The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-18 00:00:00

THE METROPOLITAN PRISONS.

The visiting justices' reports of the state of the
Middlesex prisons were brought up and ordered to be
received, after a long conversation. By these docu-
ments it appeared that the number of persons in the
House of Correction was 1,011, of whom 252 were
females ; and of this large number only three were
in the infirmary. In the New Prison there were 149,
of whom 47 were females ; and in the Westminster
Bridewell the number of prisoners was 450, of whom
149 were females.

The deputy clerk of the peace read a memorial
from the vestry of St. Marylebone, complaining of
the increase in the county rate, owing to the expense
of maintaining those establishments, and praying that
means would be adopted by a reduction in the sala-
ries of the various officers, and otherwise, to lessen
the tax.

After the declaration of a county-rate of one
halfpenny in the pound, and the transaetion of some
other routine business, the Court broke up shortly
after six o'clock.

YOUNG ENGLAND AND CO.:
(From the Glasgow Argus)
We have heard much lately of " Young England,"
though very few persons exactly know what the term
means. We have also heard of Young France,
Young Italy, and Young Germany—nay, there has
even been a whisper of Young Scotland, although so
very low and faint, that we suppose we must as yet
consider " Young Scotland" as among the things that
may be, but are not. A word or two about these
various juveniles may not be out of season, with a
slight description of their objects and wishes.
Firstly—Of La Jenne France. He is the offspring
of the Revolution of 1830, and is a very warlike,
loud-speaking, clever, and conceited youth. He
wears a long beard, spectacles, white kid gloves, and
unexceptionable coat and trousers ; haunts the cafes
of the Palais Royal and the Boulevards • the theatres
and the opera;—has literary faith in Victor Hugo,
and political faith in the Prince de Joinville. He
hates the English with the most intense hatred, and
longs for an opportunity to wipe off the disgrace of
Waterloo, and scores of other disgraces that went
before it. He rails at "perfidious Albion" over his
dominoes and coffee, and, intensely military in all his
ideas, adores the memory of Napoleon as much as he
abhors the English. Though a politician of the first
water, his politics are not home politics ;—he can, it
is true, abuse French Ministers, but it is only when
he suspects them of English sympathies; but in
French internal affairs he seldom meddles. There
are no abuses to be corrected in France—no sufferings
to be alit viated—no masses of the people to be better
educated, better fed, or better governed. For him, all
France is abroad—wherever she can hold up the in-
sulting finger to England, invade English interests, or
establish herself in a point where it is thought Eng-
land would not like her to be established. He is vain
of military glory, and loves war for its epaulettes, its
flags, its cannons, its smoke, and its excitement, and
because, by means of war, he hopes one day to reduce
England to a second-rate Power. Young France is
elated with satisfaction and joy whenever a new mis-
understanding breaks out, or threatens to break out
between the two countries, and most doggedly sulky,
and ill-tempered whenever a misunderstanding is
cleared up, or a cause of quarrel removed. For the
rest, Young France is hot-headed, witty, and fond of
pleasure—a disciple of Larochefaucauld in ethics, of
Faublas in morals, and of Voltaire in religion.
Young Italy, or La giovane Italia, is a different
character. Young Italy has a mind filled with the
traditions of the past. He is proud of being a
descendant of the ancient Romans, and, burning with
the love of his country, he would re-establish its
ancient fame, and make Italy once more a queen
among the nations. But the iron grasp of the Aus-
trian is upon him, and Young Italy is compelled to
cherish his aspirations in secret, at the risk of banish-
ment or perpetual imprisonment, if he dare to give
them vent. Now and them some burst of patriotic
enthusiasm finds a channel of communication to the
world, and Young Italy, in song, or poem, or drama,
or romance, contrives to enlighten his friends in far
countries upon his sentiments and hopes. But more
frequently in secret and illegal societies, he seeks the
intercourse of congenial souls, and forms plans for the
regeneration of Italy and the amalgamation of its
now scattered and divided states, amid darkness and
the subterraneous meeting places of the Carbonari.
But Young Italy hopes on, amid all discouragements,
and sees, not very far off, the day when Italy shall be
again, what she once was—the cradle of art—the
nurse of poetry—the mart of commerce—the seat of
empire—and the mistress of the, world.
Young Germany, or Das Junge Deutschland,
is a young gentleman of a similar turn, with a greater
mixture of French extravagance about him, Young
Germany is a student, smokes a long meerschaum,
fights duels, sings patriotic and Burschen songs, and
longs for the day that shall unite all the scattered
nations of the Great Teutonic family into one mighty
