The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1818-10-15 00:00:00

_ *mad. tilAstalbaltt. •
-7411-7- ea
If. the period of imptionstemit.flich the crimes
of individealit, awl the pratettitie sod security of
society will, it is to he feared, at at times render
twittery in nenWestes Instances, MIN by any ge-
neral plan be totieretel fees being the too fre-
quent source of sheltie's sted prollisocy,, lo.,the
meets of 4,44 iestructiou, sobriety, and indus-
try, in the eiirvair objects of it, so as to educe
g perinanedt ood a short-lived reit, and by
the solid' improvement of the culprit; both deliver
the community from the apprehension of his future
delinquency, and enrich it by soother user.' mein-
ber--tnis would incontestably be a most. happy
cousuinfinition. Deprivation of liberty, however
occasioned, is in itself a calamity—whet the con-
sequence of guilt or imprudence. it is snore.
over a disgrace ; and disgrace aari misfortune
are in themselves naturally calcitlatid to beget
reflection. sorrow, and serious purposes of amend-
merit of life. Prudent management. thee), its
allowing nature to work her ordinary effects on
man, and in aidiug her operation a little, is, it
should seem, the only desideratum to render im-
prisonment a *otter of great and lasting benefit to
those subjected to it, as well as a pledge to society
of their good conduct for the future. In this spirit,
and with these views, diffent soitutes.have passed in
this snit the two wee:ding reigos, for the employ meet
and reformation of estivate' for, visions offences its
Houses of Correction or Penitentiaries., the object
of which is thus described by Judge Blackstone :
" In forming the plan of these Ise'nitentisfy
Houses, the principal objects have been, by so- '
twisty, cleanliness, and medical ',listener, by a
regular series of labour, by solitary coulineineut,
during the intervals of work, and by due religious
instruction, to preserve and amend the health of
the unhappy offeddeis, to Wore •tbein to habits of
industry, to guard them from pernicious company,
to accustom them to serious reflection, and to teach
them both the principles, and practice of every
Christian and moral duty.'' To how limited a els,
gree the above plan has been acted on ; how imper-
fectly followed up, where professed to be intro-
duced ;- and how lamentably seglected in every
one of its ends iii the great tusjotity of our prism's,
the public have had, for the since of some years,
but too ample proofs. The alinot4 universal ne-
glect or failure of a system .o wise and benevolent,
added to the insinustionr and remarks thrown nut
in various quieten, on the inspoliey of too much
consulting the comforts of criminals, might well
have created doubts of its practicability, and led
the candid looker-on to question the possibility of
eliciting laborious, moral, and religious habits, its
hut stubborn subject., out of the circumstance of
compulsory iniprisuument.
Whoever. therefore, after making. o candid ex-
position of the wretchedness awl accumulated ini-
quity, the almost invariable consequence of our
common system of prison discipline, should have
pointed out the practicability and excellent effe.cts
of the one before referred to, intended by our liu-
wane legislators for particular cases, but of easy
extension to all, supporting his reasoieings by ergo.
menu drawn from facts, and the existence of pri-
sons, where all the bappv Cools already specified
are actually pursued audethctually attained—such
a mau would have conferred an essential service,
not only on his own country, hut on the world.—
Such a task Mr. Thomas Fowell Buxton has un-
dertaken in leis 5, Inquiry whether Crime and Mi-
sery ore produced or prevented by oar present Sys-
tems of Prison Discipline." mud
ceefled. In an iutroduclion, he distributes pri-
soners into classes, mid examine., in a strait'
of forcible and pathetic eloquence, the rights
of each, Sir even the most c 1111 l Mal of convicts
has rights—,, Disease. cold. famine, nakedoess, a
contagious sod polluted air, are out lawful punish.
mesas its the hands of the civil magistrate, slur has
lie a right to poison or strive his fellow-creatures,
though the greatest of criminals;' that, in continu-
ing to adhere to it, the rights of all descriptions of
prisoners are violated. a false and cruel method of
discipline ispholdeo, mud a wise and humane one
abandoned.
He then considers what the practice in England
is with regard to each of these, and thence de-
duces the conclusion. To prove this Mr. Bux-
ton states to be the object of his work. Accord-
'ugly be divides it into two parts, in the first of
which lie makes a detailed statement from personal
observation of the mode of treatment pursued its
the Borough Compter, Tuthill-lieblo, and other
gaols in and about the metropolis°, and argues.
midisswerably as appears to us, front the want of
cient food. of warmth, of room, and accommodation
for sleeping. of clothing. of infirmaries. of work, of
classification, of chapels, &c. in one or all of these
places, that their discipline is partial. cruel, Mt-
politic, naturally and necessarily productive of both
crime and misery.
In the second part he conducts his reader through
the Bury Gaol awl House of Correctiou, the Ma-
san de Force et Ghent, the Philadelphia Priem,

• State of Ga•ls by W.satitb, 1775.