Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1859-10-22

BAD ARRANGEMENTS IL OUR CRIMINAL CouRTs.
If all who have to attend criminal courts
were criminals, hardened TO shame and corrup-
ton, worthless to shield from physical suffering
and injury the arrangements in those courts
would he merely cruel but as criminals ARE
only Il small fraction of the number, the au-
thorties are responsible iormixing up the most
Innocent with the most dcpraved, and for tor
turing the guiltlcss. incur the grnyesi ccnsurc.
To take the principle alone, look ut the Grim
inal Court. II is filled daily Those whom the
law or the need OF redress oblges to fill il are
not classified according to their condition, but
according 10 the arbitrary distinction Of II
court into prisoners, judges, barristers. jury,
witnesses, and '.public;' they are separated
merely into pcnfolls. The unyentilated atmos-
phcre is ietd with vicious squalor. The pros
ecutors and witnesses have no proper place of
retreat, hut must sit in court, or wait in the
Hobbies Thus the refined and the brutal, the
innocent and the dcpraycd, are huddlcd to-
gether; decent matrons are squeezed between
policemen and ragnmuins; modest girls are
jostlcd by the boon companions Of the priso-
ner, indccently staggering in to speak 10
character II is filthy. So long rs you may
he wanted" you must sit in court and hear
all that goes on, however tedious, however dis
gushing, however improper for many ears
around The very arguments of counsel on
the revolving cases with which the court is ia
miliar delile the ears The bodily fatigue incl
dental TO attendance in the Central Criminal
Court is no small evil; but physical suffering
can be endured; it is the sight Of the nnstrick-
EN- cOuntenancc of the youth amid the base
and the brutal, in an atmosphere of vice and
disease, within hearing of nllusions so Vile as
to be sometimes harmless because unintcllgi-
BILE, but too often carefully made Ineligible
lit is the sight of innocence forced by the
majesty of the law" into hilrnus contact with
lepravity that's intocrablc
necessarily are complaints made of these
evils; and periodically does some Judge ut the
Central Criminal Court reply with hope that
the corporation will look to it. The whole
arrangement is disgrnccful los al concerned Il
not emitting the judges and lawyers. All the
public buildings of this country, with scarcely
an exception, are unworthy of their obiectscs-
pccaly in size. The ancens, with far slcrd-
crcr resources. raised structures which put ours
to shame. We, with immense population and
proportionatc need of space, with immense adj
vance in the mechanism OF the arts, are con-
tent with public buildings ugly, mean. and
small. A high sense Of art would instincliycy
dictate u style more bcllting its objects our
instincts in that direction are not very scns-
tive; our trading spirit makes us pare down
everything pnblc--cXccpt icastng-to bare ne
cessity; and it is only when We find justice
and innocence shut up in reehing hole with
vice and crime that we discover0ur mstake.-
This Central Criminal Court ough, moi only to
he larger Than Il is inthc body Of it, but ought
to he surrounded by convenient rctiring-rooms
for those who have To ENTHUSIASTICALLY spacious
and numerous Notwithstanding associations.
The want Of lccencv dctNcts from the boosted
''maicsly of the law" and We wonder that
the bench and the bar have 50 long been con-
tent TO administer their high functions in ph-
ccs which would turn inc stnnmcbs Of their
hnmbIcst menials -.Spfciator.