The Sun. — London, England, 1819-01-26 00:00:00

to be entrw,terl with that high Charge his Royal 'Highness the Duke of York. This Illustrious Person was, he considered, from his high station, his near relationship to the King, and his de.. servediy eminent character, peculiarly fit to be entrusted with the care and custody of the King's sacred Person ; and it any additional argument were wanting to prove the propriety of this. choice, he could say,hcho no doubt that, could the King now ex press a wish as to who should have the care of him, his Majesty wouhkccrtainly desire that it might he the Duke of York. His Royal Highness would of course administer this charge, as in the case of her late Majesty, with the assistance of a Council. Ile now, therefore, presen ed a. Bill for the purpose. of confiding the Care aril Custody of his Majesty's sacred Person to his Royal Highness the Duke of York. Se veral of the Clauses in the former Act were re• enacted in it, in order to avoid the ambiguity al ;slug from merely referring to them, and blanks were left for the names of the Connell. One new appontment became necessary, in consequence of the tlea!lb of a 'Noble and - Learned Friend of his Ellenborongb). WA) regard to the pTo• 'press of the Bill, he thon , ht it would be ad visAle to proceed upon it de die in diem Ihe should therefore now move the first readiog, and that the 13111 he jr , inter! ; and he proposed to move the second reading to-morrow (this day) ; if the p , huts were then upon the table. 'Dip Bill w as read a first time, and ordered to be printed. _ . Adjo,tired till to-tnorrow ((his day). HOUSE OF COMMONS. The SFr NKER Took the Chair about four o'clock, erd ni.mher of Menii)ers, who had not }nevi- Dock. , bez•ft sworn, took the tonal oaths. Mr. Fi..;LAY presynted a petition from the Sub- I srrihets to the Cranstoutt Water Works, praying for leave t o amend their former Act.—Ordered to lie on the table. General GASCOIGNE brought n(► the Report of the Committee on the Liverpool Marl.ets.—Or tiered to lie on the table. The Hon. B. LYGON tnoyed, that an Ae entity of the Doty on Hops, for the year ISIS, distingoishing the old from the new, be laic) before the House.—Ordered. _ i\lr. WEOTTESLEY moved for an Account of the Rents and Profits of all Lands . appropriated to Chi it Purposes, and claiming to be exempt from Taxes.—Ordered. 'Petitions ngainst Abe return of the Members for Evesham, Nottingham, and Be'verley, in York shire, were presented, and ordered lo be taken into consideration on the 7th of February, and the 2d and 4th of March. CRIMINAL LAWS. The Sheriffs (,f Loudon presented a Petition from the Lod Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of London, praying for the revision ~ m 1 amelioration ot the Penal Code. Mr.Altierman Wools said, the House must be aware, that the most learned and - distinguished men this country had seen, had frequently occupied themselves during the last fifty years in writing areaiost the excessive severity of our Criminal Liws, , which were ,so sanguinary as to defeat the very object for which they were framed. Those Nvho had must considered the subject, and le commended that labour and solitary confinement should take place of the punishments at present inflicted, and, lie was sure, all who heard dhint, • must have observed, that though so many offerers were punished capitally- by the law as it now exists, 'yet for many years it had been found, that in every part of the country there was a constant increase of crime. On visiting Newgate, it would be found that few, if any, of those on whom sen tence of death had been passed calculated on the sentence being executed. In SQ111C• instances there were mock Isiah among them, and from the superior magnitude of the crimes charged ageinst some of them, they were pronounced by their fellows as likely to (lie. These ttials, however, were not so frequent among them, he bad some satisfaction in saying, as had been supposed ; •but toe situation of those in the condemned cells it was shocking to contemplate. lie visited Ne(v-. gate yesterday, as he frequently 'did on a Sunday when he found himself at leisure, and in the con demned cells he had seen above forty persons un der seutence of, death, and of these he firmly be lieved one one expected to suffer. From the pa pers on time table it would be seen that of those capit Ay convicted, not above one in thirteen bad