Star.
London, England, 1818-06-04 00:00:00

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE rose to bring for- I
ward his noticed motion on this subjett. He teh it
his duty to call the attention of the House to this
most important topic. From the voluminous infor-
mation upon the table, their Lordships would see,
that in the course of the last ten years the amount of
crime had increased to a proportion of nearly three-
fold ; and the commitments to the various prisons
and receptacles in nearly an equal proportion. It was
impossible any one who adequately thought or felt,
with respect to these most important considerations,
could suffer them to remain unnoticed either by the
Government or the Legislature. It was rational, in
one point of view, to infer that the variety and num-
ber of offence, would increase in proportion to the ia-
creased population and wealth of the country ; and
it necessarily followed, that it became necessary to
provide a greater number of places for the reception
of those culprits. From the official papers it ap-
peared, that no fewer than fourteen thousand persons
were annually consigned to these mansions of vice
and misery. He conjured their Lordships to reflect
upon the importance of a system which returned,
annually, many thousands into the mass of society ;
and how important the consideration was how these
persons were kept and employed during their incar-
ceration. The subject was one which had engaged
the most selious attention of the wisest and best men
of the age, particularly of that illustrious and bene-
volent man, Mr. Howard, who haj engaged, as Mr.
Burke finely expressed it. in a voyage of discovery, a
circumnavigation of charity in the endeavour to di-
minish the mass of human misery throughout the
world ! By an Act of the present reign, it was at-
tempted to improve and ameliorate the state of our
different places of confinement ; and among other
modes, several penitentiary asylums were erected,
particulary one in the city of Gloucester, under the
superintendence of that active and enlightened Ma-
' gistrate, Sir George Paul. At-the time of its erec-
tion
it was found much too large for the purpose ;
but now from the influx of culprits, it was too small
• properly to atcommodate its inmates. From the re-
, searches of Mr. Nield and of Mr. Buxton, much was
to be learned as to the actual state of our prisons.—
The principal one in the city of Bristol was unfortu-
nately in a disgraceful and deteriorated state. From
the production of Mr. Buxton the deplorable state of
one of the Compter prisons in the metropolis was to
be collected. That of the Bristol prison was, to his
own knowledge, most deplorable, particularly with
respect to the condemned criminals, who were so ill
provided for that two or three were often obliged to
lie in the same cell. Much, however, had been effec-
ted through the
thoseianthropic exertions of indivi-
duals, especiallyof Mrs. Fry, who in a short
time had wrought a change for the better, almost in-
credible ; and still more salutary improvements on
the same principle may still be effected, thus holding
forth prospectively better hopes with respect to the
state in which that unhappy portion of society should
in future be placed. The habits of industry which
had been partially introduced into some of the pri-
soas had produced some savings which were of no
small importance in a view of economy, and bid fair
eventually to reduce in a considerable propo: tion the