The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-31 00:00:00

PUBLIC MEETING.

ON Thursday last, a public meeting, called by his
worship the Mayor, in compliance with a respectably and
numerously signed requisition, was held in the Borough
Sessions-house, for the purpose of directing legislative
attention to the subject of juvenile delinquency. The
meeting, which was of a highly respectable character, was
presided over by the Mayor, and amongst the gentlemen
present were the Venerable Archdeacon Brooks, Mr. J.
A. Tinne, Mr. G. Holt, Mr. R. M. Beckwith, Rev. W.
F.Taylor, Mr. J. B. Aspinall, the Rev. Dr. Goss,
Romish bishop of Liverpool, Mr. John Yates, jun.,
Mr. C. Turner, Mr. D. Rowland, Rev. J. Martineau, Mr.
W. Romilly, Mr. Thomas Thornely, M.P., Mr. Joseph
Pollock, Mr. T. B. Horsfall, M.P., Mr. W. Rathbone,
Rev. T. Carter, chaplain to the borough gaol, Rev. Mr.
Appleton, Rev. H. Hampton, Mr. A. Hodgson, Rev. J.
Bishop, Rev. Dr. Raffles, Mr. William Earle, Mr. J. H.
Turner, Mr. John Cropper, Mr. T. Avison, Rev. J. Holmes,
Mr. R. E. Harvey, Mr. Thomas Bolton, Mr. J. Hubback,
Mr. T. Urquhart, &c., &c.

His WORSHIP, in explaining the object of the meeting,
remarked that no subject could be of more importance to
the community than that of juvenile delinquency, and
referred to the interest taken in it by legislators and
philanthropists.
Letters were then read from the Right. Hon. the Earl
of Derby, the Earl of Harrowby, Lord Stanley, and the
Hon. H. T. Liddell, M.P., apologising for unavoidable
absence from the meeting, and expressing sympathy in
its objects.
The Rev. Rector CAMPBELL moved the first resolution,
which was to the effect, that the large amount of ignorance
and vice existing in this country demanded the most
serious consideration of a Christian people ; that it was
productive of crime for which the system of prison discip-
line provided no adequate remedy ; and that additional
legislation for the subversion of the evil was imperatively
called for. With a view to point out the reality of the
evil of juvenile delinquency, he said that 12,508 boys and
girls were, it was estimated, punished for crime during
one year in this country ; and, reckoning that each of
these individuals had five or six satellites, there were
probably about 50,000 depraved and vicious young people
professionally living on the plunder of the public. The
remedy which it was proposed to adopt had been already
tried, and with marked success, in France ; where, in
consequence of the system of correctional detention, there
were only half as many commitments of offenders under
seventeen years as in England.
Mr. BROWN, M.P., seconded the resolution, remarking
that to commit juvenile offenders to prison was to commit
them to destruction. He hoped the question of reforma-
tories, which was of national importance, would also soon
be regarded as of national necessity. He should be happy
to lend his aid to any well-digested plan which might be
brought forward to meet the case.
The Rev. Mr. CARTER, Chaplain of the Borough Gaol,
said he had no misgiving as to the cause they all tad at
heart, and he felt bound to bear his testimony to the ex-
tent of the evil they all deplored. The extent of the evil was
painfully evident to all classes, without the aid of statistics
or Iblue-books, for our streets and newspapers told us
daily of the enormous number of ragged, destitute, and neg-
lected children who frequented our docks and public places
of amusement, with no means of obtaining a livelihood
except by robbery and other overt acts of professional
crime. The rev. gentleman then read some facts from
the ;reports issued by himself and the governor of the
Borough Gaol, relative to the number of juvenile commit-
ments in the town. Juvenile delinquency had, during
the last year, fortunately declined in Liverpool and Edin-
burgh, a fact due, he thought, to the establishment of
Ragged Schools. In Manchester it had rapidly increased,
but whether it was increasing or decreasing it was our
duty to do all in our power to repress it. With respect to
its repression, he felt assured, from his experience, that
the present prison system was totally inadequate to that
duty, and it was morally certain that some other means
must be tried. He gave a brief history of a lad nineteen
years of age, who, after about twenty commitments to
prison, wound up a series of crimes by murder. This
might, perhaps, have been prevented, if, instead of being
sent to prison over and over again, he had been arrested
in his career of crimes. Prison associations had also a bad
effect on a female—who cared little for prison restraints—
while her connexion with her fellow-prisoners also
strengthened her mind in crime. These facts proved that
we must have legislative interference. We certainly can
and do send children, conditionally pardoned, to Redhill,
in Surrey, and to Kingswood, near Bristol, where, with
two exceptions, all had done well ; but he thought it was
a great pity we should have to send so far. (Cheers.)
Still, children could not be sent to reformatories without
the will of the parents, and it would be advisable that in
such matters they should have no power of interference.
Mr. T. B. HonsrlLL, M.P., moved the second resolu-
tion, which affirmed the necessity for Reformatory Insti-
tutions, but advocated also the establishment of training
schools where the young who had not yet become criminals
might find that protection and instruction which would
be the means of preventing their resorting to crime. He
then proceeded to say, it was admitted on all hands that
prevention was better than cure, and the object they had
this day met to consider was, how prevention could be

