The Statesman.
London, England, 1824-01-26 00:00:00

THE TREAD-MILL.

The system of discipline on the tread-wheel, in the Surrey
Houses of Correction, haring, in consequence of the violent
attacks made upon it from various quarters, excited great at-
tention, and no detailed statement of facts haviug as yet ap-
peared to controvert the charges made against that system, we
have obtained the following correct copy of the Report of the
Guilford Visiting Magistrates :
The Report of the Visiting Magistrates of the House of Correc-
tion at Guilford, to the Court of General Quarter Sessions,
held at Newington, on Tuesday, January )3, 1824,
Sets forth the uniform state of cleanliness of the prison ;
the high state of cultivation of the garden for the use of the
prisoners; the good conduct of the. Governor and ()dicers in
enforcing the regulations fur the discipline and management
of the establishmeut; the orderly couduct of the prisoners at
chapel—approves the conduct of the temporary matron, and
recommends the Court to appoint her permanently; states
that they hire examined the bills for bread, meat, coals, and
incidental charges incurred in the quarter, together with the
Governor's and Secretary's kills, for salaries, and approved
and certified the same, and add as follows :—lt cannot hare
escaped the attention of the Members of the Court, that inces-
sant efforts have been made, and are stall making, to prejudice
the public mind against the modern system of punishing cri-
minals by labour on the tread-wheel ; that, in addition to and
in support of the general clninour excited against the applica-
tion of that system of punishnsent to females, a strong and
pathetic appeal has been made lately to the sympathies of the
British public, against the practice of subjecting women with
infanta at their breasts to this discipline ; and two cases of
alleged cruelty hare been held up to public execration, in
which the conduct of the Magistrates of the Bench at Guil-
ford, and of the Visiting Magistrates of this House, has been
reprobated, and the higher authorities called upon to inter-
pose and liberate the sufferers from torture, and distniss the
committing Magistrates from the future exercise of their func-
tions; and a strong call has been made upon the surgeon at-
tached to this establishment, to give, through the medium of
the public press, explanatory particulars relative to the cases
alluded to. Your Committee have nut felt themselves amen-
able to calls made upon them through such channels—and
having disapproved of former communications made by Mr.
Jackson to the editor of a public print, have felt it their duty
peremptorily to restrict hint in this and all future cases,
from making any reply to calls of this nature, except (rout
the Secretary of State, the Houses of Parliament, or this
Court, unless by, the special authority of the visiting ma-
sistratcs for She time being. They nevertheless have *felt it
their duty to inform themselves of the facts of the case al-
luded to ; and, for the guidance of their own future conduct
in this respect, to examine Mr. Jackson, not only as to these
particular cases, but to require his opinion as to the effects
likely to result from the infliction of labour on the wheel
upon women similarly circumstanced ; and, lest the minds
of any members of the Court should bare been influenced
by the high-coloured inflammatory misrepresentations thus
exhibited to the public, or that the Court should think it
right to correct the false impressions the statements made in
these 'prints are calculated (and as it appears have for their ob-
ject) to make upon the public mind, to the prejudice of this
most efficient system of corrective punishment, they have pre-
pared and are ready to exhibit, if it shall lie the pleasure of
the Court to call for it, a Supplementary Report on the two
cases, together with the opinion of the surgeon especially as
to them, and generally as to the application of work on the
wheel to women stickling infants. On their own behalf, how-
ever, they feel it due to themselves, and do not hesitate to de-
clare, that the result of their inquiry has perfectly satisfied
their own minds, that what has been done in the commitment
and punishment of these women has not only been in strict
conformity to the direcions of the statute, but has violated
no feeling of humanity, by which they are sensible it is their
duty, as it is their inclination, to regulate their conduct in the
execution of that statate ; and so fully are they satisfied in
this point, that, until an alteration shall be u i made n the law to
restrict them from so doing, they will continue to execute its
provisions In all cases where (as they think of the present
cases) nothing in the actual state of health or strength of the
offenders would warrant the exercise of their discretion in
mitigation of the severity they enjoin.
(Signed) GEO. WALTON ONSLOW, 1 Visiting
H. DRUMMOND, I Magistrates.

On Tuesday last, a bittern. in perfect feather, was shot by a
grinder of the name of ttroadht ad, between %litubliouses and
Tetley. When erect, it measures. fro n the crown of the h-ad
to the claw+, two fret right inches ; 1 le item which is neon-
tifully reff•-d, of a pale )ellow. forms one halt of its stature;
the legs are of a light green hue; the colour of the busty is a
mottled brown ; the cap of the heed approaches to Mick.--
Toe beak is long and pointed, and the eye yelinw mid promi-
nent. The toil is xtubhed. It is now in the ['obsession of Mr.
Spooner, in Pinstone lane. —(Skeffeld Iris.)
lingponT °Utter IT4RT, rig Courr.—At
seven n'clu4k last eren•ne the comet iess observed in the
tell of the eonstelLtion Itraco. 2ti dritre-s 15 min. from,
and under the North Pole of the 11-avens; it is therefore
heroine a circumpolar object of amniralun. as it does not
set. Its nuclear is much better defined through ago HI
achromatic telescope than heretofore; and it appears rotod
to the naked eye, and as large as a star of the first magni-
tude. 'I lie train, or tail. was about six degrees. long, and
the coma surrounding the nucleus close and tkick, as far-
wetly described. Its right ascension list night was 217
deg. 26 min. and its declination 63 deg. 43 'nit. Not th• It
has advanced through the heavens 424 deg. since the 10:1)
instant, that is at the astonishing rate of 3 deg. 2 min. b
see. every 24 hours, or 7 minutes and 35 seconds of a de-
gree per hour; so that by observing its position for a
few hours, its motion is perceptible. This is, certainly,
a very great velocity. wben it is properly considered in
its own orbit. The speed of this comet outstrips all that
have been observed here for many years past, not except-
ing the brilliant one in the autumn of 1811. Its present
distance from the sun is one hundred and ten degrees,
yet it becomes more conspicuous and better defined in
its head; and as it is now within the circle of perpetual
, apparation, at least in this latitude, it may, therefore, be
seen soon after sunset, and throughout the night- It is
now between Ursa Minor and the last star in th•
tail of Ursa Major, and about sixteen degrees westward
of that star:. As the brilliancy of the .comet increases,
ona its position is so moil) altered, we may expect tnor
favourable opportunities of seeing' It. At the end of the
`month it will be in or near the `last Mgr in Ole tail of
Mato, spd about 21 degree 4 from Polaris,
t -

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