The Express.
London, England, 1847-04-17 00:00:00

under the men of the POrilliplAloo elf" got riser off, and
proceeded to the south, in ceder to wnlr the Midas there
with arms. Them 00011170110•0 are of the selves mos& to
inspire theadherents and Meads of the Junta with confidence
in their came, and they certainly have produced a very
marked effect open the party who term themselves the
Queen's Muria, whose endeavours and advice, however,
appear to have been anything bat advantageous to her Me
jesty.
The applieation which was made to Sir William Parker,
on the part of Donna Maria, moat have been to much the
more humiliating and painful, by reams of a slight which
her Majesty thought proper to pot upon the admiral and his
cortege of naval otheers at a leo& held two or three days ago
at the Nemesidades, when the Queen abruptly quitted the
drills without having had the grace or condescension to pay
the slighted attention to the British officer., a circumstance
which occasioned equal surprise and regret.
The force which gliasutt detached from Olieiera d'Axe-
mlsis was expected to hve arrived at Raniarsoi, ..!!'"Vf."^wll
Vinhaes being despatched from the duke's had quarters to
take the command. It members about 1,200 men, including
150 Lancers and two guns.
The monetary and social date of affairs at Lubon is ex-
ceedingly precarious and melancholy. There is • powerful
party formed amongst the financiers here to upset Tojsl,
and the plan which they have resorted to is to create a panic,
and to endeavour to Deng the Bank of Portugal t.s a decla-
ration of bankruptcy. The discount upon the notes of this
hank is 60 per cent. to-day: to-morrow it may happen that
the notes will not be received, even at that rate.
The opinion which I have all along enter-
tained respecting the ill-devised and ruinon. men-
' sure by which this paper currency wee forced into
eireuladon, renders any lengthened comment here on-
In the mmatime, To al has planned a lottery
for ammo of reds (676,000 k), which may prolong the
bubble, aa the tickets in to be paid for in notes, and the
'prizes likewise, I opine; but the events which I have above
narrated will, in all probability, put a stop to the bank and
the lottery at one stroke.
SATVIPAT MOKKINO, APAIL 10, 91 open my
letter again to state that, up to this moment, there ere no
symptoms of any commotion amongst the people. I have'
cent scouts in every direction to ascertain the fact. I,:zig
no experience in these matters, as far as Portugal is con.l
I am unable to judge of the most likely locale far the
commencement of the outbreak. Had it been Paris, instead
of Lisbon, the Qnartier St. Antoine would have been the'
attractive spot for ea observer; but here, as it I. the offer 1
and middle classes who take the initiative in these affairs, I
, think that Black Hone-square will wiener. the commence-
ment, ment, when it does begin. The Polyphemus, which arrived
on Thursday from Oporto, has left her moorings in the river,
and dropped down to Belem, where she is anchored. The
Mips have loaded and shottea their guns. Their launches
end pinnaces are likewise out, and alongside ; the guns being
in them, with ammunition, &e.

The Montrose left her Majesty's steamer Virago at
Gibraltar, and the Hibernia, 104; Trafalgar, 120;
Canopus, 84 ; America, 50 ; and Phcenix, 10, in the
Tagus. In the Douro, the Gladiator, Jack&ll, and
Nautilus. The Superb was off Finisterre, on' the
12th, steering southward. The Isabella 11. and Villa
de Bilbas, Spanish frigates, were at Vigo. The Por-
tuguese blockading squadron was off //WA.

