The Sun.
London, England, 1824-06-07 00:00:00

PRISONS IN FRANCE.

EXTRACTS from the Marquess de BARBE-MARBOIS'
OFFICIAL REPORT on the PRESENT STATE of
PRISONS in the FRENCH DEPARTMENTS of CAL-
VADOS, EURE, LA MANCHE, and the LOWER
SEINE ; and on the HOUSE of CORRECTION at
GAlLLON—Addressed to His Royal Highness the Duke
of ANGOULEME, October 1323.

On the Interior Discipline of the House of Correction et
Gaillon.—(Pages 15, 21.)

It happens almost every year that the pri-
soners at Gaillon plot a revolt with a view to escape. As
they necessarily must confide their intention to a great number
of prisoners, their bad designs have always been discovered in
time to prevent their execution.
Such a revolt would be attended with fatal consequences,
and, under such and similar circumstances, it requires a very
accurate discrimination to award exactly to each offender the
punishment which he deserves.
Justice, however, demands that an exact proportion between
the punishment inflicted and the crime, even against discipline,
be scrupulously observed ; but, in spite of the utmost attention,
it is difficult to observe it in all cases. Most of the prisoners told
me that personally they had no complains to make in this re-
spect, and that those who behave well never experience any bad
treatment. The same individuals added that they had seen
other rebellious prisoners treated with more severity than their
offence demanded. Two prisoners, who are not badly spoken
of, assured me that one of the keepers sometimes gets intoxi-
cated, and that in that state he is not master of himself.
The children confined at Gaillon appeared to me entitled to
particular attention. There are 32 boys and 8 girls under six-
teen years of age. They are generally condemned for trifling
thefts of victuals, or of things of little value. But as these of-
fences are frequently attended with aggravating circumstances,
such as scaling, breaking into, &c. it does not rest with the
Judge to instigate the punishment he inflicts. These chil-
dren are without known parents, or they belong to wretched
parents, by whom they have been deserted. They do not fore-
see the consequences of their actions, anti do not know that
their robberies expose them to serious punishments. A
prison does not better them, because they often are con-
fined only for twelve or fifteen months, which leaves
them no time to learn a handicraft trade that would earn them
a living when they are restored to liberty. But after having
kept the company of bad men they leave the prison more
wicked than when they entered it. Special prisons are wanted
for these young offenders, in which prisons they might be taught
useful trades.

At Gaillon the children are suffered to see the men only in
the workshops, and even this restricted communication has its
inconvenience. They have a particular meadow for their re-
creations, and they sleep in separate dormitories.
Remonstrances and good advices have little effect upon child-
ren, who in prisons keep the company with so many wicked men.
They are without subordination, impudent, and saucy. I asked
one of them what lessons he received from the elder prisoners.
" I only speak with good men," he told me, seriously," and
never with those who are bad company. " In the eyes of this
little rogue, the least criminal prisoners were men of probity."
I dismissed none of them without inquiring whether they
could read. Scarcely four or five out of forty had learnt to read.
One of them answered : " What is reading good for ?" An-
ther said, " who should have taught me reading? there was
no Schoolmaster in the place." Government knows that a very
great number of parishes are without a School.
It is towards these young people, misled by their extreme
ignorance, that the attention of public men ought to he directed.
They here will find a vast field for improvement. It is in their
yet unexperienced hearts that religion and morals may sow
useful seeds. If we stop the evil in its origin we hinder its
propagation; we prevent the progress of bad examples ; we
save the Courts of justice a fruitless severity, the Exchequer
considerable expences, and we empty, as it were, the prisons.
There are in the House of Correction at Gaillon 469 prisoners
of both sexes from 16 to 25 years of age, most of them confined
for private stealing. Convicts of this age are capable of being
reformed, when there is time enough to teach them a trade.
The superintendants of central Houses of Correction should be
bound to employ them only in such handicrafts as that of a
shoemaker, locksmith, joiner, cabinet-maker, tailor, wea-
ver, &c. _ _ _ . . _ _

