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of the engines , for each fire which occurred in the village in which he resided . Yet , for six shillings and sixpence , this man risked repeatedly , and eventually forfeited his life : but not until he had destroyed property nearly to the amount of sixty thousand pounds !
Further comment upon this division of the subject is scarcely needed ; before , however , I proceed to notice the scriptural arguments of my opponents , I shall briefly glance at the strange notion which some persons entertain , that public executions exert a beneficial influence upon the hearts of the spectators , by the terrible example they afford . I believe the very reverse of this to be the fact *—that it is at occasions of this kind that virtue
becomes vitiated—vice confirmed ; that it is , too , at such sad spectacles that tyr < J # * in iniquity acquire that remorseless cruelty which enables them to witness the death-struggles of their fellow-creatures without emotion ; and , in a word , which qualifies them to practise illegally in after life , the same bloody trade upon their own account ! This may be deemed strong language ; it is ,
however , warranted by facts . ' Out of 167 convicts , under sentence of death , with whom I conversed / says the Rev . Mr . Roberts , 164 confessed that they had been witnesses in the crowd upon those melancholy occasions which the Legislature had designed as warnings to the profligate . ' 2 dly . ' Death-punishment * is indefensible upon scriptural
grounds ; bein g diametrically opposed to the spirit and doctrines of the gospel . This position will , I am aware , be attacked in limine , by an appeal to the Jewish code ,, and the words ' whoso spilleth man ' s blood , by man shall his blood be shed , ' will be triumphantly quoted as decisive of the general question as to the legality of the punishment , theologically considered . But such persons would do well to recollect that the same God said also , He that
stealeth a man and selleth him , or if he be found in his hand , shall surely be put to death ; and , he that curseth father or mother , shall surely be put to death ; f' neither of which crimes have been so punished by us , although we have precisely the same scriptural authority for hanging slave-owners , and blasphemers of the class alluded to , that we have for inflicting that punishment
* The Editor of the * Kunt Herald , ' in noticing the late execution at Maidatone , observes : ' The most strange anxiety wa « manifested on the part of the public to be present at this melancholy spectacle ; and none appeared more anxious than the females * Whole van-loads of persons entered the town , from almost every road , and many countrywomen might he seen with their gowns tucked up , and their infants
under their arms , almost running for foar of being too late . Boys of from ten to sixteen years old u * tre vert / nitmrrous t and to little impression did the horrid exhibition appear to make on them , that they indulged in the coarsest and most unnatural jests . One little fellow was heard to ask his companion , * ' Did you see how the beggar kicked f " And the same kind of comment wat generally prevalent in the wowd . ' f Exodus x * i . 16 . 17 .
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' Death-Punishment * 335
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1834, page 335, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2633/page/23/
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