The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1880-07-10
9esrriptiue Artitles.
Drawing, Hanging and Quartsring,

There appears to be much misapprehen.
sion existing as to the English punishment |
for treason, and this may be fitting oe-
casion on which to point out that the SEN
tence Of decapitation, pure and simple, is
one unknown to the English law (for the
Innovations Of the Long Parliament and
Commonwealth, Of course, legally 60 for
nothing.) The same doom Of drawing,
hanging, eyisceration, dismemberment, and
quartering was passed on peer and peas
ant alike, (of course, | except the fair sex,
whose invariabe sentence was combus-
tion, but constitutional lawyers held that,
inasmuch as the sovereign could, in his
mercy remit the whole Of the penalty, 80
be had the power to dispense with auy
part. Thus, usually in the case Of peers
aud connections Of noble families, decapi-
talion was, by the Kings grace, all that
was exaeted. The s0undness Of this the.
ory Of the royal prerogatiye was doubted
by Lord William Russell in the case Of
Lord Stafford, executed for alleged com
plicity in the pretended POpsh plot, in
the reign Of Charles III. The rather over
rated husband of Rachel Wriothesley, with
a brutal fauatiesm that does not display
his character in favorable light, eagerly
crayed that his political opponent should
undergo to the full the whole Of the deg
radiation and suffering involved in his SEN
tence. Charles, however, exercised his
prerogatiye When Lord Russell's own
turn came for his share in the Rye House
Plot, the King again displayed this pecu-
euliar form of clemeney, accompanying
the remission with the sardOnic remark
"My Lord Russell shall now experience
that | do indeed possess that power which
he denied me in the case of my Lord Staf-
ford" But, to return. The drawing, as
every legal scholar knows, means the
drawing Of the criminal to the place Of ex-
eeution, and, therefore, precedes the inhic-
ton Of death. According to Mr.. Justice
Blackstone, vol. w., drawing" formerly
meant, and formerly actually involved,
dragging the condemned along the ground
by rope tied around his legs to the place
Of execution; and this torture the judg-
ment literally Ordains. "But, says the
learned author Of the Commentaries"
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 indul-
gence seems Of piece with the same
legal sages oil-quoted yindicatiOn of the
humanity and propriety Of the English
law in the Judgment for treason passed
upon women alluded to above The pas.
sage is worth consulting. The last crimi-
nails "drawn" to the gallows were, be-
lieve, Col. Despard (sec ante, page 81 }
and his gang As they were to be e1e-
cuted in the prison in which they were
, confined, aud as the Government insisted
that they should be drawn" this grimly
humorous expedent was had recourse TO-.
, The conventional sledge or hurdle-the
, body Of cart or tumbril without the
, wheels-was introduced into the prison
yard, and the condemned men entered il
in patches Of two at 4 time Except the
colonel who had the honor Of an appear,
ance en- seui) at the door Of the staircase
: leading to their cells, and the vehicle thu.
. making four trips, its miserable passengers
, were drawn across the tagged space to the
/ foot Of the stairs leading to the tower on
which they were to die. When the vehicle
i returned, after its third journey, to take
, up the Colonel, that gentleman remarked
and no wonder-"Hal ha What non.
sensical mummery is this2' The late
, DIR, Doran tells us ('London in the Jaco-
, bite Times, that when, during the hoTid
year that followed the As, the sledges ar
rived to receive their wretched occupants
, outside the gates of New Gate, to set out
on their ghastly progress to Tyburn oil
Remington Common, the polite keeper oil
the Jail would announce the fact to tht
, moribund in these courteous terms -
, "Now gentlemen il you are quite ready
your carriages are at the door. Note,
and Queries.