abolished, and the utmost extent of a legal sentence is, that the culprit shall hang by the neck until he be dead. It certainly appears incompatible with that wisdom that should legislate for us, that he who steals a sheep, and he who destroys the existence of a parent, should meet exactly the same punishment; but such is the sanguinary nature of our code, and there is at least this consolation, that if in some cases we exceed other nations in destroying life for small offences, we never follow their example of torturing even the greatest criminals. The case of Benjamin Oldroyd is one of the most revolting on record: he had lived beneath his father's eye for upwards of forty years; he was himself an afflicted man, and should have felt for the afflictions of his parent. His purpose, it must be supposed, was to possess himself of the little property his unfortunate father had amassed; though it seems he already enjoyed it, to the full as much as if it had been his own. The situation of the mother was one of great difficulty-considerable suspicion attached to her; and she was thought by many to have been an accessary to the murder of her husband, because she strove strenuously to shield her son: but in such extreme cases it is difficult to say how the most virtuous mind might be swayed. To save the living, we might wrong the dead; and on a fair review of the case, Oldroyd scarcely deserved the obloquy she excited. A murder has seldom been perpetrated with more coldblooded atrocity, or with less attention to concealment : it is evident that if the murderer had possessed as much cunning as cruelty, he could have committed the crime in a manner that would have screened him more effectually from detection.. Mrs. Benjamin Oldroyd was represented as a being of very weak intellects; but he came under the distinction alluded to in the case of Jonathan Martin, i. e. "One capable of distinguishing right from wrong." The long respite afforded him was wholly unemployed; he took no ad * By 30th of George III. the statute for burning women for slaying their husbands was repealed: it is said that this bill was brought into parliament at the instance of queen Charlotte; and if so, does credit to her humanity. R vantage of the religious consolation that was offered; he did not repent of his crime, or seek divine mercy; his thoughts were wholly engrossed in the idea of his own safety; his intellects, his feelings, his habits, were all brutish; he lived and died so; he had no religion to uphold him, not even the common feeling of manhood to shield him from the cowardly horror that he betrayed; he was brought to the scaffold like a beast to a stake, shrinking and struggling; he outraged the feelings of all around him by his cries, and tortured the administrators of justice by his impotent efforts and useless struggles the extreme cowardice of vice never had a more ample exemplification; and if the life of this wretched criminal had presented little for praise, his death was even worse. He had no fears for the safety of the soul that was in a few moments to quit his body; but all his agony arose from a dread of a little physical endurance, that could not last five minutes, and is not, it is believed, half so great as the suffering caused by an hundred surgical operations, that are performed daily and hourly. The crime that this monster perpetrated had not even the extenuation of anger; for, from circumstances subsequently developed, there is little doubt that he attacked the old man as he lay asleep. He who could creep upon the unsuspicious slumberer, and strangle him in his helplessness, must be something less than man. The villanous and cowardly crime was worthy of the shrinking criminal; and the acts of such a life, were the natural precursors of a dastardly death. FORGERY. THE LIFE AND TRIAL OF JOSEPH BLACKBURN, (Gentleman Attorney at Law.) View the lone chamber of his bride, Her woe, the cherish'd love of years, It is happily the case in all countries, that capital crimes are generally perpetrated by the lower orders: we say happily; not because the lives of the lowly are less valuable, or their derelictions from the duties of nature less to be deplored; but because, their connections being less numerous, and those who form them persons of natures less sensitive; the misery attendant upon convictions is not so diffusive, or so great, as it must be whenever a wealthy or well-known individual suffers; it is true, and to the honour of human nature, that There is a tear for all who die ; and the widowed mother and helpless offspring of the lowest criminal, feel the pang of parting as deeply as the titled relict and "honourable" progeny of a noble offender; but though they feel this, they do not endure that more lasting sting of disgrace that elevated station must suffer, when one of its members has tarnished its escutcheon by his crimes: they have not so large a circle of friends, dependants, and distant relations, who, taking an interest in the glories of the family, feel as acutely its disgrace. The execution of a Ferrars, a Fauntleroy, or a Dodd, involve more human suffering in others, than is combined in the list of fifty ordinary offenders. We use not this as an argument in favour of clemency to the educated and wealthy, but as a reflection that death must come to such men in a double array of terror and of anguish. The unfortunate being whose actions give rise to the following narrative, was one whose punishment extended to a large circle; casting disgrace upon respectable relatives, and scattering an overwhelming sorrow over his friends. Joseph Blackburn was born about the year 1770; received a liberal education; was articled to an attorney, and about 1793 began to practice that profession in Leeds. He married a lady of most amiable qualities, and respectable connections; became the father of two children, and for many years enjoyed the high respect of an extensive circle of acquaintances: no man living enjoyed more generally the credit of integrity and respectability than Mr. Blackburn; but, after twenty years, during which time nothing had tarnished his reputation, or blackened his fame, a person, who had formerly been his clerk, laid an information against him for removing stamps from old deeds, and placing them upon new ones; and also with altering the denominations of such stamps. We leave the detail of these transactions to the developement made by the statement of counsel and evidence of witnesses, and need only add, that on this charge Mr. Blackburn was committed to York Castle; and on the 18th of March, 1815, put upon his TRIAL. SIR SIMON LE BLANC took his seat at nine o'clock. MR. BLACKBURN, attired in deep mourning, was placed at the bar, and pleaded "Not guilty" to an indictment charging him with "feloniously forging and counterfeiting the resemblance of a certain stamp, or die, used by the Commissioners of Stamps, to denote the pay ment of duties, impressed on vellum, parchment, and paper; viz. for the payment of two pounds, imposed by the 48th of George III. on mortgage deeds, with intent to defraud his Majesty, his heirs, or successors." Messrs. Park, Topping, Wailes, and Richardson, were counsel for the prosecution. Mr. Hanson, of Stamp Office, and Mr. Atkinson, of Leeds, solicitors. For the defence, Messrs. Scarlett, Littledale, and Williams; and Mr. Wood, of Leeds, and Mr. Carrett, of Dewsbury, solicitors. Mr. RICHARDSON opened the case for the crown, and was followed by MR. PARK, who, after several preliminary observations said, that "the crime imputed to the prisoner was not merely calculated to defraud the public revenue, but tended to affect the security of the property of individuals, and that in the most serious manner; for if deeds, or other written instruments for the transfer of property have affixed to them forged, or improper stamps, they have no validity, and convey no right to the parties in whose favour they are executed. This consideration must, at once, impress a conviction of the great importance of the present case; as the conveyance of property by instruments the most solemn known to the law, is thereby defeated, the contract becomes invalid, and the deed by which it was intended to be effected of no possible use. Nor is it too much to say, that the rights of future generations may be affected by the consequences of the crime imputed to the prisoner. "The charge against the prisoner is that of having forged, or caused to be forged, or counterfeited, the impression of a certain stamp, or die, used by the stamp commissioners, to denote the payment of a certain duty, imposed by the 48th of the king, on mortgage deeds, which are laid, ad valorem, that is, in a ratio proportioned to the money secured by such deeds. The amount of the money secured by the deed, which is the subject of this inquiry, is £180, and the stamp required for this sum must be of the value of £2; for in the schedule affixed to the act, it states, that from £150 to a sum not exceed |