The Sun.
London, England, 1824-03-30 00:00:00

[MORNING HERALD.]

It appears from the Moniteur that an interest-
ing Report of the State of Prisons in France has
been drawn up by M. Barbe-Marbois, as the
organ of a Society for the improvement of Prison
Discipline. It comprises only the departments
ofgt naenraclieanptpNlicoartmioatni,dy ;
and temeititatitiileserveemraairkasiluasrie of
ens
to the system of prison govermnent in England.
One of the first observations of the author of the
Report is, that the prejudice generally prevalent
against anonymous complaints and denunciations,
should not appl) to prisoners. His system of
inspection has been to hear each prisoner who
had any grievance to state separately and se-
cretly. Ile dwells with particular emphasis on
the mischief of such punishments as stamp
lasting disgrace,
uarnd he
erpsshioswscomthmatitteadvebryy
largecoiiv proportionictsreturned from the sallies. " The de-
graded man," he says, " thinks he has the right
to become the enemy of society, because it dis-
owns him." One of the principal objects being
to promote habits of labour and industry, which
are synonymous with moral improvement, among
prisoners, we shall state the mode adopted in
the French prisons. In order to give a Stimulus
voluntary rather than compulsory to labour,
an interest in the produce of his industry is
given to the prisoner. So it is in England
also, but the distribution and details are
different. In France, the produce of the
day's labour is divided into fifteen parts
—of which the contractor who supplies ma-
terials, tools, &C. takes three. The remaining '
telv
the
e are
contractor
divided into three equal parts, of
which
again takes one—and the
two remaining are distributed, one to the pri-
soner, as pocket money (denier de poche), at the
end of each week,
to be at his free disposal—
the other is reserved, and given to him on his
leaving the prison. M. Barbe-Marbois re-
marks, that without the allowance of the pro-
iveeffnectouathle prisoner as pocket money,
stimulant to industry would
tphoer t
sgt
be wanting.— There is in this Report a
brief notice and opinion on the tread-mill. The
author Prefect of the Seine, who
happened
ondon, to obtain and remit all
reqtuoes vties qil t thet,
the information he could collect respecting the
operation of this machine. The evidence of Ma-
gistrates and Surgeons in this country was ac-
cordingly transmitted to the Society at Paris.—
And though the weight of testimony in favour
of
bilirlitiece is so
machinetrri was overwhelming, yet its use in
strongly deprecated by the power of the
Report. Perhaps, he says, the spirit of liberty
and independence, which acts so powerfully on
an Englishman, may render this instrument ex-
pedient to prevent his mutinous temper from re-
volt. But in general the French are too mach
disposed to submission, resignation, and fear, to
require it. Ile accordingly deprecates the intro-
duction in France of a cruel invention," fit only to
figure in the Code of Draco." We shell add one
observation more. He proposes interior colo-
nization instead of transportation beyond the
seas. The number of prisoners at present in
France is 41,307,—0r in the proportion of 1
to 778.

G IBR ALTAR, MARCH 6.—A Spanish squadron,
of two or three corvettes and one brig, sailed yes-
terday afternoon from Cadiz, on a cruise against
independent privateers. A frigate, apparently
French, is cruising in the Straits. An English
frigate and a brig of war were seen cruising off
Cape de Gatt two days since. The pirate prows
which attacked were seven in number, and had
each nearly 100 men on board, armed with guns
and swivels, with which they kept up 'an action
of three hours with the brig, whose ammunition
being expended, she was carried by boarding.—
The Government have -dispatched cruisers in
search of them, but with slender hopes of re-
capturing the brig.

BATAVIA, Nov. 10.—The pirates have lately
been active on this coast, having attacked several
of the colonial vessels proCeeding to and from the
eastern ports, and succeeded in capturing the brig
General de Rock, bound to Souratjava..