The National Register. — London, England, 1819-10-11 00:00:00

234 4-.14: 7 • .4) - - - IV /HS EDITOR. —.11 0 0 " Salt; feel exceedingly . unwilling to obtrude myself ' • upon the public, and quite as much est, to occupy, unprofitably, the columns of thy paper, in which the • cause ot the labouring poor has been so much more ably advocated ; yet I may be permitted to add to my former communications a few .hints, which thou wilt either give, as c oning from me, or if thou more approve of that mode, incorporate them. in thy genegal remarks eipoit this mast interesting snbject. Passing events convince me that " delays are (inge • loos," anti my regard for that old,•but true adage, induces one to state, that duty, as well as policy, calls open every matt, who has tither mind or money, to use his infliteuce • for the assistance of those.Wllo4C situation and circum stances demand it. There are many who are now, most deservedly, mow: .ing in the higher walks of life, who will easily call to their recollection, that either thentaelves, or their pre . &crows, %vete indebted to industrious exertions, sup ported by the blessings of Providence, 'lsm honest in tention, for the elevation to which they have attained ; and lie who can lay his hand upon his heart, and claim such an origin, has indeed a title to greatness, which 'Nobility itself may how to with respect. Impressed with this belief, anti most anxious that • soy suffering fellow men, wherever Mond, may have that aid to which patient, but tuisuccessful exertion, is at all times entitled, I again call upon the men of in • finence, and of information, to lay aside prejudice, and ascertain for themselve s , whether great distress does, or does not prevail, amongst the labouring classes..of the community Their report would be a boon to the country : for ruch is the present state of extreme agitation, that what . appears in the public papers, reiterated and uncontra . dieted, must necessarily contribute to increase that and augment that turbulence,- and dispositiou to . complain, which peculioely marks every succeeding large assemblage of the people. To ascertain how far these be labour well bestowed, and would greatly tend to lessen the public anxiety. It -is tin uncommon remark, that those who are loudest in their complaints, are not the people who are really suffering.. Be it so : the complaints of the suflerers :themselves have come before the public, in every possi ble shape, .and in language-at once temperate, but firm and respectful : and what has so far resulted from these appeals of. wretchedness? Has not the same listless apathy left the matter to chance, and the complainants to distress and disappointment? Shall we then condemn that sympatlietie ,feeling, which adds dignity to the human character, and impels every individual of the .great family, to espouse the general cause ? and thus ,an ebullition is every where seen, unheard of at any former period. Lst the wound be probed, and ascertain its malig nity : the cure is neither doubtful nor distant, if pro berly set about. The private concerns of every matt of usiness require arrangement, forecast, and unceasing attention, if he is either to be successful or comfonable; how much more must the great Manufacturing System require the united wisdom and experience of those who are the main springs of the great machine : if its operations are to proceed with vigour, every subordinate part of it must be preserved, fit for the discharge of its relative functions. 1t is by this vigilance, and faithful discharge of duty, that the prevailing dissatisfaction is to he removed, and the thousands who meet to complain, be converted into groups of approving and peaceful subjects. Theo, indeed, will the country resume its wonted cheerfulness; and whilst plenty rewards the toil of libour, the distinguish ing mark will bee—gratitude in the people. Another common objection to any public enquiry into the prevailing .distresses and dissatisfaction is, that it will be Mid hold of as a.matter of triumph on the part of the disaffected, and that concession, tinder these cis cumstancts, will increase the evil. This is may oppos • ing one opinion to another; and as we see what neglect and inattention has done, it would he a mark of wisdom, ~got least, to give enquiry a Mir chance, and see what may -sesult from that. have employed my feeble exertions to muse my felhow men to efforts suited to the exigencies of the snotiteat, that the spectre of which we are in fear, .lupy he brought before us in its just proportions :- 7and, if it should be found that we have conjured up 'horrors which do not exist, the country will had the intellmence with joy, and deservedly 4pplaud the spirit