The Statesman. — London, England, 1812-02-03 00:00:00

tion which you are entitled to ask, and to which I have the means of affording you a satisfactory an swer. The Criminal Records go back to the year 1756.—Fr0m May, 1756, to May, 1763, the capital convictions amounted to one hundred and forty-one —and the executions *ere forty-seven.—The annual average of persons who suffered death was almost seven, an the annual average of capital crimes as certained to have been perpetrated was nearly twen ty."' From May, 1801, to May 1811, there have been one hundred and nine capital convictions. The annual average thefore of capital crimes legally proved to have be; perpetrated during that period, is be tween 15 and 16. During this period there has been no capital execution. But as the population of the island has much more than doubled during the last 50 years, the annual average of capital convic tions during the last sever' years ought to have been 40, in order to shew the same proportion of crimi nality with that of the first seven veers. But be te cell 1756 and 1763 the military force was compa ratively small. A feW factories or small ports only depended on this Government. Between 180 1 and 1811, 500 European Officers, and probably 4,000 European soldiers, were scattered over extensive territories. Though honour and morality be power ful aids of law with respect to the first class, and military discipline with respect to the second, yet it Might have been expected, as experience has proved, that the more violent enormities would be perpetrated by the European soldiery, uneducated and sometimes depraved as many of them must originally be, often in a state of mischievous idleness, commanding in spite of all care the Means of intoxication,' and cor rupted by contempt for the feelings and rights of the natives of this country. If these circumstances be, considered, it will appear that the capital crimesl committed during the last seven years, with no capi tal execution, have, in proportion to the population, not been much more than a third of those committed in the first seven years, notwitstanding the infliction of death on 47 persons. The intermediate periods lead to the same results. The number of capital et imes in any one of these periods does not appear to be diminished, either by the capital executions of the same peri.al or of that immediately preceding.— They I:sr no assignah'e proportion to each other. In the seven years iatmcdiately preceding the last, which were chiefly in the presidency of my learned predecos -or, Sir William Syer, there was a very re markable diminution of capital punishments. The average fell, from about four in each year, which was that of the seven years before Sir William Syer, to somewhat less than two in cacti yea!: yet the ca pital convictions were diminished about one-third. The punishment of death is principally intended to prevent the more violent and atrocious crimes. From May, 1797, there were 18 convictions for murder, of which I omit two, as of a very parti cular kind. In that period there were 12 capital executions.—From May, 1804, to May, 1811, there were six convictions for murder, omitting on which was considered by the jury as in sub s.e.,ce a case of manslaughter, with some aggra vatio,; The murders in the former period were, ti)erefore, very nearly as three to one to those in the la tter, in w ..ich no capital punishment was inflicted. From the numbs of convictions I, of course, ex clude those cases where the prisoner escaped, whe ther he owed his safety to defective proof of his guile or to a legal ob.:ection. This cannot affect the justness of a comparative estimate; because the pro portion of criminals who escape on legal objections before courts of the same law must, in any long period, be nearly the same. But if the two cases ..one where a formal verdict of murder, with a recommeedation to mercy. was intended to repre sent an aggravated manslaughter; and the other of a man who escaped by a repugnancy in the indictment, where, however, the facts were more near manslaughter than murder,—be added, then the murders of the last seven years will be eight, while those of the former seven years will be sixteen. This small experiment has therefore been made with out any diminution of the security of the lives and ; properties of men. Two hundred thousand men have been governed for seven years without a capital pu-1 nishment, and without any increase of crimes. If any experience has been acquired, it has been safely! and innocently gained. It was, indeed, impossible that the trial could ever have done harm. It was made on no avowed principle of impunity or even le.: silty. It was in its nature gradual, subject to cautious