A ^ ^ A a: Crt o d — 1 3: JO 3D 9 CD O 2 J» 9 7 2 3D > 3D O 5 i 1 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Ull'OIlMATOIlY MEA^SURES Connected witli tlie TREATMENT OF CEIMIIALS 11 ODIA, BY MAJOR G. HUTCHINSON, INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE, PUNJAB. PUNJAB PBINXINa COMPJafl'S PEESS, lAHOBE. i ^ i V PREFACE. With tlie greatest respect for that great and good man, the late Sir Henry Lawrence, k. c. Bf I dedicatt? this com- pilation to his nsemory, in testimon;f of the deep interest which he Gi/gr manifested in all that ccgicerned the treat- ment of criminals, and in gfateful. remembrance of that brief but eventful period during which at Lucknow in 1857, I had the honor and the privilege of being his Aide-de-Camp . • My object is to insure that judicial sentences and prison discipline in India shall tend, not only to the punishment, but to the reformation, of criminals. I regret that, owing to the heavy work of a responsible post, it has been utterly impossible for me to bestow such time and care on tMs compilation as the subject assuredly merits. Of necessity I could only give attention to it now and then, and amidst constant interruptions ; but I trust that its many imperfections will not injure " ; or they will be devoted to the " Henry Lawrence" Asylum for the children of soldiers at Murree. * G. Hutchinson, Major., Staff Corps, • Inspector Cfeneral of Police, Ptmjah. ' Lahore, \st Novemher 1866. . V * CONTENTS.* • • Taqe. Introduction, ... ... ... * ... ... 1 Chapter I. Firsb Steps in the United Kingdom and . Europe, ... ... ... ... 5 J, IT. The Irish S_ystem — First Stage — Second , Stage — Third or Intermediate Stage — Gratmties — Treatment of Idlers — Legislative Measures — ^ieltet of leave — Eemarks by Mr. Hill, ... 17 J, III, Measures connected with the Keformatory System^— Registration — Previous conviction — Photography — Police Surveillance — Prison offi- cers — Education of prisoners — Review by Baron Von Holzendorf, ... ... ... 52 -, IV. Measures connected with tte reformatory treatment of offenders — Short; and Long Sen- tences — Hard Labor — Sanitary results*— Aid to discharged convicts — Judi«ial Sentences — Treat- ment of Vagrants — Juvenile Offenders — Juvenile Paupers, ... «... ... ... 72 ,, V. Reformatory System for Juveniles at Mettray in France, ... ... ... 117 „ VI. Reformatory measures applicable to offen- ders in India — Duty of the State — Legislative action— Intermediate stage — Ticket of leave — Habituals and Casuals — Individualization — Adult Casuals — Separate Sleeping Cells — Short and long sentences — Registration — Aid to dis- charged' prisoners — Workhouses for the poor — ^ Police Supervision — Education of prisoners — Prison Officers — Judicial Sentences — Allowance to Witnesses — Vagrants — Juvenile Destitutes and Delinquents — Statistics — Transportation,... 131 , J, TIL India is a country pre-eminently requiring reformatory measures — Thuggee — Poisoning — • • Dacoite(? — Professional Swindling — Coining — Cattle-stealing — CrimitAl tribes — Meenas, ... 174 „ VIII. Coi^clusion, ... ... *.. 211 V J , .c ON THE • TREATM^KT OF CllIM.INALS 'iN INDIA. INTRODUCTION. Deeply impressed with the absohite necessity of intro-, ducing into this country, that great.principle now recognized and adopted in nearly every State in Europe, that punish- ment shaU be awarded and carried out, not solely with the view of imnisking but also of reforming the offender ; I ven- ture to attempt t>o draw attention to this very important point, as being one in which all persons must ever have the strongest interest. An experience of five years of constant watching over the police administration of this province, has naturally enabled me to give close attention to the results of our present penal measures ; to the principles on which punish- ment is awarded ; and to the motle in which it is carried out. I have also not only examined most carefully almost every work that has been written on this great subject for the last twenty years in England, but, during a short absence from this country in 1864, personally examined the best French refor- matory institution at Mettray, near Tours in France ; the Irish system as now working in full force under Captain Whitty ; and that adopted in England. It was necessary I should note this, so that my observations might not be with justice considered as being those of a person who had not attentively and for some time studied the subject ; or who possessed at best*but a tlieore- ticfd knowledge regarding it. I trust therefore that the vieA^s herein set foi»th regarding th« treatment of criminals in* India may not be thought presumptuous, or lightly brought forward ; they are at ^ny rate supported by the experience of other countries, and I desire to press them with all •1 IXIRODT'CTIOX. f earntstiicss on tlie consideration of every man v.-ljo cares for tlic moral as well as the physical well-))eing of the mighty masses in this country; wlio feels that their future is now indu- bitably lacing most deeply affected either for good or for evil by the handful of Eiy^lishmen whom God in His good plea- sure has placed in their high position of trust and respon- sibility. * < ■ Those officers in this ^country whose duties are con- nected with either the administration of justice or the pre- vention and detection of crime, no doubt have had their attention drawn to the important, novel, and very instructive proceedings carried out in various European countries dur- ing the last thirty years, with reference to the punishment and the prevention of crime. During those years not only has the most c6mplete change in the treatment of prisoners and the most mighty revolution in criminal jurisprudence been effected, but a vast mass of very valuable and instructive information has been collected. It is to those proceedings that I now seek to draw attention ; being firmly convinced that India on the one hand possesses amongst its millions no such high tone of morality as to render unnecessary the^ application of those enlighten- ed principles now found to be so valuable in Europe ; and yet, on the other hand, is not sunk so low as to be incapable of receiving any benefit therefrom. -^ / CHAPTER I. FIRST STEPS iN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. It is most instructive to observe how England during tlie last tw(? 'hundred years l^as passed* through various , and distinctly marked stages in the great work and duty of endeavouring to prevent crime. * The period of general disregard and violation of the law, incidental to an unsettled state of society, and in which the law was indifferently administered, sometimes with noted injustice, sometimes with barbarous severity, v/as succeeded by a period in which the law was, so to speak, savagely re- vengeful : in Blackstone's time there were IJoO felonies punishable with death. This unhealthy state of the laAV gradually corrected itself; juries would not convict when conviction produced sentence of death, for stealing a pocket handkerchief off a shop counter, or a piece of linen out of an orchard. I need not in support ®f the above give here Macaulay's graphic accoutit of the state of England at the beginning of the eighteenth century, nor the many instances in which men and women were sent in numbers to the scaffold for offences adequately punished now by short imprisonment or whipping. Mr. Walker, Metropolitan Police Magistrate, mentions in a work published in 1835 : — " At Kensington, within tlie memory of man, on Suntlay evenings a bell used to be rung at intervals to muster tlie people returning to town ; as soon as a band was assembled sutKciently numerous to insure mutual protection it set ofl", and so on till all had passed. George the 4th ^uid the late Duke of York when very young men were stopped one night in a hackney coach, and robbed on Hay Hill, Berkeley Square. To cross Hounslow Heath or Finchlej'- Common, uow both enclosed, after sunset, Avas a service of g^reat danger." Thei. Right Honorable Thomas 0. Hagan, Her Majesty's Attorney General for Ireland, in his address' in 1861 before ^ rtie National Social Science As^o'ciation, observed :— " Hence for a lengthened period grievous barbarities tharacterized ^ the action of our tribu^ials. The accused and the convicted were treated equally with excessive harshness, and the scaffokl groaned with the mul- G FIRST STEPS IN THE UJS^ITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. c fitiules who Avcre sent prematurely to their account — people of both soxe.s and of every age— for offences often of the most trivial character. " The softenino- of manners and the jjrogress of ci\ilization, led by degrees to a continually increasing diminution of this annual butchery ; but the Code which authorized it remaifted with little mitigation or amendment down to evef. our own time. Opinion mastered laiv ; and the humanity of jurors, srfinetimes at the cost of rpaltering Avith their legal duty aiid their oaths, refused the wholesale sacrilice of their fellow- men. But within thee memory of many of us, the supi-&ie penalty of tleath struck equally the parricide "^ and the starving wretch who com- ,mittcd a larceny of five shillings. Even in the 18th centurj^ the le,u,ishiture madq capital the breacK of the mound of a fish pond, the cutting down of a cherry tree in an orchard, and other offences of no greater seriousness. In that century a child eleven years old was executed for witchcraft ; a man for refusing to plead Avas pressed to death in the market place of Kilkenny. " In vain for many a year the doctrine of ' Beccavia,' that crimes are more effectuallj^ prevented by the certainty than by the Si^verit}' of punishment, was urged upon the legislature. In vain was the appeal to the teaching of a sad experience, tlie wisdom of the statesman, and the mercy of the C^iristian. Parliament under high guidance stood upon the ancient ways, and the slightest departure from the barbarism of its tradi- tional policy was denounced as full of danger to society and injury to the constitution of the realm. By slow degrees, however, the barriers of prejudice and ignorance were beaten down. Earnest and faithful men arose to assail them ; and In the face of frequent defeat and deep dis- couragement, their mission v^^as bravely pursued, until at last the truth manifested its all prevailing power." The foregoing sufficiently proves that crime is not prevented merely by laws of Draconian severity ; rather the reverse. Savage crimes are if anything increased by savage laws. The criminal feels he is treated as a Avild beast, and acts as if he were one. Connected with this brief review of England's ex- periences, the era of transportation requires some notice ; for, sa far as England is concerned, the first effort at intro- . ducing a totally different mode of treating " convicts," in fact a reformatory mode, was attempted with the unfortu- nates undergoing sentences of transportation in Norfolk Island. Moreover it was not until "transportation" was impossible, owing to the refusal of the colonies to be anjt longer injured by the impoi;tation of all the, vile and worth- less of the United Kingdom,^ that the treatment of convicts- was brought under the public eye, and extorted so to speak the attention it has subsequently received. FIRST STEPS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. 