1828. ] Affairs in General. 629 
& 
Hunton is.a Quaker ; and recently another Quaker is reported to have 
forged to a large amount, upon some of his own fraternity—a house of 
bill-brokers. The religious principles of the parties, in this case, checked 
the prosecution, and not the severity of the law; the act, we confess, 
drew our admiration; and we could not but think it a ridiculous 
piece of refinement, to be censuring them for disregarding the security 
of society. They were the real losers ; and the act is little likely to find 
many imitators ; nor will it encourage any one soul breathing to practice 
a similar fraud upon any body else. If the act be of evil tendency, and 
exposes Quaker property to extraordinary hazard, that is their con- 
cern; and we feel confident they are as likely, as any persons in 
the world, to find a remedy as effective as the sanguinary punish- 
ment of the law of forgery. The bankers’ society, say the papers, 
have determined upon prosecuting these bill-brokers, for compound- 
ing felony. This, we may presume, is said without knowledge— 
compounding felony is, where a party receiving back his property, 
or having some amends made him, engages not to prosecute. It is 
not, we conclude, known, on what conditions this man was allowed 
to go scot-free ; and for the concealment of the offence—for forbearing 
from prosecution, we know of no law. The recent cases of the country 
bankers, and the jeweller in the Strand, were acts of direct and open 
compounding, but no prosecution ensued ; and, indeed, it is much too in- 
vidious a thing for anybody to do, except a society, which is a modern 
contrivance for subduing all sense of proper feeling and proper conduct. 
It is too much to expect individuals shall make sacrifices for a visionary 
object, under the imposing name of public good; let every body look 
first to his own advantage, and it follows, the general advantage will be 
well and best promoted—unless the general advantage is something 
quite distinct from individual. A man loses 10,000/.—the alternative, 
perhaps, is, recovering with the loss of 2,000/., for instance ; or pro- 
secuting, and losing the whole—with more for the expences of justice. 
Who hesitates ?—nobody ; and so the offence of compounding felony, 
though still sticking in our statute books, is fast falling, by the con- 
' victions of men, into discredit and oblivion ; and no harm, we venture - 
to add, will follow. 
We are dwelling too long upon matters of law and justice ; but a case 
of adultery drew our attention lately, and we must add a word or two. 
_ The offending party was a clergyman, which, of course, excited a super- 
abundance of zeal and vituperation among the laity, and, especially, the 
radical laity ; who, as usual, shewed a raging desire to fling the stigma 
upon the ‘cloth’—as if there were either sense or justice in such an 
attempt. The clergy, now-a-days, abound more aud more ; and, though 
we may occasionally conflict with them, chiefly on political grounds, yet 
we think it but fair to express our conviction, that, taking numbers for 
numbers, in any class, or any profession, the clergy come less frequently 
before the public, ten-fold, for acts of criminality and shame, than any 
other body of men whatever. It should, moreover, be recollected that, 
though the clergy have, of late years, augmented by some thousands, the 
means of provision and preferment have not grown in equal proportion ; 
and that, consequently, great numbers are thrown upon the world, and 
take to a variety of means for a livelihood, which clergymen did not use 
to do, and are thus more exposed—surrounded by fewer checks—are less 
teachers and examples by station—less clergymen, in short. Great num- 
