The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-13 00:00:00

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Portland stone, tapering at t iVilimkttpca*'',4,l
ness of 4-ift. of granite and 4f '. fiNtrit4i4 i.-,•••/
It is to be in three stories—the balkinenaeli
for resezve and expense magazines and stores ofThot
and shell. The; two upper stories will be casemated
mortar batteries, the two tiers each "counting 22 of
the heaviest guns that can
be made when the fort is
complete, and certainly not lessthan 150-pounders.
On the summit are to be mounted 2
6100-pounders,
at embrasures and en barbette, making'
60 guns in
all. A bird's eye view of this work wheo finished
would, therefore, show it like a ring of granite over
100 ft. thick, and having a courtyard in its cen:re
100 ft. in diameter. On this inner court the officers'.
quarters will look from the top, and the men's bar-
rack rooms at the bottom. The whole place, in fact,
will be an independent fortress, detacned from the
Breakwater; and having a little pier and dock of
its own, where the vessels which bring it supplies
will remain. It will need rather a large garrison,
who are like.y to find the station a secure, though
a dull one; in fact, it will be vety little better than
being quartered in a lighthouse, wltich the fort is
Lew to be. The fort, however, ponderous, as' it
will be in its size, strength, and armament, is'
after all, a mere sea outwork of the tremendous
range of land defences erected or being erected at
Portland. The tort is not likely to be finished for
some time yet to come, but the Breakwater, as we
have said, is perfectly complete, and may fairly be
said to be the most useful structure of its kind in
this country.

PRISON DISCIPLILVE.

THE GAOL OF NEWGA.TE.

The following important and interesting report
upon the subject of prison discipline and the treat-
ment of criminals by the Rev. Davis, the Ordinary
of Newgate, was yesterday published. After allud-
ing to the advantages that have been obtained by
the recent alterations that have been made in this
prison, and the system ,of seperate confinement of
prisoners before trial, Mr, Davis says : _ _

"But this is not the conclusion I come to with
respect to habitual, hardened criminals. It is well
known to all of us who see much of these men, that
they leave prison with the intention of :chiming as
soon as they can to their old habits and pe:nicious
mode of living. We are now receiving at every
monthly session old returned penal servitude men,
who have been twice or thrice transported. The
conduct of many of these men is not bad in prison.
They discharge the duties assigned them with dill-
gence and assiduity, and frequently leave gaol with
a good "prison" character, but they have not re-
formed, and do not mean to amend their ways.
They have weighed the results of imprisonment,
and are content to bear the inconvenience of re-
newed penal servitude if again detected. Attempts
have been made in Ireland to apply a remedy to
this state of things, and, so far as we can learn,
considerable success has attended this worthy en-
deavour. Four of the visiting magistrates of the
West Riding of Yorkshire, we'd acquainted with
the internal management and general effect of the
Makefield County House of Correction, part of
which is a Government convict establishment, went
over to Ireland last autumn to inspect and judge of
the results of the discipline exercised in that king-
dom upon convicts. They published a statement
upon the subject, in which they compared the two
methods of treatment adopted towards convicts in
England and Ireland, and If these statistics are
yl a important
thatort a netusgnhdt
tnoe wh
afve
ea t
tuhr ee
profound correct,
otfho eu
nthceorne discipline
ides ari highly
githrnel of all to whom these sub-
jects are a care and a duty. It appears that the
Irish system make gradations in the different pri-
sons suited to the stages at which the convicts have
arrived. The first is probationary, separate con-
finement and low diet; no work is allowed, and
this is found a severe punishment The second
stage gives employment, and marks' are assigned
iu accordance with the conduct of the prisoner. In
the third gradation further privileges are conceded,
and the ticket of leave is made to depend on the
fitness shown by the convict for liberty.
The rule is that the sentence passed must
be carried out, and will be shortened by nothing
but the confidence created by the offender's own
conduct. These gentlemen state that the result of
such treatment is that few convicts are re-commit-
ted to prison—several of the Irish convict establish-
ments have been closed for want of prisoners, and
since 1864 no Irish convict has been sent abroad as
a transport. In the treatment of English prisoners,
under the present system, there is no attention paid
to the fitness of the convict to be entrusted with his
liberty—many a one leaves the prison with a full de-
termination to return to his old ways, companions,
and habits ; they become a much worse class of of-
fenders, and almost all the garotte robberies, and
crimes connected with violence, proceed either from
them or from others under their instructions. When
twice or thrice subjected to penal servitude with the
same result, it seems necessary to have a sentence of
imprisonment for life, to be relieved only by the
hope of improvement in the criminal himself. The
Yorkshire magistrates I have referred to express an
opinion that the Irish system of treating convicts
would have the same successful issue if adopted in
England, and my own impression is that it is well
worth trying ; but at the same time, I believe it is
a hopeless task to expect such advantageous results
from English incorrigible convicts. These men are
devoted to crime—the adventure, excitement, and
plunder are attractive to them ; they associate with
men and women to whom these great and intolerable
crimes are no degradation, and, being nursed in
hardship, imprisonment does not oppress them; they
dread long sentences of penal servitude, but we sel-
dom see any moral improvement in them. Their
conduct in prison is often exemplary, the wck they
do is well performed, and they show that with mild,
firm discipline, moderate occupation, and a little
hope.of lessening their term of imprisonment, they
can conduct themselves with propriety. But they
have not abandoned their evil habits nor given up a
life of crime. These is no opportunity to steal or
plunder, and nothing to be gained by it; the surren-
der of it for a time is only a matter of prudence, it
serves their purpose. As soon as ever they get their
liberty they return to their old ways, and become
much more pernicious and dangerous offenders.
No system, except a determination to show
them that they will never recover their liberty if
again convicted, will keep them from crime. There
are also various defects in the English treatment of
convicts which the Irish system would obviate.
The men are permitted to associate, without much
discrimination as to character, on the public works.
The result is that incorrigible convicts, well-con-
ducted men in prison, gain information from other
thieves, and are told where and how to go and in-
troduce themselves, and many come to London from
the different convict establishments whose previous
life has been spent in other parts, and they ate con-
sequently
m on
,nbo
however,
wk
onvo
owr , a
n toro then ot London
habitual
police.thieves.
Many
penal More
igenerallyregard believedtothem
tdhoo wa
ye
al lt
eon
oft h epi
or
nl
ai bl er a
tt
ihoann.
ser-
vitude and imprisonment answers all the expecta-
tions of the public. It is not with these
men the difficulty lies, but with the
hardened, incorrigible criminal, whose con-
duct is irreproachable in prison and execrable
when at liberty." In reference to the crime of
infanticide, the Rev. Mr. Davis makes the follow-
ing observations :—" I greatly fear that this crime
is very much on the increase in the metropolis.
Hardly sufficient protection seems to be given to
young women who fall into immorality to enable
them to support their infants. No person for half-
a-crown a week will undertake to keep a child, and
the wages of a female servant are not sufficient to
provide for the child what nature and necessity re-
quire, and this leads to the result to which I have
alluded."

INNOCENT OR GUILTY ?—A Street Dialogue.—
Bro —Ah, Jones, bow de doo ? So, Sir George Grey
wouldn't hang that sweep, eh? Jones—No, certainly not.
sirGeorgs
belgi.eyed that he didn't kill his wife. Brown—
But he
hat, given him penal servitudo for life. Tones--
Well, what then? Brown—Why—if you put it that way
—to be sure I am a bachelor, and don't profess to be ajlidga
of such matters—but doesn't it seem to be a good deal to
give a fellow for not killing his wife ? Jones—You must
settle that with Sir George Grey. (Exit).—.Putteh.