The National Register. — London, England, 1820-05-29 00:00:00

SOCIETY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF PRISONS I THE REFORMATION OF JUVENILE OFFEND.ERS. On Tuesday a most numerous and respectable meeting took place at the Freemnsons' 'Desert', for the purpose of entering into Resolutions for the improvement of prison dis cipline, and ref°. motion of the unfortunate children with whom the metropolis abounds. The Duke of Gloucester in hit Chair. A great number of ladies attended, amongst whom we observed Mrs. Fry and several of the Society of Friends.— Amongst the Nolilemeti and Gentlemen, there were the Mar quis of Cansdown, Lord Auckland, Earl Grosvenor, the Honorable Grey Bennet, Mr. Buxton, Sir Thomas Graham, Dr. Costello iiii i tkr. &c. At our o'clock the Duke of Gloucester entered the room amidst the applause' of the company. Upon taking the Chair he regretted that be should not he able to remain long in that situation, as the state of his health etas by no means to be envied. He then stated that Mr. Buxton would inform them of the rise and pro;:yess of the Society, which was so numerous, and had already been productive of such advan tages to society. Mr. Buxton then addressed the Assembly. The Institu tion, I.e said, took its rise in consequence of the accidental observation made by a benevolent individual, of the case of a buy under nine years of age, alto had been sent to prison four times fur detkrent robberies. Upon enquiry it was found that there were 400 cases of a similar kind.— When this representation was made, many humane prisons contributed to rescue poor thiloren from the dreadful exam ple of experienced depredators. The state of the prisons in the metropolis at that time was so horrible, that the mo tored a person was committed, all hopes of reforma tion were lose, there be. n g nothing of classitii anent, and all sorts of ofesiders being huddled together a nitwit restraint or discipline of any kind. The c 1111 l Itlittee nose, lied a scene of iniquity which opened their eyes. The plan they intended to adopt was, to give youthful delinquents protec tion, plain f I, and exact discipline, to render sheer tutu ations by no means enviable in poi.d of comforts. and to keep them out of the reach of contamination. Formerly Netegate was the scene of idleness, gambling, and polluting language, and of course could be considered undoing less than a place of encourtagement to those vices a hick caused its imitates to be shut within iis walla. A differeed system had been burl, acted upon, and the glut.ous conduct of the ladies wear visited the pris .n had led to conseqnences extensive anti admirable. Au instance 4.1 the influence such example had upon the female pre ea rns occurred some time ago, upon the occasion on which the kllllllrll were said to have rebelled. A tumult had taken place, but out of nearly a hundred females to inure t h at eight. en joined is the disturbitoces, the rest having, without hesitate 1111 l refused to act in opposition to the directions they had been in tie habit of receiving. It was calculated that there were i.ow 5000 boys in the metropolis living by daily and nightly depreda tines. Mr. Buxtuu theft, iii speaking of the foreign ope rations of the institutton, Bald that must of the contturutal acidosis were pi eparens to adopt the system. The Malmo' tit Causeloan ruse to move the first resolution, which rel..led to the number of children who supported ittellitoelVt s by robberies. Lord Auckland secouded the resolutiou. The Ouse of Gloucester retired alter the thanks of the meeting had been given to him, ild the Patron of the Society anti Chairman of the meeting B. fore he went, however, he staled, that the expellees atteudant upon the too-fold object of the Society had been unavoidably serious. A heavy debt existed, for the liquidation of which, as well as for the prosecution of future labours, the Committee made this their first appeal, confidently relying on the iberality of that public, whose welfare and happiness so intimately depended upon the diminution of crime. Several other resoliaiiihs were proposed, and Mr. Allen of the Society af Friends, u benevolent moo, who has visited all the prisons on the Commein as well as those its his own country, stave All interesting account of the state of the dif ferent gaols. lie desceihed the honesty of the Swedes to be so great, that a mail may tease his 11111 l iey to the public roads, sad the people would pass it by. An old at/Wall was gaoler, he said, tie a past of Nora ay. The resolutions were 4Lreed to unanimously, and the meetingeeparateil, after a soloseripell/li had been made. COMMUN . COUATIL. A Court of Continuo Council was on Friday convened for the purpose of considering the prom% ay of petition mg the House of Commons to institute an immediate inquiry into the state of