The National Register. — London, England, 1822-10-21 00:00:00

0 •••"" CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS. We know not when we have met with observa tions which have pleased us so much as some on the sabject of our sanguinary Criminal Code, which appeared in the list number of The Lo.idola Museum —they arc as follows: The will of society has set up and armed it remorseless power, which may Ire said to be drunk with the blood of miserable and mist tken criminals. That rower is Law ; red-robed, sangui nary. fierce-eyed, unreleming law. En4lanil colts hers.:ll a Christian country ; and the first title of her King is ' Defender of the raith.' But does the Christian lAD: that sanction those terrible decrees by which the penaity of blood is naked to so tnaoy so I so different otfences, in which the (121;rees of evil to iiiiiikin I are of such urines proportions? No we boldly slirm it does not : those delectable laws that take life fur light Mfences .re contrary to the mild spirit of Christianity, and are ao olfe:we against its divine founder. It tiny perhaps be urged, thst the poser of life and death is deleg ited by the ninny to fiat law which is referred by some theorists to the voice of the M:134 of society. Hit we won'd ask if society—that is, any on.nlier, definite or indefinite, tit matters nit wiii.:4l) of indivi du ils —can delegate that;which not one of them possessed—the right to take his own life !—Either our laws are murderers, or that sent: ee is an absurdity which pronounces the than who puts an end to his own life, Felu de se. The ti:ue will crone, we are p,rsuatithl, Dion?: long years lutist first elapse, when the opinions entertained on this subject by the friends will prevail over the ferocious spirit bre idled at present by our criminal code, so disgraceful to a civilia,l nation, the enactments of which are so mottatrous, that we may even be justified in averring that the Judges cannot fulfil them to the letter. So touch indeed does human nature revolt from their horrible tyranny, that we daily see compassionate juries tampering with their oath, if not ith solutely ennunittinz perjury, in order to save the miserable creatures whoa a few shillings more in the value of a stolen commodity gifts over to the executioner !" CHARACTERISTIC TR.IITS. Half a dozen aneautes will often give a truer idea of a nation than a whole history—the following may be taken as a proof of the boorish brutality of the Russians in the present century and in the first circles:— " A court banker, M. Rognvikoff, since dead, really a well bred, sensible, polite man, was dining with Dr. R. at Peters• burgh ; and later dinner, the Doctor having recently r e ceived from England na improved solar microscope, proposed to amuse his guests with it. As usual. piths of p ants,wings of flies ■nd other insects were resorted to; till at last it was suggested by one of the party that same living subject should be procured. Be not shocked, gentle delicate reader, when I tell you that a louse was mentioned. The difficulty was where to procure one; but the Russian servants being observed to scratch their heads occasionally, it was presumed possible that a visit to their isba or dwelling-place might procure the wished-for treasure. On this the court banker. with great aairdte, and !fide suspecting that his ies ad breeding would he called in question, cried, ' Doctor, sou need n,4 give yourself such unnecessary trouble,' and at the same time putting his linger and thumb very szien tilicAlly to the hart; ot his head, immediately produced one, the Guest and fattest of its Limb" CRNTlifitiOltY, Oct. 17.—ST. ETHELCEET'S TOWER. Y evetddy morning the inhaaitants of St. Patti's, Long. lam, and Lade Wootton ' s Green, were thrown into consternation by a tremendous noise, nearly resembling the roar of cannon, and supposed by some to be an earthquake; most of them eagerly left their beds to as certain the cause of alarm, which they soon discovered to be the sudden demolition of that fine monument of ancient architecture called St. Ethelbert's Tower, the most conspicuous ornament of those sublime coins, St. Augustine's fslonastety. The south and west fronts, corroded by dm hand of time, and probably materially injoved by the late winds and rain, fell with a tremen dous crash, overwhel • g every thing that lay 111 its way. It is calculated that not less than I,oou loads ofn materials hate fallen in the Fives' Court, the garden be longing to Mrs. 11.11., and in the meadow belonging to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, the inmates of Willeil were extremely terrified. The remaining side is so much shaken, that it must lie removed. Thus suddenly is de stroyed one of the finest specimens of the immune age. 'waren. Tower was named in I nr of King htlicl hers. a Keinisli 111011iIrch. who reigned over this country Irmo 860 to 860, during which period St. Augustine, a n kof the Roman Church, came over as a missionary, and obtained favour with the lt, who embraced the Christian (astir, and bestowed Opal) tile featenuty the site of the monastery, with 111.111 important apmm rhos. The tower was •lt ..:,out the year 1047, and toe then Archbishop (E 'distill) contributed, nidi many others, to its erection, Misted, in his his ory of Can terbury, says-- •• (Vitro we enter the site of the 111011. IS. terv, the first object is Ettielberes Tower, whose beauty, though much de aced, esi.ecially by sacrilegious hands of late years, will witness to succeeding ages lire snag tuficeitee of 'lie whole, when all stood e oleic in tin oir gliity triaether.' E•helbert's Tower, the original Onto of which , was a square, composed of Him and stone ; there were the remains of a stone staircase, leading to the top; it supposed to hate been used as a bells). — I he side walls were formed of arches of most exquisite svotkinanship, exhibiting the se .1 and Wordily or the Pr?ie3sols Or religion at the period of its erection. The atj 1111111 kt chapel or chancel has long b. en used as a fires court, in which, and the adjacent bowling-green. the otizois resort to spend their soannser evenings. Otte day last week, as two old wumru were collecting fuel on Jet itialim-Itill, Sussex, they obserted at nu great distance Irmo them a iiird of uucuonuuu size, ettileas out ing to make its escape by flip's, which from some appa rent hurt that it had reCeWell, it was unable to effect, aid the w•otieri to cousecrienee speedily overtook their game, when a desperate roof/let etcnierl, and it Was IRO liil.ll it ball been killed by the proms with son elt tiny w..te erased that toe object nil their wit 113 could be seemed. It proved to b.. the Ptlicsaus Awawa of Lou. me C; 'rano, or Solna Goose, a spril rarely met with ?pail our Cnt+ta ti.ib bp - Ctrs ii, Ito wet et, Set y et motto. in tile llelaridev, and littler solitary tacky isles or North &tam. .' .-•-•. THE NATIONAL REGISTEIt STORM AT THE CAP' OF GOOD IMPE. CAPE TOWN, JULY `27.-1t is our painful task to record the most violent gale of wind this colony ever experienced, the effects of which have been must fatal to the shipping in Table Bay. It had been ante cedently remarked, that the north-west gales, al though very severe, and bringing into the bay a tre mendous and dangerous swell, yet, that they lost much of their terror, from the shortness of their du ration ; this remark has not proved just in the pre sent unfortunate instance. On Thursday, the I Bth, it was new moon ; the weather changod suddenly with it ; it had been remarkably fine for several slays, but Friday morning was ushered in with clouds and rain, ar.d with every appearance of a gale coming on ; the weather, however, continued in the same state the whole of the day ; the follow ing day, (S iturtlay,) the gale was severe ; in the afternoon, the ship !loyal George, Captain Bowditch, last from Van Dieman's Land, went on shore close to the jetty ; at night, the brig eldriat:c, Captain Rutter, shared the s.tme fate, as did the coasting schooner Good intent. The barometer was as low as 29 50. at two o'clock on Sunday morning ; the violence of the wind was then excessive ; and at day-light on Monday morning, the four iidlowing brigs were lying on the Leach between Craig's Tower and the Castle, viz Branch, Capt. Kind ; Sun, Capt. Murray; Luvina, Cap% Keith , and Leander, Capt. Middleton. Most fortun,ately not many lives were lost ; but we have to lament Captain Middleton of the Leander, who was drowned by the upsetting of the boat, in which he hAI left the wrecked brig. William Brown, seaman, of the Leander, met a like fate, us did James Graham, seaman, of the brig Adriatic. The ship John Palmer drove very close to the shore, but fhrtunately brought up, and is at present safe : the fullowinr , brigs rode the whole of Monday at single anchor, although the weather was scarcely more moderate, viz BF oug ham, Marianne, Nelson, and Blues. The brigs Arethusa, Travis, and Antelope kept their ground. The gale abated somewhat on Tuesday, but it blew again with astonishing violence in the night between Tucsd y and Wednesday, when rain fell in torrents. As much damage has been done on shore as in the bay; many stores in Cape Town have fallen in, numbers of houses arc seriously injured, and in the vicinity of town the injury individuals have sus tained is to a very great extent : the number of houses and stores seriously damaged amount to 69. From Wyrtherg to Cape Town, there arc scarcely any premises wbieh have nut staered, and some most seriously. 