, 1869-02-11

7soANA* "A1A t+eaIEA1lk III Jul o"A At4AAAS W |
thc thct ot dealh no more than the degree Of
relative Importance which belongs to 1t
amoDg the other fncIdcuts ut humanity. The
ncn Of old cared too little about dEath. and |
eaye their Own lives or took those oi others
with equal rccalessness. Our danger is Of
the opposite kind, lest VIC should be so much
Shocked by death in general aud In the ab-
htIact Us to care too much about It III those
Individual cases. both other pcuplc and our /
Owl, which call tor It's being rlsked. And |
] am not putting things At the worst, for It
Is proved by the experience Of other coun rlcs
thAt horror Of tho cxecutiouer By no means
necessarily implies horror of thc ussassin
The stronghold, as We all know, Of Hired |
u. assassination In the eighteenth sentury was
Italy Yet 1t is said that ii some Of the
ItulIan populations .he iu!ictlon Of death by |
sentence OF Law WAS In the bi.hest degree |
offensive and revolving to popular feeling.
Much has been said uf Tue sanc.ltY Of human
lite sud The ahsurdity Of surprising that .Se
can teach respect for llfe by ourselves de-
stroy,ng it. Bni am surprised At TIE en-
which might lie brought agatnst any puaish-
ishment whatever. 1t is NOT human life only,
net human life as such, that ought to be sa-
cred TO Us, but human feelings. The hnman
capacity OF suffering Is what We should cause
to De respected, not tue mcrc capacity
somehudy asking how we can teach people
not 10 inttiet suffering by ourselves inhleting
1t? But to this / should answer, nil
Of Us would answer, that to deter BY suffer
Ing from infltc1tng suffering is not only posi-.
ple, @ bat % The verx RI nurpoze ., penal al Justice.
for property, orimrsisoni.g HIM, for personal
treedom9 Just as unreasonable IL it 10 think
ttat to take the life of Q man who las tuken
that Of another is TO show want OF regard
for human lite, We show, on the contrary,
mos. cuiphaticully our regard for it bv th,
tfrY, Inv, f,t tf31 Yhof h.a CHr h,r
right in another forfeit Il for himself, and
that while 10 other crime that he can COM
ualt deptiyes him OF his right To Iiy., this
shall. Thrre Is one argument asainst capital
punishment, evan in extreme Gases, which
ca, not deny, to have weight, on which my
can never b. entirely got ssd Of It is this
innocent resson is put to death.
the mistake eau never bo corrected;
wrc1g Is impossible. This wonld be indeed
serious objection II these miserable mis-.
takes, among the N 'st tragicai occurrences
10 the whole round cf human affairs, could
not be nude extremely rare The argument
is inTincihie wt,err the tnodr Of criminal pro-
ctdurc Is dangerous 10 the Innocent, or
where the courts Of justice are not trusted.
and this probably Is the reason 1hy the ub-
lection to au irrcparab1e punishment began
las believed It did) earlier, and Is mure Ill
tense and more widct, ditlused in some parts
Of the cont1Gent OF Europe than 1t Is here.
IheTc are On the continent great and Gu
lichftncd countries. iu which the criminal
| procedure is not so favorable 10 innocencc-
| does not afford the same security against
| erroneous ccuysctiou as It does among us
| countries where the courts Of justice seem to
think they fail in their duty nu1css they find
somebody guilty; anu In their rra1 luudable
desire 10 hunt suilt from its htdin..-placcs
| expose themselves to q serious Danger OF CON
delnnlng the Innocent. II our OWE psoce
duse and courts ofjustice afforded ground tos
similar apprehension, should be the frs. tn
join in witt drawing the power ot i1tilcitne
irtcrarahle puuishments from such tribunals
But We a!i know that thc detects OF onr pro.
cedure are the very opposite ; our rules ot
evidence are CYCn too favorable II tie prls
uncr cur Jurlct aud Judges carry ont the
n,ax,ln thnt it Is tctttr that ten sntlsy should
escaEc than that one innocent should sn!rer
Judges arr most unxious to pol out. ant
jurles to allow, for the barcst possibility .
