The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-27 00:00:00

PRISON DISCIPLINE.

A letter from Stockholm states that the six cellular (soli-
tary confinement) prisons, built by order of the Government
in different parts of the kingdom, have just been terminated.
These prisons can contain from four to eight hundred pri-
soners. They will be occupied during the course of next
month. The following are the prominent features of the re-
gulations of these prisons. The prisoners are not to be al-
lowed to speak to each other. Even while taking
their only exercise, in an enclosure, strict silence is to be
observed. This exercise is to be allowed them daily, and is
to last half an-hour; a. longer time may be conceded to sick
. prisoners, on the demand "of the doctor, and with the sanc-
tion of the governor of the prison. If a prisoner wishes to
make a complaint, he can only do so during the time of
exercise. He must then step forward and raise his
hand; upon this one of the guardians will listen to
what he has to say. The prisoners are to receive the
daily visit either of the clergyman, the doctor, or some
special person appointed for the purpose. These visits are
never to exceed twenty minutes. The prisoner in his con-
versations
with the functionaries of the prison. who are the
only persons he is allowed to converse with, must always
speak in an undertone. Each cell is to be provided with a
book on religion, and is furnished with a bell, so as to
enable the prisoner to call for help in case of illness, Di
vine service is to be performed in the corridors. During
the service the door of each cell is to be opened two or
three inches, so as to enable the prisoners to see and hear
the clergyman without seeing each other. The cells are
not to be lighted; nevertheless, prisoners worthy of leni-
ence may in exceptional cases, and at their own expense
receive permission from the governor to have a light in their
cell. (In Sweden during the short days it is scarcely day-
light before 9i in the morning.) Those prisoners who are
not sentenced to hard labour or to complete idleness (punish 7
ments which must be expressly denoted in the sentence)
may obtain the permission to work on their own account.
In this case the prison authorities will endeavour to procure
them work. The punislimmts to which the prisoners are
subject, are-1. Privation of their walk in the enclosure. 2.
Diminution of their rations of food, the diminution not to
exceed one-third. 3. Locking up in the black-hole for a
period not exceeding eight days. The latter punishment is
only applicable to prisoners who have made use of violence.

