The Sun.
London, England, 1821-05-25 00:00:00

[THE TIMES.]

One step has been taken in the humanizing of
our penal laws, by the House of Commons going
into a Committee on the Bill for mitigating the
punishment of forgery in certain cases. Whether
that step may be recalled we know not. It is im-
possible to argue the subject farther, or to
produce more facts in support of the princi-
ples advocated by Mr. Buxton, than was done
by that gentleman himself, in his powerful
speech on Wednesday evening; and to his
reasoning, and to that of the able members who
acted with him, we may leave the question.
It is, however, fair to remark upon the issue of
the business, that should the philanthropic per-
sons who are now so warmly engaged in mode-
rating the severity of our penal code fail in their
endeavours, the evils of which they complain will
not be stationary,, but will, we fear, increase in
consequence of their frustrated exertions. It is
stated, and with truth, that judges, juries, and
prosecutors are all unwilling to convict, on ac-
count of the severity of the punishment which
awaits the verdict of guilty ; but now that
this aversion has been blazoned, palliated,
and even commended, it will of course spread
more widely, and operate more strongly.—
It has obiained a kind of legal sanction, by
the publicity which is given to it, and the terms
in which it is spoken of ; so that from henceforth a
man will not only have occasion to dread the cor-
rodings of his own conscience, but even the re-
proaches of his, neighbours, if he shows a ready
disposition to prosecute, and refuses to partici-
pate in those feelings by which every benevolent
man is acknowledged to be actuated. It seems
necessary, therefore, that something should be
done, not only from the experience of the evils
connected with the existing system, but alsci from
an apprehension of their aggravation.

'.---.1145w..-.

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]

We believe there are few of our well informed
readers, who do not think with Sir James Mack-
intosh, that the speech of Mr. Buxton on our
Criminal• Legislation contained a very clear
and extended view of that great question, and
was one of the most powerful appeals ever made
to the House. His reasoning, indeed, was so
triumphantly conclusive, that it must carry con-
viction to every unprejudiced mind.—The Legis-
lature of this. Country has hitherto trusted entirely
to severity of punishment; and what is the
consequence?—that " crime has increased in
England,' as compared with every other country,
and as compared with itself in former' times."
The increase has indeed been fearfully great.
Nothing has been attempted in the way of
prevention of crime—no discrimination in the
allotment of punishment ; for,as Mr. Buxton ob-
served, "to kill your father, or to catch► a
rabbit the penalty was the same ; to destroy
the three Kingdoms, or to,, destroy a "hop bine,
the penalty was the same ; to kill a gypsey,
or to keep company with the said gypsey,
the penalty according to law was the same."
Capital punishments have been lavishly dealt
out, and no other mode of punishment, effec-
tive for its object, has been thought of.—Tran-
sportation is rather regarded by criminals as
a favour than a punishment, and our Penitentiary
system is' so injudicious and expensive, that no
One would wish to see it more extensively intro-
duced. It is certainly high time that an end
should he pat to this system, that something
should be done in the way of attempting the
prevention of crime, that punishments should be
proportioned to the nature of offences, and that
criminals should not be treated in the manner,
which of all others is most agreeable to persons
of their habits and dispositions.

LECTION' FOlt QUEENHITIIE.-ThiS election
was continued to so late an hour on Wednes-
day night, that the Lord Mayor did not offi-
cially declare the numbers on the poll ; indeed,
his Lordship could not properly do so, as a scru-
tiny was demanded by Mr. Capel's. friends, and
which, we understand, the Lord Mayor was
willing to have-gone into yesterday morning at
ten o'clock, and for that purpose took his seat
in St. Nicholas Cole Abbey Church. The scru-
tiny was not, however; called for on the part of
Mr. Capel, and the Lord Mayor declared Mr
Venables duly elected, he having 50 votes ; Mr.
Capel, 31. Mr. Goss then resigned the office of
Deputy, leaving the new Alderman to re-ap-
point him, or any other, if he thought proper.—
Mr. Capel, it is said, would have relinquished
the contest on Tuesday, but for the persuasion of
his friends ; some of whom, at the Stock Ex-
change, had laid considerable bets upon the re-
sult of the election.

