The National Register. — London, England, 1818-12-28 00:00:00

/td 7inP No. 168.—VOL. XL I'OLITIUA L DISQU Iv l iGk e - On MONDAY, DECEMBER ISIS. elety only, huve inflicted on them the ext! me penalty of the law. Several evil consequences arise from this distinction of the guilt of offenders. In the first place, from so great a degree of uncertainty as to the probability of punishment after convictiou, the , severity of .the law ceases to operate RS a terror. Where the favourable chances are so great, there will always be numerou s adventurers found to engage in the lottery, for so it may be termed. Setaindly, a very kuunane principle, which is observed on the trial of every individual, is departed from in the present plan of selection for pu nishment. The law permits no former am—no cir cumstances unconnected witn the subject matter of the indictment—no previous bad character of the prissner —to be brought against him. The evidence is strictly confined to the facts of the presmt charge ; and oil such evidence alone can an Englishman be found guilty. Another ill consequence of taking remote cirenin stances into the consideration of the case of a person capitally convicted (particularly in the case of uttering forged notes) is, that those circumstances are, in a man ner, unknown to the public in general. The criminal is doomed by the law to suffer for the commission of a particular offence, and the selection of one individual to die fit,. the (apparently) same degree of guilt fur which another receives a milder punishment, has the appear mice of harshness, and tends to make the unthinking dissatisfied with the administration of justice. If the reasons that caused the sentence of death to be carried into execution were in every instance to be made pub lic, we are convinced it would he found that humanity, jest iec, and the well being of society, are alone regarded in the awful decision ; but' such an explanation is imprac ticable and would frequently be injurious to the attain ment of the ends of justice. In cases of conviction for minor offences, we admit that a limited discretion should be vested in the Judge, (a discretion which ought to be exercised as seldom as possible,) and ..hat flintier character might be taken into the consideration of the guilty criminals ; and even on capital conviction, we consider that the stream of mercy ought not to be entirely frozen ; yet when the arbiter or arbiters r f his earthly tide are weighing the existence of the criminal against the consideration of his guilt, and the welfare of his fellow men, surely no general bud elfocts could result fro:a pursuing the same humane cause as adopter in every case towards a prisoner' on his trial. We would have his fate deci ded upon the view of his culpability in the commission of the very offence of which he has been con victed. We are aware that ions may be made to such a practice ; but we do not consider that they are valid agaiast that wltich is iimutled on :tn 441 willingness to shell human blood. The advocates fir capital punishment should ever be reminded, that the punishment of death cuts tea earthly atonement puts a very naarow limit to repentance, and risks the soul 1 of the criminal by the premature destruction of his body. The accounts from Ceylon brought by thew papers arc of rather ia more favourable description, it - true, ,lien we had been induced to ant►cipate from the state • :nents of former des;x►tches. The efforts of the natives a4►tinst the British government appear to have been re axed. and tranquillity to have prevailed throughout a considerable extent of country before in a state of disturbance. Ott Sunday morning last, at eight n'eloek, aceertlitig to annual custom, n quantity of bread and cheese was thrown from the ht , lf..y of Podin g ion Cliure!!, among the 00111 ice. The asschblage was (US tan, wine!) has hat In ithserved c» t t'c a: S un day preeee?ing Christmas :lay. had its origin. we are to;t1, in the will or two sis:Lts wlio travelog to eiai:a an estate, in Wok!' they were:led, I Ling •.trrc first relieved at Pa.l.lingtt,n. ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS. THOUGH we are of opinion that an unalterable scale of punishment cannot be framed without produc ing greater evils than now exist, yet we cannot approve of the present proverbial uncertainty of the law—an uncertainty, ari.ing principally from the severity of the penalties to which prisoners are liable on conviction. A nearer approxistration might be made to the due apportioning of punishment, and the natural COUNT-. tinencl would be a greater chance of convicting the guilty, and thereby arresting them ifs the earlier stage of their criminal progress. Death has becn awarded to many offences by the Legislature as a terror, rather than a punishment.— This is productive of much inconvenience, and tends rather to increase than prevent the commission of the offence. It is founded upon the vague principle of general expediency ; but when it applies to an indivi dual, the punishment appears so grossly disproportion ate to the guilt of the particular offender, that consci entious persons choose rather to give impunity to guilt, titan to load their souls with the weight of a 'fellow creature's blood. The severity of punishment. causes law and justice continually to be at variance. A greater degree of certainty would, in the opinion of malty wise men, be an effective substitute ibr nominal severity. When, for the purpase of intimidating offenders in ge neral, a severe law is carried into execution, it only disgusts and pains the gool tnan, without producing any thing but a momentary and slight error in the breast of the wicked ; and it has the bad effect of ex. citing in the unthinking multitude au inclination to unsure the Government under whose :unction sJ odi ous an application of the law is put in force. The following extract from a speech made by Sir W. Meredith, in the House of Commons, will speak volumes on this part of the subject '"l'he shoplifting act was to prevent bankers' and goldsmiths' and other shops, where there are commonly goods of great value, from being robbed ; hut it goes so far as to make it death to lift any thing eisf a counter with intent to steal. fader this act ohe Mary Jones was executed, whose ease I shall just mention; it was at the time when press-warrants were issaed, on the alann about Falkland Is lands. The woman's husband was pressed, their goods seized fur same debt of his, and she, with t \.o small children, turned into