Man _has_ reason, why not give him intelligence?

We now come to the last great lesson of our motley teacher--the
gallows! that accursed tree which has its _root_ in injuries.
How clearly PUNCH exposes the fallacy of that dreadful law which
authorises the destruction of life! PUNCH sometimes destroys the
hangman: and why not? Where is the divine injunction against the
shedder of man's blood to rest? None _can_ answer! To us there is but
ONE disposer of life. At other times PUNCH hangs the devil: this is as
it should be. Destroy the principle of evil by increasing the means
of cultivating the good, and the gallows will then become as much a
wonder as it is now a jest.

We shall always play PUNCH, for we consider it best to be merry and
wise--

"And laugh at all things, for we wish to know,
What, after all, are all things but a show!"--_Byron_.

As on the stage of PUNCH's theatre, many characters appear to fill
up the interstices of the more important story, so our pages will be
interspersed with trifles that have no other object than the moment's
approbation--an end which will never be sought for at the expense of
others, beyond the evanescent smile of a harmless satire.

* * * * *

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

There is a report of the stoppage of one of the most respectable