reconsideration in every new instance, and easily ca pable of being altogether changed on the lent appear- , ance of danger. Though the general meth be rather remarkable, yet the usual maxims which regulate ju dicial discretion have in a very great majority of . cases been pursued. The instances of deviation from those maxims scarcely amount to a twentieth of the whole convictions. I have no doubt of the right of society to inflict the punishment of death on enormous crimes wherever an inferior punishment is not sufficient. I consider it as a mere modificatleaeC the right of self-defence, which may as jusly be exercised in deterring from attack as in repelling it. ! I abstain from the discussions in which benevolent and enlightened men have, on more sober principles, I Ondeavoured so thew the wisdom of, at least, confin- . ing the punishment of death to the highest class of crimes. Ido not even presume in this place to give an opinion regarding the attempt which has been' made by one, whom I consider as among the wisest ; and most virtuous men of the present age, to render the letter of our penal law more conformable to its ! practice. My only object is, to shew that no has hitherto resulted from the exercise of judicial discretion in this Court. I speak with the less re- ;terve, because the present Sessions are likely to af ford a test which will determine whether I have been lactuatei by weakness or by firmness, by fantastic Scruples and irrational feelings, or by a calm and Steady view to what appeared to me the highest in terest of society. I have been induced to make they? explana eons by the probability of this being the last time of my addressing a Grand Jury from this place. —llls Majesty has been graciously pleased to approve of my return to Great Britain, which the state of my health has for some time rendered *cry desirable. It is therefoie probable, tlmugh not certain, that I may begin my voyage beforethe next Sessions. In that case, Gentlemen, I now. have the honour to take my leave of you, with these serious thoughts which naturally *vise at the close of every great division of human ... I L - A ~~ ,~:.. • • , • • • $ , 11 , r life, with the most ardent and unmixed wishes for the welfare of the community with which I have for so many years been connected by an honourable tie, and with thanks to you, Gentlemen, for the assistance *hick many of you have often afforded me in the • discharge of duties which are necessary indeed and sacred—but which to a single Judge, in a recent Court, and small society, are peculiarly arduous, in vidious, and painful. Two cases niprA parlicularly worthy of notice occurred durinotheseSessions. One was that of a British soldier indicted for a murder committed within the Portuguese territories at Goa, and found guilty. The prisoner was sehti np from Goa to be tried here under the provisions'of the 26 G. 111. c. 57. sec. 29. which make all British subjects amenable to Courts of Oyer and Termin er and Gaol Delivery, and Courts of General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace in any of the British settlements in India, for all crimes, &c. committed in any country beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Streights of Magellan within the limits of the Company's trade. A doubt having been suggested as to the jurisdiction of the Court, on the ground that the statute alluded ' to was repealed by the 33 Geo. 111. c. 52. sec. 67. ! the Honourable the Recorder, out of respect to the I person 'with whom that doubt originated, directed the question to be argued on a motion in arrest of judgment. We hope to be able to give the luminous I judgment of the Recorder iu favour of the jurisdic tion in our next publication. Sentence of death was passed on this man, and he is to be executed this (lay at the gallows on the Esplanade. The other Icase was that of an Armenian lady, indicted for at- temptig to poison her husband's mother. The trial I bleed from ten in the morning till ten at night. The Jury, after retiring for a short time, brought in a special verdict, which the Court having considered as .equivalent to a verdict of Not Guilty, directed to be recorded as such. Of this trial we hope, also, to give some account in o s ur next. On Monday, the trial of two soldierrof the fifty-sixth regiment took up the attention of the Court nearly the whole day. Decency forbids us to mention any farther particu lars than that the two prisoners having been found guilty, were sentenced, the principal offender to be publicly whipped, and pillored twice during his im prisonment, and to be kept to hard labour in gaol for seven years, and the other prisoner to be trans ported for life to New South Wales. At the close of the Sessions