FOR THE SUN.

ON PRISONS.—(No. V.)

Ma EDITOR.—There is so much diversity of
opinion on the labour adapted to prisons, and the
description of persons who ought to be set to
work during the time they may be in custody,
that I shall ventures however hazardous the
course, to enter upon the subject, )vith 'a view
of skewing the necessity of a total revision of the.
Law as at present established on this heath
I will suppose Prisons to be the first, Classifi-
tion and-Inspection the second, Police the third,
and Labour the fourth cause which must inevi-
tably effect reform in the morals of the lower or-
ders, and consequently the diminution of crime ;
the Law, as at present, inflicts hard labour in
very few instances, and does in no case ordain
moderate work, so that an idle individual may
have his passion gratified to the fullest extent by
committing a trilling offence, and by becoming
the inmate of a Gaol, he will either acquire from
or impart to his fellow-prisoners, instruction which
may lead him or them to vicious habits, and, per-
haps, an ignominious death. Practice convinces
us of this, and so it must continue unless the Le-
gislature will crush this school of depravity by
compelling every person in the common wards qf
a gaol to labour.
The prisons of this country are generally
crowded during "the winter ; this arises from va-
rious causes, among which long nights suit the

daring thief, and the needy cannot always obtain
employ, or the spendthrift his portion of gain ;
but the idle man looks to the Gaol as a sort of
winter quarters, where he can be supplied with
every necessary without work ; hence it is com-
mon to see numbers of poachers and others in
confinement, not because they have destroyed
game, &c., but by throwing a wire under the feet
of the gamekeeper, they obtain a winter impri-
sonment, and the wife and children are thrown
upon the parish, as there is scarcely an instance
of the penalty being paid ; yet these men cannot
be set to hard labour on summary process. 1
could name many cases where idleness and
depravity in Gaol is preferred to honest ex-
ertion, whereby individuals might maintain
their families ; but judicious labour is desirablel
from other considerations ; every inhabitant of
the common wards of a prison must, or ought, to
have worked previous to his confinement ; then
why should we prevent the industrious from fol-
lowing the bias of his mind, or indulge the sloth-
ful, by suffering him to be idle ? Many of my
prisoners, Sir, prefer work, others the contrary,
and surely it would be very improper for me to
check industry in the one, or encourage negli-
gence in the other; indeed it cannot be reason-
able that the country should maintain culprits in
idleness, when by their own exertion they may
support themselves ; without work modern
prisons may be a curse to society, but with judi-
cious well regulated labour, they are the bases
on which the county and parish taxes are to be
reduced, on which the lower orders are to be
morally improved, and on which gaols will be-
come a terror to those whom the law would terri-
fy, and abodes of humanity to those with whom
the law would z•ympathize.
If it he adiiiitteti that labour is desirable in our
prisons, let us sP4 how the matter stands : there
are at present ,'")fi gaols, houses of correction,
and bridewells in Great Britain, 117 of which
only afford labour to their inhabitants ; out of
the latter I find 31 county and city gaols, and
the remaining 86 houses of correction and bride-
wells, so that in 9,41 prisons there is no employ-
ment; from the last may be deducted 96 gaols
where the number of prisoners are so limited
that no regular system of work is applicable to
the ; but if the plan of prison association, as
formerly suggested, be put into practice, every
peison in custody may be kept to proportionate
labour ; but even here the matter does not rest,
for not only are many county gaols without the
means of employing their prisoners, but a con-
siderable number of houses of correction and
Ibrides ells are in the same defective state, so that
the sentence of the law, as at present, is not
complied with, and idleness, with all her defor-
mity, is suffered to stalk 'through those places
which ought to correct her influence ; in addition
to which I assure you that a prison defective in
Ibuilding is much more secure under regulated
labour than the strongest gaol in the kingdom
without it.

