NOTES OF THE MONTH. 215 



24, highway robbery ; James Pearce, 39 ; and Edward Mansfield, 25, cutting 

 and maiming ; also George Athea, 20, convicted February last of stealing in a 

 dwelling house ; all of whom his Majesty was graciously pleased to respite 

 during his royal pleasure, except Morgan and others (for forging a will), whose 

 case is postponed for further consideration." 



It will be seen, that out of the whole knot of criminals, not one has 

 drawn a halter. All, with the exception of those whose case remains to 

 be reconsidered, have been saved from an inhuman fate, although they 

 have been invoked, and threatened with its infliction. We array the 

 gallows before the eyes of the thief we make him mount the ladder 

 the judge calls blessings on his soul the cap is over his eyes the rope 

 round his neck his feet, the blood in them on fire, are on the plank 

 and, vibrating between life and eternity, the disgusting farce concludes 

 by dismissing the half-dead wretch to the hulks, or the colonies. The 

 tenacity with which society holds to barbarous forms, even after it 

 becomes half-awakened to their injurious operation, is humiliating to 

 our hopes of enlightened legislation. The humanity of governments is, 

 indeed, of slow 7 growth. An old tract, dated 1652, called A Cry against 

 a Crying Sin, is lying before us, written by Samuel Chidley* It com- 

 prises several petitions and memorials addressed to the Mayor and 

 Aldermen of London, to the Common Council, to the Council of State, 

 &c. on the inhumanity and impolicy of taking away life for mere theft. 

 On one occasion Mr. Chidley attended in the Court, and sent a letter of 

 remonstrance to the bench in behalf of a prisoner then arraigned at the 

 bar for theft, who refused to plead unless the letter was read. On this, 

 Mr. Chidley was " put out of the court, he speaking in the justification 

 of the statutes of God to be right, and the precepts of men to be wrong, 

 in taking away men's lives for such trivial matters." He being put out 



" They gave sentence against the prisoner at the bar, who was arraigned for 

 stealing, and would not hold up his hand, nor plead. * * * And by the Re- 

 corder, Mr. Steele, who was their mouth, gave sentence against him, which was 

 to this effect : that he should go thence to the place from whence he came, and 

 be led into a dark room where there was no light, and should be stripped naked, 

 only his privy members and his head covered, and his arms stretched forth, both 

 on the one side and on the other, as far as they could be stretched ; and that he 

 should be laid along on his back, and have as much weight laid upon him as he 

 was able to bear, and more ; and, the next day, he should only have three mor- 

 sels of barley-bread, without any drink ; and the day following, three draughts 

 of the kennel water running under' New gate, as much as he could drink, and so to 

 remain in that condition from day to day till he died !" 



Our criminal jurists, it will be seen from the above, have made but 

 tortoise-like advances in practical humanity for nearly the past two cen- 

 turies. " Why," Sir Robert Peel would exclaim, " there is no torture 

 now in Newgate !" Is there not ? Do we not, session after session, see 

 twenties and thirties doomed to death, when scarcely more than two or 

 three suffer ? Is there no torture inflicted on those who only learn from 

 the Report their escape from the gallows ? Is there no agony of sus- 

 pense no heart-rending misery endured by relatives and friends ? If 

 there be not, if the convict feels certain of his escape, is not the law a 

 mere formal jest ? Any way, the sense of the country calls for a total 

 abolition of these ghastly mockeries. Let the law be squared by reason, 

 and so be rendered inevitable : as it is, the criminal plays at bo-peep 

 with the judge. 



Economy ! In the Order of Council for the cleansing of all sewers, 

 drains, c. it is ordered that the expense be borne by the parish ; that 



