The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-12 00:00:00

Federal Barbarities in Virginia.

The following letter has been addressed by ex-
Governor Letcher, of Virginia, to the Mayor of
Richmond :

Lexington, Va., July 5.
Finding that the Yankees would take the town
or, Saturday, the 11th, I left home near midnight,
Friday night, and went to Big Island, in Ihdford,
where I remained till Wednesday morning follow-
ing, when, hearing the Vandals had lett, I returned.
I had previously heard that my house had been
burned with all its contents. The threats made by
the Yankees against me for the past two years satis-
fied me that they would destroy my house when
they came to Lexington, but I always supposed
that they would allow the furniture and my family's
clothing to be removed. In this, however, I was
disappointed.
When the Yankees took possession of the town,
Dr. Paton, medical director for Hunter's army, and
who hails from Manion county, Virginia, went to
my house, told my wife he was unwell, and said he
meet have a room in the house. He took the room,
supped and breakfasted, aod, when breakfast was
nearly over, remarked in a manner half jocular, half
'earnest, to Lizzie, that it was the last meal she
would take in the house. Shortly after he left'
without taking leave of any of the family, nor was
he again seen by any of them.
The threats made by soldiers on Saturday even-
ing indiued my wife to fear that the house would
be burned, and she expressed her fears in the hear-
ing of Dr. Paton and Capt. Towns, of New York.
Capt. Towns very promptly said that I, being a
private citizen, and the house being private pro..
party, burning it would be an inexcusable outrage,
and proposed at once to go to Hunter's headquar-
ters and ascertain. He went, and was directed by
Hunter to assure my wife that the house would not
be disturbed. The sequel shows that the sole object
of this assurance was to quiet her apprehensions,
and thus prevent anything from being removed.
About halt-past eight o'clock a.m. (Captain Berry
and his provost guard rode up, and the officer called
for my wife. She came to the door, when Berry
informed her he was ordered by Hunter to fire the
house. She replied there must be some mistake,
and asked for the order. He said it was a verbal
order. She then said to him, " Can it not be de-
layed until I can see General Hunter." " The order
is peremptory," he replied, " and you have five
minutes to leave the house." She then asked leave
ro remove her mother's, sister's, her own, and her
sister's clothing, which was insolently refused.
Immediately thereafter camphine was poured on
the parlour floor, and ignited with a match. In the
meantime my daughter had gathered up an armful
of clothioz, and was going oat when he discovered
her, ran forward,and fired the clothing in her arms.
He then poured camphine in the wardrobes, bureau
drawers, and ignited the clothing—taking out my
clothing, which he said he intended to take north.
Every house on my lot was burned save a small
granary over my icehouse. Nat a particle of flour,
meat, or anything edible was left, all having baen
carried off on Saturday.

My mother, now in her 78th year, lives on the
lot adjoining my own, having with her one of her
grandchildren and servant. After my property had
been fired the fiends fired her stable, located about

PRICE .4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

forty feet from the house, with no other views
than to burn her out also. The house caught twice
and would have ben consumed but for the untiring
efforts of Captain Towns, who made his men carry
water and extinguish the flames. Tlie captain be-
haved like a gentleman towards my own and my
mother's family.

Generals Averill, Crook, Snllivan. and Duffle de-
nounced the whole proceedings as an outrage, in
violation of all the principles of civilised warfare,
and stated that Hunter alonn was responsible for
these atrocities.—l em truly, end in baste, your
friend, JOHN LETCHER.

Jos. Mayo, E q., Richmond, V:l.-Index.

The End of the Polish Insurrection,

WARSAW, Aug. 5.

