The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-23 00:00:00

POOR REMOVAL BILL.

The following outline gives the general clauses in Sir
James Graham's Bill "to consolidate and amend the
laws relating to the removal of the poor."
1. Repeal of such former Acts of Parliament as relate
to the removal dV poor persons settled in England.
2. Declaration, that unsettled persons are to be re-
lieved at the charge of the parish where they are desti-
titute, as if they were settled there, until they are
lawfull; removed, or their destitution there is lawfully
at an end.

a. Board of guardians empowered to charge relief in
doubtful cases, subject to warrant of removal, or appeal
to the Commissioners.

4 The books of oveneers and relieving officers made
prima facie evidence of chargeability.
5. The Commissioners, with the consent of the ma-
jority of the board of guardians, may make houseless
poor a union charge.
REMOVAL-6 Persons chargeable to a " parish" in
which they ere not settled, declared liable to be removed
to the parishes o: their settlement.
RESTRICTIONS oN REMOVAL.-7. But persons are not
to be removed from one parish to another parish in the
same union. Their settlements may, however, be ascer-
tained by order of justic-!s.
V. Persons exempted from the liability to be removed
after five years' residence in parish without relief.
9. Also widows for twelve months after the death of
their husbands.
10. Also children and wives, when the father, mother,
step father, or husband is not removable.
11. Also persons chargeable through temporary sick-
ness or disability from ace,dent.
12. Power to overseers to admit settlements, and
agree to amicable removals.
13. Summons of pers,ns liable to be removed ; their
examination; the warrant for their removal. Proviso
for the examination of persons who cannot attend the
summons.

14. Board of guardians may apply for warrant of re-
moval after notice to the overseers. Proviso for saving
the power of overseers to apply for such warrant.
15. Paid officer msy be appointed to conduct removals
and regulations to be made with reference to his duties.
16. No removal to be made until after forty days'
notice, unless the removal be previously übmitted
In case of appeal, the removal not to be made until such
appeal is ended.
17. Overseers, or persons employed by them, may ex-
ecute the warrant of removal.
18. Persons procuring removals for 'the purpose of
causing chargeability to another parish without warrants,
made subject to penalties.

19. Delivery of paupers under warrants of removal, at
the workhouse of a parish or union, to be regarded as
delivery to the overseers,

20. Suspension of the removal ; recovery of the
charges incur:ea by such suspension.
21. An,-
.real where such charges exceed 101.
22. Overseers may abandon a warrant of removal,
Paying the costs caused to the other party.
23. The clerk of the justices to transmit a duplicate of
every warrant of removal and the original depositions to
the clerk of the peace.
24. The clerk of the peace, on application, to furnish
copies to the overseers of the parish to which the re-
moval is directed to be made.

25. The pari,h aggrieved by a warrant of removal
may appeal, giving n,,tice of the grounds of their appeal.
Appeal to be ri.spited only on affidavit of special cir-
cumstances. Warrants of removal made before the
passing of this Act may still be appealed against, as if
the Act had not been passed.
26. Appeals against warrants of removal from parishes
out of the union not to be entered without the consent of
the board of guardians. Expenses of removal to be
controlled by the board of guardions.
27. Overseers may have access to the pauper touching
his settlement.
28. Summonses of witnesses.

29. Quarter Sessions held fourteen days after notice
of appeal to hear the appeal ; no grounds to be gone
into, but such as have been set forth in the respondents'
and appelants' statements.

30. On the trial of the appeal, the duplicate of the
warrant, and the original depositions transmitted to the
clerk of the peace, may be referred to for certain pur-
poses.

- 31. Costs incurred by reason of notice of removal, or
of appeal, and costs of trial, and costs caused by state-
ments of frivolous or vexatious grounds of removal or
appeal, to be awarded and certified by the Court ; re-
covery of such coats. _ _

32: Costs may be taxed by the proper officer at any
time, although the Court be not sitting.
33. The cost of relief and maintenance of persons
under warrant of removal incurred from the time that
notice of chargeability was sent, till the time when the
warrants might lawfully be executed, to be repaid to the
parish. Proviso saving the provisions in clause 15, re-
specting suspended warrants.
34. Certiorari taken away.
35. Notices of removal, appeal, &c., may be sent by
post.

GUARDIANS OF PARISHES INVESTED WITH POWERS
FOR REMOVAL OF POOR Pisasows.-36. Boards of Guar-
dians of single parishes may act in matters relating to
the settlement and removal of the poor.
CONSTRUCTION AND LIMITATION OF THE ACT.-
37.—This Act to be construed as one Act with the Poor-
law Amendment Acts.
38. Forms set forth in the schedule to be sufficient in
law in proceedings under this Act.
39. The Act limited to England.
40. The Act may be amended this session.
The schedules
.give the form of order of settlement ;
forms of admission of settlement, &c. ; of warrant of
removal ; of suspension of a warrant of removal, to be
endorsed on the back of such warrant • of a permission
to execute the warrant of removal, to be endorsed there
on, and order of payment of expenses incurred by the
suspension ; of notice of application for a warrant of
removal ; and of consent of guardians to overseers ap-
pealing against warrant of removal.

CASE OF THE LADY SALE.
(From the Nautical Standard.)
The owners, master, and crew of the ship Lady Sale,
have been subjected to every kind of annoyance and in-
justice short of being tried and condemned for an offence
of which they were not guilty. We trust their guilt or
innocence will yet be made clear as noonday. The
owners of the Lady Sale cannot sit down under the im-
putation of trading in slaves; and if their vessel has been
illegally condemned, the Portuguese Government must
restore the value of her and pay all expense-. It is evident
the matter cannot rest in its present undefined position.
Capt. Tyrrell, and his crew, after being brought to England
as felons, in vain appeal to the Thames-police magistrates;
they are referred to her Majesty's Government. The
Lords of the Admiralty virtually dismissed the case,
when the master and crew were ordered by them to be
liberated from custody on board the Duke of Cornwall.
If innocent; surely they had serious grievances to redress
—if guilty, justice was outraged, and the sincerity of Eng-
land's anal in the oppression of slavery laid open to suspi-
cion by our Government not showing itself anxious to sift
this matter to its last grain of truth. One would really
imagine it an affair of every-day occurrence, for the
crew of a British vessel to be sent home as prisoners guilty
of felon in trading fur slaves ; and that Ettgland felt
inclined to make as light of the crime imputed to them
as the Portuguese, when slave-crews are sent on shore
at Princes Island. Yes, these men charged with felony
are turned loose in England by Government, without a
single intimation of being made to them, as to the belief
of the authorities in their guilt or innocence. The owners
have lost their ship, and refuse to pay the wages of their
crew; and,while the amount claimed by the mate takes his
case oat of the magistrate's halide, and transfers it to the
Court of Admiralty, the sailor is refused a summons,
which might lead to the recovery of his few pounds,
hardly earned in the pestilent climate of Africa, because,
forsooth. he is Rile, rably poor, and cann. t buy even two
shillingsworth of justice! What a mockery is it, that
the Merchant Seamen's Act provides for the pay-
ment of a sailor's wages " within three days after the
cargo shall be delivered, or seven days after the man's
discharge, whichever shall first happen," when it must
first happen, that the seaman whose wages are unjustly
withheld has two shillings in his pocket wherewith to
buy a summons from those who sell the commodity
in a court of justice. If he has eot that sum, he must
raise it from some Jewish money lender, who having
tame ,got a lien upon the poor fellow's wages, knows
well how to appropriate a considerable proportion of
the remainder. We could hardly have believed it
possible, did we not know it as a fact, that on the
Friday of last week, two seamen of the Lady Sale
were refused summonses to recover their wages from
the master of that ship because they had not two shil-
lings a-piece wherewith to pay for the m. Of what
use is the " Merchant Staten's Act-" to the sailor
without two shillings in his pocket? It would seem that
the whole case of the Lady Sale, from first to lest, re-
quires
.inveatieation and etnendmene Guilty or innocent,
her senors have in either ease less than their due. The
country is not satisfied, for a Portuguese man-of-war has
insulted our fl tg. and appropriated the proprerty of our
merchants under false pretences ; or that flag has been
prostituted to the wOrstof pal-pees, we have slere-dealere
in Liverpool! and a British slaver has been taken in the
African seas, beneath which the bones of many thousand
English sailors lie, whose lives have been sacrificed to
suppress the slave trade. Iti defiance of our treaties with
a slaver
foreign nations—in despite of our laws, which declare
slave trading piracy, and give to the crew of
the pirate's death, the: seamen of the Lady Sale. with
their characters blackened by. the judicial condemnation
of their vessel. as a slaver, with the pirates' brand upon
their brows, are even now walking the streets of slavery.
hating London with as bold a front as though they were
treading the accursed slave marts of the Havannah. Let
us hope that the proper authorities, however tardy at
to
present, and difficult to be discovered, will be obliged
interfere, and justice be done to England, ai well as to
the owners, master, and ship's company of this myste-
rious African trader.

PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF DAVID FILTME.---NatUre,
I believe, never formed any man more unlike his real cha-
racter than DaOld Hume. The powers of physiognomy were
baffled by his countenance; neither could the most skilful
in that science pretend to discover the smallest trace of the
faculties of- his mind in the unmeaning features of
his visage. His face was broad and fat, his mouth
wide, and without any ether expression than that of im-
becility. His eyes vacant and spiritless, and the corpu-
lenee of his whole person was far better fitted to communi-

cate the idea of a turtle-eating alderman, than of a refined
tifEws philosopher. His speech in English was rendered ridieu-
loust_V:thb broadest Scotch accent, and his French was,
Cv ,1"---if pe.ssible;\still Tore. laughable ;so that wisdom most
L., 7..;`,.*.?:- certainly utter disguised herself before in so uncouth
-", F..,-,LIN- a garb. Though now, near fifty years old, he was
Z .14-, --.' healthy and strong; but his health and strength, far from
< ' being advantageous to his figure, instead of manly comeliness,
(
0 \ --_ - had only the appearance of rusticity. His wearing an uni-
form,
~--;_.- . form, added greatly to his natural awkwardness, for he wore
it like a grtoer of the.trained bands,—Lord alcrienkmf.

! COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.
THE CITY PRISONS AND THE INSPECTORS APPOINTED BY

GOVERNMENT.

A Special Court was held on Friday. for the discus-
sion of an important motion relative to the Ci-y prisons.
The members did not assemble till two hou a after the
usual time of meeting, and the discussion was necessa-
riiy protracted to a late hour in the evening.
Mr. WIRE said, in rising to introduce the motion
which stood for discussion that day, he thought it was
not necessary for him to go into very minute detail as
to the state of the prisons in the City, in order to lay
the foundation for the appointment of a Committee of
Inquiry. The attention of the public had already. been
sufficiently directed to the subject by the publication of
the reports of the Prison Inspectors, by the recent dis
cussions in another court, and by a threatened motion
in the House of Commons. These sufficiently indicated
the necessity for inquiry.—(Hear, hear.) It the state-
ments respecting the condition of our prisons were true
in part, or in the whole, it was true that something
should be done to remedy what was detective, to remove
what was evil, and to make the metropolitan prisons not
only a model for this country, but fcr all other countries.
If the reports were false, it was equally necessary for
the Corporation to inquire, and to veidicate itself from
the charges of inattention or neglect of the important
considerations involved in the construction of prisons,
the treatment of prisoners, and the moral effects result-
ing therefrom. He was not going to descant upon the
various subjects involved in these large questions,
nor to examine into the details given to the public by the
prison inspectors. It was sufficient to state tha the
Corporation had five prisons under its jurisdiction :
Britiewell, which was simply us. d for confining refrac-
tory apprentices and persons summarily convicted, with
its house of occupation, adjoining Bethlem Hospital, in
St. George's-fields, a most noble refuge for reforming
young criminals, and receiving destitute youths of both
sexes, and teaching them household work and trades ;
N.,wgate, which wad now used, not as a place of punish-
ment, but of safe custody for the prisoners ewaitng their
trials. and who, every month, were removed thither from
the different gaols of Kent, Essex, and Surrey, within
the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court, and
who, immediately after trial, were removed again,
ei.her to the different gaols or to the Peniten-
tiary, preparatory to transportation, so that the
average duration of a prisoner's detention in Neweate
was not more than ten days. Then there was Giltspur-
street, used both as a house of correction and a place for
persons remanded for further examination ; Whitecross •
street, a prison for debtors, for London and Middlesex ;
and lastly, the Borough Compter, happily untenanted,
except now and then by a few debtors. All these
prisons (except Whitecross-street) were built in the last
century, and were then adapted to carry out the only
ideas which then prevailed, that of being places of safe
eustodly for criminals, tried and untried. Since then
more correct notions of the object and end of criminal
law hed been diffused, both amongst our legislators and
the public, and that not only in this country but in
America and on the continent.—(flear, hear.) America,
untrammalel by the prejudices of the old world, had
taken the lead in discussing the question, and in the
construction of prisons on a different system. France had
thought of the question—Belgium and Holland had re-
modelled their prisons—all had been anxious to combine
with safe custody, correction for Fist offences, and the
reformation of the offenders.—(Hear, hear.) Nor had
our own country been indifferent. In various
counties, in this great metropolis itself, prisons
had been erected ; and efforts had been made in
all to combine the great end of criminal law—pu-
nishment and reform.—(Hear, hear.) Nor ought that
city to be the last in the race of improvement. Some-
thing had been done already; but, owing to the construc-
tion of our prisons, much that ought to be done could
not be accomplished ; and, although the building of a
new prison or prisons might be attended with great ex-
pense, that expense would be cheerfully sustained if it
were deemed necessary to incur it.—(Hear.) He was
far from thinking that prisons should be made so com-
fortable that parties would be more ready to break into
than out of them ; or that the diet of prisoners should be
superior to that of the honest industrious poor, whom
necessity, not idleness, had reduced to the workhouse.—
(Cheers.) He would have prisons "a terror to evil
doers," but he would not have them places of torture,
where bodily suffering or privation led to morbid disease.
—(Cheers.) It was the dictate alike of humanity and
of religion to seek out the desolate and the neglected—
to reform the vicious—to correct the evil—and,
by all moral and spiritual means, to bring the
depraved, the erring, the tempted, and yielding
natures under the healing influence of Chris-
tianity. Let it be known, that "he which saveth
a soul from death" accomplishes a more meritorious act
than he who builds a palace, and " they that win souls"
will shine brighter in celestial history than the con-
queror of nations, or the mighty in art or science.—
(Hear, hear.) The Court was bound then, by a careful
examination of the whole of this great subject, to master
its details, and apply to the principles of common sense
and common humanity, and it would soon wipe from the
Corporation any reproach, and set an example worthy
of all imitation.—(Cheers.) He concluded by moving
the following resolutions :—" That it be referred to a
special committee, to be appointed by this Court, to view
and examine the prisons belonging to the City, and to
report their opinion as to the accommodation afforded to
prisoners, the opportunity for classification and separate
confinement, and whether there exists any necessity for
building a pew prison, or enlarging or altering the ex-
isting prisons, wither view to carrying into effect the im-
provements in prison discipline which modern experience
has suggested on the subject
" That the committee do also inquire whether any,
and what alterations are necessary to be made for the ac-
commodation of judges, prosecutors, witnesses, and the
public at the Sessions House in the Old Bailey, with a
view to expedite and facilitate the administration of
justice, and to save both time and expense to the public."
Mr. BENNOCH seconded the resolutions.

Alderman COPELAND rose, and said that he had no
intention or desire to impede the investigation, but he
wished the Court to understand that he and his colleague
(Alderman Farilcornb) being in the position of visiting
magistrates to the priso: a for the next fortnight, they
could not, at the same that they were anxious to do all
in their power to aid those engaged in the investigation,
allow any persons, except those who were duly autho-
rised to visit the gaols, to enter as a right.—(Expres-
sions of disapprobation.)
Mr. ANDERTON said he had never heard a more ex-
traordinary speech than that which had been just ut-
tered.—(Hear, hear.) What I was it to be endured that
one of the members of the corporation should refuse the
application of the corporation itself to give aid to the
magistrates in an investigation of so important a nature ?
(Hear, hear.) Was it to be endured that, while the
aldermen were dipping their hand for any purposes
they fancied into the City purse, one of their body
should oppose the offer of co-operation in investigating
the causes of complaint of so serious a description, in-
volving as it did the character of aa its branches ?
Alderman COPELAND— I refuse no co-operation. I
say, that while no impediment shall be thrown in the way
of the investigation ; still, the gaols being under the
charge of the magistrates of the City, if a committee be
appointed, the viewing of the gaols must be considered
as permissive, not as a matter of right, and I would
give every facility to the committee to further the inves-
tigation.
Alderman FARNCOMB coincided with the view taken
by Alderman Copeland. They did not by any means
object to the investigation by a committee, but, as visit-
ing magistrates, they were responsible for any contin-
gency which might turn out disevantageously.
Mr. ANDERTON said that the two visiting magistrates
who had just delivered their opinions had greatly mis-
taken the extent of their power in that capacity.—
(Hear, hear.) It happened that the Sheriffs had some
power. Those officers had the custody of the pri-
soners and the care of the prisons in their hands,
while the authority of the visiting magistrates merely.
extended to the matter of seeing that the rules
and regulations of the gaol were properly carried out.—
(Hear, hear.) He bad read some things in the reports of
the inspectors, which he would not say were correct.
He should be sorry to suppose that they were, but if
they were, the fact would reflect no credit upon the
visiting magistrates. Could there be any doubt of the
necessity of inquiring into the merits of these charges ?
—(Hear, hear.) As for the matter of going into tie
prison, if he wanted at any time to enter, he would apply,
not to the visiting magistrates, but to the Sheriffs, in
whom was vested by the law the real authority ; and if
there was any doubt existing, that should now be
s ttled by a reference to the Secretary of State. Mr.
Anderton here alluded to some of the statements made
in the report of the inspectors of prisons, in which cer-
tain females, who had broken the Lord Mayor's windows,
were represented as sitting idly and comfortably by a
good fire in one of the City prisons; and to be put in pos-
sesion of such a luxury they Ipid committed the offence ;
and he asked how it could be that indulgences of this
kind could be tolerated ?