If men brought to prison as offenders, leave it instructed in
a handicraft, farther crimes are prevented and society, instead
of enemies, will have useful members obedient to the laws. lf,
on the contrary, a lazy fellow, incapable of working, is restored
to liberty he is in the same state of wretchedness and want by
which ht had Wore been hurried on to trine.
Even those who have been reformed by their punishment,
leave the prison only with a passport which they are obliged to
produce wherever they go, and which mentions the sentence
which they have undergone. With this stigma of infamy,
they are every where rejected ; who, indeed, could give his
confidence to an individual thus recommended, or suffer him
about his children? A female prisoner left the House of
Correction at Gaillon, at the expiration of the term for which
she'had been confied, after having lived in it in the most exem-
plary manner, the Governor declared that he would be
answerable for her future good conduct and praised her excel-
lent qualities: but the stigma in her passport prevented
.her
getting any situation in a family. She returned to the prison
imploring to be received as a servant, and engaging never
to
leave it. A perpetual imprisonment appeared to her preferable
to the life of a vagabond or mendicant.
Others equally homeless and destitute begin their sttrade anew. At this moment there are at Gaillon, ou
hundred liberated prisoners, 58 that have re
lapsed into theirdtet oer
nineleab
former crimes.
age, that the greatest wickedness pre
It is among prisoners from five and tyvaielsnty;
ni toanfoyrthyavyeeabrseeonf

. ,
in the hands of justice before and have relapsed. They-gene
rally are condemned for heavy offences, and require to be treat-
ed with great severity. The prisoner who knows exactly how
far he may disobey his superiors, is readily disposed to insub-
ordination ; he must be struggled with, as it were, hand to fist.
The audaciousness of so wicked a herd is freTtently directed to
attempts of riots with the view to escape. liated by a common
interest, and excited by the most mischievous among them,
they constantly hope that any tumult will atibrd them a favour-
able chance for open rebellion. In such a case vigorous and
prompt measures must be resorted to.
Among the prisoners from forty to sixty years of age are
those who are incorrigible, male and female receivers of
stolen goods, vagabonds, mendicants, &c. No good is to be
hoped of them.

Whilst I was inspecting the House of Correction at Gaillon,
a dozen prisoners were brought to it, two or three of whom had
been' kept several months, and even a tVnoic year in the prisons
of the chief cities of Departments after their conviction, instead
of being sent to the House of Correction within a fortnight after
the trial. These irregularities are prejudicial to their learning
a handicraft, and contrary to the laws.
The attention which I paid to the prison at Gallon, and my
conversations with several convicts, hare confirmed me in my
belief that Houses of Correction answer their destination, and.
that the severe discipline observed in these houses has a power-
ful tendency to insure public tranquillity. 7.:xpences of this
kind are a real economy : it were even to he wished that haste
should be made to complete the establishments of this sot t
which are not yet finished.
The presence or visitation of an. Inspector sent by Govern--
ment is of great utility ; his attention is chiefly directed to the
administration of prisons, and the prisoners may derive s*rne
advantage from it : but the visit of a benevolent and disiatte,
rested Examiner who does not proceed with a spirit of crideissia
in his examination, is of far greater utility.
In consequence of the conversations which I had with a great
many prisoners, I am forced to renew the observations which I
have already suggested twice ; they relate to the punishments
which the law decrees in some cases, and the application of
which so frequently perplexes both udges and Juries. The
Judges are accused of too much severity and the Juries of too
much indulgence.
Both these reproaches are unfounded: The difference which
is observed in their respective decisions arises from their differ-
ent powers.
In criminal matters the jury, after having given their verdict
of guilty, are not allowed to propose any mitigation of the
punishment. The Judge, who has no right to take it into con-
sideration, looks to the law for the punishment decreed for
that kind of crime : but the punishment which the law awards
often is so disproportionate to the crime, that Juries, in order
to save themselves the regrets of having been too severe, deter-
mine to neglect their duty. They transgress the law for fear
of being over-cruel.
This is not the case in matters of correctional Police; the
Judges decide without the assistance of a Jury, and, compa-
ratively speaking, convictions are more frequent than in cri-
minal matters. But why ? Because the penalties are less se--
were ; they are more easily graduated and awarded with justice,
especially by relying on the 463rd article of the Penal Code,
which authorizes Courts of Justice to reduce the confinement to
a term of even less than six clays, and the pecuniary fine even
to less than 16 francs, if the damage done does not exceed 25
francs, and if there be any mitigating circumstances. They
may also decree one or the other of these penalties singly.