The final scene of a melancholy drama was played
to an end to-day. Tile last chief of the celebrated
Polish National Government and four of its mem-
bers died this morning upon the gallows. The un-
fortunate victims were Romnald Trangutt, a dis-
charged Ru.sisn colonel ; Krsjewski, an architect ;
Joseph Toczyski, a bookkeeper; Zalinski, a teacher,
at the Gymnasium ; and Johann Jezioranski. a tax-
collector ; ail young men, none over 30 years of age.
Originally 21 men and four women were sentenced
to death by the military tribunals, but the Viceroy
pardoned 17 of the men and all the women. It
must not be imagined, however, that the objects of
Count Berg's clemency have much reason to con-
gratulate themselves, for their sentences have been
commuted partly into many years of labour in the
Siberian mines, partly to shorter periods of confine-
molt in fortresses in the same bleak and inhospit-
able country.
The official Dzienna, of yesterday gives a detailed
account of the whole prosecution, and furnishes
many interesting particulars of the manner in which
the insurrec•ionary government was carried on.
The following are extracts ;

" Owing to the discoveries made by the Military
Investiaation Committee, and the increased activity
of the Warsaw polce, numbers of persons concerned
in the revolutionary organisation were arrested at
the beginning of the year, and an extensive revolu-
tionary correspondence was seized. Upon inspec-
tion of the documents and examination of the pri-
soners further arrests were undertaken, which, com-
bined with information already obtained, rendered
it possible to gain possession of the chiefs of the
insurrection. The investigation which then took
place brought to light the main details of the orga-
nisation, and the action of the secret society, or,
so-called, National Government, standing at the
head of the movement.

" The National Government operated by means
of a special central organisation in Warsaw, and of
local administrations in the eight woywodeships
into which the rebels had divided the kingdom of
Poland. Up to October 10, 1863, the Government
was composed only of a small council, the composi-
tion and arrangement of which was veiled in the
deepest mystery. After that date an entire change
took place, one chief being recognised as the imme-
diate and independent leader of the entire revolu-
tion. This chief was the discharged Lieutenant.
Co:onel Romaald Trangutt, formerly leader of an
insurgent corps in Lithuania. After the dispersion
of his followers he fiA to Cracow, whence he went
to Warsaw, ostensiby as a traveller for a mercantile
firm, under the assumed name of Michael Cz trneche.
" The 'Warsaw central organisation, as chief
organ of the revolutionary Government, was corn-
posed of six departments, under different heads—
Interior, War, Treasury, Foreign Affairs, Public
Press, and Pollee. In addition to its chief, each
department had a certain number of subordinate
officials and a secretary. Following out the prin-
ciple adopted in the entire organisation, the mem-
bers of which each department was composed were
unknown to its chief, and of the chiefs themselves
most were strangers to one another. The local
administrations in the woywodeships, whose mem-
bers were known through the various decrees dis-
tributed among the people, consisted-1, of coos-
miesioners possessing certain powers ; 2, of the
civil chiefs of the woywodeships ; 3, chiefs of
circles, towns, and communes," &c.
Tne Dziennik then gives in some detail a resume
of the operations of the National Government to
the 10th of October, 1863, the date of Trangutt
assuming tha chief direction of affairs, and can-
tin ues

" From this period several heads of departments
into personal communication with Trangutt, whom
they visited at his lodgings in the house of Helene
Ktrkow, in Smoln..-street. Trangutt also fre-
quently went to the officials to make arrangements
with them. These meetings of the chiefs ceased in
January, 1864, after the capture of various mem-
bers. Thenceforth the communication between the
different diplomatists was carried on through female
agents.

