The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-05-12 00:00:00

PRISON DISCIPLINE

Sir James Graham has forwarded copies of a code of prison
rules to Chairmen of Quarter Sessions, and to the Mayors of
Boroughs in which there are prisons. A circular from Sir
James accompanies these copies, from which document we
extract, as follows, the principle points :
I am convinced that it is highly desirable that immediate
measures should be taken to introduce consistency and the
utmost practicable uniformity into the regulations of the dif-
ferent prisons. Where the crime is the same, the punish-
ment, inflicted under the operation of the same law ought not
to vary either in its nature or degree. * * * *
I desire to call the special attention of the magistracy to
those rules which relate to the diet of prisoners. * *
It is by no means intended that the precise articles of food
specified in the dietaries should be strictly adhered to in the
table which you may adopt ; other kinds of food, containing
an equivalent amount of nutriment, may. with advantage, be
substituted, when those articles which have been named are
either difficult to be obtained in your neighbourhood, or are
considered not suited to the customs and habits of the pri-
soners ; * * * while due care should be exercised to
prevent any approach to luxurious living in a prison, the diet
ought on no account to be made an instrument of punish-
ment. * * * I have carefully revised the dietaries
now in use, and i have come to the conclusion-
1. That animal food should in all cases form part of the
diet of prisoners employed at hard labour. 2. That a consi-
derable portion of the food of every prisoner should be solid ;
and, 3. That there should be variety in the kinds of food
forming the diet, and that occasional changes are necessary.
The dietaries which I now offer for your adoption are
framed on these principles, and are upheld by medical
science, and by the recommendation of persons on whose
authority and knowledge reliance may be placed, but they
have been framed without reference to the local situation of
particular prisons, or to any peculiar circumstances which
may render an increase necessary ; they are, therefore, pro-
posed by me as the minimum amount which can safely be
afforded to prisoners without the risk of inflicting a punish-
ment not contemplated by the law, and which it is unjust and
cruel to inflict : namely, loss of health and strength through
the inadequacy of the food supplied. * * * * *
I consider it highly desirable, that in all cases every win-
dow of a prison and of each cell should be glazed. The ex-
posure of the prisoners during inclement seasons to the open
air is, and must be, attended with serious results to the
health ; and it is impossible that, with unglazed windows, the
uniformity of temperature can be maintained, which is one
of the surest safeguards against those diseases by which the
inmates of a prison arc most liable to be attacked, and which
to persons in their situation are of a most dangerous charac-
ter. Medical experience has shown that extremes of heat
and of cold, and defective circulation and supply of pure air,
are productive of the most prejudicial effects upon the health
of prisoners ; and that the temperature of a prison ought to
range from about 54 deg. to GO deg. Fahrenheit. I strongly
recommend, therefore, to the magistrates, that they should
take into their immediate consideration both the ventilation
and lighting of the prisons under their control, with the view
of introducing such improvements as may be practicable un-
der the peculiar circumstances of each prison ; the advice
and assistance of Major Jebb, a Government officer, will be
in all cases available, free of expense, to aid them in effecting
these improvements. My attention has been called to the
inadequate nature of the arrangements which are generally in
force for the purpose of providing prisoners, both adult and
juvenile, with religious and moral instruction; and I am of
opinion that in every prison, however small, a person really
qualified should be engaged to give elementary instruction to
each prisoner for a portion of every day ; and that in the
larger prisons one schoolmaster and one schoolmistress
should be appointed, and more than one where a greater
number may be requisite. 1 think it highly desirable that
every prison sbould be furnished with a certain number of
books of various kinds, calculated to improve the moral and
religious feelings of the prisoners; and that the books should
he selected by the visiting magistrates with the advice of the
chaplain. lam convinced that, for the due discharge of his
important duties, a room within the walls of the prison should
in all cases be appropriated to the use of the chaplain. As
regards the subordinate officers of a prison, the visiting jus-
tices are more peculiarly responsible for the discipline, order,
and state of the prison under their superintendance ; their
constant attendance at the prison gives them an intimate

FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 12, 1843

We have not as yet thought it prudent, or fair, to
hazard an opinion as to the step just taken by the
Governor-General of India, in the annexation of the
territories of the Ameers of Scinde to our Indian
empire ; and, even with the information brought by
the last India mail before us, we feel scarcely justified
in expressing ourselves decisively as to its policy. So
far, however, as we are able to form a judgment, that
policy partakes too much of an aggressive character,
on the part of the government of India, to merit the
approbation of the British people. It is not on light
grounds that we are willing to see our already exten-
sive Indian possessions permanently extended ; and
unless there have been grounds much more convincing
than any which we have as yet seen, to induce to the
step taken by Lord Ellenborough, we are afraid that
we must withhold from his lordship much of that
meed of praise, which the nation so freely accorded to
him, for his promptness in retracing the disastrous
steps of his predecessor in the struggle with Aff-
ghanistan.

