one man while the others ransacked the house for money. They, however, obtained very little by their brutal attack on these females; for, though their industry and frugality were well known, and the robbery was committed a short time previous to the day on which the reat of their small farm had usually been paid, yet their prudence, foreseeing the possibility of an event like this, had long suggested the propriety of keeping no more money by them than was necessary for their current expenses. The thieves were repeatedly told there was no more in the house than the little which they had readily found; yet they would not believe it, but continued nearly an hour and a half searching every place and crevice where they thought it possible for money to be concealed. Finding no more, they at length departed. While the sisters were guarded, whether the inan thought they might attempt to alarm their neighbours at some distance, or he apprehended a revival of their courage, cannot be said, but he threatened to murder them if they stirred. On this, one of them, the deceased I believe, advancing towards him, said, "Kill me, then; the guilt will be yours." This so abashed him that he retired a few paces, and offered no further violence. Providentially the bruises which both the sisters received, did not prove dangerous, and they soon recovered. But the nervons irritability of body and mind, which the after recollections of this event produced in the deceased, never seemed completely to subside: and to this cause, in some degree, may probably be traced the rapid progress of the complaint which terminated her earthly existence. Dr. Drennan. B. R. D. [From the Dublin Evening Post.] On Saturday morning, the 5th of February, 1820, died in Belfast, WILLIAM DRENNAN, M. D., aged 65 years. No epoch of time shall [will] be more interesting to the historian than the few preceding years.-Empires grew and vanished; conquerors rose and fell; and, in our Island, the hand of Death was not idle amongst its most valuable sons. Flood and Curran, and Jones and Drenan, have disappeared; and now, with the exception of aged Grattan, are nearly hid from our view the luminaries of that period, when the patriotism of Irishmen had reached its climax.-When the fathers of the land are gone, well may we weep with our widowed country! For what eye shall now watch, what ear listen, what heart throb, what hand pen, and what tongue thunder out vengeance against the foes and oppressors of Ireland, since these men are no more, and Irishmen are orphans! Born in the north, and taught under the influence of the most independent religion in the world, through life Drennan spoke and wrote most liberally on all religious topics; no bigot in himself, he contemned bigotry in others; the son of a Calvinist, he was the best, the warmest advocate of Catholic Emancipation; and that cause, enfeebled by the frailty of its own sons, and enervated by the fallibility of ostensible advocates of other persuasions, has lost in this man, an advocate, unequalled in uniformity of opinion, and unchanged by the shifts of crowns and mitres on the chess-board of Europe. He wrote and spoke for the Catholic, because the Catholic was chained; and he would have written and spoken for the persecuted slave of any other Christian code, under similar grievances. The "most liberal of arts" was the one Drennan was destined to fill. In Newry, he very successfully practised as a physician; and there some of his happiest strokes of poetical humour appeared. Afterwards, the capital was chosen by him, as a field, wide in extent, and more likely of success. In Dublin, Drennan shone more in politics than in physic. In his time there Irish enthusiasm and Irish pride had swollen to a bursting pitch; and he yielded himself, his genius, and his pen, to the cause that then was warming every heart and charging every tongue. Disappointed by subsequent events, he again returned to the re-bracing air of the north; and, although he could point his finger to thousands who knelt at the receiving of, and afterwards causelessly violated, the "Test Outh," yet he, the author, never departed from a particle of its principles, nor forgot the binding nature of a patriot's voluntary oath. As a writer, the pathos which he threw into the softer strain of his fugitive pieces, the clear perspicuity of his political compositions, the keen edge that sharpened his satire, and the expressive ardour and harmony that breathed through his poetry, are strong proofs how well Drennan could master his pen. His mind was endowed with a large stock of classical knowledge, derived from profound erudition; and he was never at a loss for a word to convey his idea, or for a quotation to confirm any point at issue. He has written many beautiful poems, chiefly domestic or political; and numberless pieces in prose: of the latter, the "Letters of Orellana," his Addresses to the Irish Volunteers, and many most important Essays on Home Education, delivered to the Belfast Insti tution, (of which he was the corner stone,) stand conspicuous. The retrospect of politics in the Belfast Magazine, will retain to the world the depth of his political reasoning. He also translated the Electra of Sophocles, and several of Cicero's Letters. His latter days teemed with acts of benevolence and bursts of patriotic enthusiasm. No occasion occurred in which the interests of Ireland, or of her unhappy children, were endangered, that Drennan did not, like Cincinnatus, leave his fields and his gardens, return to the tower, and again assume the seat of the patriotic monitor; and this, till within a few years of his death. He was always the Mentor of young adventurers in the world; and there are not