The National Register. — London, England, 1819-03-07 00:00:00

I!! ARCH 1. and h as anxiously e ndeavoured to make provimons for those which might arise. If I may be allowed to apply the term, I think that the remedy tier such evil , has bean threstalled by the Legislature. There is one thing, however, whieli in viewing the subject is of the last im port/nee, and which in the regulation of prisons should be considered as a duty we owe to mankind—that tbit especial care should be taken to separate - virtue from vice and that those who are muff, ring under the lash of the law shoul d not be mixed with - those who may be perfectly iunocent, or at 'emit whose guilt has not been proved. Ido not mean to imply that those who have been pronounced ctiminal should be visited with more than wholesome severity, or be made more wretched than they are ;. (God forbid !) but it is the in dispeneahle duty of the Magistracy to see that the good le separated from t e bad. That the Legislature con templated this, there can be no dunbt. $u long ago as he 3:d Geo. 11. orders were given to Grand Juries, to tenvire into the State of Gaols, and particularly in the Islt:tropelis and great cities. Persons confined for debt were the peculiar objects of this Act. The great statute, However, which eml raced the E iquir into the State of*County (aids was the 21. th of the King, 1784. This Act laid down in the cleanest manner the principle of elaesification with respect to prisoners, empowering Magistrates to see, and Grand Juries to enquire, whe ther a proper sep,ration was made of the prisoners who had been tried min those who were untried—of those who were convie.ted of very bad crimes from others misdemeanors only—and, above all, of the indis7ensuble s eparation of male from female prisoners I do not perceive that at this time there was any regard to the chiseilication of v isoners as t • age. Of the se paration dint:of :. from matured delinquency. Es pecial car', . owever. , cetus to have heen taken with re. grrd to rat . ~ • o.arly as to the prevention of tip line in prisot , • -Lilt it later stain,' than this, and which • male a c ee, o , le noise ill the country, was passed by the Legisl iture, in order to the imoroeement of gaols eed the cone,' t and aeiel rati .0 p isomers. Vais was the :31st Geo I I woer.: chapter 46, it was s7i.;e Li gaols b e t a k en into eee _ s:deration at the Sessi o: As mid that visiting! Ma, ; ier te.•; s.tnuil b - ..v am were pericularly ; sequi rel w era eine i.O , the e:a • diem of the eri sours to a mines a eanli. s a nd t o -.ince, ita. in fait, to ....ciao possibh: the co of r. . of tl.e Yon tv.ll no d ioUt 0 se, p:i , e 1, Gen tlemen, titer hese views at-ii pn..caations ol* the 1,2- - Olature, that evils . slmuld still evest and that the state of prisons slemio at present eng-ags so much of th: lie ca•eation. That eves do exist there can be no nimbi and you have a strong instance in your own County Gaol. I know tat in many respects great blame is at tachithie to the keeper of prisons, but I do not mean by this to make a reflection upon the Gaoler of this Coun ty ; the contrary, from all I know and le rn, he is a most rospectable individual, and most hu ane and effi cient in his situation. If the classification, therefige, which has been pointed tett by the Legislature, has not been attended to in your prison, either from its con struction or want of room, from its crotvdeit state, that is not the fault of the keeper. But by attention to the Act I have last cited, the evil migit hove been remedied, for in the 11 tit section, the visiting Magistrates are bound to point out the state of the Gaols, and particu larly the non-classification ut prisoners, from want of means or othur canoes. This should be done from one Session or Assize to another, until the evil be removed As to employing prisoners, that is a subject which at taches itself more to.persmis wlee are tent to the Haase of Cor rection. , It is not so attended to in County Gaols, but still Magistrates have tae power, and there is a provision for them, to cause prisoners .o work if they please. There is a great evil immediately flowing from this non-attention to the employment and classification of the prisoners, nail that is, that if 11 person, at the ex piration of his imprisonment, be turned adrift without rooney, end perliart without clothes, there is every pro- LaLility that he will return to vice and his former bud habits By the Ittli Fection of the Act mentiened, the Magistrates are provided with power of inepectil„; prisons, in such a way Os to obtain a ciimpieto know of th e coaduct of its inmates, and to report to the Juries of Assize tiny individnal, whose behaviour may derircd w,:rtlty anotice. A prisoner thes reported, rit•ty have his punishment cum:tutted. and may go forth Eros: impri •inincilt. I have heard of ninny instances, an; have hia.vn some myself, where persons who had eemilictol themselves lrc pe7•ly, li.we beta employ ed in prisons, thus ring fertle a n d who hare after w,irtla conducted tin:lost:lves well in society. On the certrary, I have known e erems who lied bten turned adrift, :.s in the former instance, haring sewn returned again to tie very prison ;tom wlii:11 they :lad been dis charged. The most imror:ant olject, however, of all, is the regulation of prisons, in IA:. opinion is, the culti vation of rclicion a.n.i morality. The attenclacce of the tlereiiire, for this purpose, is indispeesuble, although Clotplains are appt inter' to tlis soveral gaols, tiny are not sufficiently relic:re:rated to-enable them to perform the duty which is so essentially required.