Williams was next introduced, and came up the room with the same short hasty step, which we noticed at the time of his sentence. Since then, however, his whole appearance had undergone the most terrible alteration. That cunning and flippant look, which we noticed in him on his trial, had left him, and had given place to a wild and frenzied stare. His look, as he entered the Press-room, was one of downright horror—every limb trembled as he approached the officer by whom he was to be pinioned, and his hands shook to that degree, that one person was obliged to hold them up while another bound the wrists together. While submitting to this operation, he frequently ejaculated, 'Oh, I have deserved all this, and more!—oh, I have deserved all that I am about to suffer!' One of the Under-Sheriffs now asked him whether he had anything more on his mind, or wished to make any further disclosure; he replied, 'Oh no, Sir, I have told all—I hope I am now at peace with God. What I have told is the truth.'
It was remarked that Bishop or Williams took no notice whatever of each other while they remained in the Press-room. Neither seemed to be conscious of the presence of the other, or to wish to avoid any recognition. The contrast in the manner of the two was very marked in this respect,—for Williams seemed relieved when any one addressed him, as if anxious to escape from his own thoughts, or to have his attention called off even for an instant, from the dreadful scene which approached him. Bishop, on the contrary, was sullen, and seemed rather desirous of avoiding any conversation. His answers, when addressed, were short, and delivered in a tone as if pained by any questions put to him.
After the operation of pinioning had been gone through, at a few minutes before eight, the Sheriffs, accompanied by their officers and the prisoners, proceeded towards the scaffold, the Ordinary reciting part of the funeral service. Bishop moved on in the same gloomy and desponding manner which we have already noticed. His appearance underwent no change as he approached to the foot of the scaffold. Williams became more and more agitated as he went on. Just as he came to the room which led out to the drop, he expressed a wish to see the Rev. Mr. Russell once more. That gentleman came forward, and while Bishop was led out, seated himself near him. Williams said something in a low tone, which we did not hear. Mr. Russell said to him, 'Now, Williams, you have but another moment intervening between you and death; and as a dying man I implore you, in God's name, to tell the truth. Have you told me the whole truth?'
Williams.—'All I have told you is true.'
Mr.Russell.—'But, Williams, have you told me all?'
Williams(still evasive).—'All I have told you is quite true.'
This was the last remark he made, and in a few moments he ascended the scaffold.
We were glad to observe that the very absurd custom of the Sheriff taking leave and shaking hands with the prisoner was, in this instance, very properly dispensed with.
At eight o'clock the procession began to move from the press-room, and the appearance of the executioner and his assistant on the scaffold indicated that the last and awful ceremony was just at hand. A general cry of 'Hats off!' took place, and in an instant the immense multitude were all uncovered. Bishop was first conducted on the scaffold, and hisappearance was the signal for the most tremendous groans, yells, and hootings, from all parts of the crowd. The wretched man came forward, apparently unmoved by the dreadful reception he experienced. The executioner proceeded at once to the performance of his duty, and having put the rope round his neck, and affixed it to the chain, placed him under the fatal beam. A terrific cheer from the crowd proclaimed their satisfaction at the completion of the preparations for his exit to the other world; but still, though placed on the brink of eternity, and about being launched into it, amidst the execrations of his fellow-creatures, the miserable criminal betrayed scarcely a symptom of fear. The same listless and sullen manner that had marked his conduct throughout appeared to be preserved by him to the last moment. Not a muscle seemed to be moved, not a limb shook, though he remained, during the awful interval of two minutes that elapsed before Williams was brought forward, exposed to the indignant hootings of the multitude. Williams next ascended the scaffold, on reaching which he bowed to the crowd, who returned his salutation with the most dreadful yells and groans. He appeared to labour under extreme anguish, and his demeanour altogether formed a complete contrast to that of his guilty associate. While the cap was being put over his eyes, and the rope adjusted by the executioner, his whole frame seemed convulsed by one universal tremour. The Rev. Mr. Cotton, having engaged the wretched men in prayer, in which Williams appeared to join fervently, wringing his hands and ejaculating aloud, gave the signal for the falling of the drop, when they were launched into eternity. Bishop appeared to die almost instantaneously, but Williams struggled for several minutes. The moment the drop fell, the crowd, which hadbeen yelling all the time, set up a shout of exultation that was prolonged for some minutes.
Strangers who had been admitted were directed to retire, as the Sheriffs were going in to meet some friends at breakfast. We understand it is an old custom at Newgate, that the Sheriffs should entertain the Under-sheriffs, the Chaplain, and other friends at breakfast in the prison, on the occasion of an execution.
The bodies, having been suspended for the usual time, were cut down at nine o'clock. That operation was performed by the executioner, amidst the shouts and cheers of the crowd, which still continued very great.
Immediately after, a small cart drove up to the platform, and the bodies of the culprits were placed in it, covered with two sacks. The cart then moved on at a slow pace, followed by the Sheriffs and City Marshal, and a large body of constables, along Giltspur-street, to the house of Mr. Stone, No. 33, Hosier-lane, the vast crowd yelling, and making other discordant sounds as they proceeded. On reaching Mr. Stone's house, it was with great difficulty the bodies could be removed from the cart, the crowd appearing anxious to get possession of them. The bodies were placed on a table, and in the presence of the Sheriffs (in conformity with their duty) an incision was made in their chests, after which they withdrew.
The bodies were removed the same night—Bishop to the King's College, and Williams to St. Bartholomew's, to be dissected.
Some of the manufacturers of 'last dying speeches and confessions' had, as usual, provided a plentiful supply of those veracious sheets for the gratification of peripatetic curiosity, and, as usual, some of them were sold even before the execution tookplace; but, unfortunately, the speculative typo, not being aware that May had received a respite, included him among the dying penitents, and anelegantwood-cut at the head of the paper represented thethreeculprits dangling from the gallows.
In regard to the breakfast which is given by the sheriffs on the morning of an execution, we will venture to recommend to the Court of Aldermen to take into their consideration the abolition of this most unfeeling and disgraceful custom; for it is such circumstances as these, although apparently trifling in their nature, which throw us so far back in the scale of civilisation, and verify the remark of the French philosopher, who says, that the English are the most voracious people in Europe, whether it be a wedding, a funeral, or an execution, eating and drinking are the leading features of the scene. There is something actually revolting to the feelings in the idea, that whilst a human being is suffering the agonies of death on the scaffold, a number of functionaries should retire into a certain room, in which custom (which would be far more honoured in the breach than the observance) gives its sanction that they should be regaled with a sumptuous repast, and that they should only be obliged to rise from it when the summons arrives that it is time for the body of the unfortunate wretch to be cut down.
