The Express.
London, England, 1848-10-20 00:00:00

silliTheandseassliag 811: bet odr iisimkerabt, was leacedremills' ymiaerathe pbrley-
IMP d dine semi boys leaning to spell. The *pertinent
weld net Ilidd the scholars, if the catmints were to desire
ineleneltemi hut there appears to be a regulation against
il. all fit the day-rooms, disorderly enough in all
einsisises, seen of the prisoners, oo being asked if they
never *est their time in reading, said they weld not ree&
But have yen no desire to leers ?" " Yes," replied a man
of about thirty, who seemed to be a dustman or certer, " I
should like it very much."—" Then why don't you go to
the school ?" "We can't, sir: they don't let u."—Aad
them he added, with something of morosenese in his expres-
sion, as he thought of what he felt to be a wrong, " This is
your good government. We that w.nt a belle learning
mos', sad wish to get it, can't, That's what our good go-
varmint does for us. If we were young felons, we could
go to school, (these penen were all in prison, not
tor peonies crime, but for being so poor as
to be unable to procure " a .reties" to keep the peace, Ac.)
as we are only poor and ignorant we can't." A very good
government! It Is very difficult to answer such an argu-
ment—bet there are men who ere called upon to ponder it.
Let us all take the subject to heart. There was a man in
solitary esafisentent, he was a poor simple countryman,
committed foe 10 or 14 days for some petty trespass. His
term was up within a day. He was moped almost out of his
senses—whelt did not seem aver tohave been quite mediocre.
He had no books—could not read : they would give him no
work : he had no mourn but to mope about his room. He
couplaind, though without bitterness. lie thought only of
the moment when hie sentence would expire. Before leaving
the male side, one is shown into a small room, the walls
of which are covered with manacles. ' You do not mean to
say that these irons are ever geed?" 0 Not very often,"
said the warder ; " bend and water and the dark dungeon
are generally enough to bring a man to ,• but sometime, they
an put on.' " That is a punishment for prison offences ?"
"Just as." To the person conversant with the discipline
of Pentonville, Millbank, end Coldhath-fields, it seems as if
there could be no prison offences at Horgentor.ger lane, the
things which are offences in well-conducted gaols not being
so hen—sash as attempting to communicate with each other,
&a. The criminals have much their own way in all things.
Merely to say that the discipline is detective would be a
perversion of terms. There is nothing that can, even
by courtesy. be called discipline in the prison. Everything
appears to live on by virtue of its traditions, and the old
abominations flourish with an ever-renewed juvenility. The
befanneutioned " report " boasts with an air of conscious
tiluaaph—.. That it may be coneinded that the discipline of
pthunise
hmen sadhauxfounr
breach
hneof ipotrzoronveductnerptunifrommetht
we
ofalemt that
year thee last." Truly, the visiting magistrates can find
cause for self-gratulation in very small things! But does
, this balance of two—two out of 169—really indicate int-
' provement ? Is it not quite as kkely to be the remit at
relaxation ? We can no more accept the reporters' philoos-
phy than we can their facts.
The cooking and wash-houses on the female aide are die-
armsful to the country. But the crowning abomination is
the way in which them poor creatures are forced to deep at
night There are 68 female prisoners to 28 cells. What is
the consequence ? This—that a cell which is barely Imp
enough for one is forced to receive two, and in some cues
three inmates ! This is, in point of fact, slow murder—the
blackhole of Calcutta on a small scale. Nor is this the only
consequence of the want of accommodation. There is in
each cell a plank, about 16 inches wide, fanned in the wall,
end on this the blanket is spread to lie on. It is obvious,
however, that three persons cannot possibly Ile on a boar,
16 inches broad; they are therefore compelled to spread
their thin bedding on the Boor, and sleep upon the hard cold
stones! Why, in the name of mercy, is not this circum-
stance notind in the report? The form of the report con-
tains a column for " general observations." In this the r.,
vernor of this prison has written the emphatic word " nowe.