The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-04-12 00:00:00

ASTLUM FOIL THE DEAF AND DUMB.

The Anniversary Dinner of the above valuable Institution was
held yesterday at the City of London Tavern. At six o'clock up-
wards of one hundred gentlemen sat down to a very excellent enter-
tainment, his Royal HigIUICSS the Duke of GLOUCESTER in the
Chair.
As soon as the cloth was removed, ' Non nohis Domine' was
sung in beautiful style by Messrs. Broadhurst, Leete, Taylor, and
. _

His ROYAL HIGHNESS then gave " The King," with four
times four, which was drunk with grad enthusiasm by the company.
Song—' God save the King,".,-accompanied by a military band.
" The Royal Family," with three, times three.
Glee—• Hail smiling morn.'
" The Army and Navy," with three times three.
Song and Air--` Rule Britannia.'
Sir W. ASHDERNIIAM then rose, and said that he had the
permission of his Royal Highness, their chairman upon that occa-
sion, to propose a malt, and that roast he was sure they would all
drink with enthusiasm, when he informed them that it wax the
health of his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester. (Oontinued
cheers.) 'When he coasidered the extent of the obligations which
that Institution was under to his Royal Highness, and when he re.
Collected the anxiety which he had upon all occasions displayed for
its welfare; and more than all, when he considered kik+ personal at-
tendance at their anniversary festivals, he could not help regretting
that the toast bad not fallen into abler hands than his. When
first his Royal Highness toak the Institution "der his care
it was of slender growth ; but under the dew of his benign
influence it flourished into a majestic tree, until every infant who
supplicated its leaf found shelter beneath its branches. (Applause.)
Who, he would ask, was the real friend of rational liberty ? Their
Royal Chairman. Who aided in bursting the fetters of the Afri.
can ? Their Royal Chairman. Who spread the lamp of reforma.
tion through the sister island ? Who assisted in reforming the ju-
venile offender ? Who was the orphans' friend ? Who the pro-
tector of the destitute? Who but their Royal patron, who raised
the speechless suppliant into comfort and happiness? (Applause.)
If the friends of the Institution would only follow in his steps, lie
should not despair of yet witnessing the day when every unfortu-
nate being who solicited the aid of the Institution might be admitted
to share its blessings. (Cheers.) If those whom he had the honour
of addressing had any esteem for exalted worth, or any zeal for the
prosperity of the Institution, they would all unite with him in pay.
ing a tribute justly due to its greatest benefactor. (Great applause.)
The Hon. Baronet then promised " The health of the Duke of
Gloucester, with three times three," which was drunk with great
enthusiasm.

The Duke of GLOUCESTER expressed his unfeigned thanks for
the gratifying manner in which they had been pleased to drink his
health ; but he believed that the chief portion of the merit which
had been attributed to him more properly belonged to those by
whom he had been assisted. lie had only done his duty. He re-
gretted that he did not see upon that occasion so Nil an attendance
as usual, which he feared was owing to an idea that the Insti.
tution was more prosperous than it really was. The fact was, how-
ever, that there were numerrue applicants. who could not be ad.
mitted owing to the insufficiency of the funds, which he hoped,
notwithstanding, might, ere long, enable them to receive every
child that might apply to them for relief. Although there was a
balance in hand, it was not swab as would enable them to enlarge
the establishment. They hall. during the la..t year, admitted
twenty children more than usual ; but even then they were com-
pelled to reject no less than fifty, who had equal claims on their
compassion. He hoped, therefore, they would not relax in their
support of an Institution which nit only provided for the unfor-

