The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THLTRSDAY. EVENING, JANUARY 12, 1854

" Sewers-office, Guildhall,
Jan. 10, 1854."
The Court then adjourned.

HULL BOROUGH SESSIONS.

CITY COURT OF SEWERS.

On Tuesday, a court was held—Mr. Deputy Peacock
occupying the chair.

THE CITY GAS COMPANIES.

Dr. LETIIEBY—Mr. Chairman, I have received a letter
from your honourable Court, requesting that iwould
supply you with the details upon which my report of the
quality of the gas of the different companies in the City
was founded. This would involve a great deal of time
and labour ; and, although I have no objection whatever
to accede to the request, I have formally to object to it
on the ground thab it is very irregular. In the whole
course of my professional experience, which has ex-
tended over 14 years, and in the course of which I
have been consulted by the Government, by most of
the corporations in England, and by some of the largest
firms, I have never had such a request as that made
to me, nor do I know of a similar request ever having
been made to my colleagues, whom I have consulted
upon the subject. I have brought my books here this
morning for the purpose of giving you the details, but,
at the same time, I must not be called upon to furnish
such details upon all occasions. A third of this large
book which I produce contains the results of the experi-
ments, which I cannot, in reason be expected to copy.
(Hear.) With regard to what appears to me to be an
impression existing in the minds of some of the com-
missioners, that I am a little too favourable in my re-
ports of the quality of the gas supplied by the Great
Central Company, I have already told you the circum-
stances under which I came to this office. Nobody has
access to my room. Ido not know a single man con-
nected with the Great Central Company, and am in no
way interested in its affairs.
The CHAIRMAN—No member of the Court entertains
an opinion of that nature. (Hear, hear.)
Dr. MURRY—The observations which have appeared
in the public prints made that impression upor. my mind.
The question is whether I have volunteered a statement
which was beyond the regular scope of my duty. I
do not think I haie done so, because, upon looking
at the Times newspaper for two days in November
last, you will see reports of the quality of gas fur.
niched by the different metropolitan companies, and by
these reports you will see how different have been the
results obtained-by two classes of people of whom lam
altogether ignorant. One report states that the gas of the
Chartered Companyis equal to 14 candles—another 13 ;
the City Company, 13—another 14 ; the Coinmercial
Company, 11—another, 16 ; the Great Central, .16—
'another, 12. So that there is a difference of three or
four candles, amounting to from 25 to 30 per cent. 'And
upon these different data there has been a number of
discussions in the public papers ; and- under these cir-:
ctimstances I thought it' my duty to make the Court
acquainted with the facts of the case. I never should
have made the statement at all had it not been' for these
two erroneous reports. They are not correctidata, but
they are made the basis of discussions in the papers. I
may perhaps be permitted to say that, in volunteering
statements with regard to the quality of the gap not only
of the Great Central, but of the other companies, I shall
be doing you and the public service, for in the course of the
investigations which I have been making during the last
two years I find that some of the companies ate supply-
ing gas to this metropolis which, in the course, of a -few
years, will tend to damage very much the atmosphere
and the property in it, for it is so highly charged with
sulphuret that I am able to obtain 21 grains of oil of
vitriol from 100 cubic feet of gas which is getting into
the atmosphere. Then, again, there is a qiiantity of
ammonia which, holds in solution a large quantity of tar,
and whenever there is ..a ,leakage in the streets it oozes
out. During the last 50 years, when it has got into the
public roads it has rendered the soil near to it se offen-
sive that you can hardly move the pavement without
doing a great deal of harm. What it may be in 20 years
hence I cannot say, but I think it will be almost unsafe
that you should then disturb the pavements ;at all. , I
therefore think I do not go out of my way when, from
time to time, I repeat to you the name of the company
supplying gas which is highly charged. (Hear, hear.)
Deputy HALE—Has not the oil of vitriol which is in
the gas a tendency to injure furniture?
Dr. LETliEnr—Certainly ; and there is not a library
in the metropolis the books on the upper; shelves of
which are not tumbling to pieces from this cause; and
there is no controlling power over the diffarent com-
panies, because the public are not aware of tlie presence
of these impurities. They are burning this gas in shops
where there is a large quantity of perishable fabrics. I
think nothing is more important than that the chemical
qualities of the gas should from time to time be tested.
Statements have been made in the public papers to the
effect that invitations have been given to anybody to
come to the works for the.purpose of examining for thein
selves. This is all nonsense. The examination of gas
at the gas-works goes for nothing. It is the quality of
the material as supplied to the public, because, after
travelling two or three miles, it undergoes such a change
that there is no comparison between the quality of the
gas there and at the works. The examination must be
made after the gas has passed ,through the pipes, and as
it is supplied to the consumers.
Mr. ELLIOTT—Dr. Letheby has stated that there is a
great deal of gas burnt in the metropolis highly injurious
to furniture as well as books. Will he be good enough
to inform the Court if the combustion of gas so largely
charged with sulphur, in combination with oxygen, is
not also very destructive to the wind-pipe and lungs,
especially of persons in the daily habit of sitting' for
several hours in shut-up rooms where such gas is burnt?
Dr. LETHEBY—I have no hesitation at all in saying,
that whatever is destructive to inert matter must neces-
sarily be more injurious to living matter. I have been
examining the snow that has fallen lately round Lon-
don, and have found it charged with sulphpric acid in
combination with ammonia, and the same also with re-
gard to the leaves of trees. It proceeds sometimes in
combination with ammonia, and sometimes in a free
state, so that you cannot get a pure air.
The CHAIMAN—The commissioners are; very much
indebted to you forattending and giving them these par-
t (icHeulars
hea connected with the gas supplied tto the City.
ar, r.) ,
Dr. Letheby then bowed and retired.

