National Republican., 1883-07-16
BASE BALL to-day, Athletic park.
Capital Pun,Sh,nent In England.

DluChWOOUS IIuyu-ENt.
William the Conqueror, Notwithstanding
the ruthless, savage nature of tho man, dis
liked the punishment of death in cold blood
and substituted mutilation for it. SIutila.
tion is u punishment mentioned in the as.
sizes of Clarendon and northampton in the
time of Henry ii. In the reigns of Richard
l. Henry III, and Edward /, death was the
penalty. inflicted. In the two last mentioned
reigns it was tho common punishment for
felony. 1t continued to be so, us to treason
and nearly all felonies, down to the year
1927, until public opinion revolted, and an
era set In Of mercy But ages before public
sentiment rose in rebellion against tho sys-
tenn of barbarous severity, the English people
had, in their own practical, unsystematic
way, managed TO great extent to eludo il.
First of all the clergy successfully asserted n
claim to be FREQ from the jurisdiction Of sec
ular courts, 10 be subject to the ecclesiastical
courts only, which merely onjOined clerk
TO purge himself of his oiIense, probably by
some mode of fasting and penance. In early
times clerk was delivered up to the ordi-
nary as soon as he was imprisoned on sus-
picion of any crimo whatever The Norman
kings, especially Henry ii, might struggle
against this claim as much as they pleased.
They tailed, and the clerk in holy orders
possessed immunity from civil punishment.
Later on IN Edward rs time, this immunity
began to b0 disputed, and clerk was not al
lowed to claim his clergy until after he was
convicted. The next step was that the courts
might deliver him mp O6sqao purgdtiOno, in
which case he was 10 he imprisoned in the
Bishops prison for life, But restriction on
privilege, which originally was confined to
the tonsured clergy, was followed by wido
extension of its application. In 1850 it was
enacted that all manner of clerks, rs we'll sec
ular as religious, should thencGlOrth enjoy
the privileges Of Holy Church. In constru-
ing this statute, the courts, ever, except in
tho time Of the Stuarts, ON the alert in favor
of liberty and against tyranny, extended the
privilege TO every one who could read,
whether he had the clerical dress and tonsure
or not. All women, however, except pro-
tessed nuns, were for centuries excluded from
the benefit of clergy, as it was called Another
grotesque exception was that 6igdmus--not
blgamiSt in our sense OF tho word, but q man
who hath married two wives or one widow"
was also excluded. In 1917 q statute was
passed which gave every peer of tho realm,
although he could not read, a privilege Of q
similar kind. 1t thus happened that, though
all ielonies were capital ottenses, n large pro-
portion of offenders escaped scot-free They
were entitled to benefit of clergy and could
not be punished at all At tho beginning of
the eighteenth century, women and those
who could not read, wore admitted to benefit
of clergy, aud then every one charged with
clergyable felony became liable to slight
punishment in lieu of death. The benefit
had always consisted in being excused from
capital punishment, and at one time man
who could read could commit as many mur-
ders as he pleased with impunity. Later,
man who claimed it was branded on the
thumb, unless he was a peer or clerk in or
ders, and was not allowed to claim his privi-
lego second time. The effect Of such a
clumsy system-barbarou severity on the
one side, hand in hand with capricious ex-
emption from all punishment whatever
was as bad as possible, Yet benefit of
clergy was recognized privilege until 1927,
Smoke the LOngfellOw Cigars. You'll like
it