Tyburn Tree: Its History and Annals

Tyburn Tree: Its History and Annals

How our fathers lived is a subject of never-failing interest: of some interest it may be to inquire how they diedat Tyburn. The story has many aspects, some noble, some squalid, some pathetic, some revolting. If I am reproached with dwelling on the horrors of Tyburn, I take refuge under the wing of the great Lipsius, who, in his treatise De Cruce, has lavished the stores of his appalling erudition on a subject no less terrible. But the subject has an interest other than antiquarian. We are to-day far from the point of view of Shelley The general tendency is all towards extending the power of governments. Some would fain extend the sphere of the States activity so as to give to the State control over almost every action of our daily lives. It may therefore be not without use to recall how governments have dealt with the people in the past. The State never voluntarily surrenders anything of its power. Less than a hundred years ago, ministers stoutly defended their privilege of tearing out a mans bowels and burning them before his eyes. The State devised and executed hideous punishments, sometimes made still more hideous by the ferocity of its instruments, the judges. All mitigation of these punishments has been forced on the State by idealists.[vi] The State dragged its victims, almost naked, three miles over a rough road. The hands of compassionate friars placed the sufferer on a hurdlenot without threats of punishment for so doing. In the end, the State adopted the hurdle. So it has always been. Not a hundred years ago, Viscount Sidmouth, the Home Secretary, could see no reason for altering the law which awarded the penalty of death to one who had stolen from a shop goods to the value of five shillings. To Romilly, though he did not live to see this result of his untiring labours in the cause of humanity, we may gratefully ascribe the abolition of the extreme penalty for this offence. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 56503
Author: Marks, Alfred
Release Date: Feb 5, 2018
Format: eBook
Language: English