St. Landry democrat., 1890-06-07
The Capital Punishment Question.
VIEWS OF SENATOR INGALLS, OF KANSAS

VIEWS OF SENATOR INGALLS, OF KANSAS.
We are all under sentence of death. By
some mysterious and inexorable law IL Is
appointed for all men to die. Other mel
dents may or may not occur, but DEAN Is
inevitable. There is no reprleve. no ne"
trial. no pardon, no executive clemency.
life the most sacred of all natural rights,
is one of which all are deprived by an
arb;trarv degree of nature. The verdict is
pronounced and udgment rendered before
we are born.
The right of man to live is sacred and
incontestab1e, and yet it may be renounced.
IF I am attacked, have the right to kill
nv assailant, if his death is necessary for
the preservation of my own life. This IS
NOT denied by any code of morals or OF
laws. Life may be legally taken not only
in self defence but in the protection OF
nronerty. of honor, and the State. If the
right to slay exists, then the right to live
is forfeited. because two contradictory
rights affecting the same individual cannot
co.exist.
Civil governments are established, among
other objects, to dispense with private
vengeance, and to punish crimes against
individuals as offenses against the social
compact. The citizen relinqulshes his
RIGHT to kill the man who has slain his
father his brother, his wife, or his friend,
upon the agreement that society shall
avenge the wrong, and punish the
offender.
This seems to be the rational Justlhca-
ton of the death penalty, which has been
universally recognized from the beginning
| of history.
And vet it cannot be denied that as the
conscience of nations becomes more sensl :
tive and the sacredness of life more appar-
emit it's infiction grows more repulslve.
Tribunals, iuries and legislatures are
nreceptibly reluctant to enforce the fatal
| rrioht of retaliation. Limitations are i'm
posed. The condemned criminal becomes
the object of excessive and inexplicable
sympathy. Philanthropy strives to devise
less terrible methods of execution. The
barbarous torture of the stake, the gibbet,
the wheel, of beheading and mutilation,
once deemed essential to the safety OF
society, are regarded with horror, and
have been definitely abandoned. Human
ity shudders at the contemplation, and in
ouiries whether the sacrifice of life is moi
indefensib,e if the isolation of the felon is
sufficient for the protection of the State
from the repetition of the crime.
The public sentiment for the abolition
of capital punishment is evidently grow
ing stronger in all parts of the civilized
| world. For political offences, except IL
actual war, it has been finally suppressed
Had Waterloo occurred two centuries
earlier Napoleon would have been sent t.
the block instead of to St. Helena.
The right of government to iptlict thu
death penalty must be conceded. TIT
objects of punishment are TO reform thu
offender and to protect society. The ide'
of vengeance has been eliminated. NJ
gentleman can be considered as reformed
by being hanged, and the only remaining
consideration, therefore, is that of socia
utility. This is debatable ground, and i!
not susceptible of demonstration. Their
are some incorrigible and predestinet
-imipals, the wolves, tigers and cobras o
the human race, whose execution give
general satisfaction; but the victims o
heredity, of want, of sudden rage, of un
governable impulse, are regarded witt
compassion. The indications are strong
that society will ultimately be re- enforce
with sufficient Intellectual and mora
guarantees to enable it to dispense witt
this supp eme penalty.
At present the general conscience woul'
probably reflect the sentiment of the chal
lenged juryman in Montana, who declares
that he was opposed to capital punish
ment, except when inflicted BY vigilance
committe.
The legislature of Kansas has adopte'
the ingenious device of ordering criminal
condemned to death to be confined for on
year after sentence to the penitentiary
and then executed at the pleasure of tn
Governor. The result is an accumulation
of job lot of convicted felons, who's
lives having been judiciously forfeited
instead of being abbreviated, are indef
nitely prolonged by improved diet, scien
tifc sanitary regulations, and enforce
good habits, at the expense of the State
John James ingalls,.