The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-24 00:00:00

ing hi's wife, had assaulted her wit.Ul n heated'
poker, hsr! beaten her furiously till she was in-
sensible, and had actually set her 'clothes on lire, when'
be was prevented froiti killing her by the interference
of the neighbours. Theugh the bruises and burns occa-
sioned by tit fia ,rocious assault hal nearly poduced death,
Ineis.d wonnd was inflicted, clid, therefore, as the case
did not fall 1.1. ithin any of the e.s laues of the statute, he could
only be punished foi an iggravated assault. Now flo'
take to ire a great defect in our criminal law, which ough-t.
to he remetred. For the purpose of remedying it, the'
Commiss oners recommend the introduction of the words,
" or Shad by any other means whatsoever, manifesting a
design to kill, do actual bodily harm, with intent to mur-
der." The other offences respecting which the Commis-
missicncrr are of opinion the punishment of death should
be retained, arc, " Burglary, accompanied by an attempt
to murder, or by stabbing, cutting, wounding, beating,
strikirisri to any other personal violence to an inmate ; rob-
bery, and atttaupts to rob, accompanied by cutting, stab-
binsc, wounding, or doing actual bodily harm, with enl
offensitie weapon or instrument ; setting fire to any build-
big, with intent to murder, or to any dwelling-hause acttl.
ally inhabited, or to any building, parcel of such dwel'ing-
hougc nr adjoining thereto." It is obvious, Sir, that these three
classes of direness, although brought under one head, are
very different in their nature ; and that a line should he
drawn with respect to there. I am satisfied with respect to
the first two, that it would tend to producemore convictions',
as well as to prevent much personal violence, if, where there
was no violence, and where no weapons of destruction were
found, a punishment less than death should be inflicted.
With respect to breaking into houses at night, howevei,
and
disturbing the peaceful rest. of the inhabitants, that cer-
tainly may be a fit subject for capital punishment. It iss
however, in my opinion, desirable to abolish the punishment
of death for the offence of setting fire to stacks. It i 5
certainly a great offence ; and if I thought the continuance
of the punishment of death would be effectual in checking
it, I might hesitate ; but I am persuaded, on the contrary;
that the punishment of death 'prevents the conviction of
many offenders. The compassionate feeling of the farmer
induces him not to prosecute—that of juries not to find
guilty. I was one of a small number who, in 1835, sup-
ported the abolition of capital punishment for this offence-
Ten persons have been convicted of the offence, of whom
seven have been executed. Although many hundreds have
been committed, only sixty-four have been brought to trial ;
and, as I have already stated, only ten have been convicted
—so strong is the prejudice against capital punishment for
that offence. The remaining offences to which the Com-
missioners recommend that the punishment of death should
still attach are--" Setting fire to, casting away, or destroy-
ing ships, with intent to murder, or whereby life is en-
dangered ; exhibiting false lights or signals with intent
to bring ships into danger, or doing anythir', tending
to the immediate loss or destruction of ships indistress
piracy, accompanied by an attempt to murder, or by stab-
bing, cutting, or wounding." Having thus disposed of the
offences with respect to which they are of opinion that the
punishment of death should be retained, the Commissioners
proceed to specify those offences, now capital, for which, je..
their opinion, appropriate secondary punishments •ought
be substituted. Among these are :—" Attempting to ad;
minister poison with intent to murder ; shooting at, or at
tempting to discharge loaded arms with intent to maim, dis,
figure, disable, or to do grievous bodily harm, or to resist
lawful apprehension for a crime ; stabbing, cutting, 0'
wounding, with the like intent." They also recommend
secondary to be substituted for capital punishment for various
cases of burglary, and for an offence analogous to burglal
viz., stealing in a dwelling-house, any person therein beingl3°,
in fear. The next point, however, to which I wish to call thi:
attention of the House is the nature of the secondary wit
ment which the Commissioners wish should be inflicted on t"c
offences I have just mentioned. I must say that I entertain
i
considerable doubt whether the system of transportation ough
to continue to be carried on as it has been carried on of late
years. In theory it seems highly desirable to remove an act'
der to a great distance from the place where he committed thl
offence, and to leave him in that new country viith mewl'
which may enable him to support himself by his lah°°,l;
And I think still, that with respect to many offences, LP
punishment of transportation is the best that can be 1°
flicted. But I propose, not only as the result of my 01
investigations of the subject, but in accordance with tb
opinions of the Governor of Van Diemen's Land, and tli
Chief Justice of New South Wales, that no person slut'
be transported for any period less than ten years ; it beinl
found that persons transported for a less period were unrol
and incapable of subordination. The next period of trans
portation which I propose is for fifteen years ; and the las
for life. I think, also, it may be necessary shortly t'
abridge the number of persons sentenced to tranaportial
tion. The accounts of the manner in which that putais
ment is carried on are very unsatisfactory. The grcA,
fault is, that the four or five thousand persons who sr;
sent out every year to New South Wales are not absorb
e‘
in the general population, but form a large and viciou
separate mass.—[The Noble Lord here read a letter 0'
the subject, which he had received from the Chief .11/5,
tice of New South Wales, but in so low and hurriel
a manner, that we were unable to collect its import.
