The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-08 00:00:00

Criminal Classes of Ireland.

The Judicial Statistics of Ireland for the year 1863, just
issued, comprise returns of a remarkable character. The
criminal classes at large—the known thieves. receivers of
stolen goods, prostitutes, suspected persons, vagrants, and
tramps—are returned by the police at 22,290; in England
and Wales the return was 126,136. As the population of
Ireland is to that of England and Wales about as 1 to 3.7,
these numbers imply that in equal populations there are
above 34,000 of the criminal classes in England to
.22,290
in Ireland ; the criminal classes are 1 in 260 of the
population of Ireland, but lin 159 in England. The
number of known thieves in Ireland is returned
at 3,254, being leas than half the number in an
equal population in England ; and the number under
16 years of age is less than a third of the English return.
The suspected persons in Ireland also-4,43 S—are little
more than half the number found among as many people
in England. The return cf the number of prostitutes is less
than half the number in an equal population of England,
and the number under 16 is only one-eighth of the English
return ; the number of brothels-657—is little more than
a third of the corresponding English return. On the other
hand, the receivers of stolen goods in Ireland-1,233—are
more numerous than in a like amount of population in
England ; and the number of vagrants and tramps is very
great-9,900 to 8,968 in an equal 2nglish population. The
young vagrants are especially in excess in Ireiand-3,399
to every 1,Q75 in England ; but there are no Industrial
Schools to receive them in Ireland, and to some extent the
number of vagrants and tramps is overstated in Ireland,
owing to a less exact method of enumeration than in Eng-
land, It must be borne in mind that this is the first year
of collecting these statistics in Ireland, and that they had to
be collected retrospectively, so that the books of the different
officers had not been kept with any view of furnishing the
information required. The greater number of large towns
in England is also to be considered. It is remarkable that
in Dublin the criminal class Is returned as 1 in 137, and in
London as only 1 in 243, and the prostitutes are returned as
lin 341 in Dublin, and only lin 576 in London. In order
to ascertain the entire number of the criminal classes it is
necessary to add to those who are at large at any time those
also who are in confinement; this will give a total of 27,452
for Ireland in the year 1863, and for an equal portion of the
population of England 41,995. The total number of houses
of bad character in an equal number of population is rather
greater in Ireland than in England ; the number of tramps'
lodging-houses approaching double the number for a like
population in England. But, while the number of the
criminal classes appears to be so much less in Ireland than
in England, the number of offences committed is greater,
and in some respects the year 1863 contrasts unfavourably
with 1862. There was a decrease in the murders from 41
to 22, but several serious crimes increased—sending letters
threatening to murder, from 10 to 22 ; shooting at or stab-
bing, from 65 to 107; holding forcible possession of land,
from 83 to 135. The excess in Ireland over England, how-
ever, was mainly in offences which are not of a serious cha-
racter. More than twice as many charges were determined
summarily in Ireland as in an equal population in England.
More than 60,000 of these were charges of drunkenness or
being drunk and disorderly; there were little more than
25,000 of such charges in an equal population in Eng-
land. A similar excess appears in charges under the
highway acts. The punishments also indicate that a larger
proportion of the offences in Ireland were of a less serious
character than in England—the proportion sentenced to
whipping, among the whole number convicted, was 14
times as many in England as in Ireland, and seven times
as many were imprisoned above three months. The cases
of murder and attempts to murder were 175 in Ireland in
1863, a much smaller proportion to population than in Eng-
land ; but the malicious offences against property were more
than four times as many as in an equal population of Eng-
land, and assaults (the special failing of the country) ex-
ceeded the number in England in a proportion much beyond
this. Of the persons tried at aesizes and quarter sessions
the proportion acquitted (46 per cent.), was twice as great
as in England. It is remarkable that the committals of the
Irish in England are considerably more than twice as many
as among a like number of the population in Ireland. The
average proportion of police to population is mere than
twice as great in Ireland as it is in England.

MIXED FUNCII.—Last week, Mr Punch received
a sensation. The Times published a letter, to which
were appended some lines, headed " Prison Verses," These
the correspondent stated to have been found on a prisoner
in a certain gaol. A glance at the verses, which are ex-
lunch's next words will prove,
cessively clever, as Air
showed him that they were his own. They adorned his
columns a few years ago, and are an improvement upon
Dr Watst' poem, " Where'er I take my walks abroad."
lir lunch's sensation, however, was nut one of pride—
quite the reverse. lie was filled with sorrow that a man
who could and did read lunch, should not have been pro-
served from error, and should have behaved so evilly as to
deserve imprisonment. As ilirruitch moodily brooded over
this fact, he looked at the verses again, and to his partial
satisfaction found that some of them had been altered and
debased. The criminal had studied them from an impure
edition. This, of course, removes all blame from _dlr.
Punch. If a doctor prescribes a drug, and that drug be
administered in an adulterated form, it is not his fault it tha
patient continues ill. 111 r lunch has sent to the governor
of the gaol a correct copy, to be given to the prisoner when
his sentence shall have expired, and no doubt his reforma-
tion will then be complete.—lrcrich,
CLAIMS FOR INJURIES IN THE BELFAST RIOTS.--
A local paper states that the sum claimed as presentments
for injuries sustained by wrecking in the late riots amounts
to between £9,(..)00 and £lO,OOO. According to the custom
of the grand jury in sada cases, the amounts granted will
be levied off the barony of Lower Belfast, and as the grand
jurors have the power of defiuing the district. this large
sum may be assessed on the parish of Shnikhill, in which
the town of Belfast is situated,