THE LATE FALL OF SNOW.
A petition, signed by the four contractors for removing
the dirt froM the streets, praying that the;y might not
be fined for having failed to clear away the snow during
the latter part of the week, and that the Tfiaines under
similar circumstances, might for the future be used as a
place of deposit, was read by Mr. Daw, the, clerk. Evi-
-1 chance at considerable length was given bythe inspec-
t tors to the effect that many of the urineipal, as well as
nearly all the back streets and courts, and alleys, were
covered with snow for several days, until permission had
been granted by the Lord Mayor to throw it into the
river. The contractors pleaded, in mitigation of penalty,
the utter impossibility of making greater exertions to
clear the streets than they did, one of them having em-
ployed between 50 and 60, another 40, and a third 30.
carts in the husiness. They also said that they had bad
men and horses at work night and day from Wednesday
' till the present time.
The inspectors'admitted that two of the contractors
had made every exertion in their power to fulfil their
contract, which was an impossibility on account of the
enormous quantity of snow.
Mr. HEYWOOD, the City surveyor, said that on Wed-
nesday.morning there was no less a quantity than 85,000
cart-loads of snow in the streets of the City, which no
available force could have removed within the time re-
quired, and that by the following morning 50,000 cart-
loads had been thrown into the streets from the tops of
houses.

Mr. H. L. TAYLOR then moved that the contractors
be fined the following sums : Mr. Drummond, 251. ;
Mr. Gould, 1001; ; Mr. Reddin, 50/. ; Mr. Rooke, 1501.
Deputy GODSON seconded the motion.
Various amendments were made and seconded,
and, after a long discussion, the following penalties were
imposed —5/. 501., 't 50/ and 751.

BUSINESS OF THE COMMISSION DURING THE PAST YEAR.
Mr. DAW read the following document :
" To the Honourable the Commissioners of Sewers for the

