The Express.
London, England, 1849-09-13 00:00:00

OF THE OAME LAWS.

TO Tii ODIUM ON TKO =WU.
tzta.—On Fsidaykst, the msgierretes of the Woo-
Ihrdebvision el Devonshire oseivfetsel two meet of night
prathieg, under the set 9 George IV., chapter 69 ask
seethosed them for this first•saase to an
I meet game maths. They war% moreover,
tolled asswity, their elm resmams in 117=
used we saran' for gash to the menet of 101., ash
to commit a similsr *MO agahi. In default of their
Siding such merits, a the Rqdradrot of their two
maths' imprisonment, these as. will undergo •
briber bereavement of az maths, sad se the/ In
per labourers robustly some into this openly, thp-
penetkey have little thaws of getting oat of pins
before next May-day.
Now, I do not wish to excuse these men, kr, if
they were hearet, they would est have bunt lurking
fm a fusses arahard at two ("Hoek is the morning B
Nor to blame the magistrate presiding (Mr. D. B.
Davy); who Is Othaderod a jam and humane lean.
Bat he took °session to observe, that " poaching was
commonly the for of every other vice ;" and
this involuntary testimony to the demeralisiog effect
of the game system judo** me to write dews some
Lets sad argasseuts wheels expthisseco and study of
the subject have b-ought to my mind, beaus, it
mind, me of the moral aril, worse eves than the
sceemaical waste, involved in the law and plastics of
game preserviog.
Before passing ea into the general quake. the or
two &awes of this ease, though its ohmmeter is net
unusual, deserve remark.
Let we assume that the vanes of these •men, who
wire found with nets and • greyhound near • pre-
miere of Sir Lawrence Palk's at Bealinster, was so
ra&L
ose as
weto be expiated by not less then two maths'
• nt, sad the utmost severity of the law, for
a offence, deems three months 1111 atonement.
Then we have this curious conclasioe, that whereas
their crime, the actual violation of law is discharged
by • given amount of punishment, their poverty or
Inability to give money security is visited with treble
that punishment. For be it knows that a man com-
mitted for not finding sureties under the game law,
aid osier no other criminal law of this realm, is ern-
donned to hard labour as well as detention. flue,
though in equity his pcsitioa, the first offal*, being
discharged, is only that of a debtor to tae crown, he
reality be is punished as a criminal—pouithed with
aa incerceratios eves' to that he would incur by the
actual commission of a second offence.. Hay, the law
is even more rigorous in evening the poseible sad
apprehended second crime than it would be in
punishing a second crime actually committed. If a
mace-oonvieted poach. r cannot find swedes the ma-
gistrate enu.t send him to prison for six nuathe, sad
may a* abridge that term ; but if a mum convicted
packer. oa his release, goes out poaching twain, six
mouths is the extreme limit of his imptunament.
This is a peculiarity of the game law.. The Uprise
Feerstary of the Home-office, Mr. March Phie.
to
=premed a decided opinion as this singular
amity, when examined by Mr. Bright's committee,
in 1846. "It is the only due,* he said, "in the
whole range of the law, in which magistrates have
the power of imposing hard labour with imprison.
Bout for default of finding swedes ; and it is the
only casein the crimin .1 law in which such sureties
are required for not committing a second offence
on any charge relating to property. Garth being
called property," he adeie ins sigaifisent pszentheein
The nulity of this six months' detention I could
not understand, till is the ease of last Friday, when
the nun asked that their nets might be given up to
them, I heard the magistrate say, "
i Ob, no! your
ash shall be taken care of while. you're n prises-
they look quite new, bat they shan't do any service
this mum." Then it suddenly Weenie manifest to
me that the six maths' additioaal imprisonment is a
wise provision of the, legislator* to preclude the
poacher from any chance of involving himself is a
second serape during the entreat sessoe. These two
sea, when they emerge from the empty gaol early in
May next, will find the period already elapsed deny
wineltgante may legally be killed and the, poachers
illegal spoil may find a tab market. Few lionised
dealers would ventage openly to sell game three
months after the lessen has expired ; though many
dealers can little Iwbence their stalls are supplied
during the season.