" The investigation proved that, besides Tran-
gatt, the chief personages of the revolutionary
organisation were the following :---1. Secretary of
State, the architect Janowski. 2. The heads of
departments--Interior, R. Krgjewski, noble, aged
29; his secretaries, T. Burzynski and G. Paprocki;
Treasury, Joseph Toezyski, a bookkeeper, formerly
banished, aged 37, his secretaries, Iluaiki, a noble,
aged 50, and Summeki, noble, aged 19 ; War, Galp-
zowski, falsely called Golkowicz, Russian, a mili-
tary man ; Foreign Affairs, Danagowski, pastor of
St. John's Church; his secretary, Wolynski, also a
clergyman ; Public Press, Waclaw Pry bylski, for-
merly teacher at the Wologodzi Gymnasium ; his
secretary, Boguslawski, a noble, aged 25; Police,
P►okowski, teacher at the Gymnasium; Wazkowski,
town captain, the son of a Warsaw citizen, 3. The
head of the publication department, Baron Zalinski ;
his secretaries and assistants, A. Krzeki, a noble,
aged 25; R. Frankoweki, student at the Warsaw
High School, a noble, aged 24; E. Trvebsecki, a
noble, aged 25; C. Hants, of Warsaw, aged 20. 4.
The Commissioner of Ways and Reads, J. Jezior-
anski, a noble, aged 30. 5. M. Dobiecki, a noble,
aged 26, teacher at the 3d District School in War-
saw.

These persons, with several culpable in a less
degree, had incurred the penalty of death, but his
Excellency confirmed the sentence to that effect
passed by the court-martial only in the cases of the
condemned men Trangutt, Krajewski, Toczyski,
Zalinski, and Jezioranski. The sentences of the
other prisoners were commuted by his Excellency,
by virtue of the authority placed in his hands, in
limiki's case to 15 years' hard labour in the mines,
Dyborcki to 12 years, and eight of the others to 10
years' confinement in Siberian fortresses, each pri.
Boner incurring the loss of all civil rights.

"The court-martial also found Johann Maklano.
wiez, Helena Kirkow, the sisters Emilia and Bar-
bara Gazawska, and Anna Wrobleweka, guilty of
having illegally aided and abetted the rebels. For
this offence Madame Kirkow Mecklanowiez, and the
aizawskas were condemned to loss of civil rights
and bard labour in the factories, the former for
eight years, the others fur six. Anna Wrobtewska,
also losing her civil rights, was sentenced to trans-
portation to Siberia. The present and future pro-
perty of the criminals wa© also confiscated to the
use of the State."

The five persons condemned to death were exe-
cuted upon the glacis of the fortress this naming,
although a Firtion was hoped for to th© East mo.
meat. They stepped upon the scaffold firmly, and
underwent their fate with perfect resignation and
composure, in presence of au immense crowd of ex-
cited spectators.
Thus perished the latest victims of the ill-judged
and ill-fated Polish rising of 1863.

PRINCE NAPOLEON IN INVERNESS.-0a Monday
evening Prince Napoleon, the Princess Murat,
Count Ferra Pisani, and other members of the Prince's
suite, arrived in Inverness by train from the South, and
took up their abode in the Caledonian Hotel. After visiting
the various oljects of interest in the town and neighbour-
hood, the parry proceeded to Oban by the Caledonian Canal.
--SeAstnunt

