chief articles for exportation of the province Ciara. Formerly it yielded considerable quantities of amber. Aracatig is the most populous and flourishing town.

Great numbers of cattle are fed in the province Prauhy, the surface or soil of which, is in general, low and level. The capital, Ceyras, though small, stands in a good situation, and is represented as flourishing.

The province of Maranhao, is remarkable for a singular kind of silk worm, that subsists on the leaves of the orange tree and the Brazilian pine tree; it fabricates beautiful nests and cotton stuffs of different kinds. The number of negroes here, is more considerable than in any other parts. The south west and centre still remain in the possession of a number of wild and savage tribes. Maranhao, the capital, is on the western shore of an Island of the same name.

Belem or Para, capital of the province of the same name, is advantageously situated on the eastern bank of the Tucantin, but the harbour is gra

PROCEEDINGS OF

REPORT from the SELECT COMMITTEE of the HOUSE of COMMONS appointed to consider of so much of the CRIMINAL LAWs as relates to CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

TH

HE committee, in execution of the trust delegated to them by the house, have abstained from all consideration of those capital felonies which may be said to be of a political nature, being directed against the authority of government and the general peace of. society. To the nature and efficacy of the secondary punishments, of transportation and imprisonment, they have directed no part of their inquiries, because another committee had been appointed to investigate them, and because no part of the facts or arguments to be stated in this report, will be found to depend, either on the present state of these secondary punishments, or on the degree of improvement of which they may be found capable. The object of the committee has been to ascertain, as far as the nature of the case admitted by evidence, whether, in the present state of the sentiments of the people of England, capital punishment in most cases of offences unattended with violence, be a necessary, or even the most effectual security against the prevalence of crimes.

dually filling up. In the territory of Mundrucania, are various remains of the natives, who are at length beginning to reform their austere and ferocious habits, by intermingling relations with the christians. These have each, their separate and peculiar idioms.

In an appendix, the author treats of the provinces Solimoes and Guianna, which are included within the government of Para. The first of these provinces contains six districts.

In general, the work abounds with new and interesting information, but it is chiefly deficient in the article of statistics. There are valuable details relative to the position, and mutual distances of the towns, the direction of the mountains, and especially the courses of the rivers, with their respective embouchures, or mouths, and tributary streams, which he traces to their very sources. In the language of a sincere friend to his country, he frequently deplores the low condition in which he finds the arts of industry, or rather, says the French editor, their almost total absence. PUBLIC SOCIETIES.

The deputy clerk of assize for the home circuit, has laid before the committee, a return of commitments, convictions and executions on that circuit, which comprehends the counties of Herts, Essex, Kent. Sussex and Surry, from 1689 to 1718, from 1755 to 1784, and from 1784 to 1814. The returns of the intermediate period from 1718 to 1755, he will doubtless furnish very soon. From this important return it appears, that, for the first thirty years which followed the revolution, the average proportion of convictions to executions was 38 to 20; that from 1755 to 1784, it was 46 to 13; and that from 1784 to 1814, it was 74 to 19. It is worthy of remark, that the whole number of convictions for murder, on the home circuit, in the first period was 123; that the executions for the same period were 87: that in the second, the convictions for the same offence were 67, and the executions 57; and that in the third, the convictions were 54, and the executions 44. If the increase of the population, during a pros perous period of a hundred and thirty years, be taken into the account, and if we bear in mind that within that time a considerable city has grown up on the southern bank of the Thames, we shall be disposed to consider it as no exaggeration

exaggeration to affirm, that in this district (not one of the most favorably situated in this respect) murder has abated in the remarkable proportion of three if not four to one.

In the thirty years from 1755 to 1784 the whole convictions for murder in London and Middlesex were 71; and in the thirty years from 1784 to 1814, they were 66. In the years 1815, 1816 and 1817, the whole convictions for murder in London were 9, while in the three preceding years they were 14. Most of the other returns relate to too

short a period, or too narrow a district to afford materials for safe conclusion, with respect to the comparative frequency of crimes at different periods.

In general, however, it appears that murders, and other crimes of violence and cruelty, have either diminished, or not increased; and that the deplorable increase of criminals is not of such a nature as to indicate any diminution in the humanity of the people. The practice of immediately publishing the circumstances of every atrocious crime, and of circulating in various forms an account of every stage of the proceedings which relate to it, is far more prevalent in England than in any other country, and in our times than in any former age. It is on the whole of great utility, not only as a control on courts of judicature, but also as a means of rendering it extremely difficult for odious criminals to escape.