7 The pimishment of transportation was first introduced into England by Act of Parliament in 1718; convicts were then sent to the American plantations, and when the American war broke o^it they were sent to Australia. Parliament did consider the expedi^cy of establishing penitentiaries in England prior to sending the convicts to Australia, Rut no result followed; and transportation wa^ adopted to such an extent that from N87 to 1836 no less^ than 100,000 convicts had been sent off, including 13,000' women. In 1853 it was enacted that no person was to be transported whose sentence was not for cither life ©r fourteen years : and in 1854 an Act was passed whereby the convict prisons of Ireland and England could work on legal authority : the object being ostensibly to provide within the kingdom some adequate treatment of convicts in lieu of that of " transp'ortation," then so limited as to be virtually an insufficient mode of disposing of the convicts. I will not attempt to notice even the great number of excellent persons, from the time of " Howard" in 1775 down to the present day, who have devoted themselves to the im- provement of the prisoner and the laws regarding him ; nor, though it is most instructive jto study attentively all the various modes by which crime has been in other countries treated with a view to its prevention, is it possible in this l)rief treatise to give an account of them all. I must confine myself solely to those prominent features of this subject which have been developed in other countries with admitted success, leaving all minor points for the present. Prior to the virtual abolition in England of the sentence of transportation beyond seas, it had long been known that the wioral state of the convicts transported, both on the voyage out and in Australia was, as a rule, and as regards a large majority, most injurious to themselves ; and that it rendered •them most difficult to control. All may read in the clear and forcible little treatise called " Our Convict Sys- tetn, " published in 18G1 by Mi»s Florence Hill, how Captain Maconochio, the " Howard " of Norfolk Island, " J^und it a iioll" and left it a "w'cll ordered community. The principle \ / 8 FIRST STEPS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. on which Captain Maconochie based all his success was this, that his sj-stem gave t^ prisoner a fair ho2)e of ameliorating his condition by his own exertions. It is very important to notice this ; it is quite immaterial to describe here the fabric he rearexl on this fo^^ndation, or that which others have raised on the same foundation : they will be noticed hereafter. ^ Here we grasp a Crst principle, a grand motiS'e power, the power by which Capt^iin iNIaconochie changed ISorfolk Island penal settlement from a hellr into a well ordered community ; and the principle which, under proper guidance, lies at the fpundation of all reformatory treatment. I find Sir Walter Crofton, the eminent man 'to whom the Irish convict system mainly owes its existence and its success, thus spoke before the Transportation Committee of 1855-56 : — ^ " The sta^-e of the Irlsli convict prisoners at the time -n-hen this Act into which we are novr enquirin^i was passed, was as deplorable as it was possible to conceive: the prisoners were morally and physically prostrate in every way. There was a want of the element of hope in them, &c."' At last, wit^ the exception of Western Australia, all our colonies, including the Cape/>f Good Hope, positively refused to receive any more of our convicts, so utterly demoralizing was the influence found to be oi these unreformed, uncared for and almost incorrigible offenders. The United Kingdom was then forced to take charge of its own convicts, and then the absolute necessity of reformatory treatment became conclu- sively established. Subsequently to 1854 Ave see this principle admitted in Ireland and in England as one of vital importance in the penal treatment of offenders, and it has been fully recog- nized by the law in England. In Europe we observe the siiime principle had been gradually and earlier recognized as con- stituting one of the chief points in all penal laws and treat- ment regarding criminals. I need not give here in' support^ of ray statement the names of the eminent men who on tlie Continent or in gi'eat Britanx are specially connected wit"!! . these reformatory measures, nor transcribe their opinions ; they will be found hereafter in this work./ but -it is necessary ' FIRST STEPS IN THE UNITEr KINGDOM AJB ETJROrE. 9 to observe that the discovery of the absolute necessity of treating" criminals with a view to their Reformation, of intro- ducing the element of hope, was made, not by one country from the experience of another, but in each country by its own sad experience : we find Colonel JNl^ntesinos at Valencia in Spain, and Governor Obermaier at the state prison of Munich, DocTor Wicheu at the I\aube Hau3 near Hamburg, , and the reformatory at Ruysselede in Belgium, Maconochie in Norfolk Island, Crofton in Ireland, Isl. Demetz and M. de Courteilles at Mettray in France, — all acting on the same, principles taught by the same cause, sad experience. Tha last named institution, Mettray, established in 1839 near Tours in France, has attained such eminent success, and seems so*fit a model from which India may largely benefit, that I shall hereafter take further notice of it-. In 18G3 I personally examined it most carefully, and saw in every branch of its arrangements, its mode of working and train- ing the •' colons." , As each country recognized the principle of the refor- matory treatment of its criminals, so, of necessity, its laws were brought to aid the new sysiem. Thus far we may say all countries acted alike ; here they of necessity diverged, and each raised a superstructure specially suited to its own people. In the United Kingdom, after immense discus- sions by parties of every conceivable opinion (for probably no subject was ever more thoroug'ily ventilated), an Act was produced, whereby not only was adequate and sufficient satisfaction insured for the offence against the law, but op- portunity afforded to the offender of ameliorating his condi- tion, during the sentence, by his ov\^n exertions— or in other wordg, the sentence of the law did not destroy tliat great reformatory power, Iioj)?, but on the contrary enabled it legally to be used. The ¥ast importance of this measure cannot be over- stated : prior to the Act any efforts of a reformatory nature, based on giving the offender for^gdod conduct in prison any indulgence, such for instance as partial remission of sentence, m- lightening of its liature, though perhaps productive of 10 FIRST STEPS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. , good reformatory effects, yet had against them the following grave objection : — » That the law and the publig have a right to demand, that n6 sentence iassed shall be lessened or mitigated (excei^t under known rules acknowledged' by the law), at the mere will and phasure of iail authorities, and? consequently without the knowledge, either of the judge who passed the sentence, or of the public v'hose interests are affected by the proper execution thereof. *" In the United Kingdom, therefore, under Acts 20 and 21 of 1857, the law prescribed as follows regarding sentences of penal servitude : — « 1 Time which must be t passed, under detention ^. e., Sentence. the satisfaction demanded Periods of remission by the law and which may on licence. not be lessened. Years. Years. Months. The periods remit- 3 2 - 6 ted on licence will be 4 3 3 proportionate to the 5 4 > length of sentences, and 6 4 6 will depend upon the 7 5 3 fitness of each convict 8 6 for release, after a care- 10 7 6 ful consideration has 12 9 been given to his case 15 10 by the Grovernment. Here we see exactly, the satisfaction demanded bj' the law without possibility of remission, and the portions vrhich the prisoner by^his conduct may so far get remitted as to be allowed liberty, on licence, that is on a ticket of Ivave which can be revoked at any moment if he misbehaves, and which if revoked involves his beingi sent back to prison to complete his origiital sentence, unless again allowed out on a ticket of leave. ' ^ / , FIRST STEPS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. 11 On this point Sir Walter Crofton observes :— « "There may be same avIio question the justice of admitting an in- terference with the sentence of the judge through any subsequent act of the criminal under detention. I think it better to explain that since the enactment of June 1857, (2(Jand 21 Vict. ) ^^le judicial officers are, at the timS of passing sentence, made aware of -Jhe course which will be pursued, and that a certain and proportionate part of each sentence can be abbreviated^through the conduct of the criminal." Before proceeding to examine in detail the Irish system, based on the above, I must nciice here how completely the views of- all enlightened and deej) thinking men, who either by duty or inclination have been brought into contact witji criminal classes, or have given th(iir attention to this subject, coincide with the principle sanctioned by this law. Mii?s, the author of History of British India, says — " An offence is an act by which a right is violated. The object of punishment is to pfevent such acts. It is emploj^ed, under the empire of reason onlj^ as a last resource. If offences could be prevented without punishment, punishment ought never to exist. It follows as a necessary consequence that as little of it as possible ought to exist." Mr. Recorder Hill, in his paper read on 12tli January 1863 before the Law Amendment Society, r«marked : — " The principles of secondary punishment may be reduced to three : first, the application of pain with the intention of proving to the sufferer, and to all who may learn his fiite, tlat the profits of crime are over- balanced by its losses. This is the deten-ent principle in action. The second principle is what Bentham calls that of incapacitation. So long- as the criminal remains in jail, society is protected from his misconduct, not by the deterrent operation of fear, but because he has for the time lost the power of offending. The third is the reformatory principle. Thus incapacitation deprives the malefactor of his power to do wrong ; deterrents over-master by fear his desire for evil doing ; while by reformation that desire is extinguished, and is replaced by aspirations and habits which will furnish him with a safeguard against relapse." Captain Maconochie, who first tried reformatory mea- sures in Norfolk Island, and with the most signal success, writes " that the immediate and direct object of punishment in every case should be the reform of the criminal." The rHonorable Lord Neaves, in his address to the Natural Social Science Congress of 1863, said: — • " But next comes the question, if question it be, whether when ^•iminals are in our hands for punishment we might not do» something with a view to their reformation. The answer is clear. Both our duty %nd our interest require That we should uttenipt the task." ^s / 12 FIRST STEPS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. The Right Honorable Thomas O'Hagaii, Attorney Gene- ral for Ireland, thus summed up his remarks on " Punishment and Eeformation " before the Social Science Congress of 1861:-. " We have gatl-.ered f -om the experience of th^ past some truths as to the theory of piTiiishment, which have received very general accep- tance, and amongst t^era I think are tliese : — < " That for all practical purpcfies human law should deal with crime, not to avenge, but to prevftnt and to reform. " That merely vindictive aiul repressive action defeats its own purpose, and increases the mischief it would do away. " That severity, dispropurtioned to the character of offences, and pressed beyond tlio point at which it may suffir^e to check by example, and restrain from repetition, is at once unnecessary and