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The late Prince Albert's Spe e Aes,
Il
A correspondent of the kerning Advertiser,
signing himself "A Physician," writ,et t as follows
(under date the 10th inst ), to our eon to mporary:—
Sir,—l was glad, as I am sure nanny other readers
were, that in the notice of the un veiling of the
excellent and striking statue or monallt.Ut to the
late Prince Consort yesterday at the Licensed Vic-
tuallers' Asylum, your reporter speaks so Well of
the science of tte late ever-by.us-to-bn deplored
popular leader.
I must say for myself that I have lt,een all my life
reading Bacon and " Butler's Analcgy," Whewell
and Mill, deduction and induction; dreary Hunter
orations by the dezn, medical lec:ty:-es like lures
in Ombrosa for wurthlessnees or number; dry
p!r,ti!udes cleat: Oxlord of Sir Wiaiam
Hamilton ; uniAlr[nly bombast as to Ecit,nce by
(3,l.!yie ; " Ve,riges of Creition," plagiarined,
polishal quackeries as to ilevelcpthent, a brilliant
castle of c'irds tumbled long ego, and leaving no
vestiges
Ail tbcso Lnd many more, but I never got the
true co-ordinating secr:q of wbat is or ougnt to be
`inductive" reasoning and what " deductive" tilt
1 had read Prince A,lrt's op,eches, t,apeci3lly the
one at Abtrcleen. Mat wonderful speech, though
obviously written or spoken at the British As-
sociation tinder the inspiration of Liebig, is per-
haps the most perfect thing of iis kind in the
English language. Ti,c,e speeches and these
books of science are to young men like what a jour..
ney right through the tangle and thicket of Aus-
tralia might be to a sac of explorers without a key
or map, or a ship at sea in a storm that had lost all
sight of stars or sky and also its COMpass—mystifi-
cation, distraction and bother e?erywhere ; made
more mystical by half-informed critics in so called
weekly science or other newspapers. Such were
, when the
the books, lectures, platitudes, bombast
Prince, with masterly power, gave the key to the
whole chaos. Or it was like that dreadful noise at
the Opera, when the trombones, fiddles, clarionets,
piano, and fifes are tuning without end, but at
length comes the co-ordinating key or solemn Wail
of the overture, mayhap to " Fidelio." But what
would three hours of discordant tuning be compared
to that opera itselt? Such are too many of tl.e
science books even now—discord, claptrap, atheis'.n,
one-sided crotchets or law on induction, for wll‘ch
Whewell and Herschel are the representative men;
great and grand laws of social economy or induce
tion that nobody believe now, though they were
bard nuts to crack at college once on a time. We
now have "Darwin on Species" every day mis-
quoted ; the gorilla question and the laippocamptui
about as much settled as we settled Denmark and

the Duchies ; toe old orchestra tuning still always
going on—our friend CJ.rdinal Wiseman first fiddle.
The Times review writers who never spell " diocese"
or " chemistry" or half a dozen other words right
at the kettle-drums—Armstrong guns theono great
particular science for them (not a science at all)—
men mistaking Bu! wer Lytton for Ciaries o.3lrilley
and denouncing Zmcni, and chloro:orm, and
mesmerism as they would Toryism.