The statutes creating capital felonies, which the committee have considered, are reducible to two classes; the first relate to acts either so nearly indifferent as to require no 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 the committee propose the repeal; they are as follows: 1.-1 and 2 Phil. and Mary, c. 4. Egyptians remaining within the kingdom one

month.

2.-18 Charles II, c. 3. Notorious thieves in Cumberland and Northumberland. 3.-9 Geo. I, c. 22. Being armed and disguised in any forest, park, &c. 4.-9 Geo. I, c. 22.

warren.

Being armed in any

5.-9 Geo. I, c. 22. Being armed in any high road, open heath, common or down. 6.-9 Geo. I, c. 22. Unlawfully hunting, killing, or stealing deer.

7.-9 Geo. I, c. 22. Robbing warrens, &c. 8.-9 Geo. I, c. 22. Stealing or taking any fish out of any river or pond, &c. 9.-9 Geo. I, c. 22. Hunting in his Majesty's forests or chases.

acis.

offences, which, though in the opinion The second class consists of those with death, are yet so malignant and of the committee never fit to be punished dangerous as to require the highest punishments except death, which are known to our laws. These the comby transportation, or imprisonment mittee would make punishable, either 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, c. 2, s. 4. Helping to the recovery of stolen goods.

4.-9 Geo. I, c. 22. Maliciously killing or wounding cattle.

5.-9 Geo. I, c. 22.

destroying trees growing, 6.-5 Geo. II, c. 30. rendering, &c.

7.- 5 Geo. II, c. 30. bezzling.

8.-6 Geo. II, c. 37. bank of any river.

Cutting down or

&c.

Bankrupts not sur

Concealing or em

Cutting down the

9.8 Geo. II, c. 20. fence, lock, sluice, &c. 10.-26 Geo. II, c. 23. entry in a marriage register, 11.-27 Geo. II, c. 15. ing letters.

&c. Bedford level. 12-27 Geo. II, c. 19.

Destroying any

Making a false &c. five felonies. Sending threaten

Destroying bank,

13. 3 Geo. III, c. 16. Personating outpensioners of Greenwich hospital.

14.-22 Geo. III, c. 40. Maliciously cutting serges.

re

15.-24 Geo. III, c. 47. Harboring offenders against that (revenue) act, when turned from transportation.

It does not seem necessary to make any observations in this place on the punishments of transportation and imprisonment, which the committee have proposed to substitute for that of death in the second of the two classes above mentioned. In their present imperfect fences; and in the more improved constate they are sufficient for such ofthat all the prisons of the kingdom dition in which the committee trust will soon be placed, imprisonment may be hoped to be of such a nature as to answer every purpose of terror and reformation.

On.

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 last mentioned 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.

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.

The 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 charges must be substantiated, and who are the jurors, by whose verdicts only effect can be given to the

laws.

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 5001.; 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 19 out of 21 prosecutions, were reduced in the succeeding years, from 1806 to 1818, to 3 out of 9 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 punishment in the minor offences operate powerfully in preventing convictions; and that there is a great reluctance to prosecute in forgery, shoplifting, larceny in the dwelling house, burglary without actual entry, horse stealing, sheep stealing, cattle stealing, frame breaking, house breaking in the day time, robbery without acts of violence, and other minor offences, now subject to the punishment of death. Accord ing 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 showing 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.

Mr. Hobler, clerk to the Lord Mayor and to the sitting magistrates in London for thirty years, stated the anxiety of prosecutors to lower the value of goods stolen; and has observed many cases of forgery, in which, after the clearest evidence before the magistrate, the grand jury has thrown out the bill for some reason or other, where the magistrate had no doubt. The same solicitude to reduce the value of articles privately stolen in shops and dwellinghouses, has been remarked by Mr. Payne, clerk to the sitting magistrate at Guildhall; by Mr. Yardley, clerk at the office in Worship-street, who has observed a disinclination to prosecute in all capital cases, except murder; and who says, that in larcenies he has

often heard prosecutors, especially females, say, "I hope it is not a hanging matter;" and by Mr. Thompson, clerk at the office in Whitechapel, who represents it as common for prosecutors in larcenies to ask, "cannot this be put under forty shillings?""

Mr. Alderman Wood, a member of the house, an active magistrate, and two successive years lord mayor of London, has strongly stated the unwillingness of shop-keepers and others to prosecute, the number of offenders who, during his mayoralty, owed their escape to this cause; and his decided conviction, that if the capital punishment was taken away, the reluctance to prosecute would be greatly abated.

Mr. Wilkinson, a merchant in London, stated a case of property, to the value of one thousand pounds stolen from him, where he was deterred from prosecution by the capital punishment; and expressed his belief that a similar disposition prevailed among persons of the like condition and occupation with himself.