hero executed. Much might be said in praise of mercy, hilt in his opinion this uncertainty of pu iiishmeut was a great evil. In other countries, whet, sentence of death was pronounced against a culprit, it was almost always promptly car ried into effect. Here, from being in doubt, the prisoners in confinement were not at all im pressed with a sense of the awfull situation in which they stood. They absolutely made no preparation fur death till the warrant for their execution came down. He ad talked to some of them yesterday very seriously on the su!a ! ject, but . mote of them seemed at all to expect to die. lie understood that a very Learned Gentleman in that House intended on a future occasion to'move for a Committee on the subject of the Penal Laws. Oa this account he should too do what otherwise lie had meant to do—move that the present Pe tition should he referred to a Committee. They all sevvrelvanissed that great, distinguished, and good character who had so often raised his voice in the cause of suffering humanity, and laboured through So many years to ameliorate the laws of Eugland, but lie hoped the Gentleman who pro posed taking up this question would give it the full benefit of his great talents, and dojwstice to its importance. lie had lately visited many pri sons on the Contifient. The result of his in-pi ties led him to think favourably of the punisb ments of confinement and labour. Those who had suffered a confinement of ten or fifteen years, be was informed, - ytid rarely been known to loom to their old praetices. In every country but this, punishment was almost certain to follow condetw nation. in some the chances of escape were very few indeed There was in Switzerland a prison, to which if a man were once sent, it was thought dirt( tly that he ►s•as,sure to (lie. H e me ant not to bhtv that this was tight —~r that such an idea ought to Ue entertained when wen were.cotinnit tea to prison, and especially before trial, bitt he mentioned it to show how vast. the difference was between the feelings excited in other countries by punishments inflicted, and those which were common in this,,from the impunity with which criminals frequently. escaped. In this country we had opportunities of trying the milder' po- nishmsests of confinement and labour, which were successfully adopted in some countries on the Continent, and he thought the interesting ex nerimetst ought to be made. He concluded by moving that the Petition should lie on the table. Mr. WAITHMAN (in a 11111(itH speech) said, after what had fallen from the worthy Alderman, he would not enter into a discussion of the merits of the question, but he would draw the attention of the House to some leading ts. It appeared that there had been .a gr increase of 'crime within the last ten years'. se increase of pri soners in the City had been nearly as tour to one. From 4000 they bad increased to almost 14.000. He believed that many of thme taken before the Magistrates of the City of L•oulon escaped, from t h e difficulty the 'Magistrates frequently had about committing them, knowing the ples % ons to he crowded, and considering the chance of acquittal from the excessive severity of the law to be so great, that to commit them was almost worse than useless. From the papers before the House, it would appear that in the year for which the ac counts were last made out, upwards of 600 per , sons had been convicted who were under 21 years of age. If to these were added those committed to Ness-gate, anti afterwards acquitted, it woold be found that the number brought to trial, whose ages wete under 21 years, exceeded 1000. He should at present say no more, but that he hoped the im portance of the subject would force it on the con . sideration of the House and the Government, and that the present Session would not pass away without something being done to check or remedy this most alarming evil. Mr. BATHURST thought this was not a conveni ent time to enter on a question of so much import ance. He wished the subject to be taken op its •the place where it could be gone into fully—in the only place where it could be taken in detail, — in a Committee. - When his Noble Friend came to move for his Committee on the police and dis cipline of prisons, he might probably some that this subject should be referred to the same Com mittee. Perhaps this would Ire the best wiy of treating it. It was undoubtedly true that