The Portland daily press., 1875-01-19
Uncle Toby and the Devil.

es," replied DR.. Slop-"So am not l." replied
my uncle.-'But he is cursed and damned al
ready, TO all eternity" replied DR.. Slop. II am
sorry for it, quoth my uncle Toby.-IriStran
Shandy.
Uncle Toby pitied the Devil himself and
for many generations he has had the sympa-
thy OF mankind in his colloquy with the
papistical doctor, which we have quoted
above. This citation from Sterne is timely
because the advocates of capital punishment
never seem so happy as when they have
drawn their opponents into some EXPIRE sion
of commseration for criminal, in order
that they may turn upon those who object to
the gallows, in paroxysms of rage and scorn,
asking them if they have nopity for the muir
derer's victims, and if the sufferings of the
murdered are not also worthy of share OF
the sympathies of tie humane So fierce is
the onslaught on those who venture to base
their objections to the gallows in some
measure upon considerations of justice and
mercy toward the criminal, that many are
daunted by the outcry, and either relapse
into silence or cease to justify their opinions
on any other ground than public expediency.
Now this is all wrong. We admit that the
interests of society are of paramount impor.
tance. They must be considered first But
no society can afford to ignore the rights of
the lowest and neanest of. its members, or
to remove them from the sphere of its
sympathy. To do this is mere brutality
For of all the sorrows, misfortunes
and agony that befall mankind in this
state of existence the most dreadful falls
upon those who are morally distorted and
deformed. When they assault society the
latter must, as matter of self-defence, re-
strain them by any means however severe,
even by their destruction, if necessary. We
believe that all intelligent opponents of cap
ital punishment are clear on this point. Kill,
if ,ce must. But they hold that self-protec-
ton is the exact measure of the punitory
authority of the state over offenders, and
that beyond this limit any punishment, re-
straint or correction whatever, with a view
to chastisement in proportion to the wrong
doer's ill-desert, is wholly unjustiiable, and
is not only absurdly imprac:icable, but in
theory is repugnant to sound philosophy and
defiant of the plainest dictates of religion.
Beyond these limits the criminal is of all men
in the world legitimate object of the liveliest
interest and of the most profound compass
sion. Disable him so far as possible, for fur
ther BARN, either directly orindrectly through
his example, and from that moment society
may not rightfully pursue him further, but rests
under the most solemn obligation to do all
that it may for his relief, his comfort aud bis
cure. From that point the most innocent
and most vrtuous of his neighbors are not
more perfectly entitled to protection and as
sistance.
The opponents of capital punishment in
Maine plant their feet on this immovable
basis Of fact; imprisonment for life answers
as far as any penalty can the requirement
that society shall be secure from further dam
ger from the murderer's arm or influence.
The death penalty adds not an iota to the
security from further harm or to the deter
ring influence of the example. In proof of
these facts they point to the history of GRIM
inal jurisprudence in other states of the
Union and in foreign lands, but especially to
the relative frequentcy of homicide in Maine
within the last twenty years, at times when
the gallows has been either used or seriously
threatened, as compared with those periods
when the fear of hanging has been removed.
Reasoning priori or from experience the
result is the same,-imprisonmen is as use
ful as hanging. This being the case, an exc
cution is pure act of revenge. 1t is an at
tempt to carry into effect law of retaliation
that long since lost its hold on the reason
and conscience of mankind, 1t excludes all
consideration of those circumstances affect
ing the real responsibility of the criminal,
such as his temperament, his mental consti
tuition, his congenital moral weakness, his ig-
norance, his early surroundings, his wrongs
and his mptation-circrm which it
is impossible for human society TO take into
account when it is a question of protecting
itself from his attacks but which have every
degree of palliating force up to the very verge
of complete exculpation when it is a question
of infictng upon him -etaliatory punishment
in proportion to his desert. ''In proportion to
his DESERT what folly! Who shall meas
ure, even approximately, the degree of
mans absolute responsibility his real, es-
sential viciousness? Whose insight is keen
or delicate enough to take into account the
varied and complicated motives, from within
and without, the countless influences operat-
ing wholly without their subjects act or vo-
lition, the brutalizing surroundings, the men
tai deformities, the insidous moral diseases
and weaknesses, ,and all those events that come
to the feeble atom, man, who is
Whlrled about