— This is! matter which must depend almost entirely on the liberality of the ceentry, and w %arch, for its own KATIONAL itr:GTST t. safety awl character, it should not he slow in exercising Parsimony on sash a subject w be alato•t disgrace ful. Chaplains, it is true. as I before said, are appoint ed to the prisons, and under the 51st and 54th of the Kin, salaries are affixed to the office. I mention this to atew you that the Legislatore has not been unmind ful even of.theec things, but still the allowances which the Clergy receive for their attendance, is entirely too small. They ghcnld be so enumerated, as not only to perform the ordinary offices of the Lord's Day (for this is not enough), but to pay almost constant attention to the situation of the prison. and to the diffusion of mora lity and religion. You will. I trust, see at once, Gentle. men, the object I have in view in addressing you upon these points, not as Grand Jurors of the county of Here. ford merely, but because I think they are well-deserv ing your attention as an inquest, whose collective and Indivilual labours may be productive of general good throughout the country. If reformation sud improve. meat, therefore can be effected, I am sure you will give your hest attention to the subject, and I beg you will make such enquiries into the matter, before you sepa rate, as will lead to facilitate the desired object. You will point out whatever evil you may perceive in the gaol, and its management, and where the primps.' fitult exists; whether as to want of room, proper classifica tion, or any other case. When you make these enqui ries, Gentlemen, and make known to mt• the result sug gesting at the same time any thing which in your wisdom you should think fit to be done, I will take care to re port the thin , ., and to obtain the assistance of my kern el Brother (Bayley), who will with me, I urn sure, join most heartily in seconding your views for the accotn. plishment of the great objects to which I have thus at such length awakened your attention. With these ob servations, Gentlemen, I now dismiss you, in order to the performance of your high and important duties." POLICE. GUILDHALL. ROBBERY •T Bartholomew Brough. ton, an officer in his Majesty's navy, and the son of a solicitor of great respectability, was brought b?fore the -itting Magistrate, Mr. Alderman Cox, charged with felony, under circumstances of very strong•sospicinn. The prisoner was taken into custody yesterday week, and I:r.)ngnt before Mr. Alderman Ileygate, the then • • s , ig NlagiArate, on Saturday last, who, on appli,a tion to 'ciao fur that purpos., thought proper to grant a private hearing, from which our reporter was of course ci d . The prisoner wss then remanded, and on his ukiin tieing brought up under very suspic ous circum stuoces dischx,ed at the previous examination, refused by the worthy Aldermen. We .shall risk; no comment on the oppoe . ..m conduct adopted by the two Ailagistrates ; but laying before our readers the evidence which has been produced, .enable hem to form their own judgment how fur the puhlie interest required that the particulars of this case should be kept secret. From the testimony of Mrs. I omas, the wife of Mr. berme:, who keeps the White Horse Inn, Fetter Lane, and that of Henry Taylor the waiter at that Inn, it appears d, that the prisoner came to that house a few drys bethre hristmas d Ay, and desired to have a bed, as he was going off early the next morning by the Cambridge coech; lie was itecommixlated acceirdingly, and on being shown to his room, ordered the waiter to call him at five o'clock in the morning. The prisoner was called as he desired by five o'clock, and after dis cher4ing his bill, left the inn before any other of the inmates were up, and without waiting for the Cam bridge coach. When the other persons who lodged in the house got up, it was discovered that two gentle men had been robbed during the night, the one of his the prisoner, with regard to whom little or no suspicion was excited, his appearance and manners bespeaking the watch, and the other of his cash and Bank notes. No e ther strangers had slept in the Liu that night except gentleman. On the night of the last day of the ola year, the pri soner came again to the White Horse, requested a bed, anal desired to be called up early as her:ore.: previous, however, to his going to bed, Taylor (the waiter), who had been to one of the theatres, came home, end on going into the co:lee-room reemmized the prisoner as the gentleman who had slept there on the night of the r(v)b- . .r.7. This was mentioned to Mrs. Lomas, but no particular precaution wail taken in mist !deuce, as it was quite impossible to suspect a gentleman of his ap peal once thr a thief. The prisoner, therefore was ct nice, paid his bill, and lef. the Liu as early as at his previous visit. A t breakfast time it was gain discovered that two gentlemen who slept in the house had been robbed us before. Oa Tuesday, the 16th iast. the prigatcr paid a si milar visit to the Swan witu Two necks, in Lad Lane; he went there about twelve °cloak, said he was going Of by an early coach ; was