The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-19 00:00:00

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

A Court was held on Tuesday for the transaction of
public business.
Sir P. LAURIE said the Lord Mayor was represented
to have stated in the Court of Common Council, in an-
swer to a question put by a member, that he had acted
in the affair between the Corporation and the Water-
men's Steam Packet Company under the advice of the
law officers of the Corporation. It would be desirable if
his Lordship would be good enough to mention whether
he acted under the advice of all the law officers, or of
any particular officer ?
After some observation from Alderman WILSON, ah 3
insisted that it would be extremely impolitic, pending
the law proceedings in reference to the dispute, to say
any thing about the matter,
The Court was cleared of strangers, and the Alder-
men remained in close discussion upwards of an hour.
What took place while the doors were closed did not
transpire.
It was very positively and publicly said by severs'
members of the Corporation that some of the law offi-
cers differed in opinion from the advice upon which his
Lordship acted.
A gentleman appeared at the bar, having petitioned
the Court to be admitted a freeman of the Spectacle
Makers' Company, and stated that he was free of ',the
Glovers' Company by patrimony.
Alderman COPELAND objected to the interference of
the Court in such a question, and asked the petitioner
whether he had ever applied to be admitted a freemen of
the Glovers' Company ? —The petioner replied in the
negative.

Alderman COPELAND said it was evident that the pe-
titioner wished to escape from a comparatively obscure
Company into a Company which was daily becoming,
through the activity of its officers, exceedingly popular
and powerful.—(Hear, hear.) He should, upon prin-
ciple, oppose the application.
Sir P. LAURIE agreed in the view taken by Alderman
Copeland, and thought the petitioner was, by such on
application, using the Glovers' Company extremely ill. •
The prayer of the petition was then negatived.
The LORD MAYOR presented a report respecting the
administration to the numbers of the Court of Common
Council of the oaths of allegiance, abjuration, and supre-
macy, before the Aldermen at the last quarter sessions.
The report was referred to the law officers, with direc-
tions to them to report on the legality and expediency of
omitting the intermediate sessions, confining the meeting
to the four Quarter Sessions.

ESTABLISHMENT OF A THIRD COURT IN THE OLD BAILEY

The CHAIRMAN of the Gaol Committee brought up a
report in reference to the propriety of establishing a
third court at 'the Central Criminal Court. It recom-
mended that a building sh.nild be immediately con-
structed for such court, and that suitable arrangements
should be made to effect that object.
Sir PETER LAURIE said t hat the third court which at
present existed, considerably facilitated the important
business of the sessions,_ but it was a plan of personal ac-
commodation in every respect objectionable. The con-
struction of a new court would be most serviceable. The
more rapidly the demoralising cases which occurred,
were got rid of the better, and that was on'y to be ac-
complished by the sitting of several judges at the same
time. There could not, in his opinion, be worse schools
for the rising youth of the metropolis than the galleries
of the Central Criminal Court.

The report was agreed to, and it was referred to the
Committee of General Purposes to carry it into effect,
under the able advice of the Lord Mayor.

STATE OF THE CITT PRISONS.

