The Sun. — 1847-01-12 (London, England)

ALFRED STEVENS.  Our Contemporary asserts, that if punishment does not prevent crime, it should not be sanctioned. :But the fact, that murder is still committed does not make good the truth of his assertion ; because no punishment, hitherto invented, secondary or justly proportioned as it may have been to the offence perpetrated, has had the desirable effect of extinguishing that or any other particular species of cri nie ; whereas, if our opponents' proposition be soum L, it would, when pushed to its legitimate results, lea xl to the abrogation of all punishment whatsoever. Let us try our Contemporary a little further. He ictintends life ought not to be taken away under .any circumstances. Suppose a man to enter his r nom, and threaten his life with a loaded puistol at his breast, and the alternative to be that he must either kill his assailant, or be killed himself. We apprehend the answer to be, that hen could be justified in taking the life of the assassin in self. defence. Precisely upon the same principle does; societyla ncdtiovni adtchnt ea, lip.na its focfiottl hlbeeec State rejoined tveajetoeci nat ope dat ac thatikt eyl,i afi est hiwse when not utahl de dopr i n nh i s neces ary law win purp fe.nthieyer adequately to punish the criminals, but so to pu rash as to act as a warning to others, and thus,; to defend society at large, as far as it can, from the inhuman sacrifice of innocent blood. Again, decrease w e aorfe schallengedkinds " otfo crimea cco u n t s ivecTo r thee the substitution of secondary for capital punishments." In the first place, we would observe I hat executions are comparatively rare to what tl were, and so far we have a reasonable presumpt: that the present law is working favourably. In ie next, we might deny that crimes, to which second ary punishments are attached, have decreased. And I: ,el ^e we would remark the complete absence of all statis ti ca in the numerous speeches that have of late been m f.de upon this momentous topic. Our adversaries are bo and to furnish their statistics. We could then analyse th, m, and discover what they are worth. However, crii nes may have been lessened on account of second: punishments being more justly proportioned to :I ie respective gravity of offences, and that, as a con a equence of this, parties have been more willing to p secute, whe.reby a prompt and certain punishmf n it now overtakes offenders, who formerly escaped w impunity from the severity of the law. Anof her reason may be, that by the enactment of better la via, incentives to different crimes have been retool red. Such was the case with respect to forgery, when the one-pound notes were done away with. S Poch has likewise been the case by better understood l trays of revenue leading to the extinction of smuggl oug, formerly the prolific source of so much shedding, ; human blood. These are suggestive reasons wh io,ll we advance to convince our opponents that th e:y ought to produce their statistics. We do not yie 1 d to them in sentiments of humanity, but we feel VI best appreciate this sentiment when we evince a di a. •  inclination to the extinction of a law, framed for ti to protection of our lives, being carried by unsupporte d dicta, and reasonings, which, however specious, a re nevertheless feeble and inconclusive.  The memorial from the noblemen, gentlemen, ar is I landed proprietors of the county of Kilkenny, whit :1 ► has recently been presented to the Lord-Lieutena n.t of Ireland, is deserving of the best, attention and nu ►ait serious consideration, not merely from the ran is, respectability, and intelligreice of the gentlemen 1 3,y/ whom it has been transmitted, but from the modera to and just character of the suggestions it offers and th e benefit that would 'be conferred on the country by' their adoption. Nothing can be more valuable than that the parties so deeply interested in any legislative measures that may be introduced for the regulation of the employment of Irish labour, and its due direction into the most beneficial channels in the manner least ; oppressive and burdensome to existing interests, should 1 i fully inquire into the nature of the existing laws, and,: