The National Register. — London, England, 1819-04-05 00:00:00

r. • REVISION OF TM CHINII4AL OGDE. Tiir Honorable Mr. 11 olund has pobEslied an able and eloTtent app e d iu fzvoiti of the above measure. It ti in Ilse klnit of a letter to a friend, and we regret tact our hien.' will not allow us to give more copious extracts. • - - • " Eltearetero the ammo, upon which one side of the Heine of Common, objects to whatever is proposed by its Opposite, I have, I confess, no conception how or why the proposal fur revising tile Criminal Code can or should be combated. The religion we profess denomices ii severity, experience proves at It•ast its • lity, and the best feelings of our nature revolt at its most lenient execution. AI fitst ohjectien lathe infliction of capital punishment iv, that the delegation of power over the lives of our fellow-Creatures must, in the absatice of direct evidence to the contrary, be deemed inconsistent with the bene volence of our Saviour ; and therefore that we have no right, except in cases o f the most extreme and absolute necessity, to deprive our brethren of life, Secondly, that capital punishment is at variance with the princi ples of our religion, whose brightest ornament is the mercy which it inculcates. Thirdly, the fallibility of all human judgments. Dr, we require to be remittiled of cases innumerable in which judgments relative to pro petty, have been improperly given ? Rut is error io judgment confined to property alone ? Have nu i11%1311. ces occurred within the short space of our own recollec tion where the innocent hare suffered ? Suffered whin t loss of worldly goods ? Loss of liberty? No, alas! the loss of that which no Court of Appeal, no human tam er can restore! I Hurried into the presence of an Al. mighty Judge, where, innocent as the supposed culprit rosy lei of the crime alleged against hint, he will have to account for those numeroits misdeeds and omissions of which the best of us are guilty. But it will he said, perhaps, capital punishment is necessary to preserve the peace and good order of soci ety • and much as the necessity of such examples is to Le lamented, they must he had recourse to fur the pur pose of deterring whir. from crime.-1 am not quite prepared to admit this species of argument ; but admit ting. it for the sake of orpiment only—lias capital p 1111 l shment had the effect of deterring others front crime ) Is it not notorious that crime has Mere:teed be yond all bounds of proportion to the increase of our population? And has not its frequency exceeded all calculations that could be made upon it as arising front temporary causes ? For the truth of this ass( Ilion I have only to refer you to the Returns made in the House of Commons between the years 1811 and 1818. If the object of punishment he the prevention of crime, and I imaisine that is a point which no mac will be Gonad ignorant or barbarous enough to disp•ne ; and if, in a long course of year, crime has flourished under the ex ecution of sanguinary laws, what comes of the argu ment for their necessity? the only sad unauthorised ex cuse for assuming the exercise of a power which belongs to all unru ring God alone. The next point to which I would advert is, the un reasonable equality of pureshment observable in our Criminal Code, as attached to offences essentially vary ing in degrees of moral turpitude. In this cursory view of the subject it will suffice, perhaps, to adduce a single instance. A man who stops another in the highway and robs him of his money, without further violence, is liable and likely to suffer death for the crone. The next robber takes the passenger's money ; but to secure him self from detection he adds murder to the crime of rob bery. He is also liable and likely to suffer death for the offence. But is the degree or punishment, being equal, apportioned to the enormity of offence iu these two most dissimilar cases t On the contrary, is not the robber al most encouraged to become a murderer, in violation of those natural feelings of humanity, of which his neces sities may not have bereaved hint ? I have now as concisely as the subject will admit of endeavoured to chew, that our