the Foreman of the Grand Jury delivered an address to Sir James from that body, expressing their regret at the dissolution of the connection between them and him, and re questing that the Learned Judge would sit for his portrait,' which they were desirous of placing in the hall where he had so long presided with such distill. guished ability. Sir James In his answer, expressed his acknowledgments, and replied, that as soon as he reached Great Britain he would take measures for complying with their desire. THE STATESMAN'. LAW INTELLIGENCE. EXCHEQUER CHAMBER,_WESTMINSTER HALL, SATURDAY, Ise. 4. THE RING V. R. WALSH, ESQ. H. P. This day the point reserved by the Court in arrest of judgment, in the case of Mr. 'Walsh, namely, Fwhether the offence of which he had been found guilty was larceny, or a breach of trust merely, came on to be solemnly argued before the Twelve Judges, in the Exchequer Chamber. Mr. SCARLET, on behalf of the Prisoner, in an I elaborate argument, urged by a great variety of cases, which he maintained were of a class similar to the present, contended, that the offence imputed to his client was not felony, but simply a breach of trust. : The chief ground upon which he proposed to main ,: tain this proposition, _ was a just consideration of the I relation which subsisted between the Prosecutor and the prosecuted, at the time the offence was alleged to have been committed. The Prosecutor had employed the Prisoner in the way of his trade, to purchase for ; him a certain number of Exchequer Bills, with a j certain sum of money, or a warrant for the receipt of money. In giving that warrant to the Prisoner, • he was invested with a species of property in it ; be received it, not to return it again in the shape he had received it, but to bring back Exchequer Bills in lieu thereof. The nature of the property which could . have constituted the subject of a larceny, merged in the instant of its transfer to his hands, into a mere'act of trust. The draft came to the Pri saner's hands lawfully in the first instance, and con -1 sequently the idea of a felonious taking or convert ingl was at once done away. Could the Honourable I Prosecutor have charged the Prisoner with feloni i oasly stealing from him 42,0001. worth of Exchequer I Bills, had the Prisoner so laid out all the money en trasted to him ? Certainly be could net. In order to recover the possession of them, he would be obliged Ito have recourse to a civil action. The iudictmeut I charged the Prisoner with stealing 22,0001. in Bank lof England Notes. The check of the Prosecutor was not converted into cash until after it came into thehands of the Prisoner, consequently the idea of a felonious taking that sum could not he supported, unil that of the Prisoner itself made it a case upon which larceny could have been committed. The Pri- Isoner received it net as money, but merely as the means of procuring money for the purpose of ese i mating his trust. The I, served Centleman cited a I great many eases in support of this doctrine, which hecontended were decisive upon the question for which he argued. Hr. GURNEY argued the case in support of the coaviction for felony, at considerable Length. lie said the larceny in this case was the larceny of the Bank-notes; and he contended, that the written or der of Sir Thomas Plomer upon his banker for 22,0001. was the same thing as if he had personally accompanied the Prisoner to the banker's, and there given him further orders to give to the Prisoner the Bank-notes. The check was the means of getting the money, and was just the sane thing as if a man gave another the key of a strong box, authorising lam to take out of it a sum of money contained there la, for a certain purpose. His Learned Friend had argued, that the Prisoner had done this in the way his business. But for his (Mr. G.'s) part, he never knew it was in the way of a man's btisiness to rob another, and convert that property,to his own use, which had been entrusted to him for a certain pur , pose. The circumstance of its being done in the way of business was no excuse whatever for this offence, and no ground for removing a charge of felony. That it was larceny he was prepared to chew by a va riety of cases precisely analogous. He denied that ' the cases cited by his Learned Friend (Mr. Scarlet) bore at all on the present question. Those to which he referred were cases wherein third persons were concerned, and were clearly cases of mere fraud, or breach of trust. But the present one was characterized by a very different aspect. Here there was no third person. The Prisoner had re ceived the money and converted it to his own purposes. The Learned Gentleman then quested se veral cases, which contradicted the principle of Mr. Scarlet, that the property was vested in the person entrusted at the moment of transfer to his hands.