Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-06-26
mings." and her coffin laid across the

1t was q common thing for cart
load OF mere boys to be taken to eX-
ecution, and it was noted ut the time
that the boys succeeded better than
the older criminals in pretending not
to mind 1t. They exchanged Jokes
with persons in the crowd, sang in
concert, and were supposed, in SO do
ing, to show u game" spirit. In
GLIDING the crowd that lined the
streets and that which surrounded
the scaffold, it is thought that
there were sometimes Il hundred thou
sand spectators OF these scenes. tire.
quired a half century of agitation
to get this system of punishment
radically changed, though it obvious
ly had no effect in diminishing crime.
A handful of mounted police finally
ACCOMPLISHED what the aangman had
failed to do for centuries-put an end
to highway robbery.
The hangman is large and bitter
ingredient in the ''dose" mentioned
above. The press gang was another.
Here is a choice little paragraph from
the journalism of ITO:
This night there was very hot press on
the River Thames They paid no regard to
protection. but stripped every vessel of all
their hands that were nse!ul. They boarded
the Citation East lndiaman. but the crew
took upwards of seven hundred sailors.
Add to this the ravnges ofthe small
pox and the plague, the general de-
bauchery Of the conspicuous classes,
the barbarous medical practice, the
condition Of the prisons, imprison-
ment of debt, the brutal methods OF
educutson and the universal degra-
alton of the masses through the
homage paid to frank"
| Frederick the Great was a sensible
man for king. He paid a visit once
toward the close of his life to the
German Emperor. AS the two mon
archs rode side by side through the
streets, most of the people knelt rs
they went by, and the monarchs made
no objection. Much as we hear of
despotism and cruelty in Russia, that
empire is a paradise of delight at the
present moment, compared with what
it was in175O. A French gentleman,
member OF the Academy Of Sciences,
in an official report upon the condi-
ton of Russia, made statements like
these:
The people dare not gamble with roubles
which bear the impression of the sovereign.
One cannot pass before the palace facing the
emperors apartments without pulling off
one hat. The nobityd ure not come near
the throne without fear and trembling.
They are banished int Siberia FOR the slightest
political intrigue and their est ates contiscat-
| e1 1ist r,ls Of in nor nj iva
in Russia, and the total silence of the nation
upon every thing which may have the least
relation either to the government or thesov-
ereign. arises chiefly from the privilege every
Russian has of crying out in public. Slowo
Delo, e.. declare you guilty OF high trea-
son. All the bystanders are then obliged to
assist in arresting the person thus accused. y
The majority Ut the people, more
over, were then slaves. Under Catha-
rine the Second, who was a woman
of considerable sense and reading,
the unhappy lot OF the Russians was
mitigated, but not radically or per-
manently.
Speaking ofslavery, we should bear
in mind. also, that the slave trade,
toward the close OF the last century,
reached it's most tlourishing develop.
ment, and few persons in Europe or
. America saw anything wrong in it
A young Englishman sailor named
Edward Rushton, who had been q
mate on board Of slave-ships, anc
thus learned something of it's iniqui
ties, on his return to his native Liver
pool, wrote some pieces describing
and denouncing the traffic. He wa,
ruined for his pains. One of hi.
friends afterward wrote that, in 1887
ITO speak irreverently ofthe king. or evel
to deny the existence of a God, were in tn
, town Of Liverpool. venial ofenses when com
pared with the atrocity condemning tn
sale and purchase of human flesh ~
, At that period, it was not unusua
{ for fifty slave-ships to be moored a
, one time at the docks of Liverpool
laying in their supplies tor anothe
f cruise.
! l respectfully commend this "dose'
, to the pessimists. lcannot think o
I one human interest which is not il
, better condition than it was whel
, General Washington was inaugural
ed president. Wewear better clothes
r eat better food, take better medicine
live in better houses, play at bett'
games, read better books, work few
: er hours and in better places, ear
f higher wages, pass better laws, thin
, better thoughts, cherish better fee
! ings, laugh more. cry less, livelonge
and live better in every way. Gu
: region is purer; our politics are NOR
/. intelligent and better tempered.
) New York clerk upon a thousand do
8 lars u year has at command noble
v pleasures and higher life than wa
n possible to any creature in Chris
e tendon, A. D.179O.-James Parto
J. in N. Y. Ledger.