The National Register. — London, England, 1811-03-31 00:00:00

STAMFORD CAN. Sir JAMES GRAHAM moved the ford Canal Bill. Mr. Tuompsom opposed the Dili , being ruinous to the Landholders sible service to any party. He that the Bill should be read a second After some words. from Mr. ;.'L Ellison, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Lamb, divided, when there appeared, for it, 37 ; majority, 59. A message was sent from the Lords agreeing to ele Erche. quer Funding Bill, the Military Commis,i.iners 3ill , and several other Bills. HORSHAM, MAsken 26. The Rcwend 4obert 4inii4sng was arrai gned ontwo India. ments. FtasT Tal.steeeThe first indictment charged him with sen d . ing, to Mr. Ilichard Jenn e r, the following anonymou s l e tt e r. " FIRE ! MURDER I AND REVENGE! " Fifty of us are daartly'd to keep our lands or have revenge.—. "Therefore Pasrt Churchwards and Partners your barns and. "houses shall burn if you' take our landa, your lives. two shall " pay--Your sheep we will eat-,--YoUr oxen we can name, and " DI z c you shill be shneAcci as you return home froni the Market "or fair. We are united and swiardto stand by one another " 50 gctal fellows." To .this r e pleated-. Not guilty. The leading counsel fur the prosecution lamented his painful duty. The Gentleman at the bar was a clergyman of (he estab lished church, apd, as a Minister of the Gospel, vested with a sacred character which forbids even the contemplation of crimes, much more' their commission. The proaechtor, the Moment he satv the letter, said, that from the hand-writing, it was Mr. Bingham's ; but when he had seen the contents, he said he was sure his friend would nut write such a letter. Subsequent occur, rences revived : the prosecutor's suspicion. Mr. Bingham's house was burnt doWn ; and himself was seen burying something in the garden, which, on search, proved to be papers, many of which had the same water-mark as the incendiary letter. The flrst witness, John Jenner, said, that he had been to school to the prisoner who was Clergyman of Maresfield, and had taught him to write. lie and his brother were at church on 16th last December. I lis brother and a cousin returned hume with him. Mr. B. overtook them on horseback, and jockingly said he would ride over them, After Mr. B. had got by, he saw a leiter dropping to the ground. Mr. Is. was Cli , tallt about six rods. lie thought it came from Mr. B. but was not sure.— It was wavering in the air before it reacLed the groued. He saw a man and,woman and two children on the road Mo. e Mr. B. came up. Witness picked up the letter. Mr. 13.- rode on, bit t looked back vyry much.. As soon as he up the letter, 14 said to his cousin ; he thought it was ;11r. Is's. band-writing ; hif cousin said, he thought it was nut, Witness; went next mortal tu get a Christmas-piece from Mr. B. Mr. B. said" you lot ~ a pretty letter yesterday, did you not,alohni Witnes,s repl le 46 y es ." Cross-examined.--His mother-had shown this letter to Mrs. B. on Sundae evening: Had not been at sehobl with Mr. B. for a year before ; but his cousin, who thought it was not Mr. B's hand-writing, then continued at his school. John Jenner, aged 11, cousin of preceding witness, gave evi dence to the same effect. Thomas I3ates, and Martin Howth, had passed on the 16th of December, along the sane road, about the Same time, without seeing any letter. Sarah Jenner, wife of Mr. Richard Jenner said, that when her sop John gave her the letter produced,- the wafer was nut quite dry. She, observed, on reading it, that she supposed sonata of the foresters had chopped it. When her husband returned front London, she rave it Win. 1-Ir. Richard Jenner, occupied the dairy thrill at Maresfield.— Is called by his fAinifiarfriendS" Dick". Hos been intimate with Mr. B. four or five years. In the hand-writing of, the letter s there appears to he a little attempt at disguise. Mr. B. always contracted witnes's name Richard to" R." and is the same in the letter. Our I:inits forbid a fell statement of the evidence; which was in great part a repetition of the statement of the cOnnsel.--t Rich.,rd Hill, J. Knipe, farmers, J. Maynard, alauakeeper; Mr. Turner; an attorney, Mr. Attlee, and Mr. Susan, believed the letter to be the prisoner's band-writing. This closed the case fur the prosecution. . Mr. Bingham read a written defence,cominentlng on the im+ probability of the evidence. • Mr. John Reed, stationer, Bow-lane, Watling-street, the first witness for the defence had served Hobbs at Norwich, within three miles of Marestield, with. a great deal of Evan's paper, which bore the water-mark in question. Win. Cramp, kaper of the Howe of Correction, Lewes, said that on the 12th of Jan. last, Mr. R. Jenner called upon hint,'l , f observed, he s;ipposed witness had heard of the letter. Wit--. I l i replied; he had. - Mr. Jenner then expressed a Wish to 1;1c 0 A ° THE NATIONAL .RE CI ASTER • _ • it NAL BILL. and concluded by declaring his firm intention to persevere iri e second reading of the Stamm- isis motion. - Lord Cok e , with the attachment of an enthuslist , and almost of a to the l:-v, had said of the criryinal code,' ill, upon the principle of its that it appeared to have been framed ,rai;her td, loltpi l b, than of tike County, and of no pos- prevent ertme.