— They went to prove that the ultimate property of the owner never ceased during the time it was out of his hands in the possession of another. The Prosecutor would have had a right to seize his property wherever he should End it, end to have taken it from the possession of the Prisoner himself at any time, had he apprehended that his intentions were dishonest. — He was proceeding to cite other rases to support this doctrine, when the further hearing was ordered to be adjourned. FASHIONS FOR LADIES. A BALL Dn FIPI.—A round Grecian robe of white crape, gos samer net, or leitti, embroidered up the front, and round the bot tom, viSh a fancy border in marigold chenille; an antique bo dice ofinarigoldlelvet. trimmed with Vandyke lace or white bugle trianniiig ; iliort till sleeves, tune as the robe, finished with beetle of marigold velvet. Slippers of the same, with sil ver clasps, or rows. A square veil of fine Mechlin lace, fanci fully disposed over the hair, which is seen in irregtilar curls be neath. Necklace and correspondent ornaments of the satin bead or pearl. GloVes of French kid, below the elbow. Fan of carved ( ivory. Aumea Dares.—A round morning robe of fine jaronot muslin, with a border of needle-work at the feet, throat, and collar. A Russian mantle of fine drab-eloth, lined and bordered with rose-coloured satin or velvet. A village hat, composed of feathers, and lined with rose-coloured velvet, simply tied across the crown with a Barcelona handkerchief, of the same colour, formed in a tufted rose on the top, and tied under the chin ; the hair in dishevelled curls beneath. Half-boots of , ;nab or f.twn coloured kid; and velvet ridicule, with correspondent tassels. COVENT GARDEN THEATRE. On Friday night we had another production from the fecund Muse of Mr. Reynolds, entitled The Virgin of the Sun. The Drama is the first part of Pizarro, and is folnded upon a domestic event which took place a short time previous to the final conquest of Peru by the Spaniards. tinder the above named General. Alonzo, a Spanish General, disgusted with the cruelty of Pizarro having, with Min Velasquez, and other Spaniards, espoused the cause of the sufiering l'ernvians, is admitted to bo a spectator of their religious solemnities, and at one of their fes tivals sees Core; a mutual passion takes place between them. — Alonzo, from that time, sought every opportunity to procure an interview with her, and at length, during a dreadful convul sion of nature, he had the happiness of meeting as ith his 'be loved, who had fled from the Temple to avoid the dreadful ef fects of the storm. Ile conveyed her to the dwelling of L a Casts, and they were united by that pious priest. Upon their return to the Temple, after this rash act, by which Cora in volved herself, her husband, and her whole race in ruin, they are met by Rolla. who had sex-laded himself from the world ; amid. nuts, ithstat.dine the dangers of his country, and the en treaties and remonstrances of his relation, the. High Priest, moorned in solitude the loss of his betrothed Cora; but, on learning the dangerous step she had taken, the anger which had at first inflamed him against Alonzo, subsided into a generous det e rmination to protect the devoted pair at all Msarft The plan which he devised for their safety is frustrated, and her gu ilt discovered by the High Priestess. Cora is condemned to Is huried alive ; her basband and her father (Telasko) to the I, stake. Rolla, foreseeing their danger, had, in the mean time, mustered a body of his friends, and Just as the seutence against Sittings at Guildhall, before Lord Chief Justice the devoted victims of superstitions rage is about to be pat in i ELLENBOROI7GII. execution, the gallant chief, at the head of his band, tumultu ously rushes into the Temple, and semis their pooottedings. Not i . TITOWPSON V. GRANT. the presence of Ataliba can divert him from his purpose of pro- , This was an action of assault and sea battery, teeing his beloved ; but the intercession of Cora prevailed upon ' his generous nature to surrender up . the sword he had raised brought by the Cook of the East India Company's against his sovereign. This submissam having appeased the ship the Brunswick against the Captain, for inflict wrath of Ataliba, the intercession of tbe Priesthood finally pre ing the punishment of flogging him, without just vain upon the Monarch to pardon them all, and to abolish the law of Manta Capac, the founder of the Temple. i cause. To this the Defendant pleaded a justification, In the con dhet of this plot Mr. Reynolds hash adhered more that he was obliged to inflict