§ Mr. Sinclairsaid: —In presenting to the House a petition from Stockton, &c. which entreats us to take into our earliest consideration the state of the criminal code, I cannot but reflect, with unmingled satisfaction, that this prayer has already been complied with; and that the numerous petitions on this subject, which are preparing in every part of the kingdom, might, without impropriety, be converted into addresses of thanks and congratulation. I am convinced that the decision of a former night has been hailed with unanimous exultation throughout the country; and that the people have recognised the wisdom and ratified judgment of their representatives. They will rejoice that this momentous question, so closely inter-woven national morals, and consequently with our national happiness, has been referred to an enlightened committee, which will conduct its inquiries not only without prejudice and without preci- 904 pitation, but without either incumbrance or delay. They will feel, that though the questions of prison discipline and the penal code are sufficiently connected to afford a pretext for crowding them together, they are also sufficiently distinct and disjoined to admit, with advantage, of a separate investigation. If we look, Sir, to the motives which led to this great and important decision, we must, in the first place, ascribe it to the previous verdict of a tribunal, to which even the omnipotence of parliament ought to bow; I mean the verdict of public opinion, which has loudly and unequivocally pronounced upon the penal code, as it stands in the statute book, a sentence of indignant condemnation. But we should indeed be ungrateful and inexcusable, if, in specifying the causes of our triumph, we were deficient in paying homage to the luminous, impressive, and dispassionate speech by which the motion of a former night was introduced. In alluding to that master-piece of eloquence and wisdom, I am confident that I express the universal feeling of the country, when I call upon, or rather beseech, the hon. and learned gentleman to delight and instruct the world, by presenting that speech to the public in a full and authenticated form; a speech which, by the force of its reasoning, must subdue the understandings of the prejudiced, and at the same time, by the magic of its eloquence, must come home to the hearts of the unconcerned. In speaking of the penal code, we have frequently been cautioned to make no appeal to the passions; but I ask, Sir, how is it possible to consider its present state and tendency, without being impressed with such feelings as I suppose I must not venture to define? What can we say of a code, which is, in theory, the most severe, and, in practice, the least efficient, that exists in any part of Europe? a code, which is only tolerable or even defensible on account of its imperfect execution. For although we are triumphantly reminded of the great disproportion which exists between the aggregate number of convictions and the relative proportion of executions, that very disparity which proves the mild administration of the law-demonstrates with equal self-evidence, the incredible harshness of its enactments—a harshness, which is not only unparalleled in degree, but totally impracticable in application. What shall we say of a code, which, if strictly, or even mode- 905 rately, enforced during a single year, would deluge every part of the country with such an effusion of human blood as would appal the most unfeeling, and startle the most indifferent? A code, too, which turns the tide of popular feeling into the most pernicious channel in which it can possibly run; since it enlists the general sympathy on the side of the malefactor, and transfers the indignation of the people from the crime against which it ought to be directed, to the law by which that crime may be punished, with a severity which becomes equivalent to injustice. As long, Sir, as offences of most unequal enormity may be visited in the same day, on the same scaffold, by the same fate, so long will those wretched individuals who for minor and comparatively venial crimes are exposed to the utmost vengeance of the law, be considered (not merely by the multitude, but by every enlightened friend to humanity), rather as martyrs to its rigour, than as victims to its justice. I am sensible that I have already abused the patience of the House, but I wish to touch briefly upon a subject which I think was not very fully dwelt upon in the course of the late discussion; I allude to the impression produced upon the public mind by the frequent recurrence of executions. It has sometimes been maintained that they are necessary for the sake of warning and example; but I feel anxious to corroborate, from my own observation, the opinion of those gentlemen who think that the effects which they excite are diametrically the reverse. Sir, in consequence of arriving at an early hour from the country, I had occasion to pass by the Old Bailey, on the morning when certain unhappy malefactors expiated the crime of forgery by the forfeiture of their lives. I averted my eyes, with unaffected concern, from a sight so painful to humanity; but the spectacle which I was compelled to witness, during my slow and impeded progress through the crowd, was such as to shock me still more. If, Sir, I could depict to the House the various but equally revolting emotions which might be traced in the countenances of all who surrounded me; the impatient curiosity of some, the brutal apathy of others, the thoughtless levity, the indignant horror, and even the Savage satisfaction which the features of the different spectators exhibited; if I could describe the eager struggles which ensued in 906 every quarter for a nearer approach to the scaffold, and the indecent alacrity with which many—nay, I blush to add, even females were hurrying, in every direction; to the place of execution—it would, I am persuaded, be the opinion, of all who hear me, that the frequent repetition of these awful solemnities only tends to familiarise men's minds to their recurrence. If any thing be learnt by those who habitually frequent them, it is to look forward with comparative unconcern to the pain or ignominy of such an exit, and, instead of taking warning from the fate of others, they gradually become callous to their own.
§ Ordered to lie on the table.