Alderman COPELAND —They were punished for their
conduct, but it did not suit the inspectors to give that
information.

Mr. ANDERTON believed that the City workhouses
would be found to be much worse places of punishment
than the City prisons, and he wondered that crime was
not more extensive in consequence of the temptation thus
presented to it.—(Hear, hear.)
Dr. LYNCH could not understand the custrln of refer-
ring every subject proposed to the Court to a committee.
It was a custom little in unison with the practices of a
deliberative assembly. It was putting the judgment and
iate
intelligence of the Court into commission, and it was a
practice more honoured in the breach than in the observ-
ance. The committee might be the cream, the subli-
nlessenocrelfolokwinisg a question
itself, but the duties were too
multifarious, too onerous, to be accomplished satisfacto-
rily andueldoencision u
adequately.—(ilear, hear.) He preferred the
alternative
straight inon it
the farrcoe,raenfdl.,
after discussion, coming to a
a question which the Court was specially summoned refer
dFirsacnueses
wtohoethiserdserseerratlied him of the feat of the King of
gone up the hill and cometheretaeshaving, with 20,000 men,
p were e
te
committee
nfitt
t. 3 downar
a ig
e a i
pn
u.
r p
oa was
not
eg
wnecessary
theto
eter havecm a
inquire whether
N
prisons, much less for the improved system of prison dis-
cipline, or whether they would not admit of proper clas-
sification, or afford adequate accommodation. Mr.Wirehad endeavoured to make out as good a face as
he could for a bad case. Was it not notorious that the
City prisons were unfit for the purposes for which pri-
sons were intended ? They had been already condemned
by the inspectors appointed by the Government,
witht,genttlhee-
men who had no interest or desire to find .fault
authorities of the City, and who had made the subject
their special study. The new mode of treating criminals,
by improved secondary punishments, had been crowned
with success.—(Hear.) The _harsh find savage mode of
irritating punishment, such as the treadmill inflicted,
which, after twenty- years'. experiment, totally failed,
only tended to confirm criminals in their guilty courses.
--(Elm, hem) By iwrauseita, by sclueation, by spar-

tial use of the separate system, by which habits of self-
reflection were awakened, the moat encouraging effects
were produced.—(llear, hear.) By impressing the pri-
soner with the conviction that the law was not his enemy
but his friend—(Cheers)—that society was desirous to
reform not to punish him he was to be won back from
his meet obdurate condition to the ways of virtue,
through a sure repentance. Man was not a tiger, to
be tamed with bars of iron. The mind was the avenue
through which his better nature was to be reached.—
(Cries of " Hear, Mar.") Individuals, like nations,
were not to be subjected, nor were their affections to be
gained by 'coercion or cruelty.—(Cheers.) He would
abhor to see the solitary system' exclusively carried out.
The intellect, like the muscles of the body, required a
certain degree of exercise to preserve it in a healthy
state. The body, if denied the faculty of wholesome
labour, dwindled into feeblenees and incapability, and the
mind, under corresponding restriction, sunk into idiocy
and " mere oblivion."—(Cheers.) Dr. Lynch hoped the
Court would indignantly resent the childish castigation
a hich one of the Aldermk n had presumed to inflict open
it, by pretending to dictate the course it was bound to
pursue. He then said he should delay the Court but for a
tow moments, in reference to the manner in which the
public health was likely to be affected by not following
up the system of prison improvement. In the centre of
a densely populated city there was not space for a large
gaol. To absorb more of the already pre-occupied and
limited area would be injurious to the health of the
neighbourhood. Men were not now hung by scares.
The number of felonies which a few years avo
were punishable by death, amounted to one hundred
and sixtr, but they were now reduced to fourteen, and
that number virtually to one. Public opinion was set-
ting in strong against capital punishments, as they had
not only ut•erly failed to deter from crime, but actually
had stimulated and increased it.—(Hoar, hear.) Crime
was contagious—out of 167 who had been executed, 164
had been frequently present at executions, and, havine
seen the criminal made the hero of the scene, " the ob
served of all observers," they were seized with a morbid
appetite f r notoriety, and struck with the horrible am-
bition of imitating the example.—(Cheers.) In every
age the same effect was produced. In the bloody reign
of Henry the Bth, 22,000 were put to death—a friehttul
emblem of the congenial spirit of that Prince. These
executions tended to nothing but to provoke a taste for
crime. The never-ending, the notorious, the terrible
punishment of perpetual imprisonment was the meats of
cure. Education and employment were the only means
of prevention.—(Heer, hear.) Sir James Graham stated
that when poverty was rife, when bread was dear and
wages low, crime increased. The committals proved
that fact. Many of our criminals were the victims of
misfortune and might be reclaimed, but to carry out an
unproved system ten times more space would be required
than the Old Bailey could afford. He hoped the Court
would not be precipitate in theirl adoption of any plan.
There were better and wiser courses to pursue than any
refs rred to in the resolutions, by which the purposes of
justice and humanity might be promoted, and the inte-
rests of the City best protected.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir PETER LAURIE said it had been his intention to
state all his views before the committee, but as Dr.
Lynch bad gone into the suLject, he mast follow the
Learned Geutleman. He was surprised that any gentle-
man in the medical profession should not have been
better instructed on the subject. He (Sir Peter Laurie)
was first roused to it several years ago by going over the
Penitentiary at Millhank with Captain Chapman, the
then governor, and he was shocked to find a model-
cell with a water-closet without a lid, lest the unfortu-
nate inmate should violate the system to which he was
doomed by breaking the silence with it. He was
shocked to see their faces covered with hoods or masks,
to hide each from the observation of the other. They
were, in fact, suffering from a refinement of torture, and
verified the description given by Sir Walter Scott—no
mean judge of human nature—who said that forced
solitude was of all punishments the most cruel and in-
tolerable. He did not wish to. harrow up the
feelings of those he addressed, but state that there
were at that moment sixteen inmates of Bedlam who
had been sent from Millbank, where the want of mental
health was attributed to damp ; and five from Penton
ville, where no such ground could be assigned, inas-
much as no spot could be more salubrious. Thus, there
had been, in five years, twenty-one prisoners sent by the
Secretary's warrant, from prisons under the control
of the Government and Government inspectors, into the
madhouse ' • while from the prisons under the magistrates
not one had been received into that asylum.—(Hear.)

