12] ANNUAL REGISTER, 181.3. 



If the latter was intended for a 

 punishment, it would be punishing 

 the innocent for the crime of the 

 guilty, and that sometimes at the 

 distance of half a century. Cor- 

 ruption of blood prevented a man 

 from being a link in tracing a pedi- 

 gree from one remote relation toan- 

 otiier. Could it be asserted that at 

 thepresentdaythis extravagant sub- 

 tlety and refinement should enter 

 into the penal code of this country ? 

 Justice Blackstone had in many 

 parts of his Commentaries ex- 

 pressed himselfhostiletothis prac- 

 tice. Further, the law was une- 

 qual in its operation, for in Scot- 

 land it was made to apply only to 

 cases of treason by the act of 

 queen Anne, and in England the 

 county of Kent is excepted from 

 its operation. Should such an 

 anomaly be suffered to continue ? 

 Mr. Yorke, in opposing the mo- 

 tion, avowed that he was one of 

 those who were prejudiced in fa- 

 vour of our ancient laws, at least 

 so far, as not to acquiesce in any 

 alteration of them until some strong 

 case was made out to convince him 

 of its necessity. He further made 

 some remarks on the atrocity of 

 the crime of treason, and the use 

 of holding up the terrors of the 

 law against it. 



Some other members who spoke 

 on the questiontooksimilar ground, 

 not without strictures on the appa- 

 rent intention of the hon. mover 

 to alter the whole system of our 

 criminal laws. Some of them sup- 

 ported the bill as far as it went to 

 do away corruption of blood in 

 cases of felony, but would not 

 agree to its abolition in cases of 

 treason. 



Sir Sp Romilly, in his reply, ob- 



served that he had been accused of 

 having a system ; which was true, 

 if by having a system it was meant 

 that, enacting or repealing one 

 law, you considered the eftect it 

 would have on other laws. It had 

 however, been objected against him 

 in another place, that he had not 

 proceeded more systematically ; so 

 impossible was it for one who in- 

 discreetly set himself up for a le- 

 gislator to provide against all ob- 

 jections. He made some farther 

 remarks on the inconsistency of 

 the present law ; and to the argu- 

 ment which had been advanced, 

 that upon his principles we ought 

 not to punish the guilty at all, be- 

 cause their fate affected their rela- 

 tives and friends, he observed, that 

 it did this only indirectly and in- 

 evitably, whereas corruption of 

 blood punished the innocent di- 

 rectly and voluntarily, and the 

 guilty only by means of a distant 

 sympathy. And why not carry 

 this reasoning a little further, and 

 inflict actual punishment on the 

 relations, as had been formerly 

 done. 



In conclusion, the House divi- 

 ded, when there appeared, against 

 receiving the report, 55 ; for it, 

 43. Majority 12. The bill was 

 therefore lost. 



Still zealous for his humane ob- 

 ject, notwithstanding disappoint- 

 ments, sir Samuel Romilly, on 

 April y, moved that the House 

 should resolve itself into a com- 

 mittee on a bill for altering the 

 punishment in cases of conviction 

 for high -treason ; which being 

 complied with, and the clauses of 

 the bill being agreed upon, he 

 moved that the report should be 

 received on the 1 2th. 