a few in Belfast who can testify to the caution he would inculcate in business, and the alacrity he would keep alive in principle. The Minerva-like wisdom of the widow he has left, himself acknowledged, and who was, in every way, meet partner for such a man. The children of Drennan, under such a mother, will surely lose none of their father's greatness. Farewell, thou advocate of weeping and widowed Ireland! thou friend of man, in every clime and country! May the youth of that land, thou so well namedst "The Emerald Isle," emulate, if not equal thy fervour of national devotion; and may every Irishman, who wishes to retain the name of patriot, come to thy shrine, invoke thy name, and imitate thy example. F. D. F. REGISTER OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. Report on the Criminal Laws. [Continued from p. 58.] The Statutes creating capital felonies, which the Committee have considered under this head, are reducible to two classes; the First, relate to acts either so nearly indifferent as to require no 1.-1 and 2 Phil. and Mary, c. 4. 2.-18 Charles II. c. 3. 11.9 Geo. I. c. 28. penalty, or if injurious, not of such a magnitude as that they may not safely be left punishable as Misdemeanors at common law. In these your Committee propose the simple repeal; they are as follows: Egyptians remaining within the kingdom one Notorious Thieves in Cumberland and Northumberland. Being armed and disguised in any Forest, Park, &c. Common or Down. in any Warren. in any High Road, Open Heath, Unlawfully hunting, killing, or stealing Deer. Robbing Warrens, &c. Stealing or taking any Fish out of any River or Pond, &c. Breaking down the head or mound of a Fish Pond. 12.-12 Geo. II. c. 29. other Acts. Being disguised within the Mint. Injuring of Westminster Bridge, and other Bridges by The Second Class consists of those offences, which, though in the opinion of your Committee never fit to be punished with Death, are yet so malignant and dangerous as to require the highest punishments except death, which are known to our laws. These the Committee would make punishable, either by Transportation, or Imprisonment with hard labour, allowing considerable scope to the discretion of the Judges respecting the term for which either punishment is to endure. 1.-31 Eliz. c. 9. Taking away any Maid, Widow, or Wife, &c. 2.-21 Jac. I. c. 26. Acknowledging or procuring any Fine, Recovery, &c. 3.-4 Geo. I. cap. II. 4.-9 Geo. I. c. 22. 5.-9 Geo. I. c. 22. 6.-5 Geo. II. c. 30. 7. 8.-6 Geo. II. c. 37. 9.-8 Geo. II. c. 20. 10.-26 Geo. II. c. 23. Felonies. 11.-27 Geo. II. c. 15. 12.-27 Geo. I. c. 19. s. 4. Helping to the recovery of Stolen Goods. Cutting down' or destroying Trees growing, &c. Concealing or embezzling. Cutting down the bank of any River. Making a False Entry in a Marriage Register, &c. five Sending threatening Letters. Destroying Bank, &c. Bedford Level. 13.—3 Geo. III. c. 16. 14.-22 Geo. III. c. 40. 15.-24 Geo. III. c. 47. returned from Personating Out-Pensioners of Greenwich Hospital. Harbouring Offenders against that (Revenue) Act, when Transportation. It does not seem necessary to make any observations in this place on the punishments of transportation and imprisonment, which your Committee have proposed to substitute for that of death in the second of the two classes abovementioned. In their present imperfect state they are sufficient for such offences; and in the more improved condition in which the Committee trust that all the prisons in the kingdom will soon be placed, imprisonment may be hoped to be of such a nature as to answer every purpose of terror and reformation. 3. In the more disputable questions, which relate to offences of more frequent occurrence and more extensive mischief, your Committee will limit their present practical conclusions to those cases, to which the evidence before them most distinctly refers. They cannot entertain any doubt that the general principles which have been so strikingly verified and corroborated in some particular cases by that evidence, apply with equal force to many others, relating to which they have not had sufficient time to collect the testimony of witnesses. That some offences which the law treats as arson, and more which it punishes as burglary, are not properly classed with these crimes, and ought not to be punished with death, would probably be rendered apparent by a legislative consolidation of the laws in being respecting arson and burglary. The same result, though in a less degree, might be expected from a similar operation in other important heads of criminal law. On the three capital felonies of, privately stealing in a shop to the amount of five shillings,-of, privately stealing in a dwelling-house to the amount of forty shillings, and of, privately stealing from vessels in a navigable river to the amount of forty shillings--the House of Commons have pronounced their opinion, by passing bills for reducing the punishment to transportation or imprisonment. In proposing to revive those bills, your Committee feel a singular satisfaction that they are enabled to present to the House so considerable a body of direct evidence in support of opinions, which had hitherto chiefly rested on general reasoning, and were often alleged by their opponents to be contradicted by experience. Numerous and respectable witnesses have borne testimony, for themselves and for the classes whom they represent, that a great reluctance prevails to prosecute, to give evidence, and to convict, in the cases of the three lastmentioned offences; and that this reluctance has had the effect of producing impunity to such a degree, that it may be considered as among the temptations to the commission of crimes. Your Committee