EDITORIAL COLLOQUY. 523 



from a termination, as at any previous period of the annals of the 

 race. The subject however of public executions, and the displays of 

 punishment, putting phrenology on one side, in connexion with 

 morals, is full of matter for curious and important enquiry. I am of 

 opinion that such exhibitions, in place of aiding the moral well-being 

 of society, act most injuriously upon the passions and sensibilities of 

 the beholders." 



'" That is possible; but, nevertheless, I shall stick to Mr.Coombe's 

 explanation, because it has the merit of simplicity; a great con- 

 venience to a man not fond of metaphysical disputes. Our people 

 seem to have a peculiar genius for the horrible, and why deprive 

 them of the gratification of their tastes by abolishing capital punish- 

 ments ? now a well got up decapitation, or breaking on the wheel, 

 would be meat and drink to the minds of millions, and also to the 

 pens of our journalists ; and why, when we are doing, not make the 

 most of an exhibition ? If the exhibition be meant to terrify, why 

 not make it terrific ? The blood of the victim can be no reparation 

 to the party whom he has injured, neither can it make amends to so- 

 ciety for any evil he has inflicted upon it; and as our national 

 genius has this hankering after villany, why not indulge it openly, 

 because it will find food for its appetite 1 Witness what a rush is made 

 to the scene of any notorious murder; why, a little fortune is made by 

 the lucky exhibitor : and if perchance a bloody coat, or the chair of 

 the slain man, or the bed whereon the deed was committed, are 

 thrown into the bargain, every fragment of these is as valuable as 

 the most holy relic, sanctified by the sufferings or triumphs of saints, 

 was once esteemed by religious fanaticism : ours is the fanaticism of 

 crime, as it seems that human nature is unvarying in its moral and 

 intellectual weaknesses." 



" Yes ; but why encourage a fanaticism, which appeals only to 

 the lowest and most debased portion of our moral nature ? On the 

 contrary, I would remove all stimulants of the kind. At present it 

 seems to me that the whole of our social system is more or less 

 diseased. The inferior classes of our population, partly through a 

 misdirection of their industrial energies, partly by a bad admi- 

 nistration of the Poor Laws, and partly by the pressure of me- 

 chanism, having condensed them into masses, are decidedly immoral, 

 speaking relatively to their condition half a century ago. Gin, beer- 

 houses, and politics, have taken place of healthy sports and pastimes, 



