The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-05 00:00:00

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

Vey rday a Court was hold for the despatch of business.
Mr. EDWARD WoournotteE, the son of the Town Clerk
of the Corporation of London, was unanimously elected to
the office of Surveyor of the Eastern Division of the City.
There were five candidates, all of whom were highly re-
commended,

ALL ED EFFECTS OF THE SILENT AND SOLITARY SYSTEM IN

THE PENITENTIARY.

After the Sheriffs had presented the customary prison
returns to the Court,
Sir PETER LAURIE rose to call the attention of the
members to a subject which he considered to be one of the
very greatest importance. They were much indebted to
Alderman Copeland fur having obtained from the House of
Commons the returns connected with the Penitentiary
prison in Milbank. These returns were calculated to
frighten any humane mind, showing, as they did, the dread-
ful effects of the silent and solitary system acted upon in
that place of confinement. From them it appeared that
four persons in the year 1838, three in 1839, and five in
1840 had been sent from the Penitentiary to the Bethlem
Hospital in consequence of insanity, occasioned by that
sort of infliction.
Alderman THOMAS WOOD asked whether the insanity of
the prisoners enumerated was reported to have arisen from
their confinement?
Sir P. LAURIE read the heading of the returns., which
stated as follows—" Returns of the number of prisoners
sent to the Penitentiary in each of the last five years; of
prisoners removed on the groand of insanity during the
same period ; to what asylum removed, and the time of
imprisonment in the Penitentiary previous to such removal,
&c. &c." He was glad that the question had been asked.
He had found in the reports of Bethlein Hospital, of which
he was President, that no insane persons ha,l been received
there from any other prison. Although the annual average
of prisoners confined in the Penitentiary was 361, while
the annual average of pi iioners confined in Coldtath-fields
prison was from 1.300 to 1,500, it was, be thought, fair
to rrason upon such premises that the system to which he
alluded, and which was adopted in no other prison, pro-
duced the dreadful malady amongst their miserable fellow-
creatures.—( Hear, hear.)
Alderman HUMPHERT complained that Sir Peter Laurie
so positively attributed the insanity to causes which the
returns moved for by Alderman Copeland did not so much
as allude to.

S r PETER LAURIE declared that the contrast between
the Penitentiary arra all the other prisons on the subject of
insanity, left no room for doubt as to the cause. The case
he brought before the Court was strengthened by the re.
turns which were mad 2 to him last night of the number of
persons received in Betblem Hospital from the Peniten-
tiary from the month of March to the month of May in the
present year, from which returns it apFea,ed that five un-
fortunate creatures had been added to the list.—(Hear,
bear, hear.) He did not place much confi,lence in the
opinion expressed by Mr. Hewes, that the existence
of the malady amongst these individuals was to be
traced to hereditary sources; for if there were grounds
for that belief, how did it happen that the disease
never exhibited itself in any other prison in
the metropolis? He felt it to be his duty to
call upon the Sheriff to take care that whatever regula-
f ons might be adopted as to the government of Newgate
no punishment should be resorted to which was calculated
to destroy the mind. He called too upon the Magistracy
of England to extend their humane guardianship to the
unhappy criminals, and interfere to prevent the awful in-
fliction of madness as the penalty of offence.—(Hear,
hear.) It was but the other day he heard that five women
who bad been sent from the Penitentiary to the hulks be-
came insane by the extraordinary nature of the contrast
between the former place and the open air of Heaven.
Alderman LUCAS had as little respect as Sir Peter
Laurie entertained for the opinion given as to the opera-
tion of hereditary causes is the instances of mental malady
enumerated in the returns. All the medical men with
whom he had conversed on the subject of solitary im-
prisonment declared, tha: if carried to excess it
would lead to insanity.—(Hear, hear.) The officers in
the Army, who were obliged frequently to have recourse
to Courts-martial, acted invariably upon the belief of the
pernicious effects of long solitary confinement, and in sen-
tencing delinquents appointed intervals to counteract its
baneful operation. It had been ascertained, too, that a
round cell was more likely to produce insanity in the
tenant than a square cell. Humanity directed that these
peculiarities should be attended to. Indeed, so strongly
was he impressed with the idea that excessive solitary
confinement was productive of the worst consequences,
that when he was a abort time ago Visiting Magistrate at
Newgate, upon finding that two women were undergoing
their sentence of a month's solitary imprisonment, be ap-
pl ed to the Lord Mayor and obtained a remission of the
" solitary" portion of their sentence, after they bad suf.
fered it eleven days. That occurred, too, in a prison in
which, from the close neighbourhood of the cells, it scarcely
could be said that solitary imprisonment could be carried
into effect.