City of London.
" Gentlemen,—l beg to lay before you my annual re-
port of certain details of the business of your honourable
Court during the past year, 1853, and which at this time
possess perhaps a more than customary interest.
" Your honourable Court has met on 40 occasions, and
your several committees have met on 70 days, making to-
gether 110 days on which the multifarious business of the
commission has occupied your attention.
".„/It these meetings there have been 604 petitions pre-
sented, viz. :-355 for various works, 217 for drains, 32 for
cleansing cesspools.
" There have been, in the same time, 3,126 houses re-
turned by the medical officer of health for your inspectors
to examine, and, in addition, 194, which have been viewed
by them from other causes, making together 3,320.
" Consequent upon these proceedings, I have caused to
be prepared, and have signed, at the orders of the Court,
the following number of notices, which have been served
on the parties concerned, namely :
To form new drains, amend drainage, water
supply, &c.
To carry off foul surface water
To cleanse and amend interior of houses
To abate sundry nuisances
To remove the smoke nuisance
Second notices served on parties who have
neglected the first

making together ...................... 1,700
"I have also prepared and had served 484 notices refer-
ring to the construction of now sewers ; 37 on parties to
number their houses agreeably to your order; and 26 on
Owners..r keepers of common lodgmg-houses, calling upon
them to license the same.

----- ----
" 317 licenses for hoards and scaffolds have been signed
by me during the year.
"There have been lodged at this office during the same

the barracks, St. John's-wood. On the 15th nit, it was period 2,486 applications,either verbal or written, referring
ascertained that military equipments with costly gold lace, to various cases of works requiring the attention of your
as also plate and other articles, to the amount of, at officers.--I am, gentlemen, yours faithfully,
least, 1001., had been abstracted from Lieut. Murray's f "JOSEPH DAN.
boxes and drawers. The prisoner Brown was at the
period of the discovery away from the regiment. It
was also shown that three other officers—Lieut.-Colonel
Hall, Capt. Penelaza, and Lieut. Quin had been robbed
to a large extent, in consequence of Brown having had
access to that part of the barracks where their property
was, for security, placed. Bow, 383 S, a very active
officer, ultimately captured both the prisoners at a house
in Bath, where they had been living together as man
and wife, and in the room which they inhabited much
of the stolen property was met with, together with
pawnbrokers' duplicates.
The assistants of numerous pawnbrokers were now in
attendance, bringing with them property which had
been pledged at their respective shops by the female
Maffey, and upon identification thereof as to ownership,
the prisoners were fully committed for trial upon four
charges.

