The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1885-07-28

laftnu 0t female innocence ara necessarily
, very numerous. II statistics were forth
coming Of the number who are caiole,i Of
eoerced Into sin in'that city before they
know What sin is, much less have the
strenethto TO resist 1t, q condition OF affair
would be revealed which would not only
put our nineteenth century civilization "a
the blush, but wonld make US wonder
whether after sit England Is Q Christian
nation. On this subject their lordships
must have felt very strongly, for the
penalty for an offense against one under
1Gelye years Of age Is penal servitude
for life, OF, for not less than five years,
at the discretion oi the court, With the
indignity Of whipping thrown in foi
good measure. The bill does not rest,
however. in this stern effort to provide
iron clad protection for those under
twelve. It throws, also, determined
arm Of defense around those who occupy
the dangerous ground between twelve aud
sixteen. A social otfense 10 q girl OF this
class Is to be visited with penalty simt-
lar 10 that provided for the procuFer, nor
ID the fact that consent may have been
given 10 be considered id extenuation, for
the assumption OF the new law ia that
girls Of that critical age are not competent
TO decide In such q matter. Further pro.
Visions for the projection OF those under
sixteen are that persons harboring them
for improper objects are to bs held guilty.
Of q misdemeanor, and that Justices q
Peace may grant warrants which will
authorize police officers to search sns-
pected houses and 10 enter such places by
fair means or foul at any hour they may
|see ct.
CERTIFIED HOMES.
The bill further contemplates the estab-
!lshmeat OF what 1t calls Certified
Homes" to which girls under the age in
question, who have no proper guardian
ship otherwise, are TO be sent by the mag
istrates for shelter and reformation. These
homes are 70 be licensed by one Of Her
Maiesty's principal Secretaries Of State,
and from the fact that nothing Is said as
TO any appropriation for this purpose, the
presumptionist that they will be kept up
by private charity. liza girl escapes from
one OF them, and is found by the police,
she Is 10 be brought back at tue expenee
ofthe institution, and Is to be kept there
the full period from the time when she
went away TO the time when the consent
ing age OF sixteen would have been reach
ed. Those conversant with the philan-
thropic impulses OF the better classes in
the great cities OF England have no fear
that there will be any delay in providing
these houses otrefuge, and the only won
der Is that the experiment was not tried
manyyears ago.
"a wise provision Of this law is that It
gives magistrates the power 10 exclude
from court during the trial OF these uu-
pleasant cases all persons excepting those
Immediately concerned-as officers, Wit
nesses, etc. This Is certainly in the inter
ests ofsdecency. Ny recollection Ia, how.
ever, that at the time the bill was before
the Lords, the London press rather gen.
orally opposed this clause, as It did also
that previously referred to, which anthor-
izes the police TO enter suspected houses
without further ceremony than search
warrant, the contention being that these
provisions tended in some way 10 the
abridgement Of Englishmen's inalienable
liberties. But both classes passed, and
have since passed the Commons. In re-
gard to the attitude ot'the London papers
toward this bill, candor compels me to add
that when the measure Was under debate
two years ago, ii did not get much support
from them In any OF its features, and was
go bitterly opposed in some Of Its provi-
sions as to create the suspicion that those
great metropolitan dailies, rather than try
an experiment or commit themselves to q
change, would prefer to have the Law left
as it was, regardless Of how many guilty
escape. LETT.