Part 3 (1/2)

Few civil wars have been waged from considerations of Public Virtue, or even for the security of Public Liberty. These desperate undertakings are generally promoted and carried on by abandoned characters, who seek to better their fortunes in the general havoc and devastation of their country.--Those men are easily seduced from their Loyalty who are apostates from private virtue.

To be secure therefore against those public calamities which, almost inevitably, lead to anarchy and confusion, it is far better to improve and confirm a nation in the true principles of natural justice, than to perplex them by political refinements.

Having thus taken a general view of the principles applicable to Punishments in general, it may be necessary, for the purpose of more fully ill.u.s.trating these reflections, briefly to consider the various leading Offences, and their corresponding Punishments according to the present state of our Criminal Law; and to examine how far they are proportioned to each other.

High Treason is the highest civil Crime which can be committed by any member of the Community.--After various alterations and amendments made and repealed in subsequent reigns, the definition of this offence was settled as it originally stood, by the Act of the 25th of Edward III. stat. 5, cap. 2. and may be divided into seven different heads:

1. Compa.s.sing or imagining the Death of the King, Queen, or Heir Apparent.

2. Levying War against the King, in his realm.

3. Adhering to the King's enemies, and giving them aid, in the realm or elsewhere.[11]

[Footnote 11: It has been thought necessary, by the Legislature, to explain and enlarge these clauses of the Act 25 _Ed._ III. as not extending, with sufficient explicitness, to modern treasonable attempts. It is therefore provided by the Act 36 _Geo._ III. _cap._ 7, ”That if any person (during the life of his present Majesty, and until the end of the Session of Parliament next after a demise of the Crown) shall within the realm, or without, compa.s.s, imagine, invent, devise, or intend death or destruction, _or any bodily harm, tending to death or destruction, maim, or wounding, imprisonment, or restraint_ of the person of the King, his heirs, and successors, or to deprive or depose him or them from his stile, honour, or Kingly name; or to levy war against the King within this Realm, in order by force to compel him to change his measures; _or in order to put any force or constraint upon, or to intimidate or overawe_, BOTH HOUSES, OR EITHER HOUSE, OF PARLIAMENT; or to incite any foreigner to invade the dominions of the Crown: and such compa.s.sings, &c., shall express, utter, or declare, _by publis.h.i.+ng any printing, or writing_, or by _any other_ overt act or deed”--the offender shall be deemed _a Traitor_, and punished accordingly.]

4. Slaying the King's Chancellor or Judge in the execution of their offices.

5. Violating the Queen, the eldest daughter of the King, or the wife of the Heir Apparent, or eldest Son.

6. Counterfeiting the King's Great Seal, or Privy Seal.

7. Counterfeiting the King's Money, or bringing false Money into the kingdom.

This detail shews how much the dignity and security of the King's person is confounded with that of his officers, and even with his effigies imprest on his Coin.--To a.s.sa.s.sinate the servant, or to counterfeit the type, is held as criminal as to destroy the Sovereign.

This indiscriminate blending of crimes, so different and disproportionate in their nature, under one common head, is certainly liable to great objections; seeing that the judgment in this offence is so extremely severe and terrible, _viz. That the offender be drawn to the gallows on the ground or pavement: That he be hanged by the neck, and then cut down alive: That his entrails be taken out and burned while he is yet alive: That his head be cut off: That his body be divided into four parts: And that his head and quarters be at the King's disposal_.--Women, however, are only to be drawn and hanged:--though in all cases of treason, they were heretofore sentenced to be burned: a cruel punishment, which, after being alleviated by the custom of previous strangulation, was at length repealed, by the Act 30 Geo. III. _c._ 48.

There are indeed some shades of difference with regard to coining money; where the offender is only drawn and hanged; and that part of the punishment which relates to being _drawn_ and _quartered_ is, to the honour of humanity, never practised. But even in cases of the most atrocious criminality, the execution of so horrid a sentence seems to answer no good political purpose.--Nature shudders at the thought of imbruing our hands in blood, and mangling the smoaking entrails of our fellow-creatures.

In most Countries and in all ages, however, Treason has been punished capitally.--Under the Roman Laws, by the _Cornelia Lex_, of which Sylla, the Dictator, was the author, this Offence was created.--It was also made a capital Crime when the Persian Monarchy became despotic.

By the Laws of China, Treason and Rebellion are punished with a rigour even beyond the severity of our judgment, for the criminals are ordained to be cut in _ten thousand_ pieces.

There is another species of Treason, called _Petty Treason_, described by the Statute of the 25th of Edward the III. to be the offence of _a Servant killing his Master, a Wife killing her Husband_, or a _Secular or Religious slaying his Prelate_.--The Punishment is somewhat more ignominious than in other capital offences, inasmuch as a _hurdle_ is used instead of a _cart_.--Here again occurs a very strong instance of the inequality of Punishments; for although the principle and essence of this Crime is breach of duty and obedience due to a superior slain, yet if a child murder his parents (unless he serve them for wages) he is not within the Statute; although it must seem evident to the meanest understanding that Parricide is certainly a more atrocious and aggravated offence, than either of those specified in the Statute.

By the _Lex Pompeia_ of the Romans, Parricides were ordained to be sown [Transcriber's Note: sewn] in a sack with a _dog_, a _c.o.c.k_, a _viper_, and an _ape_, and thrown into the sea, thus to perish by the most cruel of all tortures.

The ancient Laws of all civilized nations punished the crime of Parricide by examples of the utmost severity.--The Egyptians put the delinquents to death by the most cruel of all tortures--mangling the body and limbs, and afterwards laying it upon thorns to be burnt alive.

By the Jewish Law it was death for children to curse, or strike their parents; and in China, this crime was considered as next in atrocity to Treason and Rebellion, and in like manner punished by cutting the delinquent in _one thousand_ pieces.

The Laws of England however make no distinction between this crime and common Murder; while it is to be lamented that offences far less heinous, either morally or politically considered, are punished with the same degree of severity; and it is much to be feared, that this singular inequality is ill calculated to inspire that filial awe and reverence, to parents, which all human Laws ought to inculcate.

The offences next in enormity to Treason, are by the Laws of England, denominated Felonies, and these may be considered as of two kinds, _public_ and _private_.

Under the head of _Public Felonies_ we shall cla.s.s the following: having peculiar relation to the State.

1. Felonies relative to the Coin of the Realm.

2. ----------------- to the King and his Counsellors, &c.

3. ----------------- to Soldiers and Marines.

4. ----------------- to embezzling Public Property.

5. ----------------- to Riot and Sedition.

6. ----------------- to Escape from Prison.