e appeared on the race
ground, and was there discovered by the constables committing some act
of petty robbery: he was pursued, drew a knife from his pocket, and
wounded his captor. Being taken before a magistrate, both his absconding
and his resistance were stated--the last a capital offence. To punish
this man was, of course, the duty of those whose authority he had
defied. As an absconder, he was sentenced to one hundred lashes, and
told--in words the import of which has not been disputed, although the
taunting tone attributed to the justice may possibly admit a
question--that after his flogging he would be hanged! Ten days after, he
was condemned to death: his execution was delayed a few more by a
respite; but he went to the scaffold with his wounds unhealed! The
treatment of this man called forth, and justified the strongest
expressions of public indignation. True, it was within the letter of the
law: either of the penalties inflicted, might have been vindicated or
excused both by necessity and custom; but to torture a fellow creature
shortly to make his defence against a charge affecting his life, and to
send him to his last account whilst suffering the pangs of laceration,
was inexpressibly revolting. Those who desired to disgrace the
government, embraced the opportunity--perhaps with the eagerness of
faction: pictures were exhibited of the unfortunate man, illustrative of
his melancholy fate. Surely no argument can be found, in the calmest
exercise of the understanding to extenuate an administration of the law,
which distorted justice into cruelty.

Under circumstances far more consonant with reason, but scarcely less
affecting when considered at large, was the execution of Samuel, a black
man: he was transported for theft, from the Cape of Good Hope, and was
remarkable for the quiet easiness of his disposition. For some violation
of penal discipline he was ordered to be flogged: when approaching the
triangle, he attacked one of the officers in attendance, who was
slightly wounded; for this he forfeited his life--justly, had England
been just; but what was his story? With his mother and sister he was
stolen from Mozambique, and thus became a slave: he robbed his masters,
and thus became a criminal. His fate turns justice into mockery, and
might make the Briton blush for his country. His execution, however, was
not without utility: Dr. Ross, who for years had attended such scenes,
then adopted the conviction that