THE GREAT LEAGUE PICTURE.--Notwithstanding
the shortness and the darkness of the days, and the difficulty
of obtaining a regular succession of sitters, Mr. Herbert has
made great progress with his painting of the Council of the
League,-.a picture which will sustain the high reputation he
has so deservedly.acquired. The likenesses are admirable,
and the grouping is entirely free from the stiffness which cha-
racterises so !many, of the attempts to pourtray the corona-
tions, and baptisms, and Duke's dinners, where the person-
ages seem to sit or stand without any other object than to
have their portraits taken. Mr. Cobden; standing and ad-
dressing the chairman, is the centre figure of Mr. Herbert's
picture, and it is a living and speaking likeness. On his left
hand. sitting at the side of the table nearest to the eye of the
spectator, are Mr. Rawson, the treasurer of the League, Mr.
Bright, M.P., Mr. R. H. Greg, late M.P. for Manchester, and
a space is left for Mr. Villiers, M.P., and another for Mr. Gib-
son, M.P. On the right of Mr. Cobden, between him and Mr.
Prentice, spaces are left for Lord Radnor and Col. Thompson.
At the right hand corner of the picture are Mr. H. Ash-
worth and Mr. Bazley, standing, and Mr. Hamer Stansfeld.
of Leeds, sitting. At the left hand corner are Mr. J. B.
Smith and Mr. John Brooks, sitting. At the opposite side
of the table, and sitting at it, are Mr. Hickin, the secretary,
Mr. William Evans, Mr. Lees, Mr. H. Rawson, and Mr.
W. Bickham. The only portraits behind them, as yet, are
Mr. Lumsden, the late Lord Provost of Glasgow, and Mr.
Dixon, the late eiayor of Carlisle. Mr. George Wilson oc-
cupies the chair, and on the raised dais behind him are Lord
Kinnaird, Mr. John Whitaker, of Hurst, and Mr. Duncan
Maclaren, of Edinburgh, Mr. W. Biggs, late Mayor of
Leicester, and Mr. James Marshall, of Leeds. The picture
is intended, we believe, to contain about fifty portraits. The
place of meeting represented is the League council-room in
Newall's-buildings, from whence the proceedings of the
powerful association were directed; and the view from the
window will embrace a front of Market-street. The whole
will form a great national picture, illustrative of one of those
deliberative meetings at which magnificent designs were
originated and matured for the emancipation of the com-
merce, not only of England, but of the whole world.—Man-
chester Times.
DANGEROUS EFFECT OF FRIGHTENING FEMALES
—A few weeks ago, a pung woman, seventeen years of age,
living with Mr. John Sadler, farmer, South Kilvington. near
Thirsk, was terribly frightened whilst going to milk, by a
servant boy of the farm presenting himself before her enve-
loped in a white sheet. From the effects of this she reco-
vered. A fortnight ago, a broom was set up, wrapped with
straw and covered with a sheet; this was too much for the
poor girl to witness, the sight at night was so alarming, that
the poor creature is now, and has been ever since, bereft of
reasoni. This dangerous practice has often resulted in the
same way, and holds out a fearful warning against such an
idle and insane practice.—Leeds Times.
SINGULAR CASE OF SONINAMBULISM.—At a very
early hour on Saturday morning the policeman stationed on
the beat on Dalston-terram was surprised at the approach of
a figure dressed in white. He at once discovered such to be
a young lady fast asleep, and attired in her night-clothes and
slippers only. He very prudently, without awakening her,
turned her towards the Tyssen Arms Taverh, and by the
inmates she was conducted tna bed-room, where she awoke
while they were endeavouring to place her quietly in bed.
She betrayed no symptoms of alarm. A surgeon was, how-
ever, called in, who ordered warm stimulants to prevent
danger from cold, and she was at once conveyed in a cab to
the residence of her parents, about three-quarters of a mile
from where she was stopped (viz., near Balls Pond Church).
Their surprise may be more easily imagined than described,
on being aroused from their sleep at such an unseasonable
hour under such circumstances; they were perfectly uncon-
scious of their daughter's absence. Her bed •room window
was found open, and she had climbed over the outer gate
without .having sustained any injury, or attracting the atten-
tion of any one. The young lady and her parents are highly
respectable, and this is her first essay at sleep-walking.
MADIEID STOCK EXCHANGE.—} or the benefit and
information of those who have purchased Iberian stock, it
may be stated that an Exchange, or Bolso de Comercio, was
established at Madrid in 1831. It may be called the coldest
spot in the hot capital, and the idlest, since the usual "City
article " is short and sweet, "sin operaciones" or nothing
has been bought and sold._ It might be likened to a tomb,
with "Here lies Spanish credit" for its epitaph. If there
be a thing which "La perlfde Albion," " a nation of shop-
keepers," dislikes worse even than a French assignat,
it is a bankrupt. One circumstance is clear, that Cas-
tilian pundonor, or point of honour, will rather settle
its debts with cold iron and warm abuse, than with
gold and thanks. The Exchange at fdiedrid was first
held at St. Martin's, a saint who divided his cloak with
a supplicant. As comparisons are odious, and bad ex-
amples catching, it has been recently removed to the
Calle del Desengano, the street of " finding out fallacious
hopes ;" a locality which the bitten will not deem ill-chosen.
As all men in power use their official knowledge in taking
advantage of the turn of the market, the Boise divides with
the court and army the moving influence of every situation
or crisis of the moment ; clever as are the Ministers of Paris,
they are mere tyros when compared to their colleagues at
Madrid in the arts of working the telegraph, the gazette,
see and thereby feathering their own nests. The Stock
EsuChange is open from tsn till three o'clock, where those
who like Spanish funds may buy them as cheap as bad
mackt rel ; for when the Three per Cents. of perfidious Albion
are at 98, surely Spanish Fives at 22 are a tempting invest-
ment. he st o are numerous, and suited to all tastes and
pockets, whether those funded by Aguado, Ardouin, Torens,
Mendizabel, or Mon. " all honourable men," and whose
punctuality is unremitting.—Murray's Library.
CORN AND COALS.—It was mentioned by several of
the coal-merchants in the City, on Saturday, that so great
has the demand for vessels become within the last few days,
to be employed in importing corn from America, that it is
almost impossible to get vessels for any other purpose, and
under no circumstances except at enormous rates. It was
added that a large number of vessels hitherto employed ex-
clusively in the coal trade have been engaged to sail for
New Orleans with all possible dispatch. But for the scarcity
of shipping the coal-merchants say that the prices would, in
a few weeks, have undergone a great reduction—most p_ro-
bably to their usual price of from 28s. to 30s. per ton. The
quantities at the coal-pits in the North of England, ready to
be sent to the London market, are immensely great, and
every exertion is making by the coalowners to get them
forwarded to the metropolitan market. It was stated on
Saturday that some hundres of colliers are anchored in the
lower parts of the Thames, a waiting a favourable wind to
proceed up the Pool.
ANTIDOTE TO DILELLING.-..- A salutary blow has
been struck at duelling in Miss'. ppi, by a case of enforce-
ment of a law of the state, which requires that the eurvivo
should be responsible fcr the debts of the man he kills in a
tad.