The Sun. — 1853-01-27 (London, England)

ADVERTISE.MENT].—A SUFFERER FROM SEVESII DEBILITY, AND A SHATTERED CONSTITUTION CURED BY HOLLOWAY'S PILLS. —Mr. Reintzes Van Veerssen, a merchant residing at Nymegen, in Holland, had been ct N. A, akTufor spears from a general debility, his strength t...p, At . L become 11 p that he was quite incapable of (0'..... ' -1 4:1 r.e. .P , 2l:vDßsli gt° anY kind of business • his constitution was r\ ~..,L.:..f ~ , .. giving VW ay a .ly re-established, in gratin;ennottowairrthesstand.ing the efforts of the .L 7) .............. ci veySst medical . ..,- eyl taking Hollow_ , it ,at this crisis he cornpills, and by their use his •:*,: ±:4"': ' l'k bio;and strength are f 3 that publicity be given ,1.:4„xi7;....,s ,I<, Ar which blessingseeetez if, 1,/, ,„,,N a 0: t, gat others may rby the same means.— ~..,,_ ~,i , _lis I.V all druggists, and at Pr 1k• J---1 - - ) . *nt, 244, Strand,,London° esscirliolloway'6 Esta,1N ..I.S  Take the case of the convict Kirwan. Is his commuted sentence compatible with any strong doubt of his guilt in the minds of the responsible authorities ? Is he not treated by it as a great-criminal ? It is not my purpose, and would be beside my present argument, to enter upon the analysis of the evidence on which he was convicted, or the dismission of the different pleas which have been so rife in the newspapers. I assume that, in the proper quarter, they have been weighed and found wanting. Had it been otherwise, common justice and common sense demanded; not a commutation of hanging for transportation, but a free pardon. For be it remembered the case is not one of extenuating circumstances. That ground is taken by nobody. The question is simply guilt or innocence ; atrocious guilt or entire innocence. The highest human authority has decided for guilt, and has also not decided not to hang the murderer. And the public mind acquiesces in the decision. Here, then, is a deliberate determination—a judicial, a governmental, and a national determination—that, not certainty, but uncertainty of inflction shall be the attribute of capital punish ment. It is of no use to call the authorities to account I It is of no use to call public opinion to account. What is done has been done advisedly, and will be done again and again. A different course may be imagined—as what Utopian theory may not be cherished ?—but what power, or what period, shall " bring it to pass ?" I have entered upon no abstract arguments. I cite no texts from the New Testament. I appeal to no array of jurisprudential, philosophical, or philanthropic authorities. I make no question of the right of society over the lives of its individual members. I urge no humane, objections to the punishment itself, nor have I traced its brutalising influences. Aild assuredly I have not indulged in "sentimental ejaculatious." The principle laid down in the latest defence of the gallows is, that "the secret of moral effect is certainty." On that has the reasoning of this letter been constructed. Capital punishment is, from its own nature, and that of human beings, incapable of certainty, and, therefore, of being efficacious, whatever Mr. Calcraft or the Times may say to the contrary.  PußLlcora.  lORBID '