Connected with this subject, there is another custom equally repellent and revolting, and that is, that the office of giving the signal of death should devolve on the Rev. Ordinary. Is it in the least consistent with the functions which he has to perform, and with the general duties of the clerical character, that he alone should be selected, amongst the attendant officers, for the performance of so abhorrent an act? It is the duty of the sheriff to see the execution performed,—it is the duty of the clergyman to preparethe unhappy culprit, by his prayers and admonitions, for that awful change which in a few moments awaits him;—but there is something positively unchristian, unsacerdotal, degrading, and reproachful, to a minister of the religion of Christ, that he should be the acting attendant on the scaffold of the murderer, and that on his signal the moment is to be decided when his companion, the executioner, is to withdraw the fatal bolt. Why, after the clergyman has completed his religious duties, should he not retire from the awful scene, and the office of giving the signal devolve upon the Under-sheriff? or why should not the example be followed of the Scotch executions, in which the criminal gives the signal himself, before which, the minister has retired from the scaffold? It may have been conformable to the spirit of the church during the reign of popery, that the priest should assist at the executions, and, in the case of a heretic, be the first to apply the blazing torch to the pile of fagots. But the time, we hope, is not far distant when the custom to which we have alluded, and which is actually at variance with the purity and sanctity of the ecclesiastical character, will not longer be known to exist as a stigma upon the first city of the world.
We were induced to witness the execution of Bishop and Williams, under ordinary circumstances so distressing to contemplate, not solely in our editorial capacity, but from an intense curiosity to see in what manner individuals, burdened with guilt of such peculiar atrocity, would conduct themselves on the eve of appearing in the presence of their Maker; and we felt convinced that none of those human sympathies incident to beholding the dying agonies of a fellow-creature would be excited by viewing the last struggles of those whose lives hadbeen blackened past redemption by the commission of such barbarous and mercenary butchery.
Nor were we mistaken in this estimate of our feelings; for, so far from entertaining any sensation of pity for the criminals, we could scarcely resist the impulse to join in the exulting shout with which they might literally be said to be cheered into eternity. As we returned, however, from the place of execution, reflection succeeded to the previous excitement which we had experienced. We began to analyse the crime of the two malefactors whose exit we had just witnessed; and a careful examination of its characteristic features led us voluntarily to come to the painful conclusion that there might be found individuals, even in the higher spheres of life, who really appear almost, to use the language of Iago, to 'stand accountant for as great a sin.'
The man who commits one act of wilful murder, deservedly suffers the extreme penalty of the law, and no greater punishment is awarded to him who commits a hundred. Yet we well know that the abhorrence of society would be much the greater towards him who had perpetrated the offence the more frequently. And why so? Because, as all crimes, even the vilest, differ in degree, we feel that the man who has but once imbrued his hands in the blood of a fellow-creature, may have been prompted by a sudden impulse of rage or revenge, and may afterwards be touched with the deepest compunction for his crime; but repeated deeds of death prove that the perpetrator of them is actuated by selfish motives, and is wholly inaccessible to remorse.
It is the circumstance of Bishop and Williams having murdered their victims for the sake of lucre, that imparts a feature of peculiar horror to their crime. But it should be remembered, in a moralpoint of view the turpitude of the deed would not have been diminished had it been committed with a view to the ensuring any other selfish advantage or enjoyment, instead of procuring money, which, after all, they valued only as the means of obtaining selfish gratification. When Sir Robert Walpole said, that every man had his price, he, of course, did not mean that every man could be purchased by a greater or smaller portion of the current coin of the realm; but he well knew that a riband or a harlot might buy many a man to whom disposition or circumstances would render money a matter of indifference. When the Hebrew monarch, in order to carry on without fear of interruption his adulterous intrigue, directed the treacherous murder of one of his bravest and most loyal subjects and defenders, he attained to a sublimity of wickedness to which no mere Burkite can hope to aspire.
If this idea be correct, then, we are justified in assuming, that the taking away the life of any fellow-creature or fellow-creatures, solely for the purpose of obtaining any selfish object, is equally guilty, whether that object be avarice, lust, or ambition; and not only he who actually commits the deed, but he who orders it—instigates it—exults in its completion—or even desires its perpetration, are all, in different degrees, criminal. We know of the existence of an attorney-general, and therefore policy and prudence both forbid us to enter into any personal application of this part of our subject. Certain circumstances are, however, too fresh in the recollection of the public to doubt for a moment as to the parties to whom we allude.
On the afternoon of the day of execution, we saw the body of Bishop at the Royal College, where it was publicly exhibited, and to which hundreds of persons thronged, as if they were hastening to atheatrical exhibition. A longitudinal incision had been made from the thorax downwards, and transversely on the pectoral muscles. A more healthy or muscular subject has not been seen in any of the schools of anatomy for a long period. The ligaments of the atlas indentatus were not broken, and he died of apoplexy, and not from the fracture of the vertebræ of the neck. The body presented a remarkably fine appearance across the chest. The deltoides were splendidly developed, and symmetrically beautiful. The biceps were also fully developed, and the pectorales, major and minor, were particularly displayed. The left side of the face, near the whisker, was cut deeply by the rope. The neck was short, and the eyes glassy, as when he was living. His height was about five feet seven inches; his limbs remarkably well formed, and the body unusually hairy and muscular. There were the marks of two scars on his face, near the chin; and both his legs had been broken some time or other.
A meeting of the professors and lecturers in anatomy took place on the same night, on the subject of the atrocities lately discovered as having been resorted to for the supply of anatomical subjects. It was proposed and adopted by the meeting, after some discussion, that the professors and lecturers of the metropolis should discontinue their classes for the present, until some measure should be devised by Parliament for a supply of subjects under the sanction of law, and without the risk of giving encouragement to mercenary murderers. This resolution was accompanied with the condition that all the other anatomical schools throughout the kingdom should be shut up at the same time.
Mr. Baron Vaughan, one of the judges who tried Bishop and Williams, was present at the dissectionof the body of the former murderer at the King's College. He was accompanied by Dr. F. Hawkins, one of the professors to the College. Previous to the body being opened, the professor of medical jurisprudence delivered a lecture on the appearances, external and internal, of death, by strangulation, drowning, and other violent means, to exhibit which the cavities of the head, chest, and abdomen of the murderer, were then carefully examined by the professor of anatomy. The brain presented an unhealthy appearance, a circumstance attributed to the great mental anxiety which Bishop underwent during his repeated examinations, and at the trial. It is intended to preserve the skeleton of Bishop in the King's College.