I am not an advocate for hard and indiscrimi-
nate work, hut on the contrary, would reduce
it to four classes, viz, solitary, hard, moderate,
and labour exercise ; it is not difficult to make
these distinctions, there is nothing of perplexity
in them, as will be shewn in the sequel. In a
late publication no less than 58 trades are men-
tioned for male, and 10 for female prisoners'
employment, near the whole of which appear to
me exceptionable. I cannot think that jail werk
ought to interfere with the occupation of the
honest mechanic, who pays his quota of rent and
taxes, and malutaits his family. -I- cannot think
that the tools and implements required for many
of those trades -ought to be introduced into a
prison, except with abundant caution ; they may
provide weapons for offence or defence, both of
which ought to he avoided. I cannot think that
spinning woollen or cotton is employment for
men, neither do I think that sedentary. habits
ought to be encouraged in our jails, yet a substi-
tute may be provided, so as to avoid all these
objections, and supply every deficiency. I would
ruggest the first moving power of a piece of ma-
chinery, by means of the tread wheel, which has
been considerably improved by Mr. Cubitt, of
Ipswich, and which may be brought to perfec-
tion under judicious management. The motion
of the machinery is so well known, that a de-
scription would be superfluous, but it may be
well to give you some extracts from that Gen-
tleman's Report on the subject."----lie says,
that. " he was desired to take into consideration
the best means of employing persons confined
for hard labour, particularly as to making use
of the joint efforts of many at one time, and in
such manner that, although unwilling agents,
each should be obliged to do his proper share of
work without the power of• throwing any portion
on his fellows; the object of the plan was to form
a system of hard labour, which every one could per-

form without previous instruction, and is found- 4
ed on the above principle as a first 'moving power
to some branch of manufacture suited to the local
circumstances of the county in which the prison
is situated : the operations of the prisoners would
be precisely the same as those which are now ef-
fected by the ordinary powers of wind, water,
stearry3 or horses, and they need bare no more
concern with the object of the machinery or ma-
nufacture than any of. the above-named agents ;
and there would be no difficulty in establishing
a mill or manufactory near the boundary wall of
a prison through which only a single shaft or axle
would have to pass to communicate the power or
motion." Mr. Cubitt then proceeds to state a.
description of the machinery, which is nothing
more titan a broad undershoot water-wheel of
small diameter, moved by the gravity of the men
instead of water; the labourers arc supported by
a hand rail in an erect position, for the purpose
of ,regulating the step, so that no other muscles
are called into play than those commonly used in
walking up stairs ; the, improvement on this ma-
chinery is merely to erect skreens at, intervals, so
as to divide classes or individuals when either so-
litary or social labour may be required ; the jailer
ought to regulate the number of rotations each
class is to make previouss to rest, for instance ten
rounds for hard labour, which will occupy five
minutes, six for moderate labour, and four for
labour exercise; but the two latter classes should
have the same rest as the first, so that the work
may be graduated to the situation of the prisoner,
those for trial being put to labour exercise ; those
sentenced to imprisonment, to moderate work ;
and those where the law ordains hard labour would
in course' be enabled to comply with their sen-
tence ; some persons; actuated by the purest mo-
tives of humanity, have objected to this machine
from an idea that it is prejudicial to the prisoners'
health ; happily instances of the contrary can be
proved ; the mill at Bury Jail has been at work 18
months, (I rew'ret without wheel classification)
yet there is no detriment to the prisoners' health;.
the inside tread wheel has been long known in this
country, and does not possess any prejudicial
quality; the wheel at Dover Castle has not caused
illness; and if, we look abroad, the Chinese have
used the exterior tread wheel for many centuries-
without perceiving any of those sad results ; the
advantages of this machine over every species of
labour are many ;- it consists in the feasibility of
moderating the work, it does not require instruc-
tion, it does not interfere with the honest me-
chanic, it affords no weapon for offence or de-
fence, it is applicable to any manufacture requir-
ing rotatory motion, it may be reduced to common
exercise, a prisoner cannot do more or less than
his share of work, for if the time of each class be
notified, the task-master cannot put the men be-
yond their strength, neither can he favour one in-
dividual more than another ; it has the advant-
age of the winch mill, because in one instance the
gravity of the person is the agent of action, in
the other, it is done by muscular power ; I haVe
seen a winch mill turned by sixteen prisoners,
many of whom went round merely mechanically,
without the least exertion, eleven were taken off,
and the remaining five performed the task of the
original number; I do not wish to be personal.;
but feel it due to the public to expose such du-
plicity when it is extolled as hard labour.
The earnings of prisoners' come next under
consideration; here I am aware that I am on ten-
der ground, but should be deficient in candour
were I not to state the result of practice upon
this as well as every other subject connected
with that line of life which I have selected (not
from necessity), in preference to all others ;
would pay tk unconvicted prisoner one half his
earnings weekly, until be be acquitted, or found
guilty by a Jury; if the former, he should receive
the remaining moiety, and an increased sum, if
necessary, to take him home on being dis-
charged ; if found guilty, the remaining half of
the earnings should be added to the Gaol Fund,
because until-now he is only at labour exercise ;
other prisoners' earnings ought to be credited to
the fund, and, on their discharge, they should
receive a sufficient sum to enable them to return
to their homes honestly ; but in addition some-
thing may be remitted to the parish of each indi-
vidual to support him a few days after he is home,
previous to his obtaining work.
.If the fund be
properly managed it will afford 'this and much
more, if necessary. Such a regulation will enable
discharged prisoners to return to their friends cre-
ditably, and without stealing on the road for
want; but there are candidates for giving pri-
soners indiscriminately all their earnings, so that
the man who .commits a heavy crime, and is im-
prisoned two years, literally receives a bounty
twenty-three to one more than the petty of-
fender who is confined in gaol only one month !
Can this be reasonable ? Is it just ? On the con-
trary, if Magistrates will apportion the earnings'
fund according to circumstances, they will find
that the juvenile offender will seldom return to
gaol, and if he does, as it cannot be from neces-
sity, he merits much more coercive treatment.
Notwithstanding I am a strenuous advocate
for the tread wheel labour, I think that tailors
and shoemakers ought to be employed in our
gaols, but only so far as the prisoners require
clothing ; let them make their own clothes ; but
trading gaolers arc Oci things ; and I must fur-
her state, that the system I suggest is in no way
applicable to PENITENTIARIES, which, I presume,
are intended as places of confinement for those
young in years, who, by labour, reflection, and
example, after five or more years custody, may
acquire - industrious habits, and learn trades,
which, on their discharge, will enable them to
maintain themselves, and become useful members
of society. _ _ _

