The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1821-10-10 00:00:00

THIRD REPORT

OF TIDE COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIETY FOR
THE IMPROVEMENT OF PRISON DISCIPLINE,
AND FOR THE
REFORMATION OF JUVENILE. OFFENDERS.

(row:tided frost orr Paper of yesterday.)

By a Report of the Prefect of the department of
tin. heine it appeals that labour in tke prisons uuder
his jurisdiction has been cootstoler.obly ex•eoded. In
France, as in some oilier countries. great assistance
may hr derived from the exertions of les Saturn de la
Chime& is visiting anal runoributint to the reforms.
tine of female prisoners. Several ur the prisons in
France have hero visited by a valuable Member of
the Committee, travelling through that kingdom,
whose .counts it/ the appendix wi4l be read with
great interest.
lu Switzerland, considerable exertions have been
made I.r the improvement of the prisons. Being
divided into several Cantons, many of them very
small, and each having a separate government, dirt
country is net inn situation in which, much perfec-
tion of prison management is to be expected. The
greatest desire, however, is manifestrA by all classes
or society to ameliorate the prisons.
lot the Croton of Berne, rood in the Pays de
Vaud, new prisons are to he erected. At I ;elleVil
also, a house of correction is about to be built. The
Committee have endeavoured to facilitate the ob-
jects by furnishing plans, and have given a promise
ol• assistance to other Cantons.

It occnrred to the gentlemen to whom the Com-
mittee have aUudrd, that isiformation ins the sub-
ject of prison. was much required on the Conti-
urut he therefore published a pamphlet in French,
" Observasiona on Me Prisms of Swit-
zerland," with a translation of 'sort of 211 r. Buxton's
work on Prison Di•cipliele. describiog the will-sr.
ranged priains of Ghent, Bury, &c. with the Re.
port of the Ladies' Committee at Newgate. This
tract has been extensively circulated, not only in
Switzerland, but throughout France and Italy.
There is great reason to hope that 'flints will
shortly be made to ameliorate the prisons in the
dominions of the King of Sardinia. A commission
has been given to itreestigerte-ilse state of these
gaols, to Comte D'Agelio, a Nobleman who hiss the
improvement of the criminal very warmly at heart.
In the prison at Turin, where the prisoners were
crowded, exposed to the excesses of heat and cold,
without allowance of clothes, or the ItleallP of em-
ployment, and where one-third of the number were
on the sick list, a Lady of rank, urged by the exam-
ple of a distinguished female in ilia country, was
found labouring dime, giving, wink, and providing
clothes for the poisoners., allowing them a portion of
their earnings till they left the prison, menisteriseg
to their bodily wends, and extending to them the
consolations of religion.
The Committee have been honoured by a com-
munication from the King of Wieteniberg, which
affords strong remelt to hope that the slate of the
prisons in his dominions has attracted such notice as
will speedily lead to the adoption or material im-
provements.
The Committee, in conclusion, can declare,.
with perfect truth, that the continuance of their
inquiries has deeply convinced them of the ne-
cessity of persevering iu their labours, and im-
piessed them with the great importance of the
tutproveingut of prison discipline to the interests
-or justice and the welfare of: society-. To reform
the criminal, even for his own sake, is an "bieet•
of solicitude with every gui•ti man ; but the
benefit to the individual forms but a small part
only of that which experience proves is the result.
It is the ordinatom of divine wisdom, that man
cannot sutler foals the neglect of man without
mu-
tual mein') ; and by * species of moral retribution,
society is pienished by the omission of its duties to
the ignorant sod the guilty. *llie renewed depre-
dations of the offeilder, when discharged from eon-
the crimes which he propagates by his
beductook amid influence, spread pollution among all
with whom lie aseociates, and the mituleer of offen-
ders thus becomes indefinitely multiplied.
A review of the progress of ingsiovements in pri-
son discipline, during the past year. presents just
grounds for congratulation. The labours of the
Legislattele, tli disposition of the magistracy, the
public nitro st which the subject COlitioUrti to ax-
cot, the actual Introduction improvements iii
the construction and dosciplinc of various gaols,
the dctruPlllll of in melon., steel ila anielithetrit of
promos iii liorigo coutoriesi, prove that the cause is
steadily. *advancing.
lint although these considerations are flighty en-
couraging, there is yet much to accomplish in this
work of national improvement. So extensive are
the defects of classification, that iii thirty gaols
constructed for the coolinement of i,985 Innutiesse
there were, at one time in the List year, -no hewer
than 5,837 prisoners : and the whole number im-
prisoned in those goola, dialog 111 it period, amount-
ed to ldb, 03. There are yet prisons where idleness
and its attendant evils reign uoreOralovi—.where
the sexes are nut separated—where all distinctions
of crime are cusifoundetl--where few cars enter, if
uncorrupted, without pollution; mill, if guilty,
without incurring deeper stains of criminality. There
are yet prisous which receive not the pious visits of

A

a Christian Minister which the light oknowledge
never enters—Aad where the truths and consolations
of the Gospel are never heard. Tlitre are yet
gaols where, for the security of the prisoners. mea-
sures are resorted to, as revolting to British feeling
as they are repugnant to the spirit and letter of
English law, A more frequent gaol delivery
II ghout the kingdom—the abtlition of borough
gaols incapable of material improvement—and
prompt measures for arresting the progress, and
promoting the reformation, of the criminal youth in
the metropolis ; are objects which earnestly require
the early consideration of bis Majesty's Govetu.
ment.