necessary chastisement closely to the story of Marmontel, than any of his predecessors who have dramatised this event. Cura's violation of theracred for the preservation of due order and subordination vow, to which her miseries are mo re i m mediately consequent among the ship's company. Mr. G ARROW, in addressing the Jury on behalf a nia lo kes very sg an ove b rn na i t n ed g p and oin v t e i ry n t is cc D ess ra gl a. ; and Mr. th l o .o ug u b lig thi , s in char ß• a lla el ! ter is less fraught with flashes of brilliancy and patriotism than of the Plaintiff, observed, that the assault took place the Rolla of Pizarro, yet he impressed the audience so fully with on the homeward voyage from China, and the only the heroic and virtuous sentiments that he bad to deliver, men - mired him repeated plaudits. Mr. Egerton, air the High Priest pretence for the punishment was, that the Captain of the establishment, lost nothing, in his stately deportment, of was displeased with the manner of the Plaintiff's the higher kind of sacerdotal dignity. He was grave, and grand, cooking, he had not boiled his rice properly , or had and dogmatical, as inch a prominent and exemplary personage should be. The Author was emi nen tly indebted to Nth" Smith put too much or too little Cayenne pepper in his for her performance of the tender, the unfortunate Coen ; but as curry • but although the Captain might have been the bunness of the Drama is antecedent to the presumed birth of . ..,. ! . . 4 . . usatatexa in mixtng some degree of Cayenne in a her child, that strong interest which arises from maternal cow- 3 ti m e wa s not called forth. Mr. Liston did what he could with wholesome admonition to his cook, he was not justi the part of Diego. The music of this piers, which I. by Mr. ft / ordering tied, in any way, in him to be stripped Bishop, possesses great merit, and is generally considered supe rior to any that we have recently heard as original composition • naked, and receive a dozen lashes in the presence of at either of our English Theatres. The whole of the _Nemec,' re - the whole ship's company. Ile could not deny that; flare fld much credit on tbe liberality of the Manager;, and in t h e some cases, extraordinary punishment was ab abilities of the Artists. The delineation and ma su ety of the Temple of the Sun was well managed. Wh e n it fell in fragments solutely necessary for the preservation of good order in the thunder storm, it excited both awe and admiratios: Tice and subordination on board ship, but in this case no Piece was given oat, for a second representation, with the undi vided approval of the whole house. j Mich punishment was necessary ; the Defendant had 1 far exceeded his authority ; the Plaintiff was conside- COURT OF KING'S BFNCII, FEn. I. The Admiralty Sessions for the trial of ofences committed on the High Seas, will be holden on Fri day, the ‘. O . Bth Instant : at the Sessions-house, le the Oki Bailey. ; - rably injured, and hp trusted the Jury would make hirh ample compensation In damages. It appeared in the evidence, that the Plaintiff had been, for some weeks previous to the assault in ques. ~► • ~L. ` ~~ --_ tau 1... la, ~: Lion, exceeding filthy and-dirty in his person and in his mode of cookingoind the Captain, having remelt strated in vain, ordered him to receive a dozen iu presence of the ship's company. The Surgeon of th e Brunswick proved the misconduct of the Cook in the manner before mentioned, and his bein g fl ogged, h u t -stated that he had received no materia l personal in. !jury. Lord ELLENBOROUGH, in charging the Jury, ob served, however, the practice of flogging was 'o) ) . served on board King's ships, it was a very did'e rent , question when they came to consider the case of a merchant ship, in which light he looked upon the ship in question. A captain or master of a merchant ship had no right to resort to the practice of flogging but in cases of absolute necessity, in order to main. twin due subordination on board, and prevent muti , ny ; but in such a case as this the Captain was not justified in resorting to that mode of punishment; if the Plaintiff had misconducted himself, as it appear. ed in some degree he had, the Captain might have ordered him td do duty before the mast, or to de. grade him to some subordinate situation, but he had no•right to flog him. As, however, it ap. peered the Plaintiff had not sustained any material personal injury, the Jury- would ; therefore, give him such moderate damages as they might think him entitled to. _ _ The Jury, after some consultation, fount a verdict for the Flaintiff—liamages 201. and costs. Several undefended causes were also disposed of. POLICE. BOW-STREET. Friday afternoon, about half past three o'clocli, at Humphreys and Cave were passing along Bond-street, they observed Chambers, a well-known character, at the head of a gang of thieves, parading the street in the most daring manner. The officers watched them for some time, and saw them feeling gentle.. men's pockets, looking in at shop windows, where there were valuable goods, endeavouring to force in a square of glass, going into shops wider false pre tences, such as asking for a yard of tape at linen draper's shops, for the purpose of making off with something valuable, if no person was in the shop, &e.