The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-12-18 00:00:00

[DECEMBER 18, 16,55,

BONNETS ! BONNETS! ! 000
MR. GEORGE JONES has ready for VIVO
TION all the New Styles in SILK, —4ATINry' g#
CRAPE, STRAW, and FANCY BONNETS, at
Prices. 55 and 57, GREAT CHARLOTTE-STREr''
DECLINING THE RETAIL BURT.--ATESS. -GI 0f
;THOMAS TOWERS in giving NOTIC,OOI
, _ ro..
1 above, at the same time wishes to inform thee c0n10.4
have patronized him for so many y ,
ears, that he will Ado,
keep the Fountains for their convenience, should their tioe to.
to Visit him in his Wholesale Office, up the Passage c
Shop. from which he has REMOVED. n
Wholesale Office and Soda Water Manufactory, tip
as usual, 24, Lord-street, Liverpool, opposite the ../0/

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

.n I, ..........—..
ISO . /4
HOLIDAY NEXT MONDAY.—A. Subscriber reques
~,..v De A
our readers that there is to be a holiday on Motulle 1
London. for business generally; in Liyerpooly"'-
torl,
brokers; Manchester, generally ; Chester, Str
various towns throughout the country, a close day
_......,

THE
tiberPoot )tanbarti

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 855.
CRIMINAL PUNISHMENTS

-40-
A FEW days since, The Times published a Jell'
the Chairman of the Middlesex Sessions, °li cli
lii
portant subject of criminal punishments, I/
' entitled to serious attention, owing to the rail
, plaints of the substitute for transportation in
pito
convicts to be at large in this country with ti—io
leave. Mr. SERGEANT ADAMS, whose narateedia
known in our criminal annals, retains his ' ••h
Die'
opposition to the abolition of transportation, ‘c coo
considers afforded a far more effectual check t°
by the dread of its infliction, than SOY Ftrlic.
ment by imprisonment in this country; 1),;ttl 00
he admits the impossibility of its e_l"-by 011
owing to the strong opposition manifesw",,,ioo 1
colonists in Australia, he attributes that 006011
the discontinuance of a practice formerly 01)5%00
assigning convicts to respectable colonists_
.11115 AO
labourers. The mischief, if it can be s° °I- ago
be.
been done, and it only remains to make the'
,Old,
of the means within our power, in order Ostes'oa 01
with an evil which threatens to increase i''
diminish. yerdt
It is a melancholy fact, that after all the : pow.
which have been made for the extension '3' olaici
education, by schools for the young and by sec of
institutions, free libraries, and other aids ii)oforins.
ledge for the more advanced in years, all the bow tbr
tion derived from criminal statistics is to 5,f10 ord°
crime is increasing. A third Assize is 110 of O.:
to relieve the awls from the great nurabel'ept 11
mates, and the necessity for the arrange° os!been shown not only in the number but tile r, I'l4
tude of offences. Education, it would aProsf;
not diminished crime, but rather chang
ter; and for the simple reason, that it oroi ,
directed towards intellectual rather than D.Oll/
provement. Too much stress has Pv-ood f
upon the mere aids to human knowledge'i,e fear
upon that, the beginning of which is ll 0
the Lord. We have consequently to deal with and
of criminals increasing instead of dialinishillgi;tat
as 1
the suspension of the punishment of tran- s:t were
except in extreme cases, has kept thein diffeul
our own doors, the best mode of meeting the
has
become a question of more than orainall 111
ante.
vti,
Within the last few years considerable oa,eijiio"
has been paid to the state of our gaols, many e: off
have been newly erected in order to carry °ti'sitlel
titular system. Separate cells have been po bale
supervision has been unremitting, dietary table6_.pg
been prepared by medical advice, and every e*..„4
parently taken to maintain the health if not toee;el
1 the convenience of the inmates. It would be es ti,
however, to take into consideration whether A
in Or i
regard for the welfare of criminals, •
have ope,raten
a morbid, humane feeling, may not
_Lice the inischi
some degree to augment, if not Pry—.
de'. It is w,
against which it is professed to Prevl
..,s by f
known that of the inmates of our Prls"
t classes, wii
the great majority are from the loves
have had
sunk to the lowest depths of destitution, ,
the P°
other resource for subsistence than crime or
of 01
der to gr',
house. To such characters the dull monotony freed
poor-house offers no temptation
hil the Po'
and excitement of a criminal career ;we .votioP
offers rather an agreeable variety to the Pr4.lortalil'
suffered by the vagabond tribes. The co%
1)00
bedding and warm regular meals of model ga°deoerfe'l
luxuries to those who have been sleeping in hes, ail
sheds, on straw in cellars, or under dry arc 00,3301
feeding on garbage ; so that instead of inirri'rd 01
against the free.
being a punishment, it is more often the rep

