The Glasgow Chronicle. — 1849-11-28 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH.  MR. DICKENS'S SECOND LETTER.  The execution of the Mannings has called forth a second letter from Mr. Dickens, on the subject of hanging in public, in which, after reiterating the statements made in his first communication, corroborating them by the statements of the journals to the same effect, and strengthening them still further by argument and induction from history and morals, he proposes the following plan as a substitute for that fearful form of inflicting capital punishment : " From the moment," he says, "of a murderer being sentenced to death, I would dismiss him to the dread obscurity to which the wisest judge upon the bench consigned the murderer Rush. I would allow no curious visitors to hold any communication with him; I would place every obstacle in the way of his sayings and doings being served up in print on Sunday mornings, for the perusal of fami• lies. His execution within the walls of the prison should be conducted with every terrible solemnity that careful consideration could devise. Mr. Calcraft, the hangman (of whom I have some information in reference to this last occasion), should be restrained in his unseemly briskness, in his jokes, his oaths, and his brandy. ITo attend the execution I would summon a jury of 124, to be called the Witness Jury, eight to be summoned on a low qualification, eight on a higher, eight on a higher still; so that it might fairly represent all classes of society. There should be present, likewise, the governor of the gaol, the chaplain, the surgeon, and other officers, the sheriffs of the county or city, and two inspectors of 1 prisons. All these should sign a grave and solemn form of certificate (the same in every case) that on such a day, at such an hour, in such a gaol, for such a crime, such a murderer was hanged in their sight. There should be another certificate from the officers of the prison that the a hanged was that person, and no other; a third, that that person was buried. These should be posted on the prison gate for 21 days, printed in the Gazette, and exhibited in other public places; and during the hour of the body's hanging I would have the bells of all the churches In that town or city tolled, and all the shops shut up, that all might be reminded of what was being done."  I person  lie adds—" I cannot understand that the mystery of such an execution as I propose would be other than a fitting climax to all these wise regulations; or why, if there be anything in this objection, we should not return to the days when ladies paid visits to highwaymen, drinking their punch in the condemned cells of Newgate, or Ned Ward, the London spy, went upon a certain regular day of the week to see the women whipped.—Another class of objectors I know there are, who, desiring the total abolition of capital punishment, will have nothing less; and who, not doubting the fearful influence of public executions, would have it protracted for an indefinite term, rather than spare the demoralisation they do not dispute, at the risk of losing sight for awhile of their final end. But of these I say nothing, considering them, however good and pure in inten, unreasonable, and not to be argued with.—With many thanks to you for your courtesy, and begging most earnestly to assure you that I write in a deep conviction that I incurred a duty when I became a witness of the execution on Tuesday last, from which nothing ought to move me, and which every hour's reflection strengthens.—l am, sir, your faithful servant,