The National Register.
London, England, 1818-12-14 00:00:00

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Our tting, onfititution anti

No. 566.—V0L. XI..

MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, ISIS.

DOXITLCAL DISQUISITION.

ON THE DECENT ADQU,LTTAL OF PERSONS TRIED
FOR IITTSRING FORGED BANK OF ENGLAND
• NaTE/i/L•

THIN seatatkal went segicittala at the ()Id Bailey, of
of
The
deli-
away

ton
.of
verdicts,
the
.tted ;
nume-

nisi' the fabricator. The public would take no harm if
the note should circulate-for ever: it would pass as the
representative of twenty shillings as long as the Bank
stood; it is (nineteen times out of twenty) only when
taken to the Bank itself, that proledion to the holder
.fails. It is then only that loss is sustained, and not
by the public, but by one man. Wt again say; there
is but OM sufferer; and that that'one suferer, upon
every principle of humus justice and British juriSpru-
(knee, should be the prosrcutor. This, we apprehend,
is the only instance wherein the person aggrieved fi'net,
either in his owu name, or in that of the King, .the
identical party also who Las recourse to the law. If the
Bank pays the note, let the Dank prosecute the offence:
it has been damnified, let it obtain redress. But we
again say, that it is must absurd tluit the Bank, which
is the only party that can sustain no loss, should be
the only party which steps forward to inflict punish-
ment...

anticipated: .
"•••1t is mid, that a " persist outcry has been raised
44`only withits the tag twelve manthsagainst convictions
" fee &rot?, as ifthat piatiphay crime was entitled to
" peculiar. sympathy." MOO lkot literally, though it
is !severally, true. The assilis thus :—esecutionssand
punishments for forgery, sPoiljit uttering forged notes,
hare of hate excessivelritteremed, yet have the crimes
;0.
cotemporancously increase 4 also ; and hence, more than
a popular outcry (fr some of the wisest and most ex-
emplary men in the nation have joined in it) has been
;Asa against legal severities, which have produced no
good effect; and peculiar sympathy has been excited
towards criminals whose execution has obviously so
asseleasty to prevent others from committing the some

'nen
gee*,

offenee.
We are aware that a week advocate does harm to a
souse; and as we certainly have, with the nation at
large, thought the system pursued towards forgers and
titterers erroneous, we, in order to put it down, shall
'just quote one of the arguments gravely advanced in
support of it :••••••" We confess we are so dull, that we
"4 cannot see any mitigating circumstances of distinction
between the man who commits a fraud by uttering a
•" fined note, and he who picks a pocket to same
" amount. Yet, we .have hitherto been spared the
" folly of imbecile lamentations over the convicted
" thief." But are pickpockets hanged ? Yet forgers
• are executed without exception ; and utterers, after a
repetition of. their offence, are subjected to the same
fate. _ _ .

have shown

and being under no obligation to pay forged Owes, •oan
sustain no loss, and that such loss must be sustained by
sonic individual, foolishly and by way of exaggeration
called the public : yet, when the inspector of the Manic
was required by the jury on Williams's trial to deplore
how he knew a forged front a real note, the question
was resisted on the principle that "it would lead to

• . . .
" great inconvenience if the Bank were obliged to de-
" dare the private marks by which it could determine
"on the gennineneu of its motes." By this.4aetriie,
then, it follows that individuals, who are alowe.inte-
rested in the genuineness of notes, are kept in igncs.
ranee of the marks by which the true can be distin-
guished from the false ; and the Bank, who are not
obliged to pay the false ones, retain to themselves the.
exclusive faculty of discerning them.
We have made these remarks in no hostility to that
eminent corporate. body, the Bunk of Englan4. It acts,
we believe, and arc ready to allow, with' as match lenity
as the abs►►rdity of the existing system will permit, and
►will probably be benefited by any rational change.—
As to the dictum, or,general theorem upon which the
lams against forgery are founded, that we are a com-
mercial country, and therefore forgers ought to be
hanged ; the fillaey of this theorem has long been
shown and pro►ed. Holland was once as commercial a
country as England, and yet never executed fur thrgery.
The Quakers of England are a highly commercial body,
and yet are they, as such, most grievously adverse to
inflicting capital punishment on all forgeries ; and aro
now exerting themselves warmly for the repeal of laws
so san.gttinary.

