The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-10 00:00:00

PETITIONS.

Mr. FORSTER presented a petition from the ship-
owners of the port of Goole, praying that the excessive
light dues might be abolished, according to tae recom-
mendation of the Cotamit,ee which aet s,9rae few week,
6h-we on the sir jt..et.

Mr. TATD )I%l' 7f)N prestnlei petitiqn from
the c,,ittel-sp.43nt,rs of praying for au mquiry
into the causes which retitrilea checked the growth of
cotton in India.

Captain GORDON presented a petition against the
light dues.

NOTICES OF MOTION.

Mr. HUME stoted, that in consequence of the ad-
jouined debate upon the incorporation of Cracow on
TI-ursday t.venin4 next, he should postpone his motion
with regard to Snide until that day fortnight.
BROTHERTON, on the part of the Hon.
Member f,,r Durham, postponed the Hon. Member's

motion with regard to. Indian cotton until this day

fortnight.
Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD gave notice that on
Tue*day, the '23d of March, he should move for leave to
bring in a Bill tor the repeal of the Septennial Act.
Mr. Ch RISTIE moved for an address for a return of
the cost of preparing and otherwise fitting up the fol-
lowing rept,sitoties:—The building erected in Westmin-
ster H4ll in or about 1822, to receive the Common Law
Weords; also of the King's Mews at Charing-cross in
1531, and Carlton House Stables ; of the vaults in
Soinerst-t House, which held the Pipe and Lord Treasurer
of the Exchequer records (estimated by Sir Robert
Harry Inglis :.„d Mr. Hallam, in the " Agenda" of the
Rec.:)l,l Commissioners to have been 16,0001.); of other
yank in Somerset House, containing certain Exchequer
records; of Ihe offic of the Yells in Whitehall-yard; of the
Roll, House tnn reception of the Queen's Bench Re-
cords from Westminster ; of the repository at No. 8,
Whitehall-yard, which held the Common Pleas and
Exchequer of Pleas ReCords, until removed to Carlton
Ride ; of the White Tower of London to receive the
Admiralty Records ; of the Stone Tower at Westmin-
ster ; together with the cost of preparing repositories
for any of the common law or Chancery records in
Lincoln's-inn, Sergeants'-inn, or any other parts of
the metropolis, since the appointment of the Re-
cord Commission in the year 1800, so far as
the same can be prepared. Return or estimate of
the total expenses incurred in removing the records
from one repository to another, since 1800: return of
the cost incurred for watching by policemen and the fire
brigade the Carton Ride, the Rolls House, and any
other record repository, and for any other securities
adopted for insuring the buildings from fire, since the
passing of the Record Act 1 and 2 Vic. e.'94.
Agreed to.

DRAINAGE ACT.
Mr. BAILLIE gave notice, that in Committee upon
the Drainage Act, he should move a clause, to the
effect that no owner of land should receive any advance
of money under this Act over the amount of 12,0001,
unless he could produce a certificate from the Commis-
sioners that all the sums previously received had been
properly and judiciously expended.
THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
Mr. MIME moved for the abstract accounts of the
amount expended for the buildings of the British Mu-
seum, including alterations, fixtures, and furniture, in
each year from its establishment under the Act 26 Geo.
IL (distinguishing alterations from buildings, and for
the purchase of houses and ground), so as to exhibit the
total expenditure for the same up to the 31st day of
December, 1846; of the am•iunt expended on the esta-
blishment of the British Museum in salaries, wages, ap-
pailittnents, household expenses, officers' residences, rates
and taxes, and all other items of expense, in each year, from
the establishment of the Museum under the Act 26

Geo. 11, so as to exhibit the total expense of its main-
tenance to the 31st day of December, 1846 ; of the
amount expended in each department of the Museum,
for the purchase of manuscripts, prints, printed book J,
maps, music. antiquities, coins, and medals, objects of
natural history (z ,ological, botanical, fossil, and mine-
ral), in each year, from the establishment of the
Museum under the Act 26 Geo. 11., under each
department respectively, so as to exhibit the total
amount of expense of the various collections up to the
31st eay of December, 1846, distinguishing the amount
paid from Parliamentary and other funds ; of all the
amounts paid under Acts and Votes of Parliament for all
buildings, collections, and other expenditure for the
British Mtbeum, in each year from its establishment
under the Act 26 Geo. IL, so as to show the aggregate
. .

amount p lid for that institution from public monies, up
to the 3 tit day of December, 1846.—Agreed to.
ABOLITION OF PUNISHMENT OF DEATH.

Mr. EIVART presented petitions from a public meet-
ing held at Exeter Hall, signed by 13,000 persons ;
from Liverpool, signed by the magistrates of the borough
and the most respectable inhabitants ; from Exeter,
Southampton, Belfast, and other places, in favour of the
total ah,lition of the punishment of death.
Mr. TIIORNELY presented a petition from Liverpoo
to the same e 1 ct.

