Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-08-02 00:00:00

RE} ORMATOI.II7 SCHOOLS

Oil 7 a.';_ltlers mina have heard at times various doubt°
thrown out ; as. to the effect of reformatory schools. Tile
occasional relapse into the paths.of crime of certain inraW
of these Mablishmenthl has led -cynical and balk°
'observers to jump to
_the conclusion that we' have 46/
much money to little putpose in thus attempting i°
reform and elevate our juvenile offenders. 'We have
not unfrequentry heard remarks of this kind made !,11 _ .

courts of justice when a yoimgdelinquenf has appearedill the
dock unrectaimed by the discipline of a reforniatory,school,
from schicffhe heti perhaps been only a few weeks discharged.
nothing ,
But ning can be more unjust than to judke, of a woo
by such isolated cases. Nothing can be more absud than
to conclude that, because every attempt at reformation deft
not succeed we should therefore make .no such attempts aC
art. In Order fo form any. proper estimate of the'reform!
tory system, we must regard i as a whole ; and 10
*unprejudiced person who has at all inquired into th'ei,,
matter, can. doubt that it has already been attendee'
with a large measure of success, and that the public
interest requires its ,further extension- and improvement.
.The..trtitli is, that until these veformatcry institutions Were,
establisfreci, our treatment of j'Avenife offenders wirg;,,A
national' reproach. When a child whose companions o'l
probably whose parents, were thieves, was•convicted at bar of
.justice, what was' to be done with him? TIN.
j
!law
', said- ,he was tw be flogged. and imprisoned--
that i; writ to herd with older and. more experienced
thieves than himself, and consequently to come out
more hardened and depraved than ever. Humane judges
and _magistrates Were frequently unwilling to inflict a panfsh-
ment entailing such miserable consequences alike on the
offender and au society ; but their sole .alteraatiyo was t°l
biroa sentence of neminal imprisonment; and thus to scu
iro back to-- his former haunt's virtually unpunished,
and wholly uareforined. It Ivas but a choice of evilc.
to be adopted, according to the caprice or temper of
the bench: It was thus, 'until a very- recent' period, that
we treated, our- juvenile offenders in England„ until,
in fact, we fowl-ate our cost that they increased too rapidly
upon our hands. It was absolutely necessary- to do sonic'
thing to check the alarming crop of crime- which Was
growing every day-more thick and rank arouncrus,' and fur-
tunately France and Belgium had. shown'ns-theway to do
it. The Continental philanthropists, to their honour be it
spoicen, took the lead in the great work of juvenile refer'
, nation ; haring nowfairly taken the matter up, Is.'e•
Mall soon, we believe, ,Surpass our teachers,' if we have
!not already done So,_ We have, indeed, every motive for en'
eouraging and extending the reformatory system. Irrespe!
tive of social considerations, we have discovere& that it n
likely to be attended with beneficial, results, even in. as
economical point of "Vievr---namely, ii the materiardiminutO
of crime, and in the' consequent reduction of the ptiblic
expenditure.
From the second `report of the 'lnspector of Reformatory
Soho* just publislidd 'we learn that there were;..iip to the,
end of last year, tifty-eight such establishments ,in Gres!
Britain. Of these there: were, fortyi-eight in Eligland and
ten. in Scotland. The total number 'of your,* -persons
detained in those establishment Was,:abent* 2;8007 and the
official accounts of their general conduct"and ess ace
highly satisfactory. Th-ere are two points connected with
these reformatory schools of especial. interest to the public,
ft is essential to know-in the 'first plaee'what proportion, if
any, of the inmates,. relapse' into' crime -after 'their its'
charge; and it also essential` to know whether the
establishment of these 'schools has had' any effect in.
diminishing crime• generally throughout the 'Country.
Upon both-these points the 'testimony Of Mr. Sydney Tut
nerds highly satisfactor3-. With regard to the he says,
"I have obtairipl a return of the nuniber diseharged. up to
the 31st December; 1857, and of the"proportions ef those
that have been again-convicted and of those that are known
to' 'ha doing thoroughly well up to the,present time.
The
results are, that of 410 discharged up to that date'oniy
fiftl
Rave, been eonvieteti;, and-215 'are 'known:AO, fie golog
on satisfactorily. This return is less favourahle'thea
such rdtitins be: in future, as it - embraces' the
initial stages of most of the refoimatories,.during which tile
discipline and arrangement•of the schools:were imperfect
It may be safely assumed that in their more settled and
:better organised condition the- per .centage of success will
conSidetably increase." The second' question is one of
?still more -importance: What Most concerns the public
.in estimating the,. value of reforniatories. is their general
effect, upon the amoimt of critic). throughout the
Country. Now upon this point the evidence is re--
markably strongr: The returns 'of juvenile .Crinie throllg'l;,
eut.the country-for thelast three years show .a very great
falling off, and, thia.diminution- has been progres,
The
total number, of offenders under sixteen yearwof age,' Se°,
teaced.rat assizes,. quarter sessions, or by min-unary couTIL.'
tion,, its .EneuitcU and Wales, - was, in 1856„ 13;984'r
1857, 12,501, and, in 1858, 7,r,22. Here is a fail-
ing off of no less than' 40' per cent: in three years, and
for this we cannot satisfactorilyaccount except bvattributiTli
it to the operation of the reformatory schools, !The amonut
of adult crime has unfortunately not diminished during the,
interval in
_question. With.these facts, before, we cantle'
resist the conclusion that reforin4ary ichectli have preyed 0-
great public good, and that every possible facility .snould
given for their improvement and extension..--iffo)wing Post-

