Star.
London, England, 1814-03-24 00:00:00

SIIIIIVItIGHTS OF THE PORT OF LONDON.

Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY presented a Petition
signed by two tht;usand useful artisans, whose busi-
ness was that of building !...hips in the put of London,
complaining of an evil extending not alone to them-
selves, but to the national interests of the country.—
The Petition stated, that ship-building in the private
yards on the liver Thames had of late not only sunk
into decay, but had bJen totally annihilated. As il-
lustrative of this fact, it stated, that there were be-
longing to different persons on the banks of the river
Thames private yards, hi which there were forty-one
slips tor building ships ; and in the whsle of these
yards there was but one ship building. That of docks
for repairing ships, double and single, there were 51
single, and eleven double, and in these there were.
but eighteen vessels under repair, which circumstances,
so injurious. to the Petitioners and toithe country, they
stated, was aurihutable to the arrangements which
had been made for building ships in India, whither a
great number of the artisans heretofore employed in
England had been constrained to fly ; and those who
remained behind were entirely. destitute of the means
of supporting their numerous families. The prayer
of the Petition was, that the House would be pleased
not to extend the time fir India-built ships being ad-
mitted to British registers. The Petition having
been brought up, was read, and ordered to lie on the
table.

CORRUPTION OF BLOOD.
Si: SAMUEL ROMILLY rose, in pursuance of
his notices to move for leave to bring in a Bill to take
away the corruption of blood, in cases' of attainder
for high treason and felony. He expressed a hope,
that in rt in bringing this subject, which had been
ate
so fully discussed during the List Session, before the
House, be'should not he accused of improper perse-
veranße. lie was apprehensive, that the real object
of the Bill which he had introduced on a former oc-
casion had not beim correctly understood—a circum-
stance which was perhaps attributable to the impel--
feet manner in which he had ts:plained himself on
moving for leave to bring it in. The Bill, the intro-
duction of which he has now in view, was precisely
similar to that presented to the House before. The
House would call to their recollection, that, by the
law, as it it pie sent stood, a man convicted of high
treason frufeited ail his lands, all his goods and
chattels, and ail his personal property. With regard
'to persons attainted of felony, they only forte/sled
their lands r. one year, and all their goods and
cnattels, and personal effects. The Bill which he,
el•ould being in would not at all vary this law ; for
if it should pass iuto An Act, persons attainted of
tl:e crime of high treason would, as heictolore, forfeit,
all their lands and proveriy of every description.—
Whether this was a wise or just law, or not, or whe-
ther it was expedient, when the law had removed a
man from society, that his property should he confis-
• cared, and a punishment thereby tali on the innocent
individuals whom he had left behind, or not, was a
matter which had nothing to do with the piesent bill.
That law would remain as it was, and would not be
affected in any way by his Bill. The alteration which
he had in contempt:it:on \vas confined to a part ot the
anti, ut law, which was peculiar to Liztand, and
NOllich did not apply to the other part of this island. 1
He meant that which in cases of attainder was known
among lawyers by the term coropion ?f blood; the
effect of which was, that where a man was attiiinted
of a capital offence, he could not transmit a descent ;
that was to say, such a person could not form a link
by which the chain of a pedigree could be traced;
and if an att limed pi.rson stood in the way of a pe-
digree, his descendants, however tar removed, would]
be deprived of the means of establishing their right
to lands, to which lie, if he were alive, vi•otrld have
bad a prior light, and such land would escheat to the
Lord of the Manor of 'whom the kind might be
holden. As instance, if a man had a son and a
grandson, and his St.ll f•hould be capitally convicted,
it Jic should die intestate, his grandson would be de-
prived of die I:etie4c.tif any 4.1 ostitte.ot which he,

