The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 30, 1853,

DISCIPLINE AND MANAGEMENT OF
CONVICT PRISONS.

Leasing
Compans.

Closing Prices
this day.

Business
this day.

( Continued from. The Sun of yesterday.)
THE CONVICT QUESTION.
Expense of adopting Imprisonment as the Secondary
Punishment of this Country.
Having made these preliminary observations, I will
proceed to consider the probable expense of adopting
imprisonment as the secondary punishment of this
country.
Assuming that an average period of three to four
years' imprisonment were substituted for the present
sentences of transportation (and considering that a large
proportion of those who now receive a sentence of seven
years' transportation would be well disposed of with a
sentence of two years' imprisonment, I believe this to
be a fair average), the following may be assumed as data
on which to calculate a maximum number and the ex-
pense. First, as regards England and Scotland.
If, as an assumed maximum, we take 3,000 as the
number sentenced annually, and an average period of
four years' imprisonment, the following may be taken as
data :
Sentences of imprisonment extending from
18 months to life
3,000
Total number in confinement, on an average
of four years' imprisonment, showing the
total accommodation required 12,000
Of this number there might be 2,000 in separate con-
finement, and 10,000 on public works and in invalid
establishments, &c.
Expense of an assumed Maximum Number of 12,000
Prisoners sentenced in Great Britain, of whom, one-sixth
in Separate Confinement.
Maintenance of 2,000 prisoners in separate con-
finement, at 241. per head £48,000
Maintenance of 7,500 able-bodied on public
works, at 231.
Maintenance of 1,500 invalids, at 251.
Maintenance of 1,500 juveniles, at 201.

Total gross cost of 12,000 prisoners 278,000
From this must be deducted the earnings of
12,020 prisoners, say at 12/. per head 144,000

Total net cost to the country
Add net estimate for 1,200 females (p. 37) 19,200

Total net cost of 13,200 male and female prisoners 153,000
In the foregoing calculations it is assumed that a pro-
portion of the prisoners would be employed on public
works at Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Western Australia,
in the following proportions :
Gibraltar and Bermuda
Western Australia

. 2,300
. 550

Total

2,850

Assuming an average period of imprisonment of three
years at each of these places, there would be an annual
relief of one of these numbers.
Average expense of passage to Bermuda and
Gibraltar, say 71. 10s. ; this for 800 prisoners
to Western Australia for £6,000
Expense would
voyage
200 prisoners, at 951.
Total annual expense for transport of convicts
to Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Western Aus-
tralia, to be added to the maximum calcula-
tion .

5,000

11,00'0

4,800

penal establishment in this country, for convicts con-
, victed of the worst classes of crime, and for incorrigible
convicts, and if any are sent abroad, to make a selection
of the best and most deserving of the convicts, instead
of the very worst.
In former times, when emigration was almost unheard
of, the being transported beyond the seas carried terror
into every gang of thieves in town or country; but my
own impression is that, looking to the main object of
punishment, which is to deter others from crime, this
end would be more effectually obtained by imprisonment
for a long series of years, or for life, in a convict prison
at home or in Bermuda or Gibraltar, than, as heretofore,
in a remote place like Norfolk Island, where a prisoner
and his fate are alike soon forgotten.
4. Cost of Erecting any additional Prison Acco2nntoda-

tion.

With regard to the expense of providing any addi-
tional accommodation, so much depends on the facilities
for erecting buildings, the cost of transport of materials,
the expense of sites, &c., that I cannot venture to state
with any precision what would be the expense per cell,
on the plan of Portland ; but under favourable circum-
stances, and exclusive of the site and houses for the of-
ficers, the cost of a prison on that plan, with chapel and
all necessary offices, boundary walls, &c., would probably
not exceed 351. to 401. per head, especially if convict
labour could be applied in reduction of the expense, as
at Dartmoor.

