The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 10, 1842.

grace fall The puritanical chaplain felt the responsi-
bility of the ansver he should give, and, 'after a pause,
trae to the dogmas of his creed, he answered No.'
Then,' said the dying Protector, I think lam saved ;
for Ido know that I was once in grace !' The immunity
of Ipswich from the consequences of present electoral
offences is inexplicable, save on Goodwin's latitudinarian
efficacy of grace. Ipswich was once pure, and it may
now sin with impunity ; it is saved from Parliamentary
damnation, because it was once in a state of race.
Peradventure the Anglo-Saxon purity of Ipswich in the
days of the Wittenagemote, has vicariously achieved its
salvation. Cannot this electoral immortality of Ipswich
be turned to -.some useful account ? Cannot its corrup-
Aim and venality—predestined, it seems, to endure to the
end of representative government in this island—be ren-
dered advantageous to the purity of other places ? The
difficulties in the way of disfranchising Sudbury
we respectfully suggest to Sir Robert Peel, be got rid of,
if the Right Hon. Baronet will encourage the emigration
of purchasable voters from Sudbury to Ipsvvich, and in-
duce them to transfer their valuable, franchise to the
larger boroughs."

MONEY—TRADE—COMMER9E.
The colliers at Barslem, in the Potteries, on Sunday,
attacked several private houses, broke the windows at
the Town-hall, and also those of the sergeant of police,
after which they decamped. The men continue begging
in various places, and the masters are resolved to stand
out against their demands.
At .Ashton-on-Lyne, in Lancashire, the workpeople of
Messrs. Bayley and Boot, as well as other firms of Staly-
bridge, turned out on Monday, in consequence of a re-
duction of wages, and proceeded to stop no less than 26
other mills. They paraded the streets in thousands, and
the Riot Act was read, but the military ordered not to
fire. On Tuesday they again met, to the nmmbers of
from 15,000 to 20,000 and resolved to proceed to Man-
chester to turn out the mills and other workpeople. At
Manchester the military hold themselves ready.
The accounts from the manufacturing districts are
more encouraging. The improved business is gradual,
but it is felt nevertheless. The cotton sales at Liverpool
during the last week amounted to no less than 54,000 bales,

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
(THIS DAY.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Twelve o'Clock.
Mr. MILDMAY and Mr. HOPE took the oaths and their
seats for the borough of Southampton. The Hon. Gen-
tlemen were introduced by Sir T. Fremantle and Mr.
Fleming, and were heartily cheered by the Members on
the Ministerial side of the House.
On the motion of Mr. BROTHERTON, returns in
continuation of the return made up to 29th July, were
ordered, of the number of days and hours during which
the House sat in the present session ; also specifying
the number of hours during which the House sat after
midnight.
Mr. STEWART WORTLEY presented a petition
from Hackney, praying that that district be included in
the districts to which the Metropolitan Improvements
Bill extended.
On the motion of Mr. HAWES, the following returns
were ordered.—" Return of the quantities and average
price, for each six weeks, of all corn sold in places in-
cluded in 5 Vic. c. 14, from the commencemer tof the
operation of that Act to the latest period. Also a return
of the quantities and average price, for each six weeks,
calculated according to the provisions of 9 Geo. 4, c. 60,
of all corn sold in the towns specified in section 8 of the
said Act, for the same period."
BANKRUPTCY LAW AMENDMENT BILL.
This Bill was read a third time.
On the question that the Bill do pass,
Mr. HAWES moved the addition of the following
clause by way of rider to the Bill:—" That fourteen
days before a final dividend shall be advertised under
any bankrupt's estate, there shall be sent by the official
assignee to each creditor's assignee of such estate, a
debtor and creditor account between the official assignee
and such estate, showing also the moneys remaining un-
collected under such estate, and the cause of such moneys
remaining uncollected, a copy of which account shall be
delivered to any creditor who shall apply for the same,
and have proved or claimed a debt under such fiat, upon
his applying for the same to the official assignee, and
paying such sum, not exceeding one shilling, as shall be
settled by the Court authorised to act in the prosecution
of such fiat."
Mr. SCOTT objected to having creditors pay for the
account.

