The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-19 00:00:00

MILITARY PRISONS.

The report on the discipline and management of
the military prisons for 1858 has been presented to
both Houses of Parliament by command of her Ma-
jesty, and contains the following statistical infor-
mation :—The military prisons in operation in 1858
were as follows : —England—Chatham, Gosport,
Weedon, Devonport, and Aldershott ; Scotland—
Greenlaw (near Edinburgh) ; Ireland Dublin,
Cork, Limerick, and Athlone. Abroad—Gibraltar,
Quebec, Halifax (Nova Scotia), Bermuda, Vide
(lonian Islands). St. Elmo (Malta), Mauritius, Bar-
badoes, and Montreal ; making a total of 19 military
prisons, of which ten are in the United Kingdom,
and nine at different foreign stations, the whole
being capable of accommodating about 1,500 pri-
soners. The report exhibits a considerable varia-
tion in the prison statistics of 1858 as compared
with those of 1857; the number of men punished
for minor offences in 1858 has, in comparison: been
smaller than in any previous year, except 1807, in-
dicating an improvement in discipline, and, it may
be hoped, a progressive tendency as regards the
moral condition of the soldier. The average length
of sentences was 99 days in 1849, and 87 in 1854,
but it was reduced in 1855 to 77 days, in 1856 to
53 days, in 1857 to 49 days, and in 1858 to 47 days.
The statistical tables of the report also announce
that although the tendency to desertion has in-
creased, drunkenness and other crimes in the army
have decreased since 1857. • The expenditure for
military prisons in the year 1858 was no burden to
the country, as the amount of unissued pay and beer
money exceeded the prison expenditure by £1,452;
the total expenditure being £18,125, and the un-
issued pay and beer money, which is stopped when
£
the men are in prison, 19,577. The number of
corporal punishments inflicted last year was 918,
among 219,739 effective men; being 0.49 per Cent.;
and the number of deserters branded 2,371,
or 1.09 per cent., which unfortunately exhibits
an increase for the same offence, when the
numbers were—flogged, 545, or 0.34 per cent. ;
branded, 1,090, or 0.76 per cent. From the
medical returns of the military prisons at
home, it appears that the health of the pri-
soners has improved since 1854. The pro-
portion of numbers treated for sickness to the total
numbers in confinement in 1854 was nearly 21 per
cent., whereas in 1855 it decreased to about 15 per
cent. ; in 1857, 16 per cent. ; and in 1858, 15 per
cent. This result is at least a sufficient proof that
the reduced scale .of diet adopted in August, 1850,
and in general operation throughout the years
1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856, 1857, and 1858,
combined with the system of requiring the second
and third class prisoners to sleep accoutred as if on
guard, although it has increased the loss of weight
among the prisoners as shown in the tables, has not
as a general rule had any injurious effect on their
health. Notwithstanding the apparent effect of the
punishment in causing a considerable average loss
of weight, it is remarkable and satisfactory that the
number treated for sickness during the year
1858 was proportionately less than in any year
since 1848, with the exception of the year 1855.
The following statistics are then given upon punish-
ments in the army, and with them the report. con-
cludes.d In 1843 the number of soldiers irepriasiotnial,
at any one time under sentence by court. m •
in civil prisons, exclusive of those who might be in
cr officers, WAS
confinement by order of commanding
the same time
in the ratio of 20 in 1,000,n
punishments amounted to
the number of corporal p
u 25.2 per 1,000. In the
annually about 5.2, makinglBs4 the number of three years from 5
im-
prisonments was IrBeduced to 11 per 1,000, and in
the four years from 1850 to 1854 the average num-
ber of corporal punishments had been reduced to
9.5 per 1,000, being a little more than one-half in
' both cases, and making a total of 13 5 as compared
with 25.2. During the year 1858 the average num-
ber undergoing imprisonment at any one time in
the military prisons and barrack cells amounted to
11.9 in 1,000, and the total corporal punishments
in the year amounted to 4.2, making a total of 16.1
per 1,000 for 1858 as compared with 25,2 in 18.13.

