The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-10-23 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

—mew—
By the recent death of Lind. General Hoyt Willington,
COlOllOl Commandant of the Rapti Artillery, there being
so officer seconded for further promotion in that regiment
senior to Lieut. General Ruthann, the latter Aker will
seceeed to that battalion, and the step carried dtrenibthe
regiment.
it is a fact not generally known, in alleges to the ti.
ported brevet, that the Captains of 1809 (however small the
promotion), must be included in the brevet for Majorities ;
as of that Rank of the standing of 1808 there are only
twenty five on full pay, and for the year 1800, lifty-four..—
Tbe above are independent of the Ordnance and Marines,l
which for both those years are forty-seven.
Withio the last two years, upwards of sixty Cadets have
passed and left the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich,
and are waiting their turns for commissions in the Ordnance
Corps. It now appears to be the intention of the Vaster
General to cortamisiuon 50 of them, and second theta is the
different corps.
Owing to the present disturbed state of some of the West
India Islands. the Commander of We troops there has
applied for an adJitional force, and she following regioneets
are ordered to proceed there : '
.13th
1404 Lieut. Colonel Foresteao, from Chathais • 276 do.,
Mot Colonel Heavy, from Gibraltar ; 234 do.. iLlest.
Colonel the Hon. Sir C. Gordon. from Mnllingar. Two
other regiments. it appears, have bees else ordered es
the same duty. but their names an not yet knewia

PENITENTIARY AT MILLBANY. •

Analysis of the Report of the Select Centaskteo of the Rodeo
of Commons,appointed to inquire into the prowl States, the
Penitentiary at Alilbsak :
The stories in circulation respecting the Penitestiery at
Mllllseak, originating 13 or 18 months ago, aol the elanniag
ilgptasslons produced upon the public mind by eireemstaaces
414alied from time to tune in the newspapers, led to the ap-
pointment of a Parliamentary Coma: tee, with Owen to le.
quire into the state of that prison, end to report 111 IM lines.
of Commons the evidence taken before them. The general la-
bours of the Committee have furnished 400 pages, and their re.
port, 14. They begin with a history of the menbliskomet,
which was planned so early as in an Aet of the 19th bee. 111.
passed for the edoptioe of a system of Pealteesincy
sonment, which shoe'd be calcuiated to reform °renders." In
June, 1810, a part of the building was opened for the (weepiest
of convicts. When visited lest year by the Committee, it ear
babied 860 prisoners; of whoa there were—males /We; fe-
males 303.

After a survey °film discipline and arraogemests pf the
institution, an inspection of every prisoner, and a strict and
repeated examination of every patient in the tbinnary. the
Committee pronounced, that the prison, on the whole, la
ably and successfully conducted. They state, that Wipers
fections in a system so perfectly novel ought to he allowed
for—thsr the conductors of the experiment bad much both
to learn and teach—that changes of persons and of prac-
tices had Ise en the consequenee of certain failures I. the
management ; but that all difficulties have been, or promise
to be soon, sur ttttt minted—that s eps are taking to ri ,
any known defect., and that employment is about to`
more usefully distributed among the 'Harmers, and OW.
else snore freely enjoyed.
The first specific improvement recommended by the Com-
mittee; is, that a number of books should be pladed at the
disposal of the Chaplain or other officer, in adaltnee ta t helm
which are now accessible to time prisoners, sad which are
exclusively those contained in the collection of the •Koriety
for prionoti $g Christian Knowledge. The Committee, re-
ferring to the stern and gloomy monotony of existence,
,mach the greater portion of which tbey pass in solitedtir
prescribed to the inmates of i penitentiaey prison, anal,
of whom are sentenced to indite i •' Oar ten year*,
and none for less than fire, wee*l to ' heti thy!l
the total stet of niettrat -reettaltel :;riiiady
vi
impair the intellectual faculties, but sensibly impede
the acquisition of a most desirable habit—viz. that
o' seeking enjoym nt in the exercise of the mind it-
self. The next °N.-et to which the Committee have
turned their attention is the expediency of improving
the 'peeks of labour is which the,frorlsime pornoneen,
are engaged. It appear* timmit the severai trades which are
taught, such as those of tailor, shoemaker, and weaver, are
n .1 so taught as to enable a prisoner, on leaving the heti- •
tentiary, to earn a sufficient livelihood, and thus to escape
the chalice of being driven again to dishonest practiees for
subsistence. Lint the principal subject of ibe report is the
sickness which has prevailed so long and so extensively at.
Milbank, and which produced in the course of a few
months such an extraordinary number of deaths. This cam*
plaint, which !woke out in the tonal of scurry, slid Out, it is
stated, arise from any local or natural insalubrity in the
prison, every part of which, after a close and suspicions
investigation, is said to be perfectly free Irons damp. Its
immediate neighbourhood is also represented as unaffected
by the slightest tendency to any disease resembling those
in the interior of the prison. 11 he former diet, which had
been established previously to July, 1822, was considered
by the medical attendants of the prison to have erred ou
the si :e of fulness. A change afterwards took place, and
when Drs. Koget and Latham visited the Peniten-
tiary in the coarse of last Febroary, more than one
half of the prisoners %ere afflicted by sickursa
and seeming', which is plainly ascribed by the
judgu:ent of the Committee to the want of sufficiesit nou-
rishment, in cons• cpierice of the new dietary system. Of
the women inure than two-Mirds were diseased- of the
men, rather less than one half:. of the women recently
confined, one half were afflicted—of the long resident
ISOUSeII fire awake : of time newly arrived men one third
were ill-of the old inhabitants, more than half. A
powerful evidence is dins afforded of the tendency of pro.
longed co •finement and depre .ion of spirits to dispose the
body towards di . The college of Physicians sent into
Government a report approving the medieal treatment
which hail been fol:o.vcd by Drs. Beget and bstliani, and
it is gratifying to learn that time disease had in July last
been considerably alleviated, and the patients much w-
hored. The Committee recommended in the most dis-
tinct terms that the prisoners should be allowed a full
prison dirt, and should be employed in active exercise fur
some portion of every day. Mr. Howard has remarked,
that "persons in prison require more food that§ those who
" are free"—to resist of course tbs influence of a depressed
mind in producing decay of body. The Committee, to-
wards the end of their report affirm, that the immense cost
of this establishment has not been incurred in vain (we
find that the sum voted by Parliament for the building has
been 4511,0001.), that the punishment time inflicted u re-
forms while it corrects," and that its proper application is
to that class of prisoners who are DOC yet utterly hardened
and reprobate, but whose characters are still open to re-
demption.
We observe that it is announced, that in consequence of
the punishment having been increased by the disease, his
Majesty has signified an intention of remitting a portion of
the terms of imprisonment accordiog to the following scale:
To those originally conffned for five years a remission of
oae year ; to those for seven years one year and a half; and
to those for ten years a remission of two years.
We have thus given an analysis of ibe preliminary
Report. The evidence on account of its length, requires
more time to investigate.

Wiwoson, Oct. .—The weather being fine this morn-
ing, his Majesty, with his ordinary attendants, took his
usual airing in the Park. Lord Olenlye°, who has been
on a visit to the King for some time, took leave of his
Memo yesterday.
A female infante:omM a week old, was last night left at
the doorof a medical gentleman, in &ovule-street ; the
arAiser has not bees discovered.