“In Cheshire, in the year 1836, the sentences of _two_ convicts for _murder_ were _commuted_, the commitments for the crime in that year being two; the commitments for the year following were also two, showing _neither an increase nor diminution_. “Here we have an instance where the sentences of _all_ convicted were commuted, and no _increase_ of the crime followed. “In Devonshire, in the year 1836, there was one commutation of sentence for _murder_, the commitments being four. In the year following there were _no_ commitments, making a _decrease_ of four. “In Lancashire, in the year 1836, the sentences of _four_ convicts for _murder_ were commuted, the number of commitments in the same year being seven. In the year following the number of commitments was one, making a _decrease_ of six. “In the county of Norfolk, in the year 1836, the sentences of _five_ convicts for _murder_ were commuted, the number of commitments for the same year being eight. In the following year the number of commitments for murder were but five, giving a _decrease_ of three. “In the counties of Norfolk, Nottingham, and Stafford, in the year 1837, there was one commutation of the sentence of murder for each respectively. The result was a fall in the committals of the following year from five to two in the first county,--giving a decrease of three; in the second county a fall from one to _none_; in the third county _neither_ an increase nor diminution,--the number of committals having been three in each year. “In the counties of Lincoln, Stafford, and Denbigh, in the year 1838, there was respectively _one_ commutation of the sentence for _murder_. The result was that in the following year the commitments fell from two to one in the first county, from three to one in the second, and from one to _none_ in the third, thus giving respectively a decrease of one-half, two-thirds, and of the whole. The last is more correctly called an extinction than a decrease. “In Cheshire, Middlesex, Somersetshire, and Surrey, in the year 1838, there were, respectively, _two_ commutations of the sentence for murder. The result was that in the first county the commitments, as between that year and the year following, fell from two to one; in the second county they fell from seven to three; in the third, from three to one; and in the fourth, from three to two; thus giving a diminution, respectively, of one-half, four-sevenths, two-thirds, and one-third.