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j *-l■ *V r .- .. V I/. . is preferable to ATHENS, GEORGIA, DECEMBER 7, 1833. who visited the west many years after, could ] point to the exact place of his interment, now emphatically' termed Braddock’s grave. It is close to the northern side of the national road, seven miles east of Union town. It has been rumored from an early period that Braddock had been shot by his men.— More recently it has been stated, by one who ] could not be mistaken, that in the course of the battle, Braddock ordered the provincial troops to form a column. They, however, tions of the usual mechanical trades carrjed on in the Penitentiary, and the great facility with which many of those trades are acquired by persons of ordinary capacity; as well as from the epiuions of those whose opportuni ties have qualified them to judge correctly from actual experience in such matters, the undersigned are fully convinced that a por tion of the convicts may be profitably employ- There was no sufficient provision in our laws against the crime of kidnapping children, because the act of 1829 provides generally against the crime of kidnapping, without de fining the term : and when we go to the En- glish law for the meaning of the term, we find that the taking and carrying away of a per son must be against bis or her will, in order to constitute the crime, and so the undersign ed have defined it in this code—but childttm have no power to- consent, and therefore the crime should consist in abducting and carry ing away a child against the will of the parent, us provided in the code now submitted. In ed in the Penitentiary for the short term of one year, and they have therefore affixed that period of imprisonment to some ofiences. The Legislatures of 1820 and 1822, believ- ing that imprisonment in the Penitentiarv for . . * •V * . . i. vol. n. JJoctrn. TOR THE SOUTHERN BANNER. THE DISAPPOINTED HUNTERS. Two hunters once there chanc’d to be, Grown tir’d of the busy town, Set out in high and cheerful glee, * To hunt tho country round. Each, many questions now propounds, About the different wilds, They fix on one where game abounds, Not distant many miles. ■With ammunition well suppli’d, The day uncommon fair, Their markinansliip oft fairly tri’d, Of game they certain were. They went about a league or more. Nor ever felt they weary. And whore they saw much game before, All now was lone and dreary. Bnt still they kept a direct course, Anil walk’d with leisure on; But lo ! tho game they sought for most Had from the country gone. Their disappointment truly great, They now gave o’er tho chase; Retrac’d their steps ore yet ’twas late, Back to their homes in haste. To gain their game, there was no need Of powder, shot, or aim: I’m sum ’tis little thought indeed, The Ladies was their game. Le Chassf.ur. [Tne following interesting extract descriptive of English fair, is taken from the tale of Peter Sim- >, (who it seems is really what his name imports,) rhich is now in course of republieation in “ Wal •s Select Circulating Library,” taken from the rndon Metropolitan.] PORTDOWN FAIR. A few days after M’Foy quitted tho ship, we all had leave from the first lieutenant to go to Portdown fair, but he would only allow oldsters to sleep on shore. We antic! pnted so much pleasure from our excursion that some of us were up, and went away Ihe bout sent for fresh beef. This was very foolish. There were no carriages to take us the fair, nor indeed any fair so early in the Inorning; the shops were all shut, and the pluc Posts, where we always randezvoused vas hardly opened. We waited there in the dice-room, until we were driven out by the laid sweeping away the dirt, and were forced walk about until she had finished, and ligh sd the fire, when we ordered our breakfast it how much better would it have been itve taken our breakfast comfortably on board, lid then to have come on shore, especially ji we had no money to spare. Next to be- |tg too late, being too soon is the worst plan world. However, we had our break I, and paid the bill then we sallied forth, went up George street, where we found sorts of vehicles ready to take us to the r. We got into one which they called a Jly. I asked the man who drove us why it as so called, and he replied, because he on. charged a shilling. O’Brien, who had lined us after breakfast on board, said that is answer reminded him of one given to him . man who attended one of the hackney ich stands in London. “ Pray,” said he, arc you called watermen 7 ” “ Wa- len !” replied the man, « vy, sir, ’cause upens the hackney coach doors.” At hist, plenty