The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-11-10 00:00:00

Yesterday at doe in the evening In a vfilage in the environs of Ver-
sailles, by the agents of the prefecture of the police, and brought to
Path, where be is now congaed.
Since the 2tl of thin month, the rise of the Ile has ceased the
etrecta and quayn of Strastairgh, which it bad inundated. are pretty
dear again. This fall of the water is anaibed to the breaking of a
dike. The environs of Strasburgh, viewed from the top of the Ca-
thedral, form a vast lake. The damage canoed by the waters will
be immense.
The inhabitants of Robcrtsan are in great alum for the dikes of
the Rhine.
We learn from Lyons that the Saone had been rising for some
days in an alarming manner. The weather continued rainy, and
'here was every reason to fear an inundation. The Flanders
Journals, on the other hand, state, that the water% of the Meuse
and the Ounhs continue to rise. Letters from Iliedelberg say,
that that city and the environs are inundated. The water is five
feet higher than in the inundation of 1817, and four feet higher
than that of 1784.

SIITANA, OCT. 2.

A letter from Syra says, that about BO Turkish vessels, supposed
to be in puttatit of the Orecks, had been seen between Mieone and
Nazil. *my thing is quiet in the Mors. COLOCOTIOII
is in favour again, and is going to command 10,000 mem, who are
to attackgalms. The Muratknouts who blockaded Athens have
retreated to tkiegropont, for what reason is not known ; they have
carried off mail slaves, and committed great excesses in Attica.
Heaviest PACHA is st Zeitouni with 20,000 men. He will not
undertake any operation till the Egyptian fleet arrives in the Moms,
which will pettbably be delayed some time; for all the transports
WO at Boodrouni, and it is supposed that laattuzu PACILt will
unite his forces with those of the CAPITAS PACIIh to subdue
Samos. It is also thought that the two Beets will remain at sea.
during the wings'. The Hydriots expect the Musseirnans with good
courage. Tiny are well fortified, and have 10,000 men under arms.

The deep sympathy which the case of Mr. Feuer eaaov
has excited in every quarter of the kingdom, is u honour,
able to the national feeling, as it is to the individal in
whose behalf it is manifested. The petition which is pre-
paring for the purpose of being laid before his MAJZSTY,
will, we are assured, have its due weight. In this country,
an appeal to the mercy of the Sovereign, when supported
by the wishes of the people, is never made in vain. It is a
principle which we all admit, that the previous character
and conduct of an offender, though it does not alter the
essence of the specific offence, may justly mitigate the
severity of the punishment. No reflective man ever yet
urged, nor ever will, that by adopting this principle you
give a sanction to crime, since it is a principle in everyday's
practice—a principle received, and acted upon, throughout
the whole cotuse of a popular jurisprudence. We well
know that the crime of forgery is surrounded, perhaps,
more inAtorably than any other, with the terrors of
criminal justice ; but we would here observe,—aud we
speak it without fear of misconstruction from any candid
mind,—that the crime of forgery, which our law meant ex-
clusively to pursue with this inflexible rigour, is the forgery
of banknotes ; and the reason of the distinction is manifest,
because, u the paper currency of the kingdom is passing
perpetually froth hand to hand, and through all classes of
the community, not only would theirvalue be depreciated,
but their circulation would be at an end ; if the public
confidence in their genuineness were destroyed, by the fre-
quency of forgery, they would no longer be received in the
mercantile transactions of life. The result to which this
would lead, in a great commercial kingdom like this, is suf-
ficiently obvious ; and hence the public gaiety, as con-
nected with public credit, and with the great circulating
medium of the country, demands, not only that the crime of
forging the notes of At Bank of England should be made a
capital offence, but that the dread of punishment should
not be weakened by the prospect of pardon. When, there-
fore, it is said, as it very commonly is, that
.forgery is an
°flint.: never pardoned, the remark roust be understood as
applying to that species of forgery from which, owing to
its peculiarly evil consequences, it has been deemed neces-
sary to withhold the ordinary exercise of mercy. It seems
natural here to ask,—and the question, we know, has net
unfrequently been urgetl,—is it, then, consistent with the
humanity of our law to subject the inferior offence of forg-
ing other instruments, which have no connexion with bunk
notes, to the same punishment which it awards to the higher
offence? If public necessity requires that the latter should
be punished with death, why iv the former, to which the
plea of necessity does not apply, put on the same level and'
brought under the same sentence ? Is not this creating
capital offences without necessity, and dealing out the urns
measure of punishment without attending to the magni-
tude of the crime? These is much force, certainly, in
these questions, and they involve considerations of vital an-
penance in the frame of our penal laws. But the re-
marks of PALEY on this point are striking, and well de-
serve attention. Speaking of the policy upon which the law
3f. England is constructed, he says, " By the nu ober of
statutes creating capital offences, it sweeps into the net
every crime, which, under any possible circumstances, may
deserve the punishment of death ; but when the execution
of the sentence comes to be deliberated upon, a small pro-
portion of each class are singled out, the general character,
or the peculiar aggravations of whose crimes, render them
fit examples of public justice. By this expedient few actually
tllir death, whilst the dread anti danger of it ham; over
the crimes of many." Here then it is that the condition of
1 the particular case—the greater or less degree of gait in
the intention—the precious character of the accused—the
pursuits and habits of his former !if'.,—are brought under
deliberation, and prescribe those rules for the exercise of 1
mercy which the mere principles of penal law cold.' of
themselves never fix. " The laws of England," as PALMY
afterwards observes, "are accused of creating capital of-
fences beyond those of other countries ;" " but," as he em-
phatically, and with great truth, remarks, " the charge of
cruel,;• is answeredby observing, that these laws were never
meant to be carried into indiscriminate execution ; the Le-
gielature, when it establishes its last and highest sanctions,
trusts to the benignity of the Crown to relax their severity,
as (Pen us circumstances appear to palliate the olli•nee, or
even us Olen as those circumstances of aggravation arc
wanting which mattered this rigorous interposition neces-
sary." We quote the remarks, bottomed as they art on

the principles of eternal justice, as well as on the essence
and spirit of our criminal code, for the purpose of apply-
ing them to the case of 3lr. FA V NTLIP.OIf and as leading to

dime reflection* which every humane and candid mina will
bring to the consideration of it. We do not look up to the
rsdon of this unfortunate individual ; the public anxiety

rests upon the commutation of the punishment of death
to a punishment short qf death, and which, in the spirit of
• just disrt imination, may mingle the exercise of mercy
with the dispensation of justice.

We undeistand, that petitions on behalf of the unfor-
tunate Mr. Fauntleroy, ate still lying for signature at his
Solicitor's, and at various other places in town and the
vicinity. As the Recorder's Report is expected to be made
;n a few days, considerable alacrity is displayed iu signing
the petitions.
Among the new projects talked of at present in Edin-
burgh, there is a Joint Stock Loan or Pawnbroking Com-
pany, for advancing tr:.-tey onlgoods, and a Distillery for
the English market.