The Sun.
London, England, 1824-02-07 00:00:00

HOUSE OF LORDS--APPEALS.

Intimation was yesterday forwarded to the Scotch Law
Agents, by order of the LORD CLIANCELLOR, stating that
the House of Lords would begin on Monday morning, to
which day the House stands adjourned, at ten o'clock to
hear Appeals. This is meeting an hour earlier than usual
for Appeal hearings.—The Lord Chancellor will hear the first
Appeals that stand on the list (the ballot for the Peers who are
to attend during the remainder of the Session, takes place
in the afternoon.) The first Appeals on Monday's list are
those which his Lordship has already heard at considerable
length in the course of preceding Sessions of Parliament ;
namely, those known by the general name of the "Queensberry
Causes." There are six of them in number :—" The Duke of
Buccleugh v. Sir J. Montgomery ;" " the Duke of Buccleugh
v. J. Hyslop, Esq. ;" " the Earl of Wymess v. the Duke of
Buccleugh," &c. In further support of the extensive argu-
ments already heard at their Lordships' bar, Mr. Jeffrey, Mr.
Cranstoun, and Mr. MoncriefE, the celebrated Scotch barristers,
are specially retained to attend, and will appear on Monday.—
The value that is set upon their assistance may be inferred from
the fact that they are understood to have "one thousand guineas"
marked on the backs of their briefs ! The further hearing
of the causes is expected to occupy at least five or six days;
but it is also calculated that the decision in one case will be re-
ceived as giving judgment in the remainder., The Lord Chan-
cellor will attend to the Queensberry Causes till they are all
disposed of. His Lordship will then continue more regularly,
than in former Sessions of Parliament, his sittings in the Court •

of Chancery. The Appeals will, at the same time, proceed in
the House of Lords ; but they will be mainly before Lord Gif-
ford, the new Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and
three Peers, according to the " Standing Orders" previously
resolved on; and notwithstanding any absence of the Lord
Chancellor.

-THE TREAD-WHEEL

(Extract from the Fifth Report of the Society for the lenprcros.
ment of Prison piscipline, fe.)
" The merits of the tread-wheel, as an instrument of prison-
labour, have, during the past year, excited considerable inte-
rest. Objections of a very serious nature have been urged
against it by a Magistrate, whose labours for the iniproveinent
of prison discipline, during a long and honourable life, entitle
his sentiments to great attention. Highly as the Committee
appreciate the motives which animate the benevolent author,
they do not concur with the reasoning contained in a recent
work on prison labour; the object of whic4 publication is to
chew that the ordinary discipline of the tubad-wheel is an un-
safe, unhealthy, and degrading punishment. The Committee
believe that they were the first to recognize the excellence, and
advocate the introduction, of this description of prison-labour ;
and, after mature consideration, they can discover nothing in
the proper use and moderate application of this punishment,
that is irreconcileable with the feelings of humanity, and those
prinCiples of prison discipline which it is the object of this
Society to recommend.