of whipping, and plenty of swear- and a great deal of laughing, the old rsc, whose hack curved upward like a bow, Dm the difficulty of dragging so many, nr- red at the bottom of Portdown hill, where got out and walked up to the fair. It re- was a most beautiful sight. The bright sky, and the coloured flags Happing it in all directions, the grass so green, and white tents and bootlis, the sun shining bright, and tho shining gilt gingerbread, variety of toy%and variety of noise, the itity of people and the quantity of sweet. little boys so happy, and shop people alite, the music at the booths, and the tie nud eagerness of the people outside, le my heart quite jump. There was Rich- son, with a clown and harlequin, and such utiful women, dressed in clothes all over I spangles, dancing reels and waltzes, and fii*g «o happy! There was Flint and jell, with fellows tumbling over head and playing such tricks—eating fire, and ag yards of tape out of their mouths.— there was the Royal Circus, all the scs standing in a line, with men and wo- standing on their backs, waving flags 3 tho trumpeters blew their trumpets.— I the largest giant in the world, and Mr. ip, the smallest dwarf in the world, and a Dale dwarf who was smaller still, and Miss in, who did every thing without legs or as. There was also the learned pig, and i. Herefordshire ox, and a hundred other »hts which I cannot now remember. We liked about for an hour or two, seeing the jitsidc of every thing ; we determined to go 1 see tho inside. First we went into Rich. Ison’s, where wo saw a bloody tragedy, [th a ghost and. thunder, and afterwards a fUomime, full of tricks, and tumbling over »another. Then we saw one or two other 3> I forget which, but this I know, that, erally speaking, the outside was better i the inside. After this, feeling very hun* Srv» we agreed to go into a booth, and have something to cat. The tables were ranged all round, and in the centre there was a boar, ded platform for dancing. The ladies were there already dressed for partners: and the music was so lively, that I felt very much in. clincd to dance, hut we had agreed to go and sec the wild beasts fed at Mr. Polito’s menagerie, and as it was now almost eight o’clock, we paid bur bill and set off. It was a very cprious sight, and better worth seeing than any thing in the fair; I never had an idea that there were so many strange animals in existence. They were all secured in iron cages, and a large chande lier, With twenty lights, hung in the centre of tho booth, and lighted them up, while the keeper went round and stirred them up with his long pole; at the same time he gave us their histories, which were very interesting. recollect a few of them. There was the tapir, a great pig with a long nose, a variety of the hiptostomas, which the keeper said was an amphibilious animal, as couldn’t live on land, and dies in the water—however, it seem cd to live very well in a cage. Then there was the kangaroo with its young ones peep- ing out of it—a most astonishing animal.— The keeper said that it brought forth two young ones at a birth, and thcii took them into its stomach again, until they arrived at years of discretion. Then there was the pelican of wilderness, (I shall not forget him,) with n large bag under his throat, which the man put on his head as a night cap; this bird feeds its young with its own blood—when fish are scarce. And there was the laughing hyaena, who cries in the wood like a human being in distress, and devours those who come to his assistance—a sad instance of the de- pravity of human nature, as the keeper ob served. There was a beautiful creature, the Royal Bengal tiger, only three years old, what growed ten inches every year, and never arrived at its fall growth. The one we saw measured, as the keeper told us, sixteen feet from the snout to the tail, and seventeen feet from the tail to the snout; but there must have been some mistake there. There was a young el- ephant and three lions, and several other an imals, which I forget now, so I shall go on to describe the tragical scene which occurred. The keeper had poked up all the animals, and had commenced feeding them. The great lion was growling and snarling over the shin bone of an ox, cracking it like a nut, when by some mismanagement, one end of the pole upon which the chandelier was suspended fell down, striking the door of the cage in which the lioness was at supper, and bursting it open. It was all done in d second ; the chandelier fell, the cage opened, and the lioness sprung out. I remember to this moment seeing the body of the lioness in the air, and then all as