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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
vmhfoJeM so ? fii fact , the iitflclngsS of * the law humanizes und softfena the dispositions of the people , afcicl , like a family governed by a judicious and benevolent parent , they are mtrch Ifcss litely to be disobedient ^ or trdubtesome , than if under a severe and ,
consequently ; disgusting controul . Besides , is it a small thing to cut short the existence of a misguided 1 ) eing in the midst of unrepented sin ? Is it a right or a justifiable thing to put hiitn to death in cool blood , because , under
the excitement of passion or despair , perhaps undfer provocation , he has put an end to the existence of another ? The deeper his soul is involved in guilt , is knot so much the trioire sinful to send him to his awful account
without giving him time for contrition or amendment ? As to the application of the punishment of death to smaller offences , it really does appear to be a great injustice , arid equally opposed
to reason and revelation ; for there ia , a law of God written on the heart , there are feelings intuitive in the nature and conscience of man , which cannot lightly or with impunity be violated , and there is also another law
in the merciful revelation of his own character and will , in the declaration of his intentions towards his creatures , aad in the call he makes upon them to co-operate with and follow him in their own treatment of their
fellowcreatures , which he who dares to turn away from , must on his own soul abide the issue . When we consider the numbers who have gone to untimely graves for offences , which , if we knew all the
previous circumstances , we should perhaps pity as much as we condemn ; offences which , placed in their worst light , can , to no reflecting mind , appear to deserve the punishment of death ; when we remeinber , too , the many who in the course of time have
inaocently suffered , and gone to a disgraceful end in unmerited anguish and shame—* this ^ punishment does seem not oflly the greatest infatuation , btit the / gneatefct cruelty that can possibly be
perpetrated * la another point bf view it may also be called cruel and unjust ; for it involves , not only the possibility of the innocence of the oottdeniriGd person , but the certain and severe sufFeriing ( even where the
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ito ^ fn ^ . wl , m ^ n ^ y ; : c ^ s $ 3 f } \* orili 5 r pfeWfms . * Some jp fejbt ol $ npay c ^ Jl tins a weaVcoiteidbrationr ; but f ^ bne . w&o havfc witnessed the deep , heairt-rendiiig * distress of Stieh scenes , none vmk *
have been made to feel the intense interest and sympathy they excite , whd have beheld the ag-ony qf suspense terminated in the deeper \ yref $ iedness of disappointment and despair ,, will deny that , in common humanity , such suffering ought if pp ^ iblg £ o be alleviated , and , if it be copa |> a |} Wq with the safety and yvell 4 > ein |[\ 9 | ? s ^ ciety , to be spared altogether . Jj #% ' ijfr& offenders against the law be punished , let them be imprisoned , sentenced to hard labour , be cut ofFfrom the
common pleasures and advantages of life , which they have perhaps justly forfeited ; deprive them , if you will , of liberty , of home , of a social existence ; let their fare be coarse , and their
labour hard ( so that it exceed not the bounds of humanity , or partake of the nature of torture , like the treadwheel ) - y but why involve the good , this virtuous , the afflicted , in their punishment ? Surely the knowledge of the
wickedness of a beloved and cherished object is sufficient grief , without filling ' the cup of misery till it overflows , without adding another pang to those which are already scarcely supportable . Surely the time is hastening oa
when a humane and enlightened penal jurisprudence will put an end to all such additional calamities ; when our fellow-creatures shall no longer be " in jeopardy of life , " or the innocent endure an infliction worse than death ;
but it must be by a greater attention than has hitherto been paid jto the true principles of a Christian legislation , and by the combined efforts of the intelligent and the good , by the extension of a more persevering and
comprehensive benevolence , and by i ^ U ^ irresistible power , of puUlJq oplqiopl When these principles are reqognized as the general sentiment , petiti ^ n ^ tp Parliament , from the most respepta r ble inhabitants of different tp \ yns , a-
gainst the punishment of d ^ atbi wuujtl express the real feelings and wishes of the nation , and there can be no doubt but that a cordial co ^ o ^ etjktioni iti a measure of thitf nature ,,: ^ oilla eventually be succed tf ^
Untitled Article
Thoughts on the Punishment of Death . 7 i
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1826, page 71, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2545/page/7/
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