Sir T. WILDE suggested that creditors should not
be compelled to pay for the account, but that every per-
son who was not a creditor should have to pay for it. He
moved an amendment to that effect, and that the price of
the writ be 2s. 6d. instead of ls.
Sir J. GRAHAM approved of the amendment pro-
posed by the Hen. and Learned Gentleman opposite.
After some further discussion the clause, (Li amended,
was agreed to, and ordered to be added as rider to the
Bill.—The Bill was then passed.
The Lords' amendments to the Colonial Passengers
Bill were read, and agreed to.
PRISON DISCIPLINE.

On the Order of the Day for the third reading of the
Insolvent Debtors Bill being read,
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE rose to call the attention of the
House to the petition of William Gellen, presented on
the 4th of August, complaining that great mortality had
existed in the Milbank Penitentiary during the past year.
He stated, during the past year a great increase of mor-
tality and insanity had taken place. Since January last
there had been 14 deaths, which was a very considerable
increase on the same period in other years. It was ad-
mitted that the situation was an unhealthy one, and any
mortality arising from that cause could not be ascribed
to the officers. But great complaints had also been made
of the new arrangements, and of the fact that there
was no medical attendant residing in the prison. A sys-
tem also, that was very like fraud, was pursued by
removing patients in the last stage of exhaustion
to St. Bartholemew and other hospitals, so that they did
not die in the parish. The treatment of sick prisoners
was also complained of : in one case a man was found in
his cell in a state of stupor, and leeches were applied to
his temples, and while the blood was flowing from his
temples, a bucket of cold water was thrown over him.
A model prison was under consideration, and in process
of erection ; at the beginning of the session he had
called the attention of the House to the subject of
prison discipline, and he believed, if the inquiry he asked
for had been granted, many of the abuses that'prevailed in
the Penetentiary would have been prevented. He intended,
however,to renew the motion next session, for, as the model
prison was to be much the same sort of place as the Pene-
tentiary, the House ought to be put in possession of
all the facts connected with its state and management,
and to be warned of what might take place in it. He
thought a more judicious selection might have been made
of the persons who were the Committee to superintend
the management of the model prison. They were the
Duke of Richmond, Lord Chichester, Lord Wharneliffe,
Lord J. Russell, and the Speaker of the House of Com-
mons. He could not believe that their occupations would
admit of their attending to the management of the prison.
He was quite sure that the time of the Speaker was suf-
ficiently occupied already by his other duties. Two
eminent medical men, iDr. Brodie and Dr. Ferguson,
were also appointed to visit the prison, but he did not
see how they would be able to do so, and as it was a
male prison, he could net tell why Dr. Ferguson, of all
other individuals, should have been appointed to visit it.
He condemned the silent, solitary, and separate systems
of punishment that were adopted ; they invariably
tended to produce disease and • insanity, .8S
had been proved by the experience of the
Governor of the Cold Bath-fields prison: The
question he wished to put to the Right „Hon.
,Baron 4,
was, whether he meant to make any, further inquiry
in the system of prison discipline, and also whether it
was the intention of the Government to recommend to
the Committee both as to the Model Prison and -the
Mill-
bank Penetentiary, that there should be a medical man
continuously residing within the walls of both these
prisons ?
Sir J. GRAHAM said he was prepared for the mo-
tion of the Hon. Gentleman, by the inquiries he had
made when the petition was first
.presented. But the
Hon. Member had now taken a much wider range, and
had indulged himself in a sort of roving commis-
sion through all the prisons. The model prison,
as he had before stated, was an experiment, and
an experiment well worth making. With regard
to the Committee of Management, he thought
it was well qualified to conduct the inquiry,
having conducted one in the House of Lords; and
the same might be said of Lord Chichester. He might
add that the prepossessions of the Duke of
Richmond, as to the separate and silent system, were
very much in unison with those of the Hon. Gentleman.
He had asked Lord John Russell to be so obliging as to
consent to suffer his name to be placed on the Commis-
sion appointed to superintend the: experiment, and
