New-York tribune., 1870-08-22

nofor;oua designs, We should ourselves De
encouraged in pursuing this severe course IL
wo could perceive that hanging ever dimn,
;sbed murder or afy other crime 1t would
aoam that where courts OF jj@@stlce make iife
cbeap. assassinations do most aDouhu, - 81
snain and Italy, for instance; but that must
ha we suppose. because they profess there the
pomon Catholic religion. So, too, in England
len tbe terror of the moose was employed 10
keen wicked folks from picking pockets never
rrore there so many pockets picked; but we
.rrnose there was Just then passion lor
tbe amusement. So, too, mere III New ork
with Real under sentence OF death, we hau
the Nathan assassination. Poor keai sald tnit
ho sbould not have encountered so much OBJ
Jrrocv in tbe heart of Gov. Hoffman but for
tho Nathan tragedy But, at any rate, the
nrodicoment of Real did not unnerye the arm
of the Nathan murderer.
1H;rd There are those who argue (and
This is the only respectable argument, aiter
alD that the murderer should die, simply De-
conse he deserves to die. But this is merely
saving that SocietyAhas right to indulge In
the passion of revenge, pure and simple. ms
NAV he GOOD morality in the Fejee lsands-lt
il surely inconsistent with the doctrines OF
christianity. But perhaps it is consistent with
the Old DispensatiOn, which may be coming
back again as good as new. IL so, we shaii
all have to get ready for Circumcision ana 'he
Passover.
II would, perhaps, be too much to say tiiaV
the Gallows never prevented single murder'
II is nossible that here and there man has
been kent from staining his hands with blood
nv fear of the dslocation of his cervical YER
tebrp. But will somebody be good enough
70 point out to us why one man should be
frightened into good behavior at the expense
of another. or why A. should be hanged to
save b. from the gallOws Tor {. from the
bludgeon of b.? Please to remember gentle-
man Governors and Judges and Jurymen ana
Hangmen, that this is not matter OF FINE
and Costs or even a matter or Personal lid
ertv. with which you are dealing, but mat
ter of Human Life You heap the possible,
but Inv no means certain, sins of hOmlcides
which you assume are yet to come upon one
boCed and defenseless head; but does an
honest .Jurisprudence ever take counsel OF
its fears You crowd almost intoer-
able agones into the last moments
of fellow-man, for the sake OF a
theory! Deliberately you do to hlm as ne
did to another in passion! And the worlds
experience proves that you cruelty 90
| all this wrong for nothing, and that 1t cannot
be proved that you save a single life by all tins
severity. Look at the experience OF the last
few wears in New-York. You have been
hanging pretty freely, and yet have you dimin-
| ished homicides Why, our whole criml-
nal record shows how little, when their pas
sions are excited, men fear the halter. de-
graded wretch fills himself with bad ardent
spirits, and, under the influence Of the con-
sequent mania, shoots somebody. DO you
| fancy, while convulsed by this madness, that he
will pause to consider that Real was hung
! for indulging in angry passions lie I'M
medately risks his life by shOoting-dO you
suppose that his frenzied eye sees the gallows
in the perspective7 Why, it would be absurder
than absurd to suppose so.
Again, taking the strictest economical view
of the subject, if you hang murderers. and
then they are followed to their sepulchers by
a long parade and pOmp, what are you doing
but making murder honorable, and murdererS
famous9 You cannot prevent this ovation, fol
you cannot bury this poor hanged homicide
where four roads meet, in the silence of mid
night, and with a stake driven through his
body. Having done your worst, you must sur
render these stark remains to those who will
bear them to the tomb in long, trumpha pro-
cession. For, having done all you could to
disgrace murder, you have simply given to ii
a certain coarse dignity. Life would be safer
in New-York to-day if Real were languishing
in a Sing-Sing cell, with no hope of reprieve
If You cannot make life secure by hanging,
why, in the name of common sense, should
! Won hang