The Sun. — 1842-10-26 (London, England)

PUBLIC JOURNALS, FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF-YESTERDAY. GLOBE.—Amid the violence of party strife, it -is gratifying to observe the unanimity which pervades the public-Press whenever an outrage has been perpetrated against the rights of humanity, whether by the hands of lawless wrong, presuming upon impunity because of the possession of rank or wealth ; or by the perversion or abuse of the powers which the laws entrust to its officers for the benefit of the community. Such an unanimity is manifest in the comments of the public journals on the disclosures made by the inquiries which have taken place by Coroners' Inquests into the deaths of persons recently prisoners in the House of Correction at Northleach. The facts have been furnished to the public in the reports of those inqUiries.. The comments freely and fearlessly made upon the fact by the local and metropolitan Press have found a response in the public opinion. It is impossible that the .practices which have been thus brought to light should be allowed to pass unnotiiced in the Legislature. Parliament —either at the instance of the Government or of some independent e Mmber—must interfere, and by a better system of prison discipline prevent a recurrence of calamities which are no less fearful to the sufferers than they are detrimental to the character of the national institutions, which must suffer in the estimation of the public, and in the estimation of foreigners, if not at one placed on a footinc, better adapted to answer the ends proposed bye the punishment of offenders, and consequently more in unison with the claims of justice administered in the spirit of humanity. The system of discipline in the Northleach prison is impugned on two grounds—the severity of the labour, and the insufficiency of food. The former being apportioned to an extent:beyond the physical powers of the most robust; while the latter, reduced to the lowest minimum, is inadequate to sustain human strength. The consequences of such a state of things, wherever it is found, are obvious. If endured for any length of time, the physical powers will gradually fall under the unnatural exaction, until the individual is prostrated by exhaustion;- and, in many instances, by the slow process of disease, rendered the victim of premature death. The " hard labour " of the prisoners confined in the Northleaeh House of Correction, as in most other convict persons, is that of the treadwheel. We are not about to indulge in the fine-drawn sentimentalities of some who have, in their theories of prison discipline as the means of moral reformation, contended that to connect " bard labour" with imprisonment, as an instrument of punishmeat, rendf.n.lAotirotliollsm Ow Es in-latiort of the elas con_ipti3eti tip tuilforti,..ofeai, of tf.A;,tenee, " tr.-hose Jot is Iss i.d. hibour, ha,',7er vvilieti it i- in ?Le pone: of ;11,-, }4-0-,s to impo,,L.-, Reformation i 'Mt 3Seiu,ively the and of punishment. It must be painfill ac, well as Wu. tart'; and is frequently salutary because it is painful. With regard to the tread wheel, properly regulated, and the exertion it requires, carefully apportioned to the relative strength of the individuals placed upon it, as an important instrument in prison discipline, our opinion is decidedly favourable. But, if left to the caprice of gaolers, and even of visiting Magistrates, to direct, it may be converted into an engine of torture, and even of murder.