The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1857-09-24

and intelligence, when the consequences are fully
weighed, must condemn. The crime committed
is none the less great because a man allows his
reason to be perverted through coyetousness,
revenge or intoxicating drinks. He is still res
ponsible, and the crime is still a crime against
humanity. We have 10 where seen it better
illustrated than by the following anecdote, which
we copy from a late English paper
some of the most singular instances in connection
with material things, exists in the case of , young
man who, not long ago, visited a large iron rnanufac-
tory. He stood opposite a large hammer, and watched
with great interest its perfectly regular strokes. AT
first it was beating immense Jumps of crimson metal
into thick black sheets, but the supply becoming ex-
hausted, at length it only descended on the polished
anvil. Still the young man gazed intently on its mo-
ton; then he followed its stroke with IA correspond
ing motion of his head; then his arm moved to the
same tune, and finally, he deliberately placed his fist
upon the anvil, and in an instant it was smitten to a
jelly. The only explanation he could afford was, that
he felt an impulse to do it, that he knew he should be
disabled, that he saw all the consequences in a misty
manner, but that he still felt the power above sense
and reason-a morbid impulse, in fact, to which he
succumbed, and by which he lost a good right
hand"
The above illustrates the point we have in view.
In the commission of crime men are carried away
by a fascination which amounts to insanity. The
real answer to the question, why men are often
guilty of foolish sinful acts and Weddings to
temptation, where consequences are as sure and
irremidable as those of the crushed hand, is that
vii doing is to the perverse mind and ~deprayed
heart of man, clothed with a strange fascination.
The black deed is wrapt about with attractions
foreign to its nature the mind is made the dupe
of its own enchantments. Aperverted fancy acts
the magician and changes the shapeless imp into
the personifcation of what is great and noble.
The monster is made a deity. Deformity is trans
formed into the ideal of beauty. Foul base deeds,
like scraps and refuse of broken glass in a Kaleido-
scope take ON all brilliant and enchanting forms.
The highwayman finds in the adventures of rob-
berry the chivalry of Romance. The murderer-like
Napoleon hewing his highway over the Alps, sees
only the triumph of his ambition in cutting his
way to success through the heart OF his victim.
The mastery of difficulties in a hazardously wick
ed scheme, offers laurels after their kind. s'Stolen
waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret places |
is pleasant Forbidden delights are the more
because forbidden. Eden may have
other fruit in abundance, but none is SO fair and
tempting as that which is fenced about with a
prohibition. The depraved heart, like a spoiled
child, is frantic for what it may not have.
Look at the case of Mrs. Cunningham in the
deed which transpired in New York on the 18th of
an abstract of which will be found in
our columns, the publication Of the particulars of
which set all New York in a fever of excitement.
One would think it was enough for that woman
to have been cleared by a jury from the charge of
. murder of which all christendom will now con-
her as implicated in. Ordinary ambition
would have rested here, and quietly retired from
the dark scenes which surround her name, with
seeking the commission of still more a~trocious
deeds. But hardly cleared from this, infatuation
seizes her and carries her forward with the blind
fury of a maniac, into the commission of a scheme
reason must have pronounced utterly i'm
possible to fully carry out SO as to secure the
ends she aimed at, which was to obtain the prop
of the murdered man. Cleared from the
penalty of capital punishment, she PUSHES wildly
a ten years term at the penitentiary.
The frequency with which these startling crimes
'ollow each other very naturally lead to the in
,uiry of the causes of this state of things. 1t is
rot owing to the want of adequate police regula-
ions, for they are the same, or as good now as at
my previous period. The chief reason is, no
loubt, the low state of morality. 1t is the hope
If gain or pleasure that blinds the eyes and in
luces individuals to break through the bounGs Of
common morality, and violate the laws of God
nd man. Lured by such a bait, men think to
wade the deadly point it hides and imagine
hey can bury conscience under an iniquitously
cquired fortune, as they would a viper under a
unconscious that they are only making
f IT n slumherjnr volcano.