The National Register. — London, England, 1818-08-17 00:00:00

77 v 4 ' /i 4 k / a ls in it ;atonal( No. 549.—V01.. XI. POLITICAL DINUISITION. ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT% IT may be observed in the words of an ingenious writer,* well acquainted with the principles of human action, that the degree of punishment and cease ' euences of a crime ought to be so contrived as to have :he greatest possible effect on others, with the least possible pain to the delinvent; This sentiment of truth and humanity will stand the test of time, and remain to the remotest ages of tl:e world, however broken in upon by man, in the practical course of life, under the influence of his passions and his prejtulices.—; To the above human reflection may be added another position of the sa:ne author, as also of several other writers of eminence, who have treated on the subject, • That crimes are more effectually prevented by the certain:; than by the severity of punishment: This maxim of st,und jurisprudltnee is very warmly adopted loy a most sagacious commcntaturt on the laws of Eng. land, who has aral.:7 expressed himself with much force and elegance in the following ex tracts from his writings. —They contain sentiments which cannot be too often revived, nor too devpl:, in:pressed on the mind of the legislator, the philanthropist, or the rap of the world, and as such deserve tsilbe engraved an tablets of gold. In treating on the measure and Lffeet of human indictions for offence, he says, ‘. W'e.may,observe that punishments of unreasonable severity, especiull7 when indiscriminately in:at-A, have less e4ect in prevent, • ing crimes, amYanicailiug tive...manucia of a iislOpl4 • than such as are rno.k merciful in general, yet properly intermixed with due distinctions of severity. The • excessive severity of laws (says Montesquieu) hinders 4 their execution. %lien the punishment surpasses all ' sneasure, the public, out of humanity, will frequently ' prefer impunity to it. We may further observe, that • 'Sanguinary laws are a bad symptom of the distemper • of any state, or at least of its weak constitution.' It is, moreover, absurd and impolitic to apply the I same punishment to crimes of different malignity. A • multitude of sanguinary laws (besides the doubt that ' may be entertained concerning the right of making theta) do likewise prove a manifest defect either in • the wisdom of the legidative, or the strength of the • executive power. 1 t is a kind of quackery in Go • •vernment, and argues a want of solid skill to apply the 'same universal remedy, ultiniunt suppllcion, to every case of difficulty. It is, it must be owned, much easier to extirpate than to amend mankind. Yet that ma ' gistrate must be esteemed both a weak and a cruel • sargcon who cuts off every limb, which through horance or indolence he will not attempt to cure.' ' Thoogh we may glory in the wisdom of the Engl law, we shall find it difficult to justify the frequent • of capital punishments to be found therein, inflh ' tperhaps inattentively) by a multitude of siteeessi ' independent statutes, spun crimes very different • their natures. So dreadful a list, instead of dimint ' ing, increases the number of offenders. The injured, • through compassion, will often forbear to prosect, ' Juries, through compassion, will sometimes thrget • their oaths, and either acquit the guilty, or mitigate • the nature of their offence ; and Judges, througl compassitn, will respite one half of the convicts, - recommend them to the loyal mercy. Among ' many chances of escaping, the needy and the hardened ' offender overhmks the multitude that suffer: he bol,ll' r•%;ages in so►ne desperate attempt, to relieve ' wants or supply his vices; and if unexpectetlly ' of justice ocer::►les him, he deems himself pv,:. • li..rly unforttnitte in falling at lamt a sacrifice to those • Lws which lung impunity has taught him to cua tutim:j • DeCTV iN D t .111 Age Illsokstoor. Lisclutones Works, %'ol. IV. - . i 1 rA;4(t--I,ttr+ Our Liing, Comltitution anb MONDAY - , AUGUST 17, 1818. SINGULAR LEGAL DIFFICULTY. A most extraordinary, and indeed an unprecedented eircumstauce hai just occurred in the city of Glomestt r. On the evening of Wednesday last, Mr. Ricardo, the lligh Sheriff, and his retinue proceeded about ten o'clock, in order to meet the Judges, Sir William Gat row and Mr. Justice Iloiroyd, on their way from Mon mouth, where the business had detained theta rather an unumfml time. Sir %VI (farrow had come forward from Mon mouth with the utmost expolition, but all his eithrts did not enable him to reach Gloneestsr before ie o'clock. When Sir William