PRISON DISCIPLINE.—THE MARK SYSTEM.
Sig,—A pamphlet lute been recently published and'
extensively distributed among members of both houses of
parliament, entitled, " The present Gaol System deeply de-
praving to Prisoners, and a positive evil to the Community:
with Remedies proposed;" by Joseph Adshead, author of
rs " Prisons and Prisoners," alto. The chief object of the work
is to advocate the separate system of imprisonment, on which
I wish here to touch as little u possible. But I would be
glad if you would allow ma to offer a few remarks founded
on nearly its concluding words, which are to the following
effect:
Much might be said as to various detail' connwted with the &lop.
hos and carrying out ea Oldest system of discipline; but the M.
leaden threefold propailtbsea ere recapitulated as lying at the bade or
foundation of an improved warm of penal discipline, yin I. Uni-
formity of discipline. I. Individual (separate) improoament. 3.
The setabbalunent of a bawd of prison discipline and construction
(like the board of education), whisk shall in their proper !dm, give
due Annaba to minor matters, whether the introduction of the mark
system, or any ether mole of treatment, &a
Now, I have already said that I do not wish here to call
in question the merits of the separate system. 0.. the con-
trary, in its place and degree, I am well ewers of its value ;
and for all untried and short sentenced prisoners, and during
• proportion also of the sentences allotted to graver offenders,
no one desires its universal establishment in an improved
form more earnestly than I do. But as the proposer and
zealous advocate of the mark system, the value of which I
have also tested, I feel bound to protest against its claims to
attention and favour, being considered minor to those of as,
system whatever. And it is on this head that 1 would wish
to offer a few remarks.
The distinguishing features of the mark system are, 1,
the substitution of task for time NUMMI*, whether men are
confined separately or together. 2. The giving prisoners
thus an interest is diligently employing their time when
in gaol, instead of (as at present under a time sentence) an
interest in idling it away. 3. The creating thus a strong
stimulus within themselves to industry sod necessary im-
provement, instead of the tendency now prevalent among
them to evade effort, and content themselves with mere in-
dolent occupation and submission. 4. The adding to these
stimulants, by charging them is labour for their maints-
ease*, besides what is required to regain their liberty. 6.
When 'limbers are confined together, the strengthening and
giving harmonious action to their separate and individual
impulses, by making the task allotted, and interest created
by it, common to six, or other moderate number, collectively,
instead of peculiar to each separately ; thereby making good
conduct and, exertion popular, and misconduct and idleness
unpopular in the class to which they all belonj. And, 6.
The placing convicted criminals by these means in circum-
stances favourable to their recovery, viewing them as think-
ing and reasoning beings, and striving to gain the active
exercise of their own wills towards good, ,nstead of confining
them in circumstances which may be more or less protective
from evil, or cumulative of it, but in which their wills being
n consulted, they are little more than passively subject
to the external influences for good or evil by which they are
invested. With their minds thus kept naturally and
healthily active, it will be found that even the moral and re-
ligious instruction bestowed on them will be doubly pro-
ductive, for it will be both more readily and more improv-
ingly received.
This, then, is the mark system ; the peculiar principle
which distinguishes it from all others being this, that not
content with merely fettering the bodies and controlling the
actions of those subjected to it, it seeks in its whole ma-
chinery to gain their minds also. It does not at the same
time relax any portion of the hold which the law now pos-
sesses over the bodies and actions of prisoners ; on the con-
trary, it may be applied in separation, or in silent or in ordi-
nary congregation, as other circumstances may direct, and
with proportionate advantage in all. But, extending its
views beyond the mere retribution for pest crimes or re-
pression of further offence, or preservation more or lees com-
plete from evil communication, it strives to create in each
individual feelings and impulses (at first, no doubt, inte-
rested, but speedily becoming habitual) which must make
solitude more improving, end congregation at least harmless,
if not in its turn improving also. And can the question
whether a system like this should be introduced (se muds-
pendeat of apparatus, so exempt consequently from practical
difficulty, and aiming so much beyond the usual scope of
prison discipline) be justly considered a mere minor detail,
to be left to the decision of an executive board, as undeserv-
ing the consideration of parliament, and unworthy a phut*
among the fundamental principles of a new code 1
Its other recommendations beyond those which appear'
above, or lie otherwise on the surface, may be thus further
noticed : It would clear the science of punishment from
much that is at present insuperably difficult and conflicting
in it. It would not balance between severity on the one
hand in order to be deterring, and encouragement on the
other in order to be improving ; but, while making the pe-
nalties of the law formidable, by the same act it would make
them also reforming. It would consider gratuitous labour
rendered to the state, with come fare (charged besides to the
prisoner), and neeeseary seclusion during the period of his
sentence from the social and domestic enjoyments which
sweeten toil and hardship in free life, the sole and sufficient
inflictions for offence ' • and with this point thoroughly esta-
blished, it would then gradually clear away those other
incidents in prison life (the yet lingering relics of
• barbarous ago), the gratuitous restraint, interference,
and degradation which at present make it in every
case and circumstance deteriorating. The mind of the
prisoner once sedulously sought to be gained, wanton trials
of his temper and innovations on his habit* would be avoided
sa in every case injurious rather than beueficial ; and his
unuesxesary humiliation would be as sedulously guarded
against as it is now habitually infl;cted. In these altered
circumstances, with every man hie destiny placed in his own
hands, to be shaped by his own efforts and self-comutind,
self-reepect would revive even in the most degraded, with
the revival of which, much more than by any disciplinary
arrangements, would disappear those horrid offences now
universally prevalent in assemblage* of priboners and
which are the results of their deep degradation,
much more than of any other incidents in their
condition. (They are not equally found in assemblages
of free men, as soldiers and milers, often as unfavourably
placed, and not unfrequently composed of elements but
little superior.) And with industrious habits dili-
gently cultivated in prises, and discharge from it
made of itself a certificate. of improved character,
the path of return from it -vs free society would be
indefinitely smoothed. It is little to add to these recom-
mendations that, by making the performance of labour the
meanies of punishment, and not mere flax of time, both the
wrongs of °leaders to gaiety would be more substantially
atoned for, and their mainteaanee by the state might become
a source of , instead of large expenditure. If free
labourer. can aocuraulate wealth for their employers, why
should not bend do the some work under the same stimu-
lants ? By making the condition of slavery our national
punishment, we incur the expense of slavery as well as all its
other incident*
I wish that the subject bad another expositor—the cause a
more influential champion. They deserve, and would re-
ward both. When I remember the rapture with which I
first conceived the ideas, nine years ago, in the penal
colonies, my heart sore and ray head indignant at the mass
of vice sod misery around me, and compare the promise
which they seemed then to hold out with the slow and doubt-
ful progress even yet made in establishing them. it is impos-
sible to avoid entertaining • strong fear of personal defi-
ciency. In an age of peculiar intellectutl activity, and
glorying in its abolition of one form of slavery, the MAIIIIII
which support another still ling r en. The superiority of
moral influence over direct compulsion in Tuitline the human
mind, acknowledged in every other department of policy and
administration, is still disputed in the most difllecit task of
all—the recovery of our criminals from their sinful nod sloth-
ful ways. The question of its introduction among them in
still deemed a minor detail; and good and benevolent men