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oppose the extra ^ agaat graotj as their consent to it would materially affect them in the approaching election * On comparing " the vote of the House with the state of the elements , by which that vote seems to have been guided , it should seem that five-ninths at least of the oligarchy were against the
measure , or it might amount to nearly twothirds of that body . The issue of the question proves only the superiority of the oligarchy to the crown , when it takes the popular side ; and in the great question of the coalition ministry after the American War , the popular and regal elements were
for some tinae in a minority ; and the victory obtained by them at lust would have been much more difficult , if the oligarchy had not been in its nature incapable of the consolidation on which its then leaders , unfortunately for themselves , too much depended . ¦
But a question of far greater importance , and which comes home to the bosom of every . one impressed with feelings of humanity and morality , has been brought forward , and is now under discussion in the House * This is the state of the country as affected by the Bank . Upon this subject ,
very important information has been produced , and the nature of the case will be clearly understood , by comparing the state of the country previous and subsequent to the time when the Bank stopped payment . A table has been laid before the House , of
the number of capital convictions and acquittals for forgery in these periods , for a great number of years ; by which it appears , that in the fourteen years preceding the time the Bank stopped payment , there were three capital convictions , and one acquittal , the total number prosecuted being four *
The twenty-one subsequent years present a most distressing picture . In the year 1800 were twenty-nine capital convictions , and fifteen acquittals , making the whole number of prosecutions fortyfour . In 1-801 were thirty-two capital convictions and fifty-four prosecutions .
In 1802 thirty-two capital convictions and sixty-three prosecutions . In 1817 thirtytwo capital convictions , ninety-five convictions for having forged notes in possession , and fifteen acquittals , making- in the whole , the number of prosecutions one
hundred and forty-two . This account is of itself sufficiently alarming ; but to make it complete , we should aJso have the sums of money expended by the bank . irv prosecutions , and the number of persons charged hy them for either forgery or having had forged notes in their possession .
In the twenty years , ending with the last day of Decemb ^ r i 1817 , there Iteve been three hundred ato& leight capita , ! eon vietiohs , five hundred convictions for having forged notes in possession , one hundred * nd sixty-uvo aortuittals , and nine liundred
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and seventy prosecutions . The average , therefore , of these years , inakes the capita convictions fifteen , the convictions for having forged notes twenty five , acquittals eight , number of prosecutions forty-eight .
But when we contemplate the ; average o > f prosecutions for the two last years , which is a hundred and thirty-one , the increase of this crime , in the latter part of the above period , shews , to what little effect our sanguinary law has been put in execution .
The table farther gives us the state of this crime in the present year to February 25 th , that is for a space less than two months . In which were four capital convictions , twenty-one for having forged notes in possession , one acquittal , making the total number of prosecution & twenty - six : from which , if the increase of crime
goes on as in the two Last years , the total number of prosecutions for this year , yrili not he less than one hundred and fifty-six But let us hope that the Parliament will look this evil steadily in the face , lest in time the human sacrifices to Mammon should far exceed those to Moloch , in the ancient commercial city of Carthage .
In reviewing this statement , the number of convictions for having forged notes ia possession , must strike us , and this is a case that may happen to any individual ; and when we consider into whose haads bank notes may fall , suspicions cannot fail of arising in our mind , that in such a
number of cases innocent persons may have been confounded with the guilty . For what proof is there of a note being forged ? This depends entirely upon the prosecutor j and a question ought to be asked by the House of Commons , whether the Bank has ever been deceived itself , and paid a forged note for & real one ? If this has ever been
the case with the Bank , what is the situation of persons taking their notes ? And with a poor ignorant individual with death staring him in the face , maybe not have been induced to submit to a less punish * ment , though he was not conscious to himself of any guilt , than run the risk of a condemnation , which might end in deprivation of life ? -
Again it may be asked , what is the reaj . nature of this crime ? If a person forces a note for a hundred pounds upon an individual , and that sum is advanced to him on the note , and on its being traced to him , he is incapable of restoring the moaej ^ some one must be loser of one blind red
pounds . But is it so with the Bank ? What is a bank note ? It is a piece of pap ^ r properly signed , and bearing the words , I promise to pay so many pounds . But on its beiwg presented to the promiser , does he really pay these pounds * ? No such thing . He gives in exchange only father certain notes with tike same import . Tbe notes themselves cannot be considered in
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St ^ cf Pv ^ ^ & 87
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1818, page 287, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2475/page/63/
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