-11umphreys went up a stable-yard, and pre vailed on the ostler to exchange his smock-frock and hat for his coat and hat, and tied a silk handkerchief over his face, so that it was impossible to know hire. In this disguise, Humphreys followed them closely in Bruton-street, St. James's-street, Jermvn-street, Piccadilly, and the Haymarket, in all which places they were feeling pockets, trying to break ern : shops, going into shops, &c. In the Haymarket, I Humphreyg and Cave secured three of them. . After the officers had handcuffed them, they searched them and found upon them instruments for cutting the windows of shops, and a crooked knife for pulling the goods out. In the evening they underwent as I examination before Mr. BIRVIE sty Mr. •N.kess, i their names are Chambers, Marian, and Nightingale. During the examinations, Chambers behaved in the most outrageous manner. The Magistrates convict ed them all as reputed thieves. The parishes of St. i George and St. James are--oheetl-te raise a subscrip . don to reward and pay the eapences of Humphreys and Cave, upon this occasion, for their exertions. Robert Green and another man were 1ar04044.• the office by Nichols and T. Jones, charged with breaking and entering the dwelling house of Mr. Rogers, linen-draper, in Piccadilly. Nichols stated that about half-past seven o'clock that evening, he watched the prisoners five times at Mr. Rogers's windows, and at length they broke a square of glass, and he saw them drawing a piece of silk handkerchiefs out, at that instant a woman came out of the shop, and it is supposed they thought they were discovered, and were making off; the officers then secured them. They were committed for trial. MURDERS IN RATCLIFF HIGHWAY. On Saturday evening illblasg underwent another examination before Mr. GRAHAM ; and was dis charged. Pr•ijor, the lame man, who was taken a few days since by Clark before the Magistrates, at Union Hall, on suspicion of being concerned in those hori rid murders, has been cent from Union Hall to the ahove Office, and has been examined before Mr.. GRAHAM, when there not appearing any proof against him, with respect to the murders, he ►vas sent back to Union Hall, to answer other charges. A young Lady of rank absconded from her fami'y in a disconsolate state of mine, three nights ag-, and has not been heard of. On Friday the remains of Mrs. Ilarriot May, the lady who was unfortunately killed in l.eaiie•lhlll street, on Tuesday last, were deposited in the flunily vault in Tottenham Court Chapel. She is deeply and justly lamented, as her amiable qualities endear ed her to all who knew her. It is requested that the statement of Mr. May having left the vehicle may hs contradicted, as he himself was _also thrown out, though not ipjered. lle is at present in a melancho ly state of mind. On Friday last, as Mr. Browning, of Smithfield bars, oilman, was going to Newington, in the stage, ho was seized, as supposed, with a fit, and expired. He was in apparent good ► health when he entered the coach, and as there was no other passenger in the inside with him, the effect was not discovered till the coachman, on stopping, opened the door, and found the spark of life completely extinguisLed. BIRTHS. On Tue‘dav, the 21st nit. in Dublin, the Right Hon. ady Lucy Anne Caftan. of a sou. On Friday, the .2ith ult. at Orford Hail, Lancashire, the Lady of Edwin Corbett, l'sq. of a daughter. _ _ _ MA Rai BD. On Wednesday last, at St. Mary, Lambeth, Mr. G. h. llorauer, of Limbeth Terrace, to Mist Harrison, of Park Place, Ken nington. W e dnesday last, at Broadway, John Pigott, Esq. jus. to Miss Eleanor Walsh DIED. On Wednepday, the Lady of Sir Joseph Yorke. • On Monday, at his seat at NV inestead, is Hohierness , and 83, Henry Maister, formerly Colonel of the Militia, and Vico. Lieutenant of the Fast Hiding of the Counts' of York. At Drogheda, on the 15 th ult. Lieut.-Col. J o h n French, talc of the 71•*. Oa Wednesday, in Manchester-square, Sir John Knightley• Bart. of Fawslry Park, Northamptonsh ire. LONDON: Printed Printed and Pub Hatted by I). Lovittt., at t. " : S,rt•rximax Orrtcv. S 7, Flectsteeet. 'I ~~ ~~ r ~, Ii