OLD-TIME PUNISHMENTS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 10, 10 January 1913, Page 3

OLD-TIME PUNISHMENTS.

“THE GLOOMY DEAN” OX ENGLISH JUSTICE. The ethics of English justice, with some illuminating comparisons of punishment meted out for-diinor offences a century ago f) formed the theme of A sermon deliyerep by Dr. Inge, Dean of St. Paul’s, at Si Chrysostom’s Church, Victoria Parlt^'Manchester. There was a large congregation, many of whom were university studeifts, who had been specially invited. “The gloomy dean,” as he is now become generally known, said that our criminal law until within living memory was about as disproportionate as any in ancient history. For example, in 1815, at an English assizes, the following were passed:— A retired soldier, for entering a house and theft. Death. Boy (15), stealing £1 3s 6d. Death. Boy (17), entering a house with intent to steal. Death. Boy (19), firing a stack. Death. Two young men for housebreaking. Death. Two young men, for firing a stack, Death. Two boys, for burglary. Death. A man for stealing a pair of shoes. Death. In the present ago our idea of Divine justice, said Dr. Inge, was very different from that of the Old Testament. That God was a torturer he could not believe. God had never meant any such idea to be taken literally. Many clergymen and moralists thought they were doing God’s service by drawing lurid pictures, of the punishment which nature had for vice. The plain truth was, however, that nature had no real punishment for the worst scoundrels, and the vilest offences entailed the least danger. Nature trusted to us to regulate her laws in dealing with our fellow-men, for nature herself was part of humanity. God had given to mankind the privilege of making the world better than it was, and that was why we were given a sense of justice.