The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-05-02 00:00:00

ptored to hi:n that it would not only be as efficaci. I been principally in the' criminal churti,. where he
0,,5, but probably more so. It was evident that bad full opportunity of being acquainted with those
either the law or the practice must be wrong, and ; ' pious perjuries,' those amiable weaknesses, which
whichever was wrong ought to be remedied. Neew.f.were_cited by his Learned Friend in proof of the,
the practice of not indicting the punishment tip t sniped's:teen and insufficiency of many provisions
oeuneed by law, came every day before the obserea. iin our criminal code. He was persuaded great 1
tier of the public, and under the inspection of rer.:l benefit would accruil from the Adoption of the Bill,
lisment, and yet nu twit hail beeteroundeidth. it. I and it should therefdre have his cuncurrence.—
There was no dispisition to Censure the.Jtidges, The most effectual pit:relieve of crime, in his Cool.
or his Majesty's advisers, for not pullet* law semi, wool be to Make the law as mild as posit.
in ezecidien. It. therefore deleppeeee to hj.n to blu; but atjthe same time not to render it a dead
he most clear, that in the public opiitiestehe laws letter. ' s., ' -
appeared too severe in their punishments. It was Mr. FRANK LAND said, that entertaining as
wrong, in any country, that the laws should be he did the (iighsst respect fur- the talents and mu.
a direct opposition to public °lignites I hut it fives of his Honourable and Learned Friend, he
would he particularly improper in this country, could not agree with him in his views of the sub.
.chore offences are tried by a Jiffy, and Where ject before the House. lie wished that his
laws contrary to the general opinion were nut like- Learned Friend, previous to the introduction of
ie to be well executed. There, in facts appeared his series of Bills, had consulted those who were
to be an •universal confederacy in this country best competent to give him information. How.
against the criminal law as it now Bleeds. In the ever sanguinary our criminal code might be in ap-
iirst place, the Juries, notwithstanding the pail- pearance, there was not upon its practical applica.
city of execution', still were unwilling to trust lion so mild -a system under the sun. In fact many
the lives of the prisoners to the discretion •of the of our laws were only preserved in terrorern.-,-
Judge, but took hold of every possible circumstance They were like a blunderbuss and rattle in , the
to acquit them of the capital part of the charge. window of an honest citizen retired into the
`eat came the Judges ; and lastly his Majesty's country—kept there to frighten away the
Advisers, who were all anxious to spare the lives of thieves, and from which a .shot might not have
these who had been capitally convicted. It there. been discharged its twenty years. lie col-
fore appeared ti be generally agreed by all men, fielded against the repeal of the law against
that the punishment of death was much too suiere stealing in a shop, the existence of which was
for the generality of offences against whii;tl it was absolutely necessary to protect the justifiable et.
denounced. If intimidation would absolutely pre. tikes employed in the exposition of geode. In
vent crime, the punishment of death might be held a commercial country like this,' such laws were
out for the most trilling offences ; but it was well necessary, for property could not be safe without
known that the terror even of death would not I them. He was adverse to weakening the. penal
altogether prevent the ceinelosieu of crimes. Ju. code, the effect of which would he more mischie-
Tics were now iii a manner forced by the severity of
.rous than the house was aware of. Ile was per-
the law to take upon themselves a discretion which suaded it would be better to leave the application
the law never intended to give them.. Even the of the criminal laws to the conscience of the Ju.
sanctity of their oath was sometimes obliged to ries, the discretion of the Judge, and the Royal
yield to the feelings of nature, and they were guilty mercy, whenever it should be necessary. In a
of what had been sometimes called a i,ious per- country where political and personal freedom was
jury, to acquit a prisoner. The fault was in the so much cujoyedles among ui, our criminal sta.