Alderman T. Woon said that be was perfectly aware
of the importance of the subject, but it appeared to him
that Sir Peter Laurie was premature in attributing the
cases of insanity which bad been quoted to causes which
were by no means to be traced in the returns presented to
the Court.—( Hear, heat.) He certainly did believe that
excessive solitary confinement had a pernicious influence
upon the mind, and that if any regulations existed by virtue
of which such a penalty was inflicted, means should be
taken to procure a revision of them. It struck him that
in appropriating punishments the constitution of the indi-
vidual condemned should, together with many other cir-
cumstances, be taken into account, for there were some to
whom solitary imprisonment would he a boon, while o
others it woad be a source of desperate exasperation.—
( Hear' bear.) He was not quite convinced that Sir
Peter Laurie was right in attributing the insanity of the
persons to whom allusion had been made to excessive
solitary confinement in the Penitentiary. Although there
might have been a great mai rity of prisoners confined in
Cold Bath Fields or Clcrkenwell, the class of prisoners
in the Penitentiary might be much worse. One thing., at
any rate, appca ed evident, from tie consideration of the
question, with regard to the latter prison. The Magis-
tracy, and not the Government, ought to exercise gaol
control.—( Hear, hear.) He understood that, in the Pe-
nitentiary, a prisoner doomed to solitary confinement, was
not permitted to utter a word,—that the very moving of the
fees, so as to disturb the silence, was punished by some
additional penalty,--that, in chapel, the prisoner's head
',las to be kept in a certain position,--and, worst of all,
that the seat on which the unfortunate wretcb.was to rest
himself was so constructed, that he became actually
picketed. It was not, he considered, fair to a'-
sume that the cases of insanity, to which Sir Peter Laurie
referred, had been caused by the solitary confinement to
which the prisoners in the Penitentiary were subjected. He
wished to get at the true cause which might be compounded of
a variety of matters harsh and intolerable in their combina-
tion.—( Hear, hear.) It was certainly time to institute an
inquiry, but materials ought to be obtained before a flat as•
sertion was made, which, after all, was very liable to be
contradicted by those who had the best means of ascertain-
ing the fact. Solitary confinement might be judiciously
applied in some cases, but it was to be regulated by the
circumstances of each particular case.—( Hear.)
Sir M. Woon said that the strong fact of the reception
into Bethlem Hospital of insane persons from the Peniten.
tiary applied to no other persons whatever, and therefore
the inference drawn by Sir Peter Laurie was quite natu-
ral. It was horrible that out of so small a number so
many instances of insanity occurred. To be sure a note
appended to the returns stated that five out of
the thirteen sentenced were insane before they en-
tered the Penitentiary. There were, however, no
accounts of the transfer of persons from other
gaols to Bethlem, and it appeared that even Newgate WkB
a stranger to those afil cted by the malady. He was de.
sirous cf having returns from all the prisons of the metro.
polls, and then the Court could make a remonstrance on
the subject to the Government, who would, he had no
doubt, pay the necessary attention to a matter involving
so many important consequences._—( Hear, hear.) Sir
Matthew Wood ended by expressing a hope that the re-
turns procured by Alderman Copeland would be referred
to the Gaol Committee.

Sir P. LAURIE said that there was the more necessity
for immediate exertion, as the Government was building a
model prison on the plan of the Penitentiary. The great-
est enemy of mankind was man, and he hoped that the
Members of Parliament present would allude to the ques-
tion in their places in the House of Commons.
Sir C. S. HUNTRR suggested the propriety of sending
the Sheriff to communicate with the Government on the
subject.

