Our criminal code inflicts the punishment of death on up'wards of two hundred offences.' There is no doubt that the consequent uncertainty which attaches to the infliction of the penalty, encourages the offender to calculate on a mitigated punishment. The defective system of prison discipline, is a still more direct cause of aggravating cases of Juvenile Delinquency. In these establishments, the youth committed for his first offence has been placed indiscriminately with hardened criminals Those, whose guilt has been doubtful, have had no means of avoiding the society of others, whose offences have been proved. It was said by the illustrious Howard, that "half the robberies committed in and about London were planned in the prisons He further adds, "that if it were the aim and wish of magistrates to effect the destruction, present and future, of young delinquents, they could not devise a more effectual method than to confine them so long in our prisons, those seats and seminaries, as they have been properly called, of idleness and every vice.” Since the period in which that great character exposed the prevailing system of prison discipline in this country, it is lamentable to consider the little alteration that has taken place in the prisons of London "In these abodes," to adopt the language of an eminent modern writer, "emulation is excited only to excel in crime, and all are soon raised to an equality therein. The ferocious inspire others with their ferocity, the cunning with their cunning, and the debauched with their libertinism. Every thing that can corrupt the heart, becomes the amusement of their idleness, and the resource of their despair." Dreadful, therefore, is the situation of the young offender: he becomes the victim of circumstances over which he has no control. The laws of his country operate not to restrain, but to punish him. The tendency of the police is to accelerate his career in crime. If, when apprehended, he has not attained the full measure of guilt, the nature of his confinement is almost sure to complete it; and discharged, as he frequently is, pennyless, without friends, character, or employment, he is driven, for a subsistence, to the renewal of depredations.' pp. 24-5. It appears, however, that in Newgate the boys are confined apart from the other prisoners, and are receiving the benefit of daily instruction. A school within the walls of a prison, may perhaps surprise some of our readers by the novelty of the idea. We trust that the time is not distant, when every prison will so far partake of the character of a reformatory, as to include a provision for the instruction of the uneducated. The happiest effects have been known to result from the introduction of education even among the adult convicts of a transport. An arrangement has likewise been recently made at the House of Correction, Cold Bath Fields, for the separation of the youths from the adult prisoners. These measures may be considered as in some degree remedial; they are at any rate unspeakably important as respects the individual, but crime, as it respects society, can only, if we may be allowed the phrase, be remedied by prevention. The Committee, in enumerating the causes of Juvenile Delinquency, have gone a great way towards suggesting the only effectual remedies for the evil. They have evidently felt the great delicacy of prescribing to the Legislature any specifics for its care. Nothing would be more to be deprecated, than that delinquents of any kind should occupy so disproportionate a degree of public attention and sympathy, as to be provided for in any degree at the expense or to the neglect of those who have never qualified themselves by crime for such a provision. No arrangements deserve to be considered as truly benevolent, which lessen the antipathies of the delinquent against prison confinement. The penal design of such establishments should never be merged in the attempt to render them reformatories; and they should never afford accommodations or facilities of maintenance and enjoyment superior to what are possessed by the virtuous but indigent poor. The only plans by which the ends either of justice or of benevolence can be accomplished, must be founded on a judicious classification of the criminals, not simply according to their age, but the nature and aggravation of their offences. This classification has been introduced into prison ships by some benevolent individuals, and the result has been highly satisfactory. With regard to juvenile criminals, we ourselves know of one poor lad, who, after he had been discharged from Newgate, returned of his own accord, and implored to be received into the prison again as his only home, his mother having refused to shelter or provide for him; and there he actually remained for above a fortnight, subsisting on the prison allowance, and submitting to the discipline of the school, till admission was obtained for him into the Refuge for the Destitute at Hoxton. Such a boy is indeed as fit an object of compassion as could be selected. And there is reason to fear that there are many poor boys in the Metropolis, who have never been actually initiated into crime, who would be glad of finding a home in Newgate. It is not the property of Law to discriminate; but it is