dark as pitch. What a change ! not a mo ment before, all of us staring with delight and curiosity, and then to be left in darkness, horror, and dismay ! There was such scream ing and shrieking, such crying, and fighting, and pushing, and fainting, nobody knew where to go, or how to find their way out. The people crowded first on one side, and then on the other, as their fears instigated them, was very soon jammed up with my back against the bars of one of the cages, and fee- ling some beast lay hold of me behind, made a desperate effort, and succeeded in climbing up to the cage above, not however without losing the seat of my trowsers, which the laugh ing hyaena would not let go. I hardly knew where I was when I climbed up; but I knew the birds were mostly stationed above. How ever, that I might not have the front of my trowsers torn as well as the behind, as soon as I gained my footing I turned round, with my back to the bars of the cage, but I had not been there a minute, before I was attacked by something which digged into me like pickaxe, and as the hyaena had torn my cloathes, I had no' defence against it. To turn round would have been worse still j so after having received above a dozen $tabs, contrived by degrees to shift my position, un til I was opposite to another cage, but not un til the pelican, for it was that brute, had drawn as much blood from me as would have led his young for a week. I was surmising what danger I should next encounter, when to my joy I discovered that I had gained the open door from which the lioness had escaped, crawled in and pulled the door to after me. thinking myself very fortunate ; and there sat very quietly in a corner during the remain der of the noise and confusion. I had not been there but a few minutes, when the beef, eaters, as they were called, who played the music outside, came in with torches and loa. ded muskets. The sight which presented it self was truly shocking; twenty or thirty men, women, and children, lay on the ground, and I thought at first the lioness had killed them all, but they were only in fits, or had been trampled down by the crowd. No one . was seriously hurt. As for the lioness, she was not to be found ; and as soon as it was ascer tained that she had escaped, there was as much terror and scampering away outside, as there had been in the menagerie. It appeared afterwards that the animal had been as much frightened as we had been, and had secreted herselfunderoneofthe wagons. It was some time before she could he found. At last O’Brien, who was a very brave fellow, went a-head of the beef.eaters, and saw her eyes glaring. They borrowed a net or two from the carts which had brought calves to the fair, and threw them over her. When 1 she was fairly entangled, they dragged her by the tail into tho menagerio. All this while I had re mained very quietly in the den, bnt when I perceived that its lawful owner ‘tad come back again to retake possession, I thought it was time to come out; so I called to my mess mates, who with O’Brien were assisting the beef-eaters. They had not discovered me. and laughed very much when they saw where I was. One of the midshipmen shot the bolt of the door, so that 1 could not jump out, and then stirred ine. up with a long pole. At last I contrived to unbolt it again, and got out, when they laughed still more, at the seat of my trowsers being tom off. It was not ex actly a laughing matter to me, although I had to congratulate myself upon a very lucky es cape ; and sd did my messmates think when I narrated my adventures. The pelican was the worst part of the business. O’Brien lent me a dark silk handkerchief, which I. tied round my waist, and let drop behind, so that my misfortunes might not attract any notice, and then we quitted the menagerie ; ‘but I was so stiff that I could hardly walk. We then went to what they called Ranc- lagh Gardens, to see the fireworks, which were to be let off at ten o’clock. It was ex actly ten when we paid for our admission, and we waited very patiently for a quarter ot an hour, but there were no signs of the fireworks being let off. The fact was, that the man to whom the gardens belonged, waited until more company should arrive, although the place was already very. fqjl of people. Now the first lieutenant had ordered the boat to wait for us until twelve o’clock, and then return on board; and as we were seven miles from Portsmouth, we had not much time to spare VVe waited another quarter of an hour, and then it was agreed that Us the fireworks were stated in the handbill to commence precisely at ten o’clock, that we were fully justified in