to commit their robberies in such a country. Has it not been necessary, in point of fact, to keep up a constant force to repel their attacks? -It has been done hitherto, and I believe it is now done. Would the operation of cultivating this land be a tedious one? -Not the least; no more than breaking up the land. Would it make an early return? -Yes, the first year, or the second at furthest. Within how many months?Within seven months from ploughing and putting the corn Are there any woods to be cleared in Albany?-There are small woods, or rather groves, which it would be better to leave for wood. What materials would the country supply, or what would be requisite to send there to wards erecting buildings?-Nothing but iron work. There is timber sufficient? Yes, in the colony; all the country which is designated the Antinoqua and Zilzikama, would supply timber for every purpose. These are the unoccupied lands? They are the woods belonging to government, where a supply of timber could be drawn; but they are not in the district of Albany. Would the iron work or any other materials be easily landed at Algoa Bay?—Yes. Is there from Algoa Bay a tolerable road to Albany?—Yes; the same sort of road as there is all over the colony. The facility of emigrants building houses there, and making shelter for themselves, is exceedingly great; for in building the walls of a house they make them with mud alone; and it is not easy to be credited by those who have not seen them, how excellent and strong a wall is made by those means. Is there no stone?—Yes; but it is seldom used on account of the labour it requires. Following the method they have of building in the country; they make walls with mud, as good as they are made with bricks in this country, and better than they are built with common bricks. What would be the vent for the surplus produce of the colony formed there ?-By ships coming to Algoa Bay to receive it there, if it was produce that might be exported, or afterwards sent by the coast to Cape Town, where it would take the same chance as all other produce sent there. What do you apprehend the productions would be chiefly ?Corn, wine, hides, ivory, and ostrich feathers. Is the pasturage good?-The district of Albany is very fine pasture country. Do you think tobacco would be an article of export ?—Yes, I think it would succeed extremely well, well, with proper encourage ment. Vines you say would be cultivated with success?-I think so; in that district there have been very few attempts made to cultivate vines; but I know of no reason why they should not: very fine orange trees and peach trees grow wild there. What is the extent of the district? It is a hundred miles in length, and perhaps fifty in width. I have stated that it would receive several thousands. If there was any settlement established at Albany, would there be any facility of supplying it with cattle?-More than at Cape Town, for the country is a grazing country. Where would the stock be obtained, are there any wild cattle? -It might be purchased from the farmers at a very cheap rate; I have mentioned the district of Albany as a very good situation; because, if the population of that district should ever become too great, being on the borders of the Caffree country, land might always be purchased at a very easy rate from those tribes. What is the state of that land? -A very fine country; by those who have been to the eastward, it has been said to be much more beautiful than the colony itself. What are the habits of those people? They are a pastoral race of people, who follow the grazing life; cattle would easily be procured from them when a good understanding was established between them and the settlers. And this colony might find the means of extension, by the pur chase of land further eastward ?— Yes, of the Caffrees, and according to report, land of a better quality. Might they extend their colony in a north-eastern direction inland?-Yes, for the same reasons that I have mentioned for carry. ing it into Caffraria. You passed some time in Caffraria; did not you?-In that country near it; I did not pass to the eastward of the Great Fish river; it was not possible at that time, the tribes being at war with each other. Could you give the Committee any information as to the cause of that misunderstanding that exists between the colonies and the Caffrees? The misunderstanding that now exists between the Caffrees and colonists has arisen originally from impolitic and bad management on the part of the colonists themselves; and it is very probable that a settlement formed there of Europeans, who would act strictly on just principles, would be the means of restoring that good understanding which formerly did exist; and from its vicinity to a pastoral tribe, it would derive great advantage in procuring cattle at a very cheap rate, while the emigrant population might be employed in agricultural pursuits. Upon the whole, do you apprehend that South Africa would be more desirable as a place of settlement, than North America? -I think in several points of view it has decidedly the preference; the climate is exceedingly healthy, and the temperature is very moderate, seldom excessively hot, and never so cold as to be below § the the freezing point except on the mountains; and the country itself is quite open to receive the plough on the first landing of the emigrant, so that no expense would be incurred in preparing the land. The country beyond the colony, to the northward of it, is a country of a different description from that I have described in Albany; that is exceedingly well suited for pasturing and rearing large flocks of sheep, by which although the emigrant may not produce any thing from such a position that he may send to market, he may be always sure of living without the fear of want; from what I have seen among the Dutch settlers, the very smallest exertion always procures an abundant supply of every necessary of life. Are there any wild animals to interfere with those sheep?-Yes, there are, but they seldom interfere; indeed the increase of the flocks in that part of the country which I am speaking of on the northern boundary, is annually so very large, that the loss of ten or twenty by wild animals is not felt by the colonist; the usual number of the flocks of those farmers may be from 2,000 to 7,000 or 8,000 sheep. They would have the export of their wool?-Yes, if the distance did not make it difficult; those farmers kill their sheep and consume them on every occasion more for the sake of getting the fat, of which they make soap, which they carry to Cape Town. Supposing a number of persons to be on the point of proceeding to Algoa Bay to settle, what are the essential requisites that you would recommend they should take with them, of tools, clothing, and supplies of every description? I should advise that all agricultural implements particularly, and such kind of common tools as would be necessary in the construction of their buildings; it does not strike me that it is necessary to take out a very great stock of any kind. Seeds and cattle they might procure in the colony?