Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-02-26
Capital, ana other Punishments

ters nave maze the pu0ilc acquainted
with their views on the subject of
capital punishment. A pedantic
Sophomore has just now pointed out
TO me the earliest discussion on this
subject on record. Perhaps the first
opposition ever made to capital pun.
ishment in legislative or judicial
body was made by Caius julius
Cesar in the Roman Senate when
that body was celebrating like an
Illinois jury upon what sort of pun
ishment should be inflicted on the
monster Cataline and his co-conspira.
tors. Caesars speech is reported in
the 4th Grafton of Cicero, though the
latter favored capital punishment.
81 see" said the great Roman ora
tor, "there are two opinions. Silanus
would vote that those who would de-
stroy this great city and the lives of
all its citizens should not enjoy this
vital air a moment of time. He
should die as other traitors have
persisted. Caesar would abolish this
sort OF penalty, but impose all the Sc
verities OF other punishment. He
contends that death was never ap !.
pointed by the immortal gods for the
purpose Of punishment On the con-
trary tits a necessity of nature and
the cure of all ills and misery. Wise
men never meet death unwilllngly,
and brave men have often sought it.
Imprisonment, chains, aud these
eternal, are specially adapted for the
EXTREMIST of crimes. Caesar would
sanction cruel guards, would inflict
penalties on any one that permitted
escape or suggested pardon would
deprive the traitor of all hope, the
the only consolation in misery, would
contiscate his goods. Would leave
him only the curse of life would not
allow him to escape all suffering by
the inflictlon of momentary pang.
Wise men have desired that the
dread of future punishment in the in.
fernal world should restrain wicked
men otherwise there could be no
fear of DEATH"
Such 10 the substance of Ca sar's
reasoning as represented in the Con.
sul's Grafton. Had the great con.
querer's speech in full reached pos.
terity and the present age, it would
have added more to his fame than all
his victories. Perhaps it would have
shed lustre around his memory
that would have mitigated the
dark hues of his treason to
his country. He himself afterwards
successfully carried out the pro-
gramme of Cataline, and he is in
debted 10 the dagger of Brutus for
the tragic end which he coveted-a
fall from the Hottest pinnacle of hu.
man power into earthly nothingness,
a majestic death scene that possesses
grandeur and fascination without
an equal in history.
His ideas on the subject of the
death penalty are about the same as
used by humantarians of the present
day. He was intimately acquainted
with all classes of desperate and law.
less men. Life is but lightly es-
teemed by men who have no enjoy.
ment IN it, or at least none but in
deeds of violence and blood. The
robher and the murderer puts his
life at hazards, whenever he as
saults traveller on the highway or
breaks into a house to make war up.
on its inmates. The dangers of the
scaffold have but little terror for those
who habitually brave death from the
armed posse, the bullet and the ex.
temporized rope. Caesar believed
that chains and hopeless imprison.
ment exercised more salutary re.
stralning influence than the fear of
death. The punishment prescribed
by the Gods in the Internal world
was eternal imprisonment, not ami.
hilation. Why should humiliation,
death, be decreed in the present life
as punishment of crime, since by
the appointment of nature all must
die, the just as well as the unjust?
But nice and plausible reasoning
npon the nature of man will not sat
isfy the present practical age Meth.
er should the Legislature pay any re-
gard to the clashing interpretations
of Biblical students. The ten COM
mandments prohibit specific crime !;
murder among the rest, but they
wisely relegate to human law the
duty to prescribe the penalty for the
punishment of such crimes which
penalties may vary according to the
ever changing condition of society.
And nobody is entitled to hearing
on this question who doubts the right
of society to deal with the murderer
as its safety and protection requires.
What we need is facts, the results of
actual experience. Is life more or
less secure in Wisconsin and Michi-
gan where capital punishment has
been abolished than in States where it
exists, having regard to the charac.
ter and population of the State with
which the comparison is made Are
mob murders more or less frequent
in States where capital punishment
has been abolished than where it ex
lists? Take this test and we will
lose our confidence In the omnipo.
tence OF the gallows as the guardian
Angel of human life. So far as ter
ror is an antidote for crime, either
mode has enough of that element.
Life Imprisonment without hope be.
gets despair and ends In insanity. If
the horrors of gallows deter some
fiends in huural shape, the same hor.
rors deter Courts and juries and they
shrink from pronouncing the death
knell. They will consign a fellow
man far more readily to the peniten,
tiary than 10 the scaffold... The diff
ficulty of conviction is enhanced by
the awfulness of the punishment, and
the criminal who escapes through
the chicsnery Of the law and the hu.
manity Of jurors meets his Just doom
in the fury Of mob violence, and the
community feels a sensible relief
when summary justice is done. Aud
so it too often happens in States
from whence the gsllows is banished.
that mob murderers anticipate the
slow action of the Courts. In Wis.
cousin this has been the case. In