WORK Mattlrell
',II P'" Then of

Ft also eutibied them tu become use-
become • thy'

iul . society, and to . suppress of their parents
rather than a burthen, as they must otherwise infallibly have been,
upon their industry. Ile would not trespass longer on their atten-
tion than to thank them for the Nattering manner in which they had
drank his health. (Great applause.)
Glee—" For, oh ! the best season to laugh and to sing."
Sir WM. BLIZZARD, after a short eulogy upon the merits of her
Royal Highness, proposed " The health of the Duchess of Glou-
cester."
The Duke of GLOUCESTER returned thanks.
" The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, the President of the
Institution, with three times three."
Song—Mr. Broadhurst, " The bonny blithe blink of my ain
fire-side."
" Sir William Ashburnhsm and the Vice-Presidents," with
three times three.
Sir WILLIAM ASIIBURNIIAM returned thanks.
The TREASURER (Wm. Nottidge, Esq.) then read a list of
donations, at the head of which was the name of his Royal High.
ness the Duke of Gloucester for 2:/., and that of the Duchess also
for 21/., and the produce of the Sermon preached by the Bishop of
Chester in aid of the Funds of the Charity was 1641. 2s.
The next toast, which was " Success to the Asylum for the
Deaf and Dumb," was drunk amidst continued cheers.
Comic song by Mr. Taylor.
The children educated at the school now entered the room, and
displayed to the company specimens of their advancement in writ-
ing and arithmetic. Three boys, severally, recited the following
verses in a manner tolerably clear and distinct, and so as to prove
that :he Institution is calculated to bestow the most important be.
nefits upon those who unfortunately need its assistance.
" Misfortune's Children ever find
In Christian Charity relief;
Such once were we, and sorely pin'd,
Till kind Compassion sooth'd our grief :
Your doors of mercy open'd wide—
Vour pity snaird, and cheer'd our gloom:
Instruction then became our guide,
To hope for joys beyond the tomb !
Dark ignorance had still prevail'd,
Nor light of science shone for us—
Our thoughts through words ne'er been detaird,
Had not your bounty aided thus.
Thanks to the friends who thus reliev'd
Distresses such as once were our's_
Thanks to his menrry, who conceived
A plan so generous as your's.
Religion now illumes our feet,
And points to mansions void of woe,
Where pure and pious friends shalt meet,
To taste delights none here can know
" The Memory of the Founder of the Institution—the Revetend
John Townshend." was then drunk in solemn silence.
" The Lord Bishop of Cheater, with thanks for his excellent
s'ermon," was then drunk with three times three.
A variety of other toasts were also proposed from the Chair, and
the harmony of the Meeting was kept up to a late hour.

Many of the pitmen employed in the neighbourhood of
Newcastle will be thrown out of work almost immediately.
They have been heretofore hired by the year, entering into
written engagements with the coal-owners for that purpose.
These bonds will expire this week. It has always been
the custom to enter into the new bonds just before the
term of the old ones was completed. This has not been
done on the present occasion, but, on the contrary, several
of the men have received notice that their service will be
no longer required. Their dismiszal is, we believe, in
some degree attributable to their having been engaged in a
union socie y.—Tyne 3fticary.
_ _

The Magistrates of Glasgow are speedily redeeming their
promise of creating work for the unemployed operatives.
Three hundred operatives are engaged at the quarries, and,
notwithstanding the sudden transition from sedentary ha-
bits to such a laborious employment, the men are appa-
rently cheerful ; their hands, however, have suffered
severely, and it may be eight or ten days before they be
properly prepared for the fatigue ; in consideration of this
they are allowed for the first six days sixpence each, in
addition to what they can make by piece work. Several
who have applied themselves earnestly, have earned one
shilling per day, being half a yard of metal, at the highest
paying prices. Besides those who are employed in the
quarries, and by several worthy gentlemen in the neigh-
bourhood, it is expected that the Magistrates will employ
about 700 more in other works—so that the distress will
for some time be greatly alleviated, and those who are toil-
ing at the loom will be induced to throw,up their work till
better prices be obtalhed. Never, in the annals of misery
and of weaving, was a web given• out at a halfpenny per
ell, the weaver to pay the weft winding, till this awful pe-
riod ; and the manufacturer who gives it, and the poor
wretch who accepts of it, arc orally to be pitied.—Glus-
rw Free Press.

TO THE RDITOR Oh' THE BRITISH PRESS.

