It is very difficult to hit upon degrees; but we cannot help thinking the Society lean too much to a system of indulgence and education in jails. We shall be very glad to see them more stern and Spartan in their discipline. They recommend work, and even hard work; but they do not insist upon it, that the only work done in jails by felons should be hard, dull, and uninteresting; they do not protest against the conversion of jails into schools and manufactories. Look, for example, to "Preston house of correction."

"Preston house of correction is justly distinguished by the industry which prevails. Here an idle hand is rarely to be found. There were lately 150 looms in full employ, from each of which the average weekly earnings are 5s. About 150 pieces of cotton goods are worked off per week. A considerable proportion of the looms are of the prisoners' own manufacture. In one month an inexperienced workman will be able to earn the cost of his gaol allowance of food. Weaving has these advantages over other prison labour: the noise of the shuttle prevents conversation, and the progress of the work constantly requires the eye. The accounts of this prison contained in the Appendix deserve particular attention, as there appears to be a balance of clear profit to the county from the labour of the prisoners, in the year, of £1,398 9s. 1d. This sum was earned by weaving and cleaning cotton only; the prisoners being besides employed in tailoring, whitewashing, flagging, slating, painting, carpentering, and labourers' work, the earnings of which are not included in the above account."-Third Report, pp. 21, 22.

"At Worcester county gaol, the system of employment is admirable. Every article of dress worn by the prisoners is made from the raw material: sacking and bags are the only articles made for sale."-Ib. p. 23.

"In many prisons, the instruction of the prisoners in reading and writing has been attended with excellent effects. Schools have been formed at Bedford, Durham, Chelmsford, Winchester, Hereford, Maidstone, Leicester house of correction, Shrewsbury, Warwick, Worcester, &c. Much valuable assistance has been derived in this department from the labours of respectable individuals, especially females, acting under the sanction of the magistrates and direction of the chaplain."-Ib. pp. 30, 31.

We again enter our decided protest against these modes of occupation in prisons; they are certainly better than mere idleness spent in society; but they are not the kind of occupations which render prisons terrible. We would banish all the looms of Preston jails, and substitute nothing but the treadwheel, or the capstan, or some species of labour where the labourer could not see the results of his toil-where it was as monotonous, irksome, and dull as possible-pulling and pushing, instead of reading and writing—no share of the profits-not a single shilling. There should be no tea and sugar-no assemblage of female felons round the washing-tub-nothing but beating hemp, and pulling oakum, and pounding bricks-no work but what was tedious, unusual, and unfeminine. Man, woman, boy and girl, should all leave the jails unimpaired indeed in health, but heartily wearied of their residence; and taught by sad experience to consider it as the greatest misfortune of their lives to return to it. We have the strongest belief that the present lenity of jails, the education carried on there-the cheerful assemblage of workmen-the indulgence in diet-the shares of earnings enjoyed by prisoners, are one great cause of the astonishingly rapid increase of commitments.

Mr. Western, who entirely agrees with us upon these points, has the follow ing judicious observations upon the severe system :

"It may be imagined by some persons that the rules here prescribed are too severe; but such treatment is, in my opinion, the tenderest mercy, compared with that indulgence which is so much in practice, and which directly tends to ruin, instead of saving, its unfortunate victim. This severity it is which in truth forms the sole effective means which imprisonment gives; only one mitigation, therefore, if such it may be termed, can be admissible, and that is, simply to shorten the duration of the imprisonment. The sooner the prisoner comes out the better, if fully impressed with dread of what he has suffered, and communicates information to his friends what they may expect if they get there. It appears to me, indeed, that one great and primary object we ought to have in view is, generally, to shorten the duration of imprisonment, at the same time that we make it such a punishment, as is likely to deter, correct, and reform; shorten the duration of imprisonment before trial, which we are called upon, by every principle of moral and political justice, to do; shorten also the duration of

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imprisonment after trial, by the means here described; and I am satisfied our prisons would soon lose, or rather would never see, half the number of their present inhabitants. The long duration of imprisonment, where the discipline is less severe, renders it perfectly familiar, and, in consequence, not only destitute of any useful influence, but obviously productive of the worst effects; yet this is the present practice; and I think, indeed, criminals are now sentenced to a longer period of confinement than formerly.

"The deprivation of liberty certainly is a punishment under any circumstances; but the system generally pursued in our gaols might rather be considered as a palliative of that punishment, than to make it effectual to any good purpose. An idle life, society unrestrained, with associates of similar character and habits, better fare and lodgings in many cases, and in few, if any, worse than fall to the lot of the hard working and industrious peasant; and very often much better than the prisoners were in the enjoyment of before they were apprehended.

