The exposition of the blessed sacrament for the forty hours’ prayer commences in the churches, and the people attend in great numbers during the whole day, and even sometimes during the night. The prisoner is taken to the place of execution (usually outside the town) in the following manner:—First the great black cross and banner of the Confraternity is seen slowly advancing, followed by the members walking two and two in their black cassocks and their hoods over their faces, with apertures for their eyes. As they proceed along the streets they recite the Penitential Psalms aloud. They are followed by the litter for the dead body, carried by four of their number; and then comes the convict, assisted by the clergy and brethren. At the scaffold the Confraternity stand round and continue their devotions until the prisoner is dead, and then they remove the body in the same funeral procession.
These facts, it must be admitted, are very suggestive; but, how far such ceremonies are adapted for a Protestant country is extremely questionable.
That experienced judge, Baron Alderson, in his answers given to a Committee of the House of Commons, looked on the deterring effect of punishment, such as it was, as more indispensable than the reforming:—
“It is desirable—I do not know whether it is the duty of the State—to make all criminals better if possible; but I think this object is to be held subservient to that of preventing crime by the example of punishment; and on no other principle that I can perceive is it possible to defend capital punishments, which can hardly be said to have any tendency to make the individual criminals better, though I think they have a strong effect in repressing crime.”
The latest evidence upon the subject is—that in September, 1863, the Association for the Promotion of Social Science, holding its second session at Ghent, discussed at great length the subject of punishment of death. The abolition was finally voted by a great majority. In the course of the debate a member read a list of 167 convicts sentenced to death, of whom 161 had been present at capital executions; and he concluded from this fact, that the witnessing capital punishment is not efficacious in the suppression of crime.