M'NAUGHTEN: MURDER: HANGING.
THE delay which is to take place before the trial of M'Nenowrzil will prove useful, not only in softening down the excitement with which the case of this miserable creature has been regarded, but in allowing opportunities for the correction of some false notions which have been put forward by the press, and which, jumping with the humour of the public, have been unhesitatingly received. The denunciations of the murderer and the clamour for his exe- cution with which the country has resounded, would lead a super- ficial observer to the somewhat paradoxical conclusion, that although homicides are lamentably frequent in England, the people generally, under the guidance of their newspaper instructers, entertain a degree of horror of the crime, and a regard for human life, un- known to other communities. But a little reflection forbids this gratifying belief. A deep horror of the crime of murder would impel those by whom it is entertained to follow out with the gravest attention every consideration tending to throw light upon the causes by which its frequency is induced, so as to enable them to devife efficient means for its prevention, and would lead them to invite discussion—to weigh every fact—to receive gratefully every sug- gestion—and to abstain cautiously from allowing their passions to draw them into false statements and erroneous conclusions upon the momentous theme. But nothing of this sort is observable among us. A certain amount of horror is experienced, but of a passionate and evanescent kind. When a murder is committed, it is felt that it is a very wicked act, and that something must be done : the shortest process is preferred ; the criminal is hanged, and there the matter closes. Horror of the act is felt while the act is recent, but there is no abiding sense of the awfulness of its nature to in- duce in calmer moments a thought of devising means more effective for its suppression, than those to which, under the first impulses of indignation, from all time we have been impelled. We feel strongly the pleasure of acting upon the instinct which prompts us to reta- liate injury for injury ; and the horror of murder is not yet strong enough to lead us to entertain the possibility of diminishing its frequency by means which are to involve the denial of this gratifi- cation. Any such suggestion is felt at once to be disagreeable. It begets a war of the intellect against the lower feelings, in which, as far as strong words go, the intellect is sure to find hard usage. Hence, all those who venture to discuss the question are summarily put down as "morbid sentimentalists," and are destined personally to capital punishment, in being denounced as "patrons of murder." Now it is very natural that these phrases—especially the latter, which is a strong one—should be resorted to by those who act under hasty impulses : but in reality, if they attach anywhere, they can only attach to the party by whom they are used. The oppo- nents of death-punishments have, as was indeed to have been ex- pected, with rare exceptions founded their argument solely upon the cold deductions of reason—deductions drawn from statistical facts, and therefore rendering any charge against them of " senti- mentality" singularly inappropriate; while the stigma " patrons of murder" can have no other effect than that of the most silly rho- dornontade, when applied by those who refuse to discuss the possi- bility of its more effectual repression, to men whose whole schemes, whether right or wrong, are directed to that end.
For our part, we would concede all minor points of the argument, and allow at once that if death-punishment be the most effectual preventive of murder, it should be relentlessly enforced. Putting aside, too, all questions of sanity or insanity, we will add, that if the hanging even of homicidal madmen would tend to terrify and deter other persons afflicted with the homicidal tendency, it would be expedient to enforce it. If it is to be a question between the life of a sane or of an insane person, let the lunatic suffer. It would be painful to believe that the Creator had so ordered the world as to render it necessary, that for the good of society an act of ab- stract injustice and cruelty should be performed towards any of his creatures; yet, bowing to the sad necessity which he had esta- blished and which we could not control, we should feel no com- punction at its fulfilment. Our great argument rests solely upon the inference derived from recorded facts, that death-punishments are not merely ineffectual in terrifying and deterring men from mur- der, but that they actually operate to no slight extent as a stimu- lant to the perpetration of that crime.
The facts from which this inference is drawn have been set before the public from time to time with sufficient clearness, and have never yet, to our knowledge, been invalidated. It is unnecessary to repeat them here ; and perhaps, at the present moment, inex- pedient, even if we had room. In the space between this day and the coming trial, we do not expect to see a law repealed which has its foundation in the prejudices of the multitude, and which, con- sequently, can only fall before the influence of long and patient efforts.