What follows, thaugh upon a painful subject, is ab-
solutely ludicrous We imagine no one will deny
• " •that.he who forges a Bank nate is a rogue; that be
Avhil utters it, knowing it to be forged, is a rcgus :
" and that a rogue, when discovered, ought to be
malted "—that is, Of course, he ought to be hanged !
In this, we answer' „alit; public is not agreed ; but is
very etrongly of opinion, that the system at present
adopted towards offenders of that particular class .of
which we are speaking, has not been proper ; and
is now indisputably obvious that a change will lake

place.
Leaving, therst'ore., arguments like the above to do
alt the harm 'they -most to the eanse which they art
brought, to: anyport, we new proceed to notice
with great temper a few of the errors and inemeisten- .
CPI of diat tysteni as it tit present exists. The indict-
metitit for forgery all ran that the crime was committed'
"ivith inteht to defraud the awernor and Company or
the littik of, England." But the witnesses on the part
of the Ralik, their own solicitors, searchers, and in-
sPootPrs or notes, as universally swear, that the prose.'
cutiots 'is instituted in order to protect, not the Hank,
bag the plait- : and -it iti certain that, whomaneyer the
not 6 mey lire been drawn with the inknition to defraud,
, . . • .
...au Raw; a ,oikty party dun taunot and will not be
defrautied; /fir it will not pay the forged note to the

On Thursday last the 3d instant, the Assitse Court
of St. Omer condemned to fioe years' forced labour in
chains, to branding, and public exposure, Alexanticr
Sinclair (otlterwise'.Nlidgrave), for utterinu forged Bank
of England Notes .the ncigixsurhood-of St. Omer.
Dunkirk, and Gala's- The prisoner repngented himself
to be a British nivat °nicer, connected' with the, „Dud:-
chatloni, anil tva.4 tiLvontpanitAl by a Feot.th
woulati, tv)iou!.l►e rerrcaentedtu be 1 i 1 wife.

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necessity . Avengelly admit.
ted Tdr. Jacks ,only • , against. it ; .04 it' iv:
unanimously agreed, that *that dabs *our& ,
be presented is both li ',ll, t, founded sari
and embodying the of the mover, Mr.:
Fa4cll. Thfs Committee far General Purposes prc.,..
seated a oltcp9ht, recommending an application to Pap./
lianiont, in the, ensuing Session, for extending doom.
. _

power, of the Cburt of Requests to 101. &c. ;
amending and consolidating the several laws now ht,
force relating thereto`.; which were agreed to, and the;
Committee directed to-prepare the draft ofa Petition .to•
the /louse of Commons, and of the Bill, and 114, as'
same before a future Court for consideration.
The. '

Wellington,-11
calling on you, to express my sense of the obligation I
het, for the attention which my army has unifbrasli
experienced at your hands, since it has been. under-
your orders. No words can do justice to what I feel.
As little am I able. to express my admiration, and the.
high gratification you afibrded. me, at the late review
of our troops, especially by the finest military move...
mont I ever witnessed—the advance. of the British
Guards when attacking the heights of Father !-...1 havw
therefore to desire that you will gtenait use to.nominatt
you a Field Marshal of linssia.', The Duke bowed assent.
and expAssed his deep sense of the distiigaished honour
intended him by his Imperial IgAjesty. The day after-
Ibis interview, the Emperor, on meeting the Duke,
Said, You must dine with use.tordey its the the,
safform.'—' Sire,' replied the Duke. I have not yet
been able to furnish myself with a coat That shell
net be wanting,' said the 'Emperor, if you trill wes
the beat in my wardrobe.' In half an hour the Emptir
ror's own uniform !oat, which he had wnrii the.tley4
bailee, was sett to the Duke, who appeared in it at
dinner, with the order of a Russian Field Marshal, and
a magnificent sword presented to his Grans by his im-
perial Majeity, 'on 'the occasion. The manner in which
.tho. Emperor conferred this high eriiitary honour, is
perhaps the mon flattering peisenel odmpliment which
the lien) of Waterloo has yet received, and it. had the
additional glace of being given with all the cordiality
and kindness of an intimate friend.