present criminal code can not he supported by, and is even at variance with, the the principles of oar religion, s , ,borrAive of good mmals, and erruueolds in sound policy. Can any thing further be required.? Yes; it will be said, perhaps, that another r ode should be proposed not liable to similar objections In reply, I shall take the liberty of extracting from a p:onphiet, lately published upon this subject, a few ioaitences precisely expressite of my own opiniiin, with addition of some very desirable information which I should, without such reference, have been in competent to afford. Mr. Favell, in his speech before lice Corporatio.l of London, in Dezentber, 1818, ob !-•rves—" Chastisement, foilowed by solitary confine ment and hord lehour, properly apportioneo, together with a classification- of criminals, and suitable rewards to the reformed and deserving, seem to be the best modes of corrective discipline which have yet been sug gested. I n Holleml, these have heen long pratt:sed with extraordinary success ; and Amer.ca has afforded striking instances of their beneficial effects. From authentic documents before rte, f am ably to state to the Court ui7 experience of the United Sates both as to the decrease of lingerie • by ceasing to exact the punishment of death, and as to the salutary effects of prison discipline, even upon house who hate appeared to be incorrigible offenders. On the former of these subjects (Mr. Favell continues) in it tract published by one of the Judges in America, hr !sal, in the case of forgery the balance is clearly on the side of the milder punishment. It is Capital . in New York, but it is tint so in Pennsylvania. Bank Hills have been several times forged in the State of New York; but its Pennsylvania this crime has never been committed, although the Act which made it capital at first was repealed about seven years aeo. Countetfeitiog the continental bills, and utteritig thent . knowingly, were 'TIE NATIONAL nEetstrit. crimes, as far as I could learn, mods more frequent in this Sate, where they werecpital, than in Connecticut, where they were not so." Lastly, a may be urged—We do not like innovati o n ; it has a trodettcy to modern Rejiirm, which we aboini. mulatto—On thus ground I most t'onlidently take nu gauntlet. Has time made iorosids eau your ronstittitiou, and do yon refuse challget of air or chrome for the resto-- ration of health? Are you sick, and do you decline the Use of medicine? I do not feel mysell particularly chargeable on the ground of a wild and culpable desire for itejorm. Yet b.. the imputations on me what they mly, 1 feel proud to declare, that so 1 mg ago as whin I was at school I read, and have ever shire cherished in my remembrance, Lord Bacon's words in his Essay on Innovation :—" Every medicine is an innovation :and he that will not apply new remedies roust expect new evils; for jute is the greatest innovator ; and if time of course 'alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel sbail t.ot alter them to the better, what shall he the end r In a subsequent sentence he adds..." Unless time stood still, a froward retention of ctsuoin is as turbulent a thing as an innovation." In the mean time I would not he.stipposed to forget the con cluding par. of the saute Essay, in which► it is obserred— •' 1, i• torrid not to try experiments iu States, except the necessity be urgent or the utility evident; and well to beware that it be the reformation that drawer' on the change, and not the desire of change that pretentleth the reformation." To lily understanding the necessity. in this case is urgent and the utility evident. But in order that every possible tight may be thrown upon the sultject, and in order (io use Lord Bacon's own words in the Essay from which I have already quoted some passages illustrative of my principle and apt to toy punnisey, " that men" rxny " in ihesr innovations follow the crumple of time itself, which innorateth greatly but quietly," we pelitloll fur a Itei ISA r. of our Criminal Code." FItOJI TUESDAY N ICU I"S GAZETTE. BANKRUPTCY ENLARGED. T. Reed and J. Middleman, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. ire:chant. BANKRUPTS. W. Stubbs. Leek, Staffordthire, Innholder. S. T. Harting, C. Dake4, and 'l'. Will.ngton, Tamworth, Bankers. F. Simpson, Huddersfield, wooletapler. J. and 'l'. Gaunt, Annley, Yorkshire, woollen manufacturers. J. Barnes. Porters. builder. J, Pearson, Portsmouth, mercer. J. and C. B' g. Hatfield, Hertfordshire, common brewers. E. M. and C. G. Cutterill, Vine-strcet, Liquorpond-street, ba con merchants. W. Itelph, Lewknor, Oxfordshire, farmer. M. and .1. Pegrom. Artillery-street, dealers. 