was in the Sheriff's carriage, Mr. Ricardo suggested the probability of the illegality of opening the Commission on Thursday instead of Wed day, which was the specific day. . . . This at first dia not very forcibly strike Sir William as a serious objection, and he opened the Commission as usual. In the morning the Judge, Sherif!: &c. attended the Church, and the Amin Sermon was preaelied by the ltev. James Hitchings. The Grand and Petty Juries were sworn in, and other proceedings commenced. Mr. Justice Holroyd arrived in Gloucester about three o'clock in the afternoon of Thursday and a consultation was held on the subject of the non-opening of the Com mission of Wedndesday. Mr. heels, Mr. Dauncey, Mr. Pugh, and several other Gentlemen of the Bar, wee in their opinions, and at length it was determined that great mischief, both to the Crown and Civil side of the Bar might ensue, should the Judges proceed to trial under those extraordinary cirettmannees. The Court was therefore adjourned till this morning (Saturday), and the Under Sheriff meanwhile went off express to the Chancellor, in order to have las .... , eopiniere and. to tinny ff the business of the , t lssiires cou:d lega!lr a roceeded on,- o! if it was 7fEedsary that ilew. Commission 'should be issued. Gleyeester then became s scene of considerable confusion. Lawyers and their clients were seen running in all directions. The witnoases, all of whom were obiieed to remain at Gloucester, were lamenting the loss of time they should sustain. Barristers were renewing their tul..s of lodgings, and indeed nothing could equal confusion of the city of Gloucester, when the tidings of the adjournment were made known. The conse quences of proceeding to trial were not at first con jectured. They might have teen of the most lament able and mischievous kind. Prisoners might have been deeniedillegally punished: decisions, of lawsuits, would have been null and void, and even the Sheriff himself, had he proceceded to the execution of a sentence of death, might have been in.licted for wilful murder. — The anxiety that pervades the City, it is probable, may not speedily be determiners; for it is uncertain how soon the Chancellor may decide the momentous and unprecedented questioe. His Lordship may even think it necessary to summon a meeting of the Privy Council, and at this season of the year such a meeting cannot be speedily assembled. From the een and the inconvenience, however, good may eventually proceed, and the present necessity there is fi,r a Judge in propria persona to PRICE 94d. DRURY LANE THEATRE. .......-- COURT OF CIIANCF.R7,..kuo. :5. The. Lord Chancellor on coming into Court this morning, proceeded to give judgment in this case. He observed that it came before him by a motion for the injunction being dissolved which he haul on an ex par:e statement granted last Saturday. When he grunted that injunction, he did it on the condition of imntaiate notice being given to the defendants, because he hal very considereble doubts whether he ought to have granted it or not ; but he wished these doubts to be removed, not by any opinion of his own, but by a cool and dispassionate discussion of the whole at the Bar. The Bill ' (the contents of which had been correctly stated by Sir Samuel Hominy) went into a long de tail of the two Acts of Parliament passed in 1810 and . 1812, and it also described the various dealings of the defendants. It would therefore be necessary for him to read these Acts now, and to make some observations on them, as he would be thereby the better enabled to ahew the facts of the case accurately. (Here his Lordship at great lenglh went over the different clauses of the Acts.) The result of the whole was, that by the first Act the proprietors wete constituted a corporate body, and bad powers vested in them which the Le gislature gave them very particular directions how to discharge. He might lay it down as a principle of law, . . that while the powers vested in select parts of a Corporation, could be exerc . - ley therlect parts of that Corporation, it was impossili r him to say thae a ... ~ body ofmen could assume we p whiph were not given , k• themby the Act of the Legislat 'he geoferal assembly ,' f of prop ' ors in this case milibtl il trieice,at least they., 6.'`...Nft„ niiiitt,: ' • Select Commit see ive such edvice, '. .'