1,7151 ASII:ll SE.).SIUA S. 3AI ,~.,~ 'I•HU RS DAY, Occ. I7.—This day these sessions com menced before F. Cunt, Esq. Cillirtll2ll, and a bench of AI , gistr.ttes. About 12 n'enek, \\ • adding on, the unreal, appeared on tin• floor, an i addressin ! tits• Chairmaii, said he hail J matter to submit to tile Coma, that highly concerned the a‘vit'itivaramm of Jostlee an I the• I:te•rtv of tile stilt t.ct. Ile proceeded in oliserve, Ma , it was %%allot, the knowledge Of the Court, that he had berm inoic,rd— in it he bad given bail t•r appear to take his trial—that rte had appeated, and been tried and acq :me I yet, imwithstailding his iil2 so folly complied with whit the I.IW reqtiired —notwithstanding his having beet, p o• nothoced by a Jury of his country an innocent rn in, a letter had been lately written by Mr. Allen the clerk of the peace, to each of his hail, sating th a his re:tie•:i zattee h itl beet' forfeited by his non-appearance, aid would be immediately returned into Excherpter to be estreatid. This proceet:i:a!, he understood, tot k place in consequence of his refusal to pay a lee to Mr. Allen. If Mr. Allen would show I any law by which, atter having appeared according to the terms of his recount zance, and taken hi, trial, and been acquitted, his bail should be called oti to pay recognizatices which hail not here forfeited, because he did ISO/ pay a tee, ro an officer, tie would, if necessary, sell 1141 bed to save his hail; hot .1 there were 110 such law, he bolted the Court nound prOI..CI hill] from such an imposition. The Chairman having beard the complaint with great mention, said, that by givitie bail and appearing to take his trial, and having been argil tied, he had saiisSed evrry demand of that Court, aid Ito process tint of that Court should or could tome t it ileCiPtlllt of the recoi.Mzinces oe had emered itco; hut it might perhaps be service:ll,la ,o him to inform him, that it was the duty of the Clerk of the Peace to return all recogoizances that were not withdrawn to the Exch, Tice ; and that on the with drawing of recognizance, he (the Clerk of the Peace) was entitled to a fee. Mr. IVaddisigton hail the means of asc•rtainiup, what that fee was, as it was stated in a table tat fees which he could inspect; but if he did not choose to pay the fee, the t ti. er would probably return the recognizance into the Exchquer, %vilely., to prevent their being estreated, he would probably have seems! fees to pay, and would incur a em.siderable es pouse. It was a matter, the learned Chairman added, over which that Cnuit had no control. Waddington thanked the (;•'urt for the information; but said he st consider it u great defect in tile admi. nistration of toe lale. and a great •iolation of the li berty of the bulject. if anti 2113 , 9 , 1in:a by his country. a.i itinocetit man WJS to be lcu at the mercy of an olrver. Waddington wa: proceeding with his speech, whelk a learned gentleman, before whom he was standing. observed that he was talittig a greater liberty with the Court than any gentleman at the bar would do, as th, y never rt plied on the Court. ‘Vadditigton q:m ly replied, the re. son of that was pltist cliou2l). " addres-ing the bar, "do no thing but what you are paid Mr, and when ymtt think you have done euough for emir lee, you are eery well content to du no more; bin I have any own interest and tile interest of my cottony to attend to." Waddington then t :pressed a WWI to the Court that the fCIOIII of his recognizinee might be delayed to aflbnl him au ultimo tunny la pelill 111 l ll g Paliameni un a sulieet of bo much imbue interest; he had Teaball to believe that Mr. G. Wallet was really to present such a petition, and to support it in the House of Commons. FRIDAY. OCT. 17.--;George Kelly eras convicted of an assault iipon a boy about Bor 9 vears old. The pri soner had been a private in the 3tt Guards, from which he was thscharaed, after he was in custody for this offence, receiving, however, a good character tut the tints he had served in the regiment. The Court, theretore, only sentenced him to four mouths solitary confineineitt Joseph Deane was indicted for an assau't upon Elis. fffff 1011(1, a child uhdcr the age of time Vearf, intent 1.1 commit a more serious offence. The child stated, that the prisoiser lodged in the ~tone house with her untidier, and on the evening at Thursday, the loth hist. between 7 and 8 0 . 