The disclosure by Bishop and his companions of the manner in which the anatomical schools were supplied, not even stopping short of murder, excited a ferment throughout the country, in which the surgical profession came in for the greater share of the odium. It, however, as is the case with all temporary evils, became the source of general good to the country, inasmuch as it led to the development of many plans for the better providing of subjects for the anatomical schools, amongst which, that of the voluntary grant, by particular individuals of their bodies after death, was not the least remarkable. We are, however, too well acquainted with the prejudices of the age, to expect that a system of that sort can ever become general; it may exist amongst a few noble, generous spirits, who can rise above those narrow-minded prejudices, while, at the same time, they more than share in the humanity of the times in which they live. Nothing can appear to us more laudable than this sacrifice of present personal repugnances for the future benefit of those inwhose happiness we cannot participate, and to whose approbation we must necessarily be insensible.
After all we are aware that this must be only a scanty resource for the supply of subjects to our anatomical schools, and we hail the proposal not as the means of rendering a legislative measure unnecessary, but as a partial victory over those prejudices which made legislation itself dangerous or inefficient. When the subject has hitherto at different times been brought before the public, it has with mischievous industry been represented as a question not between the anatomical exhibition of the dead and the benefit of the living, but between the dissection of the poor and the exemption of the rich,—between the honoured interment of the latter, and the disgraceful mangling of the remains of the former. This clamour, after being echoed from one end of the country to the other two years ago, penetrated within the walls of Parliament and affected the majority of the House of Peers. It was then a common exclamation,—if anatomy be necessary to medical science, and if medical science be so useful to mankind, why do not the upper classes of society, why do not the wealthy and the enlightened consent to give their bodies for dissection as well as the poor, and why are the sacrifices for medical knowledge to be confined to those who have enjoyed the least of its benefits?
But admitting the merit of the examples of personal sacrifices, and allowing that they ought to influence the pretended sages who think themselves peculiarly entitled to be called the guardians of the poor, because they pander to their lowest passions, and foster their most unreasonable suspicions; we are still not of an opinion that they supply the strongest argument with the poorer classes, for abandoning their present antipathies to dissectionand for giving their voluntary assent to a change in the existing law. That strongest argument is, that they at present afford nearly all the subjects for our anatomical theatres; that they are the chief sufferers by the imperfection of our surgical knowledge, and that they would be the chief gainers by an extension of medical skill.
When a clamour is raised against a proposition for giving up the unclaimed bodies of those who die in hospitals or poorhouses to be dissected, it is, of course, pretended, that at present the poor are exempted from the imaginary calamity. Now what is the real state of the case? Are not the poor as exclusively the subjects of anatomical examination now, as they could be under any change of the law? Whither do the body-snatchers go when they receive an order for the exercise of their repulsive contraband? Do they not bargain with some gravedigger, or the porter of some charitable establishment, for the connivance in seizing bodies which belonged to the poorer classes? The rich are not often disturbed in their tombs by the unhallowed intrusion of the resurrection-man. They are allowed to slumber in their inaccessible vaults, while their poorer neighbours are raised and dissected for the benefit of posterity. If some Bishop or Williams, unable to supply the trade with the fruits of plundered churchyards, think ofmakingsubjects, whom do they entice into their den of murder? Not the affluent, the respected, or the known, but the poor unfriended wretches, for whom nobody is supposed to care, and whose loss nobody will deplore,—the very parties, in short, who would, most probably, be borne to their grave, at the public expense, from the wards of a hospital, or the cells of a poor-house. It is not likely, notwithstanding Sir AstleyCooper's remarks, that persons possessed of property more valuable than their bodies, would be killed to obtain their bodies. Neither an alderman, a bishop, nor a member of parliament, could be supposed to labour under any apprehension of beingBurked; and, therefore, the source of supply, to whatever extent it proceeded, remained exclusively with the poor.
Nor could the poor avoid being almost the only sufferers by the deficiency of surgical skill, which an efficient supply of subjects for dissection would necessarily occasion. The wealthy can always purchase the best portion of knowledge and experience which is in the market. They are not likely to submit their limbs or organs to a bungling operator, or take advice from an unskilful physician; and if scientific medical practitioners cannot be educated at home, they can pay them for the accomplishments and knowledge which they must acquire in foreign countries; but the poor must be contented with ignorance and inexperience, if their prejudices debar the less wealthy portion of the profession from the means of acquiring anatomical science.
We, therefore, are of opinion, that it would be chiefly for the benefit of the lower classes themselves, that those who die in hospitals, in workhouses, in prisons, or in penitentiaries, and whose bodies are not claimed for interment by any relative, should be distributed amongst the anatomical schools, under such sanctions, and with such formalities, as religion and decency require; the supply of subjects from this source would be sufficient, and from none other.
We recommend the following letter of Sir J. Sewell, on this subject, to the attention of our readers in which other classes of supply areenumerated; although, we think, several provisions of his measure are unnecessary, and one or two would be injurious to his object.
The suggestion which he makes of giving up the bodies of suicides for dissection would be a good one, if anything like an adequate supply could be furnished by such a course; but as this would not be the case, a great injury would result from a plan which would aggravate the already existing prejudice arising from the intimate connexion in the public mind between dissection and ignominious punishment. We are further convinced, that the surrender of the body of the suicide to the anatomical schools will never become a part and parcel of the law of the land. It would encroach too much upon the higher stations in life; for where there is one pauper who destroys himself, we could enumerate a dozen in the most elevated ranks of society. If the law declared that the body of the wretched being, who, by the pressure of poverty or misfortune, had sought a remedy for his sorrows by the sacrifice of his own life, should be given up,—the same law ought to be made to apply to a Whitbread, a Romilly, a Castlereagh, and a Calcraft, all being, at the time of their death, legislators of the nation, from the assembly of whom is to emanate the very law which is to consign their bodies, in case of suicide, to the knife of the anatomist.
