St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-03-23
Capital Punishment Abroad.


From the Saturday Review.
When the supporters of the agitation
for the abolition of capital punishmen
last brought forward measure will
that object in the House of Commons
they were compelled to confess tha
they had given up all hopes of sue
ceeding, at least in the immediate fl
ture. And they cannot be said to hay,
shown undue dependency. Whether
it is that we have lost some of our hu,
manity or have added to our stock o
sense, it is certain that we have ceased
even to pretend to feel that hanging is
more than the due of some criminals
The abolition of capital punishment
has fallen into complete neglect, along
with female suffrage, fair trade, and
many other reforms of the great fad
family. What may be the ex-
act cause of this backsliding, as the
philanthropist doubtless thinks it, it is
not easy to say. Ireland is perhaps
partly responsible. 1t has given Sc
many and so striking proofs of the eff
cacy of capital punishment as admins
tered on both sides that it has doubt
less helped to confirm the Saxon OPP
pressOr in an old prejudice. But Ire
land cannot claim all the credit. Oul
criminal classes have so obviously en-
jOyed tender treatment and fiOurished
on it in so aggressive a manner, that
they have recOnverted the country to a
belief in old methods of coercion. So
ciety is sick of the method of kindness
as pursued toward human wild beasts
If any important change is now made
in our way of dealing with the crimi-
nal classes, it will probably be in the
direction of greater and more consist
ent severity. And this reaction against
rOsewater methods of keeping life and
property safe is not confined to Eng
land. With us it is more effective be-
cause there is less to retract. The SEN
timentalists who indulge their tender
love for criminals at the expense OF
honest people have had too much to
say, even here but on the continent
they have for a generation, at least,
had 1T all their own way, until at last
the absurd consequences are becoming
too obvious to be any longer neglected.
All over western Europe, at least, the
current of feeling against capital pun
ishment has long been of Overwhelm-
ing strength. The opinions of which
NJ. Victor Hugo is the most eloquent
and powerful exponent have very gen
orally prevailed. In France, Belgium,
Holland, and many parts of Germany
capital punishment has almost ceased
to be inflicted. In Italy il is notori-
ously unknown and there is an arita-
ton to limit if not to abolish if even in
Spain. As regards the two last named
countries this dislike of the nunisb-
ment of death is iptellipible enoupb.
The numerous executions of noliticaI
offenders bv the Austrians and in a far
greater degree bv pettv native tyrants
in the revolutionary period. tended to
make it hateful to the Italians. And
the same cause has Influenced Spain.
Although they PASSED with littIe no
tice, it is sufficiently well known that
military executions were horribly COM
mon dnrinp the troubIed vaars .fter
the revolution of 1863 Prim nnt down
both the Carlists and renubiicans nv
shooting whole batche. of insurgents
with scarcely n form of trial on one
occasion durinp the war ISO soldiers
who were prisoners in the hands of the
Carlists were shot in a Catalan church
ward. Such things inevitably nrodnced
reaction against the punishment of
death. though it has been much weak
er in Spain than in Italy. Rut now q
too great lenitv is nroducing it's natn-
raj effects. it is notorious that the
number of murders is INCREASING in
France. and the increase has been
so marked in Switzerland that three of
the cantons have re-established the
capital penalty. In fact, continental
peoples are apparently only lust be-
ginning to understand the real Difficult
ties of the question. One of the strong
est arguments brought forward in Eng
Iand ao,;,s+ obol;+;,, H., I IS