9t a,—The very useful and praiseworthy labours of Mr.
PELL, in the consolidafkin of our penal laws, will natu-
rally have the effect of drawing the public attention to the
principles upon which those laws have hitherto been
framed, and of bringing about that effective revision of
them, which they so urgently require. It is the prevailing
complaint throughout the kingdom that crimes are multi-
plying—that every Assize of late years brings with it an
increased calendar of enalefactots—and that, whether, the
sentences pronounced are lenient or severe, the effect is the

same; the gaols are not thinntd, and the mass of delin-
quency still goes on increasing.
For this lamentable effect there must he some adequate
Cause. In part, it may, no doubt, be aNcribeil to the greater
temptations that arise out of the general diffusion of wealth

—in part, too, it may be owir to the rapid increase of
that class of the population that, born in poverty and bred
up in idleness, are easily seditieil into all manner of vice,
and will never seck to maintain themselves by labour while
they can maintain theinaelves by any other meant; but
these causes alone will nit account for the fact. If, in

_ .
spite of the numbers which annually suffer death, and the
crowds of convicts sentenced to transportation, we find
culprits of both kinds meet their fate with more indiffe-
rence than ever, it seems reasonable to suspect that there
must he some fundamental error fn our penal code—that
much of the evil so much deplored proceeds from some
radical defect in our mode of dealing with offenders; since
the pool:chloride we inflict, so far from operating as a warn-
ing, do just the reverse, and instead of exciting a dread
of crimes, increase the numb:•r of offenders. Theft and

robbery are come to rank among the trades; children are
regularly brought up to them. Instances of early de-
pravity, which in former times were rare, are become-mat-
ter of every day (wenn( nee; and the houses of correction,
to which the youthful delinquents are from time to titre
sent, turns them again eac:i titnc updn the World, with
their wits better sharpened and their bad propensities
more confirmed than before.

There is no branch of political economy so Important, or
so worthy the attention of all who would promote the
real good of the country, as that which has for its object
the introduction of a more enlightened system of legisla-
tion into our busty of penal statutes. We owe greatly to
that liberal spirit which is fast finding its way into. our
mercantile intercourse, and which lias been advocated Nith
so much ability anti enforced with 6d much firmness by
Mr. flessissoty. Let the same philosophical survey be
taktn of our criminal as of out COMMERCIAL code.
Mr. PeeL has done much to disentangle its perplexity,
•

and to rid it of what was obscure, siipeifluous,aftil obso--
lete ; but much yet remains to be done. •No person, awn
sure, would be more truly anxious thin the Houle Secre-
tary would be, to give efltict to any reformation that could
be introduced with safety and effect; but the subject is
too large for the grasp of any single mind.
There are, perhaps, few public writers whose works are
more generally read than those of Archdeacon PALET.
Ile is studied very much—and very profitably—by that class
of readers who have their opinions yet to form, and this
class includes the great majority of the teading,patt of the
community. In his " PrinCiples of "fatal and Political
Philosophy' he has a chapter " Crimes and Punishments."
which I never could read without deeply regretting that so
excellent an opportunity hail been lost of investigating this
most important subject, and of confirming those great and
invaluable axioms of criminal justice to which his extensive
reputation as a moralist would have given currency, and
which would, by this means, have been gradually moulded
into the sentiments of the nation. Unfortunately there is
no chapter in his work which contains so little that can de-
serve the name of " Political Philosophy," as that which
relates to this very subject, which called so much for the
illustration of its principles.
PALLY begins by affirming that—
" The proper end of human punishment is, not the satis-
faction of justice, but the prevention of crime. IV the
satisfaction of justice I mean the revilantion of so much
pain for so much guilt, which is the dispensation we ex-
pect at the hand of Cod, and which we ace accustomed to
consider as the order of things that perfect justice dictates
and requires. In what sense, or whether witfi truth lb
any sense, justice may be said to demand the punishment
of offenders, I do not now inquire ; but I assert that this
demand is not the motive or occasion of human punish-
ment."—(Vol. 2. p. 98.)
There are sentiments contained in the above passage
which, coming from the pen of a professed theologian, are
open to more objection than I feel inclined to make upon
them. They are manifestly written with very little reflec-
tion. If the satisfaction of justice is not the proper ore Iff
punishment, there seems no good ground for representing
it as the principle on which we are to expect it will' e in.
flicted by the Deity in a future world. It is making man'
more equitable in the dispensation of punishment than
his Maker, since the former alone is made to con-