The Epiphany Quarter-sessions, for the borough of Hull,
were opened last Thursday, in the Sessions' Court, before
Samuel Warren, Esq., Q.C., D.C.L., Recorder.
The learned Recorder took his seat In plain clothes,
without his robes. He apologised for this to the grand
jury, and explained that his clerk, who was bringing them
down from London, had been, with the train in which he
was travelling, stopped by the snow.
The grand jury having been sworn, and the usual pro-
clamation against vice and immorality having been read,
The learned RECORDER proceeded to charge the grand
jury. He said:—
Gentlemen of the Grand Jury,—We meet again, for the
sixth time, to discharge our grave and painful duties—
duties directed to those unhappy persons who, while we,
free as the air we breathe, are enjoying the delights of cheer-
ful social intercourse, and welcoming the advent of a new
year, are inearceratM in a prison, awaiting in more or less
misery, our decision upon the acts imputed to them. These
duties we must endeavour to discharge with firmness and
discretion, as good citizens dealing with their fellow citizens,
by no m eans the less such, because they stand in peril of being
proved to be erring and unworthy ones.—Gentlemen, since
I last sat here, circumstances with which you are familiar,
in my opinion not only justify, but require some observa-
tions from me ou this occasion ; for my acts and opinions,
as your Recorder, have been suddenly and widely chal-
lenged ; and those imputed to me which I deliberately dis-
claim. The administration of justice, gentlemen, in this
place, requires great care and circumspection ; a fact im-
pressed upon me by several persons on my appointment.
The reason is, that the inhabitants of Hull are charac-
terised by a lively and watchful interest in the administra-
tion of justice ; and I honour them for being so; frankly
avowing that in my opinion the sterner the scrutiny, the
more salutary for the judge, and, consequently, for the
public. The only condition I would impose is, that
of candour, and carefully ascertaining facts. I am
one of those, who utterly unmoved by any amount of
popular clamour, yet own a cordial allegiance to public
opinion, especially to that of a great Christian community.
" There is no better guardian of judicial inte.grity,
said a late celebrated politician, " than publio op nion,"
and in that observation I cheerfully concur. I think it right,
then, especially as the public mind is at this moment wor-
thily and anxiously addressed to the greater subject of
crime and punishment—and especially to that of juvenile
delinquency—to explain briefly what are the fixed princi-
pals of criminal jurisprudence on which I act, and have
hitherto acted in this court, with reference to adult, but
especially youthful, criminals. lam anxious publicly to
state them from this place, that henceforth you and I, at
least, should not misunderstand each other. Bear with
me, then, for a short time, if, at a crisis of great public
moment, and also, under special circumstances, entitling
me personally, as I think you will believe, to your con-
siderate attention, I avail myself of the opportunity hap-
pily afforded by alight calendar, to exercise the undoubted
right of a judge in addressing a grand jury. A nobleman
now of great authority in the state, twenty years ago, when
a minister in the House of Commons, and on a painfully
interesting occasion, thus vindicated that right. "It is
-strictly the duty of a criminal judge, to explain to the grand
jury that which he conceives to be the origin and cause of
those crimes which form the subject matter of his address."
—Gentlemen, the root of the whole matter with which
we have now to deal, lies in the notion of punishment ; a
word representing a visible and ordinary reality, but in-
volving as deep and difficult considerations as can challenge
the minds and consciences of Christian men. I find it im-
possible to detach from punishment the idea of retribu-
tion : but' only in that sense which the great Locke has
annexed to the word. "In the state of nature" he says,
"one' man comes by no absolute or arbitrary power to use
a criminal, when be has got him into his hands, accodtsling
to the passionate heats or boundless extravagancy of hii
own will ; but only to retribute to him, as far as calm rea-
son and conscience dictate, what is proportionate to his
transgressions." The retribution, gentlemen, which I
mean, is the conviction brought home to the conscience of
the offender; by such pain and coercion as are compatible