The great family of the Podsnaps, the higher
polite people of this kind of inductive science, are
in said woe at the poor, much-to-be-pitied inoffen-
sive people in the parks who sleep co the grass. But
political economy explains how it is so. We treat
the poor by rigid, cast-iron statistics as mere stocks
or stones. If it can be shown by Mr. Gladstone's
inductions that each unit of the population consumes
more claret and cigars this year than last ; that the
tonnage of export trade (the standing joke in Ire-
land or Scotland) also in some decimal or logarithm
bigger—no matter that the tonnage is for emigrant
ships, or poor Podge or Smith in the park never
touch cigars or claret, high-priced tobaccos, or
hair powder for servants—the induction of Bacon
or Whewell, the s tatisiical fact of improvement
remains. But Prince Albert showed that induattive
philosophy is not at all adapted to such social or
physiological science; that as now talked '‘n the
schools Bacon is a nricvure ; that such sci ezce is
the key of mere physical discovery—it will do for
chemical analysis or calculation c f an brit
not in calculating social, medical, biological, cr such
problems; that hasty generalisation or itiductfon
is the bane of all our smaller every-day philo-
sophies, and that what is eminently the key of
biological, medical, poor-law socal, life insursnae,
or such problems, is the deductive method, or co co-
paring one group of facts with another group. 2'..re
the poor better off because cotton is less abuna
dant, because railways in London are knoclaing
down their poor habitations by hundreds, emigrant
ships crowded, families broken up, or because
coroners' inquests mike money for coroners in
Bethnal-green ; and " fashion," with the flimsiness
of a moth flying at a candle, runs after Paris silks
rather than Spitalfields goods ? Dundrearyism
and fashion in excelsis, with Parliamentary loge.
rithms and decimals, and the old tuning of our
orchestra that " passeth all understanding," till
one begins to detest the word science. Prince
Albert and men like Victor Hugo evidently do not
look on the poor as sticks or stocks, to be treated by
the inductive science; or that excellent American
who gave half a million to the London poor.
As to what effect " fashion" may have, I have
been told by several wholesale merchants in that
tine, that Spitalfields silks are all the rage as tho
best in Paris shops, but would not be looked at in
the shops of Regent-street ; but that actually it is
common to make silks of the very best kind at
Bethnal-green or Spitalfiolds, send them to Paris,
and bring them back to Regent-street or Oxford.
street with the Paris mark en them, when Duna
drearyism and fashion will go into hysterics over
them. This thing has ruined all the trade in all
the chief towns of Ireland. Take one, Limerick or
Cork, known for brushes, gloves, &c. rho very best
in the world are made in these two towns, but they
must be sent to Paris, and come back to Dublin or
London, like the Spitalfields silks. The deductive
logic looks into these things, reasons on them, know-
ing that in such butterfly flights of fashion, shifting
as the wind, the people are thrown out of employ-
ment ; but the logarithms of induction say it is all
right, as the tonnage of emigration is increased.
So induction says a man dies of chloroform by
diseased heart; deduction says it is exactly the
opposite, and says so correctly. Induction tells
such a man's life ought not to be insured for his
family ; deduction shows such an induction is ab-
solute trash, and so on. Induction is most excellent
for eclipse calculations, though Bacon does not
know it, and does not use the word at all as usually
copied from one silly book to another. By induc-
tion, as Emerson well puts it, one man in ten
thousand ought to marry his grandmother or eat
old shoes because some units of the population at
Colney Hatch do so. But, finally, what I hold is
this, that up to the time of the late ,amented
Prince Consort's speech at Aberdeen, and a speech
by Liebig, this distracted, eternal dull tuning of
the orchestra of English science went on, leaving
our schools, like Eton, Rugby, Harrow, the deri.
sion of Europe; French and German science tra-
vestied ; Bacon a sort of wooden saint, worshipped
and even now never read or quoted, except as ladies
for fashion quote Balm or purchase French silks.

O'CONNELL'S EFFIGY BURNED IN BELFAST.
On Monday night the effigy of Daniel O'Connell
was burned on the Boyne Bridge—the name given to the
new railway bridge, by the Sandy. row men. There were
certainly upwards of 40,000 persons present, and every in-
dignity was wreaked on the effigy of the man whose memory
was commemorated in quite another way in Dublin on
Monday. The burning mass was elevated on the bridqe
while the train convoying the excursionists from Dublin
passed under it. The vast crowd separated peaceably im-
mediately after. A number of the county and local consta-
bulary were present, under Find Constable Rankin and.
Chief Constable M.‘liit trick. Oa Tuesday night the burn-
ing of the efligy, which occurred the previous evening, was
followed up by the burning of a coffin which was supposed
to contain the ashes of the cili2y, A very large crowd
otz
gathered, and, having first proceeded to Friar's Bush bury.
ing ground, where they werodie:liie. denied
admittance,atv
d cnNa
returned back to Sandyrrow, A
procured, and after parading about with it fur some time
they set fire to it and threw it into the Blackstaff. During
the proceedings the music of fife and drum, and cheers,
were heard. Some person originated a rumour that Christ
Church was being wrecked by the Pound-street party, and
ptroo tbeec cf
athe
dl di n
after.g
sonah ee aml aorrme ,c hh
eeo
ea
vrears, hwwa
sa sd
ims
caodvee
rteod
ing, the very large crowd disper.,A:d quietly.—Belfast News
Letter.

LONDON, 14'itIDAY, AUGUST 12, 1864.

