of death for stealing five-shillings in a dwelling house, there being no person therein. A law, your lordships must know, upon the severity of which, and the application of it, stands the security of every poor cottager who goes out to his daily labours. He, my Lords, can leave no one behind to watch his little dwelling, and preserve it from the attack of lawless plunderers,-confident in the protection of the laws of the land, he cheerfully pursues his daily labours, trusting that on his return home he shall find all his property safe and unmolested. Repeal this law and see the contrast,-no man can trust himself for an hour out of doors without the most alarming apprehensions, that, on his return, every vestige of his property will be swept off by the hardened robber. My Lords, painful as the duty, anxious as the feelings of a judge are, unwilling as he is to inflict the tremendous penalties of the law, there are cases where mercy and humanity to the few, would be injustice and cruelty to the many. There are cases where the law must be applied in all its terrors. My Lords, I think this, above all others, is a law upon which so much of the security of mankind depends, in its execution, that I should deem myself neglectful of my duty to the public if I failed to let it take its course. But, my Lords, the difficulties to which we are subject in the execution of our painful duty can be better conceived than described. Your lordships can ill imagine the tortures of a judge's mind on the evening before he quits an assize town. Dreary is the pillow upon which he rests his head, when he reflects that on the morrow he is to pronounce the dooms of a heavy calendar of convicts. My Lords, 1 conjure your lordships to pause before you pass a Bill which will have the effect of increasing the number of crimes, and adding to the enormous catalogue of of fences, which now disgrace the criminal records of the country. Much, my Lords, are these advocates of mildness mistaken, in thinking that the fear of death does not operate upon the minds of the wicked, and deter them from the commission of crimes. My Lords, depend upon it, it is that fear, and that alone, which keeps some men in obedience to the laws. Would you then, my Lords, take away the only security, the honest and industrious, the rich as well as the poor, have against the outrages of vice, and the licentiousness of dishonesty. My lords, the punishment of transportation has no terrors for such men as these. Believe me, transportation to Botany Bay, is, nine times in ten, looked upon as no more than a summer's excarsion, in an easy migration, to a happier and a better climate. Then, my Lords, I implore you as guardians of the public welfare, not to listen to arguments, and still less to act upon principles which promise no practical good to the country. There is a dangerous spirit of innovation abroad upon this subject, but against which I ever have, and always shall be a steady opposer. I seek no praise, I want no popular applause, all I wish is, that the world may esteem me as a man who will not sacrifice one iota of his duty for the sake of public opinion. My Lords, I shall never shrink from the fulfilment of the most arduous task from fear of popular prejudice. I think those legislative experiments, unless curbed within proper bounds, may be productive of the most serious consequences; and therefore, my Lords, it be comes my duty, in the responsible situa tion in which I am placed, to make a stand in favour of the established laws of the land. A great deal has been said of the severity of the laws, and of the necessity of curbing the discretionary power of the judges. Enough has been already said by my noble and learned friend (the Lord Chancellor) upon the latter subject, not to require that I should take up any more of your lordships' time on that point; and the former question embraces such a large field of discussion, and would involve so much conflict of opinion, that I think it will be most prudent, on this occasion, to avoid its agitation. A noble lord (Lauderdale) has suggested an objection to the law as it now stands, on account of the great difference in the comparative value of money at the period of its enactment and the present time. My noble and learned friend, struck with the force of the objection, expressed his own wish to concede that point, and a disposition to increase the amount of the sum which should consti tute the capital part of the offence; at least be admitted that the proposition was not objectionable. My Lords, the propriety of such an alteration as this had not escaped my notice. I suggested the idea to those most eminent for their knowledge upon these subjects, and I desired their opinion as to the prudence of such an amendment. But they told me this, and I believe they told me very truly, that this, offence was most frequently, and more conveniently committed by purloining articles of small value (property of a bulky nature being less portable); and כן sent only, is the sentence of death finally ratified. It then becomes his duty to represent the case of the unfortunate con sition of which never fails, when the peculiar circumstances of the case require its mercy. My Lords, the administration of justice, under restrictions and regulations like these, can