injurious. " That the just'ce of liumail punishment is bounded by its necessity ; and while the wise legislator should labor to make it fall with certainty on guilt, and carry it out with untiincliing firmness, he shoukV reconcile, so far as may be permitted, the claims of tlie community to complete protection against crime with the refor mutton of the convict, and . make that reformatifju where he can the aid and the instrament for securing that protection." The address by Thomas Chambers, Q. C, Common Sergeant of London, before the Social Science Congress of 18G2, is so valuable that T give it at some length — " Whether the 'deterring of others by example, or the reformation of the offender himself, be the prr.nary duty of society and object of punishment, — or whether it be the emphatic protest made against wrong-doing and Avrong-doers \»y, the infliction of punishment, — may still be debated among us. But though these topics have a speculative interest for the metaphysician and scientitic jurist, and promise to be fruitful of discussion for years to come, yet happily their determination is not necessary in order to the adoption of practical remedies for cry- ing evils. Reasoners and moralists may dispute, yet philanthropists need not delay to act, and the problems insoluble by argument may be settled conclusively by practice. It may be ( I rather incline to that opinion ) that the State has nothing to do with the individual except in his bearing on the welfare of society — that any interference with him on other than public grounds is objectionable, and that this doctrine is ap- plicable both to those who obey, and to those who infringe the laws. llence in dealing- with offenders, we are to proceed entirely on the as- sumption that our treatment of them is to be of a nature detern" ined exclusively on public, and not at all on personal considerations ; that no result is to be aimed at which will terminate in themselves. The final object in our systems of penal discipline, as in all our other social arrangements, is tht good of the community, — its deliverance, fi-om some evil or inconvenience, or its attainment of some substantive good. Ii. the case of our criminals, the end sought in our mode of dealing with them, whatever it be, is the repVeasiou of crime, — ^ihe diminishing the number both of offences and oftenciers. This is the matter in which the State has a^lirect interest, and which the State may strive at securing. What is the best means to be adopted for tliat "^ purpose then becomes the subject of inquiry. What apparatus, or agency, or machinery, la . FIRST STEPS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. 13 most likely to thin the ranks and lessen the activity of tlie criminal classes? That point is not to be determined by any consideration of what is good for them fof tlicir own sakes, b^it of what is good for the society of which they ai'C the pests. To do them good is not the final aim, but to benefit the public. , To secure for those who have broken the law g,nd become subject to penalties some personal advantage, is not, I think, a legitimate object of public law, though of private Christian benevolence it may be a plaiu obligation. But then, admitting to the full the validitA-^of this distinction, suppose that iy practice it should turn out to be immaterial. Suppose it should appear that on public grounds alone such a discipline may be justified as shall have for its immediate result the improvement of t^e offender, and for its remote and ultimate result the advantage of the community. I am not, surely, to sacrifice the latter object, simply because, in the course of attaining it, I confer a boon on the subject of any punitive discipline. This would be madness. It would be nothing less than an aliandonment or tlie social amelioration which is our ultim&te aim for the sake of a pure vindictiveness, and in order to deprive a convict of some moral advantage to exclude -Jhe community from the realization of its cherished hopes. For it may be the most effective — indeed, the only effective — mode of pi'otecting soceity, to reclaim and vestore the offender. Then, surely, we are not to sacritlee all, lest we should incidentally ben'efit the few. On the contrary, if by conferring such a partial benefit, lean Hsecure a universal good, I shall readily pursue a course where the means and the end are alike desirable. What mere terror and merciless severity could do, has been tried in all countries — in all ages ; nor has the experiment been attended, in any case, by encouraging results. Even capital punishment has been found notoriously inadeqiiate as a means of re- pressing crime, and lias been for large classes of oftences recently abandonetl with advantage. So, Avith 'vscondary punishments, it has been found that the harshest and most degrading have not been the most effective. Where their operation has been limited to a term of years, or of months, it has happened, in innumerable instances, that the subjects of them have been thrown back upon society, hardened, more reprobate, more determined on evil than before. Hence the discipline has not only damaged the unhappy subjects of it, but has put into greater peril the veiy social interests whose security was our professed object. The evil whose excesses you have been scourging grows more virulent under your hand ; and the expedients devised for the purpose of relieving society of the depredations of the criminal, without aiming at Ills amendment, fail, on that very account, to accomplish their object. And this is exactly what our old systems did, as has been shown Avith a fulness of illustration and a force of argument at former meetings of our Association, which leaves notiiing to be supplied on that head. And the failure Avhich attended all exploded systems of penal discipline has not only been abundantly proved, but is now frankly admitted ; and the happy change which has taken place in our treatment of all crimi- nals, but especially of juvenile offenders, is the result of the general conviction t(j,at such a change was of paramount importance, nay, even otepressing necessity. Even if the amendment of the criminal himself, for his own sahe, were bej^ond the range of State obligation in relation to l*ira, yet his amendfiient for the sake^oi* the society which had been Av'i-onged by his crimes, and which was still in peril from his probable repetition of them, would demand his cure. If you cannot cut off the diseased member of .the bftdy politic, its being healed becomes the obvi- ous and only ( as it is plainly the best) result to be aimed at. 14 FIRST STEPS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. It has been urged as an objection to the modern mode of dealing with convicted persons in a manner intended and adapted to restore them to moral health, tha?L it is founded on a sivirious philanthropy and sickly sentimentalisra ; that it betokens an inadequate appreciation .of the guilt Avhich attaches to crime, and displays more sympathy with the offender Jhan hatred of tjie offence ; that tiie power of rebuke is thereby weakened, while the sof^ir emotions are quickened into morbid action, and gratified at the expense of other and more manly virtues. It is said that the primary dut^^ of the judge is to vindicate the bifoken law by the infliction of penalties, and that tl^is should be done in a form and man- ner to mark most forcibly the detestation which society has of the crime, and its resolution to punish ; tliat the transgressor should be stigmatized as well as chastened, and visitea with reprobation as well as punish- ment ; that it is altogether a mistake to make any effort to restore the convict again to society as reclaimed, and fit to resume his place among the uucouvicted ; that, on the contrary, he should carry a brand on him ineffaceable, so that in his person and condition to the close of his life there should be plain and palpable evidence of the hatred and indigna- tion due to his crimes. Nay, that it were better finally to expel the offender, even, if necessarj-, by hurrying him out of existefice, rather than by the methods of healing, and by the discipline even of an ex- perienced beuevolence, to endeavour to win him ba(?,k to virtue and to society. Now, if it be admitted that there is in this hostile criticism of our modern procedure in relation to convicted persons, some element of truth ; yet it is plain that all such objections fall to the ground, or be- come nugatory, if the course complained of can be justified on reasons quite independent of any«. considerations of mere benevolence. If it can be shown that self-interest, the protection and welfare of the communi- ty — our own safetji and security — demand for the culprit a discipline just such as that which Christian philanthropy and compassion might have suggested, so that the lowest motives concur in demanding Avhat the highest would have prescribed ; then all objections to the adoption of such a course on the ground thai it puts the Avell-being of the offender before the well-being of the community, and makes kindness to him injustice to the State, are seen to be futile. If a corrective discipline is not only better for the prisoner, but better also for the public, — if his being healed is a matter of great moment to society as well as of vital importance to himself, then it must be admitted that Christian philanthropy and true patriotism are both alike consulted in efforts to reclaim tlie culprit, and both alike rewarded should those efforts be successful. If this point be established, I no longer put my hand to the work of refor- mation with hesitation and trembling, fearing lest I should weaken the defences of society or the sanctions of law by showing kindness to the criminal ; but I set about it with confidence and courage, assm-ed that what Christian precepts and manly sympathies and social interests alike dictate may be done without apprehension that any sound 'prin- ciple will be infringed, or any valuable object imperilled, by the course I adopt. It becomes, then, a question of fact to be determined by evidence, a practical experiment Avhose result is to be ascertained by experience, whether a reformatory process is advantageous 1o the pub- lic ; whether punishment should be a discipline with a view to amend- ment — or vindictive simply ; wt ether we may notitihed balm instead of venom on the edge of the sword .^f justice, so that while it wounds it shall healjt and its severest inflictions minister good to the sufferer, and through him to all." , FIRST STEPS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. 15 Lord Brougliam, in liis address to the Social Science Con- gress of 1864, congratulates the members on the final triumph of the reformatory movement in England, and thus remarks : — " liJ'o subject has more engaged the atter.iiiou of mar Asj^ociation in all its branches than the treatment of convictJ. At our first Congress, in 1857, pajiers were read on the Irisli sj-stem ; and it formed next year the main topiciof the very able and interesting ad^Vess by Lord Carlisle, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as presiding over one of the Departments.' We have at this meeting deeply to lament his' absence, fi'om ill-health, , which every friend of the country mu:?t hope may have a short continu- ance. At the Dublin XJongi-ess most of our members had an opportunity of fully inspecting Sir W. Crofton's proceedings, and all formed a de- cided opinion in his favour. Last year, some alarm was excited by tlje opposition iu high quarters, ( countenanced by the Home Office ) to its introduction into this country ; but this was allayed by the reports of a Koyal Commission, and of a Committee of the House of Lords ; and though shnilar attempts were afterwards made in the same quarters,, there is hapily an end of all doubt upon the matter by the Penal Servi- tude Act of last Session, which places the principle so strenuously main- tained by us beyoild the reach of further disturbance. 