the first cost, or price, of the article, the duties which have been paid form no inconsiderable part of the ultimate value. It is only necessary to resort to the Journals of the House of Commons and the Appendix to the Report of the Dock Committee in 1796, in order to be satisfied that the plunder in the warehouses has been excessive. And if credit is to be given to the evidence then brought forward, and also to the affidavits of persons who have worked for many years in the sugar warehouses, the loss sustained on an importation of one hundred and forty thousand casks of sugar has not fallen much short of 100,000l. a year. Ibid. SELF-DEFENCE, HOMICIDE IN. Homicide by necessity, or in self-defence, is another shade of murder upon which no punishment is inflicted; and in this is included what the law expresses by the word chance-medley; which is properly applied to such killing as happens in selfdefence, upon a sudden rencounter. Yet still, by strictness of law, the goods and chattels of the person charged and convicted are forfeited to the crown; contrary, as it seems to many, to the principles of reason and justice. Ibid. SHARPERS, OR SWINDLERS. The great qualifications, or leading and indispensible attributes, of a sharper, or swindler, are, to possess a genteel exterior, a demeanour apparently artless, and a good address. Among the various classes of sharpers may be reckoned those who obtain licences to become pawnbrokers, and bring disgrace upon the reputable 2 H part part of the trade, by every species of fraud which can add to the distresses of those who are compelled to raise money in this way; for which purpose there are abundance of opportunities. Swindling pawnbrokers of this class are uniformly receivers of stolen goods; and, under the cover of their licence, do much mischief to the public. The evil arising from them might, in a great measure, be prevented by placing the power of granting licences in a general board of police; and rendering it necessary for all persons to produce a certificate of character before they can obtain such licence, and also to enter into recognizance for good behaviour. Also sharpers who obtain licences to be hawkers and pedlars; under the cover of which every species of villainy is practised upon the country people, as well as upon the unwary in the metropolis and all the great towns in the kingdom. The artifices by which they succeed are various; as for example-By fraudulent raffles, where plated goods are exhibited as silver, and where the chances are exceedingly against the adventurers; by selling and uttering base money, and frequently forged banknotes, which make one of the most profitable branches of their trade; by dealing in smuggled goods, thereby promoting the sale of articles injuri ous to the revenue, besides cheating the ignorant with regard to the value; by receiving stolen goods, to be disposed of in the country, by which discoveries are prevented, and assistance afforded to common thieves and stationary receivers; by purchasing stolen horses in one part of the country and disposing of them in another, in the course of their journies; in accomplishing which, so as to elude detection, they have great opportunities; by gambling with EO tables at fairs and horse-races. A num A number of other devices might be pointed out, which render thiss class of men great nuisances in society; and shew the necessity of either suppressing them totally, for in fact they are of little use to the public, or of limiting the licences only to men of good character; to be granted by a general board of police, under whose controul they should be placed, while they enter at the same time into a recognizance in a certain sum, with one surety for good behaviour; by which the honest part would be retained, to the exclusion of the fraudulent. Also sharpers, known by the name of duffers, who go about from house to house, and attend public houses, inns, and fairs, pretending to sell smuggled goods, such as India handkerchiefs, waistcoat patterns, muslins, &c. By offering their goods for sale, they are enabled to discover the proper objects, who may be successfully practised upon in various ways; and if they do not succeed in promoting some gambling scheme, by which the party is plundered of his money, they seldom fail passing forged country bank notes or base silver and copper in the course of their dealings. Ibid. SHARPERS, FEMALE, Who dress elegantly, personate women of fashion, attend masquerades, and even go to St. James's. These, from their effrontery, actually get into the circle; where their wits and hands are employed in obtaining diamonds, and whatever other articles of value, capable of being concealed, are found to be most accessible. The wife of a well known sharper, lately upon the town, is said to have appeared at court, dressed in a stile of peculiar elegance: while the sharper himself 2H 2 himself is supposed to have gone in the dress of a clergyman. According to the information of a noted receiver, they pilfered to the value of 1700l. on the king's birth-day, 1795, without discovery or suspicion. Houses are kept where female cheats dress and undress for public places. Thirty or forty of these sharpers generally attend all masquerades, in different characters, where they seldom fail to get clear off with a considerable booty. Ibid. See CHEATS, &c. SMUGGLING. Smuggling is a real offence against the sovereign and the nation; but the punishment should not brand the offender with infamy, because this crime is not infamous in the public opinion. By inflicting infamous punishments for crimes that are not reputed so, we destroy that idea where it may be useful. If the same punishment be decreed for killing a pheasant as for killing a man, or for forgery, all difference between those crimes will shortly vanish. It is thus that moral sentiments are destroyed in the heart of man; sentiments, the work of many ages and of much bloodshed; sentiments, that are so slowly and with so much difficulty produced, and for the establishment of which such sublime motives and such an apparatus of ceremonies were thought necessary. This crime is owing to the laws themselves; for the higher the duties, the greater is the advantage, and consequently the temptation; which temptation is increased by the facility of perpetration, when the circumference that is guarded is of great extent, and the merchandise prohibited is small in bulk. bulk. The seizure and loss of the goods attempted to be smuggled, together with those that are found along with them, is just; but it would be better to lessen the duty, because men risk only in proportion to the advantage expected. This crime being a theft of what belongs to the prince, and consequently to the nation, why is it not attended with infamy ?—I answer, that crimes which men consider as productive of no bad consequences to themselves do not interest them sufficiently to excite their indignation. The generality of mankind, upon whom remote consequences make no impression, do not see the evil that may result from the practice of smuggling, especially if they reap from it any present advantage. They only perceive the loss sustained by the prince. They are not then interested in refusing their esteem to the smuggler, as to one who has committed a theft or a forgery, or other crimes, by which they themselves may suffer; from this evident principle, that a sensible being only interests himself in those evils with which he is acquainted. Shall this crime, then, committed by one who has nothing to lose, go unpunished?-No. There are certain species of smuggling which so particu. larly affect the revenue, a part of government so essential, and managed with so much difficulty, that they deserve imprisonment, or even slavery; but yet of such a nature as to be proportioned to the crime. For example, it would be highly unjust that a smuggler of tobacco should suffer the same punishment with a robber or assassin; but it would be most conformable to the nature of the offence, that the produce of his labour should be applied to the use of the crown, which he intended to defraud. Beccaria, |