The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-06 00:00:00

CATHOLIC CHAPLAINS IN GAOLS.

At a meeting of the Surrey magistrates, which was held
at the Session House, Newington-causeway, yesterday, a
discussion took place respecting, the appointment of a Ca-
tholic chaplaitillii~itbnse or Correction a Wiiale.worth.
Mr. G. AUSTIN moves., pursuant to notice, "That, in
accordance with the intentions of the provisions of the Pri-
sons Ministers' Act of 183, 26 and 27 Vic., cap. 79, there
be appointed a Catholic minister to the House of Correction
at Wandsworth, at a salary of £l5O per annum."
Sir W. JOLLIFFE, in seconding the resolution, said that
he had supported the bill when before Parliament, and he
now asked the magistrates of this important metropolitan
county not to exclude prisoners from Christian instruction
and teaching. The principle of the act had been benefi-
cially adopted both in the army and the navy, and he
trusted that the Court would not hesitate to agree to the
proposition .
Major PENRHYN understood that the visiting justices
had recoromentled the appointment of the Rev. Mr.
M'Henry, and it was therefore for the Court to confirm the
nomination and decide upon the amount of salary. The re-
muneration ought to depend upon the number of prisoners
under the chaplain's instruction, which would be better
than giving a fixed salary. It appeared that out of 136
Catholic prisoners 43 had refused to receive the visits of the
Catholic chaplain. He therefore moved, as an amendment,
" That, it having been reported to this Court that the visit-
ing justices have given permission to Catholic prisoners in
Wandsworth House of Correction to receive the visits of a
priest of their own persuasion, and have appointed the Rev.
Mr. M'Henry to attend those v,ho desire his ministrations,
the Court confirms that appointment, and resolves that the
Rev. Mr. M'Henry be recompensed at the rate of £1 per
head per annum."
Major SPRING seconded the amendment, which was sup-
ported by Lord DWAINE, who preferred this mode of pay-
ment better than that of a fixed salary.

Captain KNIGHT thought they should not imprison their
fellow-creatures without providing them with moral and
religious instruction. He had always found that when Ca-
tholic chaplains were admitted into gaols thay zealously
discharged their duties without infringing the prison regu-
lations. He begged to support the original motion.
Major BERESFORD said that when the subject was first
discussed in Parliament he was opposed to it, because he

thought it was only a sop in the pan from Government to
the Catholics. As the act was passed, and he objected to a
sliding scale of payment, he should support Mr. Austin's
motion.

Mr. Timon- then moved that the Rev. Mr. M'Henry
should receive a salary of £lOO per year, which, after some
diseusaion, was carried by a large majority.

During the disposal of the county business at the Staf-
fordshire General Quarter Sessions, which were held on
Monday, the Hon. and Rev. A. U. Talbot proposed the
following motion, of which he had given notice :—" That,
considering the number of primers usually confined in the
gaol professing the Catholic religion, it is the opinion of this
court that a Catholic chaplain should be appointed, and that
the visiting justices be requested to frame rules for the
guidance of this officer, defining his duties ; and also that
the visiting justices be further requested to name at the
next sessions the salary which, upon consideration, they
shall deem to be an adequate remuneration for the services
performed, ' The Right Hon. C. B. Adderley said the
question was whether all persons who differed in their
religion from that of the Church of England should each
of them have their particular religious ministers in these
as well as other public institutions. Now, he confessed
he had special reasons against the appointment of a Ca-
tholic chaplain, as compared with the ministers of other
denominations. He had found in the course of his experi-
ence that the priests of the Catholic Church were so com-
pletely in the habit of looking to foreign jurisdiction, and
considering themselves so completely the ministers and ser-
vants of a jurisdiction outside this kingdom, that he was
firmly convinced they were not the most manageable officers
to introduce into our public institutions, As ministers of
religion they had always shown themselves interfering and
inclined to interfere: Mr. Whitgreave—May I ask when
that has happened ? Mr. Adderley—l am not in such a
case as this called upon to give names. Mr. Whitgreave—
You bring grave charges against a most respectable body.
Mr. Adderley reiterated his assertion, and then went on to
say that his opposition to the motion was simply on the
ground of the foreign influence which the Catholics owned.
Mr. Buller said the question narrowed itself to this—Were
they, in this great county of Stafford, with seventy men
under their charge, requiring the attention of a well-edu-
cated gentleman; because he had hitherto honestly and
conscientiously fulfilled the duties which he had voluntarily
taken upon himself, co say that they could not afford to
pay £5O, to remunerate him for his services ? The Earl of
Harrowby was of opinion that, Parliament having affirmed
the principle, all they had to consider was whether they
should carry it out. Mr. Hardy, M.P., said he had opposed
the bill when it was before Parliament, believing that it
was chiefly intended to bring about a separation between
Church and State; and for the same reason he should now
oppose its application to that county. After some further
discussion, the motion was put to the court, and 27 voted in
fav ur of it and 31 against, The motion was accordingly
declared to have been lost.