If such be the object of this unique contrivance, by
which a poacher caught in September is shut up out
of harm's way till the spring, it is an hagealleas de.
vies, and does the author credit. And although the
principle of punishing a man in anticipation for what
mischief he may hereafter de semi *lieu to our nun-
phistieeted notions, a paternal government may apply
it with salutary effect to the probation of crime, cad
to the securing of property. (Attain other species of
property—for instance, apples—are in season daring
certain months, lithe TAfChio/ of notorious orcherd-
robbieg propensities, when detected pilfering the ear-
liest war and unripe steeliness, could be fret
whipped, and then locked up till, at the close of au-
tumn, the forbidden fruit is gathered and 'garnered,
opportunity and temptation would be, for the time
beyond their reach, and their dishonesty would he ot;
vested by " prevention, better than care." Bot it is
a pity that the majoring of thieves are subject to au
itch for larceny whirl is not intermittent, and to
temptation which are perennial i and we can
hardly propose to cease them all tie year
round. And suppose the morel disuses assumes
another type—euppose the natural pth&ea he ex-
citing sport, perverted and debased during eight
months' imprisonment, changes to a r.cklees deaths,
of the laws of God and men—suppose he who wont
in a poacher is September, some e out a reedy sheep-
stealer in May, corrupted into moral ransoms, by
eontact with Moth at the lazy treedwbeel, sad is the
lounging prison yards P
One other little fact, in this ease of Judd and
Powell, set me thinking of the principle of the game
preserving system. It so happened, that the only
animal thew men had bagged was a rabbit ; and that
rabbit, oddly enough, was a tame one, The defen-
dants asserted that this rabbit had escaped, as they
believed, from its hutch in the garden of a labourer,
sad that their dog had transgressed and killed it.
They professed sorrow and penitence for having,
though ea they said unintentionally, killed a tame
Wallet. Indeed, they had committed a felony ; and few
Linmin court believed their improbable story of
a:s!deat. As soon as the teats rabbit was pro-
duced is evidence, the complexion of the use
sheared, and every spectator felt that these sea had
a sorrow escape of being indicted far filthy. and
merited little sympathy ; that they bad probably
been guilty of a theft. a real allow
Why was this Became thew eleedViessusensef ge
rabbit, and identified it so the 'eh animal whisk be
bad bred and fed. He maid, as mescateei have
said, "This is mine, and they p stole it from Ewe Het
eapitess these poultry lei had a here in their=
immea whisk they had sawed In the brake ad
imr. Ws Lawman Palk could net have some Mae
evert to idsatify that hare; be could not have mid,
"This is miss; they stole He meld not ems
have tanned thatit had beam nourished oa the pus.
dace of his land, or cost him one farthing. I
am quite sore that the peasantry region
conmealy thus. They consider poaching an infringe-
solatef plain*, not an infringement of property.
Such is the opinion I have *tea beard them express;
sad it mars bequeath is the mem of eadebes
the Hem el Ommenee. Frederick
=1.1,1a wrieriene philter, while he gloried in his
931119116 alarff. :800 Win, with a_ chivalrous spirit
=I nil" Used, thilpsestly repelled the ia-
et being " a thief! Mr. Arkrill, an intel-
ligent ehesever, stated that he " could never get any
czte admit that polish* was a moral offeneu"
regrettable farmers avowed that they could
perceive so immorality in the act itself, exerpt es far
• as it was • breaking of kw. Sir Harry Verney, of
Hnskinshamehhv, a magistrate, who had bestowed
Wash nelentisa on this 'nattier, stated an opinion,
with whisk I Dow °occlude :
in sway cases de not believe that the
z„„„,,P-1n..... la wild animals is he his
WY, temp tad paltry • and tbream they think the law
is ast pais* Pak. It appears to me a very wises evil is
sefeseatry, whoa laws are seamed whisk, however they
aid gemmed themselves to the.. who make the laws, and
segues whit adadsister the laws, are es* that their Juggles
is use admitted by those wit) are sallfsill dna
&IL 10. 4114
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