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they feel themselves deprived of the means of profits ing by the system of plunder which they had so perfectly organized, and which, in collusion with the revenue watermen, they were so well able to cover by availing themselves of their official situations, on many occasions, in protecting to the houses of the receivers articles which were both stolen and smuggled.

By means of a police guard upon the quays, which forms a collateral branch of the general system, the scuffle-hunters and long-apron-men, who were accustomed to prowl about for the purpose of pillage, have in a great measure deserted the quays and landing-places; while the copemen and receivers, finding, from several examples which have been made, that their former infamous pursuits cannot be continued without the most imminent hazard, have, in many instances, declined business, while not a few of these mischievous members of society have quitted their former residences, and disappeared.

Such has been the effect of the remedy which has been applied towards the cure of the enormous evil of river plunder. Colquhoun.

POLYGAMY.

Polygamy was first declared felony by the statute of James the First, cap. 11, but not excluded from the benefit of clergy, and therefore not subject to the punishment of death.

Though, in one view, the having a plurality of wives or husbands appears only a political offence, yet it is undeniably a breach of religious and moral virtue, in a very high degree. It is true, indeed, that in the early ages of the world polygamy was

tolerated

tolerated both in Greece and Rome, even after the people had arrived at a high pitch of refinement. But since the institution of matrimony under the present form, polygamy must be considered as highly criminal, since marriage is an engagement which cannot be violated without the greatest injury to society. The public interest, therefore, requires that it should be punished; and the act 35th George III, cap. 67, which punishes this offence with transportation, is certainly not too severe. Ibid.

PRISONERS.

To form some judgment of the number of persons in this great metropolis who compose, at least, a part of the criminal phalanx engaged in depredations and acts of violence, it is only necessary to have recourse to the following statement of the number of prisoners discharged, during a period of four years, from the eight different gaols in the metropolis, and within the bills of mortality:

1. Discharged by proclamation and gaoldeliveries; having been committed in consequence of being charged with various offences, for which bills were not found by the grand jury, or where the prosecu tors did not appear to maintain and support the charges

2. Discharged by acquittals in the different courts; frequently from having availed themselves of the defects of the law; from frauds in keeping back evidence, and other devices

5592

2962

3. Con

Brought forward

3. Convicts discharged from the different gaols, after suffering the punishment of imprisonment, &c. inflicted on them for the several offences

8554

2484

Total 11038

The following is a statement of the number of these discharges from the year 1792 to 1799 inclusive:

1. Discharged by proclamations and gaol

deliveries

2. Discharged by acquittals

8650

4935

6925

Total 20,510

3. Discharged after punishment, or by being bailed or pardoned

The number of prisoners committed annually for bail in the metropolis is from two thousand five hundred to three thousand.

The number tried at the Old Bailey from September 1790 to 1791, including eight sessions, one thousand and eighty-eight, out of which seven hundred and eleven were discharged.

Ditto, from April, 1793, to March, 1794, in. clusive, one thousand and sixty, discharged, five hundred and sixty-seven,

In the year 1795, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four prisoners were tried at the Old Bailey and the different assizes in the country, exclusive of a much greater number at the general and quarter sessions of the peace in the different counties. These trials in the superior courts of judicature, produced the following results:-

London.

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PRISONS. See CONFINEMENT, NEWGATE, and HOUSES OF CORRECTION.

PROCEDURE, CRIMINAL.

If, in France, it should ever happen that the laws of humanity soften some of our rigorous customs, without facilitating the commission of crimes, we may hope for reformation in those legal proceedings wherein our legislators seem to have been influenced by too much severity. Our criminal procedure appears in many instances to point only at the destruction of the accused. It is the only law which is uniform throughout the whole kingdom; a law which ought certainly to be no less favourable to the innocent than terrible to the guilty.

In England, a man may recover damages for

false

*This was written during royalty: what would the writer have said of the present day? Editor.

false imprisonment. In France, on the contrary, an innocent person, who has had the misfortune to be thrown into a dungeon and tortured almost to death, has no consolation, no damages to hope for, no action against any one; and, to add to his misfortune, he has for ever lost his reputation.-Why? because his joints have been dislocated; a circumstance which ought rather to inspire compassion and respect. The discovery of crimes, say they, requires severity; it is a war of human justice against iniquity. But there is generosity and compassion even in war. The brave are ever compassionate; and shall the law delight in barbarity?

Let us compare the criminal procedure of the Romans with our's. With them, the evidence were heard publicly, in presence of the accused, who might answer or interrogate them, or employ counsel. This procedure was open and noble: it breathed Roman magnanimity.

With us, all is conducted in secret. A single judge, only attended by his clerk, hears each witness separately. This custom, established by Francis I, was confirmed by the commissioners who were employed to digest the ordinance of Lewis XIV, in 1670; which confirmation was entirely owing to a mistake. They imagined, in reading the Code "de Testibus," that the words "testes intrare judicii secretum signified that the witnesses were examined in private; but "secretum means here the chamber of the judge. "Intrare secretum," if intended to signify private interrogation, would be false Latin. This part of our law, therefore, is founded on a solecism.

39

The evidence in these cases are commonly the dregs of the people, whom the judge may, in such private examination, make say whatsoever he

pleases.

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