Coffee sold by Thompson Brothers/
5, Elliott7street, at is, 4d., is better than you pay is. Bd. foil-
at any other establishment.
It appears that Mr. Bros ow North,. Mr. Guinness. and`Dr. Spence, .Loudon,
_are at present in Belfast, and take: part in some of the services

EXTENSIVE ROBBERY '4l, WOMXMEIN'S TOOL;.—Robert
M'Connolt aged 44, a cabinet-maker, reSidifig it 3, Fitzroy~
market,. wits. charged with stealing-a quantity of oahinot"
makers' tools, the property of: Mr. R. D. Alorroll, at Eyre'
street-hi& The prisoner had been in the enaproy.of 01e
prosecutor between eight and nine days, and one morning.
he decamped. taking with him a number of cabinet...makers,
tools, belonging to the prosecntor and his workmen: Infor-
mation was grven.to tho police, and the prisoner was appre‘,
bonded by. Outred, in E., 'when no less than 15 duplicates'
relating to tools were found-upon him. The prisoner pleadea;
guilty, and asked to ho dealt with mercifdlly. The magi'''
trate said it was a very serious affair.to roll his fell Ow-work.
men of their tools, and sentenced the prisoner to sit
months' imprisonment`
_with hard labow
,the House of
dorrebtioii. '

BULACH OF l!itpAtzau OR
kind was tlicid at, Slfinpsiiir(
plaintiff "-

-A case of ihii
3aturday. The
a daughter of a

aged

Man in humble circumstances, living in Burslem. defendant, aged aged about 23,. Was' a-butcher,. AI4o living at
Burslene.- Be. promised to marry' :plaiiitiff,.andunde,r that
promise he seduced her. Finding the state in which she-
WM, she urged the fulfilment of his promise? and 'the parties
were "asked". in `church. '•A day
a appointed far the
wedding, and- the bride, bridesmaid, and. the
,bridegroant'‘
wit.
"best friend" attended at Ilmilev Church, in OetObor-hat;
but the bridegroom did na)Mak.o his appearance. After
anxiously. waiting until after' the canonical tient, was pas_t,
the party left the church.: ' Upon being reproached With his
conduct; defendant promised to go to chareh next morning.
to be married, but again broke his promise.. Subsequener
the`pinintiff gave birth to nchild: The only'defence offeied
on -Clayton's part Was that he could • not afford-to keep' ii.
wife, and that he ...thought the 'plaintiff had had a goo°
escape. It was shoWni.hOweVer, ;that le. wai.likely to come'
into possession of a good sum of money. The jury returned
a_ verdict .for the plaintiff, damages .i3O. ,'• , . .
. ANECDOTES OP JOHN KEMBLE AND WALTER SCOTT.---.
The-. Sedtaman, has. beetvisuPplied bir a correspondent with.
the following anecdotes, preserved by. Mr. James Rnse4)
the.actor,.-who died a few' days 'ago :—" On one occasion,
we think it was his benefit----Johns Kemble went th:ougb'
the.fimt part of his performance 'before a.eroWdrja. house, with so little! of his spirit . and powers ,that Murray and
his friends were greatly : distressed and surprised. Sud
denly ho. broke out in :full splendour, and without Nk_ll-4t,
ended, magnificently. : 'He had=ne-fer.lx)en gteater. Mur-,,
ray came to him in the - green-rbom, and - asked, in his odd .
way, how the
_mischief he ne;i7.ai so ill and ended so,glon-"'
ously; - 'Keinblesaid quite seliousl ' Walter Came in ; and;
John played II'? io Walt!,- ' y,
.r. ! The other was given'aS charac--,
teristic CA- Scott's dislike and, even anker at ' Whig praised` and? of. .A Fife laird brought'acioss hisnld friend
the minister of the parish to hear John Kemple' in_' Cato.'''
They went—Sir' Walter happened 'to ';‘-be in: the seir
.1)0x): - The two old. cronies went to a: Invorn to AV; 'OW ,'',
they 'did in silence, and ' during toddyfihe laird aid-- • ' Wel, Minister,....what thocht. ye o' that.' • : 'Alio* ? did I
ever think that I would see my fivonrite.tritgedy acted •bl
die" greatest* living "actor, "and' sit in the samc box with the
greatest man since sliak*are."' - The laird, who knew Scott
slightly, thought thii'-Wi'foo'good fo beteg, and was' of'
next morning to Qastle:lsitcorklire,akfast.,..with Aim. xiEre,
were neferill people thero= `to'! thfi Talrdtieldli?slitocyi'lqj"
I
Walter got gri
utiehsy-, got • anV and jantgabiio twiladkitiet,
when a bright smile flushed-over his_ face___, and he said in
his richest. i butr',--CThat:tdinds rif,Cif -iiagykim. Indian__
aids-JAN.& 'l.* k... They:_md, . Fiend', dna; --who, -WA°
tiswelleGtinuch; asked the other' how, he, was, and :after soma'
idle talk,: the. Witt aTelkid-chief said, ' I've;seciP {something"
or other.) -`• You've seen,' said the travelled Bravii,24 '‘'sFl.
hare you sea?' ' I have seen,' he replied, t the moo'
Tire saes the same, aad Pre seen a brssii-12andlcd sword"„

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