the Noble Lord had been so kind as to promise
that he would undertake to devote a consider-
able portion of his leisure time to the superin-
tendence of the experiment. He had also requested
the speaker to be so kind as to suffer his name
to be joined to the other Commissioners, and the
Speaker had been kind enough to say that he would
devote his leisure time to his duties as Commissioner.
He had also appointed Sir Benjamin Brodie
a high medical authority, and Dr. Burnett, who also held
a high rank in the medical profession, as Commissioners.
Major Jebb, an officer of Engineers, who had devoted
considerable attention to the suject of building prisons,
was also a Commissioner. These were all checks upon the
prejudices of other persons. Knowing that Mr. Gordon had
devoted his attention to the subject of prison discipline ;
that he had visited almost all the gaols of Europe and
America, and that he had introduced the separate sys-
tem of prison discipline, he thought that he ought to be
appointed to superintend the experiment. If he had ap-
pointed Mr. Gordon alone to superintend the experiment he
should have been to blame, but he certainly ought not to
be excluded from the Commission. With reference to
the case of Holberry, he was bound to say that that case
had given him great pain. He had been informed
last autumn that the the health of Holberry was suffer-
ing, and he had directed that he should be removed from
Northallerton to York Castle, where the discipline
was less severe, and he had directed that '
report should be made to him as to the state of Hol-
berry's health. He had not for some time received those
reports, until shortly before Holberry's death, when he
had received information that unless he were liberated,
his health would suffer so severely that he could not re-
cover. He had directed his liberation within 48 hours of
the time he had received that information. Now with
regard to the Penitentiary it should be recollected that
the Hon. Gentleman was impugning the discipline of that
establishment on the testimony of a discarded servant.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE—No.
Sir J. GRAHAM—He had been permitted to resign
—at least such was the report of the Governor. lie
would admit that during the course of the last spring anepi-
demic had prevailed in the Penitentiary, andmany deaths
had ensued, but that had not been occasioned either by
the diet or discipline ; for a more generous diet had been
adopted, and a relaxation in the severity of the disci-
pline had taken place, on the recommendation of Dr.
Baillie, before the epidemic had made its appear-
ance. That epidemic had been attributed to various
causes, some persons imagined that the situation was
unhealthy ; he did not agree in that opinion, but he had
directed Dr. Baillie to institute inquiry into the health
of prisons similarly situated, and to report on the sub-
ject. He was also happy to state that cases of insanity
in that prison were less frequent than formerly. With
respect to the man who had died in Bartholo-
mew's Hospital, and whose funeral expenses it had
been said Dr. Baillie had undertaken to pay be-
fore they would admit him, he begged to say that
they invariably refused to admit a patient
unless some person was answerable for his funeral ex-
penses. With respect to the other case to which allusion
had been made, there could be no doubt that the man
had simulated stupor ; but he (Sir James Graham)
could not altogether approve of the treatment to
which that man had been subjected. With respect to
the general superintendence of the prison, it was under
a Commission, the members of which were above suspi-
cion, and he heard a short time since from a person who
had attended a man who had been a prisoner in that in-
stitution, and who in his dying moments stated that the
Penitentiary was the best institution in the world, and in
his dying moments had directed his thanks to be re-
turned to the officers of that establishment for the kind-
ness with which he had been treated.
Mr. HUME objected to the intervention of Commis-
sioners to screen the Governors of prisons and the Secre-
tary of State from responsibility. The experiment of
the Penitentiary had completely failed. It was situated
in a bog, and must be unhealthy. He objected still more to
the manage ent ; it ought to be under the management
of a resp ble Governor, and subjected to vigilant
inspection, the Secretary of State being responsible for
the general management of all cases. A plan of that
sort had been adopted on the Continent, and found
to answer. And until some such plan had
been adopted in this country, all attempts at
prison discipline would be failures. They had prisons