with humanity, that ho cannot,' and shall not, break the
laws of the land with impunity ; inasmuch as crime as-
suredly, when detected, entails punishment. Were it to
be supposed otherwise—were laws denuded of all thet
them life and force—their sanctions, they would become
mere dead letters, and society be speedily crushed under
the foot of fraud and violence. But here I shall cite ano-
ther authority, that of the illustrious Sir Matthew Hale,
as pure a Christian and as great a judge as ever dignified
the administration of justice in this or any country. "Re-
gularly," he says, "the true, or at least the principal and
of punishments, is to deter men from the breach of laws,
so that they may not offend, and so not suffer et all ; and
the inflicting of punishments, in most cases, is more for
example, and to prevent evils, than to punish." Thus both
these good and great men exclude from the notion of
punishment the element of vindictiveness; and well we
Christian men may do so, too ; bearing in mind that
the actions of mankind are weighed by him whose
eye never alumbereth nor sleepeth—the final and only
judge of mankind ; who has also awfully told us
—"Vengeance belongeth unto 'me, T will recompense
saith the Lord." It may be gathered from what I have
said, that the'main end of human punishment is the
prevention of future crime; not only by the detected of-
fender, but by others, who may witness or hear of, that
detection and punishment ; or as the great Roman orator
ha, said, with equal beauty and brevity—ut metes, vide-
licet, ad mimes, pcena ad paucos preveniat, that is, that the
infliction of punishment should fall on few, but the fear of
it on all. Thus in decreeing and awarding punishment,
both le ,islator and judge ought to have their eye on two
parties—the criminal and the bystander. While repudi-
ating the idea of vengeance or vindictiveness, however, let
us never forget that we have to deal with one who has ac-
tually, and perhaps repeatedly, violated the laws essential
for the protection of society, and who stands altogether on
a different footing from him who has not done so, but, ou
the contrary, deserves well of society for the noble constancy
with which he has resisted almost irresistible temptation,
enduring the keen pangs of want amidst surrounding plehty.
Theformer we regard with a pity tinctured with great stern-
ness ; the latter with a warm and admiring sympathy. I
would lay it down, therefore, not only as imprudent, but
positive wickedness, to inflict the slightest degree of punish
ment more than to suffice to ensure the attainment of the
salutary ends proposed ; and this, not only because we in
so doing-exceed the authority delegated to us by the su-
preme Lawgiver, but because we may brutalise the offender;
we are like to extinguish every spark of compunction that
may yet smoulder with him ; and unhappily convert a cri-
minal into a victim. Gentlemen, it is the glory of our
age, however, that our criminallegislation is becoming
yearly actuated by a more humane spirit. It is a vast ex-
periment that we are making on human nature ; but still,
as I said on taking m'y seat in this place, mercy and justice
must reflect each other's rays, or neither deserves its name.
The practical problem is, how so leniently to administer
the criminal law as not to encourage, perhaps I might say
even tempt, the commission of crime; for there are brutal
natures whom nothing but a rod of iron can subdue and
keep in awe, on whom lenity is thrown away, and as fool-
ish and mischievous, as severity is often cruel and even cri-
minal. The Legislature and the country at large are now
pondering these consideration with peculiar anxiety, after
the great change in our system of secondary punishments, to
which I called the attention of the grand jury at the last,
sessions—the abolition to a large extent of transportation:
Society is being forced in self-defence as we all ominously
feel, to contemplate and provide against grave contin-
gencies. But, gentlemen, there is another aspect of
this great question, on which the eyes of the nation seem
at this moment fixed, as those of one man ; and it appears
to me, too, with an enlightened philanthropy of spirit—a
comprehensive consideration of cause and effect—of ten-
eenciee and consequencies, which are of the happiest
augury for practical movement, the Legislature and
individuals. Let me explain my meaning, and so at once
come to the great and trying question of juvenile delin-
quency, by supposing a case with which, for ought you, at