beg leave to direct the attention of the House to the evidence of Sir Archibald Macdonald, on this and other parts of the general subject, in which that venerable person has stated the result of many years' experience in the administration of criminal law. They for bore to desire the opinion of the present Judges, out of consideration to the station and duties of these respectable magistrates. It appeared unbecoming and inconvenient that those whose office it is to execute the criminal law should be called on to give an opinion whether it ought to be altered. As the Judges could not with propriety censure what they might soon be obliged to enforce, they could scarcely be considered as at liberty to deliver an unbiassed opinion. Of the Judges who have retired from the bench, Sir William Grant and Sir Vicary Gibbs, found it inconvenient to attend when they were requested; and the Committee dispensed with their attendance, having reason to believe that both adhere to the opinions which they formerly maintained in Parliament on opposite sides of this question. Lord Erskine was absent from London when it was proposed to examine him; but the Committee are well assured that his opinions entirely concur with their own. Sir James Mansfield, and Sir Allan Chambrè, appear to have formed no opinion, and the Committee, at their request, dispensed with their attendance. But highly as the Committee esteem and respect the Judges, it is not from them that the most accurate and satisfactory evidence of the effect of the penal law can reasonably be expected. They only see the exterior of criminal proceedings after they are brought into a court of justice. Of the cases which never appear there, and of the causes which prevent their appearance, they can know nothing. Of the motives which influence the testimony of witnesses, they can form but a hasty and inadequate estimate. Even in the grounds of verdicts, they may often be deceived. From any opportunity of observing the influence of punishment upon those classes of men among whom malefactors are most commonly found, the Judges are, by their stations and duties, placed at a great distance. Your Committee have sought for evidence on these subjects from those classes of men who are sufferers from larcenies, who must be prosecutors where these larcenies are brought to trial, who are the witnesses by whom such chargee must be substantiated, and who are the jurors, by whose verdicts only effect can be given to the laws. On this class of persons, where the crimes are most frequent, and where long and extensive experience allows little room for error and none for misrepresentation, or in other words, on the traders of the cities of London and Westminster, your Committee have principally relied for information. To the clerks at the offices of magistrates, and to the officers of criminal courts, who receive informations and prepare indictments, to experienced magistrates themselves, and to the gaolers and others, who, in the performance of their duties, have constant opportunities of observing the feelings of offenders, the Committee have also directed their inquiries; their testimony has been perfectly uniform. Mr. Shelton, who has been near forty years clerk of arraigns at the Old Bailey, states, that juries are anxious to reduce the value of property below its real amount, in those larcenies where the capital punishment depends on value; that they are desirous of omitting those circumstances on which the capital punishment depends in constructive burglaries; and that a reluctance to convict is perceptible in forgery. Sir Archibald Macdonald bears testimony to the reluctance of prosecutors, witnesses and juries, in forgeries, in shop-lifting, and offences of a like nature. He believes that the chances of escape are greatly increased by the severity of the punishments. "Against treason, murder, arson, rape, and crimes against the dwelling-house or person, and some others," he thinks, "the punishment of death should be directed." T. W. Carr, Esq. solicitor of Excise, a very intelligent public officer, gave an important testimony, directly applicable indeed only to offences against the revenue, but throwing great light on the general tendency of severity in penal laws to defeat its own purpose. From his extensive experience, it appears, that severe punishment has rendered the law on that subject inefficacious. Prosecutions and convictions were easy when breaches of the law were subject to moderate pecuniary penalties; even a great pecuniary penalty has been found so favourable to impunity, that fraudulent traders prefer it to a moderate penalty. The act of counterfeiting a stamp in certain cases, within the laws of excise, was, before the year 1806, subject only to a penalty of five hundred pounds; but in that year it was made a transportable offence, of which the consequence was, that the convictions, which, from 1794 to 1806, had been nineteen out of twenty-one prosecutions, were reduced in the succeeding years, from 1806 to 1818, to three out of nine prosecutions. Mr. Newman, solicitor for the city of London, speaking from thirty years' experience, of the course of criminal prosecutions in that city, informed the Committee, that he had frequently observed a reluctance to prosecute and convict, in capital offences not directed against the lives, persons or dwellings of men. The Reverend Mr. Cotton, ordinary of Newgate, has described in strong terms, the repugnance of the public to capital execution in offences unattended with violence, and the acquiescence even of the most depraved classes in their infliction in atrocious crimes. Mr. Colquhoun, for twenty-seven years a police magistrate in this capital, and well known