The waning of the splendour of cur flower gar-
dens is among the regular signs of the passing away
of summer ; and the autumnal months, though
lighting the monarchs of the woods with tints and
shades which some think eclipse even the fresh ver-
dure of the spring, are only looked to by the humble
)rieulturist as bringing the first signs of decay and
desolation. The limited gardens in the metropolis
and its vicinity generally give early evidence of the
change, perhaps because their owners are in the
habit of taking flight themselves early in autumn,
and are therefore indifferent to the appearance of
their gardens and conservatories when the reign of
the rose is over. There is very little doubt that,
with proper care in the selection of plants, and a
dae regard to their natural seasons for flowering, a
garden even in this climate may be induced to pre-
serve a cheerful appearance through the greater
part of the year. This is the fact which Sir JOSEPH
PAXTON, no mean authority in the art of external
decoration, has taken the opportunity of bringing
under public notice in a letter addressed to the
assistant secretary of the Royal Horticultural So-
ciet y. Now the din of Parliamentary battle is for
awhile suspended, and argument, lamentation, and
recrimination have been well nigh exhausted about
the Danish Duchies—while the American war goes
on its endless round, and we have no more exciting
subject to divert our attention than murders and
suicides, experiments at Shoeburyness, and madmen
in railway carriages, Sir JosErs PAXTON pro-
bably supposes that his remarks on the principles
of horticulture generally are less likely to pass un•
heeded than in the earlier days of the season. Per-
haps he thought, too, that the moral of his story
would receive a better illustration now than when
flowers abound on every side, and botanic shows
and exhibitions are the order of the day. It is with
regard to the merits and defects of these exhibitions
that Sir JOSEPH PAXTON has written his letter,
having been requested to give his opinion as to the
nature and character of the exhibitions which it is
most desirable that the Royal Horticultural Society
should encourage for " the true advancement of
horticulture and its accompanying sciences. In the
first place, S:r JOSEPH is by no means satisfied
with the existing state of things, notwithstand-
ing the gorgeous array visible at some of oar
flower shows. The general condition of our
horticulture is he considers artificial and unnatural,
and he attributes this principally to the arrange-
ment of our exhibitions. They have, he considers,
been advantageous in encouraging improvements in
the culture and management of plants, but the
good which they have effected has not been unmixed.
0 miog to the time of the year in which they are
held, the efforts of cultivators are exclusively
directed to the production of such plants as will
bloom at the London season, to the total disregard
of all other periods.. Some plants are forced, others
are artificially kept back, so that all may flower
together, thus crowding into a month or two the
ornament, of the year, and entirely neglect-
ing those plants which will not submit to
suebL meddlesome interference. Some years ego,
the critic tells us, he called to see a first class Lon-
don garden of great repute. It was an exhibition
thy, and so only a few lonely plants were visible.
ho caltzd later in the season, but the show
days wore altogether over, so there was no more to
bar seen, for the training system had begun, and all
w, in preparation for the next year's competition.
If the efforts of the Horticultural Society are
directed to securing the greatest number and most
beautiful display
of plants in the haltdozen exhi-
bition days of the London season they are certainly
successful, but if their object 'is rather to en.
courage horticulture as a science, then
these " spasmodic efforts," as Sir JOSEPH
PAXTON terms them, which leave a groat
part of the year unemployed and unproductive, are
not altogether satisfactory. The exhibition system
has certainly succeeded in producing a wonderful