letting them off ourselves. O’Brien went out and returned with a dozen penny rattans, which he notched in the end. The fireworks were on the posts and stages, all ready, and was agreed that we should light them all at once, and then mix with the crowd. The oldsters lighted cigars, and fixing them in the notched ends of the canes, continued to puff them until they were all well lighted. They handed one to each of us, and at the word we all applied them to the match papers, and soon as the fire communicated, we threw down our canes and ran in among the crowd. In about half a minute off they all went in the most beautiful confusion: there were stiver stars and golden stars, blue lights and cath- arine.wheels, mines and bombs, Grecian fires and Roman-candles, Chinese trees,, rockets and illuminated mottoes, all firing away, cracking, poping, and fizzing, at' the same time. It was unanimously agreed that it was a great improvement upon the intended show. The man to whom the garden be longed ran but of a booth where he had been drinking beer at bis ease, while his company were waiting, swearing vengeance against the perpetrators; indeed the next day he offered fifty pounds reward for the discovery of the offenders, but I think he was treated very properly. He was, in his situation, a servant of the public, and he had behaved as if he was their master. We all escaped very .cle verly, and taking another dilly, arrived at Portsmouth, and were down to the boat in good time. The next day I was so stiff and in such pain that I was obliged to go to the doctor, who put me on the list, where I re mained for a week before I could return to my duty. So much for Portdown fair. name of Fawcett, and with his sword rashly 1 a shorter time than four years was an expense England there is a special statute on this sub. cut him down. Thomas Fawcett, a brother j to the State, abolished all Penitentiary pun- of the killed, soon learned his fate, and watch- ishment for a shorter period, and restored the ing an op|H>rtunity, revenged his brother’s punishments annexed to crimes, before the blood by shooting Braddock through the bo- years 1816 and 1817. When these sweep- dy, of which wound lie died. Thomas Faw- ing statutes of 1820 and 1822 were passed, cett is now, or was lately living near Laurel the Legislature could not have been aware of Hill. He is now 97 years of age. thq effect they would produce, or they ccr- _ , rrrr ————; * , I tainly vould never hava be* n enacted. As the Wonderful Power of the Turkcy-Buzzar . j aw now under those statutes, the less A statement is made in the Turf Register at- crime> ig> in raany case8 punished with the tested by the deposition of Major John Pilfers ter penahy> which absurditv ^ injustice of Kamkaskia, Illinois, which confirms the im- would hanJly have becQ introduced into our pression long entertained by some, that the , awSj if they had been f orese cn. Suopose, Turkey Buzzard has the power of re-produ- howcver> for the ^ of the argument,'that a cmg its eyes. The experiment made was shorter term Q f imprisonment than four years this. v A Buzzard was Deprived of its eyes, ig expensive to State . wU1 any enlighten by ripping them open so that no part of the ed and p hilanthropic Legislator say, that this ball remained. “The head of the bird was u a sufficient reason t0 abandon that mode of then placed under one of its wings; in which puQ j sbmen t, and introduce into our code the position it rernauied a few minutes, when rai-1 crue j and san guinary punishments of the En. sing its head, both eyes were reproduced perfectly sound, free from blemish, and pos sessing in every degree the power of vision.” i This comparatively cruel experiment was repeated at least fifty times, uniformly with the same result. The writer also, being in credulous as to these facts, not having wit nessed them, made the experiment upon an other Buzzard, with similar effect. It is as cribed to the heuling powers of the down from the inside of the Buzzard’s wing : which is said to have cured several cases of ap proaching blindness in men and horses. glish law 1 It is hoped not. But if in fact in 1822 the convicts of a shorter time than four years could not, or did not by their labour defraytheir own expen scs, the cause is to be sought for, not in the system itself, but in the want of proper man. agement and competent skill in those persons who then conducted the affairs of the Peniten tiary. v It would be very difficult, if not im- possible, to graduate the punishments and adapt them to the nature and extent of the .crime upon the Penitentiary system, and at the same time, to do equal justice to convicts unless a shorter terra of imprisonment is Destruction of Human Life by Ciiol- , , era.