204 REPORT — 1861. 



not be very rapid, and it was in 1833 that Lord Siiffield appealed to their Lordshipg 

 on the following astoiindinpr statement : — " I hold in my hand a list of 555 perjm:ed 

 verdicts delivered at the Old Bailey in 15 years, for the single offence of stealing 

 from dwelling-houses ; the value stolen in these cases being sworn above 40s., but 

 the verdict returned being reduced by the jury to the value of 39a-. only." Wliat 

 was the residt of this appeal ? A change in the law was eflected ; and ^h: Charles 

 Phillips, in a remarkable pamphlet on capital punishments, published in 1858, 

 somewhat facetiously infomis us, — " It did not amount to a rej)eal, but to an ac- 

 knowledgment that man, made in the image of his Maker, had risen in the money 

 market ; and thereupon himian life was advanced by statute from £2, the sum at 

 which it then stood, to £5, being a rise of (X)s. per hea'd." The effect of this change 

 in the law, as might reasonably be expected, was, that in like manner juries had 

 recourse to an exceptional vei-dict of £4 I9s. Sir Fitzroy Kelly stated in Parliament 

 in 1840, " That a few years before there were nearly 200 capital offences on the 

 statute-book ; now there were only 14, and that there had been no increase of crime 

 since the repeal." Mr. Hmne also remarked, " That in no instance had offences 

 increased in consequence of the mitigation of the punishment; on the conti-ary, 

 there had been a decrease ; so that, in future, capital punishments would be but an 

 imnecessary sacrifice of himian life." It will hardly be necessaiy to offer the remark 

 that the security of property and the good order and general welfare of the com- 

 munity are the gi-eat objects of govei-nment ; — how giatifj-ing is the acknowledg- 

 ment that these are now being upheld with gi-cater safety and without involving 

 any sacrifice of himian life, even of the meanest of oiu- fellow-subjects ! The_ people 

 of Lancashire do not feel indifference, but, on the conti-aiy, they rejoice -with the 

 rest of our coimtrs-men in the mitigation of our penal enactments j and, upon an 

 occasion such as the present, it maybe allowable, and not inappropriate, if we close 

 this review of the subject by some" brief reference to the effects, as they have been 

 disclosed by the criminal records of om- own county. From a Parliamentary paper, 

 it appears that in the com-se of 22 years, from 1798 to 1818, both inclusive, there 

 were in Lancasliire 153 executions, more than 50 of which were for offences con- 

 nected with forgery ; and let it be borne in mind that the population of the coimty, 

 in 1801, was only 672,565. In the last 22 years, the popidation of 1861 being 

 2,428,744, or nearly fom-fold, the number of executions has been reduced to 16, 

 and these for murder only. It may be insisted that any such comparison as that 

 of the number of executions does not afford conclusive evidence of the diminution 

 of crime ; and that, if possible, some other data, affording more minute particulars, 

 ought to be adduced in suppoi-t of this assumption. It is well known that in the 

 early part of the present centun- there were not in existence the means of collecting 

 the needfid information in the "same carefid manner as is now annually prepared by 

 the countv constabulary. In endeavom-ing to account for the presence or the absence 

 of crime, 'it -will be admitted that the employment of the executioner as a moral 

 teacher has ntterlv failed, and that the enactment of stringent laws has not pre- 

 vented the onward course of crime. VThen we come to consider the conditions 

 tending to crime, it is well known that the harassing eilects of poverty have been 

 but too frequently the originating cause. Vndor a pressure so severe, how hopeless 

 would be the attempt to enforce the conviction that "honesty is the best policy;" 

 whilst, on the contrary, eveiy one would admit that the meliorating influence of 

 well-paid emploj-meut, cheap" food, and command of enjoyment, tends to diminish 

 crime and to exalt the character of a people. 



TJie Progress of Science and Art as dcvehped hi the Bleaching of Cotton at 



Bolton. By Hexrt Asdwortk. 

 Having traced the art of bleaching from its commencement to the present rime, 

 and described the present process, Mr. Ashworth continued to say that, by an art 

 which half a century ago was almost unknown, and by the agency of our coal as 

 fuel, we have succeeded in converting certain products which we dig from under 

 our feet, such as salt, pj-rites, and lime, into one of the most important branches of 

 manufacturing chemistry. Tliese discoveries in chemistrj- may appear extraordinary-, 

 although they are not more impoi-tant in the economy of bleaching than arc the 

 mechanical aiTangements which have superseded the exposure of labourers, in all 

 States of the weather, to the accustomed di-udgery of the " crofters " of old. The 



