The National Register.
London, England, 1823-03-16 00:00:00

CAPITAL CONVICTIONS IV FRANCE AND
ENGLAND.

A work re t ntly published in Paris, entitled
" Situation dc l'Angleterre," par M. Nonevent'',
has the tbllowing statement of crime in Englund
and France, punishable by death, in 1801 awl
1811, which presents a striking contrast between
the two kingdoms:—

FRANCE.

ENGLAND.

Condemn- I Condemn-
Inhabitants. I ed to . Yeers. Isimbitants. ed to
Depth. Death.
31,000,000 682 I 1801 I 16,000,000 3,400
42,000,000 392 1811 11,0140,000 I 0,400

M. Montveran declares, in his work, he ca 3 sub-
stantiate the above by authentic documents. If ac-
citrate, it is obvious that, in 1801, in France,
twenty-six nut of a million of inhabitants ware eon.
donned to death ; and that, in 1811—ten years al-
ter—the number of condemned had diminished
two-thirds, leaving the proportion of only nine to a
million.
In England, on the contrary, when, in 1801, tha
.erintinals condemned to death were 212 out of e
million of inhabitants, the amount increased by
more than one-half—there being, in 11111, 376 out
of a million. It also appears, that the condemns-
tions in England, compared with these in France,
were as 376 to 9, or us 42 1:
The-report of the state of mendicity in France,
compared with those of the parish poor in England,
by M. Montveran, also presents a prodigious ditfer-
ence—the French list, in I$L2, exhibiting only
thi...ty thousand individuals out of forty-three mil-
lions of inhabitants ; while in England, in the same
year, a fourth of the population, or 4450,000 pour,
were thrown upon the parishes.

Two convicts, upwards of 70 years old, con'
demned to hard labour for life, and who had spent
some years in the gallej7s, having been sent to the
House of Correction at Rennes, east lots which of
them should put the other to death, and then murder
himself. The lot having fallen on Louis Paitre, the
old miscreant took one.of the posts of his bed, and at
five o'clock in the morning of the 15th of November
last, commenced his work of murder. He struck
his companion several blows on the head, but the
groans of the victim discovered him. He was tried
on February 12, at Itennea, for an attempt to cum.
mit assassination, but the laws had not provided a
severer punishment tiny his crime than imprisonment
fur 10 years, to which he was sentenced, with, how..
ever, but little chance of his completing that period.
His companion recovered within three wanks after
the attempt.
101 ILL.—One of those excellent inventions
was put into operation a short time ago fur the em-
ployment of the 'mit:otters in the county gaol aid
house cf correction at Reading, Pennsylvania. The
prisoners, it is stated, performed the labour appa-
rently well for several days, when 32 mutinied,
end refused to go upon the wheels,stating, that they
must have cute provisions and leather-bottomed
shoes, or they wouLl nut perform the labour. They
considered confinement in cells was all the punish-
ment that awaited their disobedience, but in that
idea they were deceived; the keeper and assistants
were under the necessity of having recourse to arms
and bludgeons, and compelled every man to go upon
the wheel to perform the allotted labour. The effi-
ciency of this mode of punishment is so vory appu•
rent, that we were surprised the legislature of
Maryland has not before this directed the erection
of a mill in the state penitentiary. In the Penn-
sylvania Legislature we observe a bill fur this object
has been passed by a large vote.
The planet Mercury is seen at present in groat
perfection about un hour after sun-set, in the wes-
tern quarter of the heavens. It resembles a fixed
star of the first magnitude, both in size and by its
twinkling, differing only in having 'paler white
We understand that Edwards, the spy, of Cato..
street notoriety, is now residing at Truro, in Corn-
wall. He has no ostensible employment, and his
finances appear to be in a very flourishing condition.
It is confidently reported that ten salt of the line
be iinutediately to be put in commission.

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