The debate on Monday on the flogging clause in Mr.
Cross's Bill for amending the law for offences against the person was remarkable for the weight of argument against that punishment. Mr. Henley, who is not a sentimentalist, showed that within the last forty years violent crime had decreased with the mitigation of punishment, the number of cases being nearly the same, though population had increased fifty per cent. Mr. Lefevre argued very justly that the wife-beaters were the worst brutes among us, and they could not be flogged unless we were prepared to grant divorce, for the wives would not give evidence. Mr. Taylor proved that garotting had been put down before the flogging Act was passed, that flogged prisoners always re- appeared in the prisons, and that while " flog,gable crimes" had steadily increased from 1868, non-fioggable crimes had as steadily diminished. The International Prison Congress held last year in London, and composed of officials and experts, was more unani- mous against flogging than upon any other subject. Nevertheless, the clause passed by 185 to 18, a curious testimony to the re- action of opinion against lenity which is daily becoming marked. We confess we should like to see a few kicking murderers hung, as they ought to be, under the existing law, before we revert to a punishment which, if it does not deter—and that point is made doubtful by statistics—must pro tanto brutalise the society which inflicts it.
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