evident that the nicest discrimination is requisite, in order to render punishment remedial, and to exhibit Justice in its true character, as only a modification of Benevolence. An Establishment distinct in its nature from a prison, seems to be desirable, in order to meet a variety of cases in which the degree of delinquency is slight, or not fully proved. Such an institution as the Refuge for the Destitute, if extended and modified by legislative enactments, would be of incalculable benefit to the country. We rejoice to hear that a department of the Penitentiary at Milbank, is to be appropriated exclusively to Juvenile Delinquents, and that Governinent has manifested an enlightened solicitude to attempt, by means of a system of salutary discipline, the reformation of the convicts. From classification, constant inspection, moral and religious instruction, and hard labour, there cannot fail to result average effects of the most beneficial kind. We need only look to America, to encourage perseverance in the attempt. We hope that the attention of the public will not be quickly withdrawn from the subject, and more especially that it will continue to occupy the consideration of the Legislature, that can alone give effect to the inquiries and exertions of individuals. In the mean time, let the condition of the Poor, the virtuous poor, be viewed as a subject of pre-eminent interest, inasmuch as in the deterioration of their condition, the spread of vice is for the most part found to originate, and to keep pace with the. increase of pauperism, and the consequent degradation of the moral character of the lower classes. It is not by the separate efficacy of systems of education, how excellent and comprehensive soever they may be, nor by Reformatories and local asylums, nor by legislative provisions of any kind, nor by parochial regulations; it is by no specifics applicable to particular evils, but only by the combination of all these means, that the melioration of society, on an enlarged scale, is to be effected. Let there be but a cordial co-operation between the Legislature and the efforts of philanthropic individuals of every party; let but the obstructions to improvement which originate in the laws favouring the increase of pauperism and in the criminal code, gradually yield to sounder notions of political economy, while the voluntary associations that have for their object the public good, are left to carry forward the work of positive melioration; let the interference of Government be reserved till its aid become obviously necessary in order to give, not a direction, but efficiency to private efforts; we need not then despair that the disorders of society will gradually submit to the silent force of counteraction, and by this safe means of reformation, a moral change shall take place, which we may hope will possess the character of permanence. ART. XV. SELECT LITERARY INFORMATION. Gentlemen and Publishers who have works in the press, will oblige the Conductors of the ECLECTIC REVIEW, by sending Information (post paid) of the subject, extent, and probable price of such works; which they may depend upon being communicated to the Public, if consistent with its plan. A new and correct Edition is in the press, of a Dissertation ou the Epistles of Phalaris; with an Answer to the Objections of the Hon. Charles Boyle. By Richard Bentley, D.D. To which will be added, Dr. Bentley's Dissertation on the Epistles of Themistocles, Socrates, Euripides, and others; with the Fables of Æsop as originally printed, with occasional remarks on the whole. A Catalogue of Books, with their sizes and prices, published since September, 1814, to the present time, will appear about the end of the month. Mr. G. Jackson, of Islington, has in the press, a new and improved system of Mnemonics, or Two Hours Study in the Art of Memory; illustrated by many plates. Memorial Sketches of the late Rev. David Brown, of Calcutta, with Sermons, &c. are printing in an octavo volume. Mr. Matthew Gregson, of Liverpool, is printing in a small folio volume, Fragments of the History of the County of Lancaster, with numerous engravings. The Rev. Joseph Hunter, of Bath, proposes to print, in a quarto volume, with suitable embellishments, Annals and a Topographical Survey of the Parish of Sheffield, or Hallamshire, with many original biographical and bibliographical notices. A Translation of the Antiquarian Travels in Italy, of the learned French archæologist, M. Millin, is preparing for the press. Mr. Starratt has in the press, a Work on the Science of Chess, one part of which was originally written by a late Duke of Brunswick Lunenburg. M. A. Becket, whose Sketch of a Plan for the Relief the People, was submitted to the late Mr. Pitt, has for some time been engaged in perfecting that Plan under the title of Public Prosperity, &c. On the 1st of January, 1817, will be published, the First Number of a New Magazine (to be continued Quarterly) entitled, The British Journal and Quarterly Magazine, embellished with Portraits of Public Characters, Views, &c. in the first style of Engraving. In the press, and will be published next winter, in two thick volumes, 12mo. a work entitled, Questions Resolved in Divinity, History, and Literature. The first Vol. entirely