cult the proper end of punishment, while it requires
no pains to prove that all punishment inflicted with-
out a view to that end, whatever it may be, is ini-
quitous and cruel. As little warranted by any principle
of reason or utility is the doubt which is thrown out " in
what sense, or whether in truth in any tense justice may
be said to demand the punishment of offenders." On what
other principle is punishment in any case to be regulated?
Every crime is punishable either as it occasions an
injury to the community at large, or to tome in-
dividual of that community. It is justice that in
both cases requires that they should be protected by
the laws, and the same principle enjoins that more
suffering should not be inflicted than is necessary to
deter the delinquent himself from the repetition of the
offence, and at the same time to operate as a warning to
others. Justice must, in fact, be the basin' of criminal
laws as of all other jaws, and it is confounding all our
sentiments of right and wrong to teach us otherwise.
" The fear," it is added, " lest the escape of the crimi-
nal should encourage him, or others by his example, to
repeat the same crime, or to commit different crimes, is the
sole consideration which authorizes the infliction of punish-
ment by human laws. Now that, whatever it be, which
is the cause and end of punishment, ought undoubtedly to
regulate the measure of its severity. But this cause ap-
pears to be founded, not on the guilt of the offender, but
on the necessity of preventing the repetition of the offence ;
and front hence results the reason that crimes are not by
any government punished in proportion to the guilt, nor
in all cases ought to be so, but in proportion to the diffi-
culty and necessity of preventing them. Thus the stealing
of goods privately out of a shop, may not, in its moral
quality, be more criminal than the stealing them out of a
house ; yet being equally necessary, and more difficult, to
be prevented, the law, in certain circumstances, denounces
against it a severer punishment." (I'. 289.)
With respect to the principle which Paley here lays
down, and which he afterward.; insists upon more strongly
—that the 'severity of punishment ought not to be measured
by the guilt of the offender, but to
.the necessity of
preventing the offence, as I shall examine it in a future
letter, 1 shall not dwell upor it at present. As to
the case quoted by way of illustration, that of privately
stealing from a shy, it deserves a remark, that by the Bill
brought ht by Mr. Peel, and now in pregress through the
House, " for consolidating and amending the laws in Eng-
land relative to larceny, and certain other offences respect.
ing property," the 10 and I I W. 111. c. 23, which made
the privately stealing any goods, wares, or merchandise,'
from any shop, ware-house, coach-house, or stable, is re-
pealed, and a shop is not deemed part of a dwelling-house,
unlessadjoined to it by some internal communication,aud the
word privately, used in the former Act, is untitled in the pre-
sent Bill. In the repealed statute, the punishment of death
was unwarranted ; the feelings both of the Judges and of the
Jury revolted against it, and it is curious to remark the
subtle distinctions which were suggested from the Bench in
mercy to the accused. Thus, in the case of Thomas Smith,
indicted for stealing two cheeses, &c. the Court. stlecided
that " the circumstance of taking goods privately in the
shop makes it a capital offence, but if any one sees them
taken, it is nut a capital offence." At the old Bailey in Ja-
nuary, 1782. In a case where the accused was not seen to
take the goods, and the charge, therefore, of privately
stealing could not he repelled, another refinement of con-
struction was stetted to get rid of the capital offence. Thus
Mary Seddon, otherwise Field, was indicted for felo-
niously stealing a ham, Value Bs., the prokrty of
Jain Davis, privately in his shop, when the Cour, r,

on charging the Jury, said, " The construction, of
this Statute is, that only one person can be guilty
of the capital felony, and that is the hand which ac-
tually takes it; therefore, unless you beli-ve that Mir i• the
woman that actually took the ham, you may acquit helot
the capied part of the charge, which is that of stealing
prirady."—Ohl Bailey Sessions, June, 178.1 •
gum. roue other cans might he adduced to show Low
constantly the legal acuteness of our Judges has been em-
ployed to combat the excessive severity of our penal sta-
tutes: and•why ? because the pudishment has been out of
all proportion to the offence.
I had intended to go more fully into an examination of
the doctrine which Pa t E Y lays down upon this importipt
subj. c: of cringes and punishment, but I shall probably have
occupied already as much apace as you can spare, and shall
therefore defer it to a future lettet.
ORANICITS.

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