CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS. 541 



time present a bond engaging to abide by the tenour of this. Delay not ! A 

 special edict. 



" Kea-king, 25th year, 2d month, 22d day." 



The preceding document is directed against the Portuguese who 

 reside at Macao. But the writer of this article has in his possession a 

 document, issued by a Viceroy of a later date, in which it is stated 

 that besides the Portuguese " the English sailors also bring this ar- 

 ticle and clandestinely sell it. The Captains of the Company's ves- 

 sels do not presume to bring it, while those of America, which is 

 but a small nation, do bring it." The document then goes on to 

 state that, " if any ship comes to trade and is known to have opium, 

 such ship shall not be permitted to land her goods,'' &c. It further 

 states that, since the introduction of " this poison " from foreign coun- 

 tries, the general tone of society has been injured. 



Mr. Davis, in his recently published work, informs us " that 

 Opium has of late formed about one half of the total value of Bri- 

 tish imports at Canton and Lintin, and that Tea has constituted some- 

 thing less than the same proportion of our exports : 



Imports in 1833. 



Dollars. 

 Opium - 11,618,167 



Other Imports 11,858,077 

 22,476,244 



Exports in 1833. 



Dollars. 

 Tea - - 9,133,749 



Other Exports 11,309,521 



20,443,270 



"In 1832, 23,670 chests of Opium were sold for no less a sum than 

 15,338,160 dollars!" We should like to know what answer Lord 

 Napier's successor would make, if by the Chinese government he 

 were required to interdict this illegal trade. 



CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS. 



The question of capital punishments is, we are glad to per- 

 ceive, beginning again to press itself on the public mind. It is one 

 of the deepest importance to the well-being of society ; and it involves 

 in no ordinary measure the interests of religion and humanity. 



To argue the question on either or both of the latter grounds would, 

 we are aware, be labour lost in so far as a large portion of the com- 

 munity are concerned. They know no other principle than expe- 

 diency. Let us then try the question of the efficacy of capital punish- 

 ments to repress crime, by that test. 



Facts are said to be stubborn things. Let us bring a few facts to 

 bear on the question of the expediency of capital punishments. 



What, we beg in the first instance to ask, have been the results in 

 those cases in which capital punishments have been abolished '? Has 

 the effect of such abolition been the increase of crime ? We maintain 

 it has not; we hold and proceed to prove, paradoxical as it may ap- 

 pear, that the very reverse has been the fact — that offences have in- 

 variably decreased where the extreme penalty of the law has been 

 dispensed with. 



M. M.—No. 6 2 R 



