The National Register. — London, England, 1818-12-13 00:00:00

./? 0(04 rtyr / fr u+ 'c 4ezt I d "0 _ .a tio nAI Ilt rt - itii ttr+ Our thug, Condtitution and tabui. No. 586.—V0L. XI. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. • ON THE RECENT AccprITTAL OF PERSONS TRIED FOR UTTERING ronmin BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES. THE *trend recent squalid* at the Old Salley, of penults tried on charge* of uttering forged Bank of England notes, have created a strong sensation. The subjest, we are aware, is still onenf considerable deli asoy,giough the late decisions have taken much slimy from it of that ity; and grievous is the indiscretion • tab* lois been Oa supposed pythons of the Bask, in moving the camidevation of the verdicts, aid in attenaptilig to bring in die public, through the peels, is try the conduct of the juries who acquitted ; Sir the public has long been known to view the numc• tnee prosecutions for fairer and uttering forged notes with aversion; its opinion, theeefoee, might have been anticipated. It is said, that a " popular °Suety Ku been raised " *Wax the last tordee us weds avian conv i c ti ons far forgery, as if that particular crime was entitled to " peculiar sympathy." Tbis is not literally, though it is generally, true. The case is thus:--executions and punishments for ilbrgery, and for uttering forged notes, have of late excessively increased, yet have the crimes eopunporancously increased also ; and hence, sere than a popular outcry (fx some of the wisest and most ex• emplary mutt in the nation have joined in it) has been raised against legal severities, which here produced no good effect; and peculiar sympathy has been excited towards criminals whose execution has obviously no tendency to prevent others from mattaitting the same offence. itira are aware *that a weak advoeate does harm to a sense; and as . we eertainly have, with the nation at lame, thought the system pursued towanls forgers and titterers erroneous, we, in order to put it down, shall just quote one of the arguments gravely advanced in support of it :•••(‘ We confess we are so dull, that we " cannot see any mitigating circumstances of distinction " between the man who commits a fraud by uttering a " forged note, and he who picks a pocket to the same " amount. Yet, we have hitherto been spared the " folly df imbecile lamentations over the convicted " thief." But are pickpockets hanged ? Yet forgers are executed without exception; and utterers, after a repetition of their offence, are subjected to the same fste. . What follows, though upon a painful subject, is ab solutely ludicrous We imagine no One will deny " that he who forges a Bank note is a rogue; that be " who utters it, knowing it to be forged, is a rogue : " and that a rogue, when discovered, ought to be pu " nished."—that is, of course, he ought to be hanged ! In this, we answer, the public is not agreed ; but is very strongly of opinion, that the system at present adopted towards offenders of that particular class of which we are ...peaking, has not been proper; and it is now indisputably obvious that a change will take Piace Lea • ving, therefore, arguments like the above to do all the harm they must to the cause which they are brought to support, we shall now proceed to notice with great temper a few of the errors and inconsisten vies of that system as it at present (mists. The indict ments for forgery all run that the crime was committed " with intoat to defraud the Governor and Company of . the Bank of England." Rut the witnesses on the part of the Bank, their own solicitors, searchers, and in spectors of notes, as universally swear, that the prose cution is instituted in order to protect, nut the Bank, but Me public and it is certain that, whomsoever the note tray have been drown with the intent on to defraud, the Bank is the only party that cannot and will' not be defrauded; for it will not pay the forgel note to the SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1818. innocent holder of it. But a few words upon the sub ject of the public, whom it is said the Bank means to protect by thole prosecutions. Who is the public ? This will soon be seen from the following statement : A forges a 11. note, and puts it off to B, who is igno rant of its origin ; B to C, C to b, and so on through the rest of the alphabet. It is evident that, wherever this forgery is detected, the loss can but fall upon one man ; thsk therefore, only one man at the most can be protected in this instance; end that the Bank will not protect bun ifs the only possible or sensible way, holder, not neglecting proper means to detect sad pu nish the fabricator. The public would take no harm if the note should circulate for ever: it would pus as the representative of twenty shillings as long as the Bank stood; it is (nineteen times out of twenty) only When taken to the Bank itself, that protectiose to the holder fails. It is then only that loss is sustained, and not by the public, but by one man. We again my, there is but one sufferer; and that dal one sullerer, upon every principle of human justice and Bridal jurispru dence, should be the prosecotor. This, we apprehend, is the only instance wherein the person aggrieved is net, either us his own none, or in that of the King, the identical party also who has recourse to the law. Mae Bank pays she note, let the Bank prosecute the offence : it has been damnified, let it obtain redress. But we again say, that it is most absurd that the Bank, which is the only party that can sustain no loos, should be the ouly party which steps forward to indict punish ment. • Than is another inconsistency, also, in the present system, which was detected ow the lane talk We have shown that the Bank, kr blimOse kifsw*Pwitse. and being under no obligation Motiraerrebenemeenn sustain so loss, end thit welt lass lint be sniteliell k r some individual, foolishly and by way of auggsration called the public yet, when the inspector of use Bank was required by the jury on Williams's trial is deans how he knew a isged from s real note, the queelien was resisted on the principle that "it would Ina to " great inconvenience if the Batik were obliged to de " clue the private marks by which it could determine "on the genuineness of its notes." By this doctrine, then, it follows that individuals, who are alone inte rested in the genuineness of notes, are kept in igno rance of the marks by which the true can be distin guished from the false ; and the Bank, who are not oblige to pay the false ones, retain to themselves the exclusive faculty of discerning them. We have made these remarks in no hostility to that eminent corporate body, the Bank of England. It acts, we believe, and are ready to allow, with as much lenity as the absurdity of the existing system will permit, and will peebably be benefited by any rational change.