The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-01-14 00:00:00

TO EDWARD RUSHTON, ESQ,i,

well-known readiness to listen to any plan for
ameliorating. the condition of the lower orders in Liverpool,
and the especial interest you have latterly expressed on behalf
of juvenile criminals, embolden me to address you at the
present time. Among the subjects which now seem to be oc-
cupying the minds of the thinking and philanthropic portion
of mankind, the question of how juvenile delinquency may be
checked is,one of the most prominent. It was with heartfelt
satisfaction:that I perused your own excellent letter, and that
of the Itev. Mr. Carter, proposing a plan for the establishment
of a juvenile reformatory. Such an institution-would indeed
be most valuable; and I noticed, with deep. regret, that the
carrying of it into effect had been delayed by a counter motion
in the Town Council. But, sir, when I fully enter into, and
appreciate the plan proposed for the reformation of those who
have unfortunately stood as criminals at the bar, allow me to
remark that' Liverpool has also a duty, and an important one,
in reference to those children who, as yet, are not /mown to be
thieves. Prevention is, in every case, better than-cure. How-
ever we may praise the skilful adaptation of the life-boat to
the purpose for which it is intended; however thankful we
may be that it saves one here and another thereof the poor
creatures who are clinging half drowned to the wreck of their
sinking vessel; and however we may rejoice over one life
saved ; if, by the erection of a lighthouse, or the floating of a
buoy over the sunken rocks, we can probably prevent many
shipwrecks, surely we are called upon at once to make the
effort.
Your admirable letter before alluded to does-not advert to
the causes of the distressing amount of juvenile depravity
which you so humanely desire to reform; it does not touch
upon the "raw material," so to speak, from which the supply
for our gaols and police-courts are derived. There are num-
bers of children in Liverpool who wander about the streets
without any really.legitimate means of obtaining a livelihood
many of them without any shelter worthy of being called a
home; others sent out by parents whose poverty or depravity
prevents their providing for them, to pick up a living how and
where they can, sometimes under the pretence of selling trifling
articles, at others to beg, and in some instances, alas to steal.
It is proverbial that hunger will break through stone walls ;
and children turned out to seek their own subsistence must, in
some form or other, live upon the public. Idleness, it is well
known, is the prolific parent of all other evils : unless the
mind and the hands be pre-occupied with good, as certainly
as a stone falls to the ground, they will soon be filled with evil. I
Well would it be if the Government-provided schools for all, I
and made attendance at these schools compulsory as regards
all children-of a certain age. Many think that using coercion
to compel parents to send their children to school would be a
plan inconsistent with the genius of the British constitution,
and be interfering too much with the liberty of the subject.
To my mind this objection does not appear valid ;: the law steps
in to prevent depraved parents from injuring the bodies of
their children; it can, and does, punish them for such injury
when inflicted; why, then, should the same law not interfere
to prevent their inflicting evils almost irreparable upon the
minds of their children—evils which, moreover, cannot be
confined to the first recipient, but are necessarily contagious
in their very nature, and tend to. spread a moral pestilence
abroad?• This, however, is a digression from my present sub-
ject. While conflicting parties are disputing about various
schemes for rational education, nothing is done; the question
has been debated year after year, and there it rests. In the
meantime, the tide of population.sweeps on—every succeeding
year sees our gaols tiled to over-flowing ; vessel atter vessel is
despatched loaded with convicts,, and others take tneir places
with a regularity that does indeed remind one of the waves
one after another breaking on the shore. While statesmen are
debating, and theorists are propounding their different plans,
the great fact is staring us full in the face that there is at
present a considerable portion. of our juvenile population who
are utterly ignorant, utterly destitute, and who starve or steal.
What, then, is the best remedy—l mean the best within our
reach—for this deplorable, and; I may add, disgraceful, state
of things ? Of course, in the present state of the law, we have
and
(1)(tro esruptopoirntttegemre
andwi who
00yseet cahrieldtrr whoses,es parents can
or too ignorant to seek the blessings of education for their
offspring. Still, there is no question but that the great supply
of juvenile criminals is drawn from the very lowest class, who
properly come under the denomination of vagrants. With
these we have to do ; and I reply, without hesitation, that in-
dustrial (ragged) schools are the remedy precisely adapted to
their cases.
Aberdeen has a just claim to the credit of being first to esta-
blish such schools. In that city, under the guidance of the
good and indefatigable Sheriff Watson, a boys' industrial
school was opened on the Ist of October, 1841. The first report
states that the school was opened by way of experiment, for
the children of the poorest classes, and chiefly for those who
were found to infest the streets, begging and stealing. The
experiment continued during the years 1842, 1843, and 1844.
Although the efficiency of the system had at this time been
fully demonstrated, it was found that the root of the evil was
not practically reached. A pamphlet, recently published by
Sheriff Watson, fully explains the position of matters, and the