Alderman HUMPHERY thought that Sir Peter Laurie
was influenced in no small degree by the spirit of exagge-
ration, fur in alluding to the cases of insanity contained In
the returns, he had omitted the many years in which no
case of insanity at all had been sent to Bethlem from the
Penitentiary. It was an act of injustice to the Governor
of the Prison to jump at once to the conclusion that by the
mode of punishment adopted there the unfortunate inmates
were liable to insanity.—( Hear, hear.) It was not very pro-
bable that a respectable man would set to work to con-
vert his prisoners into patients for 8ed1am,...( Hear, hear.)
He (Alderman Humphery) Weil knew the meaning of Sir
Peter Laurie's outcry at the present moment, The Worthy
Knight's object was to make himself popular, and to show
to the public, by calling solemnly on the Members of
Parliament present, what minty things he would himself
accomplish if he only ir.a a seat in the same place.--
( Much laughter.) Hut the Members of Parliament and
the other Members of the Court of Aldermen had every
atom as much humanity and sympathy for the suf-
ferings of their fellow•creatures as Sir Peter Laurie
had. It was perfectly ridiculous to suppose otherwise,—
( Laughter.) To show such an inference as Sir Peter
had deduced from the returns was in his opinion most un-
fair arid unreasonable. It would be necessary before they
came to any conclusion to have returns as to the treat-
ment to which the 13 individuals whose cases were re-
ferred to had been subjected.
Sir PETER Lame repeated the contrast between the
number confined in the Penitentiary and those confined in
other prisons, and defied any man in his senses to draw
any other conclusion than that the insanity was caused by
the atrocious system of solitary and silent imprisonment.
Alderman Lucas said that It was natural for mankind
to combine against such a erinc'ple as that against which
he was raising his voice—the Bastille owed its destruction
to the abhorrence which the people of France entertained
for solitary imprisonment.--( Hear, hear.)
Alderman GMBS said that it was no part of the duty cf
the Sheriffs to remonstrate with the Government on the
subject of prisons over which they had no control—
( Hear, hear.) The Sheriffs had power in Newgate, cer-
tainly ; but what could they do in the Penitentiary ? He
begged to say, with reference to the two women of whom
Alderman Lucas had spoken, that they had been ordered
into solitary confinement for having threatened to do in-
jury to an individual who had given information of a de-
sign to escape from prison, and that so far from being re-
strained by this salutary system, they talked so loudly and
incessantly as to disturb all who wanted repose.— (A
laugh,) -
After a few words from other members, the discussion
was arljourned until the next Court day, when Alderman
Copeland, who was unavoidably absent upon the present
occasion, will attend to explain his views entheinbject.:

IMPROVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE.
SlR,—The inclosed letter—in answer to the strong as-
sertions made in the Northern Star, of the 17th and 24th
of April, by the Rev. W. Hill, Editor, and Mr. Feargus
O'Connor, Proprietor, against the persons who signed the
Address of Messrs. Lovett, Collins, and others, for the
formation of a " National Association for promoting the
Political and Social Improvement of the People"—having
been refused insertion for a week (though it reached
Leeds on Wednesday evening last), that no antidate
should be supplied to their unjust calumnies against the
signers of the Address, if you can spare room fir it, or any
portion of it, you will, by inserting it in your popular and
widely-circulated Journal, serve the cause of truth and
justice, and greatly oblige a number of calumniated men.
Your's obediently and respectfully,
HENRY HETHERINGTON.
Queen's Bench, May I.
FEARGUS O'CONNOR v. THE NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION FOR THE POLITICAL AND
SOCIAL IMPROVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE.
A REPLY TO THE CALUMNIES OF THE NORTHERN STAR.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN STAR.
Queen's Bench, April 27, 1841.
Sir,—ln the Northern Star of the 17th inst., and
again last week, you have thought proper to animadvert
upon the Address issued by Messrs. Lovett, Collin-, and
others, for the formation of a National Associati rn for
promoting the Political and Social Improvement of the
People. You have, I regret to say, performed your duty
with a flippancy unbecoming the occasion, and a disregsrd
of truth unworthy of a professed advocate of the principles
of the People's Charter.
You commence first by falsely asserting " that this As-
sociation is of O'Connell, Hume, and Roebuck's concoc-
tion." With respect to your second assertion, I will not
presume to question your prophetic capabilities, though
you have, in this instance, published a false prediction.
What will the people think, Sir, of a public writer in
the cause of democracy who can commence with a wilful
perversion of the truth—aye, a wilful perversion? Did
not the Editor of the Northern Star, some months ago,
receive a copy of " CHARTISM," written by Lovett and
Collins in Warwick Gaol, in which a National Association
is proposed, and the rules for governing such an Associa-
tion are submitted for public approbation ? Did not the
Editor publicly promise to review that work ?—and did he
not, when he found the work had elicited the approbation
of all good Chartists, and even of the opponents of
Chartism, meanly break his promise by never noticing it?
The Editor of the .Northern Star knew full well, when
lie made the assertion, that Lovett and Collins's
" Chartism" not only contained a proposal to form a Na-
tional Association, but defined its objects and contained
its rules; and now that it is intended to reduce the pro-
posal to practice, he meanly attempts to rob th• se worthy
men of the honour they are justly entitled to from their
labours in the people's cause, by basely asserting that it
" is of O'Connell, Hume, and Roebuck's concccion."
This may accord with the Northern Star " Chaitism,'.
but it will suit no man with a spark of honour and honesty
in his composition.
The Editor of the Northern Star, through ignorance,
is confounding that which emanates from Lovett and Col-
lins's " Cemerissi" with an Association projected, and then
about to be formed, by Dr. Black, Mr. Place, and others,
among the liberal and enlightened of the middle classes,
to adopt and carry forward Mr. Hume's plan of House-
held and Lodger Suffrage, Triennial Parliaments, Voting
by Ballot, No Property Qualification, Payment of Mern-
hers, and Equal Electoral Districts. The intention was
to form an Association exclusively of the middle class,
that would co-operate with the Chartists in all just and
laudable measures for extending the rights and liberties of
the unenfranchised millions, and in improving their intel-
lectual, social, and moral condition. Mr. Hume, and
those who act with him, thought that the working classes
might be inclined to adopt so large a measure of re-
form—little less, in fact, than the whole Charter—
if it were fairly and honestly submitted to their ,
consideration, and wished to ascertain whether the Char-
tists would join an Association formed for the purpose of
carrying Charter Suffrage, without adhering to the name
of the Charter. He requested an interview with Messrs.
Lovett, Cleave. Watson, Hetherington, Collins, and li
Vincent. The two latter not being in town, could not
attend, but had a subsequent interview with Mr. Hume on
the subject. Three of the former, Lovett, Cleave and
Hetherington, attended. Lovett and Cleave would not
yield the name of the Charter—they thought that Mr.
Hume's Lodger Suffrage was a large advance towards
the Charter, but would not consent to aid a new agi-
tation for anything less than the Charter, or for any-
thing not bearing the name. I differed with my friends,
and thought Mr. Hume's proposition so good and so
extensive, that, though I would never abandon the agi-
tation for the Charter, yet, if I saw any prospect of
carrying Mr. Hume's plan immediately, I would give it
my best exertions, as I considered it, in fact, the Charter
with another name. Messrs. Lovett and Cleave both set
their faces against the plan, as did also Collins and
Vincent at a subsequent interview ; and Mr. Hume then
said that nothing could be done, and both parties must,
therefore, take their own course.
Your conduct, Sir, in reference to this " New Move,"
refl cts little credit on you as a public writer. You are
evidently destitute of that democratic spirit of freedom and
equality which is essential in an advocate of the rights of
the people. When the Working Men's Association put
forth an Address to the people of Ireland, inviting their
co-operation with the Chartists:, a copy of the Address was
sent round to all the Associations that we knew of, inviting
the signature of their Chairmen or Secretaries—if the Ad-
dress met their approbation, and their suggestions and cor-
rections if it did not. The Northern Star then highly
approved of the course taken to ootain unity and sentiment,