— As to the dictum, or general theorem upon which the laws against forgery are founded, that we are a eons- Ine r t ial 'countrv, and therefore forgers ought to be . hanged ; the fallacy of this theorem has knlf been shown and proved. Holland was once as commercial a country as England, and yet never executed for forgery. The Quakers of Englund are a highly commercial body, and yet are they, as such, most grievously adverse to inflicting capital punishment on all forgeries; and are now exerting themselves warmly for the repeal of laws so sanguinary. On Thursday lust, the Sd instant, the As Court of St. Omer imulionned to five years' forced labour in chains. to branding, and public exposure, Alexander Sinclair (otherwise Nfulgmve), for utterin4 forged Bst;k of England Sote• in the neighbourhood of St. ()mer. Dunkirk, and ( lasi'. The prisoner represented himself to be a British naval officer, connected with the Dock %%int of Chatham, an►l was accompanied by a botch ►vo►uan, wham he represented to be his wife. PRICE 90. COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL. Thursday a Court of Comthon Council was held at Guildhall, for the purpose of considering the ptt. priety of petitioning Parliament to revise and alter the Penal Laws, in order to decrease the number of ea. pital punishments for minor offences, and to male punishments generally more commensurate to the different degrees of guilt.—The Requisition having been read, Mr. Favell rose, and he prefaced his motion by a long address, in which he brought forward a num• ber of authorities and arguments to show how nixes. wry it was to obtain a legislative reunion of the Los. (inieration. maim nor easended by Ms, Wilke limns, and the subject was debated at great length by Mr. Jacks, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Dixon, and others. The . necemity of a revision seemed to be univerudly admit. ted Mr. Jacks ,only speakinit against it ; and it was unanimously agreed, that Petitions to that east should be pruented to both Houses of Parliament, finiuded tot and embodying the Resolutions of the mover ) Mr. Favell. The Committee for General Purpose', pre. muted a Report, recommending an application to Paco Bement, in the ensuing Session, ft* extending the powers of the Conn .of Requests 10 101. lko. ; sod amending and consolidating the paveral laws now is force relating thereto ; which were agreed to, and diet Committee directed tw prepare the draft ofa Petition to the House of Commons, and of the Bill, and* the male before a future Court foe ansaderation. The following is given se an authentic statement of a circus:mince which • has already been briefly ad ieed in the public prints:—When the Emperor Almada: anived at Ai7,la-ehsplane, (which wee ie the aid& of the night) seer the Wu grand military review near Valenciennes, his Imperil illaiesty went early go next morning, without any previous notice,. to tisk hetet of the Duke of Wellington, who was then at bkillhiset with hie Aides-418.0=p. The Einismir battered the roam without eerlaseny, brat in full Ibey OQIMUlle• Wier shaking hie Or by the heed en? eoediauy, be Manna b maily to limp words: —' Duke of ler eata stout is calling on you, to exprest my lease of she ebliigssiss I feel, for the attention white my, army hr uniformly .experienced at your hook tint" it bee been elder your orders. No wards can de justice to what I feel. As little am I able to Ewes ay admiration, and the high gratification you afforded as, at the late review of our troops, especially by the finest military mow. mut I ever witnessed—the advance of the liritish b. Guards when attacking the heights of Femme . have therefore to desire that you will permit me to nominate you a Field Marshal of Russia: The Duke bovredaseent, and expressed his deep sense of the diginguisbed honour intended him by his Imperial Majesty. The day titer this interview, the Emperor, on meeting the Duke, mid, You must dine with me to-day in the Russian tattforse—.‘ Sire.' replied the Duke, nave not yet been able to furnish myself with a coat.'—' That 'ball not be wanting; said the Emperor, if you rill wen the best in my wardrobe. In halfan hour the Enve r roes own uniform act, which he had worn the day* before, was sent to the Duke, who appeared in it at dinner, with the order of a Russian Field Marshal, and a seagnificent sword presented to his Grace by his Ito. pedal Majesty, on the occasion. The manner in which the Emperor conferred this high military honour, is perhaps the most flattering personal compliment which she Hero of Waterloo has yet received, and it had the additional grace of being given with all the cordiality and Madness of au intimate friend. On Wednesday, the General Committee of the Na. timid Society for the Education of ths l'uor, in the principies of the Established Church, held their P. ins at the central School, his Grace the' ' Canterbury in the Chair. Twenty fresh . united to the Society, and several grants towards the erecting, enlarging, and' School rooms ; among others, '2301. were building the School in Spitalfield., Litended boys and 300 Afterwards his Vr..ce, by the Committer, entered the School-room sided at 62 half-yearly Public. ExAminatititi Children, who acquitted thetuselvea in a manner satisfactory to the tunpany assembled on _ Anotngst others present. were two /Tv interesting vour.g nun, natives of New Zealand, pito hav v , b owl tesitlcat Lr wan, woods. *ut .1.4 country. I ( 3: lit their meet.. Archhishop Schools we sits were lifting up f " 4 . 4 1 • ,Cti• 44. voted towar• iw Pio ended for 7t • . e, accomponit • min. and p 4 4 e >,,, •: ;>" Oottioo of ti) 1 , ' .1 1" • manner highly ' I the omission. !