The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-28 00:00:00

TILE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY MORNING, OCTOBER: 2R, 1 R 42

which he lost a single penny." It seems that
persons in power and authority look on the pri-
soners as having a claim on them, and they do
that for them which is not done for independent
and honest labourers. Mr. BREBNER has fifty
voluntary prisoners in his gaol, not forty, as
the Report incorrectly states—and " the num-
ber of applications has been much greater
since trade became so bad." A married
woman, who committed a trifling crime, that
she might be sent to gaol, because she did not
know how otherwise to get in, says, " this is a
blessed place; I never knew there was such a
place for a poor wretched woman, and if the Go-
vernor will let me, I will stay after my sentence
is over." " The Governor is a blessed man,"
says another: " he is more like a father than a
maister. lam determined to stay here after my
sentence is over, if the maister will allow me."
" I intend," says another, " to stay a voluntary
prisoner, if Mr. BREBNER will let me, till times
are better." "Itis a fact," says the Report of
the Edinburgh Prison, " that the scant fare and
poor accommodation of a prison is luxury itself
compared to the wretchedness endured by many
of them (juvenile offenders) when out of it. A
poor child, not quite eight years old, had been
committed to prison, accused of child stripping. I
was hearing her repeat her lesson, and asked her
if she wished for any thing? when she eagerly
s yid, I wish my little brother was here ;
and on being asked why, she replied, because
he would get some porridge!" Can we need any
further evidence that, morally and physically, a
gaol is a better place than the homes of many
of the industrious and honest poor ?
We earnestly wish that those who have the
management of our affairs would study this Re-
port, and in studying it, ask themselves " what.
have we done for behoof of the toiling millions?"
It may be gratifying to them perhaps to observe
that a wonderful improvement has been made in
prisons i❑ Scotland, which, from having been
some of the worst, are now some of the best or-
dered of the empire; but can it be equally gra-
tifying to be convinced that as the condition of
felons has improved, the condition of the work-
ing classes has grown worse ? Under their aus-
pices gaols have become comfortable, and homes
desolate places. Vice is rewarded and honesty
suffers. The felon is well taken care of; the toil.
ing labourer starves. So pleasant is the account
which Mr. HILL gives of the order in gaols—of
the honesty which there grows up—of the at-
tachment which arises between a kindly
Governor and those who never before knew
what kindness was—that a feeling of regret
stole through our mind as we read it
that the whole society could not be placed
in gaols and under prison discipline. Such a feel-
ing convinced us, however, that there must be
something fundamentally wrong in society, when
gaol life appears better than freedom, and when
men, women, and children, must commit crimes
to improve their condition. It can be no satis-
faction, at least it ought not to be, to those who
have had the management of our affairs, to see
this terrible result of legislation, which since
1815, has been exclusively and assiduously di-
rected to our internal economy.

We rejoice to see that the farmers and land-

lords are recovering their spirits. At the dinner
of the East Sussex Agricultural Association at
Lewes on Friday last, Mr. DARBY consoled his
suffering and desponding constituents by such
language as the following:—

The fact was that an attempt was made to get up a
panic in the country ; and the attempt had succeeded.
If they looked at the newspaper reports, they should
take care not to be cheated by them. Let them. look at
the actual quantity of meat that was imported, and see
how long it would last for London consumption. Let
them also look to the differences in the prices, and then
look to the consumption of the country. Look to the
sales at Smithfield per week, and compare them with
the true quantity of meat imported, and ask them-
selves what effect the importation could have. "Don't,"
said Mr. Darby, " be cheated out of your beasts."
The chances, he thought, were that the importation
of cattle would not increase. The panic was got up
to enable dealers to buy cheap ; and he (Mr. D.)
wrote down from London that if the farmers sold
their beasts for a less price than what they were
worth independently of the tariff, they were doing
wrong. The number of beasts imported was 4,800
in the whole ; and this could not affect the prices to
the extent of the fall. With respect to the salt beef,
suppose it came in, it was quite as likely to affect the
price of Dutch butter and cheese as beef.—(Hear,
hear.) Till the cattle were imported in sufficient
quantities to affect the prices, what he said was—
" Don't, by your own acts, knock down the price for
your own stock." He did not want meat up so high
as last year ; because, whenever this took place, a re-
action was certain to follow. If the price did get up
to ss. a stone, and foreign meat came in, and brought
the price down to 4s. 6d., he did not object to the com-
petition.