Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1857-04-02
GHpitalvPan1sh1nent.

1hSAtfS mpdtHSN1Ur TIC CFlHl-
max without any regard for the victim
whom he has hurried into eternity, or
fer the misery which he has brought
upon the surviving family and friends,
appear toAconfine their view entirely to
the effect of punishment upon the felon
himself, They lose sight entirely of the
necessity of protection to society. They
forget that every innocent and orderly
person in the community-every man,
woman, and child, who is not in the
habit of violating the laws of God and
man,-has a vital interest in the ques-
ton, whether they shall be protected
from the hand of rufian violence, or de-
signing, malice. 1t is useless to deny
that there are many hardened and wick
ed dispositions in every community, upon
whom the checks of conscience and the
pleadings of humanity have no influence
whatever. To restrain them from the
commission Of cruelty and crime, some
sanction is necessary beyond moral sua
sion, or an imprisonment of uncertain
duration-ShalL+he4 larger class Of the
innocent be abandoned to the tender
mercies Of those who have neither mer-
cy no eehscience21or shall the class
of the guilty-who, we hope, are COM
paratiyely the smaller-be kept in re-
straiat by a punishment far milder than
the fate which they would infict or have
inflicted upon their victims?
One philanthropist wishes the public
mind indoctrinated with the true idea
that human life is a sacred trust, of
which the Divine Being alone has fixed
the beginning, continuance and end
But was not the murdered victims life
an equally sacred trust? And is it not
rather a violation of that sacred trust to
permit a murderer to escape who may
put, an unnatural end to ten innocent
persons, than, by a punishment conso-
nant with the prevailing sentiment of
human justice, in. all ages of the world,
to stop at once and effectually, the muir
derous career of one who has himself
profaned the sacred trust.
Again a mans liberty, the unre-
strained use of his limbs and faculties,
is a sacred trust. A mans personal
immunity from the lash is a sacred trust.
The argument proves too much, and
would lead as to abolish every species
Of punishment or restraint, and allow
crime to, riot. A general jubilee of
thieves, robbers and murderers, would
be the result of these mild and philan-
thropic doctrines.
The possibility that a jury may, in
some cases, convict an innocent man, is
an argument to prove that human judg-
ment is fallible, but not to disproVe the
necessity of sufficient punishment. An
unjust senteneeof Imprisonment, or even
an unjust censure of an ecclesiastical
tribunal, without secular punishment o.
any kind, has, in some cases, shortened
the life of the subject of censure, ant
within less than the time fixed by oul
laws for the execution of a capital sen
tence; but no one ever thought of citing
these results as arguments against al
jurisdiction .whateycr in instances o
similar charge. ar.
WHAT, after all, is the exercise of thu
death penalty in a State, but the embo
diment in laws made and executed with
out passion of one of the first n%ecessi
ties and first rights of men in rude so
cieties-that of self-dcfence? In fact
we owe it to the very protection which
a civilized government provides, by tax
ing the exercise of this right from tn
rash, hands of the injured and using i
iudioially, that pseudo philanthropist
can find a place ito promulgate, or mel
to hear their doctrines. The whole o
this sentiment against capital punish
ment for murder is a ~perversion to un
worthy objects Of a feeling which, i
properly directed, would be praiseworth,
in its nature.-Boston Domiicr.