(Hear . 1 /—The'lloitse t'hipdivWeii- T Ayet c r i m e. - (Hear then moved an amendment, Noes 59,Maj9tity for the second realling,;?B. ind time this day six months. Weathen order 4 to be committed.-7,4ojogn.td ? Aaddoz, Sir .1 Graham, Mr. sommwrismsmommi.i.A. l7 . b, and Mr. Adarp. the Utilise the Amendment 96 ; against SPRING ASSIZES. DWELLING-HOU:3E ROBBERY BILL. Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY moved the second reading of the Dwelling-house Robbery HI. Mr. FRANKLAND oppo.e.d the Bill. He said that the Magis trates, who from their constant experience were to be esteemed better judges of the effects of this 'mtrasnre than his Learned Friend, had always expressed the most decided disapprobation of any change in the law respecting robbery in a dwelling house. The criminal aws had formed the national character of this country, they had become interwoven with our manners, and inseparably connected with our habits. By that system this country had to boast that theft was less frequent in it than in any other. And surely the means of preventing robbery should not be removed or exchanged for a useless and chimerical speculation, especially as England, from the immensity of its wealth, unprotected and unsecured, held out a great temp tation. Mr. HERBERT opposed the Bill, and recapitulated the argu ments of Mr. Frankland. Lord GF:oRGE GR EN viLLE spoke in favour of the motion. Mr. Moaais also spoke in approbation of the measure. He deprecated the idea of inflicting capital punishment upon the crime of stealing in a dwelling-house, and took the opportunity of mentioning an occurrence which took place in a cause before the late Lord Kenyon, in which a woman of decent appearance was triel for steeling in a dwelling-house; she had borne an irreproachable character till she had been led by her distresses to the commission of the theft for which she was then tried. The prosecutors on leareing that the offence was capital, became very reluctant in sivin3 their testimony. Her guilt was how ever established beyond a doubt, and the Jury gave in a reluct ant verdict of Guilty. Lord Kenyon, who Mid secretly deter mined upon recommending her to mercy, proceeded to pass upon the conviet,proArnia, the sentence of, death. The awful denunciation of .the law deprived the woman of all sensibility, and suddenly stopped the Judge in the discharge of his most painful duty. He ordered every applicdtion to be made for the restoration of the unfortunate criminal. The humanity of a Medical Gentleman in attendance carried into vffect the humane suggestions of the Court, but every effort proved unavailing, and it was for a while believed that the functions.of life had not been suspended, but destroyed. Lord Kenyon's feelings became at once so poignant and vehement, that he forgot.his situation, and repeatedly called aloud," Good God, let no means be left untried to restore her to life. Recover het-4 recover her ! if it were only for a moment, to convince her that she shan't be hanged; the hair of her head shan't be touched--" Poor soul 1• poor soul!" said his Lordship (bursting into tears), they shan't hang you, they shall hang me as soon !" Here (continued Mr. Morris), a Judge of the land was seen passing sentence, not on 'the cularit, but on the law ; and can it he imagined, that ony person who had witnessed the scene I have deseribecl,would ever, while the recollection of it dwelt upon their minds, hesitate, if placed on a similar occasion in the caeacity of a witness or a juror, at committing perjury. The Caasteceeork. of the EXCHEQUER conceived the infer ence. which it was clear the Hon. Gentleman who had just sat down wished to be drawn from the statement he had made, would go to establish very unsound principles of .t.gislations Laws were to be framed rather in contemplation or the reason than of the feelings of those by whom they were to be admi nistered. In the present question, he thought all that it was necessary to ascertain, was, whether the laws were efficient to .check the crime for the repression of which they were executed ; for, certainly, that law which was most efficient was themnost mild. With the conviction that any alteration in the statute, its it stood, would be attended with no beneficial effect, be should give his oppostion to the second reading of the Dill. Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY, in a speech replete with the most in genious arguments, replied to the several speeches which had been made in the.course of the evening, and declared, that the alterations in the penal laws whicn he had proposed were founded on the opinions of Blackstone and some of the first Judges the country had ever seen. He then entered into a state ment of the evils which had arisen from the laws as they Stand's r'1~.,•..5. r i' - 1w - ...ID li 1 ~. . •^''► ~ t