WRONGS WHICH CRY FOR REDRESS.

Mr. Crook's bill for the Protection of Women
and Children employed in Bleach-Works, &c., will
be proposed-towards the end of March. If, be-
tween this and then, popular opinion is not bzoughr
to bear on this most atrocious question, it shall be
no fault of ours. We purpo.e that this article
shall appear in our columns frequently, until the
bill has again been brought before the house; and
we implore our brethren of the press to help the
country, and especially the Legislative Body, to a
right way of thinking on these horribly cruel mat-
ters. Our extracts are taken almost at random
from Mr. Hopley's pamphlet
Samuel Price examined—" I was in the employment of
Messrs. Ainswarth, near Bolton. They employ about four
Ihundred people. It was mostly from eleven till two o'clock
in the morning before we left off. In the last year I w
with them, from April, 1853, to April, 1854, we were busy,
as well as I can remember, through the spring and through
the summer, for six or eight months of the year; that is,
we went to work from six to half- past six, sometimes at
four, and left off from ten to twelve, one or two in the
morning, and sometimes after that. * * * All the
people in the works averaged these number of hours—some
even more."
[Observe that this dreadful toil was not an occasional or
exceptional fact. Girls and boys were thus working,a.
" through the spring and through the summer, fir six Inn
eight months ofthe year."] 110
"At times, if a sudden order has come, we have not been
in bed mote than 16 or 18 hours in the week (averaging
more than 211 hours of unrest out of the 24 during seven
successive days and nights for girls and boys, some of
them no more than 12 years old)."—Report of the Com-
missioner appointed to inquire how far it may bo advisable
to extend the Provisions of the Acts for the better Regu-
lation of Mills and Factories to Bleaching Works, rp.
10, 11, Nos. 81-84.
William Johnson, finisher—" I am twenty-four years of
are. I was eleven when I first went to work. I worked
first for Mr. Fleteher, Leylands, ten years. At my com-
mencement" (that is, when he was a child of eleven) " I
began at twelve o'clock on Sunday night, and worked till
eight on Monday night (20 hours) ; then we started at
six o'clock on Tuesday morning, and worked till 12 at
night (18 hours) ; and we did that for two or three months
without stopping. *• * I have been at a worse place
than that for long hours since; at Mr. Whowell's, Two
Brooks. * * There were a deal of young girls, one
or two under ten years of age.—lbid., p. 9, No. 68.
[To have a fall perception of the severity of this toil, it
should be borne in mind that a very large number of the
workers in these establishments are standing and " work-
ing hard" (as rapidly as possible) during almost the whole
of these lengthened periods. It is shown in evidence that
sometimes for days in succession the girls and boys have
no opportunity whatever of sitting down (save for their
hastily-snatched meals during the whole of the time spent
at the works.—Reports, passim.]
John Hamer, finisher—" I have been 15 years in the
bleaching trade. I was employed at Messrs. Hollins',
Tootle Bridge, Bolton. * * * One morning we wont to
work at five o'clock and worked till six the morning after"
(25 hours.) " All the sets were working the same hours"
(the young with the adults). * * * " I have been se
tired, though I am a strong and healthy man, that I have
often to sit at my bed-side when I get up of a morning,
and my fingers are so stiff and sore that I cannot dress my-
self. If I feel thus tired, what must the young girls and boys
eel ?"—lbid., p. 8; Nos. 61. 64.
[The frightful state of prostration—often ending in death.
—to which the young girls and boys are reduced in some of
hese establishments will be touched on presently ]
Ann Simpson. (14 years old), Elizabeth Hilton (15)
Sarah Higson (16)—" We came to work last Friday morn-
ing at half-past six" (at Mr. Ridgway Bridson's Bleach-
works, Bolton). "We worked all Friday night till half-
past five on Saturday morning" (twenty-these hours). "We
did not sleep any time in the night, except on Saturday
morning at half-past five we laid down to sleep on the
hooking-box, and slept till a little after seven" (less than
two hours' sleep--and with the clothes still on—after
twenty-three hours' work) ; " then we went to breakfast for
half-an-hour, and then came and worked till ten minu
pest p. 25, 'No. 236.
William Crompton—" I am 17. I have been four years
and a half" (that is, since he was twelve years and a half
old) " in the dressing-shop. We goon till different hours,
sometimes early, sometimes late. I worked once three days
and three nights" (he is only one, remember, among mul-
titudes—children as well as adults—who toil in the saute
way); "and not long since I began work on Friday morn-
ing at four and worked till five on Saturday night" (37
hours). " I mostly slept at meal times, and only stopped
one hour for meals; tho rest I ate while 1 was working."—
p. 26, No. 246.

