The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-01-25 00:00:00

Prnr. gtATftMAN.

Whatever may be his Crime, stares Ili Sat dzildtplo td
ne.body. Nothing is more common than to find the
thief combating depredations ander the gibbet; and
nothing is more certain, than that Capital offences,
instead of decreasing by the examples of public
executions, are becoming every day more numerous.
The reason appears to be, that the villain, become
hardened in his inquity, is regardless of the shame
of a public expiation, which, moreover, he calculates
upon, at the worst, as only a momentary punish-
ment. Some cases might, no doubt, be mentioned,
in which the culprit exhibited symptoms of peni-
I tence ; but where one instance of this has occurred,
ten others could be adduced to the contrary. Eren
where i-penitent of this description appears, the oc-
currence seldom or ever has any proper effect upon
the wicked. It may incite their curiosity, and curio-
sity is the sole cause that attracts the multitude to
I witness these spectacles—but it never mends the heart.
Ii
The number of these examples have likewise a ten-
-1 &icy to familiarize the mind of a profligate to an un-
• timely end, and thus prepare him, in the cant phrase
of villany, to make his exit with fortitude and to die ,
as becomes a man. The punishment of death, there- I
fore, cannot be considered an example to the bad,
and the good do not want it :—they are influenced i
by very different motives ; and, should their duty or
; their curiosity ever lead them to the scene of a public
I
execution, it never fails telitrfrow up their feelings, I
land to incite their pity and compassion for the unfor-
I tuuate wretch, whom they ace impelled to contem-
plate as the victim of an inexorable law, which they
would gladly repeal, if it were in their power to
do it. Neither is the utility of the community
promoted by putting the murderer to death. On the
contrary, it deprives the politic of the advantages which
I would result from his labour, were he to be kept alive;
and it frequently reduces a numerous family to ruin ;
who, if they escape the fangs of poverty, are al-1
ways forced to abandon the society of those they I
love, in order to avoid the stigma which attaches
to the relatives of such as stater an ignominious death.
As a remedy for these evils, we world recommend I
the abolition of capital punishments—They form no
part of the American code of jurisprudence; and,.
even under the sway of BONAP tars himself, we do
not find that many examples of this kind are shown
1 to the people—Yet it will not be said that the Ame-
ricanicor the French, require such examples less than
thts. English ; or that their mantle, a ~ re more corrupt-
ed, through the non..exiatence of capital punishments,
' than what ours are.--To keep the murderer alive,
1 and frequently exposed to public view, with a label
on his breast deaoting the nature of his crime, would
I serve as a constant example to the wicked.—
The eudurance of this would effectually deter them
, from the practice of vice; and, to the guilty std.-
! ferer himself, it would be a more certain and salu-
I tary punishment, than rapidly hurrying him off this
mortal scene, as is often done, with all his sins up-
on his head, without sufficient time to repent and
prepare himself to answer at the triuunal of his GOD.
The produce of the labours of the culprit would
then afford subsistence to his family, and thus pro-
mote general utility, by releasing the public of a
burden which is often imposed upon them through
a mistaken policy. But this is not all :—the per-
son murdered frequently leaves a family behind
bim. Our law makes no provision for occurrences
of this nature; two families are in consequence often
thrown destitute upon the community. But should
the murderer happen to have no family of his own,
' he might be compelled to work for that of the de-
ceased, because he had deprived it of the means of
support. If two families existed, it would then be-
come a matter of consideration, whether each of them
should not receive a portion of the fruits of his toil.
In whatever way this might be adjusted, the practi-
cability of the plan appears to us as obvious, as the
benefit that would result from it to the public is un-
deniable.

A letter from Cadiz of the 31st ult. states, that
General Fnazca and his suite arrived there on the
30th, in the Richmond, from Ceuta, to join the
army. The Richmond was to sail immediately for
Lisbon, and had on hoard 300,000 dollars for the
army in Portugal. The Ephera sloop of war was
lost ou Christmas-day, on the Porpoise Roek.
The schooner D.stinedo, Excott,rtc Ao, from
Kinsale, having got under-weigh at Madeira, after
evening gnu-fire on the 10th ult. was fired at and,
sunk; crew saved.