The following is the letter of Sir J. Sewell:—
'Sir,'Having dined yesterday with some of my brother magistrates, I learned, upon information, which I have no reason to distrust, that beside the confessions published, another was made on Sunday, the 4th, which comprehended a catalogue ofabout sixty murders, and would have probably gone on to a much greater extent, but for the interference of the Ordinary.'When to this is added the large supply which, by the published confessions, Bishop appears to have furnished for dissection, the great number of persons employed in the same way, the probable profligacy of such persons, and, as asserted, a great falling off in the number of burials, notwithstanding the increased population of this metropolis, there is certainly but too much reason to believe that this system of murder amongst the poor which Bishop said he resorted to as both less expensive and less hazardous than collecting from cemeteries, is become extremely common; that it is in a state of progression; and that new and extraordinary modes, however inconvenient to the professors and students of anatomy, must be had recourse to for the prevention of such atrocious crimes.'The plan which I now submit to your consideration is not offered as a perfect one, or as approaching to perfection; and the greater part of it is the result of reflection upon the subject, since receiving the information above-mentioned; but it may suggest improvements to those who are capable of making them, and though the process proposed will be necessarily attended, in the procurement of subjects, with difficulties and expenses which do not belong to the present course of practice, the aggregate charge will, I hope, very soon be diminished; and that a commerce, which is asserted, by the faculty in general, to be of very great public consequence, may be carried on to the satisfaction of all the parties interested, and without the commission of a crime in any of them.Suggestions for a New Act of Parliament as to the Supply of Bodies for Dissection.1. That from and after the ——, the bodies of all persons convicted of felony, and who, in consequence of such conviction, shall die in any place of confinement, in the United Kingdom, may be sold for dissection. The sale to be by public auction, the proceeds to be paid to the treasurer of the county in which the prison shall be, and applied in aid of the county rates.2. So also the bodies of all under commitment for felony, if not claimed within —— hours after death.3. So also the unclaimed bodies of those who die in hospitals and workhouses.4. Suicides.5. Unclaimed bodies of persons found dead.6. To legalize the sale by persons while living, of their bodies after death.7. To secure the due delivery to the purchaser on demand.8. With certain exceptions, no dissections of the bodies of persons dying in Middlesex, or in certain parishes in Essex, Kent, and Surrey, to be permitted before the body shall have been exhibited at an appointed place, with evidence of name, residence, cause of death, &c. satisfactory to a magistrate assisted by a surgeon.9. That the magistrate be one of the police magistrates in his turn, and that the attendance be every day at —— except Sunday, and for so long a time as may be needful in respect to bodies brought in before that hour.10. That the magistrate give a certificate of his satisfaction as to the death, and a permit for removal and dissection.11. That the body permitted be branded, or otherwise marked indelibly, upon the skin of every part which is commonly purchased by students who have not occasion for the whole.12. That a register be kept of the name, residence, and cause of death, and of every person whose body is produced.13. That the only exceptions allowed to this course be thepost mortemexaminations by dissection under the special directions of a coroner or other magistrate, or which are performed in the dwelling of the deceased, with the knowledge and consent of the family.14. That whoever shall dissect a body, or any part of a body, as a separate portion, not being duly marked, or shall be possessed of them, shall be subject to ——.15. That the forgery, or aiding or abetting, of the brand or mark, of the certificate or permit, shall subject the party to ——.16. That similar provisions be made for other parts of the kingdom.'I have the honour to be,Sir,Your very humble servant,J. Sewell.'21, Cumberland-street, Portman-square, December 8.
'Sir,
'Having dined yesterday with some of my brother magistrates, I learned, upon information, which I have no reason to distrust, that beside the confessions published, another was made on Sunday, the 4th, which comprehended a catalogue ofabout sixty murders, and would have probably gone on to a much greater extent, but for the interference of the Ordinary.
'When to this is added the large supply which, by the published confessions, Bishop appears to have furnished for dissection, the great number of persons employed in the same way, the probable profligacy of such persons, and, as asserted, a great falling off in the number of burials, notwithstanding the increased population of this metropolis, there is certainly but too much reason to believe that this system of murder amongst the poor which Bishop said he resorted to as both less expensive and less hazardous than collecting from cemeteries, is become extremely common; that it is in a state of progression; and that new and extraordinary modes, however inconvenient to the professors and students of anatomy, must be had recourse to for the prevention of such atrocious crimes.
'The plan which I now submit to your consideration is not offered as a perfect one, or as approaching to perfection; and the greater part of it is the result of reflection upon the subject, since receiving the information above-mentioned; but it may suggest improvements to those who are capable of making them, and though the process proposed will be necessarily attended, in the procurement of subjects, with difficulties and expenses which do not belong to the present course of practice, the aggregate charge will, I hope, very soon be diminished; and that a commerce, which is asserted, by the faculty in general, to be of very great public consequence, may be carried on to the satisfaction of all the parties interested, and without the commission of a crime in any of them.
Suggestions for a New Act of Parliament as to the Supply of Bodies for Dissection.
1. That from and after the ——, the bodies of all persons convicted of felony, and who, in consequence of such conviction, shall die in any place of confinement, in the United Kingdom, may be sold for dissection. The sale to be by public auction, the proceeds to be paid to the treasurer of the county in which the prison shall be, and applied in aid of the county rates.
2. So also the bodies of all under commitment for felony, if not claimed within —— hours after death.
3. So also the unclaimed bodies of those who die in hospitals and workhouses.
4. Suicides.
5. Unclaimed bodies of persons found dead.
6. To legalize the sale by persons while living, of their bodies after death.
7. To secure the due delivery to the purchaser on demand.
8. With certain exceptions, no dissections of the bodies of persons dying in Middlesex, or in certain parishes in Essex, Kent, and Surrey, to be permitted before the body shall have been exhibited at an appointed place, with evidence of name, residence, cause of death, &c. satisfactory to a magistrate assisted by a surgeon.
9. That the magistrate be one of the police magistrates in his turn, and that the attendance be every day at —— except Sunday, and for so long a time as may be needful in respect to bodies brought in before that hour.
10. That the magistrate give a certificate of his satisfaction as to the death, and a permit for removal and dissection.
11. That the body permitted be branded, or otherwise marked indelibly, upon the skin of every part which is commonly purchased by students who have not occasion for the whole.
12. That a register be kept of the name, residence, and cause of death, and of every person whose body is produced.
13. That the only exceptions allowed to this course be thepost mortemexaminations by dissection under the special directions of a coroner or other magistrate, or which are performed in the dwelling of the deceased, with the knowledge and consent of the family.
14. That whoever shall dissect a body, or any part of a body, as a separate portion, not being duly marked, or shall be possessed of them, shall be subject to ——.
15. That the forgery, or aiding or abetting, of the brand or mark, of the certificate or permit, shall subject the party to ——.
16. That similar provisions be made for other parts of the kingdom.
'I have the honour to be,Sir,Your very humble servant,J. Sewell.'
21, Cumberland-street, Portman-square, December 8.
In corroboration of the plan of Sir J. Sewell, the following very able remarks were addressed to the Editor ofThe Times.