"I do not know what could be devised more agreeable to all the different classes of offenders than this sort of treatment: the old hardened sinner, the juvenile offender, or the idle vagabond, who runs away and leaves a sick wife and family to be provided for by his parish, alike have little or no apprehension, at present, of any imprisonment to which they may be sentenced; and thus are the most effective means we possess to correct and reform rendered totally unavailable, and even perverted, to the more certain ruin of those who might be restored to society good and valuable members of it.

There are, it is true, various occupations now introduced into many prisons, but which, I confess, I think of very little use; drawing and preparing straws, platting, knitting, heading pins, &c., weaving and working at a trade even, as it is generally carried on, prisoners coaxed to the performance of it, the task easy, the reward immediate, afford rather the means of passing away the time agreeably. These occupations are indeed better than absolute idleness, notwithstanding that imprisonment may be rendered less irksome thereby. I am far from denying the advantage, still less would I be supposed to derogate from the merits of those who, with every feeling of humanity, and with indefatigable pains, in many instances, have established such means of employment; and some of them for women, with washing, &c., amount to hard labour; but I contend that, for men, they are applicable only to a house of industry, and by no means suited to the corrective discipline which should be found in a prison. Individuals are sent here to be punished, and for that sole purpose; in many cases for crimes which have induced the forfeiture of life: they are not sent to be educated, or apprenticed to a trade. The horrors of dungeon imprisonment, to the credit of the age, no longer exist. But if no cause of dread is substituted, by what indication of common sense is it that we send criminals there at all? If prisons are to be made into places in which persons of both sexes and all ages may be well fed, clothed, lodged, educated, and taught a trade, where they may find pleasant society, and are required not to take heed for the morrow, the present inhabitants should be turned out, and the most deserving and industrious of our poorest fellow subjects should be invited to take their place, which I have no doubt they would be eager to do.”— Western, pp. 13-17.

In these sentiments we most cordially agree. They are well worth the most serious attention of the Society.

The following is a sketch from Mr. Western's book of what a prison life should be. It is impossible to write with more good sense, and a more thorough knowledge of the subject.

"The operations of the day should begin with the greatest punctuality at a given hour; and, as soon as the prisoners have risen from their beds, they should be, according to their several classes, marched to the work-houses, where they should be kept to hard labour two hours at least; from thence they should be taken back to wash, shave, comb, and clean themselves; thence to the chapel to hear a short prayer, or the governor or deputy should read to them in their respective day-rooms; and then their breakfast, which may, altogether, occupy an hour and a half or more. I have stated, in a former part of my letter, that the hours of meals and leisure should be in solitude, in the sleeping cells of the prison; but I presume, for the moment, this may not always be practicable. I will therefore consider the case as if the classes assembled at meal-times in the different day-rooms. After breakfast they should return to hard labour for three or four hours, and then take another hour for dinner; labour after dinner two or three hours, and their supper given them to eat in solitude in their sleeping cells.

"This marching backwards and forwards to chapel and mill-house, &c., may appear ob. jectionable, but it has not been so represented to me in the prisons where it actually now takes place; and it is, to my apprehension, materially useful in many respects. The object Is to keep the pris oners in a state of constant motion, so that there shall be no lounging time or loitering, which is always favourable to mischief or cabal. For the same reason it is I propose two hours' labour the moment they are up, and before washing, &c., that there may be no time lost, and that they may begin the day by a portion of labour, which will tend to keep them quiet and obedient the remainder of it. Each interval for meal, thus eccurring

between labour hours, has also a tendency to render the mischief of intercourse less probable, and at the same time the evening association, which is most to be apprehended in this respect, is entirely cut off. The frequent moving of the prisoners from place to place keeps the governor and sub-officers in a similar state of activity and attention, which is likewise of advantage, though their numbers should be such as to prevent their duty becoming too arduous or irksome. Their situation is not pleasant, and their responsibility is great. An able and attentive governor, who executes all his arduous duties with unremitting zeal and fidelity, is a most valuable public servant, and entitled to the greatest respect. He must be a man of no ordinary capacity, with a liberal and comprehensive mind, possessing a control over his own passions, firm and undaunted, a character that commands from those under him instinctively, as it were, respect and regard. In vain are our buildings, and rules, and regu lations, if the choice of a governor is not made an object of primary and most solicitous attention and consideration.

