The National Register.
London, England, 1818-05-17 00:00:00

_onali Ittaii_!ittr+

Om Ling, eottOitution anti MIA.

SUNDAY, MAY 17, 1818.

that individuals of it are ready to wine forward and
declare, that such a practice is compatible with health
and longevity ! The part wllirli the House has taken
on this subject, does honour to it feelinoi. The cause
of reason and hantanity tnu•t AID ub t Itss, prevail, and
we should really blush f • those Members who have
been left in the minorito m the Bill in question, if
they should persist in wiling to ex:snse more than
they have done, the want of feeling in themselves
the absence of common ureretnorling i 9 tinr.viduaie,
whose protssiea requires more than an ordinary degree
in all who are allowed to rractice it. Allowing for
an instant, that it were possible to 16n17 lnward such
medical evidence, as hcrc allteled to, is it reasonable to
suppose that, with the exception of their employers,
any Member cf either House could be :311 el so stupid
as to allow it the sraallest influence on 4i.s decision ?
Certainly not spite of all the ele-ta thnsc
Slavery of this description, the stigma attaeried to the
country from its prevalence is on the Joir.i. &sea-
peering. The h•arnanity of the le,gisi-seese is too inti-
mately concerned, the character of the coy sere,- too
at stake, to admit a doubt that our expectlth:ne can be
disappointed. But the regulation of public charity, and
the protection of youth against cruelty end oepression do
net constitute the onli subjects for approval : the pro-
ceedings of Pciliament during the last week .....en
eni-
minals participate iii the reseit of these le eoge on
which we pride ourselves. The punie:imen. dc'eth
in ruses of forgery which the public has Ling r • eeoced
out of proportion to the offence, has at ieogth copied
the attention of Parliament, and we trust that te :4
is fast approaching when our feelings vii!l ee.le to ba
revolted by the many capital punishramk with which
this crime is annually attended in thinTtsl.4,.-eliV•
can scarcely, however, per eit otirselve •
any change that can be made in the Bank Note will
be sufficient to check the evil in question. The arts
in this country have attained too great perfection to
justify such a conclusion. Were it possible to f:ustrate
ail attempts to fabricate Bank Notes, the Bank Direc-
tor would indeed be deserving of the severest censure
for %eying so long postponed a meesure of such crying
lreportanee—but the thing, we feel persuaded, is too
difSee`t, it'not impossible. We rathser incline to think
that, rehuitting the punishment to be nut of proportion
to the crime, the remedy should be in the alteration of
the law itself. We have now ample.proof that its cf-
feet is quite inadequate to the preventioa of crime, and
an as.loris, we boldly venture to assert that when the
effect of any law becomes as the one in question merely
nittriictive it is time that it should be. erased from our
Cede. Forgery is unquestionably a incest serious offence
at ail times, hat eertaialy never can be more so, than at
the present moment. Ceull the punishment c.f death,
uniformly inflicted, tt ml to prevent the perpetration of
it, we shoull not, much aY we deprecate the too un-
proportionate seve•:lty of the punishment to the offence,
feel more than pitg for tl?e ofe.w,er 1 but convinced as
we feel that the rcDcitaive effect etf' the existing law
is inadequate to its object, we cannot but feel disgusted
at ere taw Lre.?r: In all offences we abustld presume tlu
offender to be influenced more by what may appear
to him the probability of escape from detcciien aito-
gether, than by any reference to the rmnishment Iv hi :11
' would attend the detection, and perhaps on this aseump-
t!on the punishment of forgery does not claim the a:
terference of the legislature. We however, at
what has been done already, and doubt not, that tire
humane efforts of the Member who nude the tnotion,
which hay led to the latter part.of this discussion, will
nltimately he miser-tied with sjC^CS:

Admiral Sir Josias Rowley is to prresed ilbribwith
to Ireland, to assume the cowman : on
is the.Cark station,
in the place of Admiral Fla 'Avllu appanted.to
r inumund the squadron ordered fur two inufaho' cruise
in the Charnel.

PRICE 90.