[From "The Pall Mall Gazette," November 4, 1872. (Also reprinted in "Fors Clavigera,"
Letter 48, p. 286, vol. iv., 1874),]
MADNESS AND CRIME.
To the Editor of "The Pall Mall Gazette."
Sir: Towards the close of the excellent article on the Taylor trial in your issue for October 31[123] you say that people never will be, nor ought to be, persuaded, "to treat criminals simply as vermin which they destroy, and not as men who are to be punished." Certainly not, Sir! Who ever talked, or thought, of regarding criminals "simply" as anything (or innocent people either, if there be any)? But regarding criminals complexly and accurately, they are partly men, partly vermin; what is human in them you must punish—what is vermicular, abolish. Anything between—if you can find it—I wish you joy of, and hope you may be able to preserve it to society. Insane persons, horses, dogs, or cats become vermin when they become dangerous. I am sorry for darling Fido, but there is no question about what is to be done with him.
Yet, I assure you, Sir, insanity is a tender point with me. One of my best friends has just gone mad; and all the rest say I am mad myself. But if ever I murder anybody—and, indeed, there are numbers of people I should like to murder—I won't say that I ought to be hanged; for I think nobody but a bishop or a bank-director can ever be rogue enough to deserve hanging; but I particularly, and with all that is left me of what I imagine to be sound mind, request that I may be immediately shot.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
J. Ruskin.
Corpus Christi College, Oxford,
November 2.
FOOTNOTES:
[123] The trial of Taylor was for murder, and ended in his acquittal on the ground of insanity.