—Yes, very easily; I am confining my observations to an emigrant who is leaving this country from poverty; I am not making a provision for his enjoying luxuries, but merely living comfortable. What would be the best number of persons to commence such an establishment?-I should think about 300 as a small number; I think by a small number beginning at first, and preparing the way, another much larger number might come immediately afterwards; but it would hardly be judicious to throw a great number of people into a strange country at first. Would 300 be sufficient to protect themselves from the Caffrees? -Yes. unfavourable as a harbour?—Yes, be convertible into articles of at any time when a south-east wind blows. Are you secure from that wind the greater part of the year?Half of the year; and during the other half it is not always dangerous; so much so that whenever government have occasion to send troops or stores, they send them at any time. Does not the colony derive their fuel from Plattenburgh Bay? -No; their demand of common fuel is got nearer; the resources of timber in that country are scarcely known, they are very great, and it will be a great while before they are exhausted. What is the description of timber?-Not any timber we know of in this country; to use the language of carpenters, it is a kind of yellow wood, more resembling fir than any thing else. Is there any wood fit for shipbuilding; any teak?-No; but there is a species of wood which very much resembles mahogany, and is almost as valuable; I think the produce of the Cape in articles of commerce remain entirely to be discovered, and made use of. Various kinds of timber that grow in the forests are applicable to, I suppose, all the purposes we can want for domestic uses; I could particularly mention one, which I have imagined would answer all the purposes of lignum vitæ, and another as good as box wood. Do you include making blocks from lignum vitæ ?-Yes; I mean that particularly, the natural productions of the Cape colony have never had any experiment made upon them. How far they may commerce, I am not able to say; it is not likely that the present inhabitants of the colony, the Dutch boors, will ever be the means of bringing those articles to light; so that a great deal of good might be expected to be derived from European settlers going there, men of some knowledge of the arts of this country. I think there is no doubt they would soon discover a number of useful things, that would not only turn to their own advantage, but to the political advantage of the colony. Also, from the mild and sometimes warm nature of the climate it is very probable many of the productions of tropical countries, articles of commerce, might be cultivated there with success. I would only add, that with regard to the mineralogy of the colony, it is altogether unknown; and, therefore, it might be worth the attention of any settler to examine it. Extracts from the Report of the Select Committee appointed to consider so much of the Criminal law as relates to capital Punishment for Felonies. Your Committee, in execution of the trust delegated to them by the House, have endeavoured strictly to confine themselves within the limits prescribed to them by the terms of their appointment. In some cases they have laid down restrictions for themselves, which the letter of the resolution of the House did not impose. They have abstained from all consideration of those capital capital felonies which may be said to be of a political nature, being directed against the authority of government and the general peace of society. To the nature and efficacy of the secondary punishments, of transportation and imprisonment, they have directed no part of their inquiries, because another Committee had been appointed to investigate them, and because no part of the facts or arguments to be stated in this report, will be found to depend either on the present state of these secondary punishments, or on the degree of improvement of which they may be found capable. With many extensive and important parts of the criminal law; such, for example, as that which regulates the trial of offenders; they are entirely satisfied, and they should not have suggested any changes in these departments even if they had been within the appointed province of this Committee. On other parts of the subject; as for example, in the definition and arrangement of crimes, they have recommended a consolidation of the laws respecting only one class of offences, and have presumed only to express a general opinion of the utility of the like consolidation in some other cases. They wish expressly to disclaim all doubt of the right of the legislature to inflict the punishment of death, wherever that punishment, and that alone, seems capable of protecting the community from enormous and atrocious crimes.The object of the Committee has been to ascertain, as far as the nature of the case admitted, by VOL. LXI. evidence, whether, in the present state of the sentiments of the people of England, capital pu nishment in most cases of offences unattended with violence, be a necessary or even the most effectual security against the prevalence of crimes. 1.-In the first place, they endeavoured to collect official accounts of the state of crimes and the administration of criminal law throughout the kingdom, from the earliest period to which authentic information reaches. The annual returns of commitments, convictions and executions, first procured by addresses from this House, and since required by statute, go no farther back than 1805. Accounts, though not perfectly satisfactory, of the same particulars, from London and Middlesex, from 1749 to the present time, have been already laid before parliament, which, with an official summary of the returns of England and Wales from 1805, will be inserted in the appendix of this report. A full and authentic account of convictions and executions for London and Middlesex, from 1699 to 1804, obtained, for the latter part of that time, from the clerk of arraigns at the Old Bailey, and for the former part from the officers of the city of London, is inserted in the appendix. The corporation of the city of London have shown on this occasion a liberality and public spirit worthy of acknowledgment; and it is to be hoped, that they will continue their researches as far back as their records extend, and thus comZ plete |