Alderman Wiesen rose to call the attention of the
court to a subject of the very highest importance to the
city of London—the condition of its gaols. He re-
gretted to be obliged to acknowledge that the magistracy
of London were liable to the most severe condemnation
in consequence of the deplorable state of Giltspur. street
House of Correction. At the meeting held on
Saturday at the Mansion-hi use, upon the interest-
ing subject, of juvenile delinquency-, and a pro-
posed remedy for that dreadrul evil, one of the
inspectors of prisons appointed by the Government
found it necessary to make some observations reflecting
in the strongest manner upon the Aldermen, and des-
cribing the City house of correction as the most unan-
swerable argument of the truth of the accusation. To
wipe away the odium and disgrace which were attached
to the Court on account of the neglect of the necessary
examination into the stet.; of Giltspur-street prison, or
the indifference to the consequence of the moral con-
tamination existing within its walls, should be the en-
deavour of every man who had any regard for the
present or future happiness of the species. For a series
of years various efforts had been made by himself, to
prevail upon the Court to proceed to the correction of
the frightful moral malady of the City prisons. Since
the year 1837, at which period it was referred to a Com-
mittee of that Court, to consider the disgraceful state of
those prisons, a great variety of attempts had beenmade,
to induce the Court to take into consideration the most
advisable means of classifying the prisoners committed to
the Compter. Every year a struggle was made to accom-
plish some imprce eruent, but there always occurred.
something to interfere with the adoption of any plan
Adjournments upon adjournments took place, and after
all, nothing worth speaking of was done in the way of
classifica ion. The young and inexperienced were still
mingled, in horrible confusion, with wretched criminals,
whose minds were hardened in guilt ; and the obvious
effect of such tuition was to exclude for ever from the
former all traces of reformation. With the evidence
of such contamination before their eyes, still did the
Court of Aldermen, whenever the question of the state
of the Comp'er was brought before them, seek and find
what they called " a respite" in adjournment, or in re-
ferring to a committee, or flying, one by one, out of the
court, and abandoning the question as if it had been
too insign'ficant for them to deal with. Alderman
Wilson here enumerated the many occasions in which he
had attempted to attract the attention of his brother
magistrates to the gaol evils. He then adverted to the
very able conduct of Alderman Sidney when
sheriff, and the many ineffectual experiments
made by that gentleman to enlist the Court
in the humane office of obstructing the career
of vice, by the adoption of the principle of classifica-
tion. But what classification could be effected in a
prison of such dimensions ? There were no more than
twelve wards, in which the governor could place pri-
soners by themselves ; and in the rooms appropriated
to the general mass of prisoners there was no possi-
bility of preventing the most revolting conversation.
All other gaols presented a contrast to the utter abomi-
nation of etiltspur-street Compter. In Clerkenwell pri-
son, in the prisons of Kent, and Essex, and Surrey,
advantageous systems are acted upon. In these prisons
the reformation of the unfortunate prisoners was one of
the most palpable objects of the system. In Paris the
prisons are also conducted and regulated upon a plan of
classification, which contributed to the service of those
who had offended against the laws. Every delinquent
had a room to himself, and had opportunities of escap
ing the contamination which a gaol without system and
without room was sure to spread amongst individuals
t‘f tc n ler years. In speaking of the gaols of Paris, he
wished it to be understood that he alluded to those
which had been recently built. As for the old gaols
they exhibited the deep depravity engendered by the im-
possibility of classifying the prisoners huddled together for
wunt of space, and it was neces iry to interfere with those
through the instrumentality of an armed force. But in
the new gaols the whole character of the population
was changed, and the comforts of the prisoners were
not neglected. The young were taught reading, writ-
ing, and even drawing.
Alderman FAREBROTHER.—Ay, poverty seems to be
the only crime that is punished with neglect. The
thieves are very kindly taken care of'. Perhaps it
would be advisable to send the young thieves to France.
Alderman WILSON said that, although his observa-
tions might subject him to the ridicule of some, he
should not be deterred, by being laughed at, from show-
ing that in the scale of morals Giltspur-street Compter,
under the control of the Aldermen of the City of
London, was in a more degraded condition than any
other prison of which he hal ever heard or read a de-
scription. It was impossible to do justice in ordinary
language to the character of so infamous a receptacle.
The inmates bad a language of their own, which only.
becomes intelligible by a regular course of training.
Could the Court wish for better evidence than that they
had upon their minutes in the reference, relative to ex•
aminations taken by the visiting magistrates at Giltspur-
street Compter? What was the object of the Mayor
and Recorder in obtaining the evidence in the manner'
in which they lkqtd sought it, and in referring it to a
Committee ? \Vas it not with a view to effect a refor-
mation in this prison, and to improve the morals of the
prisoners ? No doubt of the object. A month had
elapsed since that evidence-had been required, what bad
been done with it ? Nothing. What would the Com
mittee do with it ? Nothing. Would they wait upon
Sir James Graham and lay it before him ? No such
thing. Their report lay at that moment upon the table,
stating that it was desirable not to proceed further in
the inquiry. Why was it not presented to Court that
day ? Because the Town Clerk had not been able to
obtain the signature of a single Alderman to it. What
gave rise to the investigation ? Why, the Chaplain
put a construction upon the language used different
from its accepted meaning amongst the prisoners. The
old wary hardened thieves declared upon oath that they
did not understand the meaning of the word, but a boy
twelve years of age gave a full explanation, and proved
the existence of a style of conversation of too horrible
and disgusting a nature terkie repeated; and that, com-
bined with certain signs at chapel time, during the hours
of divine service, comprehended the whole of the evi-
dence. The boy who had acquired the knowledge de-
scribed was the child of respectable parents, fell into bad
company, and at the age of eleven years was committed
for three months. He was no sooner set at liberty than
he was again apprehended, tried, and sentenced. He
then was sentenced to imprisonment for nine months,
and upon his return to the Compter he told them whom
he had left there, that his sentence was nine months,
for his former conviction had been proved against him.
The unfortunate child was in a cell by himself when he
(Alderman Wilson) went to the prisoner, his unruly
conduct having subjected him to solitary confinement,
and there existed no doubt as to the chance of reclaim-
ing him, if he were but taken away from the desperate
associates by whom he had been taught to glory in the
crimes he bad committed. Such a state of things was
not to be endured as the interior of that prison exhibited.
It was impossible for any one who had the slightest
claim to humanity to witness the contamination, of
which he had the power of giving but a faint descrip-
tion, without being shocked at the condition of the
youthful prisoners, and ashamed of the indifference with
which the authorities seemed to look upon the fatal mis-
chiefs of want of classification. Alderman Wilson was
about to read an article which appeared in some of the
newspapers on prison discipline, about a month ago,
when he was interrupted by
Sir P. LAURIE, who declared that the question was one
of too serious a nature, and of much too important a
kind, to be discussed in a court not specially called for