' applied in the present instance. It was impossible, he
considered, to overrate the importance of this subject ; yet
it was one to which, until lately, comparatively little at-
tention had been paid. Last year, a committee of the
House of Commons had investigated this subject; and, in
their report, that committee pointed out the rigorous and
effective efforts made in France, Germany, and Belgium,
and the United States, for the suppression of juvenile
crime. Mr. Horsfall then read extracts from reports of
the Kirkdale gaol, and also from a pamphlet published by
the late Mr. Rushton, illustrative of the value of a refor-
matory system. He then proceeded—l may also mention
a little circumstance which came under my own observa-
tion. A boy, a very little boy, many years ago, was ac-
cused, and justly accused, of stealing a watch. It was my
duty, perhaps, sir, to have prosecuted that boy. I did not
think it right to do so, but gave him in charge of his
father, who was an honest man. That father took him
away from Liverpool, which was a stipulation that I
made ; and, sir, instead of hearing of that boy being in
prison in subsequent years, I had the satisfaction of seeing
him receive a prize in one of our public schools; and, sir,
he is at this moment a teacher of one of our national
schools in this county. (Cheers.) Now, sir, there are
other schools founded in all parts of the country, having,
in some measure, the same object ; and I know of none
which have been more effective than that which are
termed the Aberdeen schools. (Hear, hear.) The
managers of these schools felt some considerable diffi-
culty, until they got the co-operation of the magistrates
and the police. They did so get their co-operation with a
view not so much of punishing criminals, or dealing with
those who had been convicted, as of arresting our youths
at the very outset when they commenced their begging,
which is always the precedent to theft. And what was
the success of that ? Now, mark ! The success of the plan
in checking juvenile vagrancy and crime has been most
striking and satisfactory. An admirable plan has been
pointed out by Mr. Brown, with reference particularly to
the port of Liverpool—that of stationing a vessel in the
river, to which criminal children might be sent, with a
view of fitting them for sea. (Hear, hear.) I cannot con-
ceive any better thing than that an old man-of-war which
has done its duty to its country in one way should be
called upon to do duty in another way. (Cheers.) There
is no lion in the way. (Cheers.) The wise and prudent
conquer difficulties by attempting them. (Cheers.) The
slave of fear shivers and shrinks at the sight of danger.
(Cheers.) I will only add, that, with the blessing of God,
we shall succeed. (Loud and continued cheering.) •

Mr. MANSFIELD (stipendiary magistrate) seconded the
resolution, expressing his hearty concm-renee in the
opinions of the previous speakers. He cited cases which
had come under his own knowledge, where, owing to
the crime or the poverty of parents, there was a manifest
want of some institution where, against the will of the
parents, children might be placed, and receive those
cares and attentions which were denied them at home.
(Loud applause.)
The Rev. Mr. BIRBEIL spoke in support of the reso-
lution.