the representation of the pen pie in that house ; and to take such measures as iniglll lead to an tifeetual and constitutional reform of those :Abuses which might be found to exist, as the best means of allaying the present discontents, and securing the rights of the people, the stability of the Governllloll, and the prosperity of the country. The LORD MAYOR having stated that he received a requisition capito l upon huu to summon a special Court to consider iris subject, the requisition was read. Air. FAVEL then requested that the minutes of the 28111 Noe( oilier, 1816, 20th I)eceniber, 1816, and 23i1 Jauu•lry, 1817, relating to addresses to the throne aim petitions 111P:1(11Rnlelll 011 the subject of reform, [bigot he read, and commenced a long speech I.y assuring the Court, that his object wa% not to raise any frivolous or vexatious objections, but to discuss the important ques tion for %%limit they had assembled Stilly, fairly, and candidly. It was was th , first time it had been disc•us.t ti independrii ly 01 any tither subject, and he hoped dui attention would hr paid to it. I)tiring a hung life In had been the humble advocate of toe pit elides he tam wished to mateitain, Slid he could state witi.oto the slightest fear of contradiction, that be had meter wished to urge reform upon auy 1)611(.11,1es inconsistent with the cousin litioll, and had never Cl:sited the adoption on hasty or violent measures. lie consideren the pies. n• tittle 111 l has towable to the di•cussu a o inn dos suture' ; the countly 0 - d, w a slate of pronounol peace, and 111 , Mil/V(1111R it would be thrown in tin way of a lain in vestigation. piniciple winch he 5%55 pLculuari) anxi ous to c uf,,re e nos, that the 0.14,-111.11.011111 111 - VtOple was had, aim that .1 tirspil it• inner 'mg.,' ti e created, so as to crush lite i.o%Vt'r 01 lilt! pt . 111):C without any very material cliaiiBe Ili t h e entostitintion. lie maintained that the represeintatioil of the people Could not be tonsidciLd as being, at all ad. quatc, either THE NATIONAL REGISTER as it regarded population or property. With respect to the first point, pepulation, it was a fact so well known, as to render it unnecessary for him to dilate norm it, that front 1702 to 1817, comprising a period of less than 120 years, the population had nearly doubled. It was pl.in, therefore, that, as to population, the representa tion was inadequate ; but the defect was much more glaring in respect to property. London, ‘Vesttnitister, and Middlesex, returned altogether right membess, and paid eighty parts of the land-tax ; Cornwall paid eight parts, and returned forly-four members to Parliament. Yorkshire and Rittlandshire were upon a par with re spect to the number of representatives, and it was a fact that Cornwall and Wiltshire alone returned as many members to Parliament as Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Middlesex, Lancashire, Warwickshire, and Somerset shim united. The whole of Scotland returned only one more member than Cornwall ; and Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and other large manufacturing districts were wholly unrepresented. The statement of these simple GAM was such ieuit In prove to an unpreju diced mind the necessity of an alteration in the state of the representation. In order the more forcibly to impress upon the Court the necessity of reform, the wor thy member quoted at considerable length the observations of Mr. Burke, Mr. Fox, Lord Chatham, Lord Bacon, and other distinguished statesmen, and concluded by moving a series of resolutions expressive of the senti ments of the Court upon iiiis subject. 11. TAYLOR seconded the resolutions. He niuch deplored the circumstance that violence had been used to bring about reform, and (cored that it had tended to alienate the minds of many who would otherwise have been favourable to the cause ; but because a few intem perate, and perhaps malicious individuals had created these disturbances, that was no argument against in quiry. Mr. JAMES opposed the resolutions. Mr. PEARSON was surprised io hear that astonishment was expressed at the violence of the :people in favour of reform. Rather than taunt them in their distress he would have yitieil their misfortinies and felt for their sufferings. The great evil was taxation. It was tax ation that paralized the agriculturist, impeded the merchant, and shut the doors of commerce against us in foreign inaikets. Mr. Wite.taras supported the resolutions. Mr. CLARK opposed extensive Parliamentary reform, but supported the resolutioiss, being always au advocate i fur inquiry. Mr. Alderman Waretiatax also spoke at great length in support of the resolutions. The great secret was the want of controul over ministers : he spoke of all the nit inners in a body: they were the saute to hint, for he had never received a farthing front any one of thesis, nor did he expect ii. (A laugh.) 