Daily Kennebec journal., 1883-03-02

/ wish to define the standpoint which |
occupy in the discussion of this question.
1t has been frequently said that those
who are advocating the restoration of the
death penalty for the crime of wilful,
malicious, murder, are aciuated by II
spirit of revenge and desire for vengeance.
Philosophically considered, there can be
no such thing as vengeance except for some
personal injury or wrong, real or imaginary,
and it is passion which cannot be hidden
from ones own CONSEQUENCES l certainly
have no consciousness of any such spirit, but
| am conscious of sense Of right and
justice, which l propose to carry with me in
the discussion of this question. | can easily
forgive those persons, who from a habit of
contemplating the nature of all punishments,
and picturing to themselves the real and i'm
agined horrors of the methods in which it
may be administered. have arrived at that
morbid state where they can easily forget
the enOrmity of crime and its innocent vic
tins. and transfer all their sympathy to the con-
Wet and perpetrator of the crime, when they
really and sincerely think and say, that all
who may as sincerely differ with them in
their views of this question, are animated by
desire for revenge. But when legislators
in the discharge of the very highest and most
responsible functions of the trust committed
to them. can so far forget the obligations rest
ing upon them, as to be conscious themselves
of any such spirit Of revenge or attribute such
motives to others, while may not wholly
forgive. can vet be charitable, and would
commend To them the reading of the 18th
chapter of Romans, which in its short and
pithy sentences, contains about as much by
the way of exhorIation as to the practical
duties Of christianity, as the Sermon on the
Mount does by the way of announcing its
great principles. For there will be found an
exposition of the text quoted by the gentle
man from Paris, from the old dispensaton.
"VeDgeance is mine, | will repay saith the
Lord" when applied to the new, and clearly
showing that vengeance is but personal
attribute. For the great apostle says:
"Avenge not yourselves, but give place unto
wrath" for it is written, vengeance is mine,
will repay" therefore, if thine enemy or the
one thou hast injured hungers, feed him, ETC.,
ETC., and st. Paul was good lawyer, and a
believer in capital punishment; and tells us
for whom the law is made. For 1.-THE lawless,
for murderers of fathers, for murderers of
mothers, for manslaughters." etc.
As citizens Of the State men pursue their
various avOcations. They leave their homes,
travel by railroad and by steamboat. and meet
and greet each other; we, as Legislators, leave
our homes and families, and assemble here
with a general feeling of personal security,
without which life would be robbed of its en-
joyment. And why? To what is this to be
attributed? To the blessings of good govern
ment, which like all blessings, spiritual or
material, are conferred upon us conditlonally,
and must be so as long as man has the power
of choice, from which results accountability
You C .nnot name single blessing but has its
conditions. Gods pure air is free. and wish
4 =. ~ L III
we can perish ky refusing to inhale it, or we
may make it a curse by contamination. So
with good government, unless we appreciate
it, and appropriate it to cur use, we can
neither enjoy it, nor transmit it to our sue
C, ssors. And in order for us to appreciate
it. we should avail ourselves of the history
of the past, and see what it has cost, through
what struggles and conflicts with barbarism
and crime, with ignorance and evil
passions of men, it has come to US.
How hoes good government give express
sion to its force Bv the enactment of law,
which implies penalty, so that government
is based upon the right to punish. well
remember when, two years ago, this House
was in session. and that miserable being who
had with such hOrrid acts of cruelty. muir
dered his own mother, was brought here from
q neighboring town, to be lodged in the coun-
" jail, diIu dt tIC sdAit tiiuc tuc News III Tic
hellish act was sent TO everv part of
the State and country. l remember
well the universal feeling which
pervaded this House, and the cOmmu-
nifty of this city. including many Of the most
ardent opponents of capital punishment-that,
for such crime death was the only adequate
punishment. Was this feeling one of ven
geance, was it the natural expression of
Justice and right, as to the punishment which
should be legally inflicted on conviction?
Was it not, as it pervaded this House and
the whole community, the shock given to our
feelings of security and safety. both for our
selves, and our own dear ones at home, and
the many homes of the innocent thr oughout
the land.
But we are told that there is no call for
legislation on this subject at the present
time that the public are content. and that
there are no petitions from the people asking
legislation. We must legislate for the pro-
lection Of sheep from the dogs and the bears,
for the protection of the wild game of the
forest. of the birds Of the air and of the trout
Of the Chimquassabamtok stream, and the
pickerel of the Sisvlidobsis of the herring
and the lobster, and the clam of the Atlantic.
We must prohibit the shooting of the pigeon
in the eye. and of the deer in the back of the
head. We ,.ust regulate the locomotive
powers of the clam IN his shell. and the di-
mensions of the lobster as he performs his
retrogrsde movements on the bottom of the
great deep,-but when crime is on the in
crease, when murders are rife, when inno-
cent blood is shed, and the very foundations
of good government ara threatened. We must
hesitate, and evade. refer to the next legisla-
ture, or postpone,i
Let us look into this matter little. What
are the legitimate channels through which
our duties as Legislators are imposed upon
us. By the constitution the Governor is re-
quired from time to time to make known to
US the condition of the State. By Law the at
torney general the inspectors and warden of
the State prison. are required to make
their annual reports. Each and all
Of them have given US official
notice of one fact, the startling
increase of crime. In the language of the
Governor, .'there is a marked increase in
the number of life sentences. In 1870, the
number Was ten or per cent of the whole
number of convicts, in 1876. it was eighteen
or ten per cent. now the number is 36 or 25
per cent" In the language Of the Attorney
General During the past two years six cit
izens OF the State, upon trial, have been con-
victed of murder in the FIRST degree one Of
murder in the second degree. Two in addi-
ton have been sentenced to Imprisonment for
1,Eo fha s,loa nf u,,ilfv eRo vop1irfa