might have been possessed; as, in consequence ofthe
attainder of his son, Ott chain would be broken, and
the land would escl-kat to the Lord of the Manor,
whereby a punishment would he inflicted where pu-
.nishment was not intended. This law rested upon
feudal principles, which svete by no means conform-
able to the modern ideas of justice. The punish..
ment rested solely upon accident ; for the grandfather
might devise his land to his grandson, if he thought
proper—and only io case of his neglecting so to do,
would his grandson be punished, by the confiscation
of his property, and its transmission to the Lord of
/the M.mor. But it this case were considered' severe,
how much more severe were those cases where the
connection was not so immediate, and the relation-
ship more remote ? In the case of a '2oth cousin, for
instance : there, in tracing a pedigree, if it should be
found that one of the direct heirs, however far back,
had been convicted of felony, the land would in like
manner escheat. And what was apparently still more
unjust, was, that corruption of blood only extended
to personal estate, and did not at all apply to
lease-
hold property. It was of this evil of which he com-
plained, and he was most anxious that such a relict of
barbarism should not be found among our laws.—
It was said, in the course of the discussions which
took place on this bill in the course of last Sessions,
that instances, against the recurrence of which he
was desirous of guarding, were not likely to happen.
It so happened, however, that at the very moment
these assertions were made, an instance had occurred
of that very sort ; and in a few weeks afterwards it
happened to be his fortune, in a professional way, to
have that case, which was precisely in point, intrust-
ed to his care. In this case a woman had been con-
victed of a murder in Oxfordshire fifty years ago,
and the estate to which she would have been entitled,
had she lived, had passed from one possessor to ano-
ther, and a valuable consideration bad been given for
it; yet, notwithstanding the person in possession had
paid the full value of the property, information hav-
ing been given that the property had escheated to the
Crown, by reason of corruption of blood, an inquisi-
tion was instituted, and it was found that the land
did in truth belong to the Crown, and it was in con-
sequence duly claimed. An application had, how-
ever, been made to the Court of Chancery, to tra.
verse the inquisition, for the purpose of establishing
that the land had not been held of the Crown, but tit
a mesne Lord—and this motion having been acceded
to, the question would shortly be brought to issue.—
Having now, he trusted, fully explained his object,
he begged to move for leave to bring in a Bi:1 o To
take away Corruption of Blood in cases of Attainder
for Felony and 'High Treason."
The question having been put,
Mr. YORKE said, it was not his intention to op.
pose this motion, unless he felt himself authorised so
to do by the general sense of the House. He could
not help stating, however, that his opinion on this
subject differed from the Honourable Gentleman's,
which he extremely regretted, as he could not but
doubt hits own judgment, when it was at variance
with the opinions of a gentleman whose experience
of the law of the land had entitled him to so much
confidence. He thought no alteration ought to be
made in the penal laws, unless it was made out that
some strong evil had arisen from their existence in
their present form. He was not without hopes, from
what had passed on a former occasion, that the
Hon. and Learned Gentleman would have left out
that part of his Bill which related to high treason.--
Upon this head he conceived the House had express.
ed a decided opinion. With regard to that part of
the Bill which related to attainders for felony, pro-
vided the crime of high treason was omitted, he
should not perhaps be disposed to object to it, al.
though he thought corruption of blood should still
exist in casts of murder. The Hon. Gentleman had
admitted that this law had been derived from our
ance.itors. This was a reason in his (Mr. Yorke's)
mind why it should not be abrogated. The laws of
England were of a Gothic frame; and although they
bad arisen out of barbarism, the privileges which the
subject enjoyed had arisen from the same source :
he would therefore be loth that any alteration what-
ever should be made in them. He considered the
effect of corruption of blood, whether the original
cause of it was good or bad, of the greatest import-
ance to the general discipline and welfare of the
State—an opinion in which he was confirmed by no
less an authority than Lord Hale, who had said, that
in cases of high treason, the most horrible punish.
ment was not too dreadful or too severe. In a free
country, in fact, the law of Treason, from every prin-
ciple of policy, ought to be severe; for, if it were not,
so many modes of defence were given to the traitor,
that the security of the State would be placed at con-
siderable hazard. Treason, of all other crimes, was
the most atrocious, and on that ground he could not
acquiesce in the proposition of thr. Hon. Gentleman.
He could wish that' the Hon. Gentleman, whose
labours had been so meritorious, would bring the
whole plan for the amendment of the Criminal Laws,
which he had formed, before the House at once, as'
they would then be enabled to form their judgment
upon it, without having their attention distracted by
disjointed propositions. If the Hon. Gentleman's
motion were now acceded to, he hoped he would give
due notice of the second reading of his Bill, in order
that the House might be freely prepared to meet it ;
and he further trusted that the discussion might not
be brought forward at a period when the Lawyers of
the House were gone .the Circuits.
The question having been again put, leave was
given to bring in the Bill accordingly.
Sir SAMUEL EUMILLY then moved for, and
obtained leave to bring in a Bill for altering the pa-
ni•limeot for High Treason, by omitting that part
of the sentence which directed that the bowels of the
criminal should be taken out and burnt' before his
face.

In answer to a question from Mr.Yottica, the Hon.
Gentleman said this Bill was precisely similar to that
introduced on a former occasion.