The National Register. — London, England, 1819-02-14 00:00:00

• • w ': , n , ( Mi l .41 It 4_o 4 . 0 "AY I $ , ,- 1 " 6 ","--111‘ 01w iing, QottSititutton ant UAW. No. 575.—V0L. XII. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. OI•I OUR CRIMINAL LAW. ar7 r [Weil INITED MUM OUR LAST.] • IN our last number we examined the do:_•trine of Dr. Paley in defence of the discretion, which by the lqw of England (as it is practised) is veAel in t;:a hands of the Judges, of punLi:ing a vast number of oTenees in general witii tran:.partation, but in many instances with death, and the consequent severity of the law in so:no cases, as well ns its uncertainty in all ; mad zero endeo - oured to -.entrovert the reasonings of the learned Divine. We hate shewn nequent dispro portion of the punishment to the eilimees, and the royal uncertainty of what the punishment will be in each case. Now this disproportion and thi uncer taints, are, we conceive, two fundamental deferts in the criminal code of this country. Let us hear what Mon o:gram says—' Experience proves, that in countries where punishments are mild, men's minds are a much sTicted by them, as they are in other countries where :he penalties of the law are severe. Is any crime • :nee particularly prevalent in a state ? a violent • ;,overnment is anxixts to rem..xly this immediately ; • and, instead of enferelng the existing isms wiih great ' er vigilance ant nativity, they eruct some severe • punishment, which, may be, stops the •vil at once. ' But the springs of government arc szteinel : the imagination soon becomes ac7.ustomel to the new punishment, ns much es it had been to the old ; and as the dread of the former sentence is thus din.,inilied it is soon found necessary to have rezourso to the new aril more violent remedy in ail ensei.—Highway rob ' tmries were become very coniaton ir. several countries ; governments were anxicrus to put a stop to them: the FuniF.!:inent of the wheel was invented, which SO:ye:vied their frequency for some time; since that time, however, highway robLorie3 have become as ' rotamon as ever. In fact, mankind arc not to be governed by extreme ' measurer, and it is necessary fur their governors to , husband the means which nature has entrusted to them. If we examine the causes which have made the laws at different dines insufficient • to suppress offences, we shall find that they consist in the punity of crimes by reason of the lax administration of the laws ; and not insufficiency of the punishment— , We should follow nature, who has assigned shame as the severest infliction on mankind, and has made the ' heariest weight cf punishment consist in the infamy ' of undergoing in oi.y country .disgrace is not ' the necessary accompaniment of suffering under ' the sentence of the law, a tyrannical pvernatent is the cause, which has inflicted the same punish ' :news on rascals and on honest men. If in another country men arc not restrained except by the in ' fiktion of , severe and cruel penalties, the cause in a • ;;reat measure is the violence of the government which ' has had recourse to such punislnuentslor minor of ' fences. A lawgiver, wilq desires to correct an evil, • too often thinks of that cerreetion alone : t 9 this objest liis CYCJI are open,—to all other ineenvcnicncies they arc shut. When the evil has been Cereal, men see only the severity of the legislator; bat there remains ' a new evil which .this severity has itsdf generated : the torte of feeling in men's minds is spoilt, for they hese .I;aett ancustomed to despotism .'