Mr. Joszfit PoLLoex (Judge of the County Court)
moved the next resolution in favour of the foundation and
support of Reformatory Institutionaphy the public funds, a
liberal encouragement being afforded to the Reformatory
Schools already established, or hereafter to be established,
by voluntary effort, and that all such institutions should
be under local management, and subject to government
inspection. During the course of an eloquent speech, the
judge contended that were not some check applied to the
sources of vice and crime, that, to use the words of a great-
orator, "we should be rotten before we were ripe." The.
reform of adult criminals was practically hopeless ; the
remedy must be applied to the young, and them only.
He, for one, was not inclined to credit the statement that
criminals were uneducated. They were educated and
trained, but unfortunately their education and training
were of a most malignant character. They had their
rewards and punishments ; their histories and traditions ;
their heroes and martyrs. Heroes whom they are taught
to look up to and emulate—whose successes they are
taught to sympathise in as objects of ambition—martyrs
not the less• because they have been made victims of laws
which they are trained to evade and contemn. Hence
their admiration of the triumphs of a. Dick Turpin and a
Jack Sheppard. He concluded by expressing his satisfac-
tion at beholding men of all denominations and creeds met
for the purpose of forwarding this great public object,
which was too essentially catholic to, be dealt with in a
spirit of sectarianism.
The Rev. Dr. M`NEILE seconded the. resolution, and in
doing so, said the chief object to which attention ought
now to be directed was the question of what was the
remedy for juvenile delinquency, and how the remedy was
to be applied. He alluded to the satisfactory provision in
the French criminal code, which, recognising the ignor-
ance and inexperience of the child, refuses to visit with
criminal punishment the infractions of the law, but pro-
vides for its reformatory education in an institution where
it will be removed from the operation of evil influences.
He proceeded to argue that the question was too import-
ant a one to be looked at in only one point of view. The
causes which lead to crime must also be considered and
combated. One of these causes he traced, with logical
sequence, and, in eloquent language, to the multiplicity of
gin-shops, and called on the magistrates and the well-dis-
posed members of society to aid in reducing their number.
But, continued he, there is another thing in connection
with this matter. In all these prison reports I find con-
nected, with juvenile delinquency what are called " aban-
doned women." The question of prostitutiondemands the
attention of the legislature and wise men. (Cheers.) But,
sir, the subject is not fairly dealt with. in one sense, be-
cause the fault is not all on one side. Let the real source
of the evil be fairly met and examined. You call these
" abandoned women." Ay, indeed, they are " abandoned.',
And by whom have they been abandoned? They have
been. " abandoned " by their more abandoned seducers ;
...osooneu oy gentlemen—nay, I cannot
call them gentlemen, though Limy
pearance, and property, and station in society of gentle-
men ; but they have not the conduct of gentlemen. (Ap-
• plause.) Men who will seize upon the fair flower, and
shake all that is lovely from it, and then, when their own
lust is sated, cast the weed away ! Oh, vile ! These are
the abandoned. These are like those winged serpents in
some of the tropical climates, infecting where they fly, and
poisoning where they repose. (Great cheering.) Yet
these men are still received into society—they are called
" gay gentlemen "—ladies receive- them, and introduce
them into society; and they are found in our drawing-
rooms. I charge prostitution on the heads of these aban-
doned seducers, who have cast away the girls they have
deflowered, and thrown them upon the streets to be the
tempters of the children who fill our gaols, tempting them
in these gin-shops, these penny theatres, these free con-
certs, these dens all over our town. (Cheers.) Are we,
then, to go to the legislature for relief for these evils alto-
gether ? No legislative interference can remedy this evil,
while society tolerates as she does—ay, and encourages
too—the men to whom I have made allusion. (Loud
cheers.) I don't know whether I speak in the presence of
such a man ; but if there be here a man who has seduced
a woman—who has traded on her as long as his fancy and
feelings and lust have prorapted.him, and has then, instead
of supporting her still, thrown her upon the streets to be
the tempter of children to commit crime—if I speak to
such a man, I say, against you, and not against the crimi-
nal in the dock, should the magistrate fmd a verdict of
guilty. (Cheers.) It is you, and not the poor victim,,
who should be sent to gaol ; it is you who should be
whipped, and not the child whom you were instrumental
in leading into mischief. (Cheers.) And, therefore, here,
as in all other cases, the real gist of the question will de-
pend upon ourselves ; and we must says if asked for reform,
instead of improving legislation, begin at home—aim, at
your ardent spirits and your prostitution. (Hear, bear.)
He then, in eloquent terms, adverted to the soothing and
winning effects of kindliness and love, in reclaiming
even the most dissolute and abandoned ; and again calling
for an expression of public feeling for reducing the num-
ber of gin-shops, and for reprobation of seducers, tile reve-
rend Doctor resumed his seat amidst loud and protracted