Theological, containing concise explanations of difficult passages of Scripture, nearly in regular succession, and answers to some cases of conscience, both adapted to common capacities; and on other religious subjects. The second Vol. conta ning answers to a great variety of important and curious questions in History, Biography, Natural History, and Literature. By the Rev. George Glyn Scraggs, A.M. of Buckingham. The whole methodically arranged, with a Table of Scriptures explained, and an Index. Mr. Charles Peter Whitaker, for. merly of the University of Gottingen, and Professor of Languages, is preparing for publication, a New Grammar of the French Language, on a plan perfectly original, intended for the use of those who wish to acquire a speedy and grammatical knowledge of modern French; to be interspersed with ingenious Exercises and Examples, illustrative of the peculiar construction and idiom of the Language. The whole calculated to facilitate the acquirement of grammatical rules without the un necessary fatigue and perplexity of the old system. It will be printed in a portable form for the pocket. The Rev. Joseph Freeston, author of the Answer to the Question, "Why are you not a Socinian ?" &c. has in the press, a volume entitled, Directions and Encouragements for Travellers to Zion, being an earnest and affectionate address to Professing Christians in geueral, on several important Subjects. Dr. Watkins's Memoirs of Mr. Sheridan, will appear in the course of the present month. A large proportion of the Work has been long since prepared, from information communicated by one of Mr. Sheridan's relatives. In the press, to be published in November next. by the Rev. Richard Warner, of Bath: A Series of Sermons for every Sunday in the Year, commencing with the first Sunday in Advent, (also for Christmas-day and Good Friday,) for the use of Families and Country Congregations, and adapted to the Condition of the lower orders of Society. The texts are taken from the Epistle or Gospel of the day. A prefatory Discourse is prefixed, containing Observations on Public Religious Instructions, and a Vindication of the Clergy of the Church of England, from the charges of their attaching too much importance to human learning: their exalting Reason above Faith, and their not preaching the Gospel of Christ. In October will be published, Sermons on the union of Truth, Reason, and Revelation, in the Doctrine of the Esta blished Church of England and Ireland. By the Hon. and Rev. Edward John Turnour, A.M. of St. Mary Hall, Oxford late Curate of Heston, Middlesex, and Chaplain to the Dowager Countess Winterton. Preparing for the press, and to be speedily published in a handsome volume octavo, for which the names of Subscribers will be received by the Editor, at 22, George Street, Adelphi; The Egis of England; being a collection of those admirable and eloquent Addresses, in which have been communicated the Thanks of Parliament to those Officers of the Navy and Army, whose eminent services during the Wars of the French Revolution <have so essentially contributed to the glory of the British Arms. To which will be added, Notes, Biographical and Military. By Maurice Evans, Navy and Army Agent. The Rev. W. Ettrick, A.M. Author of the Second Exodus; or Reflections on the Prophecies of the last Times; has in the press, The Season and Time, or an Exposition of the Prophecies which relate to the two periods of Daniel subsequent to the 1260 years now recently expired. Being the Time of the Seventh Trumpet, and prophetically assigned to the extirpation of Apostacy, and the accomplishment of the reconciliation of the Jews, and introduction of the Millennium. Together with Remarks upon the Revolutionary Antichrist. Proposed by Bishop Horsley and the Rev. @. S, Faber. Art. XVI. LIST OF WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED. BIOGRAPHY. The Life and Studies of Benjamin West, Esq. P. R. A. prior to his arrival in England. By John Galt. 8vo. 7s. BOTANY. Flora Tunbrigensis; or, a Catalogue of Plants growing wild in the Neighbourhood of Tunbridge Wells, arranged according to the Linnean System, from Sir J. E. Smith's Flora Britannica. By T. F. Forster, F. L.S. &c. crown 8vo. Price 9s. bds. Illustrated by three coloured Plates. EDUCATION. Manual of the System of the British and Foreign School Society of London, for teaching Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Needlework, in the Elementary Schools. 8vo. 6s. bds. or with the Needlework, 10s. 6d. A Concise System of Practical Arith metic, adapted to the Use of Schools, by A. Melrose, late Teacher in Edinburgh; revised, improved, and greatly enlarged, by A. Ingram, Mathematician with Tables of the Monies, Weights, and Measures now used in Great Britain atid Ireland, including a comparative View of the proposed New System. By William Stenhouse, Accountant, Edinburgh. 18mo. 2s. bound. A Key to the above, by A. Ingram, containing Solutions of all the Questions in that Work. 18mo. 3s. bound. A Key to the Second Edition of Exercises in Latin Prosody and Versification. By the Rev. C. Bradley. 2s. 6d. Juvenile Anecdotes, designed for the religious and moral Instruction of the rising Generation. Compiled and arranged, with useful Observations. By John Bruce. 12mo. 4s. bds. |