As far, therefore, as the great principle is concerned, we leave M'NAUGHTEN to his fate. Our only object in alluding to his case is to correct some misrepresentations which have been given forth in the eager haste to seal his doom. Now that the public excite- ment has had time to cool, he will take his chance along with other criminals of his class. The question as to his mental state will be submitted to a Jury unused to such considerations, coupled with the opinion of the Judge, the counsel, and the medical wit- nesses—all, probably, of a conflicting character; and under these circumstances a verdict will be rendered. If it can be proved that within a few hours of his crime the prisoner made use of some in- coherent expression—mistook the day of the week, or neglected some article of dress—these actions may weigh with the Jury as being inconsistent with the functions of a sound mind, and he may stand a chance of being considered insane ; while the question whether it is one of the functions of a sound mind to impel its pos- sessor to the assassination of an unoffending man in the open light
of a crowded thoroughfare—whether, in short, this deed can be regarded as a "rational act rationally done "—the true test, ac- cording to some high authorities, in civil cases—will, we presume, be passed over, if not as impertinent, at least as too abstruse for the occasion.
When the murder of Mr. DRUMMOND took place, an universal cry was raised, " This comes of not hanging OXFORD and FRANCIS and BEAN!" If those who profess a desire to repress the crime
of murder would only bestow that degree of attention upon their topic which it would receive if it were the commonest one of personal or pecuniary interest, assertions so totally destitute of
foundation would never be put forth. In 1840, OXFORD shot at the Queen, and having been pronounced insane, was confined in 13e,thlem Hospital. Notwithstanding the temptation afforded to persons similarly disposed, by the elevating notice bestowed upon this youth by the press, in their accounts of his perfect sanity and his intense enjoyment of a madhouse life, no other attempt oc- curred until last spring, when, within a few days after a public execution—that of GOOD—FRAscls, who is said to have been pre- sent at the execution, made a similar attack. The cry was then raised, as now, that this was in imitation of OXFORD; a cry in some measure supported by the confession of the culprit—sug- gested probably by his friends, and which was refuted by the counsel for the Crown. FRANCIS was accordingly condemned to death; and the announcement of this sentence was at once fol- lowed by the attack of BEAN. To use the words of a recent writer *— It is true that the attempt occurred just after the sentence of Francis had been commuted to transportation, but there is evidence that it was meditated and determined on before this commutation took place. The commutation, moreover, had been long doubtful, and was granted amidst a degree of opposi- tion sufficient to show, that in the event of the offence being repeated, no mercy was to be expected. At all events, it is quite evident that Bean could have had no idea of being comfortably provided for '; and that, apart from the danger of the law, he ran no slight risk from the sudden vengeance of the crowd. Indeed, so strong a feeling appears to have been entertained in some quarters that the act of shooting at her Majesty is perfectly consistent with the operations of a sound mind, and so great was the dread that future juries might be led to regard it as an irrational undertaking, that a correspondent of one of the daily newspapers felt called upon to offer a suggestion, (which does not appear to have met with the slightest reproof,) that in order to avoid the possibility of so preposterous a decision, attempts of this kind should never be submitted to the judgment of a jury, but that the bystanders, not waiting for the law's delay, should take instant and signal vengeance on the ruffian by sacrificing his life on the spot."
. The evil effects, therefore, which death-punishments produce, are amply illustrated by the very cases which have been hastily quoted by its advocates as justifying their demand for its infliction. The crime of FRANCIS followed hard upon the execution of GOOD; and the similar attempt of BRAN was planned while FRANCIS was under sentence of death, and while some portions of the press were urging the populace to resort to Lynch law in the case of any future attempt. It is the opprobrium of the advocates of death- punishmeut that they have rarely endeavoured to support their argument by a reference to facts; and in their present attempt they have certainly not succeeded.
It may be proper to say a few words upon the indecent avidity (more especially unbecoming when the crime is one by which party feelings may be aroused) which has been manifested by the press to assume every circumstance unfavourable to the prisoner. [(under the excitement of an examination before the Police Magistrate he speaks incoherently, the thirst for his punishment is forthwith sti- mulated by the assertion that he is "acting a part " : if, on the other hand, he conducts himself with reserve, and shows a nature totally unimpressible, he is then " evidently cool and collected," and, according to the profound authority of turnkeys and penny-a- liners, he is " undoubtedly perfectly sane." It would be more honest to say at once, " Sane or insane, let him be hanged!" than thus to twist every circumstance of his case.
There is something infinitely degrading to the national mind in the impotent terror which a random act of one of the weakest and most miserable of our fellow-creatures can now spread through our whole community ; a terror which, when the wretched being is even bound and at our feet, is sufficient to deter us from boldly looking at the true features of his case, and to induce us to pervert its facts so as to justify to our conscience the measures which our alarm suggests. If our mode of criminal treatment were felt to be based upon principles of sound philosophy, such an act would in- spire regret, but it would produce no panic, and all proceedings in relation to it would be conducted with the passionless dignity of conscious power.
* SAMPSON on Criminal Jurisprudence.
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