The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-31 00:00:00

RACING FIXTU

Brighton
Brighton.e
1
WolTerharapton ll
Reading
Wenlock

SEPT:

Devon and Exeter 1
Derby Summer
Weymouth
Kings Lynn ...... 3
Warwick ..
Leicester lO
Doncaster 15

UST.

OCT'

Coventry
Bedford
Caledonian Hunt
Newmarket S.

Nov:

Worcester 3 I
IRII

Au

Heath....
Wicklow ll

GAOL DISCIPLINE IN ENGLAND,

The report of the select committee of the House
of Lords, together with the minutes of evidence on
gaol discipline, forming a blue book of 512 pages,
has just been published. The present state of dis-
cipline in the gaols and houses of correction is dis-
cussed at considerable length, and the conclusion
arrived at by the committee is, that it is desirable
to establish without delay a system approaching as
nearly as may be practicable to a uniformity of
labour,diet, and treatment ; end that whilst indus-
trial occupation should in certain stages form a part
of prison discipline, the more strictly penal element
of that discipline is the chief means of exercising
a deterrent influence, and therefore ought not
be weakened, as it has been in some gaols,
still less to he entirely withdrawn. Association
or a mixed system of association and separa-
tion, prevails in many gaols. Such anomalies, how-
ever, are, in the opinion of the committee, very ob-
jectionable. They should be removed at the earliest
practicable time; and their present existence can
only be justified by the difficulties of reconstruction
and the natural reluctance of the local authorities
to incur a heavy expenditure. Referring to the
course of legislation, now extending over many
years, and to the opinion 3f the highest authorities,
the committee consider that the system generally
known as the separate system must now be accepted
as the foundation of prison discipline, and that its
rigid maintenance is a vital principle in the efficiency
of county and borough gaols; and they recommend
that legislative measures should be taken to render
the adoption of separation obligatory upon all
gaols and houses of correction in England
and Wales; in short, that it should be made
to pervade the entire system of the prison.
There are also many cases, the committee urge, in
which it would be possible to substitute the shorter
terms of three and seven days' solitary coufnement
on bread and water for the present sentences, rang-
ing from seven to twenty-one
requiresdays,withhaarnd
au-
thoritativela
la-
bour, a term which they consider
Pearinion that theliament. The
committee
furtherdefi ndefinition
express°n by
Actof
their opinion
as is commonly asserted ; they recommend
treadwheel and crank do not demoralise the pri-
soner,
less exempted by medical
that every prisoner sentenced to hard
elnabgorueru,nsdhsaloli
1113 authority
throe, and
less than eight hours per day the r. health, be employed at the treadwhefielsotr crank not
drin
g the;
nand,
onsilailbent three e e less
thanmonths ofs it2ch ehfiorusrtsy year of imprisonmenta
allow-
ance, that all gaols an
as a condition of the rdecheei
pu
ate of
otf c Treasurye
recti
number of male prisoners
chinery for the average.
provided with a sufficient supply of hard labour ma-
,arwhileda
tadmittingthe
e effect
e et
ptrho ad tuthe
d
respect to
sentenced to such punishment. With
with advantage be
modified, they
present scale may
prisoners, and the necessity of
the question of prisoisdri:gt
by CODfltletne
the
certain ingredients infood, further investiga-
tionare of opinionntthuapto,n
•E; needed ; and, under these circumstances,
the committee recommend that a commission be
appointed toinquire into these questions with
authority to determine by experiment the points
referred to them. During short sentences, or the
earlier stages of a long confinement, the prisoner
should be made to dispense with the use of a mat-
tress, and should sleep upon planks,
as is the case
in military prisons. The usual period of 9 to
10 hours devoted to sleep the committee
think
exceeds the fair allowance due to health, and is in-
jurious both to the prisoners
andto the prison dis-
cipline. They would, therefore, limit the time
which the prisoners are allowed in bed to eight
hours. A portion of the eveni •
ng, after the labour
of the day, might be devoted to school instruction';
but under no circumstances
should the school
become a substitute for labour. In reference to
prison punishments, the committee state that " the
wost experienced witnesses
are unanimous as to
the Wholesome influence of
some, ii2deed, have stated that they have never
known it ineffective : and the committee wish
to record their opinion of its great value as
one form of disciplinary correction." In con-
clusion, the committee recommend that power
should be given, in cures where the borough gaol is
too limited to admit of satisfactory arrangements,
to the corporation or governing body, to contract
with the county gao' upon such terms as the Secre-
tary of State shall approve ; and, further, that these
borough gaols which are not required for purposes
of present or future utility should be scheduled in a
bill for entire abolition.-

WM' NAPOLEON 111. MA' PREFER PEAcE.—
According to the Saturday Review's polite way of
putting it, the Empress is what the French call devout (I) and
he (i.e. the Emperor) himself has now adopted the habits
of a good Catholic, and if he is like common mortals, it may
seem to him a simpler thing to quarrel with Russia and
Prussia than to let his wife have a grief against him.
Then, again, he has other pursuits which may easily make
the overwhelming anxiety of war distasteful to him. lie
is abslrbed in his life of Ca3sar, and although at first it
seems absurd to suppo;se that the ruler of France can lose
his care for politics in the thirst for literary fare, yet the
thirst is sometimes, it Must be allowed, very strong and the
Emperor has just the mind to love not only the fame, but
the passive absorption of the scholar. It may also be said
that he is beginning to look elderly, and to feel the creep-
apgenre:oanaanl and
causesSolf
oe rr i
which
to,oh.
hi
cehlTphirne roaelyaankr
Poland,
,e
keep
hob:: rigr,n-ol
wee whiell,
ing indolence of advancing years—and he was sickened of
there-
fore, battlefieldsnany
lbiYttlMe
quiet—but if these causes do prevail, and he declines t
further in the liberation of Italy
be abandoning that source of strength ou which;
liege, he moat relies Lot the couliuuan '
ce of his dynasty,