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The same solicitude to reduce the value of articles privately stolen in shops and dwelling-houses, has been remarked by Mr. Payne, clerk to the sitting magistrate at Guildhall; by Mr. Yardley, clerk at the office in Worship Street, who has observed a disinclination to prosecute in all capital cases, except murder; and who says, that in larcenies he has often heard prosecutors, especially females, say, "I hope it is not a hanging matter;" and by Mr. Thomson, clerk at the office in Whitechapel, who represents it as common for prosecutors in larcenies to ask, "Cannot this be put under forty shillings?" Mr. Alderman Wood, a member of the House, an active magistrate, and two successive years Lord Mayor of London, has strongly stated the unwillingness of shopkeepers and others to prosecute; the number of offenders who, during his mayoralty, owed their escape to this cause; and his decided conviction, that if the capital punishment was taken away, the reluctance to prosecute would be greatly abated. Mr. Wilkinson, a merchant in London, stated a case of property, to the value of one thousand pounds stolen from him, where he was deterred from prosecution by the capital punishment; and expressed his belief that a similar disposition prevailed among persons of the like condition and occupation with himself. Mr. Josiah Conder, bookseller, Mr. Joseph Curtis, currier, Mr. Wendover Fry, type-founder, and Mr. John Gaun, a merchant and shoe manufacturer, stated instances in which they were prevented by the capital punishment from prosecuting offenders, whom they would have brought to justice if the punishment had in their opinion been more proportioned to the crime. They also declared, that there is a general disinclination to prosecute among the traders of the city of London, or to convict in thefts without violence, and in forgeries. Sir Richard Phillips, a bookseller in London, and once Sheriff, as well as often a juror, has in these several capacities observed the same facts. Mr. Richard Taylor, a common-council man, prosecuted some men for breaking into his printing-office and stealing some property out of it, for which they were transported, but whom he would not have prosecuted if he had not previously ascertained that the connexion of the printing-office with the dwelling-house was not such as to make the act a capital offence. Mr. Richard Martin, a Member of the House, informed the Committee, that the punishment of death prevented prosecu tions in Ireland for horse, cattle, and sheep stealing, for privately stealing in dwellinghouses and shops, and in general for all larcenies without violence. Though the extensive estate, of which he is proprietor, be almost laid waste by sheep stealing, he has been prevented from prosecuting by the punishment of death. If the punishment were reduced to transportation, he would certainly prosecute the offenders to conviction. He has no doubt that his estate would be better protected if the law were more lenient; and that the reduction of the penalties of the law would promote the security of property throughout the province of Connaught. Mr. James Soaper, of St. Helen's Place, Mr. Ebenezer Johnston, of Bishopsgatestreet, ironmonger, Mr. Baker, of the Tower, Mr. Lewis, a retired merchant, and Mr. Garrett, an insurance broker, bore testimony to the general repugnance to prosecution which arose from capital punishment; some of them mentioned instances in which they had been deterred by that consideration from bringing offenders to justice. Mr. Garrett said, that as far as his observation, there was not one in twenty who did not shudder at the idea of inflicting the capital punishment in cases of forgery. Messrs. Frederic and William Thornhill, hardwaremen, mentioned cases of theft in which they had forborne to prosecute on account of the punishment of death. The former added, that he found it to be an almost universal sentiment among his neighbours and acquaintance, that excessive punishment tends very greatly to the production of crime; that he knows many persons who have been great sufferers by thefts in shops and dwelling-houses, and who declare that if the punishment of such offences had been any thing less than death, they would have regarded it as highly criminal in themselves to have forborne prosecution, which they had felt themselves compelled to abstain from in every instance on account of the punishment, and must continue to act on the same principle of forbearance till there was an amendment in the law. He also informed the Committee, that from his knowledge of a great variety of cases, he was convinced the more lenient punishment would more effectually prevent forgery. Mr. Collins and Mr. Crowther, considerable and very respectable traders in Westminster, gave evidence which the Committee consider as of peculiar value. Mr. Collins has suffered both from larcenies and forgeries, and was restrained by the state of the penal law from bringing the offenders to justice, which he would otherwise have taken the greatest pains to do. He thinks that the laws of God do not permit life to be taken away for mere offences against property; and that among his friends, many of whom are traders in London and Westminster, he does not know a single exception from concurrence in such sentiments. Mr. Crowther stated, that no porter had left their establishment for twenty years for any other cause than theft; that a prosecution had taken place in one instance, and had terminated in conviction and condemnation. "The pain and anxiety," he adds, " occasioned by that event, until we obtained for him the Royal mercy, none can describe but ourselves; which made us resolve never to prosecute again for a similar offence." The general opinion of the traders in London and Westminster is the same with his own. He declared, that if he received a forged bank note, he should be prevented from prosecution by the punishment of death, and that if the punishment were less than death, he should undoubtedly consider it as his absolute duty to bring the offender to justice. He believes that nine tradesmen out of ten agree with him. Mr. Stephen Curtis, a leather-factor in London, stated several cases of forgery, fraudulent bankruptcy and larceny, where the persons injured declined to prosecute, from apprehension that the offenders might suffer death: this is the general opinion of the traders of London, though in the opinion of this witness, scarcely a shopkeeper from Cornhill to Charingcross who does not suffer from shoplifting. Mr. Jacob, who has lately travelled through England