THE CONDEMNED CELLS.

New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume IV, Issue 233, 1 April 1843, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE CONDEMNED CELLS.

From the note book of the Ordinary. Concluded from our last. The Ordinary, as we have said, kept his eye on the culprit, and after he had asked a series of questions, the last being whether he might be permitted to see the place where he would be lodged at night, the reverend gentlemen addressed him as follows—" The topography of this prison is not a subject for one in your situation to concern himself about, and as to your place of rest, be assured that it will be one of perfect security. This is not a time or a place to indulge in vain hopes. Your case has caused some excitement in the minds of the mercantile people, the verdict appears to have given general satisfaction. The sentence you know ; and be assured thai it will be carried . -into effect.' 1 •. *i The sentence give satisfaction! exclamed " 'the' culprit. . "Who Houbts it? Yoa of all other persons ought to know that a London tradesman would hang half the inhabitants of his own parish to secure a yard of bobbin from theft." "But, sir,

not all the Doctors of Law in Europe shall convince me that I have committed an offence coming under the criminal law." " I will not dispute the question with ypu," replied the Minister, mildly, "because it will now be an idle waste of time; you are convicted, and there is every probability of your being called upon to suffer the penalty of the law, which is, death. All your time, therefore, ought to be spent in preparation— and yet, I do not know how you can well set about it, in your present state of mind; you must first acknowledge and admit the justice of your punishment." The gentleman, of whose experience we avail ourselves, was a Minister of strict orthodox principles, and peculiarly conscientious in the performance of his dnty. He was, however, considerably annoyed by sectarian individuals, who, at that period obtained free admission of access to the cells, to act as auxiliaries in preparing malefactors for death, the Ordinary thought this a very important business, and laboured hard to acquit his mind ; while his opponents after a little praying and the singing of a few hymns, thought themselves warranted in assuring malefactors that there were rejocings in heaven over their salvation, and. that angels were already appointed with a choir of music to welcome their arrival into a state of blessedness. The experienced Chaplain uniformly urged that a repentance to be effectual, must be full, unconstrained, and unconditional ; nota repentance to be binding only on a contingent of the non arrival of a respite. I remember, he would say, that I was once called to a man in this prison who had received a wound, and who thinking that his life was in danger, begged that I might be sent for — I found him streetched on a table and a Surgeon over him, whether before my arrival he had ascertained that there was but very little danger, I do not know, but fixing his eyes on me he made signs for me to approach; as I did so, he anxiously said, shall 1 die 1 Why do you ask me. said I ? Oh ! he replied, only if you thought I should you had better get the bible, but if not its a pity you should be kept out such a cold night; this man had been condemned to death but was ultimately respited, and he immediately collected some books I had lent him, and presented them saying, " Here are the books Sir, they are no longer of use, as I am respited you know!" There has always been a tendency with all condemned Criminals to question, and dispute the justice of the law under which they have been convicted ; wherever the difficulty ot bringing their minds to the sticking place of prepration for death, human character is like the contents of an ample cabinet brought together by the untried zeal of some curious collector, who has ticketed his varieties with numbers. It is however, otherwise with habitual criminals, it matters not what their education may have been or their previous station in life, their categories are all alike, they are all schooled in what may designated furtive logic, in they use of which, with those who have the command of words no inconsiderable degree of tact is displayed, when endeavouring to persuade their hearers that they possess men sibi conscia recti. The well dressed prisoner bad actually reasoned himself into this state of mind. As the Ordinary concluded his remarks, the prisoner started as from a state of abstraction and said, " I was thinking Sir, of ths naivate with which Partridge in Tom Jones says, ' It is indeed charming sport to hear trials on life and death. ' You must have observed Sir, how coolly these affairs are conducted, and what importance all parties engaged in a trial assume, as if they were not in another sense all equally guilty with i those they call the Criminals, I read the passage, ' that man is born to sin as the sparks fly upwards,' to mean that every human being commits more or less sin Sir, or what is called wrong to his neighbour, in proportion to the environment of circumstances ; and that all, from the crowned head to the meanest person, do equally wrong in some way or other ; wrong being an inseparable adjunct to the condition of social existence. Crimes, or sins, call them which you will, are as rife in one walk of life as another; there is no distinction, in any of the classes, in this particular; excepting, that some acts are legalized, and others are not. Power grants itself a licence to commit crimes with impunity, while the very virtues of the weak are converted into crimes. Let me call your attention to the acts of the church. — When possessed of uncontroulable power, it tolerated the punishment of death for the taking of any sum above twelvepence, yet exempted themselves from any punishment for the commission of crimes of the greatest enormity ! and called this gross, unequal justice, piety in the King. I allude, Sir, to the benefit of Clergy, which, when in force, as you without doubt are aware, operated as a pardon of all Clergyable felonies that had been previously committed ; so, that if one received a slight punishment, for a trifling offence, and it was afterwards discovered that he had committed a number of offences of enormity, he could not be put on his trial again. I mention this, Sir, because these acts of the Government emenated from, or were especially sanctioned by men of your cloth. But all I can urge will pass for nothing since you have fastened upon me, and stgmatized me with the name of malefactor, as if the act of taking away my life were not one of the worst doings perpetrated by man." When first brought into the cellyard he was alternately captious and disputative,. or down cast and despairing; but when the fallaciousness of his creed was made manifest to him, he became calm, and in a measure resigned; still the theory by which he had appeased his conscience when pursuing hi 3 carreer of crime, if we may judge from his own biographical sketch of his life, was never wholly eradicated. It appears he was born of humble parents, and his account of himself is prefaced with the following remarks : — "It would be a difficult problem to solve, even for those of the accutest judgement, and the most observant eye, were they called on to decide, whether the happiness of mankind be promoted or retarded by the practice of educating children to fill stations in life above those occupied by their parents ? " ,