1 he opposition of the Home Office is abandoned ; the Act enforces the most important of the recommendations in the report of the Commission and of Lord Carnarvon's Committee, and that office has shown a praiseworthy dis- position to give up its former prejudices and fairly and firmly to exe- cute the Act, in the regulations issued under its provisions. The con- troversy of years thus comes to au end, and convict treatment is brought into agreement with the intentions of the legislature in 1853, or, in other words, the Irish system. On this we laay congratulate our worthy col- league, the Recorder of Birmingham (Mr. Ilill ), who first among us broached this subject iu 1857, having»made himself acquainted with the system upon the spot. Unfortunately he is not here ; but he has sent an able and most instructive paper, which will be read in the Jurispru- dence Department, and of which advantage is now taken in this Address. The treatment of convicts, with constant purpose of reforming them, deviating neither into indulgence on the one hand nor unnecessary harshness on the other, their supervision after their release, both to pro- tect the community against the danger of their relapse, and themselves against unjust suspicion and consequent persecution, and to aflbrd them some aid in obtaining employment under the all but overwhelming dis- advantages with which they return to society _; these, to use Mr. Hill's words, are the principles now accepted, the principles of the Irish sys- tem. J Its success is proved by the experience of eleven years. It has been approved by the most eminent jurists on the Continent, and con- demned by none. At tlieir head must be placed our learned colleague, Professor Holtzendorff, of Berlin, who joined us in the examination of Sir Walter j;)rofton's premises, at the Dublin Congres'S. Next, we have tte approval of Professor Mittermaier, of Heidelberg ; .,M. Davisies de Pontes has described it in the Bevue des deux Mondes ; and Van da Brwggen, late Minister of Justice in HollAnd, adopts it. M. Massorgy, sf Frencli judge, who has long studied me subject, pronounces strongly in Sir Walter Crofton's favour ; and M. Cavour had begun t(f act upon Uie Irish system just bcfci-e his lamented death." IG FIRST STEts IN THE UNITEb KINGDOM AND EUROPE. It is not possible in tliis brief pamphlet to quote one half of the many mei^ of all countries who support cordially this great movement ; but I trust the few quotations I have given, will sufficiently establish t]ie principle I earnestly seek to see iritrodud'.d into this country — namely, that the reformation of the offender shall be recognized by the law of the land as a principle to be most carefully ]9reserved and worked out, not only as a part of all sentences to penal ser- vitude, but of our prison discipline. I have shown how in the United Kingdom this principle is specially recognized in Act 20 and 21 of Vict. 1857 — how therein a certain defined term of detention must he un- dergone by the offender, and that no power or authority save that of course of the paramount authority in {lie land, can shorten,;by one hour that term of detention. I have shown that the prisoner can by his own exertions not only mitigate the nature of the last portion of his sentence, but can also obtain a remission of the term of detention dur- ing which the law does not insist on his being actually in prison. I have briefly sketched the various phases through which England has passed as regards the treatment of her criminals. How severity of punishment alone did not pre- vent but rather produced ' crime. How the transporta- tion era, greatly as it relieved England yet did so only temporarily and as a palliative measure ; for, as it also was carried out without any organized attempt either in England or in the Colonies at reforming those transported, so the colonies at last refused to have those hardened and appa- rently incorrigible criminals. The necessity of providing for, and punishing convicts within the limits of the United Kingdom, forced so to Sipeak on the public and on the Government, the equal necessity of attempting some reformatory treatment towards these con- victs. In Ireland under Sir Walter Crofton the reformatory treatment has attained more success than in England, and after an experience of 13 jiears is pronounced to be and'i§ universally admitted to be, a decided success. The evidence of the many distinguished foreigners inentioned .by Lord / ^ FIRST STEPS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE. 17 Broiigliam shows liow carefully the system has been examin- ed, and how highly i^ is ajipreciated. > I cannot here enter into all the differences between ifc and tLie English system. — they can all Jbe read in tile report of the last Parliamentary Committee iield on this subject at the time when the abuse of the system " of ticket of leave" created such a panic in England. I niay note however that the result was very beneficial tp the Irish system ; for the most impartial and rigid examination by the Parliamentary Committee not only detected the errors of the English sys- tem which gave rise to the panic, but proved more than ever the sound basis of the Irish mode of working, and the decided :)n^cessity and wisdom of upholding it with all the power of the law. CHAPTER II. THE IRISH SYSTEM. I have myself personally seen the Irish system in full working under the able direction of the present Director, Captain Wliitty ; and as I am convinced that much, though of course not all, of its measures may with exceeding wis- dom and benefit be at once adopted in this country, I pro- ceed to describe as briefly as possible, the measures carried out under that system from its commencement ; andj to show its present mode of working : for all the steps taken by Sir Walter Crofton are full of instruction for those in this country who would attempt anything approach- ing to a ^reformatory, yet penal, treatment of offenders. I have before given his description of the prisoners when 'he commenced, but it is worth Vhile repeating it :— " The state of the Irish convict prisons at the time when this Act *into which we are now enquiring was passed, was as deplorable as it is 1 8 THE IRISH SYSTEM. possible to conceive ; the prisoners were morally and pliysically prostrate in every way ; there was a want of the element of hope in them,, of educa- tion, and of everything wt could wish to find iu» prisoners." His first steps were to at once relieve the prisons of their overcrowded st?.te, and reduce the number of .the in- mates to that whicll was consistent with discipline, with health, and with ])is reformatory measures. E[^ then sepa- ' rated once and for ev^r the juvenile from the adult prisoners, ' and recommended and ol)tayied sanction to the erection of what he called a Penal Reformatory, in order to make it as distinct as possible from the general character of a Penal Pj'ison. The state of the edijcation of the prisoners next received his thorough examination. Two well selected meaSvere ap- pointed, and he recommended their l)eing sent at the expense of Government to visit the different penal and reformatory establishments in the country, so that they might learn the sort of principle he expected them to act on and carry out. Having thus so to speak, cleared his ground, Sir Walter Crofton then gave form and? force to his great principles : — I. Individualization in treatment. II. An intermediate stage of treatment between im- prisonment and absolute liberty, whereby the prisoner is fitted for and rendered capable of using liberty for his own benefit and that of others. III. The progress of the prisoner to amehoration of condition and to liberty, depending on the pri- soner himself ; on his own exertions. o Now these are principles of immense importance, and admit of universal application. Regarding the first, individualization, Sir Walter Crofton thus spoke in 1861 : — "_ We ai-e not to be deterred b'y the reckless, criminal, and almost' revolting as'pect too often presented to us in the appearance of the adult offenders i but we are to couaider >vith all humilit^-, that these iiard lines - THE IRISH SYSTEM. 19 and scowling aspect have been accumulated by a life of antagonism to all that is good, generated in some part by an alienation from all that is hind. •> ' " Let us inquire what can be done, and let us see what has been done to attain so desirable an jnd as the amendment of the adylt crimi- nal ; wls^thcr the principles which have prolfed so successful Avith the young may not be applicable also to the more advanced in years ? " Can we »^ot individualize, and seek after tha,t which is good in every person old or young, and foster i\ and under the blessing of God bring it to maturity ? " Can we not wrestle, and struggle, and strive to eradicate that which is evil ? Can we not examine the faults, weaknesses of character, and to the best of our power make their opposites the road to advance- ment ? Do we not know that the bane of the criminal class is self-induN gence, idleness, and a want of self i-estraint ? By therefore placing a premium upon self-negation, industry and self-restraint, and making these qualities the gi'ounds, the /e/^ grounds of the criminal's advance- ment, you\iftbi"d to him a good and reformatory training. It may be so in a greater or a less degree to individuals, but it must be so in a de- gree to all. By the same process, his had and more natural qualities may be made to retard Iiis progress to the goal all desire to obtain, viz : liberty." Regarding the second — the intermediate stage. He felt that he could not in justice to the public nor to the convicts, allow the power given by the Act, of giving liberty on licences, to be put in force, until some steps had been taken to prove that the men to be conditionally liberated, were in a fit state to be so treated — and ihat therefore it was absolute- ly necessary to introduce some system of restraint between actual confinement and positive liberty, in which the fitness of a prisoner for the privilege of liberty on " licence" could be tested. He observes : — " What the Governor of Western Australia thought that he could not do in Western Australia, viz : to give them tickets of licence, we felt, for similar reason as directors of convict prisons, we could not re- commend in Ii-eland. The same feeling Avhich prevents our inflicting on a colony convicts who have not been subjected to a proper course of prison, discipline, also precludes our bringing fonvard prisoners for dis- charge in this country on tickets of licence, as in England. " We consider such ticket of licence to be a sort of guarantee to the community, that in consequence of a prisoner havyig been subjected to a proper course of prison (.liscipline and reformatory treatment, he i^considered a fit subject to be received and employetl by those out- side the prison. _, , * " Such reformatory course not liavmg h ithetio been pursued in this country, we have not felt ourselves justified in recommending'' the issue %f tickets of licence." 