The National Register.
London, England, 1819-02-15 00:00:00

ational ArlicAtiOUT+

tiing, (frontitution anTi

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1819•

means, with the greatest expenos of Immo' lives our
criminal law produces the least effect in the way of
preventing crime.

Fromthis remark of Montesquien's, an amply justi
feed as it is by the penal code of England, will bo seen
the justice of that of lleccaria, in his celebrated Essay
nu Crimes and Punishments. ' Whocier,* says he, ,
• reads with a philosophic eye the laws and histories of
nations, will continually find the names of vice and
virtue, of patriot and criminal, changing places daring
• the revolutions of successive ages, nut regulated, how-
' ever, by the altered circumstances and s tuations of
the several states, but according to the diffaent pas-
' ions and mistakes of Luccessive legislators. Thus it
is, that the pa,,sions of one age form the basis of the
morals and laws of the next, and thus originate the
most tmcertain and erroneous notions of honour and
virtuet.' Thus too, we may add, have arisen many ,
of those absurd or cruel laws t!hich disgrace our statute-
book ; and it' we wish for a stilling instance, we need
only look to the present proceedings in Parliament,
where we shall we the Attorney General proposing to
repeal a law, that of trial by battle, which once was
deemed a sacred appeal to Heaven, am; which, even till
this day, has been sugefed to disgrace our legislation.
The luaus writer (Becoaria), agrueing with Paley, that
the sole object of punishments by human laws is the pre-
vention of crimes, lays it dews, that all punishments
which go beyond this object, ate in their nature unjust
because they do net tend to,preserve the bends of society:
but militate against the iery object of the social con •
tract, the welAxing of the contracting parties, We
have before seen the insufficiency of disproportioned
punishments se their object of preventing crimes, and
this consideration shews their absolute injustice. flow
then can we justify that scale, which assigns to parricide
and to stealing- frombleachinggrounds the same punish.
ment? not by alleflging that the sentence is not always
inflicted for the latter offence, for that cannot he a jus-
tification in those instances where it is but rather an
aggravation of the injustice, by adding that uncertainty
which encouraged the criminal to commit the offNlce,
and thus proved a snare to him. The parricide, when
he commits his crime, knows that his only chance of
saving his life, is by evading detection--a chance,
which doubtless is the hope by which he is en:ranted
but human laws cannot prevent that. Eat the man
who is hanged for stealimg from the bleaching growth,
had the hope, that, if even detected and convicted, he ,
might still escape capital punishment, for many had
before him ; this chance proves a snare to hint, and it
is a snare which the law itself has laid under his feet.
The injustice, therefore, of this disproportioned panish-
went is increased by its uncertainty.

Such are the impolicy, the injustice, and the lump-
tainty, of our penal enactments—there defects, so ra-
dically vicious, that (independently of the faults of eur
prison discipline) wo cannot be surprised at the natural
effects ensuing of an increased number of erintos. 'fh3
rein*, however, is in our own hands; and, if any
thing Could console us on this *abject in particular for
the loss of Sir Samna P.omilly, it woull be. that the
pursuit of•this important object has been talon up by
the benevolent and pLrscvoring Mr. Wilberforce ; who,
if he dives to attain it, will deserve the glorious title of
the Father of his Country.

• flpirita Laws, bank si. chap. IC.
+ On C% imcs and Punishments, § 15.

A considerable part of the surface of the mountains
of Filllybazoban, belonging to Niapr Purdon, in the
county of Clare, were washed away by the late goods
and exposed to a great extent an ore strongly resenabl.
ng

i'R 9,1 d.