Lambert,
o t Sir
h e T
quarterly
EE. W
Quarter Sessions, held at Worces.
large attendance of magi.
stet
rrAa
ytteestsh—teeErWdaaryolr, cDtehsuetdreerl
Dudley y Worcestershire
a very
presiding;
and on the bench were
Lord Lyttleton, Sir J. S. Pakisgton, M.P., Hon. F. Lygon,
M.
F. W. Knight, M.P., Hon. W. Coventry, &c.
On 1" th
gton, M.P., Mr.
inrneipnort of the visiting
justices to the county prison,
Sir J. S. PAKINGTON took the opportunity of calling the
Seir presentation H.
attention of the Court to the irregularity in the system of
punishment in our gaols by hard labour, and the uncertain
and varying quality of the punishment inflicted after sen-
tence. He quoted several passages from the report of the
committee of the House of Lords on this subject, in which
they recommended the more constant use of the treadmill
and said he had recently visited Leicester gaol, and spoke
favourably of the discipline exacted in that prison, where
hard labour, which meant there the treadmill, was rigidly
enforced. The House of Lords' committee recommended
the use of the crank, the shot drill, and the treadmill by
the prisoners convicted and sentenced to hard labour. In
Worcester county gaol, however, only those prisoners who
had been sentenced to over three months' imprisonment
were put to the treadmill. Those sentenced to less than
three months were put to mat-making in a comfortable
warm cell, which was by no means a primitive employment,
and was inconsistent with the term ,6 hard labour." Then,
again, the prisoners were allowed ten hours for bed. No
human constitution required that amount of sleep, and he
strongly condemned the practice. At least two hours of that
time ought to be devoted by the prisoners to purposes of in-
struction or punishment. At a time when the public mind
was a good deal turned to the question of prison disci-
pline, he thought it to be his duty to call attention to the
subject. He did not propose to make any motion thereon,
first, because he should not like to take any course which
might possibly be construed as uncourteous to the visiting
justices; and, secondly, because he had strong reasons for
thinking that her Majesty's Government would in some
way act upon the report of the Committee of the Howe of
Lords. He expected that on the reassembling of Parlia-
ment an attempt would be made to introduce something
like an uniform system of punishment in the gaols of the
country. In the meantime he would suggest that the visit-
ing ju-tices of the gaol should during the quarter direct
their attention to the subject, so that at the next Easter
Sessions they might be prepared to enter into explanations
of what changes they would recommend should be made in
the system of prison discipline.
The Rev. J. PEARSON advocated the continuance of the
present deterrent and industrial system in the gaol, and
said the experience of her Majesty's inspectors of prisons,
and of the gaolers, was in favour of it.
Mr. CURTLER (deputy-chairman) said the sentences
which had been passed on some of the worst of criminals by
her Majesty's Judges of Assize, were very encouraging to
crime. It was only at the last assizes at Worcester that a
professional burglar front London was convicted of one atro-