20 THE IRISH SYSTEM. Subsequently, liis system having had some little time to work, and feeling be had some gro\inds for issuing the licences under proper safeguards, he thus writes : — " Tl*j plan is, b}' tb? institution of intermwliate establishments be- t^^'een the prisons and thl^ world. We found that men discharged out of prison in the ordinary way were ■perfect children ; they did not know what to do ; they had not been thinking for themselves /or years, and were dependent upon eveiy jierson they came near ; and whatever might have been th^ir iutentioufj to reform, the moment they were outside the prison they fell into their old eyil associations again and were quite asti'ay as to what thej^ should do. This Avas partly what induced us to recommend a system of intermediate establishments, we thought also that we should be enabled to place them in a position in which the com- munity would be rather more satisfied Avith the test of their reformation ; for unless the community would employ the discharged criminal we felt that whatever we might do in prison, tJie difficulty Avas not solved. It is c^uite clear fi-om what has occurred in England, and Avhat has been going on for some time that that has been the great diJiculty. ""The peo- ple are not satisfied Avithout a test of a man's character ; hoAvever ex- emplary you 'might term him and consider him in the prison, where he is watched by prison officers and every one around him, still it is not considered by the world as satisfactory as if he were placed in a position where he Avould be exposed to temptation ; Ave therefore recommend the institution of these establishments, Avhere the men Avould have greater fi'eedom of action. In iecommending tliese establishments we found that there Avas no new principle to be tested as to the treatment of cri- minals, Ave AA^ere n>8rely adopting Avhat had been found successful by philanthropic institutions in thif countiy and on the continent. " All that was novel was its application to the convict establish- ments ; and as the success of the philanthropic institutions Avhich had been tested in this country and on the continent Avas dependent upon individualizing^ and acting- on men in small numbers through moral agency, our experiment, if I may so term it, Avas hoAv Ave could adopt prison machinery, that is, the officers of prison establishments to become moral agents. "In consequence of the vacancy of a School-master we were enabled to make afi'esh appointment Avhich aa'o termed that of a lecturef, to the institution in Dublin. He Avas a person fortunately Avith a speciality for the calling, and AA-as practically conversant Avith the different refor- matory institutions here and on the continent. " There Avas therefore no difficulty in that respect ; but we had to adopt the existiug prison officers as our trade instructors, and* as Ave hoped, om* moral agents ; and there was apparently our difBculty. A shoe-maker instructor was put over his class of shoe-makers, and told that he was to be .responsible not only for the industry of the men under him, but also for their character; that he was to mrke himself conversant with' all concerning them. The same was told to eveiy man in charge of a class ; the tailor of his class, the carpenter, and so on. They were informed that dui'ng the time of instruction at the ti-ades they werf to converse with tiie prisoners; allude to the subject of the lecture of the preceding evening, which they all attended, and in CA'ery way to act as moral agents throughout the dumber of hours that tfa^/ THE IRISH SYSTEM. 21 were with iliem ; in addition to which tliey were to aid in procuring employment where they coulfl do so outside the prison for the men on discharge." i ' Regarding convicts in these intermediate - establish- ments, he observes : — ^ ' " The results so far as I have ascertained are most satisfactoiy, so far as regards thp freedom of agency which these nii^jn have to do wrong in the establishment ; we have on several occasions tried them in this Avay. I have employed them when public works have "required it. " A cai-penter having been requireil at the model prison for some time, I have tried the experiment, if I may so term it, of sending one of these men every morning to his work, through the city, nearly two miles off and back again to return to the lecture in the evening. And he has done this for nearly two months every day by himself, no warder with him ; and passing by the public houses, he returns regulai'ly and performs the day's work both to the good of the public service, and to the satisfac+ion of the Governor of the prison where he is working. " I contemplate other advantages as likely to result from the system besides those already mentioned ; and in considering, that system it was v>^ith a far wiBer view than merely as regarded tickets of licence. " We believe that it would be a substitute, and a very favorable substitute, for any general system of shortening sentences ; it has been some time generally felt that an uncertainty with regard to sentences is a great evil. However convenient (and I quite^ acknowledge the conve- nience) it may be for prison authorities to hold out, as an inducement to good prison conduct, that the prisoners should lose 2;> per cent, ot their punishment, or be released at the end of , the third j^ear instead of at end of the fourth, I cannot think that such a com-se Avill tend to genuine reformation. " I should be unbelieving in the reformation of any man who would require so strong a stimulus as to be let off" one-fourth ot his punish- ment to induce his reformation ; I should infinitely prefer to see that man with a well modified system of imprisonment at the termination of his sentence ( such as that which I mention ) in a situation where he can be tested before he goes out. " I should hope that that would be a sufiicient stimulus for any good prison conduct ; if it was not, I should be veiy doubtful of the reformation of the man." The third great measure introduced, and which I put last as it carries us at once into the detail working of the system ; is that by which the progress of a prisoner is regulated (and therefore his condition ^meliorated or oj^herwise) by his own exertions, and shown by the marks he attains. To see clearly how this system is carried out, it is accessary here to describe the various stages of discipline 22 THE IRISH SYSTEM. through which a prisoner must pass, before he can obtain the conditional liberty which is the result of his own exertions. The following is compiled from Sir Walter Crofton's own account of these stages, as giren in that most valuable work lately published by Miss Carpenter, a work which places the whole subject before the reader in the most complete form, 'and whicji all should readVho seek for information on the reformatory question. There are three stages or distinct modes of treatment which a prisoner must successively pass through, and in all of which his progress depends upon himself. First. — That of cellular confinement for 8 or 9 months. Second. — That of association, in which his< progress towards the next stage is shown by marks. Third. — That of comparative liberty, called the inter- mediate stage, or the stage between absolute confinement and liberty on a licence, and in which stage there are no marks. Detailed account of each stage : — < " First Stage. — Separate coufineraent in a cellular prison, for the first eight or nine months of theoSenteuce ; whether the period is eight or nine months or even longer, depends upon the conduct of the convict. If his conduct is quite unexceptionable, he Avould be entitled to be removed to an associated prison ( second stage ) in eight months ; as soon as he has entered it is distinctly explained to him, that the period of his detention in that separate cell will depend upon his own conduct. If he is perfectly quiet and orderly he will be completely isolated even from prison society only for eight months. Should he be less well behaved the period will be full nine months. Should the criminal fever be upon him in a chronic form, stimulating him to indulge in the excitements of violence, in brawling, striving to communicate Avith his neighbour, or even in attacking the gaolers, he is soon made to feel how utterly powerless he is, not only by the walls that box him in, but by the reducing of his food to bread and water, and even by flogging. He works alone, not often visited by any one, and with ample opportunity for meditation and repentance during his nine months. But he is allowed to have hope of the future ; — a hope to be realized by himself. The shortening of this*^period of his separation depending on hi^;, good con- duct, he knows that when it shall have ended he will have still further opportunity of improving his condition by his oivn endeavors. This expectation produces its natufal,, result in his (Jaiet and oi'derly .de- meanour and his obedience to authority ; in most instances the period of his cellular confinement is accordingly abridged. Dming his stay he is one hour every day at school, but there ib a gr^at deal more taugkt THE miSlI SYSTEM— FIRST STAGE. 23 him tlian ordinr.ry school instruction ; he learns the whole scope of the convict system in Ireland. And when I say that he learns the whole scope of that system, it is an important matter that he should know everything that will be done with him Avith reference to his marks, how his progress is recorded, and how much depends upon his own exertions in every stage to improve his position. This -.lis made the bubject of school lectures. The convicts are called up an., on a black board are required to illustrate the mark system, and to explain what will be done with them after *Jiey are out. He learns the whole bearing of the Irish convict system, by means of scholastic instruction ; that he can only reach the intermediate prison (a special fcaturcand a third stage in the system) through his exertions, measured-by mai-ks in the second stage of the system. As the liberation of the convict within the period of his sentence depends upon the date of his admission to the intermediate or third stage of the system, it is manifestly to his own interest, as it is the interest of those placed over him, that he should be well informed upon this point. There is a strong mentai impression made consequent on this information. As the convict attains knowledge of the system he feels that within certain limits he is made the arbiter of las own fate. Antagonism to the authorities placed over him gradually dis- appears, and in its stead rises a conviction that there is a co-operation, where he had formerly anticipated oppression. The first stage ■^vill have done good work if it has succeeded in planting in the mind of the con- vict, that there is an active co-operation existing between himself and those placed over him. They are made perfectly aware of the police arrangements of the country, and I am satisfied that these arrangements being impressed upon their minds at the commencement of their senten- ces, induces on their parts a feeling of co-operation with the system ; they feel that they cannot pursue crime to the extent wMch they former- ly did with impunity, and I am sure that this knowledge makes a very great impression on the general body of prisoners. " In L'eland this first stage is made very penal by the omission of meat from the dietary for the first four months. This was at first tried as an experiment. It was my own opinion that the convicts had a larger dietary when in separation than was necessary for them. There might be some reason for giving them a better dietary Avhen they were in association on the public works ; but in separation it did not appear to me to be necessary. I called upon the medical officer to try an experi- ment for two months with an absence of meat from the dietary ; he tried that experiment, and then I had another experiment tried for three months ; and at last we attained four months. "When I left Ireland, four months without a meat diet had been in use for some years. I am not at all persuaded in my own mind that four months need be the maximum for the absence of meat. My own opinion is that if the convict?, were given meat one month before they go to the associated labour prisons it would be quite sufficient for them. " The absence of interesting employment during the first three months is a feature which is peculiar to the Irish system, I will give the reasons as clearly as I can, and explain why t\\Qahsefice of interesting cmiJoyment was necessary. What I mean by interesting employment is, the teaching men trades when they come into the prisons. My observa- tion was, that I found them all at work in their cells, learning- shoe- maSing and all kinds of trades ; and ref^iring, because very^ fb-w of them in proportion were tradesmen, the attendance of the trades ivarders to l»avc constant intercourse with them in order to obtain iustructioii. 