“This is not my own fantastical opinion⁠—many people have thought the same; but I feel it so deeply that I’ll tell you what I think. I believe that to execute a man for murder is to punish him immeasurably more dreadfully than is equivalent to his crime. A murder by sentence is far more dreadful than a murder committed by a criminal. The man who is attacked by robbers at night, in a dark wood, or anywhere, undoubtedly hopes and hopes that he may yet escape until the very moment of his death. There are plenty of instances of a man running away, or imploring for mercy⁠—at all events hoping on in some degree⁠—even after his throat was cut. But in the case of an execution, that last hope⁠—having which it is so immeasurably less dreadful to die⁠—is taken away from the wretch and certainty