Last night a Petition was presented to the House
of Commons by Mr. WHARTOV, on behalf of the
j. family of the late Mr. Helm Conrc, of Gosport,
,whose meritorious exertions are well known to all
I persons acquainted with the iron trade.---Mr. Coara
I expended a fortune in rendering England indepen-
dent of Sweden or Russia, for foreign iron of the first
t quality, and by his useful and highly important dis-
coveries, the annual manufacture of British iron has
I been increased from sixty to SIX hundred thousand
tons.

The Bishop of DERRY is said humanely to have
assented not to press for the sentence of the Court of
King's Bench against MANSELL PHILLIPS, Member
for Stafford, who was convicted of the atrocious
libel on his Lordship, on condition that he make, by
his Counsel, acknowledgement in Court of this
offence, and pay a stipulated sum to the Fund for
the Benefit of the Sons of the Clergy.
On Wednesday a new Dock, of fifteen acres, was
opened at. the Commercial Docks, Rotherhithe ; the
sluice was cut by the Chairman, Sir CHARLES PRICE,
amidst the cheers of the spectators. These Docks
now contain an area of about forty acres of water,
with wharfbge and bonding yards, sufficient to re-'
ceive 200 sail of jbips to discharge at the same time.

t:..

Norrixonem 11107:54

We are sorry to state that the outrages in Notting-
ham Ind counties adjacent are continued with as much
activity and malignity as ever, and may be said to have
assumed a more decided character than at any period
since the commencement of malpractices. A let-
ter which we received this morning, states, that
between thirty and forty frames were broken on
Sunday night, and several the following evening. The
most turbulent spirit is strongly manifested in all the
proceedings of the Luddites, which have been ex-
tended to Yorkshire. They have detroyed by fire, a
crop-mill at Leeds, merely because, upon a new
plan, it was found to do the work of a number of
men, consequently was a considerable saving to the
proprietors. Catmankey, Basford, New Radford,
and Lidley, were scenes of the most daring depreda-
tions in the beginning of the week.—A ludicrous Cir-
cumstance will sometimes destroy the Judge's gra-
vity on the Bench, though the crime under consider:
ation excites his abhorrence. Influenced by similar
feelings, our Correspondent Mates the two follow•
ing circumstances (and the Reader may judge of
I them as he pleases) :—On Monday night, one frame
was broken at Arnold ; and Ned Ludd, in order to
draw public attention more closely to his operations,
took the broken instrument and put it in the
!stocks, where it was found the next morning, exhi-
biting many bruiser ; but, unlike the usual occu-
piers of that .conspicuous station, it made not the
kart effort to get away; nor did the Constable
know that he was authorised to disengage it, he
having no order from a Magistrate toilful I'M.—
; The other circumstance, while it was more daring,
was not the less ludicrous:--For, on Tuesday in
the forenoon, as a frame-carrier was bringing a frame
from Kimberly to this town, and was walking lei-
surely before his cart, near New Radford, a man,
1 with a goat's skin tied over his face, the hair of
which reached down to his navel, leaped into the
cart, and, with a large smith's hammer, fell furiously
ito work to demolish the frame. The carter, how-
-1 ever, being aroused from his reverie by the sound of
the blows, immediately flew to the rescue of his
charge, and likewise endeavoured to secure the
bearded depredator ; but the latter shaved him his
hammer, leaped out of the cart, and walked leisurely
away, leaving the poor carrier's mind less composed
than when he was dreaming at the front of his cart.
Yesterday morning additional troops of the Horse
Guards (Blue) marched from Readiug to Notting-
ham ; and orders are issuel for the dispatch of two
linfantry regiments, in consequence of the unfortunate
existence of the continued destruction of private pro-
perty in that neighbourhood.