'Sir,'Having read Sir John Sewell's "Suggestions for a new Act of Parliament as to the Supply of Bodies for Dissection," I trust to your kindness in enabling me to express publicly my humble opinion on the same, conceiving them to be good and just inevery respect excepting one, the idea of which I cannot but believe must disgust very many: I allude to the public sale of the body. Why, may I ask that gentleman, need it be sold at all, much less in so offensive a manner? Surely there can be no necessity whatever. Let, then, the bodies, as they ought in every instance, be presented gratuitously. Wheresoever the death may occur, or the inquest be held, let the coroner of the district be empowered to assign the body to the hospital of that district, or to bequeath it for the public good, according to any other satisfactory arrangement that may be concluded on the occasion.'To Sir J. Sewell I would say, by presenting, instead of vending, you would go far towards annihilating the traffic of the "resurrection man" whose profits must thereby be materially diminished, as what hospital would they find anxious to purchase subjects of them at all, much less at the price they must necessarily demand, to compensate them for the risk encountered in procuring them, when these establishments can be sufficiently supplied in a lawful manner gratis?'In conclusion, I humbly conceive that a law, based on Sir J. Sewell's "Suggestions," severally and collectively (save the one assumed to be offensive), would effect the utmost good; and if really so, ought accordingly to satisfy the people.'It is, in every respect, such a plan as can alone defeat the sanguinary designs of body-snatching monsters; and once made law, would, no doubt, in a short time destroy their infernal commerce altogether.'I am, Sir,Your obedient Servant,W. H. E.'Saturday, December 10.'P. S. With regard to Sir J. Sewell's suggestion as to the workhouse, in accordance with which the bodies of all such as have been maintained, and are about to be buried, at the parish expense, are to be given up for anatomical purposes, I am inclined to believe it would, if adopted, be productive of a twofold service, inasmuch as the practice might tend also to diminish the numbers of this class (who generally speaking prefer a life of degraded ease to one of honourable employment), by its inciting (which is likely) those most sensitive on the "subject" to work out an independent subsistence by their own assiduity; and with respect to such as cannot exist but by poor-house maintenance, their bodies, I should say, might nevertheless, in justice, be rendered serviceable after death, on the score of the important benefits experienced by them whilst living.'W. H. E.'
'Sir,
'Having read Sir John Sewell's "Suggestions for a new Act of Parliament as to the Supply of Bodies for Dissection," I trust to your kindness in enabling me to express publicly my humble opinion on the same, conceiving them to be good and just inevery respect excepting one, the idea of which I cannot but believe must disgust very many: I allude to the public sale of the body. Why, may I ask that gentleman, need it be sold at all, much less in so offensive a manner? Surely there can be no necessity whatever. Let, then, the bodies, as they ought in every instance, be presented gratuitously. Wheresoever the death may occur, or the inquest be held, let the coroner of the district be empowered to assign the body to the hospital of that district, or to bequeath it for the public good, according to any other satisfactory arrangement that may be concluded on the occasion.
'To Sir J. Sewell I would say, by presenting, instead of vending, you would go far towards annihilating the traffic of the "resurrection man" whose profits must thereby be materially diminished, as what hospital would they find anxious to purchase subjects of them at all, much less at the price they must necessarily demand, to compensate them for the risk encountered in procuring them, when these establishments can be sufficiently supplied in a lawful manner gratis?
'In conclusion, I humbly conceive that a law, based on Sir J. Sewell's "Suggestions," severally and collectively (save the one assumed to be offensive), would effect the utmost good; and if really so, ought accordingly to satisfy the people.
'It is, in every respect, such a plan as can alone defeat the sanguinary designs of body-snatching monsters; and once made law, would, no doubt, in a short time destroy their infernal commerce altogether.
'I am, Sir,Your obedient Servant,W. H. E.'
Saturday, December 10.
'P. S. With regard to Sir J. Sewell's suggestion as to the workhouse, in accordance with which the bodies of all such as have been maintained, and are about to be buried, at the parish expense, are to be given up for anatomical purposes, I am inclined to believe it would, if adopted, be productive of a twofold service, inasmuch as the practice might tend also to diminish the numbers of this class (who generally speaking prefer a life of degraded ease to one of honourable employment), by its inciting (which is likely) those most sensitive on the "subject" to work out an independent subsistence by their own assiduity; and with respect to such as cannot exist but by poor-house maintenance, their bodies, I should say, might nevertheless, in justice, be rendered serviceable after death, on the score of the important benefits experienced by them whilst living.
'W. H. E.'
On Thursday, the 15th, in the House of Commons, Mr. Warburton moved for leave to bring in a bill to regulate schools of anatomy. He reminded the House, that in 1829 he had introduced a bill of the same kind, which had passed this House, but had been rejected in another place. The political changes which had occurred since had occasioned him to defer the renewal of the attempt. The bill he now proposed to introduce differed in some respects from the other. It was more simple. Instead of requiring anatomical professors to obtain licenses, which had been objected to, he proposed the appointment of anatomical inspectors, by the Home Secretary, to whom returns were to be made, and who should inspect the schools. It had been objected to the former bill, that it made a distinction between the poor and the rich; his present bill was equally applicable to all; and he hoped, when itwas considered what had been the enormous and necessary consequence of the present law,—the law was one thing and necessity another,—prejudices would give way, and that schools would be supplied with the subjects necessary for the promotion of science, and at reduced prices.
Mr. Hunt said, that unless this bill was materially different from the last, he should oppose it to the utmost. He hoped that a clause would be introduced to legalize the sale of a person's own body, which was now the property of his executor.
Mr. Sadler said that so far from the repugnance referred to being a prejudice, it was a principle which pervaded the whole world, and could not be eradicated without injury to the best feelings of our nature. Let the Bill be confined to those who were liberated from those prejudices. The poor would not bear it; the Bill would be unpopular, and justly so, and would tend to close the houses of mercy. It was said that a neighbouring country had overcome those prejudices: then let the principle of free trade be called into action, and our schools of anatomy be supplied with subjects from abroad.
Sir R. Vyvyan observed that there was a want of a clause in the former bill, repealing the law which subjected criminals to anatomy; for till that law was repealed, the public never would endure that other bodies should be exposed to what was thus made an indignity. Whatever might be in the bill, he hoped there would be nothing to offend the prejudices of the poor. Those who died in a poor-house or hospital were equally entitled to have their bodies respected as those who died elsewhere.
Mr. Warburton said that his bill would apply equally to rich and poor: no body would be given for dissection without the consent of the person when alive, or of the nearest relative after death.
