True, it was merely a technical departure, not a real one; still, it was a departure, and therefore a mistake, in my opinion.

It was better, kinder, swifter, and much more humane than a number of the methods which have been sanctified by custom, but that does not justify its employment.

That is, it does not wholly justify it.

Its unusual nature makes it stand out and attract an amount of attention which it is not entitled to.

It takes hold upon morbid imaginations and they work it up into a sort of exhibition of cruelty, and this smirches the good name of our civilization, whereas one of the old harsher methods would have had no such effect because usage has made those methods familiar to us and innocent.