FORGERY. (Hansard, 8 April 1830)

Mr. Lennard
presented a Petition from the Bankers, Merchants, and other inhabitants of Woodbridge, in the County of Suffolk, praying for the abolition of the punishment of death for the crime of Forgery. The hon. Member observed, that the Petition was most respectably signed; that the circumstance of its being signed by the bankers of the place was one deserving of the attention of the right hon. Secretary of State, and of the House. He knew that the feeling on this subject entertained by the bankers of Woodbridge was very general among bankers throughout the country, and he hoped that the same feeling would be evinced by the London bankers. He trusted that the time was approaching when the punishment of death for any description of Forgery would be expunged from our penal code.

§ Mr. Trant
said, that he knew a respectable banker, who having several years ago been obliged to prosecute an individual for Forgery, and having failed, after a conviction had taken place, in his efforts to save the life of the prisoner, he declared that henceforward nothing should induce him to institute a similar prosecution, and that he would rather lose his entire fortune than be the means of taking away the life of any man for such an offence. This banker also told him that such were the sentiments 12 of several other bankers, and that it was the general opinion of that class of persons, who were most interested in the question, that the punishment of death ought to be removed from the Statute-book in all cases of Forgery. His own opinion was, that the measure introduced by the right hon. Gentleman opposite would not give general satisfaction unless it went that length.

§ Mr. F. Buxton
said, that he had received two letters on the subject—extracts from which he would take the liberty of reading to the House. The first was from a highly respectable clergyman at Glasgow, where a petition had been prepared, signed by all the bankers and respectable merchants in that city, praying for the abolition of the punishment of death for Forgery. The words of his correspondent were:—"The bankers, to a man, have been favourable; I am given to understand that there is scarcely a banker in town (if, indeed, there be even one), who has not been in circumstances in which he has forborne to prosecute rather than expose the offender to the certainty, or even the risk of death; and this forbearance has been exercised sometimes in circumstances of an aggravated nature." The other letter to which he alluded was from a banker at Newcastle. The writer said, "I now wish to offer you my testimony on the subject of Forgery, in confirmation of your sentiments expressed in the House. My mind has long been distressed with the present law. I gladly embraced the first opportunity to do what I could for its alteration, and lately took some pains in forwarding a petition from here, praying that in all cases the penalty should be short of the forfeiture of life. The leading partners of the banks in this town signed it, under the practical conviction that the severity of the law was not a protection to us, but tended to increase the crime. I also called on our principal merchants, who concurred in the same sentiments, and signed it. This opinion maybe said to be universal in this district." He (Mr. F. Buxton) objected to the punishment of death for Forgery, on the grounds stated in his correspondent's letter, and he also objected to it on higher grounds. He thought the legislature had no right to take away the life of any man for an offence against property. He was sure that a strong wish existed among the bankers, and other respectable classes of 13 the community, throughout the country, to see the law altered in that respect.

Mr. Warburton
expressed his conviction, that a general impression existed throughout the country that the punishment of death for Forgery ought to be abolished. With respect to protection against the crime, the late alteration in the law, by which a person on whom Forgery was committed was permitted to be a witness in the case, afforded an incalculably greater protection against the crime than any severity of punishment. He was sure that public opinion would go with the right hon. Gentleman if he were to abolish the punishment of death altogether.

§ Mr. Western
rose to present a Petition from the Bankers and Inhabitants of the Town of Witham, in Essex, praying that the punishment of death in cases of Forgery might be abolished. He was able to say, having presented several petitions on this subject, that a great body of his constituents were averse to the punishment of death for this crime, and wished to see it abolished. He concurred with them in thinking that it ought to be abolished for the crime of Forgery; but he went further, and thought that there were many other cases in which it was now improperly inflicted. He was very much inclined to doubt if any legislators or rulers had a right to take away life from an individual in any case of crime in which the life of the suffering or offended party had not been put in danger. Many writers of great and deserved celebrity had maintained this opinion. He trusted that the whole of the penal code would undergo a further consideration. He was convinced that secondary punishments might, in point of preventing crime, be made more efficacious as an example than death. Solitary confinement might be applied in a manner most effective to its object, whilst it might be deprived of those objections that had been urged against it. He could not conceive that any danger could arise from vesting a discretionary power in the visiting magistrates, or the governors of gaols, as to solitary confinement. There was no danger in giving a discretionary power to mitigate punishment; though there might be, and the Legislature could not be too cautious in granting it, in a power to inflict punishment. He stated this, because he had paid great attention to the subject, and he believed that the aversion to inflict- 14 ing the punishment of death so frequently was strongly felt throughout the country. Excessive punishment defeated its own object, and in this case forgers were frequently allowed to escape, from the unwillingness of persons to prosecute the offence.