Ou Wednesday, the General Committee of the
thane' _Society "for the' Education of the Poor, in the
principles of the tstehlished (:hurch, held their aneet-
ing at the central School, his Gnice the Archbishop. sSi`
Canterbury in the Chair. Twenty fresh Schools were
united to the Society, and several grants were mails
towards the erecting, enlarging, and fitting up i:f
School rooms;
building the School in Spitultie.bl4, intends t for
bOVS and .1(10 girls. Afterwards his Grow
by the Cotinuttee, entered the School-
sided- at the -half-yearly Yublic
l'hildren, who acquit:4:d th e nisei vex
'satisfacto.7 to the company assembled
Amongst others present, were two
ywing men, natives of New Zealand,
re:itlerit for seine rno.ials in Cu'iti country,

l~;

.

pairoiS*ol,m limps of uttering forged Bank
1.01111101111110,010001pi1l rroutaphstion. TI
subject, wo.sre awilre, oile.of considerable de'
9tcy; dinner the ipf aociOnal )lave taken much awl
ifrom it leant quil; itat ploons is the indiscretil
*cit has beta elmmitted l+.ooguPPoced partisans
the Rank, in moving the itatiolilaration of the verdic
and in attempting to briog'o. 'ee public, through ti
Riess, to try the contlucitnrhe, juries who acquittal
tee
for the public has long ` looown to view the num
tons prosecutions for forgerp:,ind uttering fined not
Yeah aversion; its opinion, therefore, might have be

.e is seethes ineemeistattcy, also, iu the mow
which wsustteet,ed 'sr the late !eh& Re
own that the Bank; by mowing its AtVettes,

innocent helderof it. klut a few words upon the sub- COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.
ject of the public, whom it is said the Beak means to ,
Thursdays Court of Couninni.Omacil was .kel et
protect by these pstmeeutions. Who is the public ? at Guildhall, for the purpo4,ll, considering the pr,,-.
This will soon be man from the. filiewing 'statement : ptiety of petitioning Parlisunent,:toievise and alter the,
..,
A forges aU. note, and puts it off to B, who is igno- Penal Lawa,.iw order to decrease the =tube; of "' i,
.41 I
rant of its oriilin ; Bto C, Cto D, and so on through pitul peniallmenta for minor .offenosa; and to mule •
punishing** ,generally more eettiel*lrsto tn 4114 ' ....4, 41
the rest of the alphabet. It is 'videos thiti wherever dismal. legion .of stialt....The. RA1444011 hating:
this ft iief* Alm insmikolßltelli Paz. butt .•. - , i 41410111011 iaii.44ool,or •
man ; that, therefore, only ohs inlet at the malt die. by i, eh he 'bigot !brined 1 wook• . • ---
. .
be pnt;eeted in this instance; 'ma that the Bank will bar of a and arguments to show how seees...
,4 )
..
of ,_ ,_
not protect him in the only possible or sensible way, sail it was. to obtain a. leg:llmo4y* n tste,m,w, W.
hi gulattion. The mom* Mr. Vill-,. '
namely, by paying the. imitative note to the honest
Hams, and the. subject was debated at twat. length Ly : i .1
holder, not neglecting proper means to detect and pu- !
Mr. jacks, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Dixon, and others. The •
-i 1
nisi' the fabricator. The public would take no harm if necessity of a revision seemed to be universally admit. . t

The. following is given sultan' authentic statement of,
circumstance whiah has already berm briefly noticed.,
in the Ohne prints:—When the ttprer Maunder
arrived at Aix-la-Chapelle, .(which
in the middle.
of the night) after the late gribia military review near,
Valenciennes, his Imperial Majesty went early the
next morning, without, am previous notice, to the.
hotel of the Duke 'of*/ w lin was
breakfast with his • The
entered the mew ariAlaseireariniftlly, but in °
tart • Ater shaking Ada Orace by the 1,4'. '
very cordially, he addressed him nearly in the followitt
words: Duke of Wellington,—l lase not a moment is

1., intcndc I 14 703
►tlrace, accumpattiatt
hool.roont, ago
F,xaraillati
.I.llr, •
a in a alann
bled ass the
two very i
-No
land, who
ountry.
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