and to give it publicity. The same course now meets with
determined hostility. It is called a " secret more" to for-
ward an Address that reflects the highest honour on the
head and heart of him who penned it, incl,sed in a
letter commencing thus:—" Dear Sir,—The follow..
ing Address is intended to be submitted TO ALL THE
LEADING CHARTISTS THROUGHOUT THE KINGDOM, in order
to obtain their signatures, WHEN IT WILL BE PRINTED
AND PUBLISHED AS THEIR JOINT ADORES'." This you
call a secret move ! You may, by sophistry and
falsehood delude the unthinking, and treacherously betray
their cause, but you will make no impression on the com-
mon sense of the working people; your falsehood and in-
justice only tend to destroy the influence you once had by
opening the eyes of the people to the real motives and
objects of the conductors of the Northern Star.
What can you truly and justly urge against the objects
of this Association—this " Now Move," as you call it ? Aro
you averse to the first object—" To establish in one general
body persons of all creeds, classes, and opinions, who are
desirous to promote the political and social improvement
of the people ? Do you tear that it will admit some few
honest men from the ranks of the middle class ? What
do you call Mr. Feargus O'Connor? Is he not a middle
class man ? What right have you, then, tl assume that Mr.
Feargus O'Conner embodies in his own person all the ho-
nesty and intelligence of his class ? There are thousands
of good men among the middle class besides Mr. O'Con-
nor, who are desirous of promoting the political and social
improvement of the people, but are deterred from co-ope-
rating for the attainment of that object by the unprincipled
conduct of the conductors of the Northern Star. Our Asso-
ciation opens the door to them if they are disposed to enter.
Is the Northern Star averse to the second object of the
"New Move," " To create and extend an enlightened public
Opinion IN FAVOUR OF THE PEorLa's CHARTER, and by every
JUST and PEACEFUL means SECURE ITS ENACTMENT, SO that
the industrious classes may be placed in possession of
the franchise—the most important step to all political
and social reformation." Or, is it only averse to the
adoption ofjust and peaceful means for attaining the object?
You, Mr. Editor, call this second object a " sprat to catch
a mackerel." It strikes me, and I have no doubt many
others also, that the tone and spirit of the Editorial articles
in the Star tend to defeat the abject you have in view—
instead of weakening the " New Move" you strengthen it,
and ensure its success. What pretext can you rake up
against this second object ? " Oh," you will exclaim, " we
havo nothing to say against the CPJECTS, but there is al-
ready a National Charter Association in existence." There
is no such thing in existence. Mr. O'Connor, indeed, has
an Association, which is always talking about the Charter,
but doing very little towards ensuring its triumph.
If, then, you can find no valid-ground of objection to the
OBJECTS of the New Association, why all this outcry
against it ? Because you fear that some good may be ac-
complished by the " New Move ;" and you know. that
just in proportion to its success in working out its ohj.cts
will the influence of the Northern Star decline ; which, I
am sorry to say, is upheld by delusion and the humbuggery
of the people. Ought not Mr. O'Connor to blush to put
forth such balderdash as is contained in his letter to this
week's paper ? Ought he not to be ashamed of calling
men "assassins" and "traitors" and " conspirato-s,"
whom you have been compelled to speak of, in the Star
of the 10th of April, in the following language We
make no charge against the six gentlemen whose names
are appended to the document. We know some of
them to be INCAPABLE OF ANYTHING DISHONEST OR DIS-
HONOURABLE ; and we know nothing to the contrary ot any
of them." Any man who will take the trouble to read
his long letter through—a letter " full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing "—will immediately perceive that the
cause of Chartism is to be sacrificed to the private and
personal malignity of two as great political humbugs as
ever figured iu the political arena.
Unfortunately for the cause of Chartism, Feargus
O'Connor is not satisfied with humbug. He makes the
following assertion, in his letter in this week's paper : —" I
have the evidence of a GENTLEMAN, of a gentleman of
wealth, of honour, and of station, that this New Move'
was concocted at Mr. Hume's, by Mr. Hume and Mr.
Francis Place on their part, and by some of the signers of
the New Prospectus upon YOUR PART." That is to say, on
the part of the "fustian jackets, blistered hands, and un-
shorn chins of England, Scotland, and Wales, and the
raged-backed, barefooted Irish."
Mr. O'Connor has here asserted an untruth—he has
said '5 the thing that is not;" and if be make the assertion
on the evidence or authority " of a gentleman of wealth,
of' honour, and of station," it is nevertheless a falsehood--
or, in the chaste language of the Northern Stnr—" A
LIE !" Let Mr. O'Connor gave the gentleman's name
—let him prove the truth of this assertion, or acknowledge
that he has etist an imputation upon men not warranted by
fact.
The Northern Star. instead of promoting the success
of the People's Charter, by endoavouring to heal animosi-
' ties end -promote union among the people, is constantly
Sneering at all those who have foe years been suffering for
• the cause of liberty and equality—traducing the charac-
ters of men who have never, in an instance, done ohe act
t to tarnish the cause of libertyi or flinched Under pefsetus
tion and oppression when the honour of the people's cause
I was to be sustained.
The Northern Star begins now to feel the effects of its
unprincipled conduct, in its declining influence; and
hence its angry denunciation of the ‘4 New Move." Mr.
i O'Connor and his Editor may sneer at political education,
but a glance at the Star will show its absolute necessity
before any good can be accomplished. Mr. O'Connor is
welcome to the ten imbecile creatures who signed the ad-
, Jrtis.,and then withdrew their names. Do they 'not re-
4:lutre instruction? When a, time of' trial or of perse-
cution arises, who would trust the ten poltroons who