The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND Saturday Morning. Saturday, July 2, 1887.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 10, 2 July 1887, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND Saturday Morning.

Saturday, July 2, 1887.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy oounti,, ‘s. Thy God’s, and truth’s.

mercy for the murderers. " The greatest attribute of Heaven is mercy, And His the crown of j ustice, and the glory, Where it may kill with right to save with pity," —Beaumont and Fletcher. We cannot imagine a single man of those present at the last dread scene in the murder case feeling anything but genuine pity for and sincere commiseration with the three unfortunate meh upon whom the highest representative of the law passed his fearful decree. We are no morbid sentimentalists j far from it. We would see crime punished, the safety of the citizen guaranteed, the majesty of the law upheld, and everything done to guard the district and the colony against a repetition of the terrible crime for which the three Maoris were so justly condemned on Thursday night. But, we would raise our humble voice in protest against the sentence being carried into effect. We would plead with the Government to bring every pressure to bear to ensure of a reprieve being granted, and why ? For many reasons. The main object of a punishment is, as was ably pointed out by his Honour, the other night, the deterrent effect which it has or should have, upon future offenders. This being granted, is it necessary, taking that small question first, to hurl these misguided men into eternity? As a deterrent a term of imprisonment would act equally as well. Another reason. These men who murdered Nuku and his wife did their fell deed of devilish destruction under influence of others—that cannot be denied. Depend upon it the hand of tha law, powerful though it may be, has not yet reached the chief offenders; but more about that on a future occasion. To return to the men themselves. They were relatives of the man they firmly believed to have been done to death by Nuku. Their Native traditions confirmed them in their supposed right to take “ an eye for an eye, and a life for a life.” In face of their traditions all their European gloss of civilization fades away into insignificance when compared with their native thoughts and customs ; “ utu ” they must have, and “ utu ” they did have.

It is easy to sneer at the Native belief in witchcraft, it is easy to say that such a thing must be immediately stamped out,

but how many years has it taken to stamp out similar beliefs in countries high up in the vanguard of civilisation, education, and enlightenment ? Why, at the very time when England was witnessing a just rebellion against kingcraft, tyranny and injustice, when Hampden, Vane and Cromwell were fighting for the liberties of the subject, when Milton was penning his glorious poems, Sir Matthew Hale, one of the grandest names in the long fame roll of

English jurisprudence, was condemning to death, by the laws of the land, two women for bewitching children 1 Passing further along towards nearer time, as late as 1716, a Mrs Hicks and her daughter were actually hanged by the British law, at Huntingdon, '• for selling their souls to the Devil,” This was the last execution in England for alleged witchcraft. Seventeen hundred and sixteen 1 why that was nearly the age of Pope and Johnson, it was the age of Marlborough, and the commencement oj theglorious Eighteenth century of English progress in politics, literature and artand yet at that time, witchcraft was an indictable offence,

Yet we hear people talking glibly about the stupidity of the Maories in believing in such things, We whites have not been here a century yet, end yet we wonder that the eradication of native customs and superstitions is not yet complete. The thing is absurd. Why, there are people in the Black country at Home, in the country districts of Devon and Cornwall, and in the factory districts of Yorkshire and Lancashire j whose belief in witchcrafts, spells, and visions is as powerful as ever, and yet we jibe and jeer at the poor Maori and his superstitions. Let the men be punished, but let us have mercy. Let the natives understand that “murder will out,” and once out will be firmly punished, but for Heaven’s sake let mercy be shown. It is not for us to say what extent the punishment should be, although we do think that five to ten years would be ample, but the death penalty in this case we would firmly and conscientiously protest against as a villanous and disgraceful piece of unnecessary and savage butchery. We should like to see the public take some steps by petition or otherwise, to bring before the Government and the Governor the exceptional nature of the case, and to plead for mercy for the unfortunate wretches, who, ed away by ignorance, superstition, and revenge committed the crime they did.

It is for the public to express their opinion in this matter. It is not for such cowardly scoundrels as Caffrey and Penn they would be pleading; or even, to bring the comparison nearer home, for such a despicable miscreant as Rowland. The cases are not parallebin the least. Once more we would say, and that sincerely and earnestly, do not allow these men to be ruthlessly deprived of their lives for having acted upon the dictates of others and the superstition inherent in their race. XAs England’s greatest writer says: “Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.” Let us wear it.