Jew as it now stood; fur every law must be faulty totes must of course be numerous and severe.
which acts so decidedly against the feelings of the These multiplied punishments were part of the
whole country. He did not mean to say that the price we paid' for our liberty ; they were cows.'
law should in every case be carried into strict car. terbalances that must unavoidably take place.
elution, nor would he wish that his Majesty should —By altering our criminal system, or dis.
be deprived of the power of granting pardons. He turbiug it in any material degree, we should de.
thought, however, that pardons should be only stroy those high and lofty sentiments which were
exceptions to the general rule, and that it was by the best safeguards of out Constitution. Ile
vie means right that the general administration of thought the Code might be safely allowed to n-
th@ criminal law of the country should be found. main as it was. •It was less formidable in effect
ed on the King's pardon, whether his Ma. than appearance. It prevented crimes without
jesty was advised by his Judges or his other recurring to punishment. No other system he
advisers. He never could conceive how he could west persuaded would auswcr the great end' of le.
agree to passing any law unless it were his inten- gislation so well, lie must therefore oppose this
tion that it should be generally executed. It had Bill, conceiving it to be the first step towards an
been urged, that in the plan proposed by his Hon. important, and iu his opinion dangerous iunova-
and Learned Friend (Sir S. Romilly) there was a tion in rho Criminal Code.
considerable degree of discretion given. It was Mr. WILBERFORCE felt some surprise at the
true that there necessarily was a considerable de- fears which seemed to he entertained for the well
gree of discretion, but
,then it was a discretion of being of oar liberty and laws. The repeal of a
a very different, nature. It was not a discretion single statute could not affect the whole body of
going to life or death, but merely of proportion. English Jurisprudence, and it was not to be con.
jog the gradations of a certain Bert of punishment tended fur, seriously, that there was any possible
to the gradations of crimes. In capital punish. connection between liberty and penal laws. If
meats there was no possible gradation ; and lie the severity of the code was to be argued into a
thought it too much generally to leave the proof of the liberty of. the subject ; if general 1
life or death of persons convicted to the mere freedom was to be supposed in any degree growing'
discretion of the Judge. it was this which in. with the growth, or strengthening with the
laced Juries so often to acquit prisoners wken there strength of penal sanctions, why should not the
could be hardly shy doubt of their guilt. If, how- reign of Henry the Eighth be allowed to be the
ever, a milder system should be introduced, there purest of English liberty ? Li that reign the ore-
would be no longer so much repugnancreto pro. endues averaged at 2000 a fear. Every crime for
socuting offenders, or so much disinclination to. which death was eppointed, was rigidly punished
convict them. He therefore approved of the prin. with death.. In Queen Elizabeth's reign, when a
cipie of the Bill of his Honourable and Learned better feeling began to spread among the nation, at
Friend, and thought. that an eexperiment of that that distinguished time when the Reformation
sort might very safely be trial). He thought that introduced a purer religion, a more liberal free.
it was better calculated thdn the present system dam, alas more humane law, the executions de. ,
fur preventing crimes, by Tendering the punish. tritasedfrom 2000 to 400 in the year. From.that
spent more certain. He therefore should support. liaur to the present there was a perpetual advance
the Bill. . . 61 mercy upon statute, and the rigorous justice of
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL opposed the the forefathers was temp:red by the puller mu.
Bill. On the best consideration lie could give the 'rals of the children. It had been admittiel that of
subject, he continued in the.opitsion that it would 1872 persons found guilty of offences for which
he best to continue the presetit criminal code. death was the punishment, but one had been exe.
Whatever might be its defects, lie was persuaded cuted. But was this to be the ordinary CQUIIO of
that it was at the same tinie as mild and efficient as law ? Was law to be this nugatory . mid pointless
:my that could be devised. It was the great ad. thing ? Was it to be so adverse to the natural jut.
vantage of this code that it operated rather by pre- Lice of human feelings as to be virtually abrogated
xeteetei than punishment ; its effects were felt, or and put to shame ? Was the rule to become the
.at least apprehended, beture they were seen. lic exception, and the exception. the rule? The great
could not upon any theoretical speculations - con. source of crimes was the erroneous prison system,
snt to alter the law as it now stood. In the course and nothitre of serious and solid value in punish.
of his practice, he had often sat as a criminal meet could he effected without a change in that
judge; and he never knew an instance its which system. In answer to the Honourable Gentle.
tee law was strained beyond its proper bounds: man's (Mr. Frankland) allusion to.tho blunder.
On all occasions he bad known the Judge yid buss, he would only say, that-if it were fired off
the Jury perform titer duty. Ile was fearful E 1871 times, and missed every shot, it would
that the Bill of his Honourable and Learned not be of use even to be held forth in terrorem.
