Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-21 00:00:00

glad when he is able

at least that b
yea

as it has been for some time. In 1857
3ners in the jail at this period of the

1859, th
With r

sr was

uurs ;in 1858, 392. IL.
ly 336. So far it appears satisfactory

number of prisoners for trial in. this court, in 1857
re were 44 ; in 1850, 40, and in this present session 43.
t under the Summary Jurisdiction Act there is some

Lll gain ; for in 1857, from the January to the April
ions, there were 70 persons convicted summarily by
ices. In 1858 there were 84, and in 1859 there were
There, also, is a diminution. But, gentlemen, we

aware that crime still exists. When (have pointed
to you that we are here to try on the bench, we are
simply as functionaries in a court of justice. But

e of us must f

at we ha

a duty-beyond these

aisterial acts

As citizens we have a duty to endeavour
prevent crime and to reform it, and as far as we possibly
ato redeem people from crime. None of us can go into
world without feeling this, that if it were simply a
riendance upon courts of justice, or other modes of
lishmeut by which evil7doers- were restrained,, crime
1d advance upou us very seriously and trample down
Y. One great object is, gentle-
.

whole of civilised societ

n, of all to proven*

crime ; another is to attempt to
in it, after crime has once :been committed ; the third
apt is to redeem, if possible, and prevent the falling
of the criminal to his former practice.. Education is,
,lemen, one means, and nothing can have a more powerful
mice than early habits and early training. Depend upon
it 'abides with a person to the very latest period of
Education, therefore, is the very first object
thinking men fix upon for the purpose of keeping
not, gentlemen, that education which

[r existencE

'rom crime

sometimes hear of, and so much sometimes commented
apon, in charges similar to those I am now delivering—that
education simply of reading and writing. For I have read
charges to grand juries where I could only discover that
because the majority of the people could not read or write,
therefore the absence of reading and writing was itself. the
-iterion—a stigma, the mark of crime, Gentlemen, if that
so, we ought never expect to see crime amongst the
educated. Crime doeS exist to a very serious extent
amongst the well-educated, and acts of Parliament have been
recently passed for the purpose of repressing crime which can
'petn ;ons of superior education. There-
men join iu your education, not merely
ma best mode of employing his talents,
wa if employing his individual faculties; but,
igion, informing him also that he is a
-nd that he ought not in any way

perpetrated by Per;

ntlernen, you must

lid of 71.

iittever to exercise his faculties to the injury of his
ighbour. Other persons may call it crime ; but there are
:and,w, all thinking men, I believe, universally have
. . .

iaiien into tors opiniont—there are reformatories where one
class of unfortunate persons who, in their early youth, have
fallen into crime, may be received. There are open, under
the sanction of the magistrates, all those public places
where they may be reformed, and go back again into
society, and may, if they think proper, wipe away the stain
of their early youth. There, are persons who have gone
still further, and I think they are philanthropists of the
highest stamp, who are forming institutions,—there is one
being established, I believe, in the neighbourhood of
Manchester,=where, so soon as any individnal is
set free from the prison gates, there is some kind friend to
meet him, and tell him if he will go Where he may settle
down to some employment which he may
.be acquainted
with, or where he may have the chance of learning and

and theri'lle may r

tate himself in society

gentlemen in your position
~,se an influence in your particular
only by your advice, but by your
..ai life. Each may be able to do a great deal
..,/leflt of your neighbours and society at large. It
oeen usual for me to mention to the Grand Jury, any
low law which May have been passed during the interval
assembling that may affect the.criminal law, but none
sassed since we la,,t met here.. I have looked over the
itions, and there does not appear to me any case which
receires me to give you what may be called any

Ire worthy of

have I

rq instructions

Grand Jury were then dismissed to their duties. A
jury was sworn, and the business was soon after pro-

ceeded With