• These last observations are peculiarly applicable to the seminal law. of this.country ; for, if we leak into the history of many of our most severe statutes, we shall nail that they originate in thcso yery nwtives of cagernesit to anp?ress temporary evils. The cause, the motives have rks6ed away, but the bloody statute has remained; anti, worse thun that, the indifference of the legislature to the infliction of capital punishment, and of the nation to the apprelumair.t of them. By thee SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 'l4, 1819. with the greatest expence of horrian lives, nor v pr,iitices tiz. lout elfeet in the way of ptee..eler.g mire:Le I remthi., remark of Mon tet•quien's, so atexely justi • ficd as it ie by the per.al co:It of Euglend, be gees elle - justice of that of Beceoria, in hisecelebrated iisvay on Criraee and Penishinente Viboever,' says he, I reacts with a philosophic eye the lowa and historic: of ' nations, will continually find the names of vine and virtue, of patriet and criminal, changing places d'irin the revolutions of successive ages, not regulated, how ' ever, by the altered circumetanees and stuetiens of the sever?! states, but according dm different pas ' sions and mistakes of successive legislators. Thus it is, that the passions of one age firm the !lasi.; of the morals and laws of the next, and thins originate the most uncertain and erroneous notions of henceir and virtuet: Thus too, we may itdd, have arisen many of tivee ahead or creel 'awe which disgrace our state te leioS ; and if we wish for a striking instance, we need lcok to the present proceedings in Pariiament, where we shall see the Attorney General proposing to repeal a law, Olt of trial by battle, which once was deemed a se:red seipeal to Heaven, mad which, even till this day, has been suffered to disgrace our legis!ation,. The same writer (Beccaria), agreeing with Paley, thee the sole object of pun!ehnients by human laws is the pre vention of criaues, lays it down, that all punishments which go beyond etc object, aro in their reature unjust, ' iseeause they do not tend to preserve the beads of society ' but militate against the eery object.of the social eon. tract, the well-being of the amiract*. parties. We pave before seen the insufleiettey of r typiopOrtioned punishments to their object of prevensing crimes, and this consideratien chews their absolute hijestice. /Law then can we justify that seeile, which asigus to parricide and to stealing frombleachinggroande the minp punish. merit? not by ulkilging that the sentence is not always inflicted for the latter yffunee, fur that cannot be a jits tifireation in those instances where it is but rather an eggr . eyation of the injustice, by adding that uncertainty Which encouraged the criminal to ocenmit the offeace, and thus proved a Scary to him. The parricide, when he commits his crime, knows that his only chance of saving his life, is by evading detection—a chance, which doubtless is the hope by which ha if entrapped ; but human laws cannot prevent thet. s'pt the man who is hanged for stealing from eke bleaching grounds, had the hope, that, if even detected end convicted, he might still ester - capital punishm e nt, for many hail before him ; this chance proves a goitre to him, and it is a snare which the law itsel: has kitl under his feet. The injustice, therefore, of this aiserpoistioned u meet is increased by its uneertaitety. Such arc the inapoticy, the injustice, sr.d the uncer tainty, of our penal enactalents—:44ree tlacc,ts, :ra dically vicious, that (independently of the faults o. oar prison discipline) we cannot be put*isel at the, Ftc.:tral effects ensuing cf an increased naltilr of aimed. Tie muutiy, however, 'i3 iu our &Ant hands; and, it any thing could cs)nsn'.c as on this subject in pirticalar for the loss of Sir Saninul would . b 3. thitt the persuit of this itnrortant ot)jsct has been taken up by the'tsru.valcnt and persevering.W. )Viiherforce ; who, if he lives to attain it, will deserve the glOp,ous title of the Father of.his.Contatry. • Spizit of LAW, book vi. chap. I. + On Crimes and Punishments. S 6. • From Vienna it i., mentioned, that nne of Bankers of that c..p:A:ll, cre:lit was ainost and who was publicly designated as tine fate% 7.315a , i mined,of au importaat Financial Administration, had far wale days disappeared; and oa tha 18th ult. his landy was found in the Danube. The cause. of thlt melancholy crept was not -known. PRICE 9,a. . _ A Correspondent at Aix-la-Chopelle notices t 1..! applicatitn of an indiviival to the. Emperor Alexander :, as deputed by a Society, fame:), we believe, °taint.. in America, hot extending through