Leave was then given.
On the bringing in of the Bill, Mr. Perceval recommended, that the mere possession of dead bodies should be held to be felony. The knowledge of surgery, he said, could not be lost in the space of two years, and if they were to try an experiment for that time, he was sure that medical men would then resort to the dissection of animals, and obtain, while conducted under proper regulations, all the knowledge necessary for their profession.
We have before, in another work, had the satisfaction of exposing the folly of this fungus of a legislator, when he attempted to impose upon the fasting mechanics and labourers of this country, a religious fast-day, or a general propitiation to Heaven for all the sins and crimes which have been committed generally and individually, since the time that fast-days went out of fashion! We did then hope that we should have heard no more of him; but in Mr. Warburton's Anatomy Bill being brought in, we were again enlightened by the sagacity and profundity of his remarks. Mr. Perceval certainly forms a component part of the legislative wisdom of this country, and certain it is (poor man!) that he is a specimen of it, that will not tend much to exalt the character of it. His recommendation that the mere possession of a dead body should be held to be a felony, is a lamentable specimen of folly, which makes us heartily rejoice that all the framers of our laws are not of the same mind, with therighthonourable anddownrightnonsensical member of whom we are now speaking. Suppose Mr. Perceval's good lady, or one of her children, were to die, does the poor silly man wish to make himself guilty of felony, for having the dead body in his possession, when, morally, he would not be one jot more of a culprit than he is at present? The latterpart of the paragraph, from his speech, is equally remarkable for its absurdity. He gives it as his opinion, that the knowledge of surgery would not be lost in two years, if, during that period, its study were discontinued. The Honourable Member's opinion on this point is, we fear, the result of self-examination. He, perhaps, finds that his own stock of knowledge remains the same, whether he studies or not; he discovers, perhaps, that he does not know one jot more about legislation and civil policy than he did many years ago, when he first ornamented St. Stephen's Chapel with his presence, and enlightened the members of it with the profundity of his researches. He argues, that as he has not gained anything by study—and no one will be so rude as to contradict him—there is nothing to be lost by not studying; but we have some reason to suppose, that he is as much mistaken in this particular as he is in the very view which he seems to have taken of humanity. Dissection of dead bodies he opposes as a matter merely of feeling; and at the same time expresses a hope that the surgeons will take to cutting up animals, by the torture of which Mr. Perceval trusts that science will be equally advanced without resorting to the revolting practice of human dissection. Putting, however, out of the question the savageness of this proposition, how would it work in other respects, to the end proposed by this most enlightened legislator. It would, he says, provide all the necessary anatomical knowledge; which in other words is saying, that there exists so strong an analogy between the anatomy and diseases of a man and a dog, that it is only necessary for the medical student to employ a Bishop or a Williams to burke a dozen of the canine species, and all the diseases incident to human nature will be fully developed, the treatment of themascertained, and all the ends of science fully accomplished. Here again we see the danger of a person forming a judgment from his own individual self. It is the opinion of Mr. Perceval that, in point of utility, a beast is any day as useful as a man—consequently the honourable member regards the one in about the same light as he does the other. Alas! the consciousness of his own true value has made him exceedingly libellous upon the rest of the race to which he has the honour of belonging.
The hints which were thrown out by Sir John Sewell, in his letter to the editor of theTimes, and inserted in a former part of this work, appear to have met with that serious attention which they so well merited. Still, however, in some respects, it must be owned that his plan is defective, and in consequence thereof, some strictures having been made in one of the public journals, Sir John addressed the following explanatory statement to the editor of theTimes:—
'Sir,'I am much obliged by your ready insertion of my letter of yesterday, as well as by your reference to, and observations upon it, in your own portion of the paper; in respect to which last I will beg leave to add a few lines in explanation of some parts of what I have already written.'1. By suicides were intended only those against whom verdicts offelo de semay have been given, and they were introduced not as likely to furnish many subjects, but as something towards the demand, and as a cause which might operate with some towards the preservation of their lives.'2. The appropriation of the proceeds of the sales to the benefit of the county, was to remove, as much as possible, all temptation to act with harshness topersons not claiming the bodies of their relatives within the exactly stipulated period.'3. The sale of bodies may be made with equal convenience after having been examined and marked as before.'4. The bodies being admitted both by the sellers and purchasers to be fresh at the end of forty-eight hours, will allow abundant time for the proposed course to be taken with them.'5. The want of bodies, by the professors and students at hospitals, going, as is shown in the late case, beyond their own means of supply, a permission to dissect such as may die in them, without examination and the subsequent marks, would leave open a dangerous door for dealers in murder to continue their most abominable traffic.'With a repetition of my acknowledgments, both on my own part and on that of the poorer part of the public, I have the honour to be, Sir, your very humble servant,'J. Sewell.''21, Cumberland-street, Portman-square, Dec. 10.'
'Sir,
'I am much obliged by your ready insertion of my letter of yesterday, as well as by your reference to, and observations upon it, in your own portion of the paper; in respect to which last I will beg leave to add a few lines in explanation of some parts of what I have already written.
'1. By suicides were intended only those against whom verdicts offelo de semay have been given, and they were introduced not as likely to furnish many subjects, but as something towards the demand, and as a cause which might operate with some towards the preservation of their lives.
'2. The appropriation of the proceeds of the sales to the benefit of the county, was to remove, as much as possible, all temptation to act with harshness topersons not claiming the bodies of their relatives within the exactly stipulated period.
'3. The sale of bodies may be made with equal convenience after having been examined and marked as before.
'4. The bodies being admitted both by the sellers and purchasers to be fresh at the end of forty-eight hours, will allow abundant time for the proposed course to be taken with them.
'5. The want of bodies, by the professors and students at hospitals, going, as is shown in the late case, beyond their own means of supply, a permission to dissect such as may die in them, without examination and the subsequent marks, would leave open a dangerous door for dealers in murder to continue their most abominable traffic.
'With a repetition of my acknowledgments, both on my own part and on that of the poorer part of the public, I have the honour to be, Sir, your very humble servant,
'J. Sewell.'
'21, Cumberland-street, Portman-square, Dec. 10.'
