The Sun.
London, England, 1838-07-31 00:00:00

Alilibank, which the magistrates had no right to visit, ''",(l
which did not come under tkir jurisdiction; bait 1-:.) 'anxious
was Parliament on this zmi-,ject, that a Comtniltee had been
wapdpointed by the Privy Council for that purpose. Now, what
t_s.the_prliocip, le attempt. d to be esta• blished for the firs titrib
‘iy this Hi I? I hat no magistratt-: should have any right totester
this prison, which was to be liable to the inspection of no
°e but the individuals appointed by the Government,
nd kinder the pay of the Government. It would perher. be
said that that there was already persons appointed as in-
vpectors of prisons ; but they were appointed by the Go-
"iernment and dependant upon the Government, and as the es-
-I:°stence of their offices did not interfere with the visiting
!er 01 the Magistrates in regard to other prisons, he pro-
tested Most strongly against the principle sought to be esta-
Ished• Another point which rendered this inspection still
fhctimportant was, that the Governor was to have the right
corporal Punishment ; it was true the Secretary
of
at° was to lav clown certain regulations, but who was to
aPilv
• them? The nature and extent of that corporal punish-
Ment Ra s left in the breast of the Governor, for an) thing that
.tp',cared to the contrary. For these reasons he submitted
thr the universal rule ought not to be departed from in
instance, but that the visiting magistrates should
If required to report either to the bench of magistrates,
the Noble Marquis pleased, or to Parliament, or to the
mecretary of State, from time to time, upon the success
the system. lie did not mean to make any charges
't%Rinst any individuals or body of men connected with that
l'ris°°, for he believed that the persons superintending the
enttentiary were persons of great humanity, and discharged
their duty well and faithfully ; but his objection was to the
t3.Bterti, and he would state the instance of one of the persons
° whom that inquiry before their Lordships extended—he
Meant the case of Matilda Seymour. She had been insti.
);;aced by her mother to commit a trifling theft, and her mother
raced
received the
goods which she stole. Both were tried end
cteu ; and the mother was sentenced to six months' im-
prisonment and hard
labour, which consisted, he believed, in
vbeing kept at the washing tub. The chili vim sentenced to
.transported, but that was commuted into a sentence of ire.
vrisonment for ant
forthree years. That child was scarcely an object
d ishment ;' at the most was about ten ye of age,
she had acted at the Katiinstion of her mcther.ars Accord-
"!
'Y it must be said, by way of defence, that the sentence
-_was not intended as punishment, but for her reformation and
Instruction. She was sentenced to the Penitentiary for three
years for her improvement and reformation. But
if the Go-
vernment undertook the reformation and improvement of chil-
dren it should establish a different system from
that pursued in the
ettitentiary—a system entirely different from the separate sys-
`em- Some exercise was necessary for the preservation of health ;
but what description of exercise ought it to be ? Merely
putting one leg before another was not sufficient for a child.
The exercise ought to be of every kind and variety ; every
Part of the body ought occasionally to be brought into activity,
el at the same time the mind should be employed to render
the exercise beneficial. Their Lordships, assenting to these
,Ohservations, would be surprised at the kind of exercise al-
lowed to this child, who was put there not for punishment but
improvement. For half an hour in the morning site was al-
lowed to walk in single file round a small yard, enclosed by a
high wall ; and, if the weather permitted, for half an hour in
the afternoon. That was all the exercise she was allowed in
the twenty-four hours. Again, he had made a calculation of
the average number of hours out of the twenty-four during
which she was shut up by herself in a cell not much larger
than that table.—( Hear, hear.) If they added together
the hours for attendance in chapel, for instruction, for
washing, and for walking, the amount would be twenty
ors in the week, or less than three hours each day ; so that
this child, not more than ten years of age, was to be confined
for twenty-one hours out of the twenty- four during three
successive years in a cell not larger than that table; and in
order that the child might derive no instruction from without,
tthe window-sills were so high as to prevent her from looking
he, and there was that child kept for twenty-one hours out of
twenty-four—not kept there for punishment, but for the
reformation of her morals and the improvement of her mind.
There was a beautiful passage of a French author, St. Pierre,
to which he spoke of the impression produced by external ob-
jects on the mind of a child, and of the manner in which the
Young mind gradually expanded under the influence of those
impressions; but here they had acted on a directly contrary
Pttnciple ; they acted on the principle of shutting out all ex-
Leroal sources of improvement from the mind of the child, and
of barbarising and stupifying its mind. The beautiful lines of
their great epic poet afforded almost a literal description of the
situation of that child placed under the cruelties of that
system

U Thus with the year
Seasons return; but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of eve or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom or summer's rose,
,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
13ut cloud instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
Presented with a universal blank
Of nature's works to me expunged and rased."
Almost literally did these beautiful lines apply to the situation
of that child. The effect of the confinement had been this—
that in a short time she was afflicted with scrofula, and the
medical man had said that she would not recover as long as
that confinement was continued ; and he had further said that
scrofula and consumption arising from confinement, were the
prevalent diseases of the establishment. He had called their
Lordships' attention to this matter for the purpose of mention-
ing the evidence of the Chairman at the Middlesex Quarter
Sessions ( Mr. Sergeant Addams) who was a member of the
Childrens' Friends' Society. What was the evidence of that
Learned Gentleman ? Why, tha in th Socie they acted
en it principle directly the reverse of thatat adoptedty at the Peni-
terdiarYs that they allowed the children to associate together,
ththey indulged theta in all the amusements of childhood, that
ey treated them with great kindness, and that the effects
" atild that system produced were perfectly marvellous. One
ehanewho had experienced the benefits of that system, had
xpressed his gratitude in these natural terms:—•' You have
ehanged me entirely, and I love you all." The Noble and
Li earned Lord then moved the insertion of certain clauses
,Nvrling for the appointment of visiting magistrates, who
'ere to inspect tbe prison three times every quarter, and to
tePort on its state from time to time.