As regards officers' quarters, a rent equal to 3 per
cent. on the outlay is paid on a proportion of them.
Houses are also furnished to the superior officers in
place of lodging money, to which they would otherwise
be entitled. Any outlay for these objects is not, there-
fore, capital entirely sunk, as in the case of prisons.
The expense of providing quarters for officers and
barracks proportioned to 1,000 prisoners might amount
to from 16,0001. to 20,0001., or be taken at about 161.
to 201. a man, averaged on the number of prisoners.
The total outlay for new prisons therefore might be as-
sumed at about 501. to 601. per head, subject to the
foregoing considerations ; and on these data the cost of
erecting the additional accommodation for prisoners on
the public works could be reckoned.
A certain proportion, say one-fourth or one-fifth, of
every additional 1,000 prisoners would, however, be in
separate confinement. If, therefore, additional prison
accommodation were required for them, the coat, in-
cluding officers' quarters, would be on a higher scale.
The calculation for 1,000 prisoners; exclusive of site,
might be taken at 71,2501. Equal to an annual charge
at 54 per cent. for liquidating principal and interest on
capital borrowed for the purpose, 3,9181.
5. Probable Effect on the Annual Estimates of carrying
out a General System .of hnprieonment.
During the first few years, and until such a system
were fully developed, the annual expenses would vary,
and be subject to no very precise calculation, chiefly
arising from the uncertainty in what proportion the ex-
penses in Van Diemen's Land would diminish.
The following may afford data for forming an opinion.
Sir W. Denison, in his dispatch dated August 21, 1851,
furnishes a return of the number of convicts holding
tickets of leave, and those who are maintained at the
expense of the Government respectively. Subjoined is
the general summary :
Maintained by Government, males .... 3,536
females... 1,226
Not maintained by Government, males 11,978
females 3,329

Grand total
If no additional convicts be sent to Van Diemen's
Land their number will gradually be reduced by expira-
tion of sentence, and by a less number being under the
restrictions of the ticket of leave, the infraction of
which, probably, causes many to be returned on the
hands of the Government.
For the purpose of calculation, it may be sufficient to
assume that the majority would be disposed of in four
or five years, and the estimates would decrease in some
regular proportion.

Erection of Additional Accommodation.
In connection with the probable operation on the
estimates of an extensive change of system, the subject
that will claim the first coizsideration and prompt action
upon any decision of the Government, will be the erec-
tion of the necessary accommodation.
It would appear desirable to take a comprehensive
view of all that will be required during the next four
years, and to obtain the sanction of Parliament to the
necessary outlay.
The probable annual accumulation of convicts during
the next four years has been shown in the foregoing cal-
culations, in which it will be observed that the numbers
will increase in a regular ratio. When, however, those
convicts who are now in confinement shall have been
disposed of, the permanent number, who will have been
sentenced in Great Britain during the above period will
fall to about 12,000.

On these data, it would appear that, in addition to the
accommodation now at the disposal of the Government,
viz., 10,880, as shown at page there will not probably
be permanently required more than from 1,200 to 1,500
cells ; but during the third and fourth years a greater
number will be needed. Hence, the necessity of at least
taking immediate measures for the erection of the
amount of accommodation which will be necessary as a
permanent provision, and of adopting some temporary
expedient for the excess, above this amount, as the exi-
t gency arises.

It would be prudent not to determine too hastily, but
the Secretary of State should have the power of meet-
ing any emergency, and of immediately providing for it.
In accordance with your lordship's directions, I have
already made arrangements for the erection of an addi-
tional wing at Portland, which will raise the accommo-
dation in that important prison from 1,070 to 1,500 ;
and the appropriation of Brixton for females will give
additional accommodation for about 400 male convicts
at Millbank.

It is also under consideration to erect prisons at Chat,
ham, and Devonport, or Gosport.

THE UNITED STATES AND AUSTRIA.

