The Home Secretary should then have granted
a respite till the coming of the blacksmith, and have extended
this respite to a pardon, if advised that the circumstances of the
latch-key rendered doubtful the propriety of the verdict. Others,
however, maintained that in this way a grievous penalty would be
inflicted on a man who, by general consent, was now held to be
innocent. Not only would he, by such an arrangement of circumstances,
have been left for some prolonged period under the agony of a
condemnation, but, by the necessity of the case, he would lose his
seat for Tankerville. It would be imperative upon the House to
declare vacant by its own action a Seat held by a man condemned to
death for murder, and no pardon from the Queen or from the Home
Secretary would absolve the House from that duty. The House, as a
House of Parliament, could only recognise the verdict of the jury
as to the man's guilt. The Queen, of course, might pardon whom she
pleased, but no pardon from the Queen would remove the guilt implied
by the sentence.
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