Dealings With The Dead Volume I Part 33

Every rank of society, like the troubled sea, casts forth upon the strand, from year to year, its full proportion of wrecked adventurers--men, who have gone beyond their depth; lived beyond their means; and who cherish no care, _ne quid detrimenti Respublica caperet_; but, on the contrary, who are quite ready for oligarchy, or monarchy; and some of whom would prefer even anarchy, to their present condition of obscurity and poverty.

Law and order are of the first importance to every proprietor; for, on their preservation, the security of his property depends; but they are of no importance to those, who are thus, virtually, denationalized, through impoverishment, produced by a career of luxury. Such, if not already the component elements of Empire clubs, are always useless, and often dangerous men.

It was a well known saying of Jefferson's, that _great cities_ were _great sores_. "In proportion," says Montesquieu, "to the populousness of towns, the inhabitants are filled with notions of vanity, and actuated by an ambition of distinguis.h.i.+ng themselves, by trifles. If they are very numerous, and most of them strangers to one another, their vanity redoubles, because there are greater hopes of success." According to the apothegm of Franklin, it is the eyes of others, and not our own, that destroy us.

"Every body agrees," says Mandeville in his Fable of the Bees, i. 98, "that, as to apparel and manner of living, we ought to behave ourselves suitable to our conditions, and follow the example of the most sensible and prudent, among our equals in rank and fortune; yet how few, that are not either universally covetous, or else proud of singularity, have this discretion to boast of? We all look above ourselves, and, as fast as we can, strive to imitate those that, some way or other, are superior to us."

"The poorest laborer's wife in the parish, who scorns to wear a strong wholesome frize, will half starve herself and her husband, to purchase a second-hand gown and petticoat, that cannot do her half the service, because, forsooth, it is more genteel. The weaver, the shoemaker, the tailor, the barber, has the impudence, with the first money he gets, to dress himself like a tradesman of substance; the ordinary retailer, in the clothing of his wife, takes pattern from his neighbor, that deals in the same commodity by wholesale, and the reason he gives for it is, that, twelve years ago, the other had not a bigger shop than himself. The druggist, mercer, and draper, can find no difference, between themselves and merchants, and therefore dress and live like them. The merchant's lady, who cannot bear the a.s.surance of those mechanics, flies for refuge to the other end of the town, and scorns to follow any fas.h.i.+on, but what she takes from thence. This haughtiness alarms the court--the women of quality are frightened to see merchants' wives and daughters dressed like themselves. This impudence of the city, they cry, is intolerable; mantua-makers are sent for; and the contrivance of fas.h.i.+ons becomes all their study, that they may have always new modes ready to take up, as soon as those saucy cits shall begin to imitate those in being. The same emulation is contrived through the several degrees of quality, to an incredible expense; till, at last, the prince's great favorites, and those of the first rank, having nothing else left, to outstrip some of their inferiors, are forced to lay out vast estates in pompous equipages, magnificent furniture, sumptuous gardens, and princely palaces."

Like an accommodating almanac, the description of Mandeville is applicable to other meridians, than that, for which it was especially designed.

The history of all, that pa.s.ses in the bosom of a proud man, unrestrained by fixed religious and moral principles, during his transition from affluence to poverty, must be a very edifying history. With such an individual the fear of G.o.d is but a pack-thread, against the unrelaxing, antagonist muscle of pride. The only _Hades_, of which he has any dread, is that abyss of obscurity and poverty, in which a man is condemned to abide, who falls from his high estate, among the upper ten thousand. What plans, what projects, what infernal stratagems occasionally bubble up, in the overheated crucible! Magnanimity, and honor, and humanity, and justice are unseen--unfelt. The dust of self-interest has blinded his eyes--the pride of life has hardened his heart.

If the energies of such men are not mischievously employed, they are, at best, utterly lost to the community.

No. Lx.x.xIX.

I noticed, in a late, English paper, a very civil apology from Sheriff Calcraft, for not hanging Sarah Thomas, at Bristol, as punctually as he ought, on account of a similar engagement, with another lady, at Norwich.

