The Sun.
London, England, 1819-03-09 00:00:00

ELECTION FOR EVESII\

Sir T. GU;;;;;;;Ptesentcd a Petition from cer-
tain Electors of Eresham, praying, as they were
not before allowed to question the return of one of
the sitting Members of the Borough, leave might
be granted them to do so 110 W.
Mr. W. WYNN thought that it was scarcely
requisite to make a single observation on the
subject. The Committee appointed to enquire
into the Election for Evesham had already sat,
and the words of the Act of Parliament say that
there shall trot be any appeal from the Com-
mittee.
The question having been put, whether the
Petition should be brought up, it was decided in
the negative.
CR' tstiNAL LAW.
Mr. S. WORTLEY presented a Petition from
Doncaster, praying a revision of the Criminal
Laws.—The Petition was read and ordered to lie
upon the table.
SINCLAIR.—In presenting to the House a
Petition, which entreats us to take into our ear-
liest consideration the state of the Criminal Code,
I cannot but reflect, with uorniugled satisfaction',
that this prayer has already been complied with ;
and that she numerous Petitions on this subject,
which are preparing in every part of the king-
dom, might, without impropriety, be converted
into addresses of thanks and congratulation. I
am convinced that the decision of a former night
has been hailed with unanimous exultation
throughout the country ; and that the people
have recognised the wisdom and ratified the judg-
ment of their Representatives. They will rejoice
that this momentous question, so closely inter-
woven with our national morals, and conse-
quently with our national happiness, has been
referred to an enlightened Committee, which will
conduct its inquiries not only without prejudice,
and without precipitation, but without either in-
cumbrance or delay. They will feel, that though
the questions of Prison Discipline and die Penal
Code are sufficiently connected to afford a pretext
for crowding them together, they are. also suffi-
ciently distinct and disjoined to admit, with ad-
vantage, of a separate investigation. 11 we look,
Sir, to the motives which led to this great and
important decision, we must, in the first' place,
ascribe it to the precious verdict of a Tribunal, to
which even the otnnipotence of Parliament ought
to boss' ; I mean the verdict of public opinion,
which has loudly and unequivocally pronounced
upon the Penal Code, as it stands in the Statute
Book, a sentence of indignant condemnation.—
But we shonltt indeed be ungrateful and inexcus-
able if, in specifying the causes of our triumph,
we were deficient in. paying homage to. the lumi-
lions, impressive, and dispassionate speech by
whiCh the motion of a former night was introduc-
ed. In alluding to that master-piece at eloquence
and wisdom, I am • confident that-I express the
universal feeling of the country, when I call upon,
or rather beseech, the Honourable and 'Learned
Gentlerhan to delight and instruct the world, by
presenting that speech to the public in a full and
authenticated form.; a speech which, by the force
of its reasoning, most subdue the understand-
ings of the prejudiced, and at the same time, by
the magic of its eloquence, must come home
to the hearts of the unconcerned. In speaking
of the Penal Code, we have frequently been cau-
tioned to make no appeal to the passions ; but
ask, Sir, how it is possible to consider its present
state and tendency, without being impressed with
such feelings as I suppose I must not venture to

define ) What can we say of a toile, which
in theory, the most severe, and, in practice, the
least efficient, that exists in any part of Europe ?
a code, which only tolerable or even defensible
on account of its imperfect execution. For al-
though we are triumphantly reminded of the great
disproportion which exists hetween the aggregate
number of convictions and the relative proportion
of executions, that very disparity which proves
the mild administration of the law. demonstrates,
with equal self-evidence, the incredible harshness
of its enactments—a h.rsliness, which is not

only unparalleled in degree, but totally imprac-
ticable in application. What shall we say of a
code) which, if strictly, or even moderately, en-
forced during a single yearovoulddeluge every part
of the country with such an eirosion of human blood
as would appal the most unfeeling, and startle
the most indifferent ? A code, too, which turns
the tide of popular feeling into the most perni-
cious channel iu which It can possibly run ; since
it enlists the general sympathy on the side of the
malefactor, and transfers the indignation of the
people front the clime against which it ought to
he directed, to the law by which that crime may
be puniNhed, with a severity which becomes equi-
valent to injustice. As long, Sir, as offences of
most unequal enormity may be visited in the same
day, on the same scaffold, by the same fate,
so long will those wretched individuals who
for minor and comparatively venial crimes are ex-
posed to the utmost vengeance of the law,' be
consitlered (not
,merely by the multitude, but by
every enlightened friend to humanity), rather as
martyrs to its rigour, than as victims to its jos-
tice.—l am ,sensible that I have already abused
the patience of the House, hut I wish to touch
briefly upon a subject which I think was not
very fully dwelt upon in the course of the late
discussion ; I allude to the impression produced
'woo the public mind by the frequent recurrence
of executions. It has sometimes been mai:Jained
that they are necessary for the sake of warning
and example ; but I feel anxious to corroborate,
from my own observation, the opinion of those
Gentlemen who think that the effects which tliey
excite are diametrically the reverse.—Sir, in con.
sequence of arriving at an early hour from the
country, l had occasion to pass by the Old
Bailey, on the morning when certain unhap-
py malefactors expiated the crime of forgery
by the forfeiture of their lives. I averted my
eyes, with unaffected concern, from a sight so
painful to humanity ; but the spectacle which I
was compelled to witness, during my slow and
impeded progress Ihranigh the crowd, was such as
to shock me still inure. lf, Sir, I could depict
to the House the various but equally revolting
emotions which might be traced in the counte-
nances of all who surrounded ; the impatient
curiosity of some, the brutal apathy of others,
the thoughtless levity, the indignant horror, and
even the savage satisfaction which the features of
the different spectators exhibited ; if I could de-
scribe the eager struggles which ensued in every
quarter for a nearer approach to the scaffold, and
the indecent alacrity with which many—nay, I blush
to add, even females were hurrying, in every di-
rection, to the place of execution—it tvOuld,
aua persuadq, be the opinion of all who hear
me, that the frequent repetition of these awful
solemnities only leads to familiarise men's, minds
to their recurrence. If any thing be learnt by
those who habitually frequent them, it is to look
forward with comparative unconcern to the pain
or ignominy of such an exit, and, instead of taking
warning from the fate of others, they gradu-
ally become callous to their own. Sir, I now beg
to apolngive for the length of this intrusion, and
to conclude by moving for leave to bring up this
Petition.