Mr. ENV ART then rose to bring forward the motion
of which he had given notice—namely, the total aboli-
tion of the punishment of death. He said that it was
now seven years :mice he had the honour of bringing
this subject before the attention, or rather before the
patience, of the House. In these years this subject ex-
cited a deep interest, but it had now assumed a far
deeper and greater interest. He thought this was shown
partly in the number of. petitions on the table, and
partly by the numerous meetings which had
been held throughout the-country. At that time few
of the clergy.nen of the Established Church had given
in their adherence to the principle of the total abolition
of the punishment of death, but now they had vast num-
bers who thought as they did, and who had not only
appended their names to petitions, but also appeared
at public meetings held for the purpose of advo-
cating the doing away with that punishment.
There was also a great difficulty in obtaining verdicts
from juries whin involved the punishment of death.
Many instances had occurred of this kind—instances in
which the guilt of the criminal had been clearly esta-
blished, but in which the juries refused to return
a verdict of guilty. He would not enter into
the theological or theoretical view of the question. He
contended that nothing but necessity could justify
punishment by death. One of the most eminent of
Italian writers had written upon this subject, he re`erred
to the Marquis Becarria: the ground of his argument
was, that it was impossible to justify the in-
fliction of capital punishment, except upon the
ground of absolute necessity.—(Bear, hear.) Another
person who had also devoted considerable attention to
the subject of criminal jut itiprudence—no less a personage
than the King of Sweden—had also written upon
the subject to the same effect.—(Hear, hear.)
The question he put before the House and the country
was, whether the infliction of capital punishment was
any longer necessary for the execution of justice. First
of all, he would prove that it was not necessary, and,
secondly, that it was positively injurious. It was quite
evident that punishment of death was unnecessary, from
what took place under the reign of Leopold of Tuscany,
while he need not remind the House of what
occurred under the administration of Sir James
Mackintosh in India, who abolished capital
punishment, nor need he remind them what happened
when Lord Mint° was in power in India, who also
abolished capital punishment. In both cases capital
crimes diminished, and the same result had followed the

abandonm,nt of capital punishment on the part of the
p•esent &up ror of Austria. Why, whoa it was
moved to abolish capital punishment in cases of
cattle stealing and forgery, it was urged that it
would be dangerous to the country. (Hear.) But
how erroneous had this proved to be I The same
argument w oul l apply with equal force when used in
reference to other crimes, which were formerly punished
by death, as a diminution rather than an increase in their
number had taken place, but virtually they only retained
the' punishment of death for murder. It was true, there
were two or three crimes which, according to the statute-
book, were punishable by death ; but the punishment
was a dead letter—its living spirit only survived, for
capital punishment was only inflicted for the com-
m•sion of murder. But on what grounds did

they ahtlish c piral punishment for other crimes
and re'ain it only for murder ? The only argu-
ment was that there was some proportion between
the criwe of murder and its punishment by death—that

a inan wha had killed another ought to be killed by the
law in return ; but, at per all, this was nothing better
than the law of retaliation, and would apply
with equal force to other crimes with respect
to which they had abolished the extreme punishment.
The punishment of " an eye for an eye, and a tooth for
a tooth," had been abolished with respect to many
crimea; therefore there was no tenable reason that it
should be retained with respect to murder. Lord Bacon
described such a punish oent as " that sort of retalia-
tory justice which is nothing more than civilised and
deliberate revenge." Ho would next proceed to deal
with statistics, the authenticity of which were undoubted,
in support of his argument, that the punishment ought to
be abrogated. He proposed, first, to adduce statistics
relating to the period when corporal punishment was
abolished with respect to many crimes; next, the period
following it, and then he should compare them together
and show the result. Periods of distress frequently en-
gendei ed violent crimes, so that they could not all be
attributed to the violent passions of mankind.
Ile merely made these statements to show Hon. Mem-
bers who were opposed to him on this question that the
increase of crimes to which he had referred was not to
be ascribed to the abolition of capital punishments, but
to the distress which prevailed. He should limit his
observations on statistics to a few returns mainly
bearing on the particular question involved in his
motion. The first return he would read to the House
was one made on the 22d of May, 1830. It showed
that in 1830, the year when the abolition of capital
punishments took place to a considerable extent, and for
five , years previous to it, the number of crimes
for which this punishment had been awarded was
greater than during the five years succeeding. Taking
main the fire years ending 1825, the five years ending
1330, the five years ending 1335, and the five years end-
ing 1840, in each of these successive periods, a
gradual decrease of crimes, for which capi-
tal punishment had been inflicted, was shown.
In proportion as executions had decreased, so had also
the crimes for which this kind of punishment was
inflietedandoetchreerasermrn
d,inexctealnite.d Bfourt,
tt
thetrethwe after-
wardsas
sugges-
tion of an excellent friend of his who had
written on this subject. It was dated the 29th
day of August, 1843, and showed a decrease of the
crime of murder, and a lessening
punish-
ments, from the year 1812 to the year olfB4c3a p. i tlanl
thefi rst
six years of this period, when capital punishments were
more frequent than iu the remaining years of the period,
the number of capital punishments was 122,and the con-
victions for murder 144, while in the latter six years, when
capital punishments had decreased from 122 to 50, the
crime of murder had also diminished from 144 to 181. But
there was another return which showed the effect of those
years in which all parties convicted of murder were exe-
cuted as compared with those in a hich fewest executions
took place. That return was made on the 24th August,
1843, and showed that in those years where all parties
convicted of murder had been executed, the crime
of murder had increased from 239 to 270, and in those
ye oa in which the punishment of death had decreased, the
crime of murder had also diminished from 268 to 222.
Now he would not overburden the House with further sta-
tistics. But he would wish to refer to other countries, to
France, Prussia, Germany, and Belgium; and ho wished
particularly to refer to Delgiuw, as in that country