—The disease called spasmodic cholera adopted, oecause many crimes that deserve appears to have been unknown previous to penitentiary pumshment and cannot he prop- 1817, when it appeared in India. Since P^hed in any other way, would not that time till near the end of 1832, a period ?all for as long an imprisonment as four years, of about fifteenyears, there havebeen through- Ifthcn the Legislature take this as the short- out the world, as nearly, as can be estima- « st term of imprisonment, many crimes, such ted, 100,000,000 of cases. Of these fully for »‘ 8tance as involuntary manslaughter, one half, at least, must have died; which rescue, some spcciesoflarceny, and various gives a mortality from this single disease, of ^ er offences, would have to be punished by 50,000,000 in the above period, or upwards finc imprisonment fhe common jail, or of 3,333,000, annually. In India alone the V whippmg, branding, pillory, &c. &c.— mortality has exceeded 18,000,000. These The first mode 18 to ° , S ht \ and very often calculations have been made by Jonnes. the °P eratC8 more as a punishment on the county celebrated French physician, and it is estima. wluch has to defray the expenses, than on ted that they are rated under than above the I the conv,cJ » and the ,ast 18 to ° sanguinary.- truth.—Balt. American. <£rovgia ^Legislature. House qf Representatives, Nov. 11. REPORT Of the Committee, appointed by the Governor, in pursuance qf a Resolution qf the General Assembly, passed the loth December, 1832, to propose a plan for the Buildings ^ I Jibertv of'the cittern'" The Shade’s and de~- /Ii/tbpI tv Piiplnin nr I /mmo /C»i* I • _ . The only just mode then is by confinement and labor in the Penitentiary for a time suited to tho nature of the crime, and the degree of guilt. • It will be perceived that in the code now presented, much latitude of discretion is lodg ed in the Judge ; and however dangerous this power may at first view appear to some per sons, it is nevertheless absolutely necessary for the purpose of justice, and in fnvor of the Braddock’s Defeat.—A writer under the signature of “ Ohio” in the Pittsburg Mer cury, gives the following description of the ground on which general Braddock was de feated. Nine miles above Pittsburg, and immeei- ately upon the north bank of the Monongahe- la river, is the celebrated battle ground called “Braddock’s Field.” It is famous for the destruction of an army intended to capture Fort Du Quesne, crush the extending power of France, and control the Indians on our western border. Here Washington fought and Braddock fell. On this spot 50 French men and 250 Indians nearly destroyed the forty-ninth and fifty-first regiments of British regulars, though aided by a number of Pro vincial troop?. The battle was fought on the afternoon of the 9th July, 1755. Seventy years have passed away, and yet the crum bling bones of men are seen in every field for a mile in circuit. For iqany years they were shrouded by a mourning wilderness of shadowy trees, but this has yielded to the busy axe, and the plough is annually driven among the skulls of the slain and the bones of the brave. Rich harvests wave over fields fertilized by the blood and bodies of a thou sand unburied meu. The partridge whistles, and the reaper sings on the spot where the cries of mortal anguish told the dread revel ry, of battle. *Twas here the wild whoop of the fierce savage quelled' the rallying cry of Europe’s warriors. Twas here they drove the ruthless tomahawk deep into the crushed skull of the vanquished, arid with yelling joy, tore the scalp from the head of the feeblfe, and the wounded, the dead and the dying. The retreating survivors carried their woun ded General with them until he died. He was buried about 40 miles from the battle ground, in the centre of the road his udvan cing army had cut. To prevent the discov ery of this, soldiers, horses and wagons were passed over it, to save the body from savage dishonor, by thus concealing the place of in terment. Some of Braddock’s affectionate soldiers marked the trees near the spot where he was laid, that the recollections of those To the honorable the Senate and House of Rep resentatives of the State of Georgia in Gene ral Assembly met. The undersigned having been appointed by his Excellency the Governor, in conformity to a resolution of the'Legislature, passed on I ^ adequate punishment, whilst in others five the 15th December, 1832, “ to prepare a I hundred dollars fine and thirty days imprison plan for