of late years there had been a great increase of crime ; but this increase of crime, perhaps it might be satisfactOry to those who had already spnken to hear, had not been so great in the metropolis as in the country. Latterly, designing persons had in too malty instances succeeded in withdrawing themselves from danger, and effected their frau dulent designs by means of boys and inexperienced persons, whom they had contrived to expose to all the peril of being taken while executing their ptedatory schemes. This had in part caused the great increase of Voting persons, wh i ch, as the worthy Alderman had remarked, appeared in the Calendar. IVhether the law could be so altered as to punish the head that planned, as well as the hand that executed a robbery, was a question very fit for the consideration of a Committee. Mr. TIERNEY ) from the first part of the Right .Hon Gentlenroi's speech, had been led to hope that it was intencicd by G overnmen t to institute a special inquiry into the important question now before the House. *He should be glad if this course were to be taken, but it seemed trout what afterwards fell front him that he intended to at tach the revis,il of the whole Penal Code as a sort of rider to the Committee to.he appointed to in quire into the state of the police and discipline of Prisons. All he could understand t' as, that on the subject now before the House, the Go vernment had .nothing to propose of themselves, but when the Noble Lord brought the other ques tion forward, it was thought this might be added to it by way of rider. If the Noble Lord touched it - at all, be hoped he would give, it all the im portance that belonged to it. If he would nut do this, then he should wish him to let it alone al together, and leave it ervirely•to the worthy and Learned Friend of his, by whom he miderstOod from the worthy Alderman near him, it was likely to be brought forward. EAST INDIA AFFAIRS. Mr. IlumE rose to move for certain Papers re lative to the Administration of Justice under the Government of the. East India Company in India. While on his legs, he would beg to put a question to the President of the hoard of Control. When the Itight Hon. Gentleman came to lay those Papers before the House, which were to be given on the subject of its military affairs, he wished to know if be proposed to offer any in explana tion of the conduct of General Sir Thomas Hislop, in hanging the Governor of u Fort after lie had surrendered ? He was proceeding to animadvert on this action, when The SPEAKER said he was sure the Hon. Gen tleman would excuse him tot reminding him that when (luestiou a were asked, it was not convenient to enter into a discussion of the subject to which they referred. • Mr. Hume begged pardon ; be had no wi,l) to take a cons se t hat was inconvenient to the House. Ile merely wished to know if an explanation of that extraordinary transaction tvuild be given ? Mr. CANNING had no disposition to refuse an answer to the question, though he thought it had been put in rather an invidious iight. Uudouht edly among the pa pets the Hon. Gentleman would find all the information he could desire on the proceeding to which he had alluded. Whether or not that information would be satisfactory to him. he could not say, and this was not the time when, in fairness to the subject, to the individual whose conduct was called in question, or to the lion. Gentleman himself, he could offer an opinion on it.-Ihe papers were orderer?. DR. HALLORAN. Ur. BBNNET had a Petitioc to present from Dr. Halloran, who complained ot having, in the first instance, been-subjected to many hardships, and ot having subsequently IP.en treated with cruelty. On the first subject be believed t bele was but one opinion. • 'Every Due considered the punishment of seven years' trarsportation for' the offence of which he had been guilty, to be on.. that was uncalled for by the cr we. If he (Mr Bennet) were rightly into, med, th s is was tine case in which that punishment had been awateled for such en offence. .He had been told that it was so, and he had also been told that Dr. Hal loran was a man of very questionable character. But of this there had 'been no legal proof. It appeared,' hots/ever, that he had been punished for his bad character, not for his et brie—not for that which was proved, but for that of which there was no legal proof. Ile did not stand tip fur the character of