Dr. LYNCH said he knew that Sir Peter Lauiie would
not wish to fight with shadows, and, in the present in-
stance, the worthy Alderman was certainly engaged in
a contest of that kind, for he (Dr. Lynch) had depre-
cated the system of solitary confinement as destructive
of the mental power, just as the want of the exercise of
the muscles of the body enervated the frame.
Sir P. LAURIE said the separate system differed from
the solitary system only in name, and that all experience
proved its awful effects. He then referred to the report
laid before Parliament from Van Diemen's Land, which,
he said, stated that on the embarkation of three hundred
or four hundred convicts from Pentenville, the superin-
tending surgeon described them as having fallen into
strong convulsions on first going on board, and continued
in that state for four days, their seclusion, though not
greater than eighteen months at the maximum, having
so far impaired their faculties that, although docile and
obedient in the highest degree, they could not understand
the plainest directions for settling them in their berths.
—(Hear, hear.) After having, in terms of strong indig-
nation, described the similar effects of the same sort of
system in other gaols, Sir Peter Laurie hoped that a
House of Commons' Committee would look into this
matter before any other prisons were constructed, and
prevent such et uelties as had been exercised under the
disguise of reformation from being any longer inflicted.
—(Hear, hear.) It was a matter which must be stopped.
There was the League mania, the railroad mania, the
wood pavement mania, and now there was the seperte,or
solitary mania to be contended with.--(Laughter.) He
'had given evidence before Parliament. in which he stated
that he had never seen a reformed convict, and that he
would go twenty miles to see one.—(A laugh.) He had
seen many who pretended to be reformed, but the
mask of hypocisy dropped from them the instant
they were liberated. In that observation he did not
mean to include transports, yet be found, from a me-
morial from Tan Diemen's Land, that in 1844 upwards
of 800 men had been tried, and of that number 760 were
convicts. Sir Peter Laurie concluded by expressing a
fervent hope that, although the London Inspectors said,
" We earnestly submit that nothing short of Nesvgate's
complete reconstruction on the separate system will
avail, by which prisoner may be separated from prisoner,
by day and by night," if the Government itself should
demand the observance of such a rigorous discipline,
tze Geld would, as they had dune in 1837, utterly re-
ject its application.—(Cheers.)
Sir JAMES DUKE said he was sure the Court would
not lend an inattentive ear to the representations of the
Inspectors, if they showed that the prisons were a dis-
grace to the city of _London, and the schools of crime,
instead of beinr,
places of reformatory tendency.--
(Hear, hear.) Perhaps the Lord Mayor and he knew
as much of the condition of Newgate as any one who
had passed the shrievalty, and it was quite palpable to
them that it was impossible to adapt that prison to the
existing improved notions of discipline. He hoped the
Committee which should be appointed that d ly would join
cordially with the Aldermen in the investigation, and
that, if they came to the conclusion that a new prise',
should be erected. they would, from motives of economy
as well as other cogent reasons, build it out of the city.
The sale of the sites of Newgate and Giltspuristreet
prisons would defray the expense incurred by the con-
struction of a prison of adequate dimensions at Hollo-
way, where the city possessed nineteen acres of ground.
Alderman SYDNEY declared that there was no founda-
tion for the staternente of Sir Peter Laurie, at any rate
for the inferences deduced from them. It was not taken
into consideration that the very fact of a number of per-
sons, who had before them the certainty of traneporta
thin, was likely to lead, in several instances, to great
depression aid distress of mind ; neither was it consi-
dered that the Penitentiary at Millbank was the place to
which convicts from all parts were consigned previous])
to transportation. The state of that prison was by no
means a criterion of the of et of the separate system, of
the eetraordinory efficacy of which Parliament had the
most indisputable proofs. He agreed with Dr. Lynch as
to the fatal effect of solitary confinement up in the mind,
but the separate system differed as much from the soli-
tary system as night differed from de.y.—{ilear.)
Mr. R. TAYLOR said that the characters of both
Courts of the Corporation were concerned when such
complaints as had been made by the inspector formed
subjects of conversation. Whether the subjects were
matters of humanity, of policy, of law, or of finance, in-
quiry ought to be instituted ; and as the Court of Coni-
mon Council were the keepers of the money of the
City, they hail a right ta join in an Investigation which
would, in all probability, have reference to that money.
--(Hear.) He altogether dissented from the position of
Sir Peter Laurie, that there was no hope of reforma-
tion in the case of a convict. lie knew that the instances
were numerous. tie had, three weeks ago, shaken
hands with a man who had, thirty-five years ago, been
convicted and transported, and who was a person at that
moment of high respectability.—(Hear, hear.) The
notions tliat criminals were not to be reformed was ab-
surd in the extreme. As for the present notion, it would
era do for the Court to say the inspectors were unworthy
of' credit. The Court must go into the inquiry, and
either decide that the inspectors were in error, or correct
the errors in the exis tog state, of the prisons of the
City.—(Hear.)
Alderman WooD said that insinuations had been
thrown out that the Alderman had, in the course they
pursued with respect to the regulation of the City pri-
sons, been influenced by selfish motives. There had
been no foundation for any suspicion of the kind. They
were anxious to meet the public views, consistently with
the expenditure of the Corporation. The while of the
prisoners in Newgate were classified according to the
principles of law, and it was not iu the power of the magis-
trates to make a different classification. The inspectors
complained.and it was their interest to complain—(Hear,
hear)—but they were not' justified in making the state-
ments which had appeared in the report. After all. if
the City were to go to an infinite expense, they could
not accomplish a legal classification. He contended that a
gaol out of the City would be attten'eled with the greatest
possible inconvenience, and observed, that the practice
of the Government itself, in the treatment of prisoners
in the hulks, showed a total disregard of the classification
contended for. The Inspector of the City Prisons never
thought proper to say a word about that.—( Hear, hear.)
Alderman Wood concluded an able speech by expressing
hi's surprise that such a report should have proceeded
froin persons appointed by the Government to enter
upon so grave an inquiry.
Mr. Weitz briefly replied, and the resolutions were
carried by a vast majority,
rid the committee was ap-
pointpoecl;
Upon
the motion of Mr. WIRE,
it was a
that. John Clark, Esq., the clerk of thepeaceflosro
be requested to naeke a return to the Co the resolved
City,
Court the atm- ,

ber of criminals tried at the Central Criminal Court
during the years 1843, 1844, 1845, ending the Septem-
ber session last year.

MESME-RISNI.

AMPUTATION (AT CH ERB, iURG; OCTOBER 2,
1845), OF THE LE‘l. OF A YOUNG PERSON,
SEVENTEEN YEARS' OF AGE, IN MESMERIC
SLEEP, WHO DID NOT EXPERIENCE THE
SLIGHTEST PAIN.
(From the Zoilit.)
Miss Mary D'Albanel, seventeen years of age, had
laboured for many years under disease of the right foot,
occasioned by a sprain. For above three years amputa-
tion had been pronounced inevitable. But, notwith-
standing the progress of the disease, the patient could
never be brought to consent to an operation which the
most courageous matt never contemplates without dread.
At length it was deternieed to have recourse to mes-
merism, in order to rendsr her insensible of pain, and
in order to perform the operation, the necessity for which
was every day becoming more imminent, without her
knowledge. She was mesmerised by M. Durand, who
had no doubt of success ; tied the result proved the ac-
curacy of his judgment.
rho first effect of mesmerism was the restoration of
Miss D'Albanel's appetite and sleep, of which she had
been very long deprived. The degree of her insensibi-
lity having been frequently examined, was at length
found to be such as was necessary, end she consented
during her sleep walking, to submit to the operation, or
rather she earnestly eta; eater' to have it performed
The amputation was fixed kr the following Thursday,
the 21 of October, at halt-past twelve.
On the day fixed, at eleven o'clock. Miss D'Albenel was
sent to sleep in less than three minutes, and then placed
upon a table. Preparations were immediately made in
her presence ; and, as soon as M. Durand was !satisfied
that the insensibility was deep and positive, be informed
the surgeons that they might begin the operation with
perfect certainty. Then, in the midst of a solemn silence,
and while all the a,si-tents were fixing an attentive and
s..rutinising eye upon the peaceful countenance of the
patient, Dr. Los eel made a large circular incision
with his knife, which, penetrating deeply into the flesh
as far as the bones, laid bare the greater part of the tibia
and fibula. The blood flowed abundantly. The two
flans were cut and dissected, the periosteuw cut,
the bones sawn ; the ligature of the arteries, the cleans.
ing and puttirg up .4 the wound, the application of
bandages and lint all was done without • the patient
giving the slightest symptom of pain. Her countenance
continued calm and undisturbed ; her hands remained
constantly free, and she several times smiled and con-
versed with her mesmeriser, even during the most pain-
ful stages of the operation, which, including the putting
up, lasted above half an hour. The insensibility was
complete • the patient had no knowledge of what was
deing ; the pulse underwent no change in either strength
or frequency.
Miss D'Albinel was immediately carried to bed, and
allowed to remain still for a short time. In a quarter of
an hour she was awakened, as on former days, by the
mere will of' her mesmeriser. in three or four seconds,
and at the distance of two metres. She opened her eyes
suddenly, smiled to those around her, and thus remained
above ten minutes without perceiving what had taken
place, and free from all suffering: then she said, without
too strong an emotion, " Ah, [ perceive it is over ; what
a blessing—oh, thanks! thanks! gentlemen."
_ Being requested to mention what she had felt and ex-
perienced during her sleep, she replied, " I know of no-
thing ; I have felt no pain ; I recollect nothing."
She was then asked, " How then did you 'mow imme-
diately that the operation had been performed ?"
" Without that elevation which is above my knee," (the
cradle to elevate the bed-clothes from the leg), she re-
plied, " I should not have perceived it so soon ; for I
have no pain at this moment."
She was very calm the rest of the ,day, and slept
quietly the greater part of the night. It was the same
the following days. On Monday, October 6th, the first
bandages were removed at two o'clock, and the wound
dressed during mesmeric sleep. The dressing, which is
generally very painful, gave her no sensation. On being
awakened she had no knowledge of what had been done.
From the moment of the operation (ten days had now
elapsed) she constantly preserved a remarkable serenity
and cheerfulness. She had not one bad symptom ;' not
even the nervous excitement which is so common after
painful operations. The wound is now nearly gradually
healed, and there is every reason to hope for a speedy
cure.