24 THE IRISH SYSTEM — SECOND STAGE. Now we have erected tliese prisons at an enormous cost for the purpose of creating, as I hope, depressing influences upon the minds of these men, before you work upon them in other t6ays. I felt that if they could converse in order to receive instruction with the warders, during nearly the whole of the day, the warders coming backwards and for- wards A^'herever they ^ere required, th'e elFect of the punishment of isolation would be verj- materially sacrificed. A change was made and they were given for the first three months oakum to pick and no- thing else. To th^, public there could be no gaip in trying to teach these employments ; {op what is done with 'these men af- terwards ? They were ""sent nearly all of them to the public works prison; and these men were, immediately to be made stone cutters and laborei's, whom we had endeavoured to make cobblers at a sacrifice of material, and still worse of the depressmg influence /o7" vjhichi\\Gse prisons had been built. That in most cases a decidedly depressing effect was worked upon the prisoners by this treatment, in the fii-st three months at JMouujoy prison I ^ave no doubt ; and not only from my own observation, and from the observations of the Governors and ofllcers of prisons, but from information obtained fi'om the convicts after their liberation ; a natural consequence I think of less diet, and the absence of what I have called interesting employment, which had the effect of keeping the*^ separation more distinct for a period cf time. After three months those who had been tradesmen, that is shoe-makers and tailoi's, who did not require any special instruction, were set to work at their trades ; others who had no trade, were employed in mending the sheets of the prison establishments ; mending clothes, and in boot closing ; employments that do iiot require any supervision on the part of the oflacers ; but they were not taught any trade. " Second Stage. — This stage is divided into four classes, viz : the third, in which the convict is ylaced on his arrival from the first stage. " The second, the first, and the advanced or A class. The peculiar feature of the Irish ^convict system in the second stage ia the institution of marks to govern the classification. " The mark system is a minute and intelligible monthly record of the power of the convict to govern himself, and very clearly realizes to Lis mind that his progress to liberty, within the pei'iod of his sentence, can only be furthered by the cultivation and appli- cation of qualities opposed to those which led to his con\"iction. The maximum number of marks eacli convict can attain monthly is nine, which are distributed under three different headings, viz : three for discipline, i. e., general regularity and orderly demeanour' ; three for school, i. e., the attention and desire for improvement, or industry in school ; and three for industnj at %vorh, and not skill which may have been previously acquired. " For instance, it may be quite possible for an ignoranti.man, if learning his letters to learn them industriously, and in that case he would get his maximum number of marks ; while another man who could read very well, perhaps would not get them. When they leave the separate prison of the first stage they go into the third class : they bagin low down in that class, on the ground tha^ in separation there is little opportunity of doing mitch amiss ; it does not afford the same test a^'other prisons. * '' ^ * Tliat is to say, a prisoner brings nothing to his credit towards marks in the third class, his efforts in this class first begin to secure for biin " marks," ' "■ • THE IRISH SYSTEM— SECOND STAGE. 25 " It will be possible for a convict to raise himself from the third to the second class in two months, by ^e acquisition of (18) eighteen 2x9 marks * from the second to the first in six months if he has attained (6 X y)=54) marks in the seijond class ; and from the first to the ^A. or advanced class in twelve months, jirovided he has acquired 12x'J=:lii8 marks in ^e first class. ' " "When the convict has reached the A class his progress is noted monthly as A 1, A 2, &g. » " When the convict attains the A class he is employed (although still in the second stage of his detention) on special works, and kept apart from the other convicts. * His school instruction and lectures take place in the evening. " The moment a man attains a position in this class he is put into a detached portion of the prison, and kept there under a dif- ferent system. This class have their *meals and work together ; they are employed on special woi-ks, and have more work because they have school in the evening ; they are dealt with specially in every way.* The 1st, 2nd and ord are worked together. They are in a distinct building. " I can record /rom actual experience that the marks are of the utmost value : that they are the means of acting upon a man as cuv individual, and of realizing to him his own jjosition and his own means of progress ; I know of no other way in which you can equally produce that effect upon him. I am quite satisfied that wherevei' the system of marks is tried it will succeed. " There are four persons who arc connected w^th the appoint- ment of the marks ; viz : the Officer of the gang, the Schoolmaster, the princii^al Warder, and the Governor ; and with regard to the convict, he has the means of seeing the Director as to anything which he believes to have been unjustly noted against him. " Now, however, trifling this ' mark system' may appear to those not conversant with its operation, it will be found in ^Ji'actice to realize to the mind of each individual very clearly and fully his progress in self-government, and in other desirable qualities. There is not an officer in the Irish convict department who will not bear witness to the intense interest taken by each convict in the attain- ment of his marks, and the jealous care with which he notes them. No power of indulgence is entrusted to the officers of the prison ; the system itself is humane, considerate, careful to secure the utmost amount of hope and improvement for the prisoner ; and his best reliance consists in the most faithful and strict execution of the system. Any departure from it by the officers would be to embezzle for the*benefit of an individual the moral fund available for the whole class. This is all explained to the man in language adapted to his state of education and intelligence ; he is made to feel that he is himself the true regulator of his own condition in tjae class, and of the period oi» his leaving it. » " Thus even in the ordinary prison, the men themselves become conscious and active coadjutors in carryAig out the system under whict they arc disciplined. By dcgr^s the prisoner is removed from mere separate detention within the fovir narrow w^ls that form a kind of live tonib,»to live and breathe in the coni])any of his follow crcuLurcB ; he' docs this with a uowly acquired scusc of moral 2G TUE IRISH SYSTEM — THIRD OR INTERMEDIATE STAGE. necessity, and with the evidence on every side that others as well as himself appreciate (,the promotion and comfort derivable from good, conduct. " Every circumstance by which he is surrounded contributes to enlavge and strengthen this influefice. As he makes his progress, while yet within the i>alls of the ordinary prison, the stamp on his - own sleeve indicating his class and the number of marks he has earned, and the numbers on the badge of those with whom he is associated, are a'fnemento that he has made only so much progress, but still so much. Ha knows that his opportunities are widening as he goes. He is aware that as he attains promotion the fund lodged to his account is growing in a higher ratio and will grow yet more largely and rapidly. At every step in his advance it is ex- plained to him that he is gradually marching towards the compa- rative unrestraint of the intermediate prison, whose increased com- fort and freedom he is abl3 to appreijiate from the progressive ex- perience which he has already had in the ordinary prison. Even the countenances of the companions around him will speak in the same eloquent spirit ; for there is no greater evidence d: the change worked in the race by this hard matter of fact discipline, than the altered exf:*ression of the general physiognomy^" Reviewing tlie previous stages, Sir Walter Crofton observes : — " In the first prison the convict has acquired habits of industiy, either in the prosecution of his own trade or in some simple occupation afforded to him.^^ He has gone through a certain amount of schooling, tested under able teachers by periodical examinations wliich serve to call forth his own faculties' and the consciousness of them. He is associated with his felJoAvs, under discipline, in the Avorkroora, the schoolroom, in the class, and in the chapel ; and he has thus been gradually accustomed to regiilarity of life and to a regulated state of thought. He has been made to feel how completely his condition and pi-ospects depend upon his o^^•n conduct ; and at every stage, if he has encountered any difficulties of comprehension, they have been cleared away for him by the explanations of the prison authorities." A remark by the Chaplain of one of the intermediate establishments may well be entered here : — " It appears to me to be a very important feature in this system that, as each man advances a stage in his course towards reformation, he is at each stage removed to another prison. The very fact of his being thus transferred to a new abode gives to him the idea of reality in progress which no nominal promotion would make him feel while he remained in the same prison. Every such removal he feels to be a real, sensible step towards liberty, and the results are obvious." Sir Walter continues :— ' - The third or intermediate stage. — " But thuf far he has felt pnder coercion ; the force at first bro/ght to bear upon him Avas in its character purely pnal. In the earlier stages, after his release from constant con- finement ha a separate cell, the penal element has been largely commingled with tuition and industry ; and throughout there has been ceaseless res- • THE IRISH SYSTEM— THIRD OR INTERMEDIATE STAGE. 