and determination which has led to the discovery. .Hut, ii it should be found that, the measure of sofferiug s onority •the labouring poor has been gradually on the increase, fur a series of years, and that it has at length reached a point almost„Leyond endurance,' let us not lose one moment, but nay our most strenuous exertions to introduce another and better order of things. Let it not be said, THAT SOW concession would betray weak ness--call forth Justice and Mercy : and if to permit theii influence be concessioti, then ktooticession become Cite order of time day, until we have subdued the prevail - Lug disconteuts, by removing the heavy butthei.s, and Jetting the oppress al go free. I son convinced that, though it may be at variance with our most reputed theories of political economy, yet that the experiment of giving 10 labour a value, which a series of thoughtless and oppreestee exactions hire taken away from it, murk to :be made; and if, in imitation of Bi iiii iughain, Sheffield, amid some other of our great manufacturing towns where Chambers of Commerce, or Boards of Trade do exist, similar as sociatious were formed, of the lea ding and most respect able men, and that their avowed object should be, tint only the general protection of trade, but, most deter minedly to secure to the o p erat i ves , a fair and adequate 'enumeration fur their labour„untier all the vaiying cir €l.lllljl4lleCi that necessity or caprice rosy bring about, cue the . labourer would know wher e t o r e e k protec . &tad tql.unist go aiancious atop uufeeling wester, who THE'N'`ATIO'NNAL 'REGISTER. might attempt to sake silvan age of his poverty, and Mier any other than the general and approxed prices of the day. No one wi11,.1 think, assert, or can seriously he .heve that the present depressed price of labmir is either essential to the commanding place we hold, as a great Manufacturing and Commercial Cottinium,ty, *or at all conducive to the general interests which are to be sus tained by it. After every thins which-can be done in this way has been attempted, I sot decidedfy of the opinion, that until a considerable portion of tile labour is taken out of the market, and - some profitable. activity is given to it, the superabundance will perpetually have the effect of deranging any such plans as have been pointed out ; and, therefore, the Waste and Crown Lands, under the sanction of Government, must be re sorted to. And if the Agricultural Interest-should take the al am, the cultivation of these lands migln, to a great extent., be employed in the growth of- flax, the practicability of whichlias been most satisfactorily proved by an experiment upon the waste of Dartmoor, MI the part of a highly respectable and philanthropic character, wim has a large track of land there. He is decidedly convinced, that Amon the waste land of this Island, siiiiicient-flax might be grown to render the importation of German and Russia linen almost entirely superfluous, and, of course, give employment is manufacturing, to a large body of our population. it has been confidently stated, that within the last twenty years, at least 120,000 small farms have been broken up, and converted into large ones; by this inea sure, upon a moderate computation, (100,041) persons have been deprived of their accusiotned means of ob taining a livelihood, and .have been driven into the manufacturing, .and other districts, to seek bread there. If to thii mournful catalogue we add the immense numbers ,who hate, since the emielusion of the war, been also turned upon society for a maintenance, we shall not wonder at the superabundance of labour, which is on all hands pressing for employment. It is also well known, that the mercantile, maim factoring, and labo * g interests have, for a series of years, been mane to partake of the general calamities with which the country•has been visited, to an extreme degree, whilst the landed interests, having the special protection of the Legislature, hate been sheltered from a participation in the public burdens, as is clearly and satisfactorily shewn, by the co i ent reasoning, anti most. interesting calculations, addressed to the Chairman of the Committee on the. Poor Laws, by a writer who de servedly assumed the name of a Briton ! Situated as the country is, our grand object is ter rally round the Constitution, as handed 4045 II 10 its by our forefathers. To restore its vigour and usefulness, and preserve the stake we individually lay claim to, every man is called tipou, in the present emergency, to sacri fice to the common cause, in ptoportiott to the value and importance of that stake to himself and his family; and if we thus contribute to the general aid, from the highest to the lowest tank amongst us, the end will be accomplished, and we may again coete to feel that hap- Viten and independence are yet to be found in Old ngland. Only let a well organised plan he brought forward, and the public attention seriously and weightily called to it, and I am confident that the united wisdom and patriotism of the country would devise means of relief. The really distressed would he assisted ; and those whose object is not Reform, but Revolution, would be punished as the laws direst, and their character held up to general execration.