11 toe cause of the dis tress was a transition front war to peace, this was the longest transit he vs er recollected, or had ever heard of. Mr. T. N. WILLIAMS rose to speak amidst cries of " Question, qUeS11011," but he persisted, and for some minutes a great confusion existed. At length Mr. Williams moved the JO, tttttttt tlll of the debate. The questiou was put, aii.l lost by a very great majority. Toe resolutions were then agreed to without a division, and a petition founded upon them ordered to be pre sented to Parliament. FROM TUESDAY :NIGHT'S GAZETTE. LORD CHAMBERLAIN'S OFFICE. MAY 23. Notice is hereby given, that his Majesty will hold a drawing room, at the Palace of Buckingham House, on Thursday, the lath of June next, at two o'clock. N.B.—Hi. Majesty is graciously pPased to dispense with ladies wPanng hoops; they will be expected, on the ensuing and future drawing rooms, to appear in court robes and lappets. scourding to the regulations laid down by her late Itlajesty at the celebration of the royal weddings. FOREIGN OFFICE, Mss 23. The King ha.; been plQased to appoint the Right lion. Sir C. Ba,•ot, G.C.8., to be his Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to his Majesty the Emperor of All the Russian. BANKRUPTS. T. and R. Ainsworth, Bolton, and P. Cort,Turton, Lancashire, whitsters. Solicitors, Messrs. Meddowcrofts, Gray's inn Square. J. Macnair and J. Atkinson, Cornhill, merchants. Sul. Mr. Latimer, Gray's Inn Square. G. Frost, Wigan, Lancashire, shopkeeper. Sol. Mr. Ellis, Chancery Lane. A. Sesard, New Sarum, Wilts, grocer. Sole. Messrs. Brun • dett and Co. Temple. W. L. Lott, Llandilo, Carmarthenshire, druggist. Sol. Mr. Thomas, _......__, R. %V. Lindop, Badnadl. Staffordshire, dealer. Sob. Messrs. Williams and White, Lincoln's Inn. G. Lower, Commercial Buildings, Mincing Lane, wine mer chant. Suds. .Messrs. Watkins ar.d Peoly, Lincoln's Inn. J. Skilbeck, Leeds, linen draper. Sols. :Messrs. Stucker and Co., !sew Boswell Court. A. Rae and W. hark, jun., proprietors of tl.e East London theatre. rol. Mr. Poole, Adam's Court. Broad ':.treet. J. Honyman, Church Street, Spitalfields, Ihi!k manufacturer. Sol. Mr James, Bucklersbury. P. Caig, Liverpool, tailor. Sol. Mr. Whetter, Castle Street, Holborn. J. Batters, Southampton, grocer. Sols. Messrs. Willis and Co., Warntoril Court, Thromorton Street. J. 11 liitelmul,Denshaw, Yorkshire, clothier. Sol. Mr. Lever, Gray's Inn. B. Ilajies, Bristol, victualler. Suls. Mews. Poole and Greenfield, Gray's Inn Square.. J. South, Coln St. Aldayns. Gloucestershire. tallow (handler. Sole. alsas,rs. Frowd and How, Serle Street, Lincoln', Inn. DI VI 0 N DS. June 17, W. Roberts, jun. Deal. merchant-17, IL Lincoln, St. James's Street, hatter-20, J. Blackburn, Witham, Essex, corn factor—l 3, It. Jordan and .1. Smith, Stratford, Essex, and J. Eve:Wield, lealeultall Street, coach proprietors-15, W. Briillll, Kerinim..turi, Sine merchant-13, W. Ainsilell, Plaistow, Es,cs„ baker-17, Carshalturt, Surrey, calico printer —IS, 'F. England, Smithfield, vintner—:6, N. Joining, Braley Death. Kent, innkeeper-3, C. Alreekeuzie, Caroline Strict, Willard Square, iticalutot-30, J. Willao, Kenswick, fanner -27, T. yowl,. Towecswr, Northampton, grocer—vu, W. Boyle Kingston spun nierehant-13, M. Putt:mon, Halifax, dyer —May .4, J. I).,vidt.on, East India Cltambets, Leadenhall Street, merchant—July 1, C. Cline, Cumarercial —l, J. Walker, :sew Sridge Street, irvirmunger. EDW4RDS, THE SPY. 171 On Monday last, the Grand Jury fur the county of Middlesex found a true bill of indictment fin High Treason against this man. The old observa tion, that " there is honour among thieves," has been verified in this instance, and Edwards, after having entrapped his victims, has been himself con veyed out of the kingdom, and placed in a situation of safety till he may be wanted again.—The follow ing correspondence between Mr. Alderman Wood and Lord Sidmouth, on this subject, will be read with much interest:— LETTER 1. FROM LORD SIDMOIU Ili TO ALDERMAY WOOD. Whitehall, April 26, SIR,--1 have to thank you for the statements of Mary Barker, Thomas Chambers, William Tunbridge. and George Picked, which you left, in my absence. in the hands of Mr. Clive. You are probably aware, from the list of wine sea which has been delivered to the prisoners now on their trial, that George Edwards. who is alluded to in those statements, is named in that list, and is liable to be called as • witness for the Crown; and there does not appear to me any sufficient ground for insti tuting any proceedings against am, Sir, your most obedient servant. bIDMOUTII. Mr. Alderman Wood, &c. LETTER 11. TO TILE RIG/IT HON. VISCOUNT SIDWOUTM. MY LORD.