cheering.
Mr. JOHN CROPPER moved a resolution to- the effect
that, as a check to parental negligence, the whole, or a
portion, of the cost of the child's maintenance while under
reformatory discipline should be recoverable from the
parents. _ _ _

The Rev. Jixze MARTINEAU seconded the resolution,
The Rev. Dr. Goss, Romish Bishop (of Liverpool), sup-
ported the resolution.

Mr. W. RATIDIONE moved the adoption of a petition to
both Houses of Parliament in conformity with the resolu-
tions adopted by the meeting ; that to the House of Lords
to be entrusted for presentation to the Earl of Harrowby,
and that to the House of Commons to the members for
the borough.

Mr. HINItY ROMILLY seconded the resolution, which
was adopted unanimously ; and the proceedings closed
with a vote of thanks to the Mayor.

Hs wiro can suppress a moment's anger will prevent
lasting sorrow.

_
Tai GENERATION of men follow each other as the wave
in a swollen river.

Do NOT ANXIOUSLY hope for what has not come; do
not vainly regret what has already past.
TRUE MODESTY blushes for everything criminal ; false
modesty blushes for everything that is unfashionable.
Mn. MACAULAY once observed, that prize sheep were
only fit for candles, and prize essays to light them.
VAPOUR BATHS, it is said, are now being successfully
applied in Dublin to horses, for influenza, rheumatism,
rigors, &c.
A Buxom, who stood like a lamb to be robbed, near
Bristol,: had Bs. returned by the highwaymen, for his
" good behaviour."
As ANOMALY.—The recent marriage of Mr. Day and
Miss Field presents this singular anomaly, that although
he won the field, she gained the day.
As OLD LADY, looking at the curiosities in Barnum's
Museum, came to a couple of large sea dogs, and after
gazing at them with wonder, inquired of a wag who stood
near, "if they ever barked ?" " No, Madam," replied he,
"not now—their bark is on the sea.—American Courier.
SUET OR DRIPPING.---It seems that names may be
affected and even changed by the state of the weather.
The late Mr. Suett, the comic actor, ping once to dine
about twenty miles from London, and being able only to
get an outside place on the coach, arrived in such a be-
draggled state from an incessant rain, and so muffled-up
in great coats and handkerchiefs, that his friend inquired,
doubtingly, " Are you Suett ?" " No," replied the wag,
" I'm dripping."
STATISTICS OF DANCING.—A French arithmetician has
calculated that the space which a young Parisian belle,
the exercise of dancing, traverses in the gay salons of
Paris, amounts, in the course of one dancing season, to
434 - miles. He has also calculated that a French lady,
fond of performing the functions of a teetotmn, will spin
round in a waltz in one night as many times as the wheels
of a steam-boat revolve while running the distance be-
tween Dover and Calais.—Daily Paper.
A HUSBAND AND WlFE.—Grant Thorburn says of his
last wife, in a letter to a Philadelphia paper :—" My wife
is a comely lass of 40 summers. I succeeded in capturing
the prize only two weeks ago. My own age is 81, so that
my wife just meets me half way. She is two inches
taller, and five pounds heavier ; so I think, on reflection,
I have got the best of the bargain."
INCREASE AND MULTIPLY was the divine command,
and a woman, the wife of a street-sweeper in this town,
has strictly fulfilled the command, for in 21 years she has
had 21 children. On one occasion she produced her hus-
band two " pledges of affection." She is now in distress,
her" partner" being fonder of beer and idleness than at-
tending to tllc wants of his fau4ly,—Blaqhburn Standard,