The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-10 00:00:00

PRISON DISCIPLINE.

AT the Bristol Quarter Sessions on Wednesday, in
his recorder's charge, Mr. Sergeant Kinglake made
the following suggestive remarks upon the important
subject of penal discipline :
Whilst all good people are trying their utmost to ascer-
tain what might be a useful mode of interposing between
the criminal and his future commission of crime, there is
a large class of persons who are of opinion that attention
ought to be called to the reformatory discipline of our
gaols. I will not say a word with reference to what
is called the reformatory discipline of gaols. I
am sure that every Christian feeling and every right
feeling will go along with me in thinking that every oppor-
tunity should be given for the reformation of criminals in
our gaols; but, whilst pursuing that remedy, T am quite
sure it would be a wrong and a fatal error if we forgot that
the gaol is not altogether a place for reformation, but that
it is a place of punishment, and that that punishment
should be carried out not merely as punishment but for
the purposes of example and warning to others. Whilst,
therefore, every opportunity ought to be afforded in our
gaols for reforming the criminals confined therein, they
must nevertheless be regarded as pluses of rigid and strict
punishment.
It appears to me, gentlemen, to be of much more im•
portance that reformation should commence at that period
at which the prisoner is freed from the incarceration of the
gaol. It appears to me that the time is come when it is
most desirable to see whether some scheme cannot be pro-
moted for allowing an interval after the prisoner is dis-
charged from gaol, some intermediate stage between the
period of punishment and that at which he is again thrown
on the wild waves of society.
It is, I think, one of the great errors of our system of
punishment that when a man has undergone a certain and
limited period of time in the gaol, the doors are opened
and he is thrown on society, and, like a drown:mg man,
catches at the first plank that presents itself to his Tench.
Is this proper ? After the period of punishment is over,
some wholesome intermediate stage ought to he provided,
during which the man who has been an offender may, by
his good conduct and habits, show that he has benefited by
his punishment, and that he has resolved to give np the
criminal habits which he bad previously acquired and
exercised.

THE RECENT GALES AND SHIPWRECKS.
THE heavy E.N.E. gale at the close of last
week caused much destruction of property and the
loss of several lives off the coast. Between Flam-
b)rough-head and the mouth of the Tyne some
thirty or forty wrecks are reported to have occurred,
in several instances the vessel going down with all
hands. At Hartlepool and in its vicinity, on Sunday

SATURDAY,

morning, between ten and eleven, a schooner, name
unknown, with part of her mast carried away, was
observed to go down in the bay, some short distance
from the shore, with all on board. A similar cala-
mity is reported to have happened to two other schoo-
ners and a brig in the bay, thousands of spectators
lining the beach without being able to render the
least help to the unfortunate crews. Several vessels
were also sunk at the mouth of the harbour. At
Redcar five or six vessels were driven ashore. On
the Norfolk coast the gale has been very destructive
to shipping. Happily the crews of the stranded
vessels were enabled to save themselves. The ac-
counts from the more western portions of the Eng-
lish Channel speak of similar formidable weather
sweeping the coast. The screw steamer Dunaskin,
Captain M'Farlane, of Troon, with a crew of eleven
men, besides the master, bound to Bristol from
Lisbon, was totally lost on the night of Thursday on
the Longships. Off Milford Haven anti the neigh-
bouring coast several vessels were driven ashore.
At Rhyl a lamentable accident occurred in the
swamping of the lifeboat, on her way to a stranded
vessel. The entire crew of the boat, thirteen men, were
drowned on the spot. But the most serious accident
was the loss, off the Goodwin Sands, on Monday
night., of the Ostend mail packet Violet. The Violet,
it appears, left Ostend harbour with the Belgian mails
on board between seven and eight o'clock on Monday
evening, and was due at Dover at midnight. At day•
break on Tuesday morning a fisherman saw a wrecked
vessel on the outer edge or southern spit of the
Goodwin, but in consequence of the fearful sea that
raged round it he could not approach near enough to
ascertain more clearly the character and size of the
unfortunate vessel. Her foremast was still standing,
and it was evident that she had struck on the sand
during the night. Lloyd's agent, at Ramsgate, sub-
sequently obtained other information, and in the
course of Tuesday he telegraphed to Lloyd's that a
vessel on the Goodwin was supposed to be the
Ostend mail steamer. She was commanded by
Captain Lyne, one of the most experienced mas-
ters on the station, and manned by a crew of seven-
teen bands. The company have reason to believe
that, besides the mail guard, she had only one pas-
senger on board, three others having fortunately
declined at Ostend to make the voyage on so tem-
pestuous a night. The cause of her loss is supposed
to be through the captain mistaking the Gull Lights
for those of the South Foreland, and steamed right
on the southern edge of the Goodwin. The bodies
of three stokers, lashed to a lifebuoy, were picked up
floating about, on Wednesday, by the Ramsgate life-
boat, as well as some cabin furniture, and a small
black trunk, marked " Arthur Majendie, Esq." The
vessel is visible at low water, end sits upright in the
sand, funnel gone, decks, bulkheads, cabin doors, &c.,
all washed away. There were other disasters in the
vicinity of the Downs. The Licn went ashore
at Kingsdown ; crew saved. The Reliance, Mr.
Dixon, master, which only left the Thames a few
darn since, with a valuable cargo of merchandise,
was driven ashore near n•almer Castle. The life-
boat was promptly put off, and succeeded in taking
off the crew. Off the North Foreland the Vietory
lugger, belonging to Margate, was struck by a heavy
sea, and almost immediately went down, with all
hands—poor fellows who had put off to render aid
to vessels in distress. A large American ship, the
Northern Belle, of New York, was also driven ashore
at Kingsgate, near the North Foreland. The crew
of this vessel were in the rigging all night, aril
suffered severely, but were rescued in the morn-
ing by the Broadstairs lifeboat. On Yarmouth
Beach upwards of twelve colliers and coasters were
driven ashore by the force of the storm. The
crews were saved. At Lowestoft the losses were
nearly as numerous. Altogether the gale has proved
one of the most destructive for years past. The
submarine cable was also temporarily carried away,
through a ship fouling it with her anchors, and carry-
ing away both cables one after the other. The con •
pany at once took measures to repair the mischief.