"It does not appear to me necessary for the prisoners to have more than three hours' leisure, inclusive of meal-times; and I am convinced the close of the day must be in solitude. Eight or ten hours will have passed in company with their fellow prisoners of the same class (for I am presuming that a separate compartment of the workhouse will be allotted to each), where, though they cannot associate to enjoy society as they would wish, no gloom of solitude can oppress them there is more danger even then of too close an intercourse and conversation, though a ready cure is in that case to be found by a wheel put in motion, the noise of which speedily overcomes the voice. Some time after Saturday night should be allowed to them, more particularly to cleanse themselves and their clothes, and they should have a bath, cold or warm, if necessary; and on the Sunday they should be dressed in their best clothes, and the day should be spent wholly in the chapel, the cell, and the airing ground; the latter in the presence of a day watchman, as I have described to be in practice at Warwick. I say nothing about teaching to read, write, work, &c. &c.; any proportion of time neccssary for any useful purpose may be spared from the hours of labour or of rest, according to circumstances; but I do not place any reliance upon improvement in any branch of education; they would not, indeed, be there long enough. All I want them to learn is, that there exists the means of punishment for crime, and be fully impressed with dread of repetition of what they have undergone; and a short time will suffice for that purpose. Now, if each successive day was spent in this manner, can it be doubted that the frequent commission of crime would be checked, and more done to deter, correct, and reform, than could be accomplished by any other punishment? A period of such discipline, longer or shorter, according to the nature of the offence, would surely be sufficient for any violation of the law short of murder, or that description of outrage which is likely to lead on to the perpetration of it. This sort of treatment is not to be overcome: it cannot be braved, or laughed at, or disregarded, by any force of animal spirits, however strong or vigorous of mind or body the individual may be. The dull, unvarying course of hard labour, with hard fare and seclusion, must in time become so painfully irksome, and so wear and distress him, that he will inevitably, in the end, be subdued."-Western, pp. 64-69.

There is nothing in the Report of the Prison Society so good as this.

The Society very properly observe upon the badness of town jails, and the necessity for their suppression. Most towns cannot spare the funds necessary for building a good jail. Shopkeepers cannot spare the time for its superintendence; and hence it happens that town jails are almost always in a disgraceful state. The Society frequently allude to the diffusion of tracts. If education is to be continued in jails, and tracts are to be dispersed, we cannot help lamenting that the tracts, though full of good principles, are so intolerably stupid-and all apparently constructed upon the supposition that a thief or a peccant ploughman are inferior in common sense to a boy of five years old. The story generally is, that a labourer with six children has nothing to live upon but mouldy bread and dirty water; yet nothing can exceed his cheerfulnesss and content-no murmurs-no discontent of mutton he has scarcely heard of bacon he never dreams: furfurous bread and the water of the pool constitute his food, establish his felicity, and excite his warmest gratitude. The squire or parson of the parish always happens to be walking by, and overhears him praying for the king and the members for the county, and for all in authority; and it generally ends with their offering him a shilling, which this excellent man declares he does not want, and will not accept! These are the pamphlets which Goodies and Noodles are dispersing with unwearied diligence. It would be a great blessing if some genius would arise who had a talent of writing for the poor. He would be of more value than many poets

living upon the banks of lakes-or even (though we think highly of ourselves) of greater value than many reviewing men living in the garrets of the North. The Society offer some comments upon the prison bill now pending, and which, unfortunately for the cause of prison improvement, has been so long pending in the legislature. In the copy of this bill, as it stands at present, nothing is said of the limitation of numbers in any particular class. We have seen forty felons of one class in one yard before trial. If this be to continue, all prison improvement is a mere mockery. Separate sleeping cells should be enacted positively, and not in words which leave this improvement optional. If any visiting justice dissent from the majority,† it should be lawful for him to give in a separate report upon the state of the prison and prisoners to the Judge or the Quarter-sessions. All such reports of any visiting magistrate or magistrates, not exceeding a certain length, should be published in the county papers. The chairman's report to the Secretary of State should be published in the same manner. The great panacea is publicity: it is this which secures compliance with wise and just laws, more than all the penalties they contain for their own preservation.