It is thus completely proved by experience that mes-
merism, producing the most absolute insensibility in the
organs, may be of valuable assistance and render great
service in surgical operations, and in amputations which
are always so painful, by sparing the unfortunate patient
both terror and anguish. And after an operation, the
agony of which excites an irritation which Is sometimes
very dangerous, how happy are we in being able, through
the means of mesmeric sleep, to prevent nervous acci-
dents, lock jaw (tetanus), for example, which often de-
stroys life, and to restore the vital powers which sueh a
shock has exhausted. This is always the result when
sleep-waking is effected, and was very striking in the
ease of amputation which we have just witnessed at
Cherbourg.
What happy, what blessed results, then ! The ter-
rors which usually precede amputation, the agony which
accompanies it, the cruel recollections which follow it,
are all destroyed and annihilated by mesmerism.
What an astonishing phenomenon, and how deserving
of rivetting the atttntion of the learaed ! Unluekily
for the science, mesmerism, this unknown but real power.
this mysterious and imponderable agent, ecapes obser-
vation ; and the men who have devoted themselves with
the most ardour to the study of this most interesting
branch of anthropology, have hitherto been unable to
discover the causes of so prodigious a change, of so
deep an alteration of the laws of life.—Cherbourg,
Oct. 11, 1845.
P.S —Yesterday, Sunday, the tenth day after the
operation, the patient got up, and sat at the window from
twelve till five o'clock. To-day, Monday, Oct. 13th, she
left her room and took a turn in a neighbouring garden,
and sat there afterwards for above two hours. She is
now perrectly well and goes out every day.—Cherbourg,
Oct. 13th, 1245.
The fourteenth day of the operation the wound was
completely healed, and all dressing left off:
This amputation, performed under sur•h extraordinary
eircumstances, and the rapid cure which ensued, have
produced a strong sensation here.
Cherbourg, Oct. 30, 1845.
DELENTE, Directeur des Lits Militaire, de la
Garrison de Cherbourg.
Docteur illefeciiin de la
MARIA D'ALBANEL.
die:: :10:ph ie.
Lc.OYcis
lEBl.o,l4Dcpuo,icr:lt.feeseuiss.srpae
Sava.
NIA AGO Professeur.
D ui a:AA' NR2 "D! u,

The operation performed by Dr. Loysel does the
"reatest honour to this young surgeon, and to Dr.
Gibon, who assisted him with the obliging concurrences
of M. Araene Delentr.."

With the printed account came the following private
letter :

"Sir—ln the two-fold interest of science and hu-
manity,of which you are one of the most noble supporters,
and to which you have devoted your whole life, I have
the honour to send you three copies of the account of an
amputation of the leg lately performed at Cherbourg. in
circumstances and with success altogether remarkable,
upon a young lady, seventeen years of age, in the mes-
meric state. This operation, with those which have taken
place in your country, always at the head of useful inno-
vations, and which is of such importance to medical sci-
ence, is exciting the very highest sympathy in our city. and
producing a great sersation at Paris in the learned world.
It is the first mesmeric amputation of a limb that
has been performed in France. A fact worthy of
rotnark is that this young person was very insus-
ceptible. The steep-waking state did not appear till
she had been frequently mesmerised : and I
could not induce perfect sensibility, such as I considered
indispensable, till I had mesmerised her a hundred and
sixty-two times. Great patience and indefatigable p-r-
-severance were necessary, and you may conceive that,
moreover, I had to struggle with more than one kind of
prejudice and obstacle ; but I was firmly convinced that
I ,hould succeed ; hope and charity gave me courage.
My expectation was not disappointed ; thank God, all
was completed.
" If, Sir, as I doubt not, you are interested in this offi-
cial communication, and judge it, as well as my letter,
worthy of being translated into English and inserted in
the very interesting journal the Zoist, in which you are
one of the most enlightened writers, I shall request you
kindly to receive other accounts, which I will transmit
relative to some successful mesmeric cures of mine, and
of fresh operations which will be performed shortly by
the same means—two amputations of the leg and the re-
ns,,val of a cancerous breast.

" A very remarkable and consolatory circumstance in
the present case was, that the two surgeons who assisted
were but a short time before shockingly incredulous.
But both, being men of feeling, talent, and f.)reaight, at
length did hom4ge to truth; and, after having witnessed
numerous very interesting physical and psychological
phenomena., which I produced expressly for them, they
bent before the undeniable testimony of fact, which is
stronger than all reasoning. Their well-grounded con-
viction of the reality and importance of mesmeric science
will prove a happy circumstance to all of us here, and to
you likewise. It is another triumph of good sense and
experience over prejudice and preconception.
" Persons who, like you, Sir, ate practising mesmerism,
with such praiseworthyperseverenceand disinterestedness,
ought to take courage more and more. I say it with deep
conviction, the day of ridicule and spite is past. Our
age is one of cool reason ; observing. finalising, and dis-
posed to eclectism, it no longer affirms or denies ; it
doubts. This is the most favourable state for the ex-
amination of the important question which agitates and
excites all mines at present. Men at length comprehend
that it is neither rational nor philosophic to condemn
a priori whatever human reason cannot at the first glance
embrace in all its details—whatever resists the first in-
tuition of intelligence. In truth, all is mystery
around us; without speaking of the phenomena of
gravitation, light, and electro-magnetism, the faintest
act of human will is sufficient to confound the proud pre-
ensions of those who still desire to measure the greatness
of the wonders of creation by the standard of their own
intelligence, and to blast with powerless anathemas the
truths which they cannot understand. Contemptuous
silence, prejudice, and obstinacy are now useless before
the material facts which any person may produce and
renew in some measure at will ; and whatever, in short,
be the situation or grandeur of individuals, they must
submit to the admirable and eternal order established by
turnsthe Sovereign of all things. The earth, I herefors, still
in spite of the chains with which the Inquisition dared
to load the unfortunate Galileo : and the blood still cir-
culates in spite of the implacable enemies of Hervey.
Lord Bacon has said with reason, " Time is a great in-
novator." '1 he father of experiment and philosophic
method might have added, when raen dev a fact of na- I
Sure, it is certain that sooner or later she will oe.squor.

" Accept, Sir, I beg, my expressions of the esteem
respect, and admiration with which your distingui,hed
taletas and ardent philanthropy in.ipire- me.—Your
very obedittit and devoted servant.

.41. OUR A. NO,
" Professor of Philosophy in the College at Cherbourg,
Officer of the Royal University of Paris.
" Cherbourg, Nev. 8, 1845."

HE it MAJESTY'S GAOL OF
NE WGATE.

