and older law than these, the
universal conscience of mankind. That such a distinction was found
necessary as the race became more numerous, is conclusively shown by
the promulgation of the Mosaic law: "He that smiteth a man so that he
die shall be surely put to death, and if a man lie not in wait, but God
deliver him into his hand, then I will appoint thee a place whither he
shall flee." (Ex. xxi., 12, 13.) This was a great modification of the
original injunction, and also shows clearly, to my mind at least, that
all human punishments should be regulated by the condition of the
people for whose benefit they are designed. Again, in the same chapter
from which I have already quoted, I find the following, "Thou shalt
give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot
for foot, &c.," a law evidently designed for a semi-barbarous people,
and admitting of prompt administration and summary execution. Turning
to the Christian law on the subject we find, "Ye have heard that it
hath been said an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, _but I_
say unto you that ye resist not evil." This would appear to introduce a
new principle of forbearance, and if we refer to the case of the woman
taken in adultery, where the legal penalty was death, we find that
mercy, and not vengeance, is the principle on which our penal code
ought to be based.

But leaving scriptural grounds and descending to those of expediency
merely. Does capital punishment deter men from committing murder more
effectually than perpetual imprisonment would? I believe that 999 out
of every 1000 of our convicts even would not commit deliberate murder,
although the penalty was only a few months' imprisonment and detection
_certain_, unless under peculiar temptation or provocation. It is
a crime naturally abhorrent even to the thief, and the majority of
those men capable of committing wilful murder would on the whole, I
believe, prefer to be hanged out of their misery, than remain in prison
all their life. If all hope of release could be utterly extinguished,
very few of such men would chance perpetual imprisonment, if they had
it in their option. Of course we could not banish hope from the minds
of all, and therefore many would at first cling to life, and after a
few years seek death as a release from bondage, and even commit suicide
rather than endure such suffering longer. I knew one prisoner who
pleaded to be hanged, and others who would certainly pr