, 1881-10-26

of burglary, and those which relate to it's
punishment. If the burglar could be made
to feel that the chances OF ultimate escape
were very few indeed, and that if he had
used or carried firearms the punishment,
i'll the event of his being taken, would be-
very much more severe. he would proha-
bly be a good deal less wiling to run the
double risk. There are objections, 10 doubt,
to a system Of police surveillance but
then there are greater objections TO II SyS-
tenn of successful burglary by men with
reviewers in their hands. The burglar is
not 50 often found trying to get an honest.
living, and seeing one effort after another
defeated by the interference of the police,
that we need be very chary of subiecting
him to special supervision. If it were
made part of the punishment for burglary
that a man convicted of it should for a.
long course of years be obliged to report
himself at fixed inter\ as to the police,
and that his dwelling should be open
to their visits without notice, this penalty
alone might exert q deterrent effect OF
some force on the commission OF the crime.
No doubt he would plead, and sometimes.
plead with Justice, that his peculiar rela-
tiOnS With the police made it difficult for
him to get or keep employment. But then,
III nv lC0S0 - thAN NAAhNthtD wa "
a powerful d~iSSuaSive from the commission
OF Il crime which would bring a man into
these relations with the police. 1t is not
for transgressorS to complain that their
way is hard. \ man subjected to close
police surveillance for simple burglary
would not find it easy to add murder to
IL second burglary without being at once
suspected. OF course, he would still be at
liberty to commit murder on the occasion
of his first burglary, but the inducement
to this might be leSsened by making tho
punishment for a burglary in which fire.
arms had been carried even without beng
used very much more severe than the
punishment for Il burglary in which they
had not been carried. suppose, for exam
pie hat the men at whose hands the p0-
liceman at Kingston Hill met his death
had known that if they were caught, and
il reVolyerS were found upon them, or
found under circumstances which left no
reasonable doubt that they had only been
thrown away when capture was imminent,
they would have been sentenced to penal
sprvitudc for life, they would probably
have thought it better to have left their
weapons at home. While it is desirable,
no doubt, to put q stop to burglary III
any form, it is especially desirable to put
4 stop 10 III Ill the loIHl Ill "htCh ' ho
associated with murder. In order to do
this, it is not enough to punish the murder
when committed. The possession of tho
weapons which suggest and lead to muir
der must be visited with penalties so
heavy as to make the risk of being found
with them greater than any possible adj
vantage that the possession OF them can
confer. For once that d burglar owes his
escape 10 the use of his revolver, he IS
probably caught several times in clrcum.
stances which prove that he has set out
on his errand with a revolver about him.
If a long term of penal servitude fer
"lurking with intent and with firearms
were the penalty, the all 'antage OF carry
ing a revolver would be very much lessen
ed. AS a burglar is not likely to encum-
Der himself with firearms which he does
not mean to use, there would be no ground
for fear that we were Furnishing a. hght
offence with undue severity.