We have received the following account of the
negotiations between the Austrian and American
Ministers on the subject of the Hungarian refugee
Kossta. The negotiation was commenced by Mr.
Brown, who addressed to Mr. Bruck the following
letter :

" Legation of the United States at
, Constantinople, June 27.
"Monsieur l'lnternonce,—l have the honour to ad-
dress your Excellency on the subject of a most unfortu-
nate occurrence, which I am informed by the consul of
my Government in Smyrna took place there on the 23d
inst., and which I very deeply deplore, inasmuch as it
resulted in the death of a young officer of the Austrian
navy, who has thus roost probably, without in any
manner having been the cause of the unwarranted attack
made upon himself and his companions in Smyrna, been
the victim of the most inconsiderate and unaccountable
conduct of the Austrian Consul of the city towards an
individual named Martin Kossta.

"This person, at the present moment incarcerated on
board the Austrian brig-of war Hussar, now at Smyrna,
is, I believe, one of the Hungarian refugees who had
been detained at Kintayeh. Together with others he
was permitted to leave this country in 1851, and he pro-
ceeded with them to the United States, where he took
the preliminary steps toward becoming a citizen of the
United States—that is, he made a formal renunciation
of all allegiance to any other Power or Sovereign what-
ever, and took the oath of allegiance to the Govern-
ment of the United States. A few months since M.
Kossta came to Smyrna from New York, with the
design of again proceeding to the United States.
In the afternoon of the 21st inst., while seated on the
marina of Smyrna, he was suddenly set upon by
some fifteen ruffian Greeks, all armed, said to have been
employed for that purpose by the Austrian Consul ; and
after, having been treated in the most brutal manner,
was thrown into the sea, where a boat was waiting to
receive and conduct him to the Austrian brig Hussar.
" M. Kossta, on leaving the United States, received
a legalized copy of the declaration which he had made
there of allegiance to the Government of the United
States, and which document, under ordinary circum-
stances, would recommend him to the friendly aid and
consideration of the American authorities.
"It cannot be conceived here that this individual's
temporary residence in the city of Smyrna could possi-
bly excite the animosity of the Austrian Consul to such
a degree as to cause him to employ a band of armed
ruffians to attack him at a moment when he evidently
had no reason to apprehend such an outrage, and to
have him conveyed in an ignominious manner on board
an Austrian vessel-of-war.

"It seems to me, rather, that in case his presence
there incommoded the Austrian Consul, the latter, at
the most, should have called upon the Austrian
authorities to require his departure, and not, by an act
of so outrageous and inhuman a nature, excite the in-
dignation of the inhabitants of Smyrna, and, I do not
doubt it, also of the people of the United States.
" Permit me, therefore, to intercede with your Ex-
cellency on behalf of M. Kossta, and to ask, if not out
of the respect due for the Government of the Sultan,
whose territory has been so grossly violated by the con-
duct of the Austrian Consul of Smyrna, at least out of
regard for the Government to which he has pledged his
allegiance, that your Excellency be pleased to give
orders to the commander of the Hussar for his imme-
diate release, so that he may proceed to the United
States.

" I avail myself of the present opportunity of renew-
ing to your Excellency the assurances of my highest re-
spect and most distinguished consideration.

" JOHN P. BROWN."
To this letter the Austrian Minister returned the
following answer :

" M. BRUCK TO MR. BROWN.

"Buyukclere, Monday, June 27.

"Monsieur le Chargé d'Affaires,—By your favour of
this day's date you have demanded the liberation of a
certain Martin Kossta, arrested by order of the Consul-
General of Austria at Smyrna on the 22d instant.
" I can only attribute, sir, this intervention on your
part to a mistake, as the individual in question is a
native of Hungary, and has never ceased to be an Aus-
trian subject, as results from his declaration made in the
presence of the Consul of the United States at Smyrna.
His arrest consequently took place in virtue of the treaties
which assure to my Government the full and entire inde-
pendence of its jurisdiction over all its subjects in Turkey.
" You will easily understand, then, M. le Chargé
d'Affaires, the absolute impossibility of complying with
your request.
" I beg you to receive the assurance of my high consi-
deration. "Blom
"To Mr. Brown, Chargé d'Affaires of the United
States of America."
It will be observed that Mr. Bruck justifies the
arrest of Kossta upon the ground that he had de-
clared himself a native Hungarian in the presence