preoent knew, you and I may have to deal at these very
sessions. Suppose a youth should come before us with
some eight, ten, or twelve previous convictions for felony
and other offences, as it were, suspended from his neck in
miserable profusion ! Should such an one stand at that
bar, and be found guilty, what—as matters as prevent
stand- is to be done with him ? Am Ito render the `ad-
ministration of justice ridiculous, that bar contemptible;`
and ourselves laughing-stocks, by passing a light sentence,
quickly ensuring his return' to us again and again, worse
and worse ! Are we not from the past to judge Abe fur
ture ? and that if we go on as we have begun, in weak dal=
fiance with duty, so will he, serving only a longer-appren
ticeship to crime ! The question was asked of the awful
Author of our Faith—" How often shall my brother
sin against me, and I forgive hi m ? Till seven times ?"
And the sublime answer was, say not
_unto thee,_
until seven times ; but until seventy times seven !" But
he whose heart is most thoroughly suffused with thiee
spirit, and who would freely forgive a personal ifijury
gften as it is inflicted, stands clothed with a sacred public'
trust, when charged with the protection of society, by yin- ,
dicating the authority of the law ; and is called upon fAith-
fully to discharge a different class of duties—to be just,
and fear not. But I will tell you how the noble spirit
of which I spoke would influence such an one—it would
make him see, in the offender before him, through the
thick black haze of guilt, one to be reclaimed ; feeling that
to treat him as, irreclaimable, is to make him such; and,
in so doing, entail on those doing so a fearfal amotint of ;
guilt in the eyes of Him whose mercies we ourselves would
fain experience every moment of our lives. Such an one
as I speak of would not expend the force of his convic-
tions on sentimental expressions or desultory efforts, but
on actions regulated by untiring patience and prudence.
He would look with true Samaritan eye on every youthful
delinquent as a " firebrand to be plucked out of the burn-
ing," and for that purpose would not be too nice or fearful
in approaching the flame. He would say--I regard your
acts as evidence of a vicious habit of mind, and a very
little of this reflection would startle him by suggesting
'the question, how was that habit first acquired? And by
and by he would feel the humbling conviction, that to a
large extent he himself, as a member of the community,
was responsible for the guilt before him ; and would say
with some of old, we are verily guilty concerning our bro-
ther. And so indeed,
we are, indeed, in these times, the voice of God is
u
loudly telling and if we neglect that voice, let
us well beware. The consequences may be equally serious,
individually and nationally. Gentlemen, let us not de-
ceive ourselves, but each ask himself—what have I done
individually to abate this crying and alarming evil of
juvenile delinquency? To arrest t this cancerous taint,
which is fast eating its way to the very vitals of the com-
munity ? Gentlemen, let us ask ourselves, what is the dif-
ference in the eye of God between us—all of us guilty
before Rim—and the poor wretch who may presently,
stand at that bar ? One glaring difference is this—we
have had virtuous and watchful parents, training us from
childhood, by precept, and example ; all our wants cared
for, and our eyes fixed only on the sunny side of life— the
lines having fallen to us in pleasant places. But here is a
wretch who has sucked in guilt and misery with his
mother's milk ! He has seen only starvation, drunkenness,
brutality, around him ! He has been positively coerced
into crime ; poor soul, when he would have done good,
evil has been present with him : no man hath cared for his
soul ; and the selfish world has looked on in complacency,
while this poor creature was being hurried along from -the
cradle to the gallows : or if that world has interfered a t
all, it has been only topunish that which itself had caused!
Gentlemen, what can Ido ? I sit here as a judge, to ad-
minister the law of the land, and it is in my power to im-
son such an one for a lengthened period ; to inflict bard
Mout, and personal chastisement; and .condemn to many
;peers OE teenal seevittudee ..Do you tleinle,tt is agreeable to
me to do this ? And when I have discharged my sad duty,
I ask you—are you yourselves, as Christian men, in your
consciences satisfied and tranquilly content that " the law
should take its course ?" What course ? When dismissed