degree of perfection in those kinds of flowers which
are exhibited, and they have also given a stimulus
to the culture of foliage plants which preserve a
garden from the desolation of winter, still there
remains; a good deal more to be done before the
objects of the society are frilly attained. The true
object of horticulture, according to Sir JOSEPH
PAXTON'S view, is "to increase the enjoyment de=
rivable from it, and to diffuse it as widely as pos•
Bible ; to enable the owners of gardens to get the
greatest amount of pleasure and satisfaction
from their possessions, and to enable the
general public to procure the greatest number
of fruit, flowers, and vegetables, in the greatest
quantity, of the best ktnds, and at the cheapest
prices." These are certainly all matters of public
concern, and, indeed, since the new fashion of
choosing suburban residences has heen so exten-
sively followed, great numbers are interested in the
consideration of the best method of gardening, who
of old scarcely gave a thought to the matter. It is
one of the most graceful of sciences, while the cul-
ture of these beautiful works oi nature is among
the most innocent and healthful of recreations for
the mind and exhausted energies. Its tendency is
soothing and refining, and is to be by no means
despised as a means of diffusing taste and cultiva-
tion. Let us see how Sir JOSEPH PAXTON
proposesi,to encourage this taste. There should,
he thinks, be something like a continuous
exhibition, so that gardeners should have
no interest in forcing their plants into
flower at unnatural seasons, nor should they
be induced to neglect those which blossom at un
fashionable times of the year. At one time the
Horticultural Society had fortnightly shows at
their great room in Regent-street, where nursery-
men brought their new plants or fruits, or any
unusually beautiful specimens at any time of the
year. This was, Sir JOSEPH thinks, a very bene-
ficial practice, and he proposes that *something of
the kind should be restored. During the spring
and summer months he would have the exhibitions
weekly, and have them held in a place where they
might be suffered, when owned by nurserymen, to
remain all the time they were in flower. This
would be independent of the great exhibitions
which are too beautiful and too fashionable to be
altogether abandoned, but some supplementary
effort of the kind would probably do great good.
Weekly or fortnightly exhibitions would probably
be too frequent at least at first, but monthly or
quarterly shows might with advantage be este.
bashed. At all events the question is sufficiently
interesting to deserve attentive consideration.

The Report of the Directors of Convict Prisons is
now published, and its contents are sure to attract
attention at this juncture, since so much excitement
has prevailed on the subject for some time, and
during the past session so much pains was taken to
effect some desirable changes in the department re-
lating to, convict discipline. It was time that the
question again underwent revision, for grievous
errors had crept into the management, and if no•
thing of a remedial nature had been done it is diffi-
cult to say at what point the evil would have
stopped, and at all events it wouid have been more
tedious to make a change. The greatest care and
attention appears generally to be exercised by the
authorities whose special duty it is to have the
supervision of these unhappy outcasts; but it is a
very difficult thing to determine which is the best
mode of treatment, and after the mature delibera-
tions of experienced men of all kinds, the matter
has to be left to the test of practice. That teat has
shown ns that the latest attempt to temporise with
crime, as it were, has been an utter failure. Stern
and vigorous treatment 13 the only right coarse to
pursue; it is useless to adopt a line of action which
may make the working of the prison run line more
easy and successful for the time, but infallibly re,,
sults in the production of serious evils, both to the
men themselves and society at large. Two causes
of the late plan pursued of rendering the term of
imprisonment so easy to pass and so shorn of the
terrors of the law tended to swell the lists of returned
prisoners. In the first place, the notion of penal ser-
vitude was in a great measure divested of its horrors
by the facile manner in which the prisoners were
treated ; and, secondly, the easy life passed in their
bondage did not improve the check that a course of
salutary discipline would most probably have
effected. On all accounts it is very satisfactory to
know that a change has come over the spirit of this
dream of utopian convict life, for the reaction would
have been great after co much false laxity and
moderation had been shown. The plans now pro-
posed are but simple modifications of the system,
bat they are begun in the right spirit, and if not
found to be sufficiently stringent, it will be easy to
make still more severe regulations. The Directors
have made a most elaborate statement, and been at
great pains to present a fair estimate of the state
of each prison. It will be seen that the ticket-of-
leave system was in want of some change
in consequence of the number of re-convictions.
The number of the female prisoners who were re-
convicted has hitherto been much less than that of
the males, but of late years there has been a great
increase. The cause of this unhappy augmentation
has been said to be the " comparatively short sen-
tences of recent years, the want of means for
assisting and supervi'sing them on discharge, and
in some degree, perhaps, from defective prison
arrangements." Doubtless the short sentences that
have been passed of late years have done great
harm, for in the cases of the most desperate
assaults it has often happened that a most inade-
quate term for confinement has been apportioned.
It is a most unwise thing, for the ends of justice
are not answered by this means, and all reports
agree in denouncing the practice. The criminals
come to consider the whole affair of the trial, sen-
tence, and imprisonment, as a sort of farce, and one
merely to be got through as quick as possible.
The question of providing shelter and employment
for the discharged prisoners, especially the female
ones, is a very serious consideration. It is a pain-
ful picture which the returns present to us of these
fallen creatures, driven from one place to another,
till in sheer desperation they are often compelled to
take refuge with their old associates. Besides, the
prisoners who show every desire to become reformed
members of society, the wavering and even evil dis-
posed mieht often be reclaimed if the right means
were at hand on a timely opportunity. It is im-
possible to define a limit to the number who would
be induced to change their ways, if immediately
after they emerge from the quiet and comparative
innocence of their course in prison some fitting em-
ployment were ready for them. This again proves the
desirability of sending convicts who are sentenced
for long periods to Western Australia. Their removal
would leave more scope for their confederates in crime
whose shorter sentences send them oat again on the
world after a brief period of detention. In the
contemplation of reports many only look to the sta•
tisticai part of the affair, as to how many suffered
imprisonment, for what cause they were convicted,
and how often they were re-convic ecl ; but apart
from these established facts there are grave matters
to reflect upon concerning the inner details of those
lives of which we are furnished with ho broad out-
lines. Uatil some important change has been
effected in that branch of prison management which
refers to the career of the prieone: after he has