on business, and Mr. Jennings, for some time a shopkeeper near Bridgewater, gave some evidence tending to shew that the general sentiments of traders in the country were, on capital punishments, the same which the Committee had such ample reason to consider as the prevalent opinion of the same valuable class of persons in the metropolis. Mr. Jennings observed, that these opinions prevailed among farmers as well as shopkeepers, and that the capital punishment prevented prosecutions for horse, cattle and sheep stealing, as well as for privately stealing in shops and dwelling-houses, and in constructive burglaries. Mr. Joseph Harmer, who has practised for twenty years as a solicitor at the Old Bailey, gave a testimony which the Committee cannot but recommend to the most serious consideration of the House. In the course of his practice he had confidential communication with at least 2,000 capital convicts; and may be presumed to have as good means of understanding their temptations, their fears, and their hopes, as any individual in the kingdom. He is now much employed by prosecutors, and from intercourse with them, as well as by former observation of their conduct, has the amplest means of knowing the influence which capital punishment has on their disposition, to aid and enforce the execution of the laws. The Committee must also add, that he appeared to them a man of sagacity, as well as of a conscientious and humane character, whose opinions on this subject are entitled to much consideration. Every part of his evidence is so important, that they find it difficult to select particular facts as worthy of greater notice. He informed the Committee, that he knew many instances of persons injured by larcenies and forgeries, declining to prosecute on account of the punishment; that the same consideration strongly disinclines many persons to serve as jurors at the Old Bailey, and induces them to bribe the summoning officer not to summon them; and that he has seen juries influenced, as he believes, by the severity of the punishment in numerous capital cases, but especially in forgeries, give verdicts of acquittal where the proofs of the prisoners' guilt were perfectly clear. Old professed thieves, aware of the compassionate feelings of juries, are, he says, desirous of being prosecuted on capital indictments rather than otherwise. "The present numerous enactments to take away life appear to me wholly ineffectual; but there are punishments which I am convinced a thief would dread, namely, a course of discipline totally reversing his former habits; idleness is one of the prominent characteristics of a professed thief-put him to labour; debauchery is another quality; abstinence is its opposite-apply it; company they indulge in; they ought, therefore, to experience solitude: they are accustomed to uncontrolled liberty of action-I would impose restraint and decorum. Were these my suggestions adopted, I have no doubt we should find a considerable reduction in the number of offenders." He states, that he has often seen juries reduce the value of things stolen, contrary to clear proof. There is no reluctance to prosecute or convict in his opinion in murder, arson, burglary, in its original sense of nocturnal housebreaking, highway robbery, with violence and murderous attacks on the person. The thieves observe the sympathy of the public; it seems to console them, and they appear less concerned than those who witness their sentence. Certainly the general feeling does not go along with the infliction of death in the case of crimes unaccompanied by violence; there are very few advocates for the generality of the present punishments; these punishments rather tend to excite the public feeling against the criminal laws." 4. Much of the above evidence sufficiently establishes the general disinclination of traders to prosecute for forgeries on themselves, or to furnish the Bank of England with the means of conviction, in cases where forged notes are uttered. There is no offence in which the infliction of death seems more repugnant to the strong and general and declared sense of the public than forgery; there is no other in which there appears to prevail a greater compassion for the offender, and more horror at capital executions. In addition to the general evidence above stated, to notorious facts, and to obvious conclusions of reason, your Committee have to state the testimony of some witnesses of peculiar weight, on the subject of forgery. Mr. John Smith, a Member of the House, and banker in London, stated, that he knew instances where prosecutions for private forgeries were relinquished on account of the punishment, and had no doubt that if the punishment was less, prosecutions would have taken place. Mr. Barnett, also a Member of the House, and a banker in London, is of opinion, that capital punishment goes extremely to discourage prosecutions in forgery; he knows many instances of this; scarcely a year passes without some thing of the kind; he is of opinion that the majority of private forgeries pass unpunished, on account of the severity of the punishment. The punishment of death tends, in his opinion, to prevent prosecution, and to increase the crime. Mr. J. F. Forster, a Russia merchant, and Mr. E. Forster, a banker in London, gave some remarkable examples of the repugnance to prosecute in forgery. In one, by the connivance of the prosecutor, a person, who was introduced to the magistrate as a friend of the prisoner's, desired to see the forged check, snatched it away, and threw it into the fire-a mode of avoiding prosecution, which, from other parts of the evidence, does not seem to be uncommon. In another, a forgery to the large amount of fifteen hundred pounds, where the forger and the utterer were both in custody, the prosecution was relinquished merely because the offence was capital. Had the punishment been ever so severe, short of death, no endeavour would have been made to save the offenders. In the opinion of Mr. E. Forster, more than one half of the private forgeries which are committed, escape prosecution on account of the severity of the law he added an example of the like sentiments, in the offence of stealing in a dwelling-house, which the Committee consider as remarkable, because it occurred in the officers of a public institution, who usually allow themselves to be less influenced by their feelings than individuals: a committee of a public institution, whose house had been robbed, would not engage in the prosecution unless the goods were valued under forty shillings. In this committee were persons of respectable condition in almost