New-York tribune., 1873-05-16
THE DEATH MENACE.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT A FALLAOY.

entered largely into the composition Of human laws,
that Of attrbuting to the penalty of death peculiar
efficacy IN the repression of crime stands chief and
foremost. That the menace Of death may have pre-
vented the commission of crime in many instances,
am not disposed to deny; but that less sanguin-
airy penalty would have been of equal, If not OF
greater deterrent force has been concusyey proved
by the experience of those States which, for so many
years, have refused to murder judicialy their
criminal prisoners That the deterrent power OF inc
death menace has been vastly oyerrated must
think, be admitted when the following reasons Ior
this conclusion have been carefully considered.
The fear of death is but lightly impressed upon
the human mind. Men fear death, only when II Is
absolutely impending-not always even then, JUS
menace by human law inspires no particular dread,
for Natures unchanging law has decreed IiiaV III
men shall die Lord Bacon, in his essay Oh Gea'n'
most truly says:
1t is worthy the observing that there is no passlon In IN
the mind Of man so weak but II mates and masters e
fear OF death and, therefore, death s no such terrhe
when man hath 50 many attenaanS UCu oy1r W.,
death love sights it, honor aspireh 10 II; gTleI nee,n
10 IN; fear occupeth it nay read that after ONO me
Emperor. had slain nmself pity when Is Ihe lehuoIes'
OF affections provoked many 10 die out OF mere compass
lowers n is no less worthy To observe how little aera
ton in good spirits the approaches Of death maze for
they appear TO be the same men till the last lnst't
TIE FEAR OF DEATH NOT A RESTRAINT.
Death is the common lot of all. yet men live with
put little thought and less of fear, of this great
change The lessons of our recent war clearly de-
mopstrate how little of fear is manifested in sol
dier's career million or more of men voluntarily
entered the armies to face death upon the battle
feld-to shoot and to be shot at. The considea-
tons may have been patriotism, love of adventure,
ambition, pecuniary gain, or whatever influences
conspirc to direct human action but all tending to
establish the important fact that death IS never
feared except when man meets II face to lace. Our
opponents Will at once say, Yes, but soldiers take
their chances of death" True; and so does every
murderer. 1t can be easily proved that of the sol
ders who die upon the battlefield and from the
effects of wounds received and diseases contracted
in the service the percentage is far greater than the
percentage of murierers who die upon the scaitold
The advocates Of camtalpunishment either through
ignorance or a blind perversity are constantly mis-
leading the public mind as TO the real nature Of their
favori penalty They assert thatif every individual
who contemplatcs the commission of the crime Of
murder was made to understand that the death
punishment would be most certainly meted out to
him should he rausgress the law il would have the
effect to restrain the evildoer. Gov. Dix, who be
lieyes in capital puuishmeut-for had the con-
fesson from his own lips in 1SjO-falls into the
same flllacious mode of reasoning, when he says IN
his letter in defense of his action in the Foster case
own life is in certain peril Gov Dix, and every
other believer in changing men by the neck until
they are dead" ought to know that the capital
punishment law is not DEATH but simply the menace
of death The State saws TO the criminally inclined,
"If any one of you shall commit the crime of
deliberate and wlful murder; and if we can arrest
and indict you and the jury do not acquit you and
you do not obtain a sufficient number Of trials to
render your convection ihpOssiblcS and if the Gov
ernor do not commute your sentence after convic-
ton you shall be hanged Aud if, and if, and If.
THE UNCERTAINTY OF PUNISHMENT.
Did the individual who has resolved to murder
his fellow-creature know that he would be stricken
down the next moment after committing the crime;
or. did he know that even ten years Of Imprisonment
at hard labor would be ms punishment for the COM
mission of that ofense then indeed, would the de-
terrDp motives be of the most fOTCible character.
But be knows nothing of the kind Ia short, he has
probably satisfied himself that his crime viii not he
detected: and when the impulsion to commit the
crime has outwcshed the probabilities of detection,
the nature Of the threatened penalty is entirely lost
sight o. Whether the menace be burning at the
stake hanging. or Imprisonment, the effect in this
case would be the same, and OF no force whatever.
In support Of this point let me summon Mr. Beecher
TO the stand.
My DEAR SIR: In reply to your questions, ! you'd
tin cyzlton las placed within reach Of civil govern
mcuts, there need OF the death penalty; ana tat
every consideration Of reason and humanity pleads or
its abolition. n does not answer well the ends OF luslce
ana often defeats them. As an eXAupe, II teuls Rather
10 hruv than 70 quicken the moral Of spectators
And yet while the Of hanging does rot deter men
iHrv from fndine Just verdict and fayors the escape
Of criminals. It the rude justice Of baTbarous age
truly. HENRY WARD BEEcHER.
Marvin II. Bovee.
Legislators, in all ages Of the world have also Ia
e. g. Al fotI
good, and the deprivation of life the accumulation
Of all evil. Upon this hypothesis they have acted
when establishing the penalty Of death as deterrent
Of crime and it is just here where the mistake has
been committed. To the wise, the vrtuous, the in
dustrious the healthful and goOd-tO those who are
in full harmony with the nObler and better purposes
of mans nature life is indeed enjoyable and full Of
pleasure; but to the diseased and afflicted, the indO
lent and yciously inclined, life becomes a strange
mixture Of both happiness and misery, with an un-
doubted prepondeTance Of the latter element; and
In many cases death would De regarded more in the
light Of a blessing than curse.
THE MANNER OF DEATH OF CRIMINALS.
The well established fact that there are at least
seven suicides to one homicide attests the truthful
ness of the proposition that life is ofttimes burden
and the idea Of legislating men out of existence
under the suppOstiOn that il will blot out the sum
OF their enjoyment, arises think, more from the
teachings of theology than from a philosophical
examination Of the question. The threatened pen
atty Of death can be Of deterrent effect upon those
only who crimnally inclined aud it is this class
Of people who, as general rule place but little
value upon their own lives, OF the lives of others
Jeremy Bentham says: "Such is the situation of a
majority of maefactors that their existence is only
melancholy combination of all kinds of wretched-
ness; and in all such cases the dread
of death has been inefectual.' Nor do