course subsequently pursued. He writes:—
" At this time, (1844,) however, though boasting of the effi-
ciency of the industrial school system, we felt that, as then
carried on, it was really delusive and unsubstantial. The
children were admitted on the application of parents, or others
interested in them. They were at liberty to come and go as
they pleased : there were no means of vcuring their regular
attendance but the attractions of food and school training,
which were sufficiently powerful to draw together a considera-
ble number; but the vicious, the worthless, and the deter-
mined beggar despised our invitations, and begged, and stole,
and idled, in spite of all our endeavours to prevent them.
" In these circumstances we resolved, if possible, to discover
a plan for destroying the evil genius that haunted us. We had
acquired a sort of reputation as the promoters of industrial
schools; and, while we were denied the means of extending
them to the measure of our original conception, we were
taunted with sanctioning a fallacy in maintaining that indus-
trial schools could eradicate juvenile vagrancy, when scores of
juvenile vagrants were every day staring us in the face, and
treating us with mockery and insult. Confident in the sound-
ness of the principle, and relying on the support of the public,
we at last proposed to the magistrates to authorise the police
to apprehend all begging children within the city, and convey
them to school. The magistrates gave their concurrence on
our responsibility for the legality of the proceeding. There
was a law for apprehending beggars and carrying them before
a magistrate, but there was none for seizing children and con-
veying them to school ; but we thought the charitable end
justified the questionable means, and gave the necessary in-
structions to the police, which, after all, amounted only to a
pressing invitation to dinner and spend the day. We had pre-
viously obtained the temporary use of the Soup Kitchen; and
the police, on the forenoon of the 15th May, 1845, filled with
75 children (boys and girls), caught in the act of begging:
and, in a few hours, juvenile vagrancy was finally extinguished
in Aberdeen, and has never raised its head again. Here, then, we
desire to take our stand, and request that, from this date, the
industrial school system may be viewed as a means for pre-
venting juvenile vagrancy and juvenile crime. To look at
it at an earlier period would be doing it injustice, when the
principle, though experimented on, was only half carried out •,
but, at this time, it was bronght into full operation, and all
the results that were predicted were fully accomplished.
From this date, juvenile vagrancy, in town and country, may
be said to have ceased, and juvenile delinquency greatly
diminished. This will be shown by the following tables,
which exhibit the number of juvenile vagrants apprehended
by the rural police during four years prior to 1845, and the
four years subsequent to that date:-
1841 328 I 1846 l4
1842
1813 397 1848 6
1844 345 1849 1
1845 lO5
And the number of juvenile delinquents, under 12 years, com-
mitted to prison during the same period :-
1841
1842 22 1847.. ..... 27
1843 53 1848 l9
1844 .. 41 I 1849 l6
1845 49
These figures require no comment. They demonstrate that
some agency has been at work to diminish juvenile vagrancy
and delinquency since 1845, which had not been in perfect ope-
ration before ; and if any should ask what that agency was, we
would answer, in the words of the County Prison Board,—the
Rural Police Committee, and the Governor of the Aberdeen
prisons. The County Prison Board, in their report on juve-
nile delinquency, Nov. 1848, after mentioning the consequences
of early neglect, and the practicability and efficiency of the
industrial schools, say, We would therefore recommend the
establishment of such schools, and their support at the public
expense.'
" The Rural Police Committee, in their report for the year
ending 1846, say that the most gratifying part of the results of
the last year's experience, consists in the almost complete dis-
appearance of juvenile vagrants from the county. During the
whole year only fourteen cases of juvenile vagrancy had oc-
curred. The committee think they can attribute the remarka-
ble change principally to these causes—' By the activity of
your police, the system of sending out children to beg has
ceased to be profitable, and has therefore been abandoned : and
further, by the establishment of the admirable Schools of In-
dustry in Aberdeen, food and education having been provided
for this unfoi tunate class of our people, and thus even the sha-
dow of an excuse has been taken away for sending out children
to procure subsistence by begging. Your committee desire to
draw particular attention to this subject, feeling it to be of the
highest importance, because juvenile vagrancy is, they are per-
suaded the nursery whence a large proportion both of the
crime and the pauperism of after years is furnished. Doubt-
less the Schools of Industry more immediately benefit the city
of Aberdeen ; but as it was from Aberdeen that most of the ju-
venile vagrants in the county issued, so now the county also is
sharing largely in the benefits of these institutions.'
" Th Governor of the Prisons, in his report for the year
1848, says, ' We have the number of criminals under twelve
years of age, reduced, in the course of six years, from 1843 to
1848 inclusive, from fifty-three to nineteen ; and if any one
deems it necessary to ask what has produced such a change, I
would just say, go to the Industrial Schools, and you will get
a satisfactory answer imprinted on the ]sappy faces of the hun-
dreds of children who arethere receiving a moral, religious,and
industrial education, and who, but for these schools, would
have been training to be occupants of the prison cells, and pests
of society.'" _ . __ _