by his publications on these subjects, declares his firm conviction that capital punishments in the minor offences operate powerfully in preventing convictions; and that there is a great reluctance to prosecute in forgery, shop-lifting, larceny in the dwelling-house, burglary without actual entry, horse stealing, sheep stealing, cattle stealing, framebreaking, housebreaking in the day time, robbery without acts of violence, and other minor offences, now subject to the punishment of death. According to the testimony of this intelligent observer, the public mind revolts at capital punishment in cases not atrocious. Mr. Newman, late keeper of Newgate, and connected with the administration of justice in London for forty years, gave testimony to the same effect. Mr. Basil Montague stated a fact of a most striking nature, immediately applicable only to one offence, but shewing those dispositions in the minds of the public which must produce similar effects wherever the general feeling is at variance with the provisions of criminal law. From the year 1732, when embezzlement of property by a bankrupt was made a capital offence, there have been probably forty thousand bankruptcies; in that period there have not been more than ten prosecutions, and three executions for the capital offence, and yet fraudulent bankruptcies have become so common as almost to be supposed to have lost the nature of crime. [To be concluded in our next.] INTELLIGENCE. DOMESTIC. RELIGIOUS. Fellowship Funds. Dorchester Unitarian Fellowship AT a meeting held in the vestry, January 9, 1820, it was resolved unanimously, 1. That, approving of the principle upon which Fellowship Funds have been generally established in Unitarian Societies, and desirous of co-operating with our brethren to diffuse the genuine principles of the gospel, we do now establish a Fellowship Fund in this Society. That its objects be, first, to promote Christian fellowship and knowledge amongst ourselves, by the support of the Vestry Library; by the distribution of Tracts; and by any other means which may appear conducive thereto. Secondly, to furnish the contributions to enable us to unite with such societies as are formed for the protection and encouragement of Unitarian Christianity, and with which it may be judged desirable to be connected. Thirdly, to shew our good-will to the cause in general, by affording such assistance to other congregations needing it, as the state of the Fund will admit. 2. That the Vestry Library be henceforth united to this Fund, and that the Rules previously adopted for its regulation be continued. 3. That a subscription of one penny or more per week, or a donation of one guinea do constitute a member, who (not being in arrear) shall be competent to vote at all meetings of the Fund. 4. That the Rev. L. Lewis be requested to accept the office of President and Treasurer. 5. That a Secretary be appointed annually; that he do keep minutes of all the proceedings and the accounts of the This Library has been established since March 1817; it consists at present of about 150 volumes, raised principally by contributions of one penny a-week. The books, being as generally such as inculcate practical religion and morality, as those which treat on the controverted points of divinity, have been much read by the subscribers, and it is hoped not without material benefit. To diffuse its influence as widely as possible, a subscriber is at liberty to lend a book to any friend, on being responsible for the injury or loss which may arise. Fund, which shall be open to the inspec tion of the members. That three monthly alternate Collectors and Librarians be appointed at each Quarterly Meeting. 6. That the members of the Fund do meet regularly after the afternoon service on the second Sunday of February, May, August and November, to ascertain the amount of the receipts, to decide on the mode of their appropriation, and to promote generally the objects of the Fund; and that a Report of the proceedings be made at the first meeting in every year, by a committee to be appointed at the previous meeting for the purpose. JOHN FISHER, Secretary. Chowbent, Lancashire. ON Christmas-Day last, a Fellowship Fund was established in the Unitarian Congregation at this town. Upwards of ninety persons have become members. The objects of the Society are " to afford occasional contributions towards the erection and repairs of Unitarian places of worship; to furnish subscriptions to Unitarian Academies for the education of young men for the ministry; and to other institutions for the promotion and diffusion of Unitarian Christianity; to co-operate in measures which may be expedient for the protection of religious liberty; and to aid any other benevolent or beneficial purpose which the members may approve." PRESIDENT, Mr. Valentine; TREASURER, Mr. Sanderson; DEPUTY Treasurer, Mr. Rothwell; SECRETARY, Rev. B. R. Davis. -- THE Committee of the Liverpool Unitarian Fellowship Fund have published their First Annual Report. The sub£110 138.; the number of subscribers is scriptions for the last year amounted to upwards of 160. The following votes are reported and explained: CHAPELS,― Falmouth, £10; Newchurch, £5; Rochdale, £20; Oldham, £5; Alnwick, £20; York, (Baptist,) £5; Colchester, £10; Boston, £5; Lincoln, £5; and Ripley, £5. To the Lancashire and Cheshire Unitarian Association the sum of £10 was presented. The Committee publish a resolution expressive of their desire to co-operate with other Fellowship Funds in contributing to W. Roberts's plan of printing Unitarian works in the Malabar tongue. The officers of the Society for 1820 are-President, Rev. John Yates; Treasurer, Mr. R. V. Yates; Secretary, Rev. George Harris. |