called at twelve W e lnek by by Lis own desire, and oiler pa . ing his bill, left as he had dude at the White Horse, without waiting for any coach. About ten o'cock, a Mr. Smith, who had slept 'in the house came down, and complai-cal of haring becu rubbed of six or soca pc - ,10,L, a-ad at 11 o'clock two other gentlemen, inmates in the house, discovered` that they had also been robbed Of property of between. ZlOOl and 4001. value. Mr. Kingsford, the landlord of Kiugsford, the landlord of the Swan with Two u.14. - mod fur the character and reputation of his house, immediately offered a reward fisr the discovery of the thief; hand bills were printed and circulated, and every means used for his detection and apprehension, but without success, till yesterday week, when the • prisoner paid a third visit to the White Horse Itrn ; !here his person being again recognised, and the rob bery at the Swan with Two Necks, being also known.. Mr. Kingsford wus sent for, who, on his arrival, knew the prisoner as the person who had slept at his house when the property was stolen, as before mentioned, and. caused him to be taken into custody. The prisoner, on his first examination, sated who, and what he was, and gave his address No. 61, Warren Street, Fitzroy Square ; he admitted having slept at Mr. Kingsford's, and also at the White Horse once, but denied having slept at the latter place before Christmas, as stat ed by the evidence, a-id expressed much indignation at being taken for a thief. At the second examination, Leadbeater, the my. , shalman, who had seanhed the !prisoner's lodBiugt, produced two watches, one found on his person, and the of er on that of his wife; a 11. pound note and a few shillings were all the money they had. The pri soner and his wife had lived in Warren Street three. weeks, in furnished lodgings, at one guinea and a half per week. Mr. Brown, the city marshal. who has been extremely active in this business, stated that two of the notes stolen had been paid at the Bank, and ho had reason to believe he should be able to trace them to the prisoner; he had also hopes of procuring a watch which the prisoner had disposed of since he slept at the White- Rose Inn. At this hearing, the priso•ier begged earnestly to be allowed to give bail, and urged that sufficient time had been allowed to thy partits to bring forward evidence, if they had any, which ne was suae they had not. Her was then remanded to Thursday; when, on his being brought up, Mr. Brown said, he had obtained the watch mentioned; but that neither the person from whom it was stolen, nor the watch maker who received it frotn the prisoner, were in attendance to identify either the property, or his person. The prisoner was, therefore, with the assent of Mr. Harmer, his solicitor, remanded. TIM LAW'S DISPILTCH.-012 Tuesday a young man named Mitchel, a notorious character, who had been discharged only the preceding day from prison, war. brought up before the Surrey Magistrates, it Unior hall, charged with having robbed, on the over night, a Mrs. Davies, of a gown and some articles of wearing apparel. The charge being proved, he was immedi ately fully committed for trial at the Surrey Sessions; a bill of indictment was, preferred the same morning before the Grand Jury; a true biil was found ; Mitchel was put on his trial by two o'clock, and before three he was convicted and sentenced to seven years transporta tion. Tuesday, a Mreting was held at the City of London Tavern; Lard Gambier in the Chair, to take into eon. sideration the very deep distress at present prevailing among theinhabitants of the Stilly Islands. The Meet.. ing was numerous and highly repertable. Certain re• lutions were adopted; a Committee formed, and sub saiptions entered ir.to for the sufferers. The number of Electors who voted on the recent Westminster Election were .8363, and the ntljority obtained over Mr. Hubhouse by Mr. Lamb was 604. The polling on the last day wu nearly equal, Mr. Hobhouse having only a majority on the day's poll of 4. There were upwards of 6000 electors wno did not vote. La Fontaine, though celebrated for the genuine wit of his tales, was in aprarance so stupid, that a Lady, who protected him, used to say, that " whatever forms she might make in her household, she would never part with her three favourite brutcs—her dog, her cat, and her poet." At the Opera on Saturday week just when the overthre vras commenced, the whole of the gas-lights went out, and the house, was left in "darkness visible . ' for uliciet tire minutes. It is at length determines, thnt• a Commigmion of Oyer and Terminer. and Genetal Gaol Daivery, issue in'o the titur Northen Counties; and Mr. 'Law, the King's Council, is to preside on the occasion. Tl4e Morning Herald says—.‘ We understand. that Col. I-lay has been honourably nsvitted by the Court Martif.l who trial Iti:n : and that the offiviil annuncia. tion of the result will be made front the office of the Commander-in-Chief in a few days." Letters have been received from Culls to the 13th, and front Math-id to the 22a ult. The Spanish Government, finding that the new system of raising money, by increasing the Duties on Imports at Ckulis, Carthagenia, and other places, has been attended with scarcely any success, a Decree has just been issued, taking off these duties, and placing the trade en the foxing on which it stood a short tine buck ••••