Dr. Halloran, but having seen him in great bodily torture—knowing hint to be a man of considerable literary acquire ments—to he considerably advanced iu life, with a large family, he thought his case one that ought not to be passed over in silence, and he trusted satisfactory explanations would be given by Ministers onn i those topics connected with his complaints. The punishment to which he had been sentenced was, in his opinion, so severe, that had it been generally known such punish ment would be inflicted for the offence with which be had been charged, he firmly b:lieved the Jury (acting as they had done in other cases) would 'lever have given a verdict of guilty against hint. De. Hal lot an complained that lie had first been sent to cold-bath-fields, where he was confined with felons. Thence he was transferred to New gate, where he was confined in the condemned cells with forty boys. He (Mr. Bennet) had seen him there. From the condemned cells he was removed to the Hospital, and confined among the sick convicts, and he was allowed to go there as to a refuge from greater misery. There were in , the City some active Magistrates who did their ditty by making frequent inquiries into the state of Newgate, but notwithstanding all their effnrts, such 'vas the punishment inflicted before trial.— In order to give some notion of the state of that prison, he would state that the 16 miscreants, lately convicted of art abominable offeuce, were there confined in one room. He bad seen them altogether on the preceding day. Netvgate was ! so crowded that this was unavoidable,. When in a prison there was Bo discipline, it was nut to be wondered at that crime should increase. Front I Neivgate Dr. Halloran was removed to the Akin -2o transport, where he was well treated. Thence, thongh labouring under a complaint to which Ire ; had beau sithiact for some years, he was conveyed to a cabin on hoard the Diana, about terelve feet square ; here lie remained nineteen hours without any one coining to him, and when at last he ap- I plied for some refreshment, ten ounces of biscuit. 1 ten of flour, three of suet, three of raisins, and some soup, were sent to him. This was the fare provided for a sick man. lie was told that he should not be coninel•led to associaie with the common felons, but in a few days nineteen youth ful felons were brought there and confined in the ; same cabin, or hole, or dungeon as it ought rather to be called. He had seen with his own eyes, that. no doubt could remain, twenty human beings were confined in a place twelve feet square. lie had seen too a clib, five feet and a halt in length, and six feet and a halt wide; in which six human beings were stowed away to sleep. In this place they were compelled to sleep, so crowded, (teat it was impossible for them to torts themselves round, and here Dr. Halloran witnessed one of those disgusting and abominable scenes which sometimes disgrace humanity. He made a coin plaint to the Cap•ain, but was treated with the utmost m e o v s e t r y co rstit;ci,crni species ' ofa and this t a h g .s a t i I t ' h e e x a P b ° a7l:l l o i l i i i :4 l w r e tches who surrounded him could inflict. Ile bad sent a statement of that which he bad seen to Lord and tendered evidence of the fact. ( thence he had tendered. Lord Sidmooth, in con- SaWiJ:ltelril°yl,letlll.l)e' thatwa s e not vide Ilce lawyerva was enough, s "ha t s o " s . :t ' y " , li t i Z sequence of this letter, had sent down Mr. Capper, a very active and meritorious pers on, to in q uir e , into the actual state of things, and must therefore have been acquainted with the situation of the persons nfi were co • Bennet) had y r o te u t i l th i s t . l tl o ie n c e ab b i t os iLlN. Most ,. of the fe lonsseen before in Newgate. It u his first offence, for which he was about to suffer, and that not a very aggravated one ; yet this poor Creature was destined to form a part of that den which it was the pleasure of Goverment to establish. He knew where from two to three liimdred were stowed away in a similar manner. lie had been there in the middle of the day, about three o'clock, butt was obliged to have a light. What he had seen there he should never forget. The sufferings of the wretches be had seen was, in his opinion, a disgrace to any Christian country—a disgrace to any Government calling itself civilized. When the ship thus crowded had sailed, and. haul nearly been