The following report of the Prison Inspectors has,
within the last few days, caused a great deal of excite•
ment.amongst the City authorities :

" The alterations that have been made in the con-
struction of this prison since our last report have been
few, and some of them insignificant. The females'
ward, No. 28, adjoining the matron's office, has been
convertel into a bed-room for that officer. She used to
sleep in a small recess in her office, which was iinper-
fectiy lighted and ventilated, as well as inconvenient
arid unhealthy, ; and this led to the present improve-
ment. The dust-bin, which is as formerly in the females'
bath•room, is now removed to the adjoining p'issage, and
the walls of the bath-rooui are covered over with maetich
cement, and p timed to prevent the damp from rising
The aberetion is a desirable improvement upon the for-
mer slovenly arrangement of having a dust-bin in the
bath-room of the prison. The chief alts ration in the
discipline of the prison since our last report, has been
the nomination of a deputy-keeper, William George
Wright. formerly a master in the navy, lie was ap-
pointed on the 30th January, 1844, with the salary of
300/. per annum. acid au allowance of 601. ex ra, for a
result nee outside the prison. We have repeatedly no-
ticed the want of a deputy-keeper in this important
prison, and we feel satisfaction in adverting to the pre-
sent appointment, which supplies a deficieney which had
been lung and severel. felt. In the beginning of June
last, the subordinate officers were put into unitOrm. con-
sisting of a blue coat and troutsers, and a scarlet waist-
cost. This is also au improvement. But, with the ex-
ception of the fore-mtntioned alterations, everything
remains in the same defective and oijecrionable condi-
tion as before. The routine of duty also of the governor,
chaplain, surgeon, and other officers, is the same as when
last reported.
We found some of the wards on the south side of the
pri on at our last inspection costs and defective in venti-
lation, which was in a great measure caused by the de-
fective state of the adjoining water-closets, which are
upon a bad construction; and, althoueh they are said to
be cleansed every morning from a reservoir on the rued
of the prison, the process would appear to be ineffectual;
besides, the soil pipes sometimes get closed up from the
mischievousness of the prisoners, who are in the habit
of throwing down pieces of their clothing, scrubbing-
brushes, &e., so that when the water is let on f• om the
reservoir, it oserflows the closets, and floods the interior
ward. It would also destroy the ceiling of the alien-
went below, were it not that the joinings of the flour
are filled with pitch, to make the whole floor water-
tight. The frequency with which the wards
were flooded in this way led to the necessity ot pitching
the flours. We noticed, however, one floor that had se-
veral holes in it, through which the prisoners could
communicate with those in the ward below. The plan
adopted for ventilatine the dining-room on the master's
side, and that of the middle yard, is very inefficient ' • it
consists of several circular perferaems, about two inches
in diameter, slanting down from the top of the walls to
the outside adjoining the slaughter-houses of Newg,ate-
market : and, occasionally in hot weather, instead of
ventilating the apartments, they only serve to convey the
offensive effluvia arising from the decaying animal
matter into the dining-rooms. Sometimes the stench in
hot weather is said to be very bad. Many rats also
come through these so-called ventilators, as they open
close to the ground at the back of the pri-on. Surely
a. less objectionable method of ventilating these
rooms might be devised. The dining tables
are scrubbed with soap and water every day
after dinner ; and, in those departments of
the gaol where there are no dining-rooms, the prisoners
take their meals in the wards. All the bedsteads were
taken down last year and cleansed, and large quantities
of bugs were destroyed, but those on the male side ha. e
not been similarly cleansed this year ; the females' bed-
steads are said to be taken down and cleansed once a
year. It would appear that as a general rule, the rugs
were never washed prior to the appointment of the
deputy-keeper. In the beginning of last year, however,
they were washed and fumigated, and this year the same
most necessary process is being performed. The pri-
soners' clothing are only fumigated tied cleansed when
there is a suspicion of contagion, or when they are very
foul tram filth or vermin. The Newgate clothing ot
convicts, when returned to the gaol, is always fumigeted
beffire it is again used.

The washing in this prison is always a laborious ope-
ration, and very often a disgusting one, from the foul
state of the prisoners' linen on admission. The female
prisoners do all the washing, but receive extra rations,
including beer and tea.
The general cleanliness and order of the female side
of the prison appeared to us to be much better than those
of the male side. We think few prisons could exhibit
such a disgraceful list of prison offences, which, however,
furnishes an index to the practices going forward in New.
gate, and which are precisely such as might be expected
to result from the system in force in that prison. If
we anal) se the list of offences, the following would ap-
pear to be a fair specimen of those which are tt,e more
common:---" Laughing an', talking in chapel, stealing
a handkerchief, stealing bread from each other, four
prisoners conjointly engaged in forcing open the school-
master's desk, eight punished for tearing and defacing
the bible (among the bibles we examined at our last iu-
speetion we found one defaced with ob-cene language
written on several leaves), indecent conduct to a fellow-
prisoner, using bad language, spitting through an in-
spection hole into an officer's face ; and, as the re-ult of
idlene-s with gaol association, numbers are punished for
marking and cutting their names on the bedsteads, win-
dows, and prison walls and floors, gambling, selling
their clothes for bread, throwing potatoes at each other
during dinner ; whilst whole wards, comprising from
three up to sixteen prisoners, have been disorderly,
riotous, insubordinate, playing at leap-frog, and throw-
ing their beds about, Bse., ten have been punished for
striking their fellow-prisoners, and twenty-six for
fighting." - _

'Sueh is the lamentable summary of the scenes going
forward in this metropolitan prison. They speak for
themselves and need no comment. There is scarcely an
offence mentioned in the return which is not, directly or
indirectly, referable to and consequent upon the associ-
tion of prisoners. We are rather surprised to find only
five eases of gambling recorded ; for we are convinced
that gambling, in some shape or other, is extensively
carried on in Newgate. Amongst the first wards, we
saw, through the inspection opening, about eight pri-
soners busily engaged at some game, with a sentinel
keeping his eye on the inspection hole, but when we en-
tered not a vestige of the gaming was discereible. Doubt-
less the noise of turning the leck was sufficient warning
to the pri.oners within, and when we entered, the whole
group departed themselves as if nothing had beer
going. on—a proof of their being used to conceal their
practices by their dexterity. Before, hove ever, we bad
ascended half-a-dean steps on the staircase, we again
looked into the ward through another inspection opening
in the wall, and there we clistincly saw that the ga-:,
had been resumed. The Governor then directed the
officer to make search for the implements of their amuse-
ment. Besides, there is scarcely a table or form on the
male side of the prison that is not marked for gaming,
although these marks are generally planed out once a
year. It is said that the prisoners have recourse to" many
contrivances to supply the means of gambling; they
cut off the buttons from their clothes, reserve piles
of their bread, pick up portions of coal or stone, of
break off pisces of wood, leed,&c., or anything they can
lay their hands on, and these they convert into rude
implements for gambling; whilst the paper supplied to
them for necessary purposes, together with the leaves
from the prison books, furnish the ready means • for
making substitutes for cards. The return of prison
punishments also attests the fact that many tobacco-
pipes and !wirer matches are occasionally conveyed into
the wards, a circumstance which says little for the strict-
ness of the searchers, although the prisoners undergo
two or three ordeals of searching before they are ad-
mitted. The governor says, that prohibited articles are
.very often attempted to be introduced by the visitors,
and that when they are detected, he sometimes himself
admonishes them; occasionally he takes them before a
magistrate, when they are most frequently admonished
and discharged. We have not been able to find any
notice in the prison journals of their being punished.
In this prison, where communication and intercourse
are the characteristic features of the discipline, we have
often bef ire detailed, at length, the various circum-
stances which facilitate this most demoralising associa-
tion. It would appear that even prisoners under punish-
ment for infringements of the prison regulations, have
occasionally the opportunity of communicating with
their fellow-prisoners, and of obtaining through them
a mitigation of their just punishment. We were in-
formed of the following case in point at our last in-
spection :—Three men were, for a prison off nce, sepa-
rated from their companions, and sentenced to a short
confinement alone, with a diminished dieters., in one of
the lower wards adjoining the staircase leading to the
juvenile department of the prison. They easily ob-
tained communication with the boys passing up and
down stairs, and prevailed upon them to give them
daily a portion of their provisions. Under ordinary
circumstances, we think it would have been no
easy matter to have devised the means of introducing the
food, especially as it was in a liquid !orm. But what
might be difficult, or impossible, in most prisons, or with
an ordinary class of prisoners, is not so in Newgate. Tice
men under punishment soon accomplished the feat.
They tore from a Bible several of its leaves, which they
rolled up in the form of a tube ; this they passed through
the inspection opening in the door—and, by the aid of
the boys, they made it funnel-shaped, by means of which
soup and gruel were conveyed into the mouths of the
adults, each in his turn taking the smaller end of the
paper funnel into his mouth. We are unable to ascer-
tain exactly how long the practice had been carried on
before it was detected. But we may he permitted to ask.
what are the inferences to be drawn respecting the results
of a discipline which admits of such irregularities. Is it
calculated to reclaim theguilty ,or to protect the innocent?
on the contrary, it will be evident that the guilty must
become mere hardened and expert, that the innocent
will be corrupted, and that the inmates of Newgate,
when they regain their liberty, will be the more dan-
gerous to society from the experience they have ac•
quired in this most defective prison. As an example of
the numbers in confinement in the various wards of this
prison, we have annexed to this report return (B),
brine a copy of the ward-book for the months of No-
vember and August., 1844. It will be observed that
the numbers in a ward vary from three to n;neteen.
There are, indeed, a ew cells, wherein prisenera
may be separately confined, if they desire it, but
they are the old condemned cells of Newgate, and
are *sly ordinarily need ss refraetory colic, sad

the confinement of unnatural offenders, and others,
charged with heavy and brutal crimes ; they are, besides, I
cold, and gionuq, an t:,us ia-

