The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-02 00:00:00

HULL BOROUGH SESSIONS.

(From the Hull Advertiser.)
Tho Christmas Quarter Sessions for this borough opened
on Thursday morning, before Samuel -Warren, Eiq., Q.C.,
D.C.L., Recorkler of Hull.

The usual forms of the court having been gone through,
The Learned Recorder proceeded to charge the Grand
Jury as follows :—Gentlemen of the Grand Jury,—Ever
since I last sat hero I have been longing to see in your
weekly organs of intelligence an announcement that a
beginning had been made in good earnest--one worthy of
this important and popular borough—to establish refor-
matory schools for juvenile criminals. But I have looked
in vain. Nevertheless, I believe that there is a noble
Christian feeling here on the subject, a true and high phi-
lanthropy not evaporating in words, but nsernifeeting it by
acts. Does not the necessity continue urgent? I have
hero a heavy calendar again before me ; and a letter
which I received from the governor of the gaol, shortly
before I left London, in answer to inquiries of mine, es to
the state of the gaol, ends with this melancholy and afflict
ing sentence :—" It is a letuentable fact that the juve-
niles under seventeen years of age, have increased to nearly
double the average number, during the last five months !
Indeed, there are two only eleven years of age !" If no
steps have been taken in the borough towards meeting the
advance of the legislature in the last session, I can but ex-
press deep concern, maul earnestly echo the recently uttered
language of Lord Broughein—the most illustrious law re-
former of his age, and ever foremost in anything calculated
to advance the higher interests of society. "I hope and trust,"
1-.4 says, " that the war will not, among its other evils, occa-
sion obstruction in either country—France or England—to
any of those great plans of benevolence—let me rather say,
beneficence." He was writing on the subject of Reforma-
tory Schools. My excellent friend the Recorder of Lon-
don, in his last charge to the grand jury, took occasion to
express regrets similar to mine on this occasion, that the
great county of Middlesee had not come forward, as I am
now imploring you to cone forward, to arrest the foul tor-
rent of juveuile crime ; and at the late Winter Assize for
this county, I am assured by those who were present, Mr.
Baron Alderson delivered an eloquent, a most impressive
and awakening charge to the grand jury, on the all-
important topic which I am now urging again upon your
attention. I believe that every gentleman whom I am
now addressing is listening, in an enlightened and conside-
rate spirit, to what I are nosy but too feebly saying, and
also feels that public duty is knocking loudly at the door
of his heart and censcioace. Gentlemen, in the course of
my legal readings, a fete days ago, I suddenly stumbled on
on a very affecting and remarkable passage, which I had
never seen before, in oae of the writings of him whore we
lawyers call our great master, Lord Coke. Writing two
centuries ago, he concluded his last great Institute with the
words, " Blessed be the amending hand !"—which he ad-
dressed to " the wise-hearted and expert builders of the laws,
to amend bete the method or uniformity of them, and the
structure itself, wherein they shall find either want of win-
dows, or eufficieet lights, or other deficiency in the architec-
ture whatsoever." But the passage to which I naore pattieu-
lardy refer occurs in the epilogue to his Third Institute ; and
it does eternal honour to the memory of that mighty law-
yer. " Justice," he says, "is justice severely punishing,
and justice truly preventing. True it is, that we have
found by woeful experience that it is not frequent and
often punishment that doth prevent like offences ! Those
offences are often committed that are often punished ; for
the frequency of the punishment makes it so familiar, as
it is not feared. For example : what a lamentable case it
is to see so many Christian men and women strangled on
that cursed tree of the gallows ! inasmuch as, if in a large
field a man might see together all the Christians that, but
in ono year, threugh,ut :England, came to that untimely
and ignominious death—if there were any sparks of grace
or charity in him, it would make his heart to bleed for
pity and compassion ! But here I leave to divines to in-
struct the inward man; who, being well instructed, the
outward man will be easier reformed. This preventing
justiee consisteth in three things :—Fil st, in the good edu-
cation of youth, and that both by good instruction of them
in the grounds of the true religion of Almighty God, and
by learning them knowledge of trade, in their tender yearn,
so as there should not be an idle person, or a beggar, but
that every child, male or female, whose parents are poor,
might, at the ago of seven yearn, earn their own living :
:end this, for .the time to come, would undoubtedly,
by preventing justice, ovoid idleness iu all (one of
the foul and fatal channels that lead into the very
Dead Sea), and, by honest trades, cause them to
become good members in the commonwealth. Secondly,
preventing justice consisteth in the execution of good
laws. True it is there be good laws already to punish
idleness, but none of sufficient force or effect to set youth, or
the idle, on work. Thirdly, that forasmuch as many do
offend in the hope of pardon, that pardon be very rarely
granted. But the consideration of this preventing justice
were worthy of the wisdom of a Parliament ; and in the
meantime, expert and wise neon to make preparation for
the same. Blessed shall he be that layeth the first stone
of this building; more blessed that proceeds in it ; most
of all that finisheth it to the glory of God, and the honour
of our king and nation." Gentlemen, these are grains of
gold—the pure ore of philanthropy—dug out of the old
ragged blackletter, and I commend them to your reflec-
