The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1886. JUSTICE AND MERCY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1434, 17 December 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1886. JUSTICE AND MERCY.

In some remarks which we recently made on the sentence passed by Mr Jusiice Windeyer upon the wretches found guilty of the Mount Rennie outrage, we expressed the opinion that it was necessary for the safety of society in the sister colony that a stern example should, in this instance, be made. Subsequently to this we have observed from our exchanges that strenuous efforts were being put forth to obtain a commutation of the sentence, there being in Sydney, as elsewhere, numbers of well-meaning but mistaken persons whose sympathy with criminals is born of an extreme huraanitarism which curiously enough, while embracing all offenders, even of the deepest dye, seems to take no account whatever of those who suffer at their hands. Strong pressure has been brought to bear by these enthusiasts for the respite of the nine men who are under sentence of death, and the Executive have doubtless had placed upon them a duty of grave responsibility in deciding whether or not in the interests of justice and for the protection of the public it was necessary to carry out the last dread penalty of the law to the full extent of the sentence. Such a wholesale execution is a terrible thing to contemplate, but so also is such a wholesale crime which was indeed of so exceedingly grave a nature as to derqand a stern retribution. Sti'l, the law avenges not for vengeance’ sake but rather to deter others from committing like offences, and if the number of lives to be forfeited could he reduced without diminishing the effect of the law’s vindication it was well that this should have been done. And the Executive have shown their desire to temper justice with mercy, and tendered advice to the Governor which meets all the requirments of the case, the result being that the sentence of three of the offenders has been commuted to imprisonment tor life, thus leaving the sentence to take effect in the case of six, who will expiate their crime on the scaffold. The spectacle of so many young men forfeiting their lives as the penalty of their unbridled passions, and ruthless disregard of all law, human and divine, will surely strike terror into the hearts of those who acknowledge no restraints other than those of a regard for their own lives and liberties, and so prevent them from committing similar crimes under the belief that their youth may save them from the vengeance of the law. While, however, in this instance, we quite concur that it is necessary that the capital sentence should be carried out, we cannot help thinking that had flogging been the penalty, and had it been inflicted in some of the instances which preceded the Mount Rennie outrage, it would have had a sufficiently deterrent effect, and that, in all probability, the outrage for which the six young men are now about to suffer at the hands of the common hangman would never have occurred. We know that there are many persons who strenuously oppose the use cf the lash on the ground that it brutalises those upon whom it is inflicted, but we bold that the dread of flogging is so great that it effectually prevents the commission of such offences. This was clearly exemplified in connection with the crime of garotting, once so common in London and other Home cities, and which was entirely stamped out by the law which inflicted flogging as the penalty. Better flog than hang at anyrate, and though the necessity for either the cat or the gallows is greatly to be deplored, yet until the condition of society in New South Wales improves it would appear that either one or o>her alternative must be chosen with regard to a certain class of criminal ounces.