Mr. Lennardsaid, he had been requested by his hon. friend, the member for Essex, to present a Petition from the Magistrates, Clergy, Gentry, and other inhabitants of Braintree and Bocking, in Essex, praying for the mitigation of the punishment of Forgery. The numerous petitions which had been presented to that House on the subject showed the general feeling which existed in the Country respecting it; and there could be no doubt that that number would have been much greater had not the public been aware that the right hon. Secretary of State for the Home Department participated in their feelings with respect to the expediency of mitigating the punishment of forgery. He (Mr. Lennard) felt great satisfaction at what the right hon. Gentleman had already stated it to be his intention to do, as far as it went; but he was sure that the public wished for a more extensive measure, and were anxious that the punishment of death for the crime of forgery should be abolished altogether. It had been said, and among others by the hon. member for Bristol, that the monied interest would not be sufficiently protected if the punishment of death for forgery were abolished entirely. He believed, on the contrary, not only that it would be protected, but that it would be protected more efficiently, if the punishment for forgery were not such as to render it repugnant to the feelings of those upon whom forgeries were committed, to prosecute the offenders. He had himself given notice of a motion for the abolition of the punishment of death in all cases of forgery. He had great satisfaction, however, in surrendering the motion into the hands of his hon. and learned friend, the member for 1275 Knaresborough, by whom it would be taken up in a manner that would be better calculated to ensure its success.
Sir. J. Mackintoshsaid, that he should with the greatest pleasure resign his undertaking into the hands of the right hon. the Secretary of State, and would therefore wait until the further progress of the right hon. Secretary's Bill, to ascertain how far the objects which they had in view were the same. If he found that the Bill did not go so far as he wished, he should then find it his duty to bring forward the motion of which he had given notice.
§ The Petition read and to be printed.