'l'. R. Moore. Denmark -court, Strand, paper-stainer. H. W. Anderson, Cushion -court, Broad -street, merchant. ni VIDUNDS. April 40, T. Parsons, Duke•street, St. James's, breeches-maker. 20, W. G. Harvey, Battle, Sussex, gunpowder-manufacturer.- 23, G. Orrnerod, Lanehead, Lancashire, innholder.-21. T. Green. Upper Arcley, Staffordshire, farmer.-21, P. ID. and W. Tuckeit, Bristol. wholesale grocers.—April 19, J. Underhill, Birmingham, merchant.-20. 11. and W. Cuthuste, Maidstone, carpenters. 40, F. Itolkine, St. Jatnes's-street, pertumer.-24. It. Leigh and I). Armstrong. Liverpool, mar. chants.-2G, J. Jackson, Middleton, Norfolk, merchant.-23, R. Day, Norwich, grocer.-3. N. B. and A. B. French, and J. Bar ton, Old South Sea-houre, Broad Street, merchants.-17. T. and M. La P. Alerae, Queen•street, Cheapside, warehousemen. —2l, J. Briggs, Sculcoates, Yorkshire, grocer.-2L, C. T. Coate, Sutton, Cambridgeshire, grocer.-26, S. P. Holland. and P. Ball. Worcester. hop-inemhants.-24, W. Worrall, Liver pool. merchant.-47, B. Lane, Birchin-lane, insurance-broker. CERTIFICKFFS to be granted on or before the 24th of April . . nem, unless atuse — can be shown to the contrary. - - • M. Noble, Lancaster, ebyrnist and druggist.—E. Thompson, Rotberhithc, Oxenham, Oxford-street, man gle-tuaker.—W. teen, Newcastle-under-Lyme. rult.ter. SPANISH AxstAHENT,—The expedition preparing at Cadiz is carrying on in all its details with an unusal degree of vigour. It is now asserted with the greatest confidence, that the sailing will not he delayed later than the first week in June. The naval force will consist of 4 sail of the line, li frigates, Ig brigs and schooners, and 26 sun boats. All these are at present in the harbour of Cadiz, and in a state of complete equipment. The trans ports which have been taken up in England, together with those already in the possession :a Spain, and her ships of war, will emilde her to send out a force of 2000 men. The greater part of the troops are aleady• encamped in the neighbourhood of Cadiz, and are said, by eye-witnesses who have lately arrived in this count-y, to be in a state of high order and discipline. • Great surprise exists among those who know the dilapidated resources !of Spain, concerning the quarter wheuce money has been furnished to meet the charges of the expedition : that money has been liberally supplied is certain, from the concurring testimony of all those who have been concerned in the contracts relating to it. Contributions, not strictly toluittary, hate, it is said, been afforded by Spanish subjects t but these cannot have been very extensive. Spam has also received assist ance from France to the amount of 1,.500,000 lWres, either in liquidation of some former claims or as a loan : and a ball has been obtained front the Pope, for appro iating one tenth-part of the produce of ecclesiastical bebnefices. All accounts - agree in stating that the rape duion will be directed against Buenos.Av res. The wife of a labouring man, of toe name of Jo seph Richardson, of Cooksey, near Bromsgrove, was delivered last Tuesday of timr children at one - birth, all girls. They are all likely to live, and the mother is going on well ; the poor man's wages arc 10s. per week; he has three children in addition to the above. 167 AII.tTILICT OP A MU., reemtimermol I:• the Committee, for tile ',:nc•::I• meta of the 1..4t4.1 . (i0 41t,- NismtvA I lUN Of - -...~-_ Preamble.