The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-02 00:00:00

TUNIS.

Lord BEAUMONT resumed the discussion. He said
that he could not give any credit to the Noble Earl
opposite for hanging the Maltese.—(A laugh.) If any
credit were due to any one, it was to the Bey.—(Hear
and laughter.) It 'night be laughing matter to their
Lordships, but it was no joke to those Christians whose
lives were in jeopardy in the Turkish States.
The Earl of ABERDEEN could not guess what the
Noble Lord wanted. Her Majesty's Government had
taken care that justice should be done in the case of this
Maltese. The Bey delayed execution until he consulted
the British Government, and the criminal was pro-
perly put to death.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
If the man had murdered only a Maltese he would have
been tried by the Christian tribunal ; but he murdered
also a Tunisian, and that crime brought him under the
jurisdiction of the Turkish tribunals. The Bey, how-
ever, showed so much deference to the English Govern-
ment as to suspend the execution of the sentence until '
he had communicated with her Majesty's Government.
Lord MINTO rose, and was

(LEFT SPEAKING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
INSOLVENT DEBTORS BILL.

Sir J. GRAHAM (in continuation from our afternoon
Edition) said—The House would remember the sensa-
tion which had been created during the present session
by the statements which had been made of the horrors
of the small debt gaol. of Birmingham. He had caused
inquiries to be made into the state of various small debt
gaols in the country, and he could not have believed that
such iniquities and cruelties could be suffered to exist in
a Christian country. The Secretary of State had no
control over those prisons, although he might have
them inspected. However; much he might be disgusted
with the horrors of those gaols, he was perfectly impo-
tent to remedy the evil he might recommend, for his
recommendations were treated with neglect if the alter-
ations recommended were attended with expense ;
and he was sure the Hon. Member for Man-
chester, who bad objected to-hurrying forward this Bill,
would be the very person who would rather sit a month
longer than not remedy these horrors.. Ills attention
had been drawn to the state of the small-debt goal in
Birmingham in the month of January last, in conse-
quence of a riot which had taken place in that prison on
Christmas-day. He bad sent down an inspector, and
his report contained a statement of horrors which he
could scarcely have believed to have existed—horrors
equal to anything which had been laid open by Howard
—and this in Birmingham, which had been cited by the
Hon. Gentleman as a case in point why the House
should not consent to the abolition of the power
of imprisonment for small debts. (The Right
Hon. Baronet here read the report in question,
from which it appeared that the prison consisted
of a kitchen and a cellar, situated in a street
in Birmingham, and was for the imprisonment of persons
whose debts were under 5/. The day-room for poor
debtors was a scullery, 18 feet by 14, and 7 feet high.
There was a grating on a level with the pavement of the
street, and debtors were stationed there to beg; and not-
withstanding spirits were prohibited, they were handed
through this grating, and the goaler did not dare to in-
terfere, lest he should raise a riot which he would be
powerless to quell. There was one general dormitory in
the attic which was 11 feet by 16, in which were two plat-
forms extended along each side wall, and on them the
prisoners slept ; at one time fifteen persons had slept
together on one of these platforms and eight on the other.)
The reason of this difference was that the prisoner who
had been longest in the gaol was called the king, and
possessed several privileges, one of 'which was
that he should not be obliged to take more than
seven bedfellows on his platform. No medical
assistance was afforded to the prisoners in cases of sick-
ness ; and the had possessed swords, staves, &c.,
until the recent
.riot, when they had been taken from
them. The riot had been occasioned by the practice of
exacting from every prisoner 2s. 6d. on his admission,
under the denomination of " chum-money." He had re-
monstrated with the authorities, and some amendment
had been made, but not to a sufficient extent. But did
the case of Birmingham stand alone ? Far from it. His
attention had been directed to the small-debt prison of
Kidderminster, and, on the 15th June he had directed
an inspector to proceed there. From his report it ap-
peared that the prison consisted of one room, twelve
feet by twelve, paved with brick. The room was des-
titute of furniture. There was a bundle of straw
in the middle of it, on which the prisoners slept in their
clothes. There was a yard behind, thirteen feet by
twelve, but it was so badly drained that in wet weather
the prisoners were confined to the room. They never