212

THE PARLIAMENTARY REGISTER,

OR

HISTORY OF THE PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, AT THE SIXTH SESSION OF THE SEVENTEENTH PARLIAMENT.-Vol. XLIV,

Lond. J. DEBRETT, 1796.-Page 288.

Friday, 11th. of March.

MR. JODDRELL rose, to move for leave to bring in a bill for giving for anatomization the bodies of persons executed for burglarics and felonies. Mr. Buxton seconded the motion.

Serjeant Adair said, he now rose to oppose the bill in the present stage, as he would in every subsequent one, should it be allowed to proceed any farther; and he hoped he would be able to show that it was essential to the dignity of parliament, and to the advantage of the public, not to encourage for a moment a measure from which so much evil would result. It had been an observation made by all versant with the criminal justice of this country, that the great defect of our criminal code consisted in confounding the gradations of crimes, removing the distinction of enormity, and the proportion of their punishment. He could not think of adding, as the proposed bill would do, to the severity of the punishment of death, in cases where the punishment of death ought not to be inflicted at all. In the various cases of burglary the same punishment was provided by the law. A ragged boy on the 21st of December last, cutting a hole in a pane

of glass, and drawing out a pair of garters to the value of twopence would be found guilty of burglary, and by the law punished with death. Was the person who took only a few shillings, without committing any violence, to be compared to the nocturnal, way-laying murderer? Were the obvious moral distinctions of these crimes to be confounded and held forth to the people, as meriting the same severity of punishment? He thought that the distinction which the bill meant to extend to other crimes, should be reserved as the peculiar attendant of the punishment of murder, with regard to which it was wise to maintain a greater degree of horror and dread. The disgraceful multiplicity of crimes already punished with death, was no reason for affixing an additional mark of severity. He was not such an enthusiast for the promotion of the science of anatomy, as to advance it at such a price, and by such means. The other object might be a good one; but he could not, to promote it, consent to break down that barrier, which God and nature had established between murder and other crimes. This bill might contribute to increase murder, by removing one great motive to deter criminals from committing it, when they committed the crime of robbery. Upon the whole, the proposed bill appeared so exceptionable, that he could not think the house would be disposed at all to entertain it. He had now only said a few words against it; but, if necessary, he would afterwards state his objections at greater length.

The motion was rejected without a division.

INSERTED TO EXPLAIN THE EFFECT PRODUCED BY THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH FOR DIFFERENT CRIMES.

ANN HURLE, lately convicted of a forgery on the Bank. About ten minutes after eight o'clock, this unfortunate young woman, and Methusalah Spalding, were conveyed in a cart, from the felon's door, at Newgate, to the place of execution. She was dressed in black, appeared pale, and incapable of regarding with attention the horrors of her situation; her appearance on the whole was very interesting. When the halter was fixed, she seemed inclined to speak, but her strength evidently failed, and she was incapable. The other prisoner assumed an aspect, that excited the disgust of the populace; his hat remained on, and his behaviour was such as did not accord with the dreadful state in which he then stood. The Ordinary of Newgate accompanied the prisoners, and was attended to with earnest devotion by Ann Hurle, whose appearance, upon the whole, excited emotion of compassion among the spectators, who became at last so clamorous, that the sheriff, in a loud voice, described to them the impropriety of their behaviour, after which they were more silent. The caps having been pulled over the faces of the sufferers, the cart drew away.-As it was going, she gave a scream, and for two or three minutes after she was suspended, appeared to be in great agony, moving her hands up

and down frequently. For eight days she had taken but little nourishment, and her feelings, while attending the condemned sermon, preached on Sunday, were so great, that she was several times deprived of sensation, and supposed to be dead. Her father, mother, and other relations, were with her, during the gloomy hours of sadness that preceded her fate, the whole of whom she embraced for the last time. A petition was presented to his majesty in her behalf; and an answer was returned, that she need not entertain hope of mercy, her crime being of that magnitude that admitted of no other alternative than the execution of the law. After the bodies had hung the usual time, they were taken down, placed in shells, and delivered to their friends. The gallows, upon this occasion, was erected upon a new construction, at the upper endof the Old Bailey, near St. Sepulchre's Church. It is in the form of a triangle, and is to be used instead of the old drop. The numerous spectators commisserated the sad fate of Ann Hurle; while that of Methusalah Spalding, executed at the same time for an unnatural crime, excited sentiments of a very different description.

216

DUMONT.

PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR 1799.

AFTER having considered offences as diseases in the body politic, we are led by analogy to consider, as remedies, the modes of preventing and repairing them.

These remedies may be arranged under four heads:

1. Preventive remedies,

2. Suppressive remedies,

3. Satisfactory remedies,

4. Penal remedies, or punishments.

EXTRAVAGANT PUNISHMENTS.

If the evil of the punishment exceed the evil of the offence, the legislator will have produced more suffering than he has prevented. He will have purchased the exemption from one evil, at the price of a greater evil.

Place two tables before you; one representing the evil of the offence; the other the evil of the punishment.

The evils produced by a penal law are, 1st. The evil of coercion. It imposes a privation more or less painful according to the degree of pleasure which may be given by the thing prohibited. 2dly. The sufferings occasioned by the punishment, when the offenders are punished. 3dly. The evil of