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Manslaughter, shall be held the highest pitch
Of human glory, and for glory done

Of triumph to be styled great conquerors—
Patrons of mankind, gods, and sons of gods—
Destroyers rightlier called, and plagues of men.
Thus fame shall be achieved, renown on earth,
And what most merits fame in silence hid.

Such is the weighty pronouncement put into the mouth of the avenging celestial visitant. And the sentence of the earlier friendly archangel, Raphael, upon the popular heroes of the battlefield is no less emphatic:

Cancelled from heaven and sacred memory,
Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell,

For Strength from Truth divided and from Just,
Illaudable, naught merits but dispraise

And ignominy: yet to glory aspires

Vain-glorious, and through infamy seeks fame-
Therefore eternal silence be their doom.

In consonance with the poet's declaration is his sonnet to the Commonwealth hero, Fairfax:

For what can war but endless war still breed?

Sentiments which are repeated in Milton's second epic, in almost the same terms, by the mouth of his divine hero.

To refer briefly to the most conspicuous events in the public life of the great patriot. His acceptance of the onerous post of the Latin Secretaryships, under both the Free Commonwealth and the Protectorate, and his editorship, or supervision, of the official organ of the Government, the Mercurius Politicus, are the most interesting. With the exception of the Mercurius Britannicus (the scurrilous organ of the enemies of the Commonwealth, to which it succeeded), the Mercurius Politicus was the first regular newspaper published in this country-it is a fact worth recording. Of his prose writings, besides those above noticed, the "Tenure of Kings and Magistrates may be regarded, with justness, as one of the very best.

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Among his personal friends was his secretary, Andrew Marvell, who wrote that exquisitely tender monody, The Nymph Complaining for the Death of her Fawn."

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We shall fitly conclude this imperfect review of the claims of Milton upon the respectful admiration of humanitarians with the eloquent appreciation by one of the foremost of "the sons of Light":

He died,

Who was the Sire of an immortal strain,

Blind, old, and lonely, when his country's pride
The priest, the slave, and the liberticide
Trampled and mocked, with many a loathed rite,
Of lust and blood. He went unterrified

Into the gulf of death: but his clear sprite

Yet reigns o'er earth-the third among the sons of light.

HOWARD WILLIAMS.

WHIPPING IN INDIA

THE same causes which favoured the growth of whipping in ancient societies contributed not a little to its prevalence during the early days of the Company's accession in India. The instability of the established Government, the want of internal order, and the various disturbing elements in the political world naturally called for a Penal Code at once prompt and efficacious. Those of its characteristics which would induce a modern jurist to condemn it in no measured terms were then found to be its chief recommendations. Its severity, vindictive nature, exclusively punitive character, and the degradation it involved, would single it out as a fit instrument in the hands of those who were entrusted with the maintenance and extension of British rule in India. The peculiar sensitiveness of the Indian mind to the humiliation it entailed made it a terrible weapon. It is not surprising, therefore, that it was constantly in requisition for the punishment of offenders where a capital punishment was not deemed expedient.*

Such a state of things continued, though in a much modified form, down to the thirties of the last century, when it received a rude shock from the hands of the wise and enlightened statesman who happened to preside over the destinies of his country. With his uncommon share of good sense and wisdom, Lord William Bentinck was

For a fuller statement of the writer's views, see his pamphlet "Whipping in India," published at the Majumdar Library, 20, Cornwallis Street, Calcutta.

not slow to perceive that no amount of expediency would justify a civilised Government in allowing this barbarous punishment to continue; that severe punishments defeat their own object; that it was often injudiciously exercised, thereby inflicting an irremediable wrong; and by a masterly stroke he killed the monster who could not be mended in any other way. The preamble to Regulation II. of 1834, the law in question, contains such sound principles of statesmanship, such excellent juristic ideas, and such a high conception of the duties of a civilised Government that we are tempted to reproduce it in extenso:

"Whereas corporal punishment has not been found efficacious for the prevention of crime, either by reformation or by example; and whereas it is always degrading to the individual, and by affixing marks of infamy, which often are for ever indelible, prevents his return to an honest course of life; and whereas there is every reason to fear that it is in many cases injudiciously and unnecessarily inflicted, becoming a grievous and irremediable wrong; and whereas it is becoming and expedient that the British Government, as the paramount power in India, should present in its own system the principles of the most enlightened civilisation, and should endeavour by its example to encourage the Native States to exchange their barbarous and cruel punishments of maiming, of torture, of loss of limb, for those of a more merciful and wise character, by which the individual might be reformed, and the community saved from these brutalising exhibitions; and whereas it has been deemed expedient to authorise the substitution of a fine in lieu of labour in certain minor offences for which the criminal courts are empowered by existing regulations to pass sentence of imprisonment with labour, either with or without irons; and whereas it has been deemed necessary to provide for the gradual introduction of a better system of prison discipline, the following rules have been enacted to be in force from the date of their promulgation throughout the territories subject to the Presidency of Fort William.",

In order to appreciate properly the moral courage displayed by the Governor-General in passing this Act, we must bear in mind that there were no reformatories, and that the gaol system was very defective. But Lord William Bentinck did not stop at this destructive work; he attempted to improve the prisons, so as to make them

conducive to the physical and moral welfare of the inmates. Had he remained in India for a few years more, he would have certainly accomplished what it took his successors many years to do the reform of our prisons.

We reach the next important event in the history of whipping in a few years. The Indian Law Commissioners presented their draft Criminal Code in the year 1837, in which they deliberately excluded flogging from the list of punishments. In order to understand the importance of this fact, we must remember that the Code was not an ideal ethical Code of inexperienced Schoolmen. It was the work of men who combined high juridical attainments with a thorough practical knowledge, assisted by Sir E. Ryan and Sir B. Malkin, the Chief Justice and a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court respectively-both eminent Judges having an intimate acquaintance with the administration of criminal law. We must also remember that the framers of the draft Code had the experience of three years, 1834 to 1837, during which period whipping remained abolished, to go by. The reasons which influenced them are stated in their report:

"We have not thought it desirable to place flogging in the list of punishments. If inflicted for atrocious crimes with a severity proportioned to the magnitude of those crimes, that punishment is open to the very serious objections which may be urged against all cruel punishments, and which are so well known that it is not necessary for us to recapitulate them. When inflicted on men of mature age, particularly if they be of decent stations in life, it is a punishment of which the severity consists, to a great extent, in the disgrace which it causes, and to that extent the arguments which we have used against public exposure apply to flogging. .. The moderate flogging of young offenders for petty offences is not open, at least in any serious degree, to the objections which we have stated. . . . In countries where a bad system of prison discipline exists the punishment of whipping has in such cases one great advantage over that of imprisonment. The young offender is not exposed even for a day to the contaminating influence of an ill-regulated gaol. It is our hope and belief, however, that the reforms which are now under consideration will prevent the gaols of India from exercising any such contami

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