At Glasgow similar schools were opened in 1847. Although
I have no statistics whereby to shew that the same diminution
in juvenile vagrancy and juvenile crime has taken place there,
yet, by a note I received a few days back from Mr. Perry, the
Secretary of the Industrial Schools, I learn that a begging
child is now rarely to be found in the streets of Glasgow. He
writes thus— . .

" It you try energetically to put a stop to juvenile vagrancy
at Liverpool, you will find it more easily accomplished than
yon would at first suppose. When once put down, it is easily
kept down, for very few will attempt to beg when they know
the practice will not be allowed. We had some trouble with a
few of the incorrigibles, or rather with their parents, who had
been in the habit of appropriating the alms given to their chil-
dren ; but even these were brought under by a summary pro-
cess. We had them brought before the sitting magistrate,
who, after reprimanding them for neglecting their offspring,
gave them to understand that if the children were again found
begging, they (the parents) would be committed to bridewell.
This threat was no sooner carried into execution in one or two
cases, than it got wind among the whole fraternity, and the
effect has been that a begging child is now rarely seen in our
rstreets. I am convinced that the number of juvenile vagrants
in every city is greatly over estimated. Some people thought
there were 1000 in Glasgow, some 2000 ; whereas we never had
350 in our schools at any one time; and we never refused ad-
mittance to any case which we deemed a fit one for the institu-
tion. At present our numbers are very little over 20)."
Now, sir, I contend that what has been done in Aberdeen
and Glasgow may be done in Liverpool. You are probably
aware that on the same plan as the schools in Scotland were
first opened, a school was commenced in Soho-street on the
Ist of March, 1849. Of course, in such a community as that
of Liverpool, the working of one school, during the short period
of less than two years, although it has produced many instances
of individual improvement and reformation, cannot be expect-
ed to have yet had any perceptible influence over the juvenile
population at large. The pressure of the same state of things
as that described by Sheriff Watson as having existed at Aber-
deen in 1844, is now felt here. Notwithstanding the efficiency
of the Soho-street school, and the proved soundness of the
principle involved, hordes of begging children still continue to
wander about our streets.
At this point, I wish you clearly to distinguish in your own
mind between the Industrial Ragged School and the Evening
Ragged Schools. In the latter, there cannot be a doubt great
good is done to those children who have some honest, though
humble, occupation during the day, and attend the school
eally to learn ; but it is quite self-evident that these schools,
which are only opened for a few bouts in the course of the
week, however useful they may be in their own particular
sphere, can never be made the direct means of putting a stop
to juvenile vagrancy.
The Industrial School, in Soho-street, meets the case of the
most destitute, and takes away a child's excuse for either beg
ging or stealing, by giving him food. That food forms, in the
first instance, a strong inducement for him to. attend the
schools regularly ; and when he does this, the. task is compa-
ratively easy. Instruction in the elemeuts of reading, writing,
&c., only forms part a the plan.. religion,, morality, wad