27 t traint and coercion ; the latter, perhaps of a moral kind, but not the less distinctly exercised. According to the old S}^stem, even of improved prisons, the convict was ttirown upon society tresh from these coercions and restraints ; v*athout character, he confronted something worse than suspicion, often hopeless repulsion; the newly restored liber i.y Avas accompanied by fearful temptations to relapse inio crime, the promptings that way being almost justified by common s^se, through the utter despair of finding honest employment. Was it not possible to meet these difficulties 3 To soften the transition from perfe^ restraint to perfect freedom ? To shew that the prisoner couAd continue his better habits even with diminished compulsion, and thus to provide him with a character from Ms last place, though that place sh/)uld actually be a prison ? " The thing wanted, was a probationaiy stage to act as a filter in distinguishing the reformed from the unreformed." Sir Walter devised two intermediate establisliments to meet the wants of his two distinct classes, namely, the agri- cultural ^nd the manufacturing ; and to give to each class a probationary stage. For the first, the agricultural class, he obtained a tract pf common land near Dublin, an^ his opera- tions are thus described by Mr. Hill, the Recorder of Bir- mingham : — " At Lusk (fifteen miles from Dublin) I foynd a body of intermedi- ate men engaged in forming a garden on open heath land, a large tract of which is to be brought under cultivation by convict labor. Their dwelling, to be supplied with vegetables from the garcfen, is constructed of corrugated sheet iron, with an interioi*lining of boards for warmth. It comprehends two distinct erections, each consisting of a single spacious room, which by the slinging of hammr>cks becomes at night a dormitory. One of these rooms is by day their kitchen and house-place ; the other their chapel, school lecture room, and library. Each of these two com- partments is calculated to give sleeping room to 50 men. They are capa- able of removal at a slight cost, being light, readily taken to pieces, and as easily reconstructed ; consequently they are well adapted for temporary stations like this, which is to be the residence of convict artificers engaged in building a juvenile prison about to be erected in the immediate neigh- bom-hood. Iron edifices like these have been some time in use at the forts, and experience has proved them to be very comfortable habitations. The portability of 4hese rooms will overcome the difficulties which have been experienced in employing bodies of men at tasks which are com- pleted within short periods of time. Not being prisons however, they are oriy suitable for convicts who can be held to the spot by moral restraints. But intermediate men are striving to acquire such a character as will recommend them to employers, and thus accelerate their discharge ; consequently desertion rarely if ever ^ccurs : I heard of uo instance jn which it had been attempted." A writer in " the Cornhill Magazine thus graphically describes a visit t(fLusk Commoj^:^ " A few weeks since I found myself with two friends tr*rersing a ;^ewly reclaimed common, in an agricultural district some fifteen miles roiu Dublin. A very short time ago the place was all but uninhabited, 28 THE IBlsn SYSTEM—THIRD OR INTERMEDIATE STAGE> flic heath being In possession of a few squatters, on sufferance, who had been tempted to it by the ^anmunity of tlieir clasps, the absence of rent, and the quality of the soil. More recently however, the ground had been re- quired for a particular purpose. A bodj^ of men under an energetic leader were brought to subdue it with the plough, and the old occupants were dispossessed, not entirelri without the remonstrances or threats of resis- tance. Under the newly arrived improvers the squatters disappeared from the scene, the undulating surface of the common was converted into cultivated tiel(Jf>, and laughing Ceres re-assumed r';he plain. The spot had not quite lost its desolaffe aspect ; although there is a public j-oad through it and a few buildings in sight, there is still a broad ex- panse so devoid of any marked tlature, that guide-posts are necessary to point the way of the wandering laborer who desires to return home. " The work is advtncing under the vigorous industry of some fifty men who are employe:! on the estate, and Avho may be seen on any working day of the week at their labors. And who are they that are thus in our own time colonizing the ancient soil of Ireland and annex- ing it to the conquests of modern agriculture ? They are convicts under sentence of penal servitude. Yes, that band of fifty men, cicythed in the ordinary garb of rustic laborers, peacefully obeying the orders of two foremen, are inen whose circumstances subjected them to prison, and to the discipline of a transient slavery. There are indeed no chains, there are no military guards, not e\en gaolers to restrain them ; no fences, which they are not in the hourly habit of passing, break the broad expanse of the common, with its widely separated guide-posts pointing the way to the huts whicjj are the prisons of these men. But there is something else far more potent. "It was whilQ I was engaged in surveying the system of discipline of which the colony at Lusk forms only a portion, that I learned the revolt in Chatham prison. T'lie details of that violent out-break amongst the luxuriously fed Chathamites, who were in open mutiny and refusing work, were told me or the very day when I was surrounded by convicts Avholly without chains and hard at woi-k in cold and rain ; and with the Chatham reports fresh in my mind I heard the Civil Ofhcers of this open prison at Lusk telling me how the laborers under them, living, as I shall show you, upon hard fare, are steady workmen, regular in their duty, and so zealous that while they are actually purchasing bread as a luxury, they will pursue their toil after the regular hom'S iu order to help in securing the harvest. ' ' This is the result of a system which, with the erring man in the iron gi'ip of the law, has subjected him to something stronger than manacles or lash, and yet substituting a truly correctional for a merely penal liandling, has made sweet the uses even of the bitterest adversity— the adversity of the criminal gaol." Miss Carpenter thus describes her own visit : — " There was nothing to attract any attention. Before us was a large common, part of which had been reclaimed, and gave evidence of much skilled labor having been bestowed on it. Other parts were perfectf.y - wild, and we saw a number of men working very steadily at the drainage of it. No one would have notPce^l that they were iiot ordinary laborers ; they wore no prison uniform, but the ordinary peasant di-ess ; they a|)- peared under the control of no gaol official, and no turnkey was watching them ; they were not handling the pickaxe and"spade with the unwilliir^ air of men who were under compulsion to perform a certain amount of *1HE IRISH SYSTEM — THIRD OR INTERMEDIATE STAGE. 29 government work, but like free laborers wlio would gladly do as hard a day's work as they could. It seemed incredible that these men were prisoners, and even mord^, men convicted of no ordinary olfences, but who were under long sentences of penal servitude ; such men as those who had burst forth into violent rebellion at Portland, and who had b«cn more recently at Chatham controlled ^iily by exti^ordinary severity, after the most ferocious out-breaks aili outrageous attacks on tlie orticers. Looking at these men we could hardly, as an English Magistrate ren^rked, believe what we saw with oiy own eyes. " The only buildings provided for*from fifty to one hundred con- victs consisted of two large huts of corrugated iron, each of which would contain accommodation for fifty #nen and one officer ; the beds be- ing so arranged that they could be put out of the way and the room con- verted into a dining and sitting room. " There were a few simple tenements for the residence of the superin- tendent, and for the cooking and bathing !•• t. . 19 3rd V ... ... 12 3rd 5> <<( >■ . 12 4th >» ... ... 5 4th 5> ... . 4 5th » ... ... 2 5th H ... . 7 6th )» ... ... 1 6th 5> f 1 7th >> t ... ... 1 7th 1> ' . . 1 8th >t ... ... 2 8th 5) ... . 2 9th n 1.1 ... 1 9th 55 ... . 2 10th V ... *■ 2 10th J) ... . 1 11th » ... ... 1 12th J> ... . 2 14th ?> ... ... 2 14th ?> ... .. 1 15th Total, ... 1 1 17th 5J ... 1 41st Total, , 53 .. 65 " Therefore 94 out of the 1 1 8 ai'e known " old offenders," some of the remainder being known to the police as bad characters, although not known to have been before convicted in the same countiy. " It is said also that the English are more manageable than the Irish. Our own experience of the criminals of both nations would be directly the reverse of this. There are besides many English in the Irish con- vict prisons, and many Iiish convicts in the English prisons ; but their peculiai" nationali^iy does not render any different treatment necessaiy. The objection is (fiitile. The principles and the system 'which have happily been the means of bringing these outcasts of society into tiie orderly, respectful, self-conti-otled men whom we I'^aw, ai-e founded on universal conditions of human iv'ture, and if proved true in one pWe may be readily adapted to another by men, who like Captain Crofton, comprehend them, and possess the personal qualities which are requis^^ to carry them out. " . tCHE IRISH SYSTEM — THIRD OR INTERMEDIATE STAGE. 31 Mr. Recorder Hill also remarks :— " Thousands of haftds might be usefully employed on public works of pressing necessit}'^, (like harbours of refuge and coast defences), on which neither private capital nor that of Joint Stock Companies will ever be invested, for the obvious reason that ^Ithough indisifensable to the community they cannot be made to yield h revenue. War, emigra- tion, and the rapid expansion of our agriculture, oiu' manufactm-es and our commerce, all point to an approaching scarcit-^ of labor. " Beyond a doubt then, the new application of the labor of our- criminals, hitherto so little profitable, which the Board has thus admir-^ ably devised, challenges immediate ^nd most earnest attention ; and' we have a rigJit to expect that every improvement which can be sug- gested in the law controlling the treatment of criminals, so as to bring them at the earliest possible moment to the requisite degree of trust- worthiness, will be forthwith made, and no amelioration believe me jviH be so efficacious to that end as enliTincing encouragement to work out their own fi-eedom ; — a motive which ought not to be confined to the c^ses of heinous offenders like the convicts whose discipline forms the subject of this paper, but which should carry its stimulating: force into every cell of every prison, purging the administration of justice of the lamentable, nay revolting absurdity of withholding a priceless boon from the lower criminal to confer it on the greater." For the second, the manufacturing class of offenders. Sir Walter estahlished an intermediate prison, or rather set of buildings adapted to the prosecution of the various trades. Miss Carpenter thus describes her visit*to it :— " Om- next visit was to the intermediate prison for those convicts who had learned trades, the last stage before being discharged either on ticket of leave, or on completion of sentence. Though the principles and object of this establishment are exactly the same as those on which Lusk is founded, yet the development of these is necessarily modified to meet the change of circumstances. Lusk is at a distance from Dublin, and the grand difficulties to be contended with there, aj-e the natural 'ten- dency to abscond, and the danger of association with each other under comparatively little surveillance ; here there is an additional peril from the prisoners being at comparative freedom in the very midst of the city which had probably been tiie scene of their crimes, and which is filled with everyjallurement to vice. These added diflaculties have been successfully surmounted. _ " Smithfield is an old prison of the ordinary kind, which