Friend was but a preliminary to a greater There could be nothing more certain than that
alteration in the criminal code, and he therefore severity of punishment was not effectual for the
f'qt himself under the necessity of opposing it. prevention of crime; that it often defeated its pur.
lie could nut by any means agree to let loose a ge- pose, and that it always shocked and pained those
neral discretion out so important a subject.— feelings which it was. of the must signal importance
lie regretted that his llorr. and Learned Friend to keep alive, and vigorous, and sensible in the
had not condescended to take the opinion of those community. No continua praise was due to the
(the Judges) who, from the high offices they able amteloquent advocate of the Bill, and it was
silted, must be presumed to be best informed with a distinction proud and honourable to have la.
ospcct to the particular parts of our jurfrpruileute. I boured as lie (Sir S. Romilly) had dune, autl to
Much as he respected the talents and industry of i succeed, as he must eventually do, in the greet
his lien. and Learned Friend, he could u• ,t give his 1 cause of humanity.
assent to tha overturning toe whole system of our The SOLICITOR GENERAL combated the
criminal law, at his ricernmentlatiuti. However arguments in favour of the Bill.
multiplied the offences under that system might Mr. CANNING contended for it as suitable to
h., it still was attended with advantages su- the increased knowledge of the age.
puler to that of any in the world. The The CHANCIiLLOR of the EXCHEQUER
possibility of inflicting punishment "not entre- was disposed to give his eats where he saw those
piney tended to the prevention of crimes.— of practical and experienced men given. flailed
The law, as it now stood, produced those effects not heard any testimony of that tied on the oppo-
ereich his Iron. and Learned Friend proposed in site side. No Judge, no Magistrate, no man con.
his Bill. The system might,. perhaps, possess gnected with the administration of justice had come'
more symmetry, and appeasentore beautiful to the' forward to say that the change was necessary. lie
view, bet lie must excuse him if he made his elec. •suggested the idea of raising the sum, the theft of
11011 to abide by the more;sotignated and whule- .whichehouid be punished by death. Hecouldvery
some code. :a well imegine welly cases of theft it a dwelling.
Mr. MORRIS would net.prciume to set up 'house, its which confidence might be so violated, as'
big experience in criminal jiiViseetodence against to deserts; the utmost punishment. Thepresent plat
that of the Honourable and Learned Gent. who ewent to ,prevent such punishment, even fit votress*
spoke last ; but limited as it might '1)44 it was stir& cases, and made this experiment upon mere lasa.
cient tn cunvince him of the necessii4e a the alter. ghsary apecutation. He hoped if such• plan was
mina proposed. Until lately hitin:actice bad adopted, the framers of it would Set be Obliged
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again, Fries the increase of crime, to reedt to the
house for a revision df their ill judged And impo-
litic lenity.
Sir SAMUEL ROM ILLY said, In the very brief reply
which he should feel it his duty to make; he wadi routine
himself merely to the Bill which he had proposed. Re was
much sorprized at the eittraragint notions which had been at-
tributed to him : one Gentleman thought he wanted to intro-
duce a French police ; another that he was about to originate
a French Revolution, and actunlly appealed to Ms humanity
as to the millieus he might sacrifice. Now really his only oh-
ject was one very foreign to either of those, namely, the
prevention era crime which hatofiale years much increased,
from an ill-judged system. The very case which the Chan-
cellor of the F:chequer had quoted as aggravated, and as
likely to be rescued from punishtnept by this )Bill, was one of
all others which this Bill went particularly to prevent, that of
stealing in ad welling-house. As the law now stood, the punish-
!dent was capital; and the very idea of that would he sufficient
to deter prosecution, for no master could end it in his heart to
cause the death of the person with whose face he had been
familiar io private life, awl whom be had employed in every
domestic office—the consequence was, no prneecution at all
took place, and the offender escaped. Now his Bill went,
by proposing a more lenient punishment, to produce a more cer-
tain prosecution, and Thereby more effectually to prevent the
repetition of the offence. Ile denied that lie bad ever re-
fused all discretion In the Judges, but confessed that he wish-
ed to limit that discretion as much as possible, by endeavour-
ing to reduce the law to as much certainty as he could. An
Hon. Gent. very fond of quoting Ur. Paley against him, had
ridiculed the idea of the certainty of punishment being much
more efficacious than its severity: it was unfortunate however
fur him that his great favourite, his light of the sun, Paley.