— I beg to subscribe myself thy obliged friend, DAvto BOLT. 'Caertion-Cattage, Manchester, Sep. 28. PRISON REGULATIONS. Mr. George Boulton Mainwaring, one of the Magistrates for the County of Middlesex, has ad dressed a Letter to the Chairman of the Magistrates for that County. We cannot•write the name with out painful recollections of his father's conduct before his dismissal from office ; nor do we forget that his son had some unpleasant traits id his public character ; as all, however, are open to amendment, we charitably hope this gentleman has felt its influence ; at all events, as we judge of doct.ments on their own merits, without allowing ourselves to be biassed, either way, by the signatures appended to them, and as we consider this a useful sensible letter, we proceed to enable our readers to judge of it. i•IY DEAR SIR,—I venture to trouble you upon a sub ject which has for sonic time most seriously engaged any attention ; and 1 do so with the more confidence, from the conviction that your opinion is somewhat in unison with my own, and that the sanction of your auttiority and co-operation will go very far indeed towards effect ing au oqject, in which the interests of the county of Middlesex are essentially co.icerned. 1 allude to the state ofour prison discipline, and more especially to that of the House of Correction. flie deur 111 l i i lotion of this, and of siu,ilor receptacles, most emphatically expresses the object or their institu tion—that it was to ',mush and to reform. Of the expediency and the duty of carrying this, the intention of their founders and of the Legislature into effect, there.can be no dotthi ; bit 1 fear that there exists much doubt upon the means of doing so, and the slow progress which has been hitherto niade in a:iy elketwil s!, stem of primal discipline Is but a too decided cothirlllJ -11011 of this fact ; however, when we consider the subject in iu consequences to the public, and its lasting 1111- port:nice to the individuals concerned, 1 mist that one common minion:tit will prevail as to the objt et in sicw, and that as far as talent and ex.•rono Citit avail, we may depend upon the individual and collective zeal of the uosistrdey iu their aiiilicittiun. OUT. I have been led to the /beeping reflections, from Ote confident persuasion, that Al oe prison under consid et i t i nn is not apace either of punishment or reform ; that it excites no terror or apprehension of its discipline ; and that it has consequently little influence in • preventing crime ; nor has it, 10 its actual oration,op any tendency to reform the criminal ; 1 also fear that it has a more positive evil than this, and that it aggravates the tins chief which it attempts to remedy. -in the general intercourse of society, the most aban doned may have the chance of virtuous relatives or friends to withdraw them from their criminal career;— but, in a place where the whole - society is vicious, and where the most corrupt, from idleness and communica tion, have the uninterrupted means, from morning till night, of more deeply infecting those comparatively pure, it is absurd to look for punishment, or to calculate upon reformation. From my intimate acquaintance and friendship with the magistrates who visit this prison, I know that they are fully sensible of these evils, and that they most anxiously wiih ictiiemedy them. I am aware that criminal of the metropolis is, in many respects, of a different character from one of any other place in the kingdom ; that he is possibly the offspring of crime-- trained and disciplined in its pursuit, and that 'Amulet is his profession ; and it may be said, that his reforma. tiun is impracticable—that he must return to his former associates and calling; without friends, without money or character, iwhither, or to whom, can he go? Discouraging as this view may be, are there not fa vourable circumstances, even in the cases of these delin quents ? •In distant parts of the kingskitn, where popu lation is scattered, cr i ttt inals have not (as with us) the same ineatis of unobserved association, their temptations are fewer, facilities less, escape more difficult. In these