SSamDav/icdar-htr-competition-2015 huggingface dataset:
Would Your Lordship have supposed it? - It is

upon the very merits _ the acknowledged or at any

rate the alledged merits, of the Penitentiary system,

in these its less perfect forms, that the hostility

to it in its more perfect form has grounded itself.

So well has the system succeeded in this and

that Count Country, that for that very reason there

is to be none for England: so well has it suc-

-ceeded upon a small scale, that it is not to

be suffered to shew itself upon a large one : _

so well have the existing prisons succeeded at

an enormous rate of expence, that for that

very reason a still better prison is not to

be suffered to be built at a tenth a fifteenth

or a twentieth part of that expence. So peremptory

was the determination to cover the country with

prisons unthought of by Parliament, that

it is for that very reason it was determined not

to have the one prison, that had so long ago and

so repeatedly been prescribed by Parliament. _

The conclusion made by the patrons pa-

-trons and organizers of the most improved of

all these improved prisons has been somewhat

different. Yes, my Lord: It is among the most dis-

-tinguished of its rivals, that the Panopticon plan

has ever found the most cordial of its well-wishers _

the most generous of its supporters. _

Persons

scale

21

Letter 3d
12

I. Conduct of the Governor towards Expirees, principally in relation

to their liberty of departure, before the month of August 1792: being

the time at which the intelligence was received, of the Instructions

subjecting it to his will and pleasure.

No. 1 (p. 74) July 1789. The situation in which Expirees in

general now found themselves placed has been already stated.

By one individual in particular, an experimental proof of the

nature of the situation was at this same time received. The

only evidence by which the Governor's right to confine any body

in New South Wales could be established not being forth-

-coming, a man in whose instance there was no doubt but

that his time of punishment was expired, claimed his liberty.

For the course of his argument, having used some words which

though not mentioned were deemed "disrespectful to the

"Lieutenant Governor", he was punished with six hundred lashes,

and kept in irons for six months. A very instructive example

certainly: it showed more what was to be got by talking about rights.

No. 2 (p. 130) August 1790. Another freeman trying to quit the

Colony punished "for taking a very improper mode". The act itself

consisted in the exercise of that liberty which the law of the land

had saved to him, and which no man alive had any right so

much as to pretend to give him leave to exercise. The impropriety

of the mode consisted in the not asking leave, at the risk of

receiving six hundred lashes and wearing irons for six months.

Mode of punishment of course flogging though not mentioned:

number of lashes not mentioned. This freeman "was punished to-

-"gether with a Convict" (bondsman) who had made a like attempt

in the same ship at the same time. As far as can be judged,

right or no right made no sort of difference.

No. 3.
25. _ The Police-Offices to be open for business from

nine, in the morning, till nine, at night.

26. _ The present number of Runners, or Constables,

to the Police-Offices, are very insufficient.

27. _ No soldier should ever appear in the streets with:

:out his uniform.

28. _ The penalty on forfeiture of recognizances, in

case of non-prosecution, should be considerably

increased, and the payment thereof be enforced.

29. _ The Expences allowed to Prosecutors & Witnesses

from distant parts, are not sufficiently liberal; on

which account many Delinquents evade justice.

30. _ A Barrister and sufficient number of Atornies

should be appointed to prosecute for the Crown, in

criminal cases; and to conduct indictments for

such persons as are too poor to undertake them

on their own account.

31. _ The City of London ought to build a House

of Correction; where all the London-Prisoners, who

under

are sentence of temporary imprisonment, should

be kept and compelled to work. No prisoners, under

fines, or temporary confinement, should be permitted

to remain in Newgate, or the Compters, after sen:

:tence has been once passed.

32. _ Executions are of no utility, either for punishing

or deterring: _ if, however, they must be inflicted,

they should be done, as speedily as possible, after

passing sentence. Solitary confinement & labour
4

Of Theft or Stealing.

a handful of Black-berries or Hedge-nuts in a country where it

is not customary for the occupier of the land to make a profit

by such Articles; or Corn that is left in a field after gathering

in of the crop.

But this presumption may be defeated by any Act or Prac:

tice which shews that the owner meant not to give such per:

:mission and that, whether he meant to deny it to all persons

in general, or to the party in particular.

[(F) Knowing] Whatever value the thing actually possesses, the

general presumption shall be that he knows of it. Else wherefore

did he take it?

But this presumption may be defeated by particular

circumstances; as if the thing taken be a Bank Note ; and he who

takes it (a Servant suppose) cannot read and knows not the

Value of a Bank Note. In particular circumstances it may ap:

:pear to him, not to be of a Value worth regarding. As if it be lying

on the ground by itself, or with other scraps of paper that are actually

not of a value worth regarding. He may have taken it intending

to

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