The hanging business seems to be _looking up_ with us, as the traders say of their cotton and mola.s.ses; though, in England, it has fallen off prodigiously. According to Stowe, seventy-two thousand persons were executed there, in one reign, that of Henry VIII. That, however, was a long reign, of thirty-eight years. Between 1820 and 1830, there were executed, in England alone, seven hundred and ninety-seven convicts. But we must remember, for what trifles men were formerly executed _there_, which _here_ were at no time, capital offences. According to authentic records, the decrease of executions in London, since 1820, is very remarkable. Haydn, in his Dictionary of Universal Reference, p. 205, gives the ratio of nine years, as follows--1820, 43--1825, 17--1830, 6--1835, none--1836, none--1837, 2--1838, none--1839, 2--1840, 1. There is a solution for this riddle--a key to this _lock_, which many readers may find it rather difficult to pick, without a.s.sistance. Before the first year, named by Haydn, 1820, Sir Samuel Romilly, who fell, by his own hand, in a fit of temporary derangement, in 1818, occasioned by the death of his wife, had published--not long before--his admirable pamphlet, urging a revision of the criminal code, and a limitation of capital punishment. In consequence of his exertions, and of those of Sir James Mackintosh afterwards, and more recently of Sir Robert Peel and others, a great change had taken place, _in the mode of punishment_. _Crime had not diminished_, in London--it was _differently dealt with_. I advise the reader, who desires light, upon this highly important and interesting subject, to read, with care, the entire article, from which I transcribe the following short pa.s.sage--

"_The enormous number of our transported convicts--five thousand annually, for many years past--accompanied, at the same time, with a large increase of crime in general, would seem, prima facie, to be no very conclusive argument, in favor of the efficiency of the present system._" Ed. Rev., v.

86, p. 257, 1847. "WHAT SHALL BE DONE WITH OUR CRIMINALS?" Such is the caption of the able article, to which I refer. Lord Grey, and the most eminent statesmen of Great Britain have been terribly perplexed, by this awful interrogatory.--Well: _we_ are a very great people.--Dr. Omnibus, Squire Farrago, and Mrs. Negoose have no difficulty upon this point; and there is some thought in our society, of sending out Mrs. Negoose, in the next steamer, to have a conference with Lord Brougham. Lord Grey's plan was, after a short penitentiary confinement, to distribute the malefactors, among their own colonies, and among such other nations, as might be willing to receive them. Sending them to Canada, therefore, would be sending them, pretty directly, to the States. Dr. Omnibus is greatly surprised, that Lord Grey has never thought of building prisons of sufficient capacity to hold them all, since there are no more than five thousand transported, per annum, in addition to those, who have become tenants of prisons, for crimes, which are yet capital, in England, and for crimes, whose penalty is less than transportation.

It seems to be the opinion of the writer in the Edinburgh Review, whom I last quoted, that, under the anti-capital punishment system, there has been "_a large increase of crime in general_." This he states _as a fact_.

Facts are stubborn things--so are Mrs. Negoose--Dr. Omnibus--and Squire Farrago. They contend, that our habits of life and education, and the great difference of our political inst.i.tutions entirely nullify the British example. They show, with great appearance of truth, that the perpetrators of murder, rape, and other crimes, in our own country, are more religiously brought up, than the perpetrators of similar crimes, in Great Britain. The statistics, on this point, are curious and interesting.

They present an imposing array of educated laymen, physicians, lawyers, bishops, priests, deacons, ruling elders, professors, and candidates, in the United States, who have been tried, for various crimes, by civil or ecclesiastical courts; deposed, or acquitted, on purely technical grounds; or sentenced to imprisonment, for a shorter or longer term, or to the gallows, and duly executed. Now we contend, that the ignorant felon, and such he is apt to be, in all countries, where there is but little diffusion of knowledge, and especially of religious knowledge, when again let loose upon the community, whether by a full pardon, or by serving out his term, returns, commonly, to his evil courses, as surely as the dog to his vomit, or the sow to her wallowing in the mire. But we find, that men of talent and education, and particularly men, who have figured, as preachers, and professors of religion, who commit any crime, in the decalogue, or out of it, become objects of incalculably deeper and stronger interest, with a certain portion of the community--after they repent, of course--which they invariably do, in an inconceivably short s.p.a.ce of time. Thus, when strong liquor, and l.u.s.t, and prelatical arrogance turn bishops, priests, and deacons, into brutes, and prodigals, and sometimes into murderers, they, _invariably_, excite an interest, which they never could have excited, by preaching their very best, to the end of their lives.

I have sometimes thought, that, in the matter of temperance, for which I cherish a cordial respect, a lecturer, as the performer is called, though the thing is not precisely an abstract science, cannot do a better thing, for himself and the cause, when he finds, that he is wearing out his welcome with the public, than to get pretty notoriously drunk. Depend upon it, he will come forth, purified from the furnace. He will take a new departure, for his temperance voyage. His deep-wrought penitence will enlist a very large part of the army of cold-water men, in his favor. A small sizzle will be of no use; but the drunker he gets, the more marvellous the hand of G.o.d will appear, in his restoration.

From these considerations, our Anti-Punishment Society reason onward, to the following conclusions: that, whatever the penalty imposed may be, deposition, imprisonment, or death, it is all wrong, radically wrong. For, thereby, the community is deprived, for a time, or forever, of the services of a true penitent. They all become penitent, if a little time be allowed, or they are persecuted innocents, which is better still.

