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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
t@ the Duke of Portland ; Lord Clare was speaking with great animation in a very full house ; I foresaw that my note would be disregarded ; the Duke instantly rose from his seat and carne to
me , anxiously waiting at the door in the antichatnber ; he heard my representation : he read the Judge ' s letter : — " The poor men are much indebted to you , " he said 5 " arid happy am I to be able to as ~ sist such kindness , I will sisn the
order , take it to the office and you will receive the mandate . " The Horse Guards * clock struck eleven as I entered Whitehall : before twelve o ' clock Jp with the respite in ray pocket , was in a
post-chaise on my road ; between five and six in the morning , jusjt at the dawn of day , 1 was within fourteen miles , of Huntingdon , The sun rose in all its splendour ; and it was not , I thought , the last time ' that it would rise upon these poor mep . The clock had not
struck eight when I heard the wheels of the carriage safely passing over the streets of Huntingdon . Upon my arrival at the goal I did not inform the gaoler of the object of my journey , Cc a reprieve " might have echoed through the prison and I should have violated the trust which the Judge had reposed in me * I requested , that
in the presence of the gaoler and in a private room , I might see John Taylor and John Burton the
two prisoners who were ordered for execution . They were immediately called : I heard t ] ber « , 1 onduil with irons , c . orping towards
me ; I sa v , vyhcri they entered the room , that they mistook ipe for the Sheriff . 4 < It will be better / ' I said ^ u that you should have another week to make your peace
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with the Almighty . * ' One of the men instantly fell as if dead ; J involuntarily ran up to him . He clung round me , and looking up , which I shall never forget , he
cried , " Oh ! < jrod , a week is a long time to live . "—This man J after wards learnt had eight children , Soon after I had quitted the prison , and had reached my inn , I saw the people docking in all directions . A friend of mine soon
called and suggested that it might be advisable for me not to be seen in the town , as the mob ? many of whom had come from distant parts of the county , were not pleased at their disappointment .
The . pity which I felt for these poor men and the horror at the supposed or real disappointment of the crowd have made an impression upon me which- no time pan efface . I for some years
attended the courts of criminal law ; I examined all the authors upon this subject ; I made it my business to look into the prisons—I beheld scenes of calamity and complication of distress , which I
was sure ought not to exist . Mr . Burke has said * hat noth . ing tends 50 much to the corruption of science as to suffer it to stagnate ; these waters must be
troubled before they can exert their virtues . I proposed to a most respectable bookseller to publisu the opinions of different authors upon the punishment of death ; he declined because there was not
sufficient interest upon the subject to insure any probability of a sale . The expenses of publication and the difficulty of collecting facts .
yvere I saw , so great and I was then so poor , that , althoug h I pleased myself with the hope th ? J my life might be prolonged until
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386 On the Punishment of Death .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1811, page 386, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2418/page/2/
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