—Having brought the question respecting George Edwards before the !louse last evening, it is my intention to renew that question in a different form. I have received consi derable information besides those documents I left at your Lordship's office, confirming the infamous conduct of Edwards. I have, therefore, to request your Lordship will prevent Edward. frotn leaving the country, as I have been this day informed he is preparing to leave England for America.-1 have the honour to be, my Lord, your most obedient servant, May 3, 1820. M. WOOD. LETTER 111. FROM LORD SIDMOUTH TO MR. ALDERMAN WOOD. ‘Vhiteliall. May 3, 1820. Sts,-1 have received your letter of this date, in which you request me to prevent George Edwards from leaving this coun try; and in reply, I have to acquaint you, that I know of no -round, which would justify me in issuing a w.urant against Edwards, that being the only mode by which I could comply with your request.-1 have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, Mr. Alderman Wood. SIDMOUTII. LETTER IV. TO THE !WHIT HON. VISCOUNT SIHMOUTH. MT 1.01113.-1 am honoured with your Lordship's answer to my letter of yesterday,-reaptzting George Edwards, wherein you state that " you know of no ground which would justify you In issuing a warrant against him." I consider that thuse depositions which I left at your Lordship's Office. contain such charges as would fully justify your Lordship in apprehending George Edwards. Perhaps your Lordship's objections are, that they are not sworn ; if so, I beg to inform you, that the parties were in attendance at your Lordship's Office, to give evidence, and-were ready to be sworu to their suuernents, and are now ready, at an hour's notice, to attend your Lordship. I have also ot b oT evi dence to produce. I remain your Lordship's most obedient bumble servant, M. WOOD. 77, South Audley Street, May 4, 1820. LETTER V. FROM LORD SIDMOUTU TO MR. ALDICIMAIR WOOD. Whitehall, May •, MO: SIR,-1 have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day's date, in which I see nj ground :Or altering the opinion communicated to you in my tormer letters.—l have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, SIDMOUTII. Mr. Alderman Wood, 77, South Audley Stmt. DOCUMENTS ALLUDED TO IN LETTER I. Mary Barker sworn.-1 am daughter of Richard Tidd sOrne time previous to the 23d of February, two bundla of sticks (pile handles), some grenades, some powder and ball in a haversack, were brought to my father's lodgings (where I also reside) :aid left there. I did not know the articles were grenades at that time. The powder. grenades, and ball, were left by Edwards, with a promise of calling again for them in a short time. the large grenade, about l 2 or pounds weight, was brought by Adams. Edwards, some days afterwards, called for the grenades; I was at home; he said, "Give me those things; I will take theta and get them finished." lie took them with him, and subse quently brought them back in a finished state. Edwards called again, early on the morning of the :11. and wok away the balls and the grenades. He celled again about three o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, and took with him part of the powder. A box, strongly corded, was left by a man I do not know, never having, to any recollection, seen hiin lieWre or since. Some pike staffs were brought by a man, who said that Edwards desired him to leave them. Two brindles in brown paper were left; one by Edwards. and the other by Adams. About a week prior to the 23d, Edwards came and took them away. (Signed) MARY BAR Ell. LThe next document is that of James Chambers, W. Tun bridge, and G. Pickard, the contents of which were mentioned in the speech of Alderman Wood, in the House of Commons.' Edwards, it is said, has left this isnintry fur New Brunswick. If so, the reward of 1001. offered for taking him into custody, will be unavailing. A trial was made on Tuesday at the brewery of (Messrs. Barclay anti Co. of Mr. Josiah Parke's invcn. tion for the consumption of smoke in steam-engine, and other furnaces. The application bad been made in the short space of five days, to three distinct boilers, and we have the pleasure to say that it completely succeeded, to the entire sat islaciion of the respectable proprietors, and to that of Mr. M. A. Taylor, who has brought the matter before the I louse of Commons, with the view of rescuing the Metropolis from the intolerable nuisances of 'mac rising from the numerous furnaces. There were also present the Earl of Itossivn, the Earl of Hare veGotl, Mr. K. Finlay, Mr. Peplos, Mr. Monteith, Provost of Glasgow, Mr. S. Turner, Mr. Tanercd, and others, who all expressed their perfect conviction. that by this easy, cheap, an.l certain means, all the evils complained of, by the esta.iishmetut of 111:11111• actor' requiring furnaces, may be removed. On the I Ith instant a dreadful storm mt./taro. the town and neighlavurlawd of Ti.c said to be incalculabic.