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tered Banks of Scotland, representing the proportions which the quarterly averages bear to each other, of the respective circulation of each Bank, at three corresponding periods; the scales by which the circulation of these Banks is thus shown establish

Last Quar.
1813.

the degree of the proportionate vari ations in each respectively; but it is to be observed, that those scales, being constructed upon different data, afford no means of comparing with one another the actual amount of their respective issues.

Third Quar.

1816.
...910.....

British Linen Company..............1,400.....
Bank of Scotland.............................................. .......8,773..................6,728..............................
Royal Bank...............

As a very large part of the currency of Scotland is furnished by those Banks, it must be inferred from the preceding scales, that whatever was the amount at the close of 1813, not less than one-third had been withdrawn from circulation in 1816, since which period an equal amount has been re-issued.

A fluctuation, corresponding with this in point of time, and at least equal in degree, appears to have taken place in the paper issued by the Country Banks in England. The number of these establishments licensed in 1814 was 940, in 1817 was 752.

Mr Lloyd stated, that the circulation of the Country Banks was at its highest in 1813 and 1814, but was considerably reduced in 1816, and the beginning of 1817; and being asked as to the amount outstanding at the latter period, when compared with the former, he answered, "I can hardly say; I should think it was reduced nearly one-half."

Your Committee were furnished by Mr Stuckey with the following scale of the circulation of a considerable Country Bank, for the last four years:

--

March............1816.............10
.............1817.............12

............. 1818.............16
............ 1819.............17
and further information on the same
subject will be found in the evidence

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Last Quar.

1818.

...1.265

.....8,179

of Mr John Smith, a member of the house, Mr Samuel Gurney, and Mr Gilchrist.

Whatever may have been the diminution in the amount of the circulation of Country Banks in 1816 and 1817, it was not in any degree caused by a diminution of the issues of the Bank of England. The circulation of country paper is liable to be affect ed by want of confidence, generally brought on by extensive failures in some of those establishments; and the result of which is, that other Country Banks, however solvent, participate more or less in the general discredit, and are obliged to restrict their issues from a regard to their own security. In the opinion of Mr Tooke, "a like effect is sometimes produced, and in a much greater degree, from the discredit of their cus tomers, to whom they are in the ha bit of advancing money; most of their customers being holders of articles which are liable to be affected by a general depression of price."

Although there may be reason to infer from the opinion of the witnes ses most conversant with the manage ment of Country Banks, and to whose evidence your Committee beg leave to refer, that a reduction in the amount of the notes issued by the Bank of England would speedily and necessarily be followed by a proportionate reduction of the Country Bank paper; still it must be obvious,

that, independently of that cause, the latter is liable to a sudden and highly inconvenient contraction, under such circumstances of distrust and difficulty as occurred in 1816. The effects of this contraction, unless obviated by a corresponding increase in the issues of the Bank of England, the credit of which is fortunately unassailable by the influence of similar circumstances, must have a tendency, by diminishing the amount of the paper currency, to raise the value of the whole.

This, in the opinion of your Committee, was one of the effects produced by the rapid contraction of our currency in 1816 and 1817; and to it may be ascribed, in part, the fall in the price of gold, and the favourable state of the foreign exchanges during that interval.

Whether it may be practicable further to provide against inconvenience to the public and the loss to individuals, which arise from the occasional insolvency of Country Banks, and to make such provision, without an interference with the rights of property, and the transactions of the community founded on commercial credit, are questions of great difficulty, respecting which your Committee could not, without further evidence and considerable delay, have enabled themselves to submit an opinion to the House.