all the occupations which are most liable to loss by forgeries and thefts. Mr. Fry, a banker, in London, mentioned four cases of prosecution for forgery which were prevented by the capital punishment, in one of which the party injured swallowed the forged note, that he might not be compelled to prosecute. Mr. Fry explicitly stated, what is indeed implied in the evidence of the preceding witnesses, that, as a banker, he should consider his property as much more secure if the punishment of forgery were mitigated to such a degree that the law against that offence would be generally enforced; in nine cases out of ten of forgery which he has known, there has been an indisposition to prosecute. Dr. Lushington declared that he knew, that in the minds of many persons there is a strong indisposition to prosecute, on account of the severity of the punishment; and that he had heard from the mouths of prosecutors themselves, who have prosecuted for capital offences, where there was a danger of the persons being executed, the greatest regret that they had so done; and many times they have expressed a wish, that had they been able to have foreseen the consequences, they would never have resorted to the laws of their country. He also related the case of a servant who committed a robbery upon him: the man was apprehended, and his guilt was clear; but Dr. Lushington "refused to prosecute for no other reason than that he could not induce himself to run the risk of taking away the life of a man." Mr. Charles Attwood, a manufacturer of window-glass at Newcastle, and a seller of window-glass in London, had observed a very considerable indisposition to prosecute in capital cases among the traders of London generally; and conceives that this reluctance would abate, if the punishment were mitigated to something less than death. Mr. Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, a broker to the Bank, and to merchants, whose experience in the transactions of bankers is very extensive, entertains no doubt, that the punishment of death has a tendency generally to prevent prosecution, and thinks that evidence to that effect might be discovered in hundreds of instances. A servant of his own committed a very aggravated forgery upon him. She confessed her guilt to the magistrate before whom she was taken; but it appearing that if she was prosecuted at all, it must be capitally, Mr. Goldsmid declined all further proceedings, and she was liberated. In the next family in which she became a servant, she committed another capital felony; and again the severity of the law appears to have been her protection. Mr. Daniel Gurney, a banker in the county of Norfolk, declared his own reluctance, and had observed a similar reluctance among many bankers and traders in the country, to prosecute in cases of forgery, in consequence of the severity of the law. The dread of being instrumental in inflicting death had, with himself, and to his knowledge with others, operated as a protection to the criminal. In illustration of his sentiments, he mentioned the case of a man who was in the habit of committing forgery," and was not prosecuted in consequence of the capital punishment." Mr. Gurney considers that "his property as a banker would be more secure, if the punishment were not so severe, because there would be more inclination to prosecute." He also suggested, that if in every town of sufficient importance, an agent was invested with full authority from the Bank of England, to stamp the forged notes that were presented to him, it would be a considerable check to their circulation. In this opinion Mr. William Birkbeck, a banker in the West Riding of York, fully concurred; conceiving that if an agent of this kind were authorized to put a mark upon such notes, indicating that they were forged, it would probably throw them back on the original issuer so early, as to shew him the futility of attempting to issue others of a similar description. Your Committee cannot but consider the suggestion made by these respectable gentlemen as well meriting attention. After due consideration of this important question, your Committee are of opinion, that forgeries are a class of offences respecting which it is expedient to bring together and methodise the laws now in being. That in the present state of public feeling, a reduction of the punishment, in most cases of that crime, is become necessary to the execution of the laws, and consequently to the security of property and the protection of commerce; and that the means adopted by the legislature to return to our ancient standard of value, render the reformation of the criminal laws respecting forgeries a matter of very considerable urgency. Private forgeries will, in the opinion of the Committee, be sufficiently and most effectually repressed by the punishments of transportation and imprisonment. As long as the smaller notes of the Bank of England shall continue to constitute the principal part of the circulating medium of the kingdom, it may be reasonable to place them on the same footing with the metallic currency: your Committee therefore propose that the forgery of these notes may for the present remain a capital offence; that the uttering of forged banknotes shall, for the first offence, be transportation or imprisonment; but that, on the second conviction, the offender shall be deemed to be a common utterer of forged notes, and shall, if the prosecutor shall so desire, be indicted as such, which will render him liable to capital punishment. Respecting the offence of knowingly possessing forged notes, your Committee have no alteration to suggest, but what they conceive would be fit in all transportable offences, that a discretion should be vested in the Judges to substitute imprisonment with hard labour for transportation, where such a substitution shall seem to them expedient. As the discovery of the actual forgers of Bank notes has been found by experience to be in the highest degree difficult, your Committee consider the suggestion of the commissioners for inquiring into the means of preventing forgeries, of offering an unusually large reward for the detection of forgeries, as worthy of serious consideration: to such rewards in general, the Committee feel an insuperable objection. In the case of forgery there are circumstances which considerably weaken the objection. No jury could convict in such a case on the mere evidence of an informer unsupported by the discovery of those materials, implements and establishments necessary for carrying on the criminal system. The reward would, therefore, have little tendency to endanger |