The atrocities of Bishop and Williams appeared to endanger the peace of every family, and the public became naturally anxious that measures should be adopted for the purpose of supplying subjects for anatomical lectures, in a manner that might abolish the disgusting, unhallowed, and illegal trade of the resurrectionist, and remove for ever all temptation to the commission of that new and most horrible species of murder called burking. We may boast of the excellence of our legislative enactments,—and in the plenitude of our conceit, we may fancy that we are far superior to all other nations in the construction of our legislative code,—but in what other country than this, professing to be enlightened by civilization, was thecrime of burking ever known?—and yet science has advanced as rapidly in those countries where it was never exemplified, as in that where it has been carried to an extent actually appalling to our nature, and disgraceful to the nation in which it has been practised. It is well known that many of the medical students of this country repair to the schools of France, on account of the greater facility which is there offered of perfecting themselves in anatomical science, by the readiness with which subjects are procured, without, at the same time, outraging the feelings of the living, or having recourse to the horrid crime of murder. We merely throw out the hint, whether an establishment like that of La Morgue in Paris would not in itself furnish a regular and ample supply of subjects for all the anatomical schools of the metropolis? The suggestion of Sir John Sewell comes very near to the establishment of an institution like that of La Morgue, and it cannot be a matter of doubt that the same beneficial results would accrue to the interests of science in this country as have been so conspicuously displayed in the schools of France.
It is admitted on all sides that medical students must practise, or, at least, witness, repeated dissections of the human body, in order to obtain a competent knowledge of their profession; there can be, therefore, no question of the propriety of braving the absurd prejudices of weak-minded individuals, rather than permit the present deplorable system of violating the sepulchre, and even of murdering, for subjects to be continued. The choice of two evils is before us,—we cannot but choose the least of them. We have already described the means that have been proposed by several enlightened individuals for legally supplying lecture-rooms with subjects; but suffice it to say, in our estimation their most objectionablefeatures are infinitely preferable to a continuance of the mode, now generally adopted, of obtaining dead bodies by the plunder of the churchyard; because the existence amongst us of gangs of degraded wretches, living by the infraction of the law, is of itself a monstrous evil, even putting the crime of burking altogether out of the question. Poaching and smuggling have long been notorious for their destructive influence on the morals of our provincial population. An indulgence in those comparatively trivial offences, together with the difficulty of obtaining honest employment when known as a smuggler or a poacher, too often lead to crimes of a deeper dye. How much more mischievous then must be the influence of the disgusting avocation of the resurrectionist upon those who are tempted by the high price given for subjects to steal the clay-cold corpse from the grave, at the dead of night? Accordingly we find, that among this class of men are some of the most desperate thieves and burglars of the metropolis. The life of a resurrectionist would be no mean acquisition to the knowledge of the human character in its most depraved and degenerate dispositions; for it may be affirmed, that no man ever took to the horrible avocation of exhuming the putrid corpse until his heart had been previously seared and cauterised by almost every species of crime incidental to humanity. Let us, however, be so far candid as to state, that such is not the case with regard toallthose persons from whom our anatomical schools obtain their subjects, for we could point to an individual, who now apparently moves in a respected station of society, who followed the horrible trade of the resurrectionist for a number of years, and having gained a sufficient competency to support him during the remainder of his life, retired from theprofessionto enjoy hisotium cum dignitate.This, however, we must confess, may be an isolated case; but when we consider that, taking the calculation of Bishop, if his statement is to be credited, during the few years in which he followed his disgusting avocation, he disposed of nearly one thousand bodies, and that each body, upon an average, brought him ten pounds, we have here the almost incredible sum of ten thousand pounds realised by an individual in a few years, by an illegal and a horrid traffic, and which is in itself sufficient to show, that so long as such a temptation is held forth of acquiring such a property, the trade of the resurrectionist will be assiduously carried on, although the recent disclosures may, by putting the purchasers of the dead bodies more upon their guard, effectually stop the commission of murder. When, however, to the mischievous effects of holding out an inducement to a class of men to commit actions forbidden by the law—excusing the error on the plea that good may be derived from it, yet knowing, as we do, that one crime ever draws on another—we take into consideration the harrowing fact, that murder is actually committed for the purpose of obtaining the ten or twelve guineas given for a subject, the public have a right to demand the interference of the legislature, for the legal supply of the lecture-room, and the effectual suppression of the horrid trade of the resurrectionist.
It is impossible to read the confessions of the homicidal miscreants, Bishop and Williams, without feelings of the deepest detestation. We enter not at present upon the truth or falsity of those statements, for we shall advert hereafter to the anomaly which their confessions presented, of a partial credibility being attached to one portion of them, whilst every exertion was made to invalidate the truth of the other. We have at this momentonly to do with the character of the men, and the influence of their crimes on the general interests of society; and it must be confessed, that the cold-blooded and calculating atrocity with which they sought their victims among the destitute, and friendless, and houseless wanderers in the public streets, and tempting them at midnight by promises of shelter and refreshment, to go to that den from which they never were to emerge with life, is only to be equalled by the vampyre horrors that superstitious fancy has invented. Then followed the drugged drink—the retirement and carousal of the ruffians, till the potion had taken full effect. The deep slumber, the short bubbling in the water, and all was over. The cruel and cowardly task was done—the human carcase was prepared for sale! We will not ascribe to accident, the almost miraculous discovery by which these detestable butchers were brought to justice. The deep secresy of their proceedings—the extraordinary precautions which they appear to have taken, might well have promised a long career of impunity. But let us indulge the belief that an all-seeing eye was upon them. The circumstances of the discovery were indeed of an extraordinary nature; the bruise in the back of the neck of their last victim, combined with the freshness of the body generated suspicion, and although the medical witnesses appear to have been in error as to the cause of death—nay, although the identity of the corpse is yet doubtful, the fact of Bishop and Williams having committed murder, was brought home to them by a long chain of evidence as extraordinary, taken altogether, as it was conclusive. Had the wretches been less eager after the price of their crime, had they retained the corpse another day or two in their possession, and preserved it from being bruised after death, they would have escaped detection, and they might in that case havebeen engaged, at the very moment we are now writing, in the preparation of another human being for their next day's sale. But murder will out sooner or later,—'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.' In spite of all their infernal cunning and midnight secresy, justice has overtaken these monsters, and never again may the annals of any age or nation be stained with such revolting criminality.