tions. The first stone of the building has been laid in Par-
liament ' • let ua now, in Lord Coke's language, uttered two
hundred years ago, proceed iu it, and finish it, to the glory
of God, and the honour of our Queen and nation. Lot it
not be recorded that the Parliament relied on our voluntary
co-operation in vain, aid were at length obliged to have
recourse to compulsory action. And now let us hear a
commentary on this touching passage of old Lord Coke, by
a pious and humane chaplain of 1834—the chaplain of our
gaol, in his report to the magistrates this day :—" It is
painful again to mention the great number of juveniles
that from month to month are committed to prison.
Since the let of January last the number has been
133 ! of whom 37 have been committed since my last report.
The greatest part of thane youths come to me on the Sunday
morning for an honr before c'aapel time, to read the scrip-
tures and receive religious instructions. About a month ago
I had 23 on Sunday morning for this purpose ; and from in-
quiry I found that only $ of them had not been in gaol be-
fore ; 7 had been in once, 1 twee times, 1 four times, and 1
sixteen times ! Seven of thenumberwerenot able to read, and
knew little more than the Lord's Prayer, and some of them
could net repeat even that correctly. Many of those who
have been to schools de not keep up the ability to read
and write, and their attendenco at a place of worship on
the Sunday is a thing of rare immersed. They thus lose
their knowledge of religious ahraseelogy, as well as of reli-
gion itself, and are easily led to think that the knowledge
of the commands of God, as contained in the Bible, is not
necessary to their present or future welfare ; and to this,
is, I think, to be traced, in a great measure, their present
reckless conduct." This, I repeat, is your worthy chap-
lain's mournful but awakening, commentary on Lord Coke.
Gentlemen, I venture to threw out for the consideration of
the authorities of this borough, and of all intrusted in its
welfare, whether they have not admirable facilities and
epportunities for establishing a Maritime School, for the
hitherto neglected classes, such as I believe exists in Bel-
gium, if not also elsewhere, on the Continent. There, I
believe, such an institution is attended with the very best
effects. At a place 20 or 3) miles distance from the sea,
they have an establishment for teaching poor boys, chiefly
by means of a great model of a ship, (as in the Royal
Naval School at Greenwich,) the elementary and practical
duties of seamanship, as well as a little other useful know-
ledge ; 80 that when old enough to go to sea, they are suf-
ficiently trained and competent to undertake regular ship
duty, and escape being cabin-boys. Now, if this humane
and wise system can be so successfully used so far inland ,
what are your facilities ? How easy it would be to make
a beginning here, and grad ually excite an esprit de corps and
emulation among the boys, which would soon reach their
parents and friends; and how delightful to the feelings of
the gentry of Hull, to find the Maritime School increasing
in numbers, as the cells of the prison became proportion.
ably untenanted ! What facilities exist for training hardy
young sailors, in your very presence to handle ropes and
climb the rigging, instead of picking oakum and treading
the dreary and degrading treadmill ! Why not make a
reformatory beginning here ? It would be popular, I do
believe, or the humbler classes here have not that kind and
humane feeling for which at present I do heartily give them
credit. It would be an act which the country at large
would applaud, as soon as they heard of it ; and say
that Hull had set a noble example to her sister ports
in Great Britain ! Let Hull have that honour. Gentle-
men, there is another subject to which I must briefly refer
in connection with something which has occurred here since
the last session, and relating to the administration of justice
hero. I was deeply concerned to be informed, that one or
twe gentlemen have expressed anxiety that criminal cases
here should be disposed of a great deal more rapidly than
I think is consistent with the due administration of jus-
tice. If I am correctly informed, some one spoke with
admiration of having " seen a man tried, convicted, and
sentenced to transportation, all in ten minutes !" and an-
other said the Recorder could prevent the sessions being
lengthened by " keeping counsel to the point, and getting
through a case in three minutes." Gentlemen, when I
took my seat first in this chair, I stated, quoting language
with which I would hope we are all familiar, that I would
uniformly strive " truly and indifferently to minister jus-
tice, to the punishment of wickedness and vice, anti to the
maintenance of true religion and virtue." This cannot be
done but with gravity, circumspection, and deliberation ;
and all I shall thick fit to say here on this subject, is, that
if you will go to your prison when these sessions are over, 1
do not think you will find a prisoner there who will not
freely own that heor she has been fairly and patiently tried.
Some of those with whom I havelbeen forced to deal most
severely have said as much to myself often, when afterwards
visiting them ingaol, and to others, who can testify it; and I
can conscientiously say that no man, woman, or child—alas
that I should have to say child !—ever stands at that bar,
whom it is not my humble endeavour to try as fairly,
and look into his case as thoroughly as I would desire to
be clone in my own case, if unfortunately our positions
wore reversed. What irreparable injustice may be clone
in the three minutes in which it is imagined a person mey
be tried, convicted, and consigned to infamy and agony in
a foreign land, during a long period of his life ? No, gen-
tlemen, as long as I sit here, with God's blessing, I will
hold the scales of justice calmly and steadily, and watch
tl" iI2Q4II4tiQA 94 thou% tONVArds innotnnoo, with