Surely all this is very terrible. But read on :
Elizabeth Henderson (Mr. Clark's Ble rchfield, Burnbrae,
Millengood).—" We sometimes begin at one o'clock upon
Monday mornings and work sometimes till nine o'clock on
Monday night" (20 hours), "and sometimes even all Mon -
day night, and get home at six o'clock on Tuesday morning"
(29 hours from the time of commencing work).—" Home
for four hours and out here again at ten o'clock, and work
up to 11 and sometimes 12 o'clock that night. The next
day we should come out at six and work the regular hours;
that may go on fcr a few days or a week, and then we
should commence, as before, at night-work, going home at
seven in the evening for one hour, and working through
the night. We stop from 12 till one in the night for re-
freshment. It was rather before the new year when we
commenced to be so busy, and it has been going on this way
up to this time (March 24)."—A quarter of a year of such
toil as this !—lbid., p. 66, No. 7t13.
If there be any one thing which more than another adds
to the enormity of this national iniquity, it is the fact that
there is not—nor ever has been—even so much as a '
wortLy of the name, to prevent a stop being rut to
all these terrible shames by just legislation.
Mary Ann Smith.—" Last Saturday I was 12 years old.
* S * 1 cane here nearly three years ago. Six times
in that time I have worked from six in the morning till
hall-patt two the next" (twenty hours and a half). "Once
I worked from six one morning till six the next morning"
(24 hours). " I have to rub my instep every night before I
can get my clogs off. The skin cracks, and I cannot abide it
sometimes. One of my fingers is gathering from being cut
by the selvage, and the other is running."—lbid., p. 47.
No. 457.

Contemplate the condition of this poor child. It has been
at work since it was nine years old. And it has to ge on
hour after hour, day after day, the skin of its instep still
cracking and festering, the selvage still sawin; against its
gathering, running sores. Woe to the nation that shall
hear such things and will not raise its voice :
Amelia Woed (15 next July).—" I have been at this
work about three years. We ottenest begin at or ain the
morning, and oftenest leave off at 11 or 12. ► * *-
Sometimes we do not leave off till 3 or 4 ii the morning.
My fingers are often very Lad ; the cloth wears thew
through."—lbid., No. 158.