Your Committee have forborne from entering into any reasoning upon the effect produced upon the value of our currency, by variations in the numerical amount of the notes issued by the Bank of England. So many circumstances contribute to affect that Such contraction is an evil to which value, such, for instance, as the varythe system of Country Banks, resting ing state of commercial credit and upon individual credit, may be occa- confidence-the fluctuations in the sionally liable; but your Committee amount of Country Bank paper-the are inclined to hope that it will not different degrees of rapidity with be likely either to prevail to the same which the same amount of currency extent, or to endure for so long a pe- circulates at different periods-that riod, when the fluctuations to which your Committee are of opinion, that an inconvertible paper currency is no satisfactory conclusions can be exposed shall be checked by the o- drawn from a mere reference to the peration of the plan which they re- numerical amount of the issues of the commend for the gradual resumption Bank of England outstanding at any of cash payments. given time.

6th May 1819.

REPORT ON THE CRIMINAL LAWS.

The Select Committee appointed to consider of so much of the Criminal Laws as relates to Capital Punishment in felonies, and to report their observations and opinion of the same, from time to time, to the House; and to whom the several petitions on the subject were referred; have, pursuant to the orders of the House, considered the matters to them referred, and have agreed upon the following Report:

Your Committee, in execution of the trust delegated to them by the House, have endeavoured strictly to confine themselves within the limits prescribed to them by the terms of their appointment. In some cases they have laid down restrictions for themselves, which the letter of the resolution of the House did not impose. They have abstained from all consideration of those capital felonies which may be said to be of a political nature, being directed against the authority of Government and the general peace of society. To the nature and efficacy of the secondary punishments of transportation and imprisonment, they have directed no part of their inquiries; because another committee had been appointed to investigate them, and because no part of the facts or arguments to be stated in this report will be found to depend, either on the present state of these secondary punishments, or on the degree of improvement of which they may be found capable. With many extensive and important parts of the criminal law-such, for example, as that which regulates the trial of offenders-they are entirely satisfied; and they should not have suggested any changes in these departments, even if they had been within the appointed province of this Committee.

On other parts of the subject-as, for example, in the definition and arrangement of crimes-they have recommended a consolidation of the laws respecting only one class of offences, and have presumed only to express a general opinion of the utility of the like consolidation in some other cases. They wish expressly to disclaim all doubt of the right of the Legislature to inflict the punishment of death, wherever that punishment, and that alone, seems capable of protecting the communi. ty from enormous and atrocious crimes. The object of the Committee has been to ascertain, as far as the nature of the case admitted by evidence, whether, in the present state of the sentiments of the people of England, capital punishment, in most cases of offences unattended with violence, be a necessary or even the most effectual security a gainst the prevalence of crimes.

I. In the first place, they endeavoured to collect official accounts of the state of crimes and the administration of criminal law throughout the kingdom, from the earliest period to which authentic information reaches. The annual returns of commitments, convictions, and executions, first procured by addresses from this House, and since required by statute, go no farther back than

1805. Accounts, though not perfectly satisfactory, of the same particulars from London and Middlesex, from 1749 to the present time, have been already laid before Parliament, which, with an official summary of the returns of England and Wales from 1805, will be inserted in the appendix of this report.

A full and authentic account of convictions and executions for London and Middlesex, from 1699 to 1804, obtained for the latter part of that time from the Clerk of Arraigns at the Old Bailey, and for the former part from the officers of the city of London, is inserted in the appendix. The Corporation of the city of London have shown, on this occasion, a liberal and public spirit worthy of acknowledgment; and it is to be hoped that they will continue their researches as far back as their records extend, and thus complete returns probably unparalleled in the history of criminal law.

The Deputy Clerk of Assize for the Home Circuit has laid before your Committee a return of commitments, convictions, and executions on that circuit, which comprehends the counties of Herts, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, from 1689 to 1718, from 1755 to 1784, and from 1784 to 1814. The returns of the intermediate period from 1718 to 1755 he will doubtless furnish very soon. From this important return it appears, that, for the first thirty years which followed the revolution, the average proportion of convictions to executions was 38 to 20; that from 1755 to 1784 it was 46 to 13; and that from 1784 to 1814, it was 74 to 19. It is worthy of remark, that the whole number of convictions for murder on the home circuit, in the first period, was 123; that the executions for the same period were 87; that in the second, the convictions

for the same offence were 67, and the executions 57; and that in the third, the convictions were 54, and the executions 44. If the increase of the population during a prosperous period of 130 years be taken into the account, and if we bear in mind that within that time a considerable city has grown up on the southern bank of the Thames, we shall be disposed to consider it as no exaggeration to affirm, that in this district (not one of the most favourably situated in this respect) murder has abated in the remarkable proportion of 3, if not 4, to 1.

