and certificate that il is goae?p
"NoD
"Then come with me; we must find him al
though Il is so early"
II was now about four O'clock and the clerk
of the crown lived In Chancery lane. There
was no hac1ney-coach to be seen. and they al
most ran. They were just in time. The clerk
of the crown had q country house, and meaning
to have long holiday, he was at that moment
stepping into his gig to 60 to his villa. Aston
ishCu thlo NlHlb vi uhutT-ScCTcluTY OI bIuIp
at such an hour, he was still more so ht his bus
iness.
"Heavensp' cried he, "the reprieve Is locked
up in my desk |"
II was brought Sir Evan sent to the post of
flee for the truest and feetest express The re-
prieve reached York next morning Just at the
moment the unhappy men were ascending the
cart.
With Sir Evan we fully agree, in regarding
this little narritve as one of the most extraor-
'dinary that we have ever heard We 90 further
than he acknowledged, and say that TO us il ap-
pears strikiDc eyid uce of what we should con
ceive superior II terposition. IT is true, no
ghost appears, Jsct is any prompting voice audi
bic; yet ths resull depended so long on success
sion OF seen.ldg chances, and each of those chan
ces was ut once SO improbable and so necessary,
that we are ALMOST compelled to regard the
whole as matter of influence not to be attribu-
ted to man. If the first link of the chain might
pass for common occurrenee--as undoubtedly
fits of wakeiulness will happen without any dis
coverable ground in the state of either body or
mind-still what could be less in the common
course Of things than, thus waking, he should
take II into his head to get up and take O walk
IN the park at two in the morning2 Yet if he
had, like others, contented himself with taking
walk In his chamber, or enjoying the cool air at
the window, not one of the succeeding events
could have occurred, and the men must have
been sacrificed Or, If when be took his walk,
he had been contented with getting rid of the
feverlshness of the night, and returned to his
bed, the chain would have been broken: for
what was more out of the natural course of
events than that at two in the morning, the idea
should come into the head of any man to go to
his office and sit down in the lonely rooms of his
department for no purpose of business or pleas
ure, but simply from not knowing what to do
with himself.
Or, If when he had let himself into these soli-
tary rooms, the book of entries had not lain on
the table (and this we presume to have been
among the chances, as we can scarcely suppose
books of this official Importance to be generally
left to their fate among the servants and mes
sengers of the Office; or If the entry, instead of
being ON the first page that opened to his eye,
had been on any other. even the second as be
might never have taken the trouble of turning
the page; or II he and the chief clerk had been
five minutes later at the clerk of the crowns
house, and, instead offlnding him at the moment
OF getting into his carriage, had been compelled
to incur the delay Of bringing him back from
the country, all the preceding events would have
been useless. The people would have died at
York, for even as it was they were stopped on
the.very verge of execution.
The remarkable feature Of the whole is. that
the chain might have been snapped at every
link, and that every link was equally important.
An calculation of the probability of any one of
these occurrences, a mathematician would find
the chances very hard against the probability of
the whole. If ii is asked whether a sufficient
ground for this high interposition is to be dis
covered to save the lives of few wretched cul. |
prits, who, as frequently in such cases, probably
returned to their wicked trades as soon as they
escaped, and 0nly plunged themselves into deep-
er iniquity the answer is that it is not for MS In
our ignorance to mete out the value of human
life, however criminal in the eyes of heaven.