Ile Marquis of LANSDOWNE would notice the state-
Nent made by the Noble and Learned Lord in reference to his
!tl)lartation of the returns from Manchester, which he had
'rt.'on a former occasion ; he had given the explanation
,in the terms of the Noble and Learned Lord himself,
e had said that which was confirmed by the Noble and
included
Lord, viz., that a great proportion of the children
Ved in that return had been reclaimed by their parents,
spa "e hall no authority to go to the extent of saying that there
t shseareely any exception. It was surely unnecessary for him
w°,-sc 50 much of his eloquence to prove that common prisons
Rene not the places in which either male or female children
:Quid
} be confined. The Noble and Learned Lord had referred
peg4i,n inquiry into the cases of certain children in the
tha;-entiarY, and he had told them that the result was
tl-,-„'Pl.en in the opinion of the best officers connected with
- ' •
for . rustratton of that prison, they
have'Juvenile offenders. The Noble and Learned Lord might
gas added that, in the particular instances inquired into, such
thetire Care, the vigilance, the attention paid to those chit-
s n, that though they were necessarily restricted to obey the
ieuliar rules of discipline established there, they stated them-
h'sh'ss to he without complaint, and to be comparatively
nisand especially with regard to the particular case of
bad
fie.,
eYrnour. By the care and attention paid to her she
kd e "3n
placed in a situation to earn her own livelihood ; she
ell„,,rpeeeived various kinds of instruction, and had beer, res.
h "'nit a woman, from e hem she would have learnt nothing
tiu;:PravitY. It was nothing new to condemn the system of
the lsv--; as inapplicable to the cases of children, and that was
I~eerY groundwork of the present Bill. The. Noble and
th,,—,rnert Lord had asked him whether a system different from
ss,-; adopted in the Penitentiary were to be introduced. Why
rent whote object of the measure was that it should be
diffe-
But did he state that for the first time? He almost
s9uuted uhether the Noble and Learned Lord had attended to
; bi‘cauce he had formerly stated that the object of the Bill
tn" to introduce a system totally different, and he had adTertcd
Iva document in explanation of that new system, which, if the
and Learned Lord had read it, would have given him
gal satisfaction. The first thing he found in that document
t'lsal that a system of separation was not applicable to children
r;
Commissioners said that they did not advocate thnapp 1-
,-1.-" on of the separate system generally to young. children,.rht
be lab for very short periods that species of discipline
necessary That was the document to which he had re-
ierterl a foriritglit ago as forming the basis of this Bill. As
t? air and exercise for this Particular prison, no less than
!ightY acres of land were to be provided for the purpose.
u:tost beneficial results had been produced by the Society of
nthl.,Wuge for the Destitute, of which he was chairman,
sn use
a better example than the Children's Friends'
I',etY, inasmuch as they would receive cons icted children
til'itsnight be interesting to their Lordships to know that at
~oument there was a considerable tradesman in a neigh-
, !ag to n w who was an arr. Int thief when ten years old,
theure ta
},ad beea taken into the Refuge for the Dz•stitute, and
api,rent!lght the trade which he now followed ; he had nine
Vestitte. some of whom came from the Refuge for the
and ILleeaernhtd•eted to the clan: es proposed by the
Noble u •
authority of the local iLuosrtidc, becauseb "th they • troduced the
e' min which this
nothingaPPened to be situate:, county(thotueelithe prison itself had
slea.g to do with the couety. It was a na.ionel prison,
troilet to the inspectors of prison*, who were under the con-
_ :_nle
_of Parliament ; and it was -placed, he believed, on the
tla.;.footing, with the Penitentiary, and all similar national
thshments, independent of the local authorities. All
teat he wished was that u hateser authority the Noble and
(earneda Lord proposed to establish it should he an authority
_ itral nature, that it should report to the Government, or
..`°a Parliament should it be preferred, and that it should be
der the controul of the Government as well as of the Par-
',Talent. The other amendment provided that a child escaping
Par-
from m confinement should be liable to punishment Now be had
tr!cln° doutt that when a child so circumstanced was brought
~.t3 the place of confinement the original punishment to
no be vrvs liable would r,vert, and consequently there was
no re/von to introduce that clause. There were vari
riees of offense and penalty, and he thou.lit it would be mor ous de-
e
uliforrn if the original punishment should revert in the case
0 such parties elan that they should all be subject to one par-
ictar punishment for having escaped, and that this nis
rne should be fixed without reference to their various
g puradh-
es
and degrees of guilt.
b.;re Earl of CHICHESTER had always considered the
I before the House to be a Bill very salutary in its general
revisions. With respect to the 'amendment of the Noble and
Learned Lord ho thought that prisons ought to be placed
tledsr the:most:strict 'aryl consummate superintendence iu a
riatunier mono effectual than coals' be carried into effect by