-01, ttv I). c:.:
; tv;t u.y ; n,rs u:;:isi-d it- &'i'.r 6, l•',

are prev4lent in Neegate. and desirous er re:ate:llg the
lade good that remains in them, have the couritee to
seek an asylteo ,ven in those eininfortlesa and offensive
calls, rather wan live in the contaminating atmasphsre
of the common wards. We found two young men at
our last inspection who preferred being separately con-
fined even in these places to being assietiated with
others worse than themselves. One, "I. 0.," had
been a month alone, and did not resret the choice he
had male ; nor did the oth-r. " E. 5.," who had been
there five weeks. From all that we could leern,
prisoners very seldom, if ever, r. quest to be again
associated with others after a short cosfinemeat even
in those cheerless cells. An imperative sense of duty
has compelled es, )ear after year, to remonstrate against
Newgate as a most objectionable prison, and on the pre-
sent occasion we have no alternative but to reiterate our
complaints of it. We have repeat,dly- entered into the
details of its radically wrong construction, and of its
pernicious system of discipline. In whatever light we
contemplate this prison, we see in it a vast school, where
the juvenile and immature offs-niter, or any one in whoa,
there may yet be some sense of virtue remaining, is, by
reason of a compulsory gait' association, quickly per-
cted is the arts of crime. This result is in-vitable.
liere prisoners of various degrees of depravity are
thrown into the most intimate companionship, itt
numbers varying from three to nineteen, for t Away
hours of the twenty-four, in the various wards.
in utter idleness, and with,uut even the re-
straining presence of an officer. And during the
two hours allowed ler exercise, that sphere of association
and mutual contamination is prodigiously inert ased
the prisoners of the different wards being allowed freely
to associate in the airing-yards. That contamination
goes on to a fearful extant in the wards and yards of
Newgate is not a matter of conjecture or random specu-
lation, for every day's experience demonstrates it. It is
no uncommon thing for young men, committed to this
prison for a first offenee (although they ma) on entering
evince deep and unfeigned sorrow fir a short period), tee
recover rapidly from their depression of spirits, and give
way to a reckless state of mina, which soon binds there
in the closest intimacy with the depraved, and the tile
and oft-committed du-predator. The reply of a prison
officer on this point ;las very significant; he said that it
is a commoe occurrence to see persons brought int.
prison for the first time, who, when then
erief had subsided, became the companions oi
the worst characters, and in a short titee
they may be seen walking with them in the
common airing yards, arm in arm. Every one must ad-
mit, who has paid attention to the subject, and narrowly
watched the progress of the criminal's career, that his
first commitment to prison is the crisis of his future
destiey. The very turning-point of such a culprit's
subsequent career depends upon the kind of disciplue
he may be subjected to on his first commitment. A per-
son, for instance, under circumstances of greater or lass
tempation, is led to commit a criminal act, without duly
weighing the probability of detection. It is only when
he finds himself lodged within the walls of a prison
that be becomes thoreuehly }dive to his unhappy con
aition. Anti then, indeu ti, he sees every thing in the
darkest point of view ; his prospects are blighted, he
oharacter is gone ; sorrow and disgrace are brought
home to those nearest and dearest to him, are.
his own utter ruin would seem complete. We
snbmit that this is the state of mind prevail-
ing in the case of most criminals upon their
first commitment to prison—a mental condition predis-
posing them to be the recipients of good or bad impres-
sions, according as circumstances may present either
the oneor the otheato his mind. I the prisoner be at th is
critical moment set apart from the vicious, and be made
the object of kind treatment, judicious instruction, and
religious admonition, the best hopes may bat entertaine,
of his being rescued from ruin, and restored to society
as a useful member of the community. But if hi,
treatment be the reverse of this—if he be thrown at
once and unavoidably into the society of the corrupt, d
the result is inevitable. To drown his cares, he lime,-
-to the seductive narratives of his depraved companions,
amid only longs for his liberty that he may give scepe
and gratification to his criminal propensities. Th,
common dictates of humanity, the safety and well
being of the community at large, and the all im-
portance of moral discipline to the prisoner himselt,
alike condemn a system of discipline that compels a
prisoner to be the companion and close associate of the
hardened and depraved. It is DO mitigation or excuse
to urge that prisoners are here confined but for short
periods; that they are classified; and that order is main-
tained. We reply, that no discipline, however rigor
ously enforced--no classification, however judicious—
can prevent contamination where there is gaol a: social
tion, and that the period of this association matters
little, if . it allows of the evil being accomplished.
might have been reasonably suppos' d that Newgate,
the chief prison for this untried in the metropolis,
should combine everything in its construction
and management which experience could suggest to
render it an example worthy of imitation. Indeed, the
necessity of its being so is as great as any other con-
sideration, receiving as it does within its walls nearly
4,000 prisoners per annum, many of whom are of the
most profligate character, and who are as dangerous te
society from their dexterity and daring as from their
numbers. But in Newgate we find arrangements the
most inefficient in construction, anti pernicious in disci
pline. A strict compliance with our duties gives us no
choice but to report matters as we find them, and again
and again protest against Newgate as it at present exists.
We earnestly submit that nothing short of its complete
re construction on the separate system will avail, by
which prisoner may be separated from prisoner by day
and by night ; the innocent be protected ; the moral
welfare of the first offender, and those just entering
upon a course of guilt, be carefully attended to ; the
hardened and often convicted criminal have no opportu
nity of disseminating his baneful influence among others,
and by which even he may be brought to feel the effi-
cacy of the means employed for his reformation.

THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
(From the Lancet of March 21.) •
A short time ago, we bt stowed. some remarks on the
axtra-professional honours attainable by medical men.
Our attention has since been directed to soma of those
distinctions which ought naturally to fall to eminent
members of the profession, we mean scientific honours
and rewards.

Among the first of these, and the one we shall eon-
shier on the present occasion, it the Fellowship of the
Royal Society. This is the blue ribbon to many of the
cultivators of medical science ; its value is of course
commensurate with the fairness and probity with
which it is bestowed on the !shot ious and deserving, and
withheld from the drones and butterflies who pre-
tend to the honour undeservingly. Besides the Fel-
luwship of the Royal Society, some of PS ale. re and its,
medals are just objects of ambition with a few of our
medical brethren; the office of Secretary, the Rlyal and
Copley medals, arc of this number It must be confessed
that, at the present time, there is a very general teelinv
that the Royal Society, or rather the medical Section of
it, has degenerutiod into a mere clique; that the path way
to honour and reward i, not clotir and open as the tempt,
of Minerva eY( r should be, but that a man may more
surely and see,irrly advance by sa, riticing to those who
officiate than to the goddess herself ; that any one atid)i.
tious of its honours had better in tact fawn and cringt
to individuals than devote himself to the advance of
science.

May we be permitted to ask whether the office of
secretary has beranne perpetual ? Troere are many an',
valid re,,sons why the secretary-hip uf the Rif': So
.(.iety should not for r.ver be held by the same individual.
rhp conduct of that individual may not be unirttack-
able ; he may not always have borne " his faculties sr,
meekly" as he might ; he may not always have acted
fairly towards his compeers—with such possibilities,
many reasonable grounds of change might be urged.
Besides, others may wish to pursue the same career of
ambition and emolument, and why should one man be
allowed, for a long series of years, to obstruct the fair
and honourable path of all the rest! There is another
view of the sutject: the secretary has. properly enough.
it may be, much influence in the Society, in the election
of its fellows, and the distribution of its re ards. This
influence he may not always have exerci,ed in the
manner wisest, discreetest, best. There is, indeed. a
lark rumour afloat at this moment, concerning the
award of the last royal medal, which is damaging the
Royal Society in the opinion of many estimable men
is a matter to which we shall return with an unflinching
deterna'nation to sift the chaff from the wheat. The
truest interests of the Royal Society itself call for this
proceeding.
Will such a state of things be allowed to continue ?
Will that which aims at being the first scientific society
in the world be allowed to sink still further into cliquism,
ro become, indeed, under Mephistophelian influences, so
scientific inquisition instead of a scientific temple ? We
think not. On a fermer occasion we made some stric
tures on the management of the Royal Medico-Chirnr
gical Society, and there was ferth with a change of mea-
sures and of men. There are point-, which will ill bear the
tight of professional and scientific opinion ; our present
remarks are merely the first notes of a truthful prelude.

