Year: 1870

THE penal laws of Japan are remarkably
severe, and the list of crimes which are
punished by death is very large. A COM
I plicated system of espionage exists for
every branch of government and every
grade of society, rendering it extremely
difficult for a criminal to escape detection.
Once in the hands of the police, there is
little chance of his escape by means of
bribery, because of the many checks
brought to bear upon those having tn e
case in charge. A sentence and its execu
tion are not so prompt as has been gener-
ally supposed. A primary examination
is made by police court, and if the case
is one demanding further action, the of.
fender is placed in confinement, there be-
| ing no provision for a release on bail
Many of the lower classes who reach the
| gaol never obtain a trial, the tardy action
of the authorities and cruelty of the gaol-
ers deciding their cases by causing their
deaths


The forms and obligations of an oath
are not recognized there as in Christian
communities. OF the modes of arriving
at truthful testimony there are two quite
| peculiar and worthy of note First, by
making the witness seal his written testi-
mony with drop of blood taken from
under the finger nail second, by subject
ing the giver of false testimony to the
| same punishment which his evidence
brought upon another. The testimony
most relied upon, however, is that OBJ
tanned from the criminal himself, for his
own conviction or aoquittal. This, of
course, is rarely voluntary, and tortures
Of different kinds are resorted to, the
most common of which is that of placing
the accused on his knees across sharp
edged sticks. Heavy stones are then piled
upon the thighs so as to cause the sticks
! to press into the flesh, producing the most
excruciating pain. The bamboo is also
freely used.


Under this system there Is little doubt
that many an innocent man has confessed
to the commission of crimes of which he
has been entirely innocent, rather than
suffer further torture. Petty offences are
punished by beating with the bamboo, by
imprisonment, and transportation to work
in mines. On being discharged, ring is
printed around the arms in Indian ink.
Ii, on being arrested at any time, two or
three rings are found to exist, the otfense
Is punished by death, no matter how in
significant the ohense. The most common
form of execution is by decapitation, and
theft of any amount exceeding $40 is
thus punished. For fratricide or the muir
der of master, and crimes of an aggravat-
ed character, the eulprit is cruciied and
transfxed by spears, one on each side.
Arson is punished by burning at the stake,
or rather on cross. The ground of exc
cution is usually near some thoroughfare,
or on an elevated piece of ground, so as to
make as public as possible the punish
ment. A criminal, on being taken from
prison on the day of execution, is placed
bound ON a horse and made to pass
through the chief streets of the town. Be-
fore him, in procession, march some
wretched coolies bearing bits of board, on
which is written the otfeAse OF the crimi-
nal his sentence, and the time and place
of his execution By his side stride along
the officers of the prison police, while the
rear is brought up by a noisy crowd of
men and half grown boys. Even little
children may be seen trudging along in
the train to the place of death, where they
gaze upon terrible scene with few signs
of compassion. U


Passing near the execution ground one
day, on returning from ride in the coun-
try, your correspondent witnessed an eX-
ecution of japanese justice. The prison.
er, who had been making the usual tour
Of the town, was just approaching the
foot of the hill, surrounded by the usual
crowd. a more distressed looking object
have never seen. He was unWashed,
unshaVen, and sickly from long confne.
ment and the many hardships in the
prison.


AS the procession commenced ascending
the hill, we observed him swaying to and
fro on his seat, and ready to fall to the
ground but for the support afforded him