4:1(.64, lieu they were alone in the kitchen, the pi isaller placed her nit the table, :11141 with his hand took an indecent liberty with her. She, however, kicked Wm once or twice, 11 : 1011 which he lett her and tt cut RI bed ; and did not repeat the offence.— Upon the of one of the magistrates, the Chairman asked the witness if she had heh.re stated that the prisoner hail oaken freedom' with r twice P She replied that he hail not. Upon bein,t reitiiiitled by the Court of her ha. hug sail that the prisoner sent hi r nut for porter (hiving hist stated that She teas not sent out of i!... I 'e that evening), she said that he did send her for a pint of VOrtee, awl it. was afterwards he did as site desci bed. . _ A surgeon who eximitteil the child, swore that she lutl the iii.pe.iNtice received violence, Inn he etni!il 1101 poiti%vly 3.1) that a 111igill nut be Inc effect of 411,e,i,v. The prisoner in his &tette.: denied the charae aim arther, and Ca WIWI stVlire that he vtvS %%1111 lion elsewhere on the cvciiiiis iu quetaion, until vast time o'clock. . . . Toe leat led Chairman. in his ch4rge to the Jury. eau t Ilion agamat I,lfrora t their horror of the stature ul this offence to pt•jothee gitrir minds agamst the pri boater ; awl to 1/011lier tttrll before they convicted I uron such gins ttistactory es it:ence. The Jury. :tfieg AMU Iris intlantcs deliberation. fateful the I.r sour, guilt, 1 and 414.7 C wineneed ill be i.nio shined for lour tttt nth.. and he kept 446 solitary costa lihens..lit for the first won 14. Tilolll Is Bite a tutu ut decent app. a►aucc. between 50 and dj )car. ut age, a Iran. Libre, to . foutail guilty ut C led aria it , e mast sn.•cwin;t ut, crrnry tu~c.stil• littre teetrele cuttatets at dill:ft-ft: %mica sutta: tat ui NIA), 18:1. DREADF(7. G. ILE. MARGATE, OCT.l 4.—Between one and two o'clock this morning, a rematk,.bly sudden gale of wind came on from the north-east, which in a few minutes increased to a perfect hurricane, and conti nued unabated till daylight. The most alarming apprehensions were entertained, which were, us the day approached, unhappily verified. The first ob ject of distress that presented itself was a vessel on shore upon the Nayland Rock the crew were for tunately saved, but the title flawing at the time she drif ed higher and higher, and now lies close, under the cliff near the Sea Bathing Infirmary, with sonic scores of patrons with carts and horses removing the cargo; her name is the Good Intent, regular trader between Cowes and London. Would to God, fir the sake of humanity, that this disas trous storm had been confined to the loss of property only; but a brig that was seen at anchor in the evening. about a mile from the Lon , Nose, or Fairness Dock, was, alas! seen fin . the last time.— The morning presented nothing but pieces of wreck floating ashore, seamen's chests, spars, deck planks, &e. She must, as the wind blew directly upon the rock, have gone to pieces in the night, and every soul on board have perished. The officer on the preventive swim with great promptitude seized the chests; and with equal fe,ling, declined open ing them kr the ptesent The naive of the vessel is pretty well known ; but as sonic doubts may exist, it would be cruelty to the relatives of the ship's company to mention it, before all doubt is removed. Nor does this end the catalogue—for the topmasts and yards are distinctly seen floating, with other parcels of wreck, of um.ther ship, about halt' roads across. She must have foundered at her an chorage; particulars of course unknown. At five o'clock, p. m. a fine f.!:2-inch cable is just going ofd' to the Honourable Company's ship Vansillarl, Capt. Dalrymple, which has rode out the gale in fine style. An event of a most distressing nature occurred on Friday last, al Marquise. in the neLlibuntliiiad of Calais Richaid Esher, Esq. of Enniscorthy; lieland, and fi-mealy for many years of the b2il regiment, • yowl m•n of remark ably line person and amiable manners, while out in quest of 144:U.. in passing throui,ll a beige, received the eun:.nts of his ono gnu i.i the light rid.•; the shot passed thicugli hi. lungs, sot het spired in about three minutes. The tut has eseiled an univess.i ►ensation in the place where it or curried, olivre M.. Usher ores il,norall7 known and belorod. . .: ~... _