. ,• • but the ttee had no power to ". to the * *. um,. neral or mmittee what they ....ag o do. If it .. was true as was alleged, that the General Committee was not a valid one, and that the Sub-Committee was in the same state, by not acting agreeably to the pra- • visions of the Act of Parliament, then the question before him was, whether the Corporation could any longer exerbise their powers, and he must judge of that as he would do in the laws made relative to corporate bodies. This question, however, might as well be avoided, for the benefit of all parties. It would perhaps be as well for him not to go into the affidavits at al.; yet he felt very much that this speculation was going on at an immense hazard. Of this he was very deeply convinced, but how was it possible for him to ii.- terfere in a case where the powers of the Cominittu , e were settled by Act of Parliament ? Ile had given the case his most serious attention, and after weighing all the circumstances in his mind, lie was decidedly of opinion that he could not support this injunction, on ac count of the absence of parties ; this was not the only reason, for he also was convinced that no case whatever had been made out• te justify hint la continuing the injunction. u The injunction was accanlingly dissolved. necessity mere I' on ti ~, WI 6 4:. lil in upt ggi pc. .....,.. •., ... i g - op en the Commission may be set aside, and a Sergeant • Thursday a wardmote fbr the ward of Farringdort, 'Without, was held at St. Bride's t hued', for the pur. sent forward for this purpose, when the business of the eish preceolin•f, Assizes is of unusual magnitude.—(o z f a ,d pose it elestibg a person to serve as Common Councilman .Itv•ust tO.) in the ?eons of Mr. Waithinan. Mr, Figgins prop ency Mr. IL Taylor, of Shoe Lane, Prite.er, and stated that ietcd The Doke of Wellington has become a distinguished he was a friend:to retbrna. Nlr.•Clark was also prtitosed, sive, collector of picture. lie has lately made many value- but finding the mnjtirity of thS' meeting was in titvour s in ble acquisitions on the continent, particularly in the of Mr. Taylor, he resigAied 'OW Contest. Upon a show Flemish school. His Grace has desired that a gallery of hands Mr. Taylor was,deelaml unanimously elected. '''' list'. .., fur the reception of pictures may tbrm a principal tea- Thursday morning the prioeipal Cashier of the Moll ' re "' titre in the mansion to be erected on his Parliamentary of England waited on the :.,*enileuxen of the ' is 1.',. :‘ ' . • . .1 . • ,9 :ate. es tat e . We arc glad to see his Grace cultivating a taste change, to inform thew the Chance%) ' he ' ie r: . . Irret for st) be..antiful an art, and wish him s ucc e ss ; from the would be ready to receive their . Wilding, • , MC? . • ir.P. . ,-,..„. "ate specimens of his purchase in the last British gallery, we State Lottery "for the year I 8 1 ti, on '• ur .4ttl•• '.., ....;i4 . ; , ugh think he has not been very thrtnnate hitherto ; the instant. pictures of Cuyp tend Ustade of - , not in: (h y i hn. , .-A ;Tyre , • ,Ab' erns 'i n : pa - /,' , , . . tot. -• nt 'der , and of those masters, ancte. " 8... 44iv.ent '.:1 1 .7 h ag .a ol ~: , ..i t • • '' . . religious tiOsities in tho • ! spv .......„ gs° Vatidee.eyden," there wits not • ' rthYltt ' i , • l A ' '!*. %env. It is..anitl'illiat an arti- ' • :fled the wealth and fume of the distitiguis iiri'lia . ,.. ' S'iver . ,.. sa s n 'l 0 ~' •-. 00 -:- me 0c . .h . , , • .' s lan:Vl:wined a pretty . i ‘, } t ~ i . . s.. - :' who have ddly of thi• artists whose names they bare. . t: --- t . tr z '' h i s On Friday se'nuigbt his Imperial Hlglin c e. • ill. ' , lb it "...gi i r .rt •-a fk r;ht ellli nin ' i s ; ' 47t:itcritice net ... • '...:,..r,t:..;_••' Grand Duke N;iellpel w a s presented with the _reeLen 's: „; -'-''' i n.O. :''' '.• ))maul; lk.in ,, c to the•Deitv.—..‘ .• il t - Cx` the,.; • '' * l •' l 'T '" t re of the city .of Edinburg]] voted to him on Wednesday, •Plic ‘...er ••,' ' rts, Lust SCYCJ:ll,llt!elllpts which .•tti, e" - and was Tlskralidly entertained by the Lord l'rovost at had been amide t . ... • ~,lit•tiniti, luul &dell, but at _- -- .• hose his own hlti , ills I lighneas seemed highly gratified • call - by the aft'. 1 us POI hint. A liieltland piper, in fill lciwth a poor man, who s iiiera"tt 'a member Lif the cart, i ., 10,..,•' acr."s ,Sect. has been murdered in the most. atrocious manner. The . .. • costume, ' , oath al aka it; front of the house, , whole country about Leissni l , C o mi ts . (h.i„i i .„ 3, 0 5.... , ... .. 11 .." . . which seem- • ; • eI, . 4 t atti,t the notice of the e!tat . z. &, .i s i ll r „, ii lt : o 4 , ,...." a the extensive rand& . -• tirand Doke, st'•lti l', ~• ,• , ittm irF .er to par . , cat i oas o f tius set. ''':i‘ take Of eXee i liP4l3' ; "et '\. ', . r ~ r. i ._ • ' v.. is • . w • . • 'ice i••' ..,';•••• ' .-}••• .. .1. . -„L,. • 0 . ' •-•"':., .fL ' '• • , . . - / '• " -