Think of it, reader. It is the every-day cemplaiat of
suffering umilltitudes :
"The friction of the piece, in kotkiag, cuts their fingers
and makes them very sure, their Ailed being soft. 'Whose
finger is bleeding,' is net an uncorkmon expression as the
blood stains the pieces; they then have to have their Au-
gers tied up."—]bid., p. 43, No. 414.
As the blood stains tile pieces
Sore feet, likewise,—the natural consequences of stand-
ing so many hours, and frequently upon very hot floors,—
are very general, especially among the little girls :
"My feet are almost always sore" (No. 126.)—" flays
had 'the aching legs' many a time" (No. 'lt "Ankle
bone was growing- out" (INo. 273).—" Tho akin comes off,
and they are very sore" (No. 274).---" I have oft.' sore
feet ; they bleed sometimes, and my ankle bone has bosu
growing out" (No. 277).—"The skin is off very often, and
the soles of my feet are blood-raw" (No. 279).—" My feet
are often blood-raw' —uiio itfatslike"are these
e,
oftenea nlsbrel blood-raw, rine ta'rn , t and they pain (No. 281.)
puts``
6‘t' :11s120y8m.f5ee).es_.
tnblistertahte and
lAk
pear e
the very n sore.
ew kn Me
nomtheeT,
I have always sore feet in simmer time" (No. 033.)—'" My feet are often sore winter and
summer" (No. 636).—" Feet often FO sore that the skin
comes off with my stockings" (No. .5(14).—" If you could
have seen my feet last night" (No. 491).—" Worked when
the skin was off my feet very badly " (No. 492).—" I have
often hail the skin off my feet" (No. 231.—" Iler feat very
often get raw" (No. 448).—" My feet were always sore in
summer : they were blood-raw at bottom, and my ankles
are swelled with a deal of pain" (No. 463).
" I have scores of times seen both men and children
asleep at their work. and very dangerous
work too" (No.
lo).—" Very often they go to sleep over their work' (No.
51).—" I have almost, every day to take a board and beat it
on the table to waken them, as they were slumbering at their
work." (Observe the expression, reader—' at their work').
" At that time they would be hooking sloth ; and while
they should be doing it, I see them nodding and trying to
catch the hook" (No. 83).—" As to the older ones, I have
often and often seen them down asleep, net being able t•
hold up for their work. If the manager bad gone out, they
would drop down in a minute in the packing-boxes and go
to sleep" (No. 6S).—" We have often gone to sleep on the
tables, or with our heads on the wet cloth, or anywhere
where we could sit still" (No. 378).—" The little ones very
often fall asleep standing to their work"—

[Mothers of little ones, you will not, You cannot read, and
then not stir in this. You have a mission here. Say not
that you can do but little in the matter. Let but the ma-
ternal feeling of the country rouse itself, and not another
session shall pass away without the rescue of these little
ones—
Now, reader, it is no use mincing words. Look upon al
this calmly, weigh the matter well, and have the manly or
womanly honesty to call it by its right name; and what is
k ? Wholeaale murder—murder tier gold.
The man who poisons another to escape the payment of
a debt, is hung. The man who stops another in the Queen's
high-way and demands "your money or your life," is
hung. But these, who build up princely fortunes with the
bloody hands ands bloody feet of helpless little ones—who
wade through killing tyranny to wealth —who lire u.pon
women's and children's life's blood,—who aro guilty of tho
death not of one only, but of scores of their fellow creatures
—these roll about in carriages ; and after founding a church'
er two, and a school or two, are looked upon as just, liberal,
and benevolent menu; and sit on magisterial benche • d
take their place in and
take ; and assume an interest is
the welfare of the poor; and argue upon the rights of labour.
Woe to the legislature that contains within its body the
rust that must corrupt I Woe to the nation that hears such
things and will not ryaeisaepiat
tshveotiiccellegialators. And think of
oafnadl lwanthis,
child, ve cruel men of mammon. Her
ply her task no more.
For twenty
littlet h iTa l lividiink
hands
can
your houses." . . .
b,,th houses," been en, "The spoil is iu
this
'no
auwpfulintvitiiinin?r,
iiiind by associations, by petitions to
operatives, 4, by meetings years have these poor
twentyr
o rouse attention
has
t ti h. to
cryal l
"f:ru lia g
t
Women of the United PleY" Lotter to the Men and
Mr. Crook', Bill will kingdom."
be brought forward
fora second
reading towards the latter end of March

The Belgian Chamber of Representatives at its
sitting of the day before yesterday continued the
discussion on the bill for reforming the Penal Code.
An amendment by M. Nothomb declaring that no
limit should be put to the right of prosecution
by any relatives of deceased persons against those
who might publish defamatory articles against
their memories was rejected by 46 to 24. Tho
wording of the committee. limiting the laid
right to the father, grandfather, son, brother, and
nephew was afterwards adopted. The further
discussion was then adjourned.