The manifest effect of the system of prison dis-
cipline which the Society advocate, in to prevent
crime, by inspiring a dread of imprisonment, and by
inducing the criminal, on his discharge from C 011.•
finemesit, to abandon his vicious pursuits. To re-
commend plans :so beneficial, the labours of Howard,
of Nield, and of Paul, were powerfully directed.
Their individual r fforis were truly valuable; bat the
exertions of a single life, however enlightened and in-
defatigable, are necessarily limited and imperfect. it
is seldom, but by associated strength, that measures,
of great notional interest, cars be attained. Hence the
advantage of a Society, which combine the ener-
gies, and unite the exertions, of all who are in-
terested in the cause—encourage and provide is
succession of labourers—assist its keeping the sub-
ject lwfiwe the public attention, and diffuse in-
formation calculated to facilitate the adoption of
approved designs, and beneficial arrangements, in
the construction and management of prisons.
Such are the objects of the Society for the im-
provement of prison• discipline : to promote which
the Committee cull generally on their fellow-
countrymen to extend their patronage, co-opera-
tion, and support. The Society's foods ate
employed in the printing and circulation of pub-
lic:likens and Reports, and in engraving designs
for prisons ; in relieving destitute prisoners on
their discharge, but who are desirous of quit-
ting their criminal hstrits ; and especially in the
support of the Temporary Refuge, where the number
admitted is necessarily limited, in consequence of
the narrow state of the Committee's finances. To
extend their objects, and to resider their exertioos
more permanently, as well as widely, beneficial, the
Committee earnestly 'sweat the aid of public be-
nevolence; and they trust that pecuniary support
will not be withheld, when it is considered that on
the liberality wills which this appeal is answered,
depends, in a great measure, the success of the So-
ciety, and the welfare of many a youth whose days
will otherwise he spent in misery and crime.
In reviewing the assistance which they have re-
ceived, the Committee cannot refrain from the pub-
lic expression of their obligations to two professional
gentlemen, members of the Committee, whose
names are only concealed from regard to the deli-
cacy of their feelings, and who have, with marked
disinterestedness, honourably applied their talents
to the improvement of prison architecture. These
gentlemen have been on all occasions most ready to
furnish the Committee, gratuitously, with designs.
Their exertions hiie been characterised by singular
ability and very superior views of gaol-construction,
•minated by an ardent zeal for the object, and be-
. stowed at a considerable sacrifice of valuable time :
services which could not have been purchased by
any pecuniary compensation, and which have con-
tributed in no small degree to the success of the
Society. . ...
The Committee, in the prosecution of tifeir la-
bours, are not animated by zeal for novel or untried
theories. it is proved, by facts, that, by the neglect
of prison management, crime and wretchedness are
produced and multiplied. It is proved, by facts,
that where prisoners are inspected, classed, instruct-
ed, and employed—there crime and wretchedness
are sensibly dimioAhed. It is proved, by facts,
that the system may be adopted with facility; and
facts are not required to prove that it is wises be-
nevolent, and just.
With the Legislature all prison regulation must
originate. The parliamentary enactments already in
existence are remarkably distinguished by a strict
regard to the interests of justice out! humanity. With
a view to reform, as well as to ;moist), the Legisla-
ture has done much, and there is every reason to
hope, that what remains to be effected will be com-
pleted in a spirit svoithy of the genius and charac-
ter of that law which extends to the meatiest its
protection, and exempts 1:01 the greatest loom its
power.
To the Magistrates, the Legislature "vilely de-
legates the superintendence of promos. With them
will rest the rxecntion of those enactments, in
which the letter e- sir of the public are so deeply in-
volved. Oil the Msgistracy, then. the hopes Of
the friends to the improvemeist of prison discipline
ale fisted. Let them realise these hopes, mild they
will witness the fruits of their exertions in the in-
creased security of property, the reformation of
the vicious, and the prevention of crime ; amid, for
their labours, they will tidily merit the wannest
benedictions of a grateful country, and insure to
ilienoelves, even yet, a far more solid—,an imperish-
able reward.

MARKErS.

oftioNE

[From die " tendon Mercantile Price Catrren?,4 of
Tuesday, October 9, 1821.]

WEST INDIA AND SPANISH MAIN PRODUCE.
CoUm—Dario( the past week the prices of Coffee ►ale
experienced corisiderable fluctuation, bet on the whole they
•re not mooch lower than on Tuesday last; on Wedorsday
and Thursday there •ere more buyers of the gond ordinary
qualities of Jamaica, and rashes higher prices were paid, but
on Friday there was leas los lanes, for this description; seve-
ral parcels of Dutch were brought foi ward in the sales on
Friday, askeh went at lower prices. Foreign remains nearly
as quoted iii our last : St. Domingo hair bren sold at 98s. to
100 s. in casks, and at 995. to 102+. 6d. in bags, and ordinary
to tine ordinary Havannali at 92s 6 I. to 109.5. 6J. per col.
The stock of Coffee is now 5,561 Sons, bring 1,925 more
than at this time last year ; present pi ices 255. per cwt. low. r.
The B. P. SUOMI market has been steady, particularly fur
good qualities; the supply of ordinary brown is very great,
and sales are in consequence helm Nearly •t the close of
market on Friday, extensive sales were made, chiefly in
brawn qualities ; the total quantity sold on that day amount.
ed to shoat 2,000 casks.
In Fontlog SUGAR there has been little business dune
since our last, hiss there is nut much offering.
The Stock of 11. P. Sugar is now 2.699 casks more than at
this time last year; prmetat prices be. per cwt. lower p.r
Gazette average.
RUM—Two public sales of Jamaica have been brought
forward since our last, which went off at about Id. per
gallon lower; the market generally is dull at the prices
quoted.
The stork of Rum is now 34,871 puncheons. and price of
Proof Leeward Is. NI. per gallon ; ditto same lime last year
20,897 puncheons, and ps ice of Proof Leeward 2s. Id. per
gallon.
PlllllollTo.—One parcel Ms been sold at a small reduction.
DTINVOODIIare steady.