never fail of answering the great ends of all human laws. It is impossible that any mischievous consequences may arise to society, where the functions of the judge are in conformity to the law, subject however to a wholesome and rational discretion. The nature of human crimes, their shades and characters, the different conduct of the persons committing the same offence, their good moral character previous to the committal of the crime, and a thousand other circumstances which appear in the course of investigation, are considerations for which no legislative enactments can provide a mode of treatment. My Lords, without this discretionary power I am persuaded much injury would be done to public justice; but possessed of this power, it is always in the power of a indeed, my Lords, from my own constant 1 experience, I know that for one culprit who will take an article of larger value, there are a hundred who content them-vict to royal consideration; the interposelves with carrying off articles of such value only as they suppose will save them from the capital part of the law. It was therefore, my Lords, recommended to me to leave the law as it stood, because, by advancing the value of five shillings to a higher amount, the difficulty of escape would be so obvious, that the law could never reach a class of culprits who are more obnoxious to society than perhaps any other description of offenders punishLable by the criminal law. Now, my Lords, it is said that the ends of justice will be defeated by the severity of the law acting upon the humanity of the prosecutor. For my own part, I do not think prosecutors are in general very tender of the prisoner's welfare. On the contrary, I have found them, in the course of my own experience, generally very anxious to obtain a conviction of the unfortunate wretch on his trial; and I may with equal safety say, that I have very seldom found any unwillingness on the part of witnesses to give evidence. Indeed I have had oc-judge to administer a punishment proporcasion much oftener to rebuke them for their over-zeal in the cause of justice, than to admonish them to give their testimony. It is here then, my Lords, that the province of the judge is more peculiarly called for. In addressing the jury he directs them to satisfy themselves that the proof of the crime alledged against the prisoner is made out by the evidence. He puts them on their guard against the vindictive spirit of the prosecutor, and directs them, above all things, to attend to the conduct of the witnesses. Next he calls their attention to the value of the property specified in the indictment, he puts all the favourable circumstances on the prisoner's behalf in the strongest point of view; and lastly, he conjures them to give their verdict according to the evidence, and strictly in conformity to their duty, without favour or partiality. He reminds them that it remains in the power of those who administer the laws to mitigate the severity of punishment, or recommend the offender to the royal mercy. My Lords, when these formalities are gone through, when the judge is satisfied that the guilty are convicted according to the strict rules of evidence; and that be has had the benefit of every advantage prescribed by the law, he takes the opinion of his brother judges, and with their con . tioned to the offence. Occasions may frequently occur where even a much milder punishment may be judiciously inflicted, with benefit to public justice, without an example pernicious to society; and, on the other hand, cases may occur where the severity of the law to its utmost extent may be inflicted without violence to mercy, or overstraining the purposes of justice. My Lords, for these reasons, I think that the law as it now exists, administered as it is by common consent, with impartiality, and a strict regard to the welfare of society, cannot be altered without materially shaking the established principles of criminal jurisprudence in this country, and laying the foundation of future innovations, prejudicial to the best interests of society, and inconsistent with the ends of public justice. A division then took place, when the numbers stood thus; Contents 31. Non Contents 11. Majority 20 in favour of lord Ellenborough's motion. Of course the Bill was lost. [For the Debate on sir Samuel Romilly's Motion respecting Transportation and Penitentiary-houses, and the Navigable River Robbery Bill, See vol. xvi. p. 944, and vol. xvii. p. 322 and 531.] Admiralty Court, 476 and Suitors in Chancery, 260 City of London respecting, 1015 British Fisheries Bill, 680 Mr. Horner's Resolutions, Bankes, H. 107, 186, 366, 382, Binning, Lord, 683, 753 Bo tle, W. 357, 749 Calcraft, J. 327, 681, 758 712 Croker, J. W. 243, 581, 382, Curwen, J. C. 124, 322, 323, Dent, J. 739 Elliot, W. 315, 605, 664 Ellison, R. 515, 666 Ferguson, General, 546, 774 Fuller, J. 49, 52, 186, 358, 547, Gascoyne, J. 700 Gibbs, Sir Vicary, see Attorney Giddy, Davies, 324, 443, 515, | Grattan, H. 25, 113, 778 Hamilton, Lord Archibald, 183, Harvey, Sir E. 381, 681 Herbert, H. A. 221, 513 Pulteney, Sir J. 326, 706 Romilly, Sir S. 106, 187, 26, Rose, G. 323, 341, 480, 485, Hibbert, G. 324, 358, 495, 711, Ryder, R. 186, 187, 437, 669, 753 Hippisley, Sir J. 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