The account of the execut...
The Times, 1824-12-01T00:00:00

The account of the execution of FAUNTTLIItOY. will, we -have no doubt, be read with an interest gretiy exceeding the real importance of the occurrence in aliy point of view which can affect society. How many better, low many . braver meu, have died by the hands of the executioner; without rousing any public emnotion7 of sym'pathy-witlfout exciting any effort for their deliverance ! In fact, If we contemplate this unhappy. man, from the'commencement of bis crime to its expiation By a shameful' death, we cannot discover any onc quality which should have exempted him K.fiom the ordinary f3te of persons convicted of the sanme oflTnce-except that lie was a banker. Whether that cir- Cun*tance aggravated or diminished his criminality, wve leavw to rational men to judge. His defence was the mosti peculiar that ever was pronounced in a court of justice. It wais to this effect,-that for the space of sixteen years, he had not only supported himself, but his partners also, by a continued series of crimes, vhich, but for the interfer- ence of the Bank, must havo redaced innocent families to ruin; and to wvhicli the la.vs of his country, even in a single instance, adjudged the pellalty of death. Yet in behalf of this man was the throne besieged by importunate petitions, though WAITE and VAR- LEY had been suffered to die without a remonstrance. We say nothing of the brute herd who followed their leaders in signing the petitions;. but of what character, as to in- tegrity of mind and moral rectitude, must those men be with whom the petitions originated, if, indeed, they were not the personal friends of the convict, to whom mnuch may be forgiven, from their long experience of his personal qualities-their sympathy for his sudden lapse, to which they and all men a-e liable-their pity for bis adhering mistress or his discarded wife? But we drop this subject: if we speak of offenders before their trial, we prejudge their caldse; if after their execution, we trample on their relics, or insult their survivors. There must be no distinction, tlierefore, in this world between guilt and innocence ; un- less the criminal be poor: then,-then, indeed, we may deal with him as he deserves. Upon the general subject of our criminal code, however, we may remark, that if death be too severe a punishment for forgery, rational and disinterested men would still not have founded an application for a repeal of the law upon the most atrosious case that had ever been knivwn to exist, since man possessed the attainments necessary to commit the crime ;-a case of that nature, that if forgery lhad not been capital before, the most humane legislators would have doubted, whe-ther, if carried to a similar extent, it should not be rendered capital in future. But this matter we leave also to the inventors of the petitions-they can, no doubt; explain it. There is also an explanation due from the surviving part- ners of the Bank in Berners-street. We are charged by men, but little if at all superior in principle and honour to the unhappy creature who cxpiated his crimes yester- day morning by an ignominious death-by such- men, we say, we are charged with having received bribes from FAUNTLEROY'S partners, in order to spare them, aud heap all the obloquy of the crime upon the only person amena- ble tojustice. We shall, therefore, earn our wages of ini- quity, by telling those partners, that they stand in a most fearful situation with the public. They are charged by the criminal, in his defence, with participating in the revenues derived from his habitual crimes. It was for the support of the house, he said, that he committed forge- ries year after year, and almost month after month. WVe know that truth is not to be expected from a man in FAUNTLEROY'S situation as an arraigned prisoner; but ive know also, that falsehood is to be repelled and refuted, however foul may be the source from whence it springs, as we now expose and refute the slander by which our ho- nesty was attacked, though base was its origin. WVe do not, therefore, ask Messrs. STRACEY,MARSH, an(+ GRUHAM, whether they were privy to the precise acts of which their partner was guilty, but whethcr they shut their eyes to an unaccountable influx of wealth into their bank-whether they availed themselves of that influx, in aid of their private accounts, or for the support of the general concern, wvithout ascertaining the funds from whence it accruedl. Other questions of a more mercantile nature will suggest them- selves in the course of the examiuation now before the Commissioners; but thbse require an hinmediate answer: Lhey are connected with tJe administration of public justice. The Bank of England deserves the respect of the nation for the firm and steady manner with which it has acted throughout this affair-the promptitude with which it sup- plied the funds withdrawn from it by fraud, thus qualify- ing the aggrieved to become witnesses ; and the determina- tion to pursue the offender till justice was satisficd.