cleanliness are all inculcated,. and thus habits of order and
industry are gradually formed. But, sir, the principle on
which I most rely for succesikand which is so well adapted to
the class of children-we seek to benefit, is that of constant, but
diversified, occupation; and-by making them diligent, we make
them honest. The mornings-areorcupied by the usual lessons,
&c. ; the whole of the afternoons, and sometimes a portion of
the evenings, are devoted to industrial training, and that, too,
or a profitable nature.- At present, the eighty boys, which is
about the average attendance, independent of making clogs for
themselves and making. and mending their own clothes, earn
upwards of £2 Ins:-per week;- and so full of work is the
school, that I might 'venture to say employment could be
fonnd for two hundred in place-of eighty. In the girls' school
there are about forty children. As this school has been but
lately opened, they ;lave as-yet done but little work, with the
exception of making shirts for the boys and clothing for them-
selves. But for these, too, I anticipate no difficulty in finding.
employment. The principal occupation is that of making and
printing paper bags for bakers, grocers, chemists, &c., and
sorting bristles for the brushmakers—work which, I believe,
interferes with no poorman'k bread.
Sleeping accommodation is afforded to a few of the children
who have literally no shelter, or whose parents are of such a
totally depraved character that they cannot be trusted at home
at night. I may here remark, that however fortunate we may
be in obtaining work, the school can never be, in the nature of
things, entirely self-supporting. Still, a very important prin-
ciple is involved in the tact of the-children earning something.
The object of the school is not to pauperise and teach the chil-
dren to live contentedlyon charity. On the contrary, we en-
deavour to impress upon them that they are doing all they can
to earn their own living—thus-elevating their moral tone, and
pointing out that what they enjoy is, in a certain sense, the
reward of their own exertions: AS a proof that the system is
a sound one, I may mention that many boys who have been in
the school, and thus earned a character, have obtained situa-
tions in the town, and are conducting themselves with great
satisfaction to their employers; indeed, we have no difficulty
in finding places for all who conduct themselves well while in
the school.

With such machinery as I have described already at work, 1
confidently make my.appeal to you for aid, in order that the
advantages of the system may be fully developed. I presume
that what the law allows-to be done at Aberdeen and Glasgow,
may also be done here. Let the police have orders to convey
all begging children to. the Soho-street Industrial Schools.
There their cases will be inquired into and disposed of. Atter
this, let the parents Wilo persist in sending out their children
to beg, be punished. If the law will not permit punishment, a
strong reprimand may, with some,. have the like effect. Why
should not success, such-as that which has attended similar ef-
forts at Aberdeen and Glasgow, follow in Liverpool ?
. •

C 7
You may probably ask, where are the funds to be obtained
for the support of the schools, particularly if their numbers are
to be suddenly augmented by these means ? For my answer I
refer to the note from Glasgow, before alluded to. The secre-
tary says, " We are very well off in point of funds. The public
have seen the benefit conferred by the schools, and willingly
come forward to support them." My trust, therefore, is, that
Liverpool will not be behind Glasgow. The cause should really
commend itself to every man's mind and conscience. Such
schools do an immense amount of good, in a moral point of
view, to a class hitherto sadly neglected; but, independent of
this, the fact is, they will, in the end, be found extremely eco-
nomical. These children live upon the community, and it is
very much cheaper to feed and educate them in such an esta-
blishment than to allow them to maintain themselves by beg-
ging, or by plunder, until they are found out. Then follow
the expenses of prosecution, of their support in prison, and in
some cases of transportation, after repeated convictions.—
Yours, &c., JOSEPH HUBBACK,
Honorary Secretary Liverpool Industrial
(Ragged) Schools.
13, Brunswick-buildings, 31st December, 1850.

THE COLUMN OF
kritilre anti 31113rttrulture.

The conversazione of the Chemist's Association, which
is to be held at the Royal Institution, on Friday next,
which must be pleasing to the well-wishers of this import-
ant society. It is not generally known that a most bene-
ficial, and to the public at large, a most valuable reform
is being worked out by these Association of Chemists, in
various large towns. No class of men have bad more
serious interests entrusted to them, and who have, until
lately, thought less of their duties than chemists and
druggists.. Medical talent has received the most liberal
patronage and the most fostering care ; it has, conse-
quently, attained an eminence in this country which the
talents of its members fully entitle it to ; but vain is the
chirurgeone' and the physicians' skill, and useless the
carefully written prescription, if the dispensing chemist is
either ignorant or careless. Could the sacrifice of human
life from thiscausealone be correctly estimated, we believe
it would both startle and horrify. Men lose their lives under
the care of a clever physician—their diseases baffle his
skill. How often does this arise from his reliance upon
the quality of certain drugs which are supplied by another
party vho has valued the articles by their cheapness rather
than their goodness ? for, in nothing has that odious
spirit of cheapness committed more mischief than in the
drug market. Nothing is of more importance to the
medical man than the vegetable portion of the Materia
Medics. Yet, in what state has it been found amongst
the druggists ? Vegetable powders, dependant upon their
freshness, for those powerful qualities upon which the
physician relies, have been kept for years, and, when used,
have had no quality but that of fustiness ; and even their
colour faded away, seeds and roots worm-eaten, and
other matters in a similar condition. The cause of all
this has been the not recognising the true position of the
dispensing druggist ; and the fault has been as much on
the part of the individuals themselves as on that of the
public. The chemists and druggists, as a body, have now
begun to discard that apathy which has hitherto been their
disgrace, sinking them into the mere vendors, instead of
their proper character, compounders of medicines. They
have drawn together in bodies, composed of all those who
have sufficient intelligence to appreciate their position and
duties ; and those bodies have for their object the advance-
ment of their mental improvement and the progress of
Pharamceutical Science.