" From documents which have been laid before Parliament,
the healthiness of the tread-wheel exercise is satisfactorily
proved. The opinions of the medical offlcers in attendance at
the various prisons, concur in declaring that the general health
of the prisotets has in no degree suffered injury by the exer-
cise; but that,, on the contrary, the labour has in this respect
been productive of considerable benefit. Recent inquiries which
the Committee have instituted,' confirm these, testimonies ; and
against evidence so conclusive, a judgment, formed principally
from abstract reasoning, and unsupported by that peculiar ex-
perience which 'the daily observations of a prison surgeon affords,
can have but little weight.
" The mischievous consequences of which it is stated that
the tread-wheel is the source, attach not so much to the nature
of the labour as to the degree in which it may be enforced._
There is nothing painful in the simple' position of the body on
the wheel ; and the machinery may be made to revolve so
slowly as scarcely to form a punishment; while, on the other
hand, it cannot be denied; that by excessive application it may
be rendered an instrument of unjustifiable rigour. The main
question, then, on which the safety and expediency of the tread-
wheel depends, is simply this—can the degree of labour be so
regulated as to be ascertained without difficulty, and restrained,
at all times, within safe limits ? This consideration has occu-
pied the particular attention of the Committee; and they have
the pleasure to state that these very desirable objects can be ac-
complished.
"- It occurred to the Committee, on perusing their inquiries
upon this subject, that as the several details in the manage-
ment of the treadewbeel are proportionate in their variations,
they Might conveniently be laid down upon a sliding scale.
The idea has been carried into execution in a very ingenious
manner by Mr. Bate, mathematical instrument-maker to the
Board of Excise, a•ho has constructed an instrument, by 'the
I simple inspection of which the rate of labour can at all times
be ascertained. The utility of this invention is obvious; it
at once enables the Magistrate, or the Governor of a prison, at
which a treadeveheel is in operation, to secure precision of
management, and by affording an accurate measure, applicable
in all cases; may prevent the inadvertent excess, or intentional
abuse, of this species of punishment.
" It is perfectly true that the labour of the tread-Wheel, un-
less it be 'regulated with great care,
may, to use the lan-
guage of an able and experienced governor of a prison, (in a
recent communication With the Committee), " become, in the
hands of some, an emeine of terible oppression." In order to
shew the importance of further attention to this subject, and
the great confusion' that at present prevails in the manner of
enforcing the labour, the Committee refer to the table in the
appendix, friunded on returns recently received, sheaving 'the
great varieties of 'punishment inflicted; a bare reference to
which will prove the necessity for adopting some uniformity of
practice, in order to equalize the administration of prison-dis-
cipline. The present inequality, it will be perceived, arises
not only from the varied degrees of velocity, and the fluctuat-
ing proportions of working and resting prisoners at each wheel,
but also from the difference in the 'working-hours of summer
and winter—a difference which amounts in the daily rate of
labour at some prisons to at least 50 per cent. By an adher-
ence, however, to the follo
n et regulations, and with he aid
of the scale to whichahe t,orrimittee have referred, hestead-
mills in various prisons, even those on the most diversified
principles of construction, may be conducted upon one uniform
and certain system of operation throughout the kingdom.
,4 I. Every tread-wheel should he provided with a regula-
stra
tor,'ined within safe limits. by which iu; tate of revolution may at all times be re-
" 2. To the tread-wheel should also be affixed a dial-
register,' on reference to which the rate of labour may at any
time be accurately ascertained.
" 3. The daily rate of labour
should in no case exceed
12,000 feet in ascent.
"A., Care should be taken to apportion the diet to the degree
of labour enforced.
" The ComMittee are aware that the Observance of these
rules will not remove the objections which many respectable
persons entertain against 'the use of the tread-wheel : they re-
gard the punishment, under any circumstances, as too rigorous.
In the opinion, however, of the Committee, the primary fea-
ture in the 'character of hard labour' should be severity ;
not equal, indeed, to every decription of criminals, not ir-
reconcileable with the feelings of humanity, nor one degree
beyond that which the public interests justify and the reforma-
tion of the criminal demands; 'yet a severity that shall make
those who have violated justice feel the penalties of law, and
the consequences of guilt. The Committee believe that for a
certain class of offenders the tread-wheel is, under proper re-
gulation, a punishment of this description, and that no house
of correction should be without it. The great proportion of
offenders committed to such places of confinement are sen-
tenced to hard labour,' and but for short periods of imprison-
ment, during which the tread-wheel is an appropriate punish.
mane. But in bearing this testimony in its favour, they feel
no hesitation in declaring their opinion that its value may be
over-rated, and its discipline misapplied. Notwithstanding the
acknowledged excellencies of the tread-wheel, it ought not to
form the punishment of those whom the law sentences to im-
prisonment only. To it on this description of prisoners
would be to change the character of their sentence. To sub.
ject, also, convicts Committed for long periods of imprisonment,
day after day, to this discipline, is inconsistent with the views
of the best writers on the Penitentiary system,.and at variance
with those principles of prison management which Howard
never ceased to inculcate, and to realize which the enlightened
exertions of Sir George Paul and other eminent Magistrates
have been zealously (Erected. '—
" The practice of employing, females at the tread-wheel is,
in the opinion of many benevolent persons, in no case justifi-
able. in this sentiment the Committee do riot concur. Upon
hardened offenders committed 'to Houses of Correction—such
as the law has truly designated idle and disorderly'—the la-
bour is productive of excellent effects, and, if superintended, by
a careful matron, may be safely administered ; but the general
employment of females at the' tread-wheel is liable to serious
objections • and as there are, even in the absence of prison
trades, other kinds of labonr to be found fur women in a gaol
that are congenial to the habits of their sex, the practice of thus
employing this class of offenders is not justified by necessity.
But let. the punishment of tread-wheel labour be ever so
carefully regulated, there is one consideration which ought net
to he forgotten, and to which the Committee cannot too ear-
nestly entreat attention. Punishments however salutary, can-
not alone be expected to reclaim; nor do they, under anyform,
diminish the necessity for those moral and religious services.,
without which all plans of prison discipline will prove ineffi-
cient, and the formation and recovery of good character be-
come alike utterly hopeless. The Committee have been led to
offer these remarks, because it has appeared to them that in
some prisons by far too much dependence has been placed on
the deterring influence of tread-wheel labour, while but little
_earnestness has bee.) evinced to take advantage of that subjec-
tion of mind which the nnnisliment has a tendency to produce,
and which might be available for the purposes of religious im-
pressions and permenent improvement. There is nothing in
the character of tread-wheel labour that may not be made to
strengthen the power of religion, 'and extend the influence of
her ministers over the mind and feelings of a prisoner; and it
would be indeed to be deplored, were the introduction of hard
labour to be considered as superseding or weakening the neces-
sity for their labours, without which the great objects of prison
discipline can never be attained,"