In the thirty years from 1755 to 1784, the whole convictions for murder in London and Middlesex were 71; and in the thirty years from 1784 to 1814 they were 66. In the years 1815, 1816, and 1817, the whole convictions for murder in London were nine, while in the three preceding years they were 14. Most of the other returns relate to too short a period, or too narrow a district, to afford materials for safe conclusion, with respect to the comparative frequency of crimes at different periods.

In general, however, it appears that murders and other crimes of violence and cruelty have either diminished or not increased; and that the deplorable increase of criminals is not of such a nature as to indicate any diminution in the humanity of the people. The practice of immediately publishing the circumstances of every atrocious crime, and of circulating in various forms an account of every stage of the proceedings which relate to it, is far more prevalent in England than in any other country, and in our times than in any former age. It is on the whole of great utility, not only as a control on courts of judicature, but also as a means of rendering it ex

tremely difficult for odious criminals to escape. In this country no atrocious crimes remain secret. With these advantages, however, it can not be denied, that by publishing the circumstances of all crimes, our modern practice tends to make our age and nation appear more criminal than, in comparison with others, it really is.

II. In considering the subject of our penal laws, your Committee will first lay before the House their observations on that part which is the least likely to give rise to difference of opinion. That many statutes denouncing capital punishments might be safely and wisely repealed, has long been a prevalent opinion. It is sanctioned by the authority of two successive Committees of this House, composed of the most eminent men of their age, and in some measure by the authority of the House itself, which passed several bills on the recommendation of their Committees. As a general position, the propriety of repealing such statutes seems scarcely to have been disputed. Respecting the number and choice of them, different sentiments must always be expected. Your Committee have not attempted a complete enumeration, which much time and considerable deliberation would be required to accomplish. They selected some capital felonies, for the continuance of which they cannot anticipate any serious argument, and which seem to them to serve no purpose but that of encumbering and discrediting the statute-book. Various considerations have combined to guide their choice; sometimes mere levity and hurry have raised an insignificant offence, or an almost indifferent act, into a capital crime; in other acts, the evil has been ma nifestly and indeed avowedly temporary, though it unfortunately produ

ced a permanent law. Where the punishment of death was evidently unnecessary at the time of its original establishment, and where, if it was originally justified by a temporary danger, or excused by a temporary fear, it has long been acknowledged to be altogether disproportioned to the offence, your Committee conceive themselves warranted in confidently recommending its abolition. But they have also adverted to another consideration : If, in addition to the intrinsic evidence of unwarrantable severity in a law, which arises from the comparison of the act forbidden with the punishment threatened, they find also that the law has scarcely ever been executed since its first enactment; or if it has fallen into disuse as the nation became more humane and generally enlight ened, your Committee consider themselves as authorised to recom mend its repeal, by long experience, and by the deliberate judgment of the whole nation. In the application of this latter principle, they have been materially aided by the documents which have been mentioned. Where a penal law has not been carried into effect in Middlesex for more than a century, in the counties round London for sixty years, and in the extensive district which forms the Western Circuit for fifty, it may be safely concluded that the general opinion has pronounced it to be unfit or unnecessary to continue in force. The Committee are aware that there are cases in which it may be said, that the dread of the punishment has prevented the perpetration of the crime, and where, therefore, the law appears to be inefficacious only because it has completely accomplished its purpose. Whatever speciousness may belong to this reasoning in the case of conspicuous crimes, and punishments

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