—Former to be repealed, after a to be rixed. Marrs, Pheasants, other ':one, anti all wild and uo reclaimed Animals, to be the property of the Ponicseor u n the Lint. Lessor of the hind Tay reserve the property acid right of pursuing and iiatise.. Certain persons may amhorize any person or persons to Lill Gann:, under ?roper restriction. Persons doing so without consent, subject to a penalty. Penalties how to be recovered. Clause (A )—Jialtices to grant Licences to Dealers in Game. Licences may be revoked. Clause (13 )—Persons not having a Certificate or Li cence, to account for Game found in their possession. Act not to extend to take away former penalties, upon destruction of h eath Fowl, &c. between certain periods. When the season shalt, (to the Grand Jury of the County at the Summer Assiz..) appear backward, they 'nay extend the Restriction upon shooting to arty day later than the first Sep..ember. Notice of such delay to be published in Newspapers, and signed by the Foreman of the Grand Jury., Power of Lords of the Manors or Seignories to Jll - Gantrkerpers preserved to then.. After a certain period,no person to destroy Game, &e. by snare or net. Protecting the eggs of Pheasants and Partridg e. When action shall be commenced. Exemptions From Penalties. Not to affect rights of tree warren. Nut to affect existing Duties on Gagne Certificates. Act to extend to England and Wales. .413STRACr OF .4 DILL, Tn amend the LAWS respecting the SETT Lzay...I.47 of the Poor. Preamble.—No Settlement to he gained by residenee, otherwise than as is by this Act ',welded. Settlement to be gamed by a reeidenee of three year., 'the three years not to commence under years o! age, or before emancipation. Residence in Almshouses, &c. not to confer a Settle ment. Persons claiming a Settlement by residence, mi., make oath thereof before Justices, who are to examine and adjudge. Justices to record and certify their adjudication. Appeal against adjudication to Petty Session. Costs given to the Respondent when the Petty Session shall confirm the previous adjudication. Adjudication to be prima tacit evidence of Settlement. D'imestic servants residing with their masters, &r. in different parishes, may gain Settlements where they re sideehe last days. rvice of seamen in rated veF.sels; to be considered as residing in the rating parish. Justices tnav suspend the actual reruns al ; and direct copes of the Order, Sm. to he delivered to the parish in which the Settlement shall be adjudged; and the order may be appealed against, as if the pauper were removed. Parish giving notice of appeal, may require the actual removal. _ _ . Justices nlay disallow the expellee of maintenance by the parish requiring removal ; and may order the appel lant parish to pay the charges of regional. Act not to affect Settlements derited from parints, or acquired by birth or marriage. Act not to externd to repeal provisions of 3 . 151c0. c. 101, in cases of sickness. Overseer; shall keep Accounts ! &c. of all relief tlistri buted to paupers, W. and U. c. 11, S. 1 I. Access to such accoun s. Publication of such accounts. Penalty on Overseers not keepinv. such account, &e. Provisions for parishes to apply to tins &c. To where the Act is to extend. An unfortunate accident occurr , d on Tuesday in the New-road. As Mr. Bellasis, son of th,: Dr. Bellasis, of Basilden, Berks, was crossing the mad near the small Pox Hospital, he was knueltel down by the pole of a carriage which was passing, and before the coachman had time to draw up his horses, the fore wheel of the carriage had passel Over his neck: he was immediately taken up and carried home, but the vital spark was extinct. Attempted Murder, Arson, and Suicide.—Tues day, night a gardener of the name of Lacey, w h o lodged - in a house in Mill Pond -street, Dock-head, attempted to murder his wife lky battering her head most dreadfUlly. .1 he poor woman was sent to the hcspitul ; after which the wretch cut his own throat from car to car, and set fire to his room. The alarm was given in sufficient time to save the other parts of the house, but not before the monster was quite dead. Curabno, the famous linguist, of Bristol notoriety, has been exhibiting her fiats in various r:u•ts of America, where she was as figtunate i;► finding some fiats, as s!le had before been in England. We nave not, however, ascertained whether the Students of Sancrit and other Eastern lure, were au►ong leer dupes.