Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-02-23

no false delicacy towards criminals, nor by
any other consideration, except the public
good. Referring to the Bible, which had been
quoted as authority for capital punishment
he said that those in favor of slavery we're al
so accustomed to quote from it in support of
their position. He would not allow himself
to be carried dry-shod through the New Tesla
ment, over into the old Mosaic Law to find
arguments. precedents and authority from
that old fillibuster, Moses, vi ich should regu-
tate and control the intelligent action of the
people Of to-day. He commended that,
LIST. All men are born free and equal and
endowed by their Creator with certain in
alienable rights among which is the right of
life. I'd. All power is inherent in he people.
Sd. Government is instituted BY their author
itv and acquires rights only so far as they are
surrendered by the people. the legitimate
end of which is the greater security of the
natural rights of those for whom it is institut-
ed, and is in the nature of quid pro que, or
an equivalent for those surrendered. 4th. A
natural right cannot be transferred or given
up for which in the nature of things no
equivalent can be rendered. 9TH. Ii there
fore necessarily follows that government is
delegated trust, founded in compact, aud must
possess limited powers ;that the assumption of
unlimited or absolute power is an usur-
gated; that acts founded on such assumption
of power cannot be legally or morally bind
ing on the citizen, the exercise of which is
tyranny; and that AZ no adequate considera-
ton can be given in exchange for the in
estimable privilege, the enjoyment of life,
no man has right to dispose of it, either ac-
cOrding to the whims, caprice or opinions of
himself or others. 9Th. Right and obligation
are correlative. Neither government nor a
citizen can possess civil rights without hav-
ing imposed on them corresponding obliga-
tons. Each, severally.is not only under OBJ
legation to respect the rights of the other, but
to defend them when invaded. To preserve
just balance between these, so that one
shall not encroach upon the other
and to ensure their respect in tran
guilty and peace, constitute the most
important business of government. Human
life can therefore be taken only by
virtue of this obligation. which makes it i'm
perative on the government to preserve its
own existence and just rights, and those of
each individual member of it unimpaired,
however poor or humble in life. If these
principles be correct, the government as well
as individuals have right of self defence. and
to do this may take the life of an aggressor
only when an absolute necessity exists. With
out snch necessity no power on earth can
rightfullly take life. II it can be shown
there is such necessity, it is lawful and right,
but if otherwise. then it is not only unlaw
full and impoltic but unjust and cruel.
To determine this we must not consider bare
ly whether crimes are aggravated, but also the
nature and constitution of man, the means of
his control, proper ends of punishment, and
practical experience of past times.
There are three classes of men.
l, Intellectual and moral 2. Animal,
intellectual and moral powers be
come vacillating and yield to crime. 8, An
imal propensities overbalance the moral and
intellectual forces in the criminal classes.
To punish such, more than the good and
safety of society demands, is to punish them
for misfortune and not for their faults.
Mr.. Hamlin then proceeded to apply the
foregoing propositions to the question
before the House. iHe argued that
the death penalty does not deter
men from the commission of crime, and
thought it very clear that the protection of
society is best subserved by mechanical re-
straints. Experience proves that punishment
executed with promptness and certainty is
more efficient to deter than severity of pun
shment. While he believed that capital
punishment would not abate murder, he be-
lieved on the other hand that the true method
of solving the Difficulty is education by the
State of its people, taking them at the be-
ginning of life, and instructing them in the
duties Of citizenship.
Mr.. Spear of Hallowell said in his investi-
CATION of the subject he had started in favor
of the restoration of the death penalty,
an opinion derived from superficial observa-
ton but after thorough investigation he had
become convinced that it would be wrong to
pass the bill. He had come to the conclusion
A. l.. L.. Al
matter, he had better err upon the
on that of barbarism. He reviewed
briefly the history OF the repeal of the law in
this State, and claimed that no petitioner or
newspaper raises its voice for a restoration.
1t was now before the House upon simple
order introduced and referred to the Judiciary
Committee. 1t was in this manner that the
friends of the bill sought to reverse the sol
emn judgment of the legislature of 1876; and
he claimed that the burden was douby upon
them to make ont their case. The gentle
man from Rockland Mr.. Hall had said the
voices of 10 victims for the last three years
came from the ground in the State of Maine.
That was true; but the voices of thousands
upon thousands of victims, of children made
fatherless, of others made widows by the
death of those who had fallen under the
bloody hand of judicial sanction, cried out
against this relic of barbarism and against
the injustice which had been done by it in
the past. He next took up the matter of sta
tistics, and gave what he claimed to be official
statistics of crime in the States of Maine,
Vermont, Massachusetts, Michigan and Wis
cOnsin, by which he demonstrated that more
murders in proportion to the population are
committed in the States where the death pen
atty exists than where it has been abolished.
He declared that he did not believe that sta
tistics had any particular bearing upon the
question; but statistics must be met with
statistics, and if the proposition was based
upon them the argument was in favor of i'm
prisonment for life. He hoped the
House would consider other things
than the mere punishment of those
men who commit crime, than mere
revenge upon a man because he is a criminal,
and look upon it as a matter of State policy.
a matter of right and wrong, and as q matter
which interested everybody who believes in
humanity and in justice and right.
Mr.. Ives of Castine, said that if q lighter
punishment than that of death would effect
the object desired he would be in favor of it
rather than the execution of the crimi-
nsl. He had been impressed with the appar-
ent forestalling of the judgment of the legis-
lature. But he did not know that it was
intentional. Members would want something
more than lists of names and papers which
had flooded the House, on which to base their