crime.
ted be "
If education, as far as it has been condu° ensures
that
il
manifestly inadequate to the emergency
Gdo tive tY-
: of repression have become urgent, it is inWer' cibip
imprisonment should be really, as well as °sten Ilene°
punishment, so that a dread of the 0911111(1e colic
should have more efficiency in checking '-eperil/r
mission of crime. Instead of a dietary table
in quantity and quality to what is enjoyed ,Lb Yoe
pbo
thousands of the honest and industrious--t°, 0
can feel no other influence should be reached bet
way. Hard fare, and a scanty supply, 11191,5041;,.
without its effect on many who need a strongr' Do'
from temptations to pilfer, as a more intelligibliceolel
of teaching than admonitions. We hear of 01,0--11
being sentenced to hard labour ; but what is the
#lll°
labour of a gaol compared with that of very u's/1"1,ilfl.
are earning an honest livelihood ? It is mere c
play—a relief from the fatigue of idleness ratber the
a burden—and, by prison regulations, entitling is
offender to a better class of diet. Sometll°sejel
wanted widely different from the treatment ii'l 00
gaols ; and where the offences are brutal assaultsi•
women, and other helpless victims, corporal 'it s
ment might be added with wholesome effect. 01,111
wretched pretence of humanity to decrichod
punishment as degrading, when those t° vi
should be applied have already degraded 0101'9 oit
in a still greater degree ; and the oprositi°l3lo 61
s
shows an utter disregard for the miserable victll3ooo
their brutality. To temper justice with mereY,t
be at all times a paramount consideration ;
no mercy to the wretched wife who has been4l
perhaps within an inch of her life, by her fie'' e
husband, to allow her no other protection th/113.0.011/
brief incarceration of her tyrant, to repeat is'
treatment of her the first opportunity. e: the
A most judicious improvement was made hv "
French prison, in the centre of Dartmoor, o,„vietb
available for the detention and punishment of ecwetllet
Separated by miles of barren wastes for° ibile
human habitations, it offered many advantages'to the
the labour of the prisoners might be devote 60,
conversion of the surrounding peat to useful t;liciefill
The system has, however, not been su'rilor'
extended ; for at Dartmoor, as well as at Fc for
where convicts are employed in hewing st°llieel t/ih
harbour of refuge, they might be made to vitic;
consequences of crime in really hard work' f Oei
should be some remuneration for the ecotif or;
maintenance. It is false humanity to niusepotif.r
somnent other than a punishment. If no other t.
will restrain offenders from the repetition °wet] t
offences, the influence of fear should be 'll'9/0,47,
operate ; and really hard labour will have tills ot 04'
beneficial effect, that it will compel the jud°leto
habits of industry, which will prove of service 006::i
on the termination of their sentence. But it 105;4,i
tunately, with the very youthful that our -e iiije
courts have so much to do ; and for this class t iper
the Reformatory Institutions as one of the best
thwhich have yet been adopted. They tend cons
to the great temptation to erilueentbd
want of employment ; and it is to be hope- ffect ,
meet with thgt encouragement the godd embet
,
which will be seen in the diminution of tue
juvenile offenders.