We object to the reading and writing clause. A poor man, who is lucky enough to have is son committed for a felony, educates him, under such a system, for nothing; while the virtuous simpleton on the other side of the wall is paying by the quarter for these attainments. He sees clergymen and ladies busy with the larcenous pupil; while the poor lad, who respects the eighth commandment, is consigned, in some dark alley, to the frowns and blows of a ragged pedagogue. It would be the safest way, where a prisoner is kept upon bread and water alone, to enact that the allowance of bread should not be less than a pound and a half for men, and a pound for women and boys. We strongly recommend, as mentioned in a previous Number, that four sorts of diet should be enacted for every prison: Ist, Bread and water; 2nd, Better prison diet; 3rd, Best prison diet; 4th, Free diet-the second and third to be defined by the visiting magistrates. All sentences of imprisonment should state to which of these diets the prisoner is to be confined; and all deviation from it on the part of the prison officers should be punished with very severe penalties. The regulation of diet in a prison is a point of the very highest importance; and to ask of visiting magistrates that they should doom to bread and water a prisoner, whom the law has left at liberty to purchase whatever he has money to procure, is a degree of severity which it is hardly fair to expect from country gentlemen, and, if expected, those expectations will not be fulfilled. The whole system of diet, one of the mainsprings of all prison discipline, will get out of order, if its arrangement be left to the interference of magistrates, and not to the sentence of the judge. Free diet and bread diet need no interpretation; and the jailer will take care to furnish the judge with the definitions of better prison diet and best prison diet. A knowledge of the diet prescribed in a jail is absolutely necessary for the justice of the case. Diet differs so much in different prisons, that six weeks in one prison is as severe a punishment as three months in another. If any country gentleman, engaged in legislation for prisons, is inclined to undervalue the importance of these regulations, let him appeal to his own experience, and remember, in the vacuity of the country, how often he thinks of dinner, and of what there will be for dinner; and how much his amenity and courtesy for the evening depend upon the successful execution of this meal. But there is nobody so gluttonous and

The county of York, with a prison under presentment, has been waiting nearly three years for this bill, in order to proceed upon the improvement of their county jail.

It would be an entertaining change in human affairs to determine everything by minorities. They are almost always in the right.

sensual as a thief; and he will feel much more bitterly fetters on his mouth than his heels. It sometimes happens that a gentleman is sentenced to imprisonment, for manslaughter in a duel, or for a libel. Are visiting justices to doom such a prisoner to bread and water, or are they to make an invidious distinction between him and the other prisoners? The diet should be ordered by the judge, or it never will be well ordered-or ordered at all.

The most extraordinary clause in the bill is the following :

"And be it further enacted, that in case any criminal prisoner shall be guilty of any repeated offence against the rules of the prison, or shall be guilty of any greater offence which the gaoler or keeper is not by this act empowered to punish, the said gaoler or keeper shall report the same to the visiting Justices, or one of them, for the time being; and such Justices, or one of them, shall have power to enquire upon oath, and determine concerning any such offence so reported to him or them, and shall order the offender to be punished, either by moderate whipping, repeated whippings, or by close confinement, for any term not exceeding "-Act, p. 21.

Upon this clause, any one Justice may order repeated whippings for any offence greater than that which the jailer may punish. Our respect for the Committee will only allow us to say, that we hope this clause will be reconsidered. We beg leave to add, that there should be a return to the Principal Secretary of State of recommitments as well as commitments.

It is no mean pleasure to see this attention to jail discipline travelling from England to the detestable and despotic governments of the Continent,—to see the health and life of captives admitted to be of any importance,- -to perceive that human creatures in dungeons are of more consequence than rats and blackbeetles. All this is new-is some little gained upon tyranny; and for it we are indebted to the labours of the Prison Society. Still the state of prisons, on many parts of the Continent, is shocking beyond all description.

It is a most inconceivable piece of cruelty and absurdity in the English law, that the prisoner's counsel, when he is tried for any capital felony, is not allowed to speak for him; and this we hope the new prison bill will correct. Nothing can be more ridiculous in point of reasoning, or more atrociously cruel and unjust in point of fact. Any number of counsel may be employed to take away the poor man's life. They are at full liberty to talk as long as they like; but not a syllable is to be uttered in his defence-not a sentence to show why the prisoner is not to be hung. This practice is so utterly ridiculous to any body but lawyers (to whom nothing that is customary is ridiculous), that men not versant with courts of justice will not believe it. It is, indeed, so utterly inconsistent with the common cant of the humanity of the English law, that it is often considered to be the mistake of the narrator, rather than the imperfection of the system. We must take this opportunity, therefore, of making a few observations on this very strange and anomalous practice.

The common argument used in its defence is that the Judge is counsel for the prisoner. But the defenders of this piece of cruel and barbarous nonsense must first make their election, whether they consider the prisoner to be, by this arrangement, in a better, a worse, or an equally good situation as if his council were allowed to plead for him. If he be in a worse situation, why is he so placed? Why is a man, in a solemn issue of life and death, deprived of any fair advantage which any suitor in any court of justice possesses? This is a plea of guilty to the charge we make against the practice; and its advocates, by such concession, are put out of court. But, if it be an advantage, or no disadvantage, whence comes it that the choice of this advantage, in the greatest of all human concerns, is not left to the party, or to his friends? If the question concern a foot-path-or a fat ox-every man may tell his own story, or employ a barrister to tell it for him. The law leaves the litigant to decide on the method most conducive to his own interest. But, when the question is