We were far from being sorry to hear that the exit of the miscreants from a world to which they were a disgrace, was marked by shouts of execration from the assembled thousands. It was an honest feeling that prompted men to rejoice in the destruction of beings, from the deep damnation of whose iniquity even a Thurtell might have shrunk appalled. The most profligate among the lower orders of the English people abhor the crime of murder,—even the daring gangs of thieves by whom the metropolis is infested, though they live by daily robberies, invariably refrain from destroying life. Ours is not a blood-thirsty population; theft is unfortunately of common occurrence, and peculations of almost every description are continually practised amongst us; but happily murder is, comparatively, of very rare occurrence, and we have no doubt that all who witnessed the execution of these human boas rejoiced in their punishment. Nor ought mistaken pity nor affected sentiment to silence the expression of indignation to which we have referred. No man will say that the punishment of hanging was commensurate with the offences committed, according to their own confessions alone, by Bishop and Williams; but whilst we would not subject even such creatures to bodily torture, we cannot regret that the mental agony of their last moments was increased by the unequivocal tokens of detestation that assailed theirears on the scaffold. The great end of all punishment is example, to deter others; and surely the death of these cowardly murderers, signalized by the audibly-expressed hatred of all men, both good and bad, must operate as the most effectual warning that could possibly be devised, to prevent any other human being from imitating these atrocities, to die like them amid shouts of detestation, and to purchase an immortality of infamy.
We shall now proceed to the investigation of another part of this most horrid transaction, and we particularly allude to the acquittal of May, or, more properly speaking, to his being respited during his Majesty's pleasure. Connected, however, with this part of our subject, we will previously insert a sketch of the speech made by the Duke of Sussex to the Lord Mayor at the close of the trial,—which, although in some respects conferring high honour upon him, is not wholly borne out in its sentiments, by the result which afterwards took place.
After the trial had concluded, and the judges, nobility, and other visitors had retired to a private room, the Duke of Sussex (who had remained in Court the whole day, paying the most marked attention to the evidence) took occasion to express the gratification he had experienced at the manner in which the prosecution had been arranged and conducted. 'I have,' said his Royal Highness, addressing himself to the Lord Mayor, 'always made it a point of attending every trial of national interest that has occurred in the metropolis, and I have done so, not only from a desire to become acquainted, as far as I could, with the laws of my country and their practical application, but because in the station I fill, I feel it to be a sacred duty to take a personal interest in everything calculated to affect the character or the security of the people of this country. I havenever, my Lord Mayor, been present at such inquiries without increasing the admiration with which I regard the criminal jurisprudence of England;—the most perfect, the most intelligent, and the most humane system that human ingenuity or wisdom ever devised. Upon the present occasion, whatever pain I may have felt at the sad necessity for taking away the lives of the wretched persons whose crimes have excited so powerfully the indignation of the public, I cannot help feeling proud of being the native of a country where such a sentiment of indignation has been universally evinced, and where such disinterested exertions have been made to expose and bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes happily, I trust, rare amongst us. In what other part of the world, indeed, could such a scene be witnessed as that which we have this day contemplated? The judges of our land, the learned in our law, nobility, magistrates, merchants, medical professors, and individuals of every rank in society, anxiously devoting themselves, and co-operating in the one common object of redressing, as far as human power can do so, an injury inflicted upon a pauper child, wandering friendless and unknown in a foreign land. Seeing this, I am indeed proud of being an Englishman, and prouder still to be a prince in such a country and of such a people.'
In the first place, however, taking the respite of May into our consideration, some very serious reflections present themselves to our mind, and we are induced to give publicity to them, with the sole view of preserving the purity of our courts of law, and, by pointing out their existing errors and defects, remove that stigma, which certain persons are too prone to attach to them. We dispute not the integrity or the principles of the jury who pronounced the verdict of guilty upon May, but having ourselves paid theclosest attention to the evidence during the whole of the trial, we were always led to draw the conclusion, that neither the commission of the crime, nor any participation in it, was actually so definitely brought home to him, as to render his life a sacrifice to the laws. We never could discover the reason of the distrust of the testimony as given by two females, who clearly proved an alibi on the part of May, on the very night in which the murder, as stated in the indictment, was supposed to be committed. Their questionable mode of life might have had some influence in throwing discredit over their testimony in the opinion of the court; but we enter our protest decidedly against the deduction, that, because a female has been driven to prostitution for her support, her testimony is not to be believed on her oath. In some respects, indeed, the principle appears to be acted upon, that certain parts of the evidence of such witnesses may be received, whilst other parts are to be wholly rejected.
The stains of blood on the jacket of May, which was found in the lodgings of one of these women, was brought forward as corroborative of the participation of May in the act of murder, and it cannot be denied that it was a circumstance which had its weight in influencing the minds of the jury respecting the guilt of May. This woman in her evidence states the hours when May came to her lodgings, and which, if credited, would have gone a great way towards his entire exculpation; it was, however, impugned on the ground ofher profession: and we cannot here conceal our censure at the manner in which these females were examined by Mr. Adolphus, who seemed to think that if he could extract from their own lips the confession that they lived by prostitution, it would follow as a natural conclusion that their evidence was unworthy of belief.It however, happened, that one of these women proved, and to the satisfaction of the court, the manner in which the blood came upon the jacket of May, which happened to issue from the wounded leg of a jackdaw; and Mr. Thomas himself mounted the witness-box, after the woman had given her evidence, and declared his belief, that in that particular the woman spoke the truth, for he was satisfied that the blood was too fresh to have been cast upon it previously to the committal of May. Thus one link in the chain of the evidence against May was broken; but our chief objection was upon the principle, that if credibility is to be attached to one part of the evidence of a witness, it should not be optional in the opposite party to reject any other part which is confirmatory of the innocence of the accused. We see no more cogent reason why the evidence of the woman respecting the cause of the stains of the blood should be believed, and if we may be allowed a mercantile expression, placed to the credit of May, than that her evidence ought not also to have been received touching the alibi. The question of immaculacy of character has little to do in the witness-box, for were that principle to be acted upon, we suspect that many witnesses, who are believed upon their oath, would never be put into it at all. It is a very probable case, that a poor unfortunate girl, whose only crime perhaps is her prostitution, may in her mind be impressed with the solemn obligations of an oath, and the consequences which would result to her, morally and religiously, from the infraction of it; but it by no means follows, that because a blustering counsel has extracted from her the confession of the mode of life by which she gains her livelihood, that her testimony is to be wholly rejected or only partially received, especially when the life of a human being is dependent upon it. Station inlife ought not to form any distinction in the exercise of these principles; but we could allude to many instances in which the evidence of titled demireps has been received, without the smallest disposition being shown to call into question its truth and credibility. It happened, however, in the case of the evidence of these women,—that from the confession of both Bishop and Williams, and on which the highest authority of the nation was called upon to act, such evidence was in fact substantially true, and that May was not in the company of those two sanguinary wretches when the murder was committed. With great truth might May write the following doggrel rhymes, which were penned on the Sunday morning previously to the arrival of the respite:—