It becomes me, Sir, to apologize for the length
of this letter; but, with your permission, I shall
trouble you once more, ►►nd that with Reflections
on the Government of Gaols, and the Impolicy
of appointing inefficient Persons to their superin-
tendance. I am, &c. &c.

CLAVIGER.

The Musical Festival of the three Choirs of
Gloucester,Worcester, and Hereford, takes place
the ensuing autumn in the former city. This tri-
ennial meeting is the oldest musical one in the
kingdom.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF CHANCERY, MAY N.
THE EARL OF WESTMEATH V. THE COUNTESS OF
WEST MEATH.

Mr. HouE said he was requested to ask his Lords!iip for
his judginent in this case..
The Lon' Cu ANC LI,DR—" Let it be put in the paper for
Tuesday nest. 'fliis is one of that class of cases in v.itrii I
had hoped it would not be necessary to ask for judgment:"
Mr. BLAKE, Counsel for the Countess of 117estmeath., stated, _ _

that the Earl of WestMeath had inistituted 'a suit in the Eccic:
siastieal Court for the restitution of conjugal rights.
Mr. HORNE said, that the statement of his -14earned-Friend
was correct ; it was a fact whichh, he did not wish to kekp baek
from his Lordship.
The Loitn CHANCELLOR-44 This will create a new dif-
ficulty, if the deed of separation between the NOble Parties does
not go far enough to enjoin such a suit in the Ecclesiastical

court. lam a;-rare there was a case in which Lord Bathurst
went the length of granting an injunction to restrain such a,
suit in the Ecclesiastical Court. I will give you my judgment
on Tuesday next."