the streets a-begging. "Cis a ciretrinstanca not to be forgotten, that she was very young (under I%) an I most rein trkablv hin I iome. Sloe went to a linendraper's shop, took some roars linen Mr the cirinter, and slipped it under her cloak ; ;he shin oman tam her, and she laid it down ; for this she was hanged. I ler cle'enc,. was (I have tlit. trial in my ;rocked) that site had lived in credit, and wantAl for no thing, till a pressgan;.; came and stole her httsba❑ I from her; but since then she had no bell to lie on ; miming to give her children to eat ; and they were almost naked ; and p yriine4 a to might have done s.metinu .4 wro:ig, ruralist hardly kne's what she did ; Ihe parish ofii. ce-s tcleirted the truth of- this story ; hut it seems, there had hero a good deal of a!mrdiliing about Ludgate ; an example was thought necessary ; and Clio woman wa, hanged, for t h e olidint and 2atisfae tion of so ne abopkee,rers in I,mlgate Street. When brottsht to reeeive senynee., sac behaved in such a frantic manner, as proved her to be in a distracted and despiindirn; state ; and the cad an-is sockbri at her breast when she set out for Tyburn." IVc will olly 4.1; wbat good coild be efrected'q such an execut;on, an:lcr each circu:nstances ? Any observations on thl uffn•tin4 )u would be su perations. It spc:►ks for itself " trun►p,t ton4ue.l." crineenititittes to increasc, itiswal of tliniinish nag, there i ; I;rcat reasol to -fileyeet tt tile punish ment nkrul - led to the toavietc,l crin•:aal is inadequate to produce tile !' , ..sr great Ili n if all ati)r e !•, loath evert,' persan convietel of uttering fnr4o,l nn;. ktiowiag them Li be forged, it it, found %void.' eau.:e s.) peat it destruction of II iniuta life, :13 to be intolerable in a country gout:.' for its general humanity, A small uusuitrr only of tins guilty are, therefore, sacrificed at the vioiat..l altar of pubtk justice. Persons who have beea repeatedly guilty of the crime, or w •. .1. general is sack as to [VII. aer them other respects tlangrias I.:.nbi:rs of so- ( te l " alt AAttiOttr+ Our iting, Coluititution mil) it (IWO. Patez 90. E 4 ST INI 'I ES. BOMBAY, Ana. Is.—The Cholera Morhus haring recently appeared at Panwell, it is natural that the public mind should feel some degree of anxiety at the sear approk.h Gf su formidable, and in some instances, so foal a disease. We have on a former occasion mentioned that under the directions of Government every practicable measure hid been adopted here to meet and to alleviate the effect of this calamity, should it unfortunately break out on this island ; and we have only further to state, that every smallest assistance will he im►nediately af forded to every class of the numerous population of this island, and to invite the public, but more particularly the native population to lose no time in making appli e cation for assistance, as much of Ow success that may be expected from medicine greatly depends upon its early exhibition. We have the pleasure to acid that io all the princi pal situations in the Deckan, where this disease has been most prevalent, it is at present on the decline; the late fall of rain seems greatly to have contributed to restore a healthy state of the atmosphere, which, from various accounts that have lately been received, seems to have been highly unfavourable to the health even of those who had escaped the attack of Cholera. We have also to add that a partienlar account of this disease, as detailed in various reports and other commu nications that have been received from the meliral gen. tiemen who have been actively employed in u.:liater. actin. , its effects, and whose meritorious zeal in the perlimnance of this duty entitles them to the highest Arai e, will soon be laid before the public. The rains still continue, and the weather is more like the monsoon than the end of July. Such a season for mildness, it is said, is nut remembered by the oldest inhabitant of Madras. We have been kindly favoured with an account of the late severe earthquake that w a s exocrieoced at Bencoolen on the 17tt► of March, and the hillowing days a►s contained in a letter frein a gentleman who witnessed its effects. " The first shock took place at half-past three on flat morning of the 17th of last month, and the shocks continued almost hourly until a quarter beft►re flier o clock on the morning of the 18th, when one of the most alarming nature took place and lasted for a consi derable time. I was asleep in one of the rooms of a house on shore, when the shock was felt. It threw me out of my bed, and at the same instant all the ceiling and part of the wall fell in upon me: The doors and windows were flying backwards and forwards with great velocity, and the house shook to that degree that we were not able to stand. I dew with my frienci to the open air, and when out of the house, heard a strange grumbling of the earth which was in quick motion, much so that we momentarily expected it to open and to swallow ns up. "At day-light I walked down to the water side!, when I observe I that the sea► had reti►td to a great distance. leaving every coasting vessel aground in places where befOre there was twelve water, and nanv were thrown up a considerable di..tunce on shor.. In a short time, the sea returned with great velocity, driving every thing beline it. The ..ouourable Com pany's ship Nort It timberland, and country ship Sunbaiy, laving in [tat Island Basin, were in most civil mutie•r The men on watch were kn:lekel down by the sPmtk. the water casks all f..!tched way, and every thing move able was in •notion. " The godwn.: on shore were shaken to pieces— not a chandelier was left whole in the Goyurnutert Home, nor was it habitable until repaired In fact, every house midlevel more or lest The ship Lads Mies, in which Sir Thomas Riffles arrived, felt the .hock upwards of :!00 miles from the hind. It appeared to theca as if they had grounded, and they were ia consequence induced to sound repeatedly.. From t) 1 1 last and dreatlfill shuck, until the day that we sail t ,t, which was the seltl, scarcely all hour passed without a shock I,..ing experienced.''—Grardium, On the 17th ult. at Jessore, a man and two women, while employed in preparing the sacrificial casks fur t I,c kstival of Shubiratit, were struck dead be and ou the f.!4th two men and eight bittio,i„,. : 1,, d also met a similar late —Goy!. 16. The Gleaner, frail Guernsey to the !Tartu/tat, is st. The Captain and crew arrived ut I•lava.,u4b is thUr Lout on tht sth of NovellAt.r.