was in direct contradiction to him in the present instance.—
]le was not very anxious now to trespass at any length upon
the lime, as his opinions were already so much at length
before the public. He could not help, however. alluding to
the bold u•sertion which had been made, that all the Judges
Were directly against his Bill. The fact was, he had made
communications to theta all, and had not received an
uufavourable answer from one of them; their constant
practice was indeed directly in his favour. There was no.
office of the Judge more solemn, nor any judgment of the'
law snore awful, than passing the sentence of death; and yet
its frequency, and the f`ew cases in which it was fulfilled, now
rendered it almost alisol tarty null—the wretched criminal hints
self remained im pitied. from the uncertainty of his fate, and
was often hurried to eternity unprepared. from the false and
cruet hope with which that uncertainty bad inspired his.
The Mouse then divided—
Ayes 31—Noes 33
On our re-admission. we found the House in a short discus-
sion as to the course of proceeding with respect to the Nati-,
gable Canal Stealing
• Sir S. RONtILLY, Mr. BIIQUGUAM, Mr. PERCE-
V A 1., and Mr. WILBER FOR.CE spoke. and strangers
were ordered to withdraw on the question of engrossing the
Bill.
Strangers were not again re-admitted.
Adjourned at One o'Clock.

PRICI OF STOCK S 'I4IIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK.
3 per Cent. COTI3. 70ii Long. Ann.
9 per Cent. Reduced, OM Win Bowie
4 per Cent. F4l Ruth. Bills.
5 per Cent, Diary 103 Lottery Tickets
Comets for A cc. k'

THE STATESMAN.

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11.

I Mr. LAMES did nut ask the English Court, to dicl
tate to his SIVE,AIt MAJESTY any cootie
conduct respecting his internal Coternment. lie
asked only • what was most reasonable--nameiy,
that we ghouls' endeavour to influence the Court
of Talerino, to make the Island of Sicily strong,
by and throttgh 'Ante ArricTtOsts of the Nutty.
The demand of Mr. liAnac was a just one— b,tt
he made it to nicn Who will never voluntarily listen
to that wise policy. Mr. Ptuerrit. is very an-
gry that any one should Maintain, thit this coun-
try is not worth fighting fur ; but he, and his co.
adjutors do, by their conduct, effect all they can?,
towards making the proposition a reasonable one.
Yesterday teemed with events to disgust every
honourable Mill in the nation.—Mr. Youtut is
made a confidential adviser of the Kis., and
placed at the Head of the Admiralty
and the House of Commons refuse to soften

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the acknowledged cruelty of our"
Here is matter fur a volume, if there were room
for it ! Sir SAMUEL itOMILLY'S humane propusi.
lion for amending our criminal laws is lost, in the
face of the fine reasoning both of that eminent
lawyer, and another very eminent lawyer, Sir
WILLIAM GRANT.—The House of Commons its -
very much afraid of being libelled. Wo sincerely
wish, the usual majorities would not libel the House
by making their own unwise policy the act of
that House. We sincerely wish those majorities
would lay aside passion and prejodiee, in some
questions at least ; and if they -could have made
that sacrifice, it would have been well to do so in
Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY'S Bill.
It is scarcely worth while to follow Mr. Wino.
'Kan through all his wanderings ; and we nodd not
comment much on his conduct, for it would have
,beia surprising to find him on the side. of bum.
nity. There is another topic, however, connected
"with this question, on which we would say a .word
or two; The thinness of the House, on a question
like that, is a circumstance which ought to bring
up a blush on every blenther's face that was ab.
sent. IS it a libel to say, there were only slaty.
four Members of the House, that could be found •
to attend to that question ? But if it be not a Lt.
BEL) it is at least a TRUTH) which ought not to be
RECORDED IN TILE PAGES OF OUR HISTORY ,
On Monday etching a numerous Meeting of the
Freemen of the City of Canterbury took places
at the City, Arms, when a Requisition to the
Mayor for a Common-Hall,
" To take the setae of the Freemen oti the egitriordloary as.
" oonption of power by a corrupt majority of the House of
" Commons, nod the various abuses existing in every branch
" of Government and to adopt:itch intimates as may be deemed
" most condaeiye to a radical Reform la the Representation
" of the People." was proposed, and unanimously carried."