The Liverpool Chemists' Association has been particu-
larly fortunate; they have been permitted by that most
liberal of all our local bodies, the Council of the Philoso-
phical Society, to use the lecture-rooms and museum of
the Royal Institution, and also to have the use of an ex.
cellent and commodious laboratory in that building. The
Gardens Committee of the Town Council have also given
a plot of ground in the Botanic Gardens for the culture of
medical plants only, expressly for the use of the pharma-
ceutical and medical students. _

These are no mean advantages, and we hope they will
be fully appreciated. Mr. Edwards, the able and energe-
tic secretary of the society, has laboured hard to develope
the association, and his success has been most ample.
We believe this Conversazione is the first which has
been held by the Liverpool chemists, and we hope it will
be as successful as that held by the Birkenhead Society.
We are sure it cannot fail to be interesting. Several lec-
tures, and short discourses are to be given on various
scientific subjects.
The beautiful museum:will be thrown open ; added to
which music and refreshments will add their cheering in-
fluences to make the evening a pleasure worthy of enjoy-
ment.

PROFESSOR ANSTED AND HIS WORKS

The recent visits of this gentleman to our town, and
the delightful series of lectures which he delivered at the
Collegiate and Mechanics' Institutions, offer a good op-
portunity of saying something of his professional charac-
ter, and also of his works, for we are sure they cannot be
too well known. As a man of science, he is peculiarly one
of the present age: alive to all the emergencies of the
times, and keeping pace untiringly with the rapid strides
of modern research and discovery : never despising trifles,
or sparing trouble in surmounting difficulties. Above all,
he is the philosopher and man of business combined, and
in all his writings is purely practical. His best known
work is his " Geology," in two volumes, of which it was
truly said, in Jamieson's new Edinburgh Philosophical
Journal, that " it affords the best view of English Geology
hitherto produced." This work is now getting scarce,
being nearly out of print. Next to this, is his " Elemen-
tary Course of Geology, Mineralogy, and Physical Geo-
logy," which we have no hesitation in saying is the most
useful manual ever offered to a scientific student. We
know of no work in any department of science which is so
completely the pith and substance of what is sought by
the learner, and at the same time it is a work which the
most practised geologist or mineralogist would make his
pocket companion when following his favourite pursuits ;
and we can say of the mineralogical portion, that it is the
first ever written upon the subject which will not frighten
the beginner. We must next mention his " Ancient
World," which—thanks to the good taste of his publisher,
Mr. Van Vaorst—is worthy of mention both for its con-
tents, and the elegant style in which it is got up ; its an-
tique wooden binding harmonising so completely with
primaeval history written in its pages. The "Ancient
World" is a history of the fossil remains which the last
century has brought to light, laying before the reader at
a glance all that has been satisfactorily determined re-
specting those relics which are regarded with wonder and
interest. The fascination of the subject has been much
increased by the pleasing style of the author, and feeling
of security derived from the absence of all theoretical
matter and the author having confined himself to the re-
cord of established facts. The last of Professor Ansted's
works which we shall mention is the " Gold Seeker's
Manual." It is a perfect history of the precious metal, its
native localities, its various mineralogical characters, and
combinations : the various methods of collecting, reducing,
and assaying it ; and even its uses as a circulating medium
are all amply and ably treated. It may be called Califor-
nia's best friend.

LIVERPOOL INFIRMARY.-ANNUAL MEETING.

The annual meeting of the friends and supporters of the
Liverpool Infirmary took place in the board-room at the
Infirmary yesterday morning. The Rev. J. B. Moule
was called to the chair. After the usual preliminaries,,_
ArrisEn Noire; Esq., read the following particulars re-
lative to the operations of the Infirmary, LunaticAsyluw,
and Lock Hospital, during the past year :

INFIRMARY.
Patients admitted and discharged, from January Ist, 1850,
t3:January•.lst, 1851
the house, Ist January, 1850,
Admitted during the- year,

Discharged

Cared
Relieved, and at own request
Made out:patients
Removed
Died
Patients- in the house,

Tat January, 18-51
LUNATIC ASYLUM.
Patients admitted and, discharged, from Ist January, 1850,
to Tat January, 1851 :
Patients -in the house, Ist January, 1350 7O
Admitted from Ist January, 1850, to Ist January, 1851 32

137-2,443

Cured
Friends'-request, returned
Not improved
Removed to county asylum and settlement
Died