from the gaol, possibly with a soured spirit, or, let it be
hoped, with the germ of better feelings in his heart—what
becomes of him ? No fond parent or kind friend is waiting
outside the prison walls for the little outcast, to nourish
the faintly repentant spirit; no one cries " God bless him!"
and in desperation he returns to his old haunts, compa-
nions, and crimes. What is this but to thriut a patient,
just recovering from a deadly disease, again into the
fatal focus of contagion ? Gentlemen, would any one of
us deal thus with a son of our own? And if we would
not, where is our excuse before Him who says, " It is
not the will of your Father which is in Heaven, that one
of these little ones should perish ?" Gentlemen, the expe-
rienced physician who sits beside me, in the person of your
honoured mayor, would tell you of two great doctrines of
his healing art—that a constitutional disorder requires
constitutional treatment ' • but above all, that prevention
is better than cure : and these two doctrines hold equally
good, in the administration of the criminal law. We have
two great objects : we wish to cure the moral disease—
to reclaim-the criminal ; but we would also fain have no
disease at all—no criminal to reclaim !I, for my part,
should wish to see my business in this court diminishing
sessions by sessions, and, if you choose, that in my civil
court increase instead. I wish to diminish your gaol ex-
penses, and supersede, as much as possible, your costly
machinery for detecting, punishing, and, perhaps,' after all,
only propagating crime ! The question narrows itself
thus, practically. What shall we do when the young
criminal quits the prison ? How shall we prevent his
getting there? Gentlemen, as to the former, I have not
the least hesitation in thus publicly declaring, and
that in the most ardent and solemn language at
my command, and as the result of all my own observa-
tion and experience, and communication with some
of the best men of the age, that we must have, with-
out delay, reformatory institutions of some sort or
other, or be held accessaries before or after the fact,
to the destruction of great masses of the rising genera-
tion. Coming events cast their shadows before • and
we may discern great times approaching, in which' the
consideration of this very question will prove of such mo-
meat, us consequence that, to postpone or trifle with it,
will prove to have been a sort of national suicide, or the
consequence of a judicial blindness. There are undoubt-
edly serious practical difficulties environing the subject;
but what great exigency requiring to be dealt with, ever
was without them ! And these difficulties I believe to be,
though, great, by no means insurmountable. • Their exist-
ence should serve only as a stimulus to commemorate exer-
tions, if we be really sincere and in earnest. I protest,
for my own part, that I never saw so many, such various,
and overpowering motives to prompt, systematic, wise, and
generous exertion as combine to urge on us the establish-
ment of reformatory institutions for the criminal youth of
this country. Our posterity will be ashamed of us if,
with this monster evil scaring our eyes, and crying out
aloud in our ears, we fail to attempt a remedy for it : if
this signal opportunity be indolently and wickedly neglect-
ed. And we, too, thinking and calling ourselves the while
"a great people ! But, gentlemen, it may be far and glori-
ously otherwise. The next generation of children may
exhibit the results of a wise, generous, pious policy, worthy
of a Christian people ' • and those who come after us will be
proud of being our descendants. Foreign nations may
herealer say, here, was a truly great people ; Who at the
very moment when the-b-h7oftliaze of war, perhaps of exter-
mination, was enshrouding themselves and Europe, yet
calmly and grandly obeyed the voice of conscience, and the.
dictate of duty, setting their inner house in order, reclaim-
ing the guilty of its population, and shielding the unpro-
tected—becoming a very father of the fatherless ! They
will tenderly echo the invocation of the Roman poet :
" majoruin umbris, tenuern et sine pondere terrain,
Spirantescpia crocos, et in urnil perpetuum ver,
Qui psrceptorem, Banal voluere parentis
Esse loco !"