this and oth , :: coontries of Europe for the preservation of unirerAi peace, aecortlini; to the principlas of the Gospel. A FP.. ritxlical publication cmanwes from the En*hall Society, entitled The Hera Of Peace." to to second slur,- bet of this work is 'to ba found the acitirs.is to the Ea:- peror of Russia, with his Imperial Majesty's rep,;. They are interesting, and we select them. There ia also an address to the Prince Regent, for which v, have net room : TO HIS IMPERIAL MMESTY, ALEXANDER. EMP: ROR OF ALL 'll/.1: IHIS , HANS Etc. &c. &c . " MAY IT PLI A3B r YOUR MAJESTY,— ite world has lately scen great end singular events—the awful de struction of haw :u lift:, and the with diffusion of human b7c.ising.:. " It hiss seen a Christian Emperor. in the hour of victory, proclaiming the principles of Peace—a league of Christian Monarchs united in the same views—and tha establishment of societies in the old world and ist the new ; each in its immole and limited sphere aiming to carry those principle.; into effect. " Penetrated with admiration, and with gratitude to the Author of ail good. tiir this auspicious view of j events, the S:riety established iZ London fur the pro motion of permanent and universal Price, naturaily turns its attertion to those human instruments to whom the Almighty has given the power, and whose will, we tryst, he has also inflnenced. to promote in their high st.ltions his own cause in the earth. " We are, therefiare, emboldened to seek the cerante_ nonce and suppqrt of a Monarch, whose professed opinions favour this glorious object, and whose actions hapOly confirm. the sitmerity of those professions. " Deign, therefore, Lr , iwegt the heartfelt ac!inowledginents of this Society, for tkiipart year .Alajert,ty has taken in the ca :se of suffering humanity ; and permit me to present to your Majesty, in their name, a set of tl.e *fracts which they have publislivi with a view to promote the object of permanent and nniversal Peace. Those t2.:t. explain the princirlee on which their ex,rtions at fmntied, awl the progr , ,:a v:hit:ll th'y have rirzalf Sizir_td, (on behalf oi the Committee) P.OBEIIT MARSDEN, Chairman. ' " 31.1.1thiars, London, Scet. i 7. 1818." t , Ais.h,chl.pene, the 6th-ism Oct. isis. " I re,:_!ivea, -Sir, with aatisfaction, the communica ticr.:s of a Society estal.li,hea upon priaziples conducive to permanent and universal Pure. • " mixture of good and evii Asarva'.ne re:ent • events, has exemplifiel in a signal . manner the *tlis• • Grit - nitrating dispeniaition of Divine Providance, in mercy and judionent. " As a Christian, I cannot but Jesire the estatilish- meat of Pace on .earthby 'every lewial and prscticable aeons. " As a Christian Sovereign, I must anticipate a time when nation shaic not lift up sword against nation., neltker shall they learn %via any more. The unanimity of other Christian powers is yet uninterrupted; aue., fenndel on the principles of our holy faith, haJ• the fairest prospect of stability. " Permanent and universal Peace is not altogether at man's disposal: it is encouraging to observe tap growth of pacific dispoaitions is the world ; and societies emiducted in a toorerate and C'nristian spirit, may "coricribatp to their extension and maintenance. " With these views, the object of year Sl4:.tiety canuot fail ofiey cordial Approbation, without invoivieir an implied concurrence in measures adepted for its attain. meat, over whizh ua cantrel: " To Robert hlars e u, " A.LEXANDER." - - .London." • The ;Icy. Lewis Way rus the tzaret of this its. part tat letter. The Emperor intrusted it to his ears, with a request that he woaia liimselfdeliyer it into the hands of the Chairman. This commission he executed immediately on his rrttu•n t:^rn the Continent. Th,a letter was retitten is Eligiioh, and !ivied by the Em. per Jr's ow n hand. ' An appeal was entered on Thurs.lay, by the Right 11 03 . .1. snllivar, ag:Unst the recent ilecree of Sir ,cot, by which Sir Wiliam pronounced es valid the marriage- betwaen Mr. Sullivan's son, and the natural Aaughtcr ef ()Maker, huntt - aaan to the Berkeley Hunt.. • • i~ 44