Miscellaneous.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 485, 27 June 1857, Page 7

Miscellaneous.

Chinese Barbarity..—The following are the modes of execution and punishment in this land, so blessed with a mild government (?) according to the evidence given in the late debates. But, we ask, what can be more ferocious and inhuman ? First, there is the wooden cage, which consists of two large pieces of wood fitting into one another, and having three openings, into which the head, or the head and a hand, or the head and both hands, according to the severity of the sentence, are put. This punishment is so severe—for the wretch condemned to it has to sustain on his shoulders a weight of 200 lbs., without any possibility of relief—that it is certain death, if inflicted for more than a few days. Next comes beating with bamboo canes—a process which sometimes kills after 15 blows. Then flaying, crushing limbs, and tearing out the tendons of the feet. Strangling and beheading are the capital punishment, to which may be added—though.it is said, not often practised—the penalty by which a criminal is placed between two boards, and sawed in two from head to foot. Starving to death is some* time practised, the culprit being buried in the earth up to the neck, and there left to die; or he is fixed in the wooden cage and fed with daily diminishing rations of rice till he dies on the last grain, as the horse on his last straw. In 1846, 4000 persons were beheaded in the province of Canton out of a population of 9,000,000. Mr. Meadows, the interpreter of the English Embassy in China in 1852, saw at Canton an execution, which he afterwards described. The criminals were insurgents who had fallen into the hands of the Tartar officials. The place of execution was a low room, from which the heads of persons previously executed had not been removed. A fire of sandal wood burnt before the shed where sat the mandarins who were to superintend the executions, and interposed its fragrancy between their nobility and the stench of the decomposing heads. The criminals were brought in, some borne in baskets, and tumbled out on the ground, where they lay paralysed with fear; or from the effects of torture inflicted during their trial and imprisonment. They were then placed in order, in a kneeling position, with their faces towards the ground, a man standing behind each, and 'grasping him tightly by his bound bands. Another, in case of resistance, seized the queue, and pulled in the opposite direction, to keep the neck extended. All being thus prepared, the executioner came forward, a common sabre his weapon, which he held with both hands, standing withhis legs somewhat apart, ready for the word. In three minutes, thirty-three bodies were headless, all but the first completely severed with one blow. From one to another the executioner leaped, body and sword acting with the precision of a machine, and dealing a death blow at every jump. -One criminal remained ; and for him a more awful death was appointed. He was a man of powerful frame, in the prime of life, and had surrendered himself to the officials to save his wife and family, who were in their hands, from the torture. They took and bound him to a wooden cross fixed against the wool. The flesh was then cut from his forehead, breast, and extremities—a horrible process, which occupied five minutes, and was yet rapidly performed. The unhappy man was then taken from the cross and beheaded. America.—We extract the following from the •Boston Daily Telegraph:—H on. Preston S. Brooks was strangled to death at Washington, at seven o'clock on the evening of the 27th January. Dr. Boyle, who was called to dress the wounds of Mr. Sumner, was his physician. His disease was croup. Considerable excitement was produced by this visitation of Providence. His personal friends seem smitten, while the mass of those who crowd the hotels come to the general conclusion that the wrath of man is avenged in the justice of God. There are numerous knots of people in each of the hotels talking about the death of Brooks. He died a horrid death, and suffered intensely. He endeavoured to tear his own throat open to get breath. It is rumoured here to-night that Mr. Sumner left Boston to day. This report, with the fact ot Buchanan's arrival hereto-day, andßrooks'sdeath, gives food to the superstitions.' The ' Boston Daily Courier' remarks:—'This sudden event may well be regarded as of extraordinary interest. Unquestionably, it derives its importance from the un* happy circumstances of the assault committed by him on Mr, Sumner, in ihe Senate Chamber, Except for this fact, we presume Mr- Brooks would have been regarded, as he was before that occurence, as a person of high spirit and strong impulse.

but no very marked ability, a warm friend, and a generous though determined foe. We have no doubt, from what we have heard on this subject, that Mr. Breoks committed this outrage in a morbid state of mind, which affords some palliation for it though altogether insufficient to justify or excuse !t- . c aT. e equally well assurred that his own sufferings, m consequence, bave been intense • that he has had a keen sense of the almost universal disapprobation of his act; and that unavoidable reflections upon his conduct and it^ serious consequences could not but have darkened the whole course of his life. A Light Comedian heavily Laden.—At the Insolvent Debtor* Court, Mr. Sargood applied on behalf of Mr. Allcroft, for a rule against Mr. Charles Mathews, the-well-known comedian, 10 show cause why a part of his present income should not be made available for?his creditors. Mr. Allcroft was a creditor for and npwards. Mr JVlathews wag heard on his petition at Lancaster in Aueugt last, and discharged. Since that time he had entered into an engagement with Mr.E. T. Smith, of Drury-laue Theatre, to perform for him at that theatre, or any theatre in the United Kmguora, for an annual snm of payable by weekly instalments of *HO. The affidavit stated that Mr. Mathews was a wklower, and had no family incumbranceg. Mr. Sargood observed that Mr. Mathews could show how as « A Bachelor of arts, »he spent his a week. This was their "Game of Speculation " in that court. Mr Commissioner Phillips, ia granting the rule, committed another dramatic pleasantry of rather a more ancient date than the proceeding, by observing that Mr. Mathews's mode of proceeding was no doubt " A New Way to Pay old Debts."