left prison, there will always be much to deplore
and lament in the returns presented to notice every
successive year. Some very desirable changes have
been made at Millbank, in pursuance of the advice
tendered by the Comuaission of 1863. The period
of separate confinement which each convict has to
undergo at the commencement of his term
of imprisonment has been rendered more in
accordance with the spirit of such a sentence, than
only the latter, as has hitherto been too much the
case, and already some beneficial changes have been
observed. It has also been agreed upon to alter the
dietary in the prisons, and in consequence of this
revolution an amended form has been instituted,
which involves a very large reduction is the old
scale of diet. Nearly one day's food in the week
has been struck off the aggregate allowance. This
is a very wise alteration, and it is to be hoped that
the same course will be pursued in all prisons, and
persisted in notwithstanding any temporary out-
breaks or disturbances that may result therefrom.
It stands to reason that the old fashion of pamper-
ing prisoners was a very impolitic one, and likely
to be productive of the worst effects as regarded
discipline, and involving a salutary change in the
lives arid dispositions of these men. The arrange-
ments have also been altered regarding the
public work prisons, and more strict rules laid
down. The sub-divisions made will make
separation between the prisoners more than has
hitherto been the case, and this again will doubtless
operate to effect a salutary change, it having been
shown that there were " evils attendant on the
massing together of such large bodies of convicts
as are assembled on the public works." A very
satisfactory account is given of the successes met
with by the Prisoners' Aid Society. It is stated
that no less than five hundred and odd cases were
undertaken by it in one year, and the large majo-
rity of these were satisfactorily provided for. At
the conclusion of this report a very proper tribute
is paid to the memory of Sir JOSHUA JEBB, With-
out doubt he rendered great and importazt services
to the State by the zeal and ability which he dis-
played in the conduct of the intricate affairs which
he was called upon to manage, and it is truly stated
here that, whatever changes recent experience may
deem desirable, " no one conversant with the state
of the hulks and English prisons when he was called
on by the Government to undertake their manage-
ment, can fail to acknowledge the debt of gratitude
that is due to the late Sir JOSUHA JEBB."