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JUSTICE AND COMPENSATION.

SEVERAL lessons worth considering are suggested by some recent criminal cases which have attracted general attention. The man Habron, after being condemned to death and after enduring several years of penal servitude, has been found innocent and liberated. Still more recently, one Perryman was charged with strangling his mother and a jury of average intelligence brought him in guilty. Circumstances which came to light after the trial, led the Home Secretary to respite the man and to consign him to penal servitude for life instead of allowing him to be hung. Mr. Cross was satisfied that Perryman had committed the murder, but because, as he said, the act was without premeditation, and having in view, perhaps, the case of Habron, he decided to take the course indicated. Another case-terrible if the statement be true-of a man who for forty-one years has been suffering for a murder he is now said never to have committed, has had attention called to it by Lord Chief Justice Cockburn, with little effect, so far as yet appears.

The first idea which is suggested by these cases is that our much vaunted jury system is far from infallible. Magna Chartists may still cling to it and call it one of the main supports of British liberties, but the actual working of the system justifies a doubt how far it is, in its entirety, worth preserving. Twelve men, taken at random out of a population which Mr. Carlyle deliberately designated mostly

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can hardly be expected to prove themselves, when inside a jury box, other than nature made them. These men rarely know anything of law and have no ideas about sifting evidence. They come from the counting house or the shop to perform duties for which their life has been no training whatever. The ordinary business man or artizan rarely possesses any power of exact and careful thought. Only from

thinkers, students and those who have had a special training can this be expected. Commercial life would, one might think, rather lead to laxity in this direction. Nor have jurymen, as a rule, any proper sense of the responsibility of their office. Competent persons who have been called upon to serve, can generally tell how stupid, careless and foolish their fellow jurymen have been, how they have blundered over the evidence, and how shamefully they have permitted their own fancies and prejudices to sway their judgment. Surely it would be safer to seek for justice at the hands of a trained judge than to rely on the verdict of persons such as these.

Another thought suggested by the case of Habron is that a curious amount of confusion exists on the subject of Compensation. Habron had, evidently, been most unjustly treated. He had borne the sufferings of a man condemned to die and had endured a long term of penal servitude. Everyone saw, readily enough, that some sort of recompense was due to him. When it was thought that the government intended to award him only a small sum, there was a general outcry and the amount was increased. Habron is now provided with the means of earning a fair livelihood. Perhaps no more than this was possible or to be expected. At any rate people generally were satisfied that all was done that could be done. But something more than this was felt by many. It was suggested, not only that Habron had been justly dealt with, but that he was, on the whole, a lucky man; that had he never been suspected of murder, his struggle for existence would have been much harder than it is likely to be

now.

The sufferings he had gone through might have been great, but consider the recompense !

It would be interesting to know how many of these good people who thought Habron a fortunate man would deliberately submit to the death sentence and the penal servitude which he has had to bear, for the sake of any amount of pecuniary recompense. It would be painful rather than interesting to discover what notions these people have about

Justice and Compensation. They certainly fail to perceive that a wrong once committed can never be undone and never be recompensed; that, though those who have made the mistake may have done all in their power to rectify it, very much remains undone. The misery caused may be partially alleviated, but there is no complete remedy,—so far as the doer of the injustice is concerned-for the wrong. That lasts to the end of time. Lax notions on this point are, perhaps, not surprising among a people whose favourite evidence of immortality is that men and women suffer here and must, therefore, be recompensed hereafter; as though, if the sufferings be a wrong done to them, eternity itself could ever wipe it out.

Thirdly. The opponents of the death punishment have made much capital out of the cases which are cited above. They have urged, rightly enough, that, while an inadequate compensation is possible so long as the victim lives, the case is hopeless after he is put to death. But it is noteworthy that much of this agitation against hanging is no more than a too sentimental dread of death. After Perryman was condemned, meetings were held, petitions were drawn up and great efforts were made to procure a respite. The ground of these efforts was that a number of persons really thought Perryman was innocent. They procured strong evidence that the woman had hung herself and that the only part in the tragedy taken by her son was to cut her down and endeavour to restore her. As a result, the sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. As soon as this modification of the penalty was secured, the agitation collapsed. Not that the agitaters had changed their minds and come to the conclusion that, after all, Perryman was guilty, but, the nervous dread of death having been removed, the stimulus was gone. Nevertheless, if these agitators were right-and if they were not, the murder was the most heartless imaginable—a terrible injustice is day by day continuing. So far as Perryman is personally concerned he is

probably, if innocent, worse off than before, for it cannot be believed that, after death, any punishment would be inflicted on him for wrongs of which he was not guilty. If movements of this kind were thorough the change in sentence would only be welcomed as giving more time to secure the ultimate object, the liberation of a man unjustly convicted by a jury of his countrymen.

NOTES.

Mr. Peacock's Poems.-It is hoped that the subscription list for the proposed volume of Selections can be closed shortly, and the work, which is intended for the benefit of Mr. Peacock's widow, put into the hands of the printer. For this, however, a good many additional names are wanted, and persons who have not already subscribed should not delay to do so. The proposal is to issue the work to subscribers at 2s. 6d. per copy and afterwards, perhaps, to nonsubscribers at 3s. 6d. Mrs. Peacock stands in much need of whatever profit can be realized on the publication, and, as her husband was a true poet, all who proffer their assistance, if they have any love of poetry, will not only be helping in a good work but, as a mere matter of book-buying, will receive ample return for their outlay.

copy.

Proposed work by E. S. Littleton.-We learn that Mr. Littleton of the "Pantiles Papers" Office, Tunbridge Wells, is about to issue a subscription volume of his poems at 5s. per Mr. Littleton is a contributor to several of the magazines and his poetical powers have been recognized by both the public and the press in a little volume which he published last year. He is a writer of considerable promise and deserves support in this effort to advance his position in the world of letters.

Pictures and Busts as Household Ornaments. There are very few things more unpleasant than the cheap print which hangs on and is supposed to adorn the walls of many of our English cottages. Pictures of any sort, except they be really good original works of art or well executed copies, are an abomination. Good pictures are, of course, expensive and beyond the reach of most people. But it has often struck me as curious that intelligent people whose means are small, do not adorn their parlours with small busts instead of such poor specimens of the painter's art as they can afford. Some really excellent plaster busts can be bought for a trifle. I have before me two such-one of Garabaldi and one of Rousseau-by Mr. Larner Sugden of Leek. Both are really excellent and I believe he has executed one or two others equally well. Lovers of music, art and literature need have no difficulty in procuring similar likenesses of their especial favourites. Even persons who can afford good pictures and other ornaments would do well not to despise these casts on account of their cheapness.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

PERSONAL APPEARANCES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. London: Hardwicke and Bogue. 1879.

This book belongs to the valuable series of Health Primers which Messrs. Hardwicke and Bogue are at present issuing, and, of those which have already appeared, it is among the best. Books of domestic medicine are rarely, if ever, effectual guides to symptoms of disease. The names of diseases and of the medicines which will cure them are classified and indexed, but the indications of disease are referred to only in the various sections and under the various headings. Yet, as a rule, those who consult such works know very little about the names of the ills they suffer from or about the drugs they

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