empire. Unlike Young France, he has a kindly re-
gard for Great Britain—admires Shakspeare and Sir
Walter Scott, and thinks them almost, if not quite,
equal to his own Goethe and Schiller—and in any fu-
ture European convulsion would hold out the hand of
good-fellowship to this country. At present, how-
ever, Young Germany, more especially Young
Prussia, has fixed his hopes upon a Constitution
which, next to the amalgamation of the German
States, is his grand object—a Constitution upon the
English model, which he has been promised more than
once by his Kings, but which he has never obtained.
Add to this that Young Germany is a philosopher
—that he has deeply studied Kant and Leibnitz, and
all the systems and no-systems that have been pro-
mulgated in Germany, from time immemorial, that
he is a mystic, and full of the spirit of romance and
adventure, and the portrait is complete.
Lastly comes Young England, the most juvenile
of all these young gentlemen, and who differs from
them all in many essential particulars. In the first
place, he has never called himself Young England,
but has been sn designated by people who intended to
scoff and laugh at him. The appellation, however,
has stuck to him, and he has shown no disposition to
throw it off, or adopt another. Young England is
an aristocrat. Mr. Cobden first informed the world
that he wore a white vest and a white neckcloth, em-
blematic of the inner purity of his heart. A smooth
spoken youth he is, and well behaved—never excites
himself into enthusiasm upon any subject, but is cold,
dignified, and polite. Brought up in the old Tory
school, he is essentially and at heart a Tory ; but having
some talent about him, which he has cultivated since
he left the University, but which was, most certainly,
not drilled into him there, he has een able to see
something of the signs of the times, and to learn that
Toryism, in its old shape, is not suited to this age,
and that if it do not alter and conform itself, in some
degree, to the advancing intelligence of mankind, it
will be left behind altogether and ultimately die of
neglect and starvation. While Toryism of the old
school obstinately persists in going from one end of
its journey to the other, by the old stage coach, with
its wheezy coachman and its purblind guard, the Tory-
ism personified by young England, has condescended,
after much cogitation, to travel by the rail. Young
England, moreover, acknowledges that the people may
have feelings that ought to be consulted in the enact-
ment of laws—that the said people ought to be
allowed to have some amusement now and then after
their labours—indeed, he seems to have a glimmering
and indistinct notion that the people have actually
rights I—the right to live—the right to labour—even
the right to be paid for their labour, and the right
to be instructed—which, it must be acknowledged, is
an advance made in the proper direction. Young Eng-
land has a great admiration for country gentlemen—
and a still greater for country noblemen—and had,
very recently, a kind of vague idea, which he put
into verse, that a rural paradise might yet be created
in Great Britain, provided such places as Manchester
and Glasgow were razed to the ground and utterly
annihilated. Young England for this notion got into
some trouble, and was called some ugly names on
account of it. He has been at some pains, in conse-
quence, to remove the unfavourable impression which
he thereby created against himself. He went to
Manchester accordingly the other day, and made long
speeches to prove his sympathy with manufacturers
as well as agriculturists, and spoke largely and
learnedly of the growing necessity for providing
healthful and mental recreation for the sons of toil,
whether they dwell in cities or in the rural arcadias
of Suffolk or Yorkshire. Among his political ten-
dencies he has a craving thirst for distinction, and
though but weak to act of himself, he, nevertheless,
in the present state of parties in the House of Com-
mons, manages to become of importance. The Pre-
mier and the whipper-in are never quite sure of him ;
and as on questions where parties are pretty equally
divided, his vote might, if adverse, seal the fate of
the Administration, the Premier, although he has
been known to snub him, when exasperated by his
conceit, has usually treated him with marked kind-
ness and deference. For the rest, Young England is
a man of letters—writes novels, and rhymes very
respectably, and would almost make a poet, if he had
those essential qualities—feeling, passion, and enthu-
siasm. Upon the whole, he is a promising youth, and
when he has a little more experience, aid has got happily. li
over some of his present crude notions, and the insuf-
ferable vanity and self-sufficiency that are common to
boys at his time of life, will make a respectable and
useful member of society. At present he is a decided
improvement upon his father Old Tory, and from the
speeches he made at the Manchester Athenaeum, we
are inclined to augur rather favourably than otherwise
of his future career.

Dispatches were sent off on Wednesday evening
for the Governors of the West India Colonies.