It may be true that the treachery of the chieftains
of Scinde, manifested in the unprovoked attack upon a
British officer accredited to treat with them upon im-
portant international affairs, most fully justified the
punishment meted out to them by Sir Charles Napier
and his gallant army ; but surely, unless there were
some additional motives to actuate Lord Ellenborough
—some imperious and overruling necessity—there
ought to have existed a middle course—one which at
least stopped short of this otherwise unjustifiable
seizure of their country. We had treated with the
ameers, as independent sovereigns, for increased faci-
lities for the navigation of the Indus through their
territories. We were met by the jealous fears of the
people living under their rules; and what wonder?
When has the approach of the British power in India
to the confidence of any of the native powers been
succeeded by any other result than their speedy sub-
jugation to our yoke ? The subjects and the chieftains
of Scinde feared, and too justly feared, our approaches,
and true to the Indian character, sought to ward them
off by an act of treachery. But when we had punished
that act, and vindicated the supremacy of British arms,
by one of the noblest triumphs ever achieved even by
a British force, had we no resource left but the too
prompt decision that the territory of these offending
people was to be henceforth our own ? Was an op-
portunity ever offered them for expiation and submis-
sion ? We have heard of none such as yet ; and we
greatly fear that no more satisfactory vindication of
this act of national aggrandisement at the expense of
a fallen enemy can be offered than ha's existed for any
other of the splendid crimes which have contributed
to render our Indian empire at once a fertile source of
the national power, and a monument of the inex-
haustible rapacity of the British people.
It may be that the end of the aggression may he the
opening of vast markets to the enterprise of British
industry—and hence the eagerness with which we have
rushed to the commission of this crime against the law
of nations ! It may be that its result may be the pro-
gressive advancement in wealth and in civilisation of
the people themselves over whom we have extended
our sway. But similar arguments might have been
offered, and were offered, in vindication of that criminal
invasion of Affghanistan, which has been, by the per-
mission of an overruling Providence, so awfully avenged
in blood ; and we cannot with satisfaction contemplate
even the spread of civilisation and Christianity, (which
God will work out in his own time,) by means which
will not stand the test of a judgment by his laws. At
present we much fear that such are the means by
• which the territory of Scinde has been annexed to the
British empire in India.

The somewhat unsatisfactory result of the financia.
year has not by any means taken us by surprise, how-
ever greatly it may have excited our regrets. The
prostration of the resources of the country—the result
of ten years of Whig misrule--has been much more se-
rious than it was ever imagined to be ; and, instead of
at once putting forth its wonted elasticity, so soon as it
had thrown off the incubus which pressed it to the
earth, the national industry has been able only to re-
cover itself so slowly, that the effect produced upon the
revenue has scarcely as yet been perceptible. Had it
not been, indeed, for the very timely aid derived from
the large sum paid into the exchequer as duty upon
foreign corn, and the excess, over previous anticipa-
tions, of the amount derived from the income tax, we
might probably have had now to lament over as great
a deficiency as that which the administration of -
Robert Peel set itself to repair.
There is, however, in this result little to create
despondence as to our future financial prospects, and,
most assuredly, there is little over which "liberalism"
ought to chuckle overmuch. The national expendi-
ture,—thanks to that wise measure of the present mi-
nistry by which the industry of the country was re-
lieved of its too pressing burden of taxation, and the
load placed upou the national income,—is provided
for ; and with the brightening prospects which are
daily developing themselves we have no right to
, tain a fear, that in the course of another
year the orenter-
di-
nary sources of revenue will not be ample for
the wants
of government. If they have not been SO already, the
cause is very legibly traceable to the disabling influ-
ence of their past mal-administration. To those flip-
pant philosophers, who may he disposed to be merry
over what doubtless they will call a financial failure on
the part of Sir Robert Peel, we would recommend a
calm examination of the probable effect of such a
budget as was proposed, as the expiring effort of the
Melbourne administration, of which an income tax was
not a part ; and although the almost superhuman cox-
combry of Lord John Russell displayed itself, during
the debate on Monday evening, in an assertion that
that budget, if adopted, would have provided for the
government of the counlitr)y;ill'lithfilud
n a
few
wililnioenu sterling,
we we apprehend his lordship
hardy as himself to propound with a grave face an ab-
surdity so glaring.
That two or three instancteasxoufpfanilcuoraelsinistlaiefafiinluarne-,
as
finan-
cial scheme of last year, have
o displayed themselves we
are
w far fo
denying. The t
ait would be ; and, failure or no
eanticipated r
that
The tax on Ir
pears also to be a failure, as, indeed, will be any.
failure, we must continue
ish spirits ap-
to maintain its impolicy, and
to pray for its removal.