The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-09-24
Drawing, Hanging and Ouartering.

There appears to be much missppre-
hension existing as to the English pun.
ishment for treason, and this may be a
fitting occasion on which to point out
that the sentence of decapitation, pure
and simple, is one unknown to the Eng
lish law Qor the innovations of the
Long parliament and commonwealth, oil
course, legally 60 for nothing). The
same doom of drawing, hanging, evils
ceration, dismemberment and quarter
ing was passed on peer and peasant
alike (of course, l except the fair sex,
whose invariable sentence was combus-
tion), but constitutional lawyers held
that, inasmuch as the sovereign could,
in his mercy remit the whole of the
penalty. 80 he had the power to dis
pense with any part. Thus, usually in
the case Of peers and connections Of
noble families, decapitation was, by the
kings grace, all that was exacted. The
soundness of this theory of the royal
prerogative was doubted by Lord Will
liam Russell in the case Of Lord Stat
ford, executed for alleged completely in
the pretended popish plot, in the reign
of Charles III. the rather overrated
husband of Rachel Wriothesley, with q
brutal fanaticism that does not display
his character in favorable light,
eagerly craved that his political Uppon.
ent should undergo 10 the full the
degradation and suffering involved in
his sentence. Charles, however, exer-
cised his prerogative. When Lord Rus
sells own turn came for his share in the
Rye House plot. the king again dis
played this peculiar form OF clemency,
accompanying the remission with the
sardonic remark: my Lord Russell
shall now experience that l do indeed
possess that power which he denied me
in the case of my Lord Stafford" But
to return. The drawing. as every legal
scholar knows. means the drawing Of
the criminal to the place Of execution,
and therefore .precedes the infection OF
death. According to Mr.. Justice Black,
stone, vol; iv.. " drawing" formerly
meant, and formerly actually involved,
dragging the condemned along the
ground by q rope tied about his legs to
the place of execution; and this torture
the judgment literally ordains. But
says the learned author of the "Com-
mentaries. usually sledge or hurdle
Is allowed, to preserve the offender
from the extreme torment of being
dragged on the ground or pavement"
This quaint view of indulgence seems
OF piece with the same legal saRe's
oft-quoted vindication OF the humanity
and propriety of the English law in the
Judgment for treason passed upon wo.
men alluded to above. The passage
Is worth consulting. The last crimi.
mails drawn" to the gallows, were, I
believe, Colonel Despard Gee ante, page
37I). and his gang. AS they were to Be
executed in the prison In which thew
were confined, and as the government
insisted that they should be drawn"
TINS grimly humorous expedient was
had recourse to. The conventional
sledge or hurdle-the body of q cart or
tumbril without the wheels-was intro
duced into the PRISON yard, and the con.
demned men entered IL In patches Of
Two at time Except the colonel who
had the honor of an appearance en- seul)
at the door OF the staircase leading to
their cells, and the vehicle thus making
Jour trips, its miserable passengers were
drawn across the tagged space to the
ioot OF the stairs leading to the tower
on which they were to die. When the
vehicle returned, after Its third journey,
TO take up the colonel, that gentleman
remarked-and no wonder" Hal hal
w hat nonsensical mummery is thisP"
The late DR.. Doran tells us {" London
In the Jacobite Times,") that when,
during the horrid year that followed
the as, the sledges arrived to receive
their wretched occupants outside the
gates OF Newgate, TO set out on their
CHASTITY progress to Tyburn or Kenning.
ton common, the polite keeper of the
jail would announce the fact to the
moribund in these courteous terms:
Now, gentlemen, If you are quite
ready, your carriages are at the door,
Notes and Queries.