But gentlemen in so great an undertaking, why should
we show a want of fitting vigour, and system ? Why not
at once attack the enemy in front, in flank, in rear—and
also cut off his reserves and reinforcements ? I repeat it,
prevention is infinitely better than cure ; and that preven-
tion is ,to be successfully sought for, only in religious edu-
cation. This is the mighty lever to which every one of us
can put his hand, with what vigour he may, and with the
approving eye of God upon him. Why do we so anxi-
oualy, and with such effort and sacrifice, educate our own
children? For the very reason why we should assist—l
say very advisedly—assist the poor in educating their's !
Do not foolishly supersede their own efforts, bat tell them
to put their osyn shoulders VI the wheel, and then aid them
vigilantly and discreetly. Why should we not all, indivi-
dually for instance, in our respective spheres of action,
pledge eurselves to give a preference, in employment, to
those children who have longest well conducted them-
selves, in such institutions as lam speaking of? Let the
state,-if-ynerwill, exert its splendid energies in the cause
of education ; and where we find it encountering difficul-
ties which- are too much for it, then let us come for-
ward, each in our respective spheres, and assist it by our
private exertions. Lot every denomination of Christians
be at its post, contending with the common enemy, ignor-
ance and vice ; and then shall the blessings of Him that was
ready to perish, come upon all. As far as may be let
compulsory and voluntary public and private education,
go hand in hand, nobly rivalling each other in imparting
moral and religious instruction. Gentlemen, so deeply do
I feel these things that I assure you I would rather—fixing
my eye on my death bed, and anticipating the reflexions of
that awful moment—be the founder of a ragged-school, a
Sunday-school, a school of any sort of description which
taught the heart its duties to God and men ; I would rather
I say, than to reflect on such an act, than strive to cheat
thy departing spirit with the dreams of a glittering chaplet
of earthly immortality, in respect of anything for which
short-sighted human vanity or ambition might pant ; and
I believe there are many good men now living—oh ! would
that I were among them !—who, for what they have done
in this direction, shall shine as stars for ever and ever.
Gentlemen, I have now tried to explain the views on which
I act,, with circumspect anxiety, in awarding punishment
from this seat of justice, each particular case standing on
its own merits, as disclosed, at the time, to him charged
with the serious responsibility of dealing with it, and pos-
sessing the beet means of information concerning it. No
one in this court can feel more acutely than I do, for those
with whom it is my stern duty to deal most severely , and
with regard to juvenile*offenders, I sometimes think as I
gaze at them from this chair, would that your profligate
and abandoned parents stood in your place ! And let us hope
that the legislature may presently find some means of deal-
ing with them, discreetly and effectively ; thereby laying
the axe at the root of the tree. Gentlemen, these are my
real 'sentiments, my deep-seated convictions. They are
not opinions hastily adopted for a paltry purpose, but re-
sults of many a long year of anxious construction, which
hail taught me the equal danger of precipitancy anal pro-
crastination in this matter. If anything that has fallen
from me on this occasion shall be attended with the small.
est good effect, in any quarter, by way of warning, en-
couragement, or meresuggestion, I shall not regret the some-
what hard-necessity which has made me thus speak out.
Gentlemen, my conduct in this seat—my acts and motives
have been entirely misapprehended, and consequently mis-
represented, and that far and wide ; and God forbid that
I should say intentionally, but precipitately. It may not
signify much, perhaps, to any who hear me, but my feel-
ings have been pained not a little by the way in which I
indifferent parts cif the kin
have seen myself spoken of (compelled myself to be silent)
gdom, by those who were entirely
mistaken as to facts. But believe me,"gentlemen, my heart
is a stranger to resentment, and I know how to put a libe-
ral construction on the motives and intentions of those who,
I think, have dealt rather hardly with mine. I can do
fellow worms worms
; be
butt °al l of
nothing more in this seat, I will at least try to show an
example of obedience to the divine precept, "Let your
moderation be known unto all men ! 0, gentlemen, let
nevus
anxiousust,eaek thebouttghueidoapninceionofs
aonf our
fellow worms; but all of us ieek the guidance of art en-
lighted conscience, in the discharge of whatsoever duties
we have cast anon us. As for myself, let me; congratulate
you on the lightness of our calendar, and the diminished
member of prisoners in our gaol, 37 fewer than they were
on the sth January,
ac 18'53, a result in no small degree at-
tributable to the ft that punishment is found to be here
ality—bUt much more to the truly admirable discipline
p gaolcfor which you are indebted to the zeal and dis-
cretion of the humane governor, and the 'indefatigable
teaching of the exemplary chaplain. I myself have taken
pains to acquaint myself personally with these matters, and
know thoroughly the economy of the gaol; and I never
saw more made of their opportunities by responsible offi-
cials. Gentlemen the true interests of humanity always
suffers from a spurious sentimentality ; and I, for one, can
never sanction anything tending to make a criminal for
one moment forget that he is such—obliterating the dis-
tinction betweeu the honest man and the rogue. A.
gaol, gentlemen, must be a gaol, and made so uncom-
fortable as to be repulsive—it ought to be shunned, and
with good cause. But let me end with saying that if a wise
and generous leeislation could but convert the portals of
a prison into the entrance of a Reformatory Asylum, it
would, in the' case of the unhappy youthful criminal, be
really a passing from moral death unto life. Gentlemen, if
you, as representing a large, important, and enlightened
section of the'community, entertain these opinions, seize
the favourable opportunity of saying as much ; and iri so
doing, reflect honour upon Hull and upon your fellow
townsmen. Gentlemen, I have now done. I have no re-
nwka to make upon the state of the calendar, because
there are but few cases comparatively for trial ; and this
is the vindication of our proceedings here. The learned
Recorder then briefly alluded to one case in the calendar,
and dismissed the grand jury to their duties, with the ob-
servation that, as all crimes had their origin in intemper-
ance or ignorance, those were two causes to which it was
their duty to pay particular attention.
The grand jury having brought in a batch of true bills,
the court proceeded with the trials of prisoners.
In the course of the day the grand jury came into court
and their foreman, Robert Harrison, Esq., delivered in the
following presentment :

To Samuel Warren, Esq., Q.C., D.C.L., F.R.S., and
Recorder of the Borough of Hull.
Sir,—The grand jury having heard this day with plea-
sure and admiration, the remarks addressed by you on the
subject of secondary punishments, as connected with re-
formatory institutions for juvenile criminals, are fully im-
pressed with the great importance of the subject, and will
have pleasure in using their best endeavours to forward
such an object, satisfied from facts, and information dif-
fused through the bench, press, and other sources, that it
is the imperative duty of every individual, and all associ-
ated bodies, to do all in their power for the purpose of
securing a full and efficient trial of the principles of pre-
vention of crime, as contra-distinguished from what has
been too long in operation—that of its punishment.
I have pleasure in subscribing myself, on behalf of the
grand jury, yours most respectfully,
ROBERT HARRISON', Chairman.
Grand Jury-room, Town-hall, •
Hull, Jan. 5, 1854.