852 EXECUTION.

of the condemned—darkness every where around 1 —the victim feeling the rising of the water with inevit-able certainty from day to day, by slow but terribleadditions; until at last death, after haunting thewretched captive in every frightful form, closes thescene of his mortal agonies.

If a member of one of these formidable tribunalswas guilty of the slightest breach or neglect of duty,he was seized by his own familiars, blindfolded, andstretched on a wheel ; his tongue was torn out, hisflesh plucked from his body by pincers, and his exe-cution was completed by hanging on a cross seventimes higher than that on which ordinary criminalsunderwent their sentence.

Should a person, however noble his birth, attemptby flight to escape from the jurisdiction of the tribu-nal, he was immediately placed under its ban, andfron. that time he was surrounded by a thousandexecutioners, who, on the first convenient opportu-nity, seized and hanged him on the nearest tree ; orif he made resistance, stabbed him, and leaving thedagger in his body, walked away with perfect impunity.

In Russia the knout is a common mode ofexecuting criminals, and it is also employed as apunishment for minor offences which do not meritdeath. In the latter case, from thirty to sixty stripesof this formidable instrument are given to the prisoner.The knout consists of a sort of scourge, which isabout three feet long in the handle, and having aheavy lash about the same length, at the end of whichis placed a thong of white leather. The criminalhaving been firmly bound to a sloping plank of wood,on one side of which are two iron rings, to which thearms are fastened, the head is strapped down in anotch cut for that purpose, and the feet are alsosecured. The body is then bared to the waist, andthe executioner taking the instrument in his hand,walks away about eight or ten paces, then returnsand strikes the blow. Thus a space of nearly twentyseconds elapses between each blow.

A modern traveller in describing this mode of pun-ishment which he saw inflicted on several Russiancriminals, states that so severe was the pain, that be-fore forty stripes had been inflicted the prisoner lost allsensibility, and was finally removed in a senselessstate. “ During the infliction of the knout on thefirst criminal, the horror depicted on the countenancesof the others by the anticipation of their impendingtorture was a manifest aggravation of their punish-ment, and, if possible, worse than the actual suffering,by the wild and despairing exclamations which, fromtime to time, escaped them. One wished for a knifethat he might put a period to his agony. As soonas the man was removed who had received theallotted number of stripes, another was brought for-ward, who very reluctantly prepared, in which hewas assisted with much more effect by the executioner,who tore off his shirt, forced him on the plank, andhaving bound him, proceeded to execute the sentence.Nothing can be conceived more barbarous and in-human than the appearance of the executioner. Hisbald head and long matted locks falling over hisshoulders, his large black mustachios, glaring eyes,and ghastly visage, added, if possible, to the horrorand disgust with which the scene had inspired us.”Although the knout, when not employed as aninstrument of death, may be considered cruel; yet, asthe object of all laws is to prevent a repetition of thecrime by the dread of the punishment, this may be

considered better adapted for that purpose thanhane.ing. With regard to the sufferings of the criminalsthe knout is certaiidy the severer of the two ; but if herecovers, he has the chance of reforming his life. lt seffect on criminals before they undergo it is stillgreater, if possible, than the actual infliction, and thewarning which it gives to the spectators appears tomake an impression which, as is well known, is rarelyproduced by an Old Bailey execution. But in a daspo-tic country like Russia, the will of the monarch is notalways in accordance with the laws of humanitv or ofjustice, as both males and females of the highest rankhave been condemned to suffer this punishment, whichif not always attended with fatal consequences to thelife of the sufferers, must have been a thousand timesmore offensive to their feelings than death itself.

The process of breaking on the wheel furnishes anapt illustration of the tender mercies exhibited by theexecutive [towers, even so late as the last century.Calas, a merchant.of Toulouse (who was afterwardsproved to be innocent), was broken on the wheel.This instrument itself, and the sufferings of theunfortunate victim, are thus described by one of thecavalry officers who mounted guard during thisrevolting scene.

“ Imagine a wheel of iron about two feet in dia-meter, so broad that a man could lie on it, and yetnot broad enough for him to lie easily, the circum-ference grooved crosswise at regular intervals, sothat the blow from the crow-bar of the executionermight be the more certain to break the limb orsplinter it more effectually ; this wheel raised abovethe level of the scaffolding half a foot by means ofchains made fast from the axis, at either side, to ironposts at the interval of six feet. The wheel is ofhammered iron, and so weighty, that though elevated,it requires no inconsiderable force to swing it. It israised in order to enable the criminal’s body to per-form the circuit of the machine, and an apparatus isprovided for stretching the human body to the com-pletion of the circle. This engine was further defacedby the gouts of blood and mouldering flesh which thelast occupant had left as his memorial on its circum-ference. In the back ground two inferior artists indeath held between them the manacled culprit. Achubby-faced mayor, in whom custom and obesityseemed to have stifled all painful feelings, sat erect inhis chair to the right, with watch in hand, awaitingthe moment to begin the torture. On the other side,a tall monk of the order of La Trappe, whose sternbut contemplative countenance formed a powerfulcontrast to the city magistrate, was silently surveyingthe preparations, sometimes casting a searching lookto the criminal, sometimes muttering an inarticulateprayer from the missal which he held in his bonyhand. The executioner, a horrid fellow with a faceveritably a hangman’s, was busied in his appallingpreparations. His dress, his make, his physiognomy,all were in unison with his character. His dress,like his bloody trade, was scarlet, closely fitted to histrunk, and setting in the fullest light the gigantic pro-portions of his frame—his heavy and unwieldy feet,his tremendous arms and brawny shoulders. His •country, I understand, is Germany, and, indeed, hisface Dresented the beau ideal of a German given bythe most violent libellers of the nation. Insensibilityand brutish stupidity vied in his countenance with aferocious admiration of sottish enjoyment; such a manas would break you on a wheel for his amusement