The Arkansas advocate., 1831-08-10

their country in the emergency which has arisen.
 .Hassachasetts.-C Capitai Pao.ishmeat.- A committee of the Massachusetts Le- gislature. appointed last winter, report on the subject ofcapital punishment, and whether any change should be made in the laws of that State infietlng the penalty Of death--rsported during the late session; the report concludes as fol lows =
 If in the opinion of this community, death in executioh of the sentence Is Ill any case necessary, this demand for jus tice would be better satisfied, t is believ cd, and somethii 2 might be added to its terrors, by needfag it less defa1ed, aud 6y setting t opart from tbe public gaze.- Might it Tot be done in private: ii the presence of peace officers, magistrates, and competent humber of citizens drawn from the iury=boxes of the eoun- 1 ty, though without their compuIslon to bepresent against ttleir wiii2 and when 5his solemn and awful act is done, might hot the exeeutiono the sentence ofthe law he declared, ii some mode, which night be seen or beard, over q far wider space than any multitude would cover?
 The result, then, to which the com mittee have come, and which they res pectfplly subnitto the honorable House, 1 is this:
 F5.si, That the punishment of death isreqnired by DO law, natural or tliYife. nor by any wise policy. for al1ylerime, in relation to property merely. where liilman life has not been destroyed; consequent 1 ly that highway robbery, burglary, ar son, where life is not in fact, sacrificed, ought not to be so punished.
 Secondly, That rape ought 10 be pun ished by solitary confinement for lile,so that the criminal will be no more seen or theard of.
 Ihird}y, That murder may be pun ished as secondly above, ,and without the possibility of escape, pardon, or mitiga- ton; but that if public sentiment still demands death, it should be in private, and ia the manner already stated.
 The committee have not prepared any bills for the consideration of the House. If any part of this reportshould be found worthy of notice, and should meet acceptance with the House, the 1 Committee in further discharge of their duty will prepare any bill or bills which the House may order to be proper for consideration.
 Wm. SULLIVAN, Ron. RANToUL, THos. LENDABL, OLIVER HOLDEN, Com mittee.
 Steon, Nauigation an hc Hallcy ofthe NississYpi.-Although a steamboat was built on the Ono as early as 1911, and from that time to 1877 six or seven ad- l ditioual ones were constructed, it was not until that year their importance be- gan to be duly appreciated. During that year Captain Shreve, bold and skilllul navigator, with a steamboat hay- ing more powerful engine. ascended the Mississippi and Ohio from New-Or- leans to Louisville in Kentucky, in 9 days; and the enterprise was deemed so extraordinary. as to causesa general re- Ijoicing, and a-public dinner to be given him by the citizens of Louisville. Since that memorable achievement they have Iincreased most rapidly, and trip from l New Orleans to Louisville has since been made in eighteen days and two hours.
 The passage formerly made in barges from New Orleans to Louisville, requir- ed cd on ah average about three months, and all kind of freight was necessarily extremely high. Now merchandise can De carried from Philadelphia 10 Cincin- Inati, by way of New Orleans, at cent a pound, and from New York to the in- terior of Ohio, by the Erie and Ohio canals. at still eheaperrate and when the Pennsylvania canal and rail road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg shall be completed, goods may beintrodueed in to the valley of the Ohio at d still great CT reduction of.price; while all the pre- l Iduetions of that region will be propor- l tionably increased in value.
 Since the Introduction of steam navi- gation on the western waters, the whole number of steamboats built upon them lis about 375. and their aggregate tom aage about 56, GOO tons
 Some of them arc of 800 suns burden,