THE LABOURERS AND THE POTATO CROP.—Mr
Robert Baker, of Writtle, has issued an address to the
labourers and others who hold gsrdens or all,,tments, strongly
advising them not to plant more than half their ground
with potatoes, and to devote the other half to early
frame iv!" to be harvested fbr winter use, to be fol-
lowed cattle cabbage, thousaed heads, savoys, or
turnips; or to cultivate it with parsnips, carrots, or
beans. Should the diKease then carry off what has usually
formed so important a part of their winter store, they will
have other supplies to fall back upon ; andsh uld Providence
in its mercy this year turn the blight from their potato
grounds, they will be none the worse for hrving variety in
their stock of winter food. Mr. Baker not only gives advice,
but practical aid, by offering to supply the poor with cab
bage seeds gratis, and peas at the cost price. We strongly
recommend this plan to the farmers and gentry in dilltrent
parts of the countrY, as the following it out in their own
neighbourhoods will avert the misery and distress which
may otherwise prevail around them.
EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE. —On Friday, a girl named
Cisan Pickett, aged Is, servant is the employ of Mr. Abbe', book-
seller, No. 210, Tottenham-court-road, coo mined suic,de under the
following singular circumstances. It appeared that the deceased had
been in her situation tor about two months, and bore an excell%nt
character. On Wednesday night she went to bed somewhat melan-
choly, and the next morning proceeded to her aunt's, in John-I`.tr.!'et!
and stated that sheh ,d had a very curious dream to the elect that
she had got up and lighted the Are, and then went and handed
she was
her-
self behind the kitchen door. Her aunt, percetviur .tn
afrni ghd :been ed,
afterwardsbega n to
se upon
t ,hyee
nfot I
hy
oomt
eh, ear
nfsare-
tired to rest at the usual time, but the next 'morning (Friday)
emmP7dthiniaoterewchiteehrhfuler.
tlehdy round her neck. A surgeon was called in, but life was quite
was discovered suspended !o the kitchen-door, with a rope Axel
extinct. The beV now awaits the inquest.
At S-Itth,,ark t. Willitttn
Gordon, a man of respectable appearance, was committed the
charged with committing tie-cord robberies lustier the pretext of sell-
ing peewit tax

EXECUTION OF W. SPICE°'
FOR THE MURDER OF HIS WIFF of
S af dr d.,ybr(•ak. Frid v. tie e, n; off
ed
, n oem.ly ..,our
toes ti ere he te.-n ex-tiding thee. way toe etds t
to witness the pe.gress of fne werks. The
below were thrown (Teo by the occupiers. i'B°
Jersons of every age and viz, hasten. d by I-0( rot
bug l•efore the appointed hour of execution-4r
o'clock. There were, at the low.st. colep.iis6;tlhef
wards of 5.000 p,rsons present, and the tooklilf,e'
most deciderily omposed of women, many havii,f;
in tier arnee t
The -,vr,tclied culprit, William Spicer, threelZhetli
huh-, of Thursday, appeared very peniteet
symetions ui contreion, for some time ; ast,
attendants and others connected with the gall to
that he was prepared for the solemn event wi..ef
toweled him ; indeed, his expre:siors aed
could lead to no other conclusion. Mny hauls op°
spent by him in perusing the sacred Volume) hr
in devout meditetion. 113 retired to PIO
tween eleven end twelve o'clock last night, *9104
soundly until ab ;ut his usual hour of rising this
and, having dressed himself; partook of a hearlY .014
fast. The whole of the prisoners ate ra'ed sertice'
chapel at nine o'clock, and after the readieg of tV,Pdiir
era, a brief address suitable to the ccasion
v,rerl by the highly-esteemed chapbntivi in, the l‘rof.e
Field, woo at te has been unceasingly to tlfeyrcet
tot ate crimin 1 ever since his inearceialion• 'seLsll4
being concluded, o ach prisoner return: d to his ce',„ rle
,
f ern about halt-pst ten until a little before ,
Spicer was en.....aged .he chaplain, wien he 1., .i 8
to his own room. Upon elle o his attendant., "NP s,irof
to him a ho,:e that 1w felt re ighel and bap, 1. Id!, 0
repeeted the f passage from the .I"'6,'
expiessive of his felings, " Yea, there' ere
throug. the valley of the snailew of depth, ei„ lli ;of
in evil, fur Thou art with ,- ; Thy rod and Thy ,ts
comfort me." The fatal hour having struck, o",fei'
w-rt to the room for him, up on seeing when], 1),-isi'l'A
patine. purpes. fur whiet was wanieiff
"Shad I pull if my neckerchief ?" end being 5",%t01,
in the affirmative, he did so, and placed it in 'hoof
leiving it upon the table. Ile was then britlgh
room helow. where he underwent the prove: e P'olotee
without being in the lea t decree excited. The re°o,,tht,
process en here formed, headed by Li ut. Hoke wit'
goy- nw. the chaplain following, reading the ,:tos
servic-, the culprit, and the officers of
the
moved slewk
o towards the scaffold. Th, a.stenishii.g.
ne-s the prisoner maintained in ascendieg th st
e: d1;111
the subject of univers,l remark. Having er,.l.'l,ed-ifeew4
drop, he placed himself IN neeth the beat°. L'll` or
afterwards turned round bald heartily shock
• he governor, who asked him if he had any goof;Ail bye;
t.o which Spicer replied by saying, " No, P'"'",oi.i.e(
give my love to your family. Calcraft, the exec end
from efewgitte, then drew the cap ever the e'ooor
culprit's face, and was about to adjust the roPei-vitY
the criminal's neck, it being already suspendetori
b-atn, when the noose was found net to r• c''
than the middle of his ,face, and a few minutes ed,,el
before it could be properly done ; and )et..0111:
this time not a muscle or limb in Stne'r„ffloo'f,'"
served to move. At length the neces,a,ty pre"-;er
were arranged, the chaplain continued to read ill tellf
vice in an audible voice, and at a giver, signal the
et!
sustaining the platform on which the culprit etelbetiiliae
withdrawn by the executioner, and he was I,..une ofe,
eternity. He made a few convulsive throes, le;
taised his hands, but in a few short mini-lit:4,lr,
quite extinct. There was no expression of freolletbey Pr,
the man on the part of the vast multitude, tvnealrli,,
turned homewards. The body, after hanging ,e 011
was taken dewy, and buried within the preolle.4‘lie;t
nearly close to the het con- ct, Jetilit'g97 oe
=training spectaters then quietly disperse s"
eeiumed its usual traliquilitty.—Reading suiteoirt

Ogittito
LOND
I
L. ssti
t;-vEs cia
"'" the Ci
Place E,
414i2L1114.1httaInontuvian.n;id:tertill
or at the 1 4 4',ethee's-squar
ZC liolbortt

•ily .!L

e'
ij
PIED. '''ril*
,is.
On the 21st Inst., In the Polygon, Somers Tom. 0(13°
sonroad,
oac,:iidintr,i rtatthhg3heee
dierll.4l4ltBshht inst.
nu ss
tt Whitehead,..:t:
it, agedL ojnH, o2in6k. G e n e r
oa lf
rpectivikhd.,,x,°::::',
,i. i::
Torfarshire, North Britain. ' s„ati 900 ral
On the 14th hut., Mr.. Beberet Rickman, of
at SPIII4-- r" '1
10$ 49
skirsey, aged rittrof'°°* Clitfiiii
1819.1n5t., in Bellwood-place, /1.1.41t°11' re, ,•
10
On the 19th Inst., In Southampton-street, --- al I
Xole's 4111
Cooke Baukt, Esq., aged 49. Viutellan.t.3 COI 4."
On the 19th inst., lu Hans-phtoc
pager
..i f°,010,.11..i
aeoe' IF .-•
Bengal Cavalry.
On the ?nth invt , in the New-road,
Esq., of Wartif,.s,...,c,-,,v,".
4,1:
On the 20th inst., John 311ine, /I"
' ....7''':l:l2l(,,trAnif. Ito:141
Lomion : Piloted and Publistwd by Lleutetistit:r. —t / la 4
Stranti, Printer, at The Srm .•nico, - ''' 'l. i ~.. . '''-
or the igavey, in tile County
28, 111411. ..
.

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