Thus the wisdom of the Lawgiver has reconciled severity
with humanity, and it is this modification which constitutes'
justice. The Judge does not find himself like the Jary under
the painful obligation of either endangering public tranquillity
by a scandalous acquittal, or afflicting Society with the sight of
too severe a punishment. The culprit is convicted ;an useful
example is made of him, without offending humanity, and the
decision is approved of by all impartial men.
The article which I have just quoted would have the same
result if it were applied to criminal matters in the Courts of
Assizes. This single innovation would suffice to mitigate the
severity, I may almost say the harshness, of part of the dispo-
sitions of our penal code. The law would lose its inflexibility
without losing any thing of its power,—and the Judge, instead
of being the passive organ of the law, would see himself invest.
ed with a power, the extent of which could not be dangerous,
as it never could be used but, in behalf of the accused. A dis-
creet use of this power would 'add to the regard due to Who.:
rity united with experience. It' the Jury should still be intimi.
dated by the text of the law, they would feel relieved by the
wisdom of the Judges : They would trust to the -latter, and
their decisions would be freed from the scruples which tend to
impede their justice.
I will not cease renewing these observations whenever an
opportunity offers itself; and I submit them with the utmost
confidence to those who have discharged the functions of Judges
1 and Juries at the Assizes.

The question might also be examined, whether it would not
be proper to assign to the correctional police the cognizance of
several crimes of little importance which are now tried at the
Assizes. The Courts to which they might he entrusted would
not be driven either to excessive severity or to dangerous at-
quittals ;—they would do justice.
Two other important, but secondary, advantages would be
obtained at the same time • one, of not fatiguing the Jury with
matters little worthy of the attention and attendanceuf the in-
dividuals who compose the Jury, and who frequently cannot be
long absent from their homes without injury to their privatu
concerns. _ _ .

-----
The other advantage would be that of saving a great part of
the expences attendant on the trials at the Assizes. Were the
change which I propose adopted, the expences of two years
under different laws would comparatively be very different.
I know that in the application of laws there is some danger
in deviating from the rules laid down in theory. But the law•
giver cannot possibly foresee and define every case'. Hence tire
wisest nations have acknowledged that•there are many circum•
stances under which equity must be substituted to laws that are
deficient, because their enactments are too general. Not that
I unrestrictedly approve of the distinction between justice and
equity. No human being is free from human passions; and
those who have presided over the Court of Chancery inEng-
land have not always kept it free from abuses. But our laws
know nothing of such a Court. Were the laws which I pro-
pose proclaimed, an increased watchfulness would be required
in those who watch over our law proceedings, and of all watch.,
ings over the Courts of Justice, the publicity of the trials is ike
best and most efficacious.
[Page 32 and 33.1
Interior colonies appear, at the present moment; the easiest
means of relief that Government can adopt in behalf of indi-
gent families. Other countries have set us salutary examples.
Bavaria and Russia at first devoted considerable sums to incer
rior colonization, and have been amply indemnified for their
advances, by the advantage of having put into cultivation
lands which were formerly untilled and barren, and by the
diminution of crimes and law expences. And lastly,, what is
superior to all these advantages, they have snatched
.from a
having beep hostile to
hAiiimsbteener-
cenTcneeneexvaemr fpalielsotf.oHil
social order, will become its additional supporters and zealous
ndoiswsoalurete
lalinfedloawnnderas,staantde owf
hwoaifirto.mnumbers of families •that
defenders, out of that gratitude which an act of greit .benefit
deserves
otof be
ne
dliufroetr: all,
tabqouvaeriti.
wbeeri
cause it is the most recent, and bhecaavueseesitatsblsiushc success sat
Benevolence, whose object it is to found d•-
13ewhich the poor might find the means of
snore rapid than any
hwbanerde else-
g e sna,lllClnr wrotee:. thus
rior a Society of
Mr. Van den Bete
mestic colonies. In
subsistence by their .
d in the province of Over-Ysiel gr •
; -.ty cottages were
purchase
hem to which lots of ground were attach
built upon t
l e erected buildin s ofpublic ed, and
there were likewise
The good success of this first colony caused a second one t ' •
founded likewise of fifty cottages, and
others
be foun soon after a third,
under the name of William Town. They are allunder the'
patronage of the Prince of Orange. The last col •
colony; established
has one hundred houses and seven hundied acres of land.
It was after having visited These colonies, that Mr. Jasques
Colonies :—" I have seen • the colon •
Y of Worter in. 1822,
when it was still a desert, and when theywere only beginning
to till the land ; I have seen the same
mer, in harvest time, and when y colony twice this. sum-
the number of 'inhabited houses they dug up their
~potatoes;
I have been so struck with was already very considerable.
faction in beholding fine this sight, and I felt such a satin-'
and ample harvests on fields which
but a little time ago were barren and
_uncultivated ,
that I beg
the Society of Benevolence to' m accept gift of five thousand,
Netherlands."
florins, money of the y
Thus where there was but a desert one now sees industry,
activity, and rich harvests. Churches and schools have beers
built in theist colonies, can* haye been dug; and 'plantations
made.