the buildings of the Penitentiary ; di. men t might not be more than a just chastise- gest a system of laws for its government and ment> Again, take the case of rape. If this organization; and to revise and amend the crime be committed by an inconsiderate boy, penal laws of this Stato, so far as relates to I ought the punishment to be as great as if the punishment which that code prescribes, I committed by a man of full age and hackney- and r port the whole to the next general as-1 ed j n j be W ay yf vice ? • One of the under- Penitentiary, digest a system of Laws, dfc. grees of guilt are so numerous in almost eve ry crime, that equal justice cannot be done by affixing a certain and determinate punish ment to every offence, leaving no discretion in the court. By, way of illustrating this idea, take the case of assault and battery—in some cases a fine of five or ten dollars would be sembly for its approval or rejection”—have had the several subjects embraced in the res olution under consideration, and now ask leave to make the following Report: signed recollects a case of rape in which he was compelled in his then official capacity to pass sentence of four years imprisonment and labor in the Penitentiary, on a boy of fifteen By the terms of the. resolution it would I years of age, when, under the circumstances seem that the Legislature intended to have of, the particular case, he would have been the penal laws of the State revised and amen-1 glad of the power to reduce the time to one ded so for only as regards tho mode and quan- or two years.- And whilst-one or two- years turn of punishment; and yet the preamble to would have been a sufficient penalty on. this the resolution takes a much wider range, and I boy, ten or more years might not be too long sounder view of the subject. The under-1 in an aggravated case, where the convict is signed have therefore endeavored to enter, in-1 of full age, and bad character. These ex to, and effect, as far as the limited time allow- amples are stated to show the impracticabili ed them would permit, the real object and in- ty of affixing to any crime except murder and tention which the Legislature had in view.— a few others, a certain punishment to be in- And this they have attempted to do, by revis- dieted in all cases, and therefore great lati- ing and amending the penal laws of the State, I tude of discretion must necessarily be given not only as regards the punishments, but also to the judge in order to subserve the ends of, the definition and classification of crimes, justice. with many additions of matter heretofore I The term “ felony” according to its tei;h omitted. And they have moreover endeavor- nical meaning in the English law, which is ed to bring together and consolidate into one “ a crime that induced a forfeiture of goods code, all the criminal laws of the State, which and chattels, lands and tenements,” can have are enforced by way of indictment in the Su- no application in our laws, he.cause they, im- perior Courts of the State. I pose no forfeiture. And yet th'e undersigned The amended code of criminnl law now j felt the want of some word to designate a cer presented to the Legislature is composed of tain class of cases heretofore known as “ fel the code of 1817, with such alterations and onies” and therefore, as they could find none additions as were deemed necessqry and pro- that would so well and so. clearly convey the per. Some sections of that code have been idea, as that to which the people have always omitted, being in the opinion of the undersign-1 been accustomed, they have thought it most ed useless or improper, and other sections advisable to use the wor<J “ felony” - arid to have been altered; and new ones added ei- give to it such definition as will be in accord- ther from other statutes of our own, or from ance with our system of laws. They have other sources; and the punishments in the therefore adopted this .word, and defined it to Penitentiary have been graduated to the na- be“ an offence for which the offender on con- ture of the crime and the degree of guilt. viction shall be liable by law to be punished From their own knowledge of the useful, by death, or imprisonment in the Pemtcn- ncss of ordinary labourers in the rough opera-1 tiary.” jeCt. Believing that it is the duty of the Legis- laturc to make some provision in the penal code, to protect the people against frauds committed by banks, and by factors, common carriers, and other bailees, the undersigned have devoted considerable labor to that branch of the duty assigned them, and hope that the provisions they have made on that