The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-12-11 00:00:00

••'' 77w"

Mr. Dmow stood ttri to Otter. There was no ad-
cosily for quoting Scripture so largely.
Mr. JACK!' proCretiKi.--Tht law of Moses received
the asection of the Dirinitf; were they then to be
told, because Sir S. Romilly bad said an. that the
law of England exceeded all in cruelty ? The Learn.
rd Member then quoted Montesquieu and Paley, the
latter of whom laid it down, that climes were not
in any country punished in proportion to their guilt,
nor ought not, hut in proportion to their difficulty
of detection and prevention. The abolition of the
punishment ref death did not repress the commission
of crimes, as was apparent from the example of Rua.
aim, for murders were stilt very frequent about St.
Petetshurgb. The great difficulty was, to know what

sort of punbhment was the best. He beppened to
associate with many professional men, and b.. knew
that they were tied down by party feeling, and at-
tached to things as they ()fluted. In all the prisons
• w►ere employment had been introduced, licenti-
ousness had been repressed. To introduce a system
of reform in prisons would be attaining a greet ob
jeer.
_

Mr. R. TAYLOR.--I rise, my Lord Mayer, with
great diffidence, this being the first time of my taking
1 .
3 - part in the deliberations of the Court, to express my
sentiments on a subject in which I feel no common
interest, and shall therefore rely on its indulgence
for any imperfection in the observations which I have
to make. The Worthy Gentleman who has just
spoken has endeavoured to justify the severity of oor
Criminal Code, by horrible details of the cruel laws
of barbarous ages and heathen nations ; but, my
Lord, is it not our book that we live in an enlighten.
ed age and in a Christian country ? I cannot bat
feel much serprise, that when the Worthy- Gentle-
man so frequently appealed to the maxim, 46. An eye
• for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," es being the
principle of so many ancient codes, and of that of
. Noses among the rest, this should never have called
to his wind those words of our Saviour, " It bath
been said by them of old, ► An eye for an eye, and
• a tooth fore tooth ;' but I say onto you, Love your
enemies," kc. Indeed, this seems to me to bee most
,powerful argument for a mitigation of the severity of
00f lOW/, whether that severity be justifiable or nut,
' that'in proportion as the influence of Christian
principles increases, it is found more difficult to
• carry these laws into execution. I object, there.
fore, to our Criminal Code, because. it grows more
and more inefficacious; for as the feelings and prin.
• ciples of those who have to adminiiter the laws, re-
volt against their severity, they cannot be enforced.
When death is the punishment apprehended, prose.
tutors end witnesses are unwilling to appear, Juries
will not convict, and Judges prevent the execution
• tof the sentence. In many cases, Judges themselves
ditett Juries to evade the capital part of the offence,
by tilting a false value on the thing stoles,: thus
11
, niercy isai►own by a legal quibble, ins►ead of being
inherent in our laws. Impunity then is the general
• consequence of the measly, severity of our laws ;
and where but one in a hundred who commit capital

offences actually suffer death, it cannot be wondered
.at,llietitbose who are entering upon a criminal
.course ibitold reckon upon escaping, where the
lemma ate so much in their favour. There is 'no-
i Alter contleration, sly Lord, upon whith lan sure
I need not dwell in this place, which is, that it
should be the tendency of punishments to reform the
' guilty, a)strell pat deter from crime.. But it is evi-
dent, thi. when we cut off our erring brother in the
midst of Ibis guilt, reformation is cut of the clues.
Sion. A4tin,-1 object t• so many offences being
made capital, as producing a monstrous inequality
of put'isbmeut. Three men, for stealing one
, sheep, have suffered the same punishment which
she law irtaicts en _ murder or parricide. A
very serious objection to the punishment of
death, which has not, I believe, been touched
upon by the Gentlemen who have preceded me, seems
to me to arise from its not being remissible. Escel.
lent as is the administration of our laws, it cannot
be.* holly free from mistakes. Men have been con.
.vioted of crimes, of which they have afterwards been
proved to have been innocent ; fur all other punish.
menu some atonement may be made; but bow dread-
fully aggravated is the calamity of an undeserved
t punishment, when that punishment has been death,
which precludes all reparation ! When the sad sen.
'team of the law is carried into execution, it seems
~to toe, my Lord, that the effect is most deplorable
upon all classes of society. Those who are prone to
HI, so far from being checked in their evil courses,
are hardened and brutalized by. these horrid exhibi.
thins. Can nny one have observed the conduct and
conversation of the throngs returning from them,
when the behaviour and sufferings of the criminal
are the subject of many a coarse joke, without be-
ing struck by this ? 'Though I never witnessed an
execution, I have had sufficient opportunities of
learning, that those who are going on most rapidly
in a career of depravity, are most frequent in their
attendance on these occasions. And with those of
better feelings, what is the effect, my Lord, but to
*idle sympathy for criminals, and disapprobation of
the laws ? I 0411 not, I trust, be understood to
desire impunity for criminals. I conceive my argu-
ments to have exactly the opposite tendency. But
; iaarely it would be desirable that our punishments
tdbould be such as even the best of mankind would
;Concur in inflicting; such Is, while they deterred
roam crime, even is kind regard for the guilty, and
fli
Vernest desire to reform than, would justify to
be most benevolent mind. Surely such moderate,
,equal, and certain punishments, would be more
'likely to repress crime than the present system:,
where one is punished with horrible severity, and
99 escape with impunity's Bat the worthy Gentle-I
man who has preceded me has said, " bow then will i
you punish, or what would you substitute?" He
has himself furnished an answer, in what he has
said in favour of improving the discipline of our
prisons, agreeing with what was urged by my
friends near me, as to convening them into places of
reformation. The substitutes which have long been
found efficacious in other countries, might surely be
Vied in this. With all due respect for the authority
of Dr. Paley, which has been adrhced, who approves
of that system, which, es tie expresses it, sweeps into
a net all those who have committed crimes, and SP.
lects only a few victims to «gene terror, 1 con:ess I do
ssot see its justice; and be appears to have over-
looked its practical eirt.cts—thst the feelings a man-
kind prevent its mention, and that instead of deter-