The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1821-05-29 00:00:00

to hookiliove liken are to hive-Fwd'abe*Allifiva
Rwifisweeed repealed. ..
Am sa-• few words fr one illetiptlelekin.'7:
„of Hu .e. .avtd- Cord M t I.Toltia-- . .. ' k
r.ine NM A X conseiiietriAtetirewitpliiiitloot he
I leceivecrto withdraw his arrieudinenr. gni as
there was certainly 95,000/. in lest year'. expendi-
ture which cautd not be-minted this-rose, •ertsist"
50,000 f. ware again wanted for another green bug,
and 14,0001. for buildings for the new Bank-
rwprcy-Court; rod 10,0001. for the brilliant rosette-
to the Pension Ambassador--hut at thre.e cwnld
not occur again, be thought the sum mentioned by
hir Hon. Friend, Mr. flume, remold be sufficient.
The Committee then divided. when there ap-
peared— .
Fos My. U. 's Atiwidmeett . . 77
• Aglaia It lO6

Majority.... l9
• 10,0001. was then granted for the works at the
College of lielinlitergh.
Mr. AItrUTHNoT moved 40,0001: for the Peni-
tentiary at Millbank.
Mr. JoHn SMITH condemned the situa'ion in
which
.the bushing win placed, and the expense
wives° enormous, that it the system were extended
through the country, it would cost. millions •
year to support the convicts.
Mr. MADERLY entered into a comparative state-
ment of thr expense of each person at the Peniten-
tiary and at the hulks. The former had already. al,.
carding to hie calculation, emit the country 5,70.0001.
The lion. Member might latish, he who rode
I his hobby from morning till night, but it was no
laughing matter to the country. who had 116
pay for it. The expense of each permit, eat
the Penitentiary was 54/. whilst at the Wall
it was only 331. from which a deduction mast
be made of 161. for earnings, leaving only 171.
fur each prism. as a burden upon the couotsy.
The expense of the eatablishment of New South
Wales was about 105,000/. a year, which, taking
the number of convicts to be 18.000, Rave 61.
head. The passage out cog on the average shout
31. RN. a head. so that the trtinsportution to New
South Wales cost about 91. 104. a year for each
convict, which was considerably less than keeping
them its the hulks. But the Committee would
observe how enormous was the addition to
the expense of this Penitentiary. The build-
ing alone cost 500.000/. and they would find that
the cost of the maitnesoince of each prisoner Was
so/. a year, while, as he had before said, they could
be got rid of altogether for about 101. a year each.
The Hon. Member also complained of the evil sod
inefficacy of the system of lalsonr adopted. Ile
stated too, that the accounts were imperfectly ren-
dered, and the salaries of the persons employed had
been unnecessarily increased. He should therefore
move as an sroesidment, that no sum whatever be
allowed.
1..
Mr. IIoLVORD said, with respect to the locality
of the Penitentiary. if the Hon. Member looked
round London he would find great difficulty in
procuring in any other situation a place sufficiently
large. The Committee would observe, that the
building was not yet complete, and while it re-
mained ad at present in part open. it was neces-
sarily insecure; the present sum was required to
complete the edifice. mid to render perfect what
had already been done. He would not attempt to
follow the Honourable Member through all his
stitements reasserting the expense of teausperting
the convicts to Botany flay, but he tnust say. they
varied considerably from ail he had ever heard.
The greater portion of the convicts in the Peni-
tentiary..were sentenced only for seven years; they
could. not of coarse, the abject being to confine
each person separately, be maintained so cheaply
as in the hulks; but, as a means of reclaiming
them and .reforming their lives. the system was
linfinitely, more efficacious, and that in itself he
thought would be sufficient to stimulate the Com-
mittee to make the grant.
Mr. G. BEWNETT defended the penitentiary
sysiens.as a means of reclaiming offenders, is:alien-
larly females, who had become so perhaps more
from momentary weakness, and an incautious ex-
posure to danger, than front actual depravity or
Wickedness of mind. The merit of the scheme he
would slot allow to say .person now itviesg, nor to
any of those who had toted for the erection of this
Penitentiary, because it was the recomniendatiun of
u Howard and a Blackstone. strongly urged many
years before; but he could not help feeling a cost-
vicsipn that the enormous expense of this one un-
dertaking, which had beets greatly enhanced by
mismausgetneitt, had turned aside the attention
of the public mind from the utility of the
institution, and the goodness of the object it
had in view. He trusted, therefore, that this
grant would, he the last they should be called upon
to vote for this building, mid that greater care
would he takea in future to apply the sums given
for such purposes to the best advisistage.
Mr. Joule SMITH said he disapproved altogether
of this mode of applying the public money. If the
600,000/. which had already beets expended.in this
bathing had bee, applied to the procuring of a
proper education for the poor, there would bare
bete no occasion to build 'penitentiaries. if a qttat-
ter oldie sum now annually lavished in this wanner
were judiciously applied in teaching the pour
children their duty, and how to earn an honest live-
lihood, much more good would be effected. Laws
might sometimes fail in their operation, but edts-
adieu was the true way to prevent crime.
Sir C. LONG expressed his astonishment and
regret that his Hun. Friend's exertions in the cause
of humanity. which had for their object to lessen
crime and misery, should have drawn on him from
the Hon. Member opposite the taunt of riding his
hobby horse from morning to night. With respect
to the grant now proposed, he believed it would be
the last bat one they would be called on to vete ;
the next he anticipated would be but a small sem of
.14 or 1'5,660). to complete the building entirely. The
extreme of the institution might beats objection to it
perhaps to the minds of some, although he was not
of that number ; but it was inseparable from the
plan. and he did not think it was so excessive as to
outweigh. or even to equal in value what was and
would be gained by it. The efficacy of the system
of its internal management had already sufficiently
maisifeered itself, particularly in respect to the
female convicts, with whom it had succeeded better
do. wish tiny other class of prisoners. Of the
'Whole of those fel:hales, a part of whose saateaces