452° 
I shave. touched stightly upon many, points, 
vebuehs ‘it: would not. be proper to enlarge 
‘ Upon. « 
“Xow amay dhe assured that I will conduct 
myself .in every tidag towards you, in the 
same-way as to your Royal Father. You may 
tely upon my desire to arrange every thing, 
-and of finding an opportunity of giving you 
Putas of my perfect regard and esteem. 
Herewith accept, &c. 
. Bayonne, April. 16, 1808. 
On the 2dot May General Murat (Grand 
Duke of Berg) entered Madrid, and. in- 
timated to the Infant Don Antonio, that 
his presence was requisite at the Con-: 
fefences about to be held at Bayonne, 
between Buonaparte and the King; and 
that it was expected he would issue a 
Proclamation, declaring hin (Murat) re- 
gent, during his a absence. To this the 
Infant answered, * That he had received 
the regency from the ling, his nephew, 
into whose. hands only he would resign 
it; and that as the daties of Regent of 
Spaia were incompatible with a journey 
to Bayonne, he should remain at Ma- 
drid.”>> Murat, 
moveable in his deterinination, ordered a 
large body of troops, which be had a few 
days before withdrawn from Madrid, to 
‘¥Grenter that city, intending,-as is sup- 
posed, to seize the person of Don An- 
tonlo, and to declare’ himself Regent. 
However, the inhabitants got intimation 
ot. it, and being alarmed at the return of 
the French, they collected in the streets, 
attacked the. French army with vigour 
aud resolution, took their cannon, which 
they turned against them, and drove them 
dut of the town with great slaughter, It 
ig supposed that at least 10 ,000 persons 
Tost their Nves in the contlict. The French 
force was originaily 60,000 and rivu- 
Jets of blood were runing through | the 
streets. 
. GREAT-BRITAIN. 
dn the House of Commons on the 18th 
ef May, Sir Samuel Romilly moved’ for 
leave to bring in a Bill fur repealing cer- 
tain parts of the Criminal Code of the 
Country, by which Capital. Panishnents 
were inflicted — and’ also 
Compensation to persons who had suffer- 
ed by the preferring of accusations azainst 
them, and who were latterly found inno- 
éent. In submitiing this motion to the 
House, he expressed his consciousness of 
the danger af innovating on the establish- 
ed Criminal Law of the Land; when it 
was considered, however, that the extent 
of Punishment to be pronounced had by 
no means sb great au effect in preventing 
the commission us crimes as 5 the eas: 
te. . 
State of: Publiv Affairs in Mays 
findmg the Infant im- 
for gre anting 
[June I, 
of the punishment being put in execution. 
He felt conscious, that in the motion he 
had to submit, he-should give increased 
effect to the criminal law of the country, 
by diminishing the number of offences in 
that very part of the code which it was 
his object to change from a capital pu- 
nishment into one of smaller magnitude. 
The part to which he meant to confine his 
attention at present was that which re- 
garded privately stealing, and stealing ta 
a certain value. The indulgence and hu- 
manity of juries in this respect, was often 
so great that we frequently, saw them 
committing what Sir W. Blackstone justly 
called pious prejudice, in valuing proper- 
ty, im many instances, at the fifth part of 
what they must be convinced was its 
worth. To liberate them from this un. 
pleasant feeling, and at the same time to 
assure persons cuilt ty of such offenses, that 
the punishment attached to their offence, 
would unquestionably be inflicted, for this 
purpose he should move, that the Statute 
of the 8th of Elizabeth, chapter 4, the se- 
verity and absurdity of which were such, 
that it was. astonishing it should exist at 
this moment, be repealed, and more ade- 
quate/and rational punishments be inflict- 
ed. He was aware of -the necessity of 
making any alterations iv the criminal 
law of “the land gradually, and with cau- 
tion. This, therefore, was the only alter- 
ation he should at’ present propose to in- 
troduce, except a provision for granting 
some Compensation to persons who might 
have been unjustly accused, ‘confined pro- 
bably for four or six months, and obliged 
for their defence, and for their subsistence 
in prison, to dispose of the few articles of 
furniture; or even of clothes, which ‘they 
might have possessed, When we saw 
Persons in consequence of false charges 
reduced to ruin, was it not surprising that 
no compensation had yet ‘been devised 
for such occurrences?—He was ‘awaré 
that there was a dificulty in preparing: an 
adequate remedy to suit every case of ac- 
quittal. —Many inen might be acquitted of 
crimes, of which, notwithstanding, it could 
not’ be said they were innocent. A per- 
son might think he had been robbed by 
his servant, and that servant might be ac- 
quitted, but yet was there a man who 
would say, that from the circumstance, he 
should be restored to his service? . He - 
might be acquitted from an accidental de- 
fect in the indictment, but it would be 
absurd to say, that, because he had 
been acquitted, he myst be rem nesaee 
while no opportunity had been afforded of 
deciding on \ the merits of the case: The 
- ei reo 