THE AnYnta.ry with a view to test the simple and
practical means of lowering ships' boats at sea, in-
vented by Mr. Clifford, have had repeated trials made
of the new apparatus, which have been attended in
every instance with perfect success. The most severe
test was made on Saturday last by IL M.S. Dee,
ordered out to sea in the gale then blowing.
Shortly before she was brought to anchor, and
while she was steaming at full speed, her starboard
cutter, which bad been fitted with Clifford's lowering
apparatus, and was hanging immediately abaft the
paddle-box, was manned with her full crew (nine
men) and instantly unlashed, lowered, and entirely
freed from the ship by one of the crew only in the
boat. It was scarcely possible to subject the plan to
a more severe trial, from the severity of the gale
blowing at the time, and which was expressly
chosen. The result has been pronounced extremely
satisfactory, not a single drop of water having
entered the boat.

JANUARY 10, 1857.

fittraturt.

Ws resume our summary of the books recently
sent us which, for the present at least, we
find it impossible to notice at any length. Our
limited space compels us to be brief in these
notices, but we endeavour to fairly express the
character and merits of each production.
Mr. Jardine republishes in an enlarged and
corrected shape the " Narrative of thp Gun-
powder Plot" (1), which many years ago was
prefixed to the trials of the conspirators in
"The Library of Entertaining Knowledge."
This narrative is the most copious and critical
account of the whole transaction extant. The
author's researches fail to clear up the mystery
attaching to the warning letter sent to Lord
Monteagle. He intimates a probability that
the discovery of the plot was arranged to be
made in this manner, and supplies a pre-
sumption, with some proof, that James was
prompted as to the true character of the
" blow" indicated in the letter, and as to the
means of discovery that should he taken. The
author is little favourable to the King; but his
complete and lucid narrative shows that, on
the whole, the conspirators were treated with
more humanity than might have been anti-
cipated from the Government of that age, and
the remorseless character of their plot. No
general persecution attended the discovery of
the treason ; the guilty alone suffered—a
marked contrast to the cruel injustice which
attended the mere apprehension of " The
Plaat" of Titus Oates.

" The Student's Gibbon," edited by Dr.
Smith (2), gives, in the compass of a school-
book, the main facts of Gibbon's great work,
bridging over the gulf between ancient and
modern history. Dr. Smith has rather
selected portions from Gibbon than abridged
the whole, and, while usually adhering to the
exact words of the author, has incorporated
into the text the results of later research. The
copious illustrations are all from authentic
sources. The chart-like character of the
abridgment will enable the student to master
with comparative ease the main events which
marked the fortunes of the world from the
reign of the Antonines to the capture of Con-
stantinople by Alahomet 11. The plan of the
volume has enabled Dr. Smith to omit all the
sneers of Gibbon against Christianity without
subjecting himself to a charge of mutilating
his author. For the rising generation this
compact book will supersede the use of
Gibbon's voluminous history with its pon-
derous disquisitions. It is to be remarked,
however, that his highly ornate and laboured
style appears to disadvantage whenithe march of
his events is so rapidly azeelemted.
A publication on Myths (3), by Morgan
Kavanagh, seems to us a striking example of
misapplied learning and misdirected ingenuity.
To account for the origin of language, the
author supposes that, when man first began to
describe a circle to signify the sun, his mouth,
in sympathy with his hand, assumed a round
shape, and that the exclamation " 0 " issued
from it, which supplied the first idea of
speech-0 being used thenceforth to ex-
press the sun, and ali circular bodies.
After announcing this theory, he asks
triumphantly—" if man never uttered a sound
" while his mouth retained the circular form,
" could speech have been discovered i" And
he replies to the question with a most emphatic
" Never." To account for the derivation of
terms he picks language to pieces in a manner
far surpassing the ironical examples of Vol-
taire. Out of lo he constructs Bacchus, and
out of Bacchus Jesus. One of his most
amusing instances is the derivation of the
word nig from mud, the latter being symbo-
heal of the animal's nature. P, he says, is the
same as B, and Bis the same as M. Hence
pig may be turned into Mig, Moig, or Moic,
which is equivalent to Mue or Muck, the Irish
of pig, and also of dung or filth. " And, as
" this Muck," ho continues, " cannot differ

(1) A Narratire of the Gunpowder Plot. By David Jardine,
Lci. London : Murray.
(2) The Student's Gibbon. By W. Smith, LLD. With 100
Engravings on Wood. London : Murray.
On Myths traced to their Primary Source through Language.
By Morgan Kavanagh. Two Vole. London: Newby.