Besides, how audacious, for mere mortals to lessen the sum total of joy, among the immortals! As religious men, who, when _misguided_, commit rape or murder, invariably repent, if there is any prospect of pardon; hanging may be supposed, in many cases, to prevent that great joy, which exists in Heaven--rather more than ninety-nine per cent.--over one sinner that repenteth.

To be convicted of some highly disgraceful or atrocious crime, or to be acquitted, upon some technical ground, though logically convicted, in the impartial chancel of wise and good men's minds, is not such a terrible thing, after all, for a vivacious bishop, priest, or deacon; provided, in the former case, he can contrive to escape the penalty. Such an one is sometimes more sure of a parish, than a candidate, of superior talents, and unspotted reputation. It is manifest, therefore, that a serious injury is done to society, by shutting up, for any great length of time, these penitent, misguided murderers, ravishers, &c., and, especially, by hanging them by the neck, till they are dead.

This phrase, _hanging by the neck, till they are dead_, imports something more, than some readers are aware of. It was not uncommon, in former times, for culprits to come--_usque ad_--to the gallows, and be there pardoned, with the halter about their necks. Occasionally, also, criminals were actually hung, the halter having been so mercifully adjusted, as not to break their necks, and then cut down, and pardoned. Of thirty-two gentlemen, traitors, who were taken, in the reign of Henry VI., 1447, after Gloucester's death, five were drawn to Tyburn on a hurdle, hanged, cut down alive, marked with a knife for quartering, and then spared, upon the exhibition of a pardon. This matter is related, in Rymer's Foedera, xi. 178; also by Stowe, and by Rapin, Lond. ed. 1757, iv. 441.

We are a cruel people. Our phraseology has become softened, but our practice is merciless, and our lawgivers are Dracos, to a man. When a poor fellow, urged by an impulse, which he cannot resist, seizes upon the wife or the daughter of some unlucky citizen, commits a rape upon her person, and then takes her life to save his own--and what can be more natural, for all that a man hath will he give for his life--with great propriety, we call this poor fellow a _misguided man_. This is as it should be. He certainly committed a mistake. No doubt of it. But are we not all liable to mistakes? We call him a _misguided man_, which is a more Christian phrase than to say, in the coa.r.s.er language of the law, that he was _instigated by the devil_. But, nevertheless, we hang this _misguided_ man by the neck, till he is dead. How absurd! How unjust!

A needy wanderer of the night breaks into the house of some rich, old gentleman; robs his dwelling; breaks his skull, _ex abundanti cautela_; and sets fire to the tenement; thus combining burglary, murder, and arson.

He well knew, that ignorance was bliss; and that the neighborhood would be happier, in the belief, that accident was at the bottom of it all, than that such enormities had been committed, in their midst. Instead of calling this individual, by all the hard names in an indictment, we charitably style him an _unfortunate person_--provided he is caught and convicted--if not, he deems himself a _lucky fellow_, of course. Now, can anything be more barbarous, than to hang this _unfortunate person_, upon a gallows!

A desperate debtor rouses the indignation of a disappointed creditor, by selling to another, as uninc.u.mbered, the very property, which had been transferred, as collateral security, to himself. Irritated by the creditor's reproaches, and alarmed by his menaces of public exposure, the debtor decides to escape, from these compound embarra.s.sments, by taking the life of his pursuer. He affects to be prepared for payment; and summons the creditor, to meet him, at a _convenient_ place, where he is _quite at home_, and at a _convenient_ hour, when he is _quite alone--bringing with him the evidences of the debt_. He kills this troublesome creditor. He is suspected--arrested--charged with murder--indicted--tried--defended, as ably as he can be, by honorable men, oppressed by the consciousness of their client's guilt--and finally convicted. He made no attempt, by inventing a tale of angry words and blows, to merge this murder, in a case of manslaughter: for, before his arrest, and when he fancied himself beyond the circle of suspicion, he had _framed the tale_, and reduced it to writing, in the form of a brief, portable memorandum, found upon his person. _He had paid the creditor, who hastily grasped the money and departed--returning to perform the unusual office of das.h.i.+ng out the debtor's name from a note delivered up, on payment, into the debtor's possession!_ Thus he cut short all power to fabricate a case of manslaughter.

Why charge such a man with _malice prepense_? Why say, that he was _instigated by the devil_? Not so; he was an _unfortunate, misguided, unhappy_ man. And yet the judges, with perfect unanimity, have sentenced this unhappy man to be hanged! The liberties of the people appear to be in danger; and it is deeply to be deplored, that those gentlemen of various crafts, who are sufficiently at leisure, to sit in judgment, upon the judges themselves, have not appellate jurisdiction, in these high matters, with power to invoke the a.s.sistance of the Widow's society, or some other male, or female, auxiliary _ne sutor ultra crepidam_ society.