Mr. Josiah Conder, bookseller, Mr. Joseph Curtis, currier, Mr. Wendover Fry, type-founder, and Mr. John Gaun, a merchant and shoe manufacturer, stated instances in which they were prevented by the capital punishment from prosecuting offenders, whom they would have brought to justice if the punishment had, in their opinion, been more proportioned to the crime. They also declared, that there is a general disinclination to prosecute among the traders of the city of London, or to convict in thefts without violence, and in forgeries.

Sir Richard Phillips, a bookseller in London, and once sheriff, as well as often a juror, has in these several capacities observed the same facts.

Mr. Richard Taylor, a commoncouncilman, prosecuted some men for breaking into his printing-office, and stealing some property out of it, for which they were transported, but whom he would not have prosecuted if he had not previously ascertained that the connection of the printing-office with the dwelling-house was not such as to make the act a capital offence.

Mr. Richard Martin, a member of the house, informed the committee, that the punishment of death prevented prosecutions in Ireland for horse, cattle, and sheep-stealing, for privately stealing in dwelling-houses and shops, and in general for all larcenies without vio

lence.

lence. Though the extensive estate, of which he is proprietor, be almost laid waste by sheep stealing, he has been prevented from prosecuting by the punishment of death. If the punishment were reduced to transportation, he would certainly prosecute the offenders to conviction. He has no doubt that his estate would be better protected if the law were more lenient; and that the reduction of the penalties of the law would promote the security of property throughout the province of Connaught.

Mr. James Soaper, of Saint Helen's Place, Mr. Ebenezer Johnson, of Bishopsgate-street, ironmonger, Mr. Baker, of the Tower, Mr. Lewis, a retired merchaut, and Mr. Garrett, an insurance broker, bore testimony to the general repugnance to prosecution which arose from capital punishment; some of them mentioned instances in which they had been deterred by that consideration from bringing offenders to justice. Mr. Garrett said, that as far as his observation, there was not one in twenty who did not shudder at the idea of inflicting the capital punish

ment in cases of forgery. Messrs. Frederic and William Thornhill, hardwaremen, mentioned cases of theft in which they had forborne to prosecute on account of the punishment of death. The former added, that he found it to be an almost universal sentiment among his neighbours and acquaintances, that excessive punishment tends very greatly to the production of crime; that he knows many persons who have been great sufferers by thefts in shops and dwelling-houses, and who declare that if the punishment of such offences had been any thing less than death, they would have regarded it as highly criminal in themselves to have forborne prosecution, which they had felt themselves compelled to abstain from in every instance on account of the punishment, and must continue to act on the same principle of forbearance till there was an amendment in the law. He also informed the committee, that from his knowledge of a great variety of cases, he was convinced the more lenient punishment would more effectually prevent forgery.

(To be continued.)

MR. PONTIFEX's Apparatus for raising
Water by means of Fire.
R. Pontifex's specification

stops to be composed of hollow iron or metal tubes, of any required diameter, be in made in the said

fect description of that stupendous machine the steam engine, whose improvement may be thus described:

Two copper vessels made to fit air tight are connected by what Mr. Pontifex denominates a suction pipe, the lower end of which is immersed in the well from whence water is to be raised: steam is then admitted through two small branch pipes communicating with the boiler, which is again condensed by the admission of a jet of water. A vacuum being thus formed, the pressure of the atmosphere is sufficient to raise the water about thirty feet, which is the extreme capacity of Mr. Pontifex's engine.

To THOMAS MOTLEY, of the Strand, for certain Improvements on Ladders. -May 19, 1818.

These ladders if made of iron, to be constructed of sheet or wrought iron hoops, or of iron rolled or drawn with one, two, or more ribs, either on one or both sides, to be in any given lengths that may be required. The rounds or

shoulder, welded or bored inside of the end of the round or step, or with a collar or shoulder brazed, or made outside of each. And to prevent the round or step slipping through the ends of the same are rivetted down on the outside, either on a collar or ring, or immediately on the outside of the side pieces, or fastened by a nut and screw, or otherwise, by making a screw-thread inside of the end of the round or stop with a screw, so as to fasten the sides and rounds or stops to each other. And for the purpose of making the said ladder more portable, he makes a mortice, and tenon joint, as may be required, by fixing on the bottom of the outside of the upper succeeding part of the ladder or mortice, rivetted or brazed, and the top part of the two sides of the ladder reduced to a tenon, so as to fit the mortice; and on either the mortice or tenon part is fixed a spring ketch to fasten them together. In like manner the joints are made applicable to wood ladders, or by having a dove