the prisoners fnnccence. No human judg
MT nj Is f,talllbic. Such sad cases as III,
honorable friend ci;cd T1]l sometime
occur, but III 30 grave n case as aetna
murder the accused. in our system
has ull tho benefit OF the mercst shade,
OF i doubt. And this suggests anotl,c
consideration Tery Evrmaur to the qNes
tlou. The very tuct that death pnnshs1leu
ugination Leccssarily renders the courts a
justice nlotc scrupn1ous In requiring til
fullest tridecce ofguilt. Even that which |
tue grcatest obiectiM, IL capital punishment
tit imle'.sisil,ty OF corrcctil nn error ono
co; m,ttsts, must make, ana does make, Jurty
| opinion, aud more jealous In their scrutiny q
! the evidence. II the substitution Of pens
tcrSltndc Tor Death. IN case of murder, 4hou!
cansc my relaxation 10 this cunsciepti u
!; serupulos'ty, there would te great evil !
bc set against The real, tut 1 hope rare, Al
:. cu1itl. n!ned person, wh3 was afterwards dl
} covered 10 To ln,luccni. In order thAt It
possibility OF correction may be kept opt
I wherever the chance oi this SID coutlncene
) + More than tnhntc: sinai. II
i quite right TINT The Judge shou
n recommend TO tho Crown conmutatiun
t the sentence, not solely where the proof
T. guilt IL onen 10 tic smallest Suspicion, b
< whenever there rcmalLs anythicg unexpIa,
o I'd and ms stcfiotls Ia The case. raising u 1
o slre for more 1iaht, or making 1t likely tn
u iurth* Information may Ut some future tin
= be obtained. would also suggest that whe
< ever The sentence Is C 'Iumuttd the grount
Il of the communication should, in fome uut1e
t lie fD!ln, be made known to the public. Th
+ much | most ~llltn.iy coucede to my homo
] njstion am incliued to hope, that the fee!ln
I | Of the county Is not With him, and that Il
I limitation Ct death punishment to the cas-
/. rct rTcn TO, in the bill Of last year, will
8 generally considered sufficient. Tne man
! | VT ich exis'cd Il short time ago tor parir
g.. Gown all tur puuishmeuts seems ID ha,
{ reached it's limits, and not b-t,rc 1t WAS tim
f We were in CANCER OF tring without an
r ctltctual punishment except fuf sualI c
) cnces, What WAS formerly thu Chef OF O
J secondary punishmcnts. transportation. Z
lore it was abolished, bad becoI
| almost d reward. Penal servitude, suhstitu
t | principally subject to It, a1m1st nominal,
E comfortable did We make our prlso.s, ar1
t easy had it become 10 ret quickly oat
:, them. F1oggsng+ 3 most Objectionas runi5
&; ulent in ordinary cases. but q particular
n | appropriate one for crimes Of brntalty. {
/, reciaGly those against women. We would y
b | hear u, EXCEPT, to bc sure, In case OF
0 r0tters, for whose peculiar benefit We
= ahli. he'd It IL hurry, immediately afta1
+ meutrr OF Parliament had been Garotts
It With tbs exception, offences. even OF IN nt1
n cions kind, asaiust the person, ns my learn
= friend llIe mcmber from Oxford we'll rcmar
c ed, not only were, ':ut still are, visited wi
t enalttes so luufcrou-ly Inadequate Us to
+ alm.s. an encouragement to the crime.
G | think. sir. that In lhe ease Of most otfenel
i exec pt those against property, there is mo
: Lesd ufstrcDgtLci ing our punishments tlt
= Of Weakening tLetu, and that seTerer ST
l. terces. wltl, 1n apportionmeot Of theM
e the difcFt Mt kinds Of Ci1euces which shall {
s prove ilscls better than at present to I
q moral stntit1. cpt OF tie COZ mnntty, are I
5 kinds Of Ecicr1n uf which our penal syste
a now stands in 1eed. The House diyide
y Fo. the rnotlon.......... -.....-..... ....12s
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