PARIS PAPERS.

( From the Etoile of Friday.)
CHAMBER OF PEERS.—BULLETIN orJITYE 3.

The Chamber (net at one o'clock. The amend-
ment of Count de MoLLIEIy, of which we gave
the text yesterday, was first put in deliberation,
as to that portion only which tended to substi-
tute for a conversion into aerates at • three per
cent. a conversion into Rentes, half at three, and
half at four per cent.
The Duke de Broglie, the Count de la Forest, the Count
tie Mollien, and the Minister of Finance were successively
heard on this amendment, which was afterwards put to the
vote on the scrutiny, and rejected by a majority of 120 votes
to 103.

The Duke de Crillon had, in the course of the discussion,
proposed an amendment, which, in one of its articles, re-pro-
duced the proposition to substitute Rentes at four and a half
to those at five per cent.
This proposition being the same as that made by Count Roy,
and rejected in the Sitting of yesterday, its author withdrew it,
under the pledge of bringing it forward again in the course of
the discussion of the other articles of his Amendment. _

All tite Amendments proposed on the first paragraph having
been thus removed, the Chamber was about to vote on the pa-
ragrrhitself, when _ _

The 111rxisT.F: R of FINANCE (the Count de Villele) de-
manded' to be heard, m order to explain before the Chamber
should proceed to a scrutiny, which might decide the fate of
the law, what the Government proposed to do in favour of the
Stock-hdlders of less than one hundred francs (401. annual di-
vidend), whose interest appeared to be one of the motives of
the opposition to the plan of the law. He declared, that the
intention of the Government was, without ,admitting any ex-
ception to the law, to propose hereafter the creation of an esta-
blishment, in which annuitants of this description might find a
certain investment at a sufficient rate of interest. He pointed
-nut the eaisse des consignations as an institution applicable to
this purpose, and he shewed that it would be very easy to in-
duce the assoalated bankers to renounce their commission on
this portion of the Rentes ; which, while it secured to the an-
nuitants of this class the ppwer of receiving undiminished di-
Vidends up to the Ist ofianuary, 1820, would thus enable them
to await, without loss, the moment when an establishment
might be created destined:to receive their funds.

• The Chamber then voted, by scrutiny, on the first paragraph
of the project of the law, and this paragraph was rejected by a
majority of 120 votes to 105.
The other paragraphs, being merely dependent on the first,
and falling to the ground necessarily with it, were put to the
vote and rejected ; after which the Chamber, to conform to its
standing orders, voted on the definitive scrutiny on the whole
of the project, which in like manner was rejected.
The Chamber then adjourned without fixing the day of its
next wetting.
_ . _ . .

( From the Journal des Debuts. )

Pains, JUNE telegraphic dispatch, transmitted from
Brest on the evening of the 31st of May, announces the arrival
there of the Portuguese frigate, the Perola, having on board the
Infant of Portugal, Don Miguel.
Ro3iE, MAY 19.—The Cardinal Pallotti has published at
Ferentino an Edict, outlawing all the Brigands, and authoris-
ing any body to shoot them without trial. -They are encourag-
ed, too, to betray one another, and in certain districts all crimes
are to be punished as robberies. This Cardinal has received
extensive powers to put an end to robberies, and much is ex-
pected from his judicious and severe measures.
(From thesConstitutionnel.)
PARIS, JUNE 4.—We have received news from Spain of
considerable importance, which want of space obliges us to post-
pone till to-morrow. It seems that serious disturbances had
taken place in Madrid, in consequence of a scarcity of bread. It
seems;:too, that at present there is a considerable disagreement
among the influencial members of the Spanish Government,
and that this has been displayed in an Address presented to the
King by the Council of Castile.
ER E Ncit Fusns.—Pmus JUNE 4.—Five per Cent. opened
at 101. ; closed at 102.—Bank Stock, 1900.—Neapolitan
Rents, 904.—Royal Spanish Loan, 63i.
EXCHANGE ON LONDON.—One month, 25. 23.; two
months, 25. .5.--(Cours Anthentique, June 4.)