The Requisition was immediately signed by upwards of WO
of the must respectable citizens.
We hope this spirit will run through the roe*.
try.
•
Yesterday a bag of letters arrived from Haig*.
land, by which we have cornmunieetions frogs
thence and from Embden, to the 29th ult. The •
.trade had not opened at either of these:plums
'and it was supposed that it would bu obstruct..
-ed for. s considerable time. One of the let.
ters is written .by a Gentleman, who was pro.
.cceding to the Baltic, as business'was not only at 6
stand, bet absolutely immovable. 'ln consequence
of the establishment of a line of Custom Houses,
,in the nature of military stations, through a vast
extent of territory in 'Westphalia and Holland, s
singular situation of affairs is produced, so that
the same article at the distance of a few hundred
yards, within and without the chain of posts, vs. .
ries in price upwards of b 0 per cent.
The British troops employed in the defence of
Cadiz are divided into two corps ; pose is stationed
in the Isle of St. Leon, under General Stewstrr ;
the other, in the city of Cadiz, under General
GRARAM.
The- great firing on the French coast, lately
heard at Dover, was, we understand, in Maoist. of
the 6000 marriages which took place in emote.. •
quence of Bonaparte's decree fur that puepuie, in
honour of his own nuptials.
MFS. BILLINSTON certainly retires from pubriC
I life at tho etid of the present musicaLsealion. '
On Sunday afternoon five of the Life Guards.
men, who were walking together at Primrosejlill,'
were assailed by a number d people collected
there, in so serious a manner ae to endanger thole
LONDON: $ lives. They backed up against a ditch, and de.
'fended themselves with their ewordv until gfi of
WEDNESDAY, MAT 2, 1810. their comrades arrived to their assistance, antkres.
cued them.
LAST night, in the House' of CoMmons, the
ahe Bachelors of :Windsor are making great
sum of four hundred thousand pounds was voted, preparations fur the celebration of her Ma4airtre
out of the public purse, to be given to the King Birth-day, on the 19th instent.
of SICILY The Honourable Mr.. LAMM very Yesterday the Lady of WILLIAM Mowers
Esq. of Doctors' Commons, wee safely &DEMI
properly opposed this vote ; and we- are sorry to,
at, a daughter.
find that his sound reasoning could not prevail
with the House. He argued very justly—that SXTAMPOBE ono DISTINGIIISIIEDCHARIC22I,
although the People of the Kingdom of Sicily afmrk! the "paae6 patriot in Freedom's came.
The Ina rite, of his Cusirary's Laws;
would prefer getting rid of their galling grievances. With usenet be braved she storm atm,
under the awspicei of Great Britain, yet it was to And to Gar Irnisdaas sacrificed his coml.
be feared they would resort to the citane Gray's UN lot May, 1810.
e of French c--
assistance rather than be doomed to bear the into- toge-EsteMANOR, May t —The Market has amides.
lerabie yokeof their present Government; and that
we ahle4r t
link ,sapiigeson.ofßFaorirele gproWheat ;0r
secondl:l4..,,gesinirs
heavy elle, eall ratherar lower. t heals& By; fel" whim
therefore, to.niake the assistance of that money
Peas, and those dearer. Beans of the two kinds folly salmi
are giving his SICILIAN MAJESTY avaHable, we
wcandprkwa,andlitioerdminipplrliesratobefrOotheats
rat
.somemoswresjiateomisiterkegkermble.
,
ought to use our influence with him to better the CH It REV FRIA:S.:.
condition of his subjects. Mr. PERCEVAL depre., VOW, -- - Us- lati• Tick Beans' (.1
w
Fide ditto - • Aids. Ws. ads,. , Vs.
cated the polity of this country dictating to u, N 24. Polatidi . 4 sg„. ANL .
474. P ditto • •7,6 .96 II&
foreign nations upon its ►plans of internal Govern.! 40 ~c_ca
meat, Would to God, that the Government ,01 Peth(Bl4los) fit". _ Fine rifult 1••• -.• 4kw."
• Lire‘ pen,. . - 425. pos. maws oar
Easial.thad always acted upon that swam j Bit onus'. (uts) • Ott. pit},
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