A suggestion which has been made with reference to tabl
better regulation of our penal colonies is—that no cony
should receive any indulgence for a certain period after
arrival, and after he shall have conducted himself well
This is a question to be considered. I will observe 01?
that if such regulation be adopted it will require an
ar,
teration of the law, because I believe the Noble Lord r
posite (Lord Stanley) when he was Secretary for the Col°
nies, gave an order of this kind ; but it has since bee,
found found that without some legislative proceeding with „r
ference to the colony this punishment cannot be legally
flicted. I will just quote what Colonel Arthur has std b'
with respect to the actual manner in which these pull°
ments in the colony are actually carried on. It was vt,,
known that Colonel Arthur reported to Archbishop \VW ,
"-
ly his opinion that the punishment of transportati?
ought to be persevered in. That opinion is opposed totth'
y
Right Reverend. Prelate, and therefore the statemen
Colonel Arthur cannot and ought not to be considered
one given under an unfavourable bias.—[The Noble I,°!,
in a low tone of voice read the statement alluded to, but:,
the absence of the document we are not enabled to comm.;
nicate its details. We understood its general purport, he.".,;,
ever, to be, that the crimes of the convicts continuallYJ",
volved the settlement in trouble, though the discipline of v
Diemen's Land was carried to a much higher extent 'thewl
could ever have been contemplated. The colony tnighteb
travelled by night or by clay ; and there were amongst 1.,
inhabitants very many to be found always ready to suPP.°t;
the Government in any exigency. Many of the Nevi:,
were much reformed under kind and considerate waste',
but there was, nevertheless, so much peculation amilPos,l
then), so much disobedience of all lawful authority, "°" flit
much dishonesty, as to demand continual reference to al
magisterial authority. If a case occurred which was at
of a serious nature, the master of the convict was bol:ut
to appear, and, in addition to the injury which he thur; bo
tained, he had to suffer in various ways. There emnus,At
no question that things might be made much better ter
they they really were. Under the present system the set.
of the convicts or servants overlooked these frauds and
of peculation rather than take the trouble to punis" ar
offender.] Now this, continued the Noble Lord, is
it
extremely unfavourable picture of the proceeding's 0
the colony ; and if applied only to a small ntiruherto
men, it might be considered that by a more rigid sYs 0,
of discipline these evils might be overcome; but, whee,e,
rAlect that this is a colony containing 100,000 per erg
an 1 that we send 4,000 or 5,000 convicts out Orto
year, the obvious consequence of the present strcsi.
of things must be to make that colony the seer
dence of the most depraved people that have ever Lry
the world. I think, therefore, that it will be nets eta'
before long to take some steps, not to abolish translnia
tion altogether (for I do not go the length of Archhisseta
Whately), but only to make some change in our Prebiel
mode of proceeding. I will not go into all the evils "atati
now exist in the coony ; and I will therefore onlY
that the system of transportation, as it at present re,,ble
if looked at on the score of economy only, is objectl°7oo/
inasmuch as it costs the country from 350,000/. to 4°,,i"'
bli
The
force syste
bothm requires the maintenance of a eensPr,
in New South Wales and Van Di iAnd
emen? „not'
where the troops are of necessity far removed and
from any service to which they might otherwise "`" 0111
sionally required. I think that with respect to thgt.s!l7 At
offences for which the penalty is now transportatio :00
should, rather than diminish the lesser term of traosPerioi
tion, establish the rule that it should not be for a le'sto 1.134
than ten years' transportation. With regard, toot ogre!
periods of imprisonment, lam sorry to say I cane bay`
with the Commissioners. Sir, the Commissioneqoo.
proposed that ten years shall be the maximum dura-tia ' 911.
think that five years is the longest period to be nameonsee°l
I am convinced that the effect of a ten years' imPri! --e
hi
must be only to harden the criminal, and to desl,ruoJort
powers and the capacities of the mind ; and 1 ht which
over, that it is a punishment the infliction ° .0 sh"'
in some cases, is worse than death. Sir' 10f
the
opinion I know one, at least, if not more.
Learned Judges coincide ; and I shall certattlor to
be disposed to leave in the hands of any en the P°
, here
Dog
inflict a punishment of ten years' imprisonmem.,.o count
observe that this is a punishment unknown to to,ook, an
and in only one case is it known in the Statute"," the SC
never has it been carried into effect. I allude which it is
which refers to the Penitentiary at Milbank, by °be WO
enacted that if any person should be sentenced t!:'es, be re;
ported for life, he. may, under certain circtimstane for t°
years.taied inß
utth
we
hPaetniist Penitentiary, afraye,t
?a and
Why,im thatrison
tie 11:!,
ore than
Par erosetil
moment few have been retained there for snore. tneijec
years k and, from what I am generally told, I done.lo bat
that- any case has-occurred- in which the