lost on a bank, such a horrible sickness haul prevailed in the cabin that those stowed at its bottom had been overwhelmed by its falling - on them like a torrent. Such a state of confinement, he contended, insist be most in j urious to the morals as well as to the health of the prisoners ; and he would leave the House to judge bow deplorable their state was, shut.down as they were for 15 out of the four and twenty hours. When he thought of what he had seen in this white slave ship, it made him remenifier (tie paper which he had seen at Paris, and which had made so great an impres sion there, and indeed all over Europe. in this. it was shown, that in a slave ship, a place six feet long, and one foot six inches Wide, was all the space allotted for an African. This he be lieved had made a greater impression in favour of the Abolition of the Slave Trade than any thing else that bad appeared; but while the black slave was allowed one foot six inches, the white slave, it appeared, at the present day, was a:low ' ed but one toot one. After this 'statement, Ire supposed he should be met with panegyrics out character as heretofore, and that all he had said 'mold b e supposed to be answered by a re , ference to the hontani,y of the Noble Lurch at the head of the Home Department. There was, however, no person who did not know, that when it had hero Wade knoWll to the Noble bad u hat was the situation of the ship—to his disgrace she was snlfered to sail. He pledged - himselt toy the e.oreettlebs Of the descrip tion of the mantic! in Aich the white slaves were confiaed boare. He did not know that the Noble Loid %oik he proved guilty of anything that wool(' snit with its indignation ; •h,t , ( - omit!), would led what was the ci4.tcicicr ut his conduct. One word wore. be ship had sailed at a period which bad before l_ieeo romplainel of- a period most lilt ar yi S ee u ; r r r c, e l y .el , l: : : v I bl i , i ), c ist :) (: s: f i o l i e i c r i t he attended with the. greatest mortali y• 11 , 1 1 16 Out of two bombed, fifty had alied. St 3ti , ll , these facts, he conceived t h at h e h a d done ••-e more than his duty. Ile did not stand op (her d t o; h i e }er s Ci t e le wL e ri r o i T i:olt ticr cargo—of homan beings' to shield crime from punishment, bat to den/311 G that jt i tstice should be admittistered in A wAY 1° calculated to make human beings worse , end sen,t t' them to another world with more dePr avltY th4 t l they had ever evinced in this. He then resale. the Petitioo.—Before it had be e n read, Mr. BAT - HURST said be. did not wish- t ° n i lP6si. the Petition, but he thnit, ,, ht it not to 1° ,! e „ 6 1 moment in replying to the charges ' which had u e) preferred against the head of the Home P ei l l ; meot. He (Lord 81(11110010 was chaeged w ita situation of high responsibility, and lie hopetitAl7l; House would never lose sight of the arduou s " 1 4 ties which he had to perform. It was inightYCh3-,t or Gentlemen to prefer such charges as tlie se 'l,l it was not tplite so easy for the parts' attach lI . 6 i l l ), t o b e e t ( l l , l:::s er ( i t it 0 f it is , ation• i dill not in visiting those receptacles of misery so frequently explored, and he had ate" gil t° . I►im credit for his exertions, but it would b e bo . conceal his thoughts if be were not to s t h , t r ai was of opinion the lion. Gentleman sonletr td lent himself to those whose statements ong,j(,l have no weight wit lain), and adopted too fnu eli r l i e l views 01 men of bad character, believing the st ° , — , o they told him without su ffi ciently ingoiring 1 : 0 1 their tent it. If he were to go into the 1000000 f tt the "ni"rinate mot whose Petition was 11.0 abont to he- presented, he could prove tit 0 h e ~ni no object of For many reason s he ei 41(7el not go into his history, and no reason mote with him than this, that 'such a ste'el:(oo, might be injurious to his family, solve Of ' v. ( 'ft filled respectable situations in life. Ile, Ito`celetil/L could not. help stating,nhat if all the prol 'l. ° 1 4 1 been brought ward that might have bee" % ,.: 0 1c against him, it would have been seen that Ire forged enclosed a forged character of b'll:.006 in which he recommended himself, w iiig th e4 „ .. 