The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1896.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 188, 11 October 1866, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1896.

It was stated in the Examiuer of Tuesday, that Kelly was a Roman Catholic iu his early days ; that proper facilities were not given by the gaol officials to the clergy of his own persuasion, who wished to visit him ; and thct it was probable had the miserable man been allowed to follow the iirst dictates of his conscience, he might have been induced to make such a truthful confession as would have materially furthered the ends of justice. In this morning's Examiner the authority is given for a portion of this statei ment. As it has been made public, however, it is open to comment and we propose to make a few remarks upon it. We are authorised to state, that no obstacles were thrown | in the way of Kelly's communicating with a i minister of his own communion. To have hindered him from doing so, would have involved a breach of the prison regulations, which distinctly provide : " The religious denomination of each prisoner, is to be.determined by his own statement upon his reception into prison ; and no prisoner is to be allowed to hold intercourse with a clergyman of a different denomination, unless extraordinary circumstances should require it, such as the immediate prospect of death. Prisoners shall attend divine service of the denomination to which they belong, at the appointed time." It is not likely the governor j of a gaol would break these rules, and it is not easy to see what motive he could have to do so. As a general rule, men, on the approach of death, are susceptible of the impressions made upon their minds in early life. On rerient toujours, A ses premiers amours, the French say, but not always correctly. Powerful motives known ouly to the individual acted on may lead his mind in a totally difFerent direction. This was the case with KeJly. He chose his religious instructor for reasons best known to himself, and at the last moment, abjured, if he ever possessed it, his ancient faith. We cannot see, how the ends of justice would have been furthered, had Kelly been induced to make a true confession to the miuister of religion, whose faith he professed in early life. If we understand confession as made to the Roman Catholic minister, its essence is secrecy, and it remains locked up in the breast of the confessor. When Stack was executed at Mount Eden, Auckland, on the 7th of April last, for the murder of Mrs. Fiunigan and her three sons, he died without making any public confession. He was attended by Father M'Donald, as we learnt from an Auckland paper, at the time. On retiring from the yard, so states the narrative, Mr. Tuckwell, the Sheriff, put the question plainly, " Has Stack confessed his crime to you ?" The reply was, " I am a minister of God, and cannot answer your question. Stack is iu the hands of God." Assuming the secrecy- of the confessional to the inviolable and the same everywhere, it is evident that society has lost nothing, and the ends of justice have not been frustrated, so far as confession is concerned, by the secret remaining in Kelly's own breast, instead of in that of another person. We say nothing of the theological dogma, which any man has a right to hold, that it is the duty of men to confess their sins. to man as well as to God. The dogma is doubtless based on scriptural truth, but whether susceptible of the interpretation which some put upon it, it is no part of our present purpose to inquire.

Our own conviction is that it was no part of the policy of either of these condemned criminals to make any genuine confession. The crimes they had committed were of such an awful nature that they stood aghast at confessing them, and felt that the uttering of a few falsehoods, and the indulging" in a few blasphemous imprecations, added little to the weight of guilt that rested on them. It was folly to suppose that men whose whole life was one of crime had any clear perception of moral obligation, or felt any sensitiveness to the requirements of Divme or human law. There were powerful motives that prevented them from confessiug. The thirst for vengeance on Sullivan was sufficient to extinguish all other motives. If the statement of Burgess is true, that of Sullivan is false, and as men cau die but once, it was better to leave the world in doubt as to the iunocence of the man who had betrayed them, than by an admission of their guilt to clear him from suspicion. Besides, there is honor among thieves, and as Burgess was magnanimous enough to confess his guilt in order to screen two of his confederates, the least they could do was to keep the dreadful secret. There is also the whole world of rascaldom looking to see how some of its most distinguished members met their fate. It wiil be announced in every part of the British empire that they met it unflinchingly and with an amount of heroic constancy that would have been considered sublime had it been shown in a better cause. The wretched men showed the ruling passion of conVictism strong in death. As men live, so they generally die. The warrior dreams of battles, the mathematician solves problems, the physician watches his last pulsations, and it is the glory of the wretch, with whom crime has become a second nature, to " die game."