subject, will, if adopted by the Legislature, have a tendency to prevent the commission of frauds upon an unsuspecting and confiding commu nity, heretofore practised with perfect im— punity. . For the purpose of ensuring obedience on the part of the convicts in the penitentiary, to the orders of those officers whom the laws have placed over them, it has beeD deemed proper to make any act of resistance, with a dangerous weapon, constitute the crime of mutiny, and to affix to that crime penitentiary punishment; and in all cases of the trial of u convict for. mutiny, escape, &c. any other convict is declared to be a competent witnesr. The offences of forcible entry and detain^ cr, have been incorporated in this Code, be cause it is proper that they should be punish ed, and that persons who arc forcibly ousted of their possessions,should have a more sum mary mode of regaining possession, than the long and expensive civil remedy of ejectment.: Our laws provide for regaining possession in - a summary way, of personal property, and certainly a stronger reason exists,‘ why we should, in a summary way, be allowed to re- gain possession of lands and houses, from which we have been ejected by the strong hand of power, and which, in many cases, may be the only means of providing bread for a helpless family, and of affording shelter from the inclemency of the" weather. The English laws on this subject are enforced in some parts of the state, whilst in other parts they are considered not in force. This state of things ought no lo’nger to exist. The law- should be uniform in all the circuits; and as we have no head to our judiciary to declare what the law is, the Legislature must enclehv- or as far as possible, to remedy the evil. Gambling of a certain description, by the present law, is punishable by confinement and labor in the Penitentiary. This punishment is not suited to the crime, and instead of hav ing a tendency to prevent its perpetration, ac tually operates to encourage it, or ratheT the law remains n dead letter on the statute book. I Public opinion is against this statute on ac- . count of its severity, whilst at the same time it is decidedly opposed to gaming, arid would readily sanction and enforce any law to sup- ' press it, the penalty of which would bo a just and adequate punishment. Under this con- • viction, the undersigned have awarded to this offence such punishment os they believe will be enforced, and have the effect of lessening or preventing, in a good degree* the commis sion of the crime. The undersigned have deemed it proper to apply the wholesome provisions of a statute of limitations to criminal prosecutions. Is the-- statute of limitations in civil cases wise and beneficial; one calculated, os declared-in a recent case by the Supicme Court of the Uni ted States, to afford security for our proper- ty against stale demands, after the true state of the transaction may have been forgotton, or be incapable of explanation, by reason of- the death or removal of witnesses, the loss and destruction of papers, and decay of mem ory ? Does not the same reasoning apply with equal, if not greater force, to crimes anil misdemeanors? Is property more valuable than personal liberty ? If not, why forbid that a suit or action shall be brought for land and negroes, after a limited time has expired, and yet subject the owner to be tried and convic ted for an offence that would incarcerate his person for life, or a protracted period, in the State prison, at any time, after such offenco is committed ? Having wisely thrown off’the antiquated errors of dark and barbarous ages; from our political institutions, it is imperative ly demanded, that We discard also their.legal absurdities. Among these stands forth prom inently the legal maxim, “ that no time runu against the King.” The progress of reform abroad in our sister States, calls aloud upon us to follow at least, if we are unwilling to- lead, in the march of human improvement. Let it no longer be our reproach, that an ac tion for slanderous words must be brought withiri six months after the speaking of the words, or the party injured shall be deprived of the right forever, when the same person, for publishing a libel, may be indicted at ony , time during his life. The doctrine of contempts, as understood and enforced at common law, .is at variance with the genius of our peoplo, and their free institutions, and therefore the undersigned have considered it expedient both to define and limit it. All admit that order must be preserved, and authority respected in our va rious judicial tribunals. wuw ~** ****“ 1 Without this, the