0 . • of a person not alive, to a Curacy in the ~It'` hoping by this expedient to secure to hin'`:,,rd'' comfortable sit ua ion. if the puniShnient a 0 ,0 ed to his crime by the law teas too grea t ' i s le a fit subject for the consicleratiou of the titre; but whem applicationwas made for ti le L ija the character of the indiv - ultial was Oleo Onot considered, in order to deterntine %A' b et her 0r,,, he was a fit object for clemency. T he I ,,l p eti Gentleman ar gued fallaciously when he C ° ' ha' that Dr. Halloran was punished for his b 3d ys racier and not for his criine. This could 1 1 “: - n ot proved till it had bet n shevert t h a t a taw„l l exist to ittflict the punishment to which he 1 ot been settleuced. v v e re not prove d, lie F or chew that Halloran was an object for nie rC his part, he would contend that, there 10"1 dcor , ii , . shewn no reason for extendiog mercy to ,"06e I,t Nrg The lion. Gentleman reprobated t h(ise doty,it was to see the law calf-jet) into et iect• , h ar tru e charge, however, seas against ti OS e t s i c m Superintended the present otte .. cd l trana ,would believe all that the /lon. efe ( ntlei o') 1 bad asserted that he himself had seen', but of . rest he should doubt. The charge was in a g e e degree against the punishment of transportslll):;' altogether. He did not think that the 1, r` 1 , 1 5 portant») of this individual any diffetenc e e on made between him and others who) had lately btl its transported. He was a pt , of any the construction of th e shp or in the tieco:noi);,,a tion on board, from what had beeti . 10 4 Officer was one of the R 11 ,loyal Navv , 8 " Ir r seemed tO promise improveiaent, rathe r )en lsac otherwise, in the ltoprovements on bow l. c" teen the Honourable Gentleman had see n commodation was too goo d, an d this c1,01,0t upon the Fle! 3 il of the Department. N'" 7 1 . 1 1s: 01" , did the Hon. Gentleman say this subject ) o ot that a complaint having been f o revatdeti n tl l el! 1 :3 Sidmoutit, lie immediately sent down man who had been most deserve:lly [Pc who was at present the Superitoendant sor• hulks. This Gentleman totind many of th j eope• gat ions contained in the statement 01 . D r ' bittr: ran unfounded. The sittiation of that hers Ef t , hot' self turned out to be different trout .what represented it to be. For the horrible ' l ' d u ric stance which had been alluded to, it In iile ti li ti to be utterly impossible for the crime des e l li c :Ott' have been committed at the tittle and in u t i j i; o o lll ation poioted out in the petition of 1)r. er ,ool It - is clear that it was the object ot this P leita sti nay, hue might add, of the Honourable Gellit;el himself, to prevent the punishment had been settle iced from being int li j c , c l :, tin i , l to vv 'for this, the statement of his ill health, on" ''• - , I • o ne" of the abominable transoctiou before had been sent forth, and both proved be ea t, If Mr. Capper had had tiny doubt on the su jos ti• an inquiry wonld immediately bare bcg" P r°' tilted ; but as it WaS found that it was 0 pie fr babic nor possible that the assertion of p r ", f i l er' loran could be trite, the matter went it° 1111,11 o lie doitlited not that a threat hail been his by this person to those , appointed to. e arr lori ti sentence into execution--" I have a Gen tle° Or' the House of Colninons Who tiOt let 111i9 110 a nisilltlent he itiflicted." Personal thir eBts 1 1 0 %0 ' 6 been held out to the Captain, of what Teti to hint if he did th at which it might --- n ee'" his duty to do. if any restraint should be it", 4 01/ upon hint on the voyage, it wou ld no t be. be" . ,i , e' there Was a disposition to treat hint Wi th 1 5 ;10: 4 city; but because his conduct, flu"' lit lX ° etreottraged to hope that by repeated co IO P he might get the ship stopped , 0101 I°9 : P r ; tiOn itt.ute less illtionie, rio'y make OW - t ilt , titer restrictions neces6aty. For t he 9 hip s, it ere of the listial Whet) a com pati sol ; it made between these and the slave shici:ti,f might to be remembered, that no 5 11)811 : ti a i was Made to the horrors of the poor Afnc-1,11001 r )' front the eirennisiance of his being,;'%te): ed dowo to his hit tit doring‘the whole Oita:ll,K; age. Any system of transportation 5 innst: lb e convicts to certain privations. if '(enc° co itended that these might not In be exf,el l . ., 0 11 1 by a Geotleman who . bad not been 10° , 1 „ i t Ir e thing of the kin d, it would follow puuishment of transportation ought nit rese that ! h ell :Was 1e! tall ~a~~: inn' ),i ek 2 50 The s (: to n , thn teat 86, 1 , kg,