situations, therefore, where adventitions and external circumstances are less liable to act, it is reasonable to conclude, that the sins of a culprit are more exclusively his own : if, then, in prisons, to which lie is consigned, we find that his heart and life can acgoire a new direc tion (as experience begins to teach us it may), are we in this county to despair? With us, large as is the cata logue of offenders, the mmiber of those must be great, whose vices were not originally their own ; and may we not hope, that in many, seeds may have been sown, that. with care and culture will yet quicken into virtuous life. • From this description of persons there is, undoubtedly, ground fur hope ; but I further contend, that with the worst, tinder an efficacious system, mere is a probabi lity of amendment. " Idleness," we are told, " is the root of all evil.' Speaking-of its force upon criminal habits, we may truly say, that it is the Consequen-ze, as well as the source of crone. The feverish life of a criminal so debilitates and impairs body and mind, that he becomes idle almost against his will, and unable to follow ap the better re. solutions of a transient remorse ; therefore, the sorest means of his reformation, will be found in giving him a habit (a mechanical habit) of industry, and in reprodu cing energies which hare been lost by crime and debau chery. I might 'here, I think, safely leave this subject; but if I am asked in what manner I would produce this habit, I say, by hard labour, and that that labour is the best which is the most active—labour, which shall really work the body and subdue (properly discipline) the mind : and considering (as we must at first do) the ob jects of our attention to the unwilling agents, we should place them in a situation, where, however unwilling, they nest (whilst employed) be working. For this purpose, of all the labour that I have seen or heard of, as a primary means of industry, as well as an actual (punishment, the stepping-mill work is the most desira ble. I have recently hail an opportunity of observing its efficacy in the gaol at Bury, which at the same time that it shows a prison combining punishment and re form, exhibits a thriving and cheerful manufactory, where there is not an inmate, without an entire, or an useful and profitable occupation. Subsidiary eini.loy mons will soon be found, when the first praiciple of labour is understood, end its effects are proved-. and in the prison just mentioned, the 'intervals between th.s severe task of mill duty are cheecully occupied iu lighter works, suited to the taste, inclinations, and former ha bits of prisoners. It may s ill be observed, that this is compulsion—that when the powers ceases, its effee s will be lost ; and when upon deliberation, free ageney returns, former propensities will return with it: I an swer with sonic confidence, that this has been the case to a very limited extent where an effective prison disci pline has been adopted; and I apprehend that reasoning and analogy from the nature and constitution of man will confirm -such a result. Man, especially in the laborious classes of society, is, and eliould be, mechanical in his habits ; it; therefine, ha bits he given him, from which lie acquires health, strength, peace of mind, and the honest meatus of support, timely it is not beyond probability, that many, even the worst of men, may pull' by the acquisition of such habits. Even should it be thought, that the term of some imprisonments is too shot I to effect a radical improvement, still the sys tPIII is good; and we may in such east's infer romparaloes inn cence, and consequently comparative amendment. The concurrent influence of solitary confinement, (if necessary ),aud of spicitssal admonition and guidance, most also,.when rightly suit earnestly directed, imam fully aid the course of personal correction. In emit:avoiding to remove the reasonable grounds of doubt to *which I have adverted, I have throughout been sensible of the•expense of an effectual change of system, and of the fin Mailable objection to a Inch it may give the benefit of climige, it may be asserted, is rowel tam ; the expense cei tail,. This observation is applicable to almost all eases in %hie', money is necessary to improve- ment, mid would at once produce it : but the right coast• iteration is, whether, according so common reasoning, and from actual experience, the Chollar be like') to succeed: the former I have been set ivlug to enforce ; to the latter, facts will speak, and the es:eerniteins of other places a ill, I think, satisfy our scruple's, and direct us to du our duty. The first extreme stay he considerable, the labour may not pay itself, the amnia expenditure may for a time he