beino- at lil:terty has been adapted to its present purpose, while still retain" ing the cellular arrangement for dee^oinr/. With this exception there is scarcely anything to remind one of a prison. The workshops, the large ample dining room, used also for evening lectures and other insti'uction, the cheerful open yard for exercise, enlivened ky small garden plots, all would give one rather th6 idea of a model lodging house with associated workshops, than- anything of a penal character. * ^ '' The men were at dinner when we arrived, and we •requested Sermission to see them^at their meal. As we approached the dinincr bom, we heard the sound of cheerful orderly conversation, and oS 32 TUE IRISH SYSTEM— THIIID OR INTERMEDIATE STAaU. < cutering found to our surprise that there was no superintendent present, but that the prisoners were conducting themselves with as much propriety as ordinary workmen. '' " They h^^ve not even separate rations weighed out to them, bub the Avhole fixed quantity of food bein^ jilaced on the table, they help thciAselves with dife regard to each others rights. Those who know what care is usually necessary in pnsons, workhouses, and even schools to giAe to each inmate the exact portion of food appointed, in order <*^o prevent dissatisfaction, will appreciate the ' admirable tone of feeling whitfh the possibility of such latitude I indicates. ' " Though all regulations arc very strictly carried out, yet as the prisoners feel that everj^thing is ordered with a regard to their ivelfare and administered vjith perfect justice, they work vjith their superiors instead of against them, as is so commonly the case in prijsons. Their wills are enlisted, and there is very seldom any cause of complaint ; on several' occasions some of the men have been emploj^ed at work at the prisons in the city at some distance : no difficulty has ever been experienced in marching them V* and fro through the crowded city with a single oflBcer ; some of the men who are nearest to their final discharge are even permitted to go alone into the city to carry messages or to execute commissions. The prisoners are allowed, if they choose, to spend sixpence a week of their earnings in any innocent indulgence — they entrust with the purchase these privileged messengers, who have never been. known to be unfaithful to their trust. » " The time is of course exactly noted when they go out and return, and tile messenger, knows that any neglect of duty would be certain- ly discovered, and would entail on him serious consequences ; still the moral control appeared t?j us astonishing, which should be more powerful than bolts and bars on one so low and degi-aded as a convict. , " They liad heen convicts — they were treated as men ; they had been made to feel that they were men not for ever degraded, but who might resume their place in society, or even take one, if they had never yet been regarded as other than out-casts. " They comprehended the position in which they were here placed as men who might be trusted j and they proved themselves vrorthy of it." Sir Walter Crofton remarks : — " There is always as will be seen a sort of a nucleus preserved in this establishment, and though large draughts come occasionally of 30 or 35 from the prisons, in the course of three or four days they all settle to their places in consequence of this nucleus which is left, and the establishment goes on orderly enough. We have had 80 in at a time ; there are at present only oO. It is imjjortant that there should be small numbers, because it gives greater facilities for indi- vldualiziiir/. Wifh regard to the work performed, there is^no doubt that considerably more is done than was ever performed in the prisons. « ,- " There is an amount of wiping industry that we do not find iii. the prisorffe generally — and as the trades instructors in this estab- lishment were the prison ofllcers, they are I'ery good judges witlj. I'egurd to the willing natui'e of the industry, lu addition to this • IRISH SYSTEM — THIRD OR INTERMEDIATE STAGE. 33 cstablisliment of Smitlifield tliere ai'e two others ; one lias been re- cently opened ; the othtw has been open tie same time as Smith- field : it is at the mouth of Corii: llarbonr. " It does not present the same adva,ntages as Smithfield for get- ting emplo3aneut, for the men, one Ijeing in J)ablin and tno other isolated ; but still I am satisfied that the worJing of it is good, that the same principle pervades it, and that we have reason to be satis- fied with the officers Avho are there ; of cours^ they have been selected for the purpose from differei»t prisons, but we approve of * its internal working. • , " There are 230 prisoners at the present moment on this system there will in a fortnight's time be 70 more, making 300 in four es- tablishments. We are going to erect, and they are in course of erection, eight moveable iron buildings, the same as there were at the Ourragh camji, or at Aldershot for the troops, to hold 50 in each, so that the same system can be pursued — that is, individualizing in each ^^rison or tent, if I may so call it, the 50 prisoners and keeping each soun^ in itself — with the power of moving these prisoners as wc wish or as the public service requires. " Vfhen the prison authorities observe that an intcraiediate man has acquired some 'capacity for self-control he is sent out on mes- sages. It is found in practice that he does not abuse this privilege, but having transacted his business with promptitude he straight- way returns. A number of such men will then be entrusted to leave the establishment for the purpose of performing some work procured for them at a distance from their homes, returning every night immediately on the conclusion of the day's kibor. " Here again, instances of abuse, such for instance as entering a public house, are rare, if not altogether unknown. The inter- mediate man having now established a character, is entrusted with moncj' to make 2:)urchascs, or to pay bills on behalf of the prison ; and W"hat may perhaps be justly considered as a surer criterion that his character is known to be deserving, is that such of his comrades as remain at home are in the habit of employing him on commissions to buy for them, and they place in his hands money for that purpose." Sir Walter Crofton tlius briefly epitomizes the descrip- tion of this intermediate stage :— " In this stage there are no marks. The result of the self- discii)line effected by their attainment is here to be' tested before the liljpration of the convict. " IndividuaUzatioii is the ruling principle in these establishments: the number of inmates should therefore be small, and not exceed (lOOj one hundred. The training is special, and , the jDOsition of the convicl^is made as natural as is possible; no. more restraint o^'cr him is exercised than would be necessary to'maintain order in any well regulated establishment. The officers in the intermedi- ate^stablishments ■v\^rk with the coityicts. * " At Lusk there are only six and they are unarmed f physical restraint is therefore imiiossible, and if possible it would be out of pkice, and inconsistent with the principles which tbu establish- ments were instituted to enunciate. ( 34 IRISH SYSTEM — GRATUITIES. " Isifc. You have to sliow tlic convict tliat you really tinisfc him, and give him creclit,for the amendmeut he has illustl-ated by his marks. " 2ud. You have to show to the irnbUc that the convict -svho will sooiE be restored to liberty foi-^ weal or for woe, may upon reasonable gi'ounds, blv considered as capable of being safely employed. " How does thes become possible P " The reply is, that the convict is co-opei-ating in his own amendment. He cannot ignore the conviction sooner or later, that the system however penal in its development, is intended for his benefit; and that moreover it has by its stringent regulations and an-angements after the liberation of the convict, aiid this is most important to note, made the vocation of crime veVy miprofitable and hazardous to follow. " He hears lectures of an interesting and profitable description, which not only point out the wickedness and the danger of criminal pursuits, but show him the covirse which he should take in order to amend his^life, where his labor is required and his antecedents not likely to entice him to his ruin. " The mind of the convict is in alliance with the minds of those placed over him, and what at first sight might have appeared to bo impracticable has become for many j'cars a recorded and gratifying fact. ' " It is not avftrred that the mind of every convict is, in these establishments, bent upon well doing, but that the tone of general feeling is that of desiring to aineud, and is in the closest alliance with the system. c " It is evident that this result is the attainment of an enormous power, which it would be impossible to secure by mere routine or mechanical appliances. The convict has felt the intention of the system, the scope of which has been made clear to his mind, that ho is an individual whose special care and progress is noted, and very carefully watched in its development." Whilst giving the foregoing extracts, showing the various stages a prisoner goes through, before he can get his ticket of leave, or be released, I have purposely omitted noticing gratuities, believing it to be more convenient to show in one I)lace how this valuable stimulant is managed. < Gratuities. c In the first stage, that of cellular separation, the prisoner receives no gratuity. c In Mie second stage, which is divided into four classes, ho may receive as follows : — IRISH SYSTEM— GRATUITIES. 35 Third class, 1 penny per week. Second do., 2* „ do • First do., for the first six months del. pej* week ; for the second six months ick per week. » Advanced class 7cl to dd. per week. Intermediate Stage. * Agricultural prisoners receive 25. 6d. per week for their ' labor, the value of which is estimated at 9 shillings. Manufacturing do. receive do. In intermediate establishments the convicts are allowed 6 pence a week oac of Jieir earnings ; they may not spend it on intoxicating drinks, but in books, clothes, food, &c : — " The utmost amount whicli a convict can earn In a -week is 2s 6il. If tie be slack in llis industry, of which there are few examples, or maladroit, he may be unable to earn so much. The greater portion of this remains in charge of the authorities. Sometimes it has been spent on articles absolutely necessary for the prisoner's use; at other times it has been used as an instruction fee to tradesmen ; very frequently it has been employed in payinjr for the passage of the discharged convict tr- another country,- ji^er where he al- ready had connexioi^o, . >• where he saw an opportunity for employ- ing himself at a .liStance from the sceife of his formei troubles. " I have already mencioned one thing on which the residents of the interraediate prison not unfreqwently spend a part of their six- pence a week — bread. The fact is quite suificieut to show that the dietary is not excessive, either in quantity oi quality ; yet the men at Lusk do not grumble, they do not revolt to extort a more luxuri- ous fare, they do not refuse to work. On the contrary, if an extra- ordinary amount of work is needed— as for instance to complete a piece of drainage promptly, or to save the harvest — they throw them- selves into the labor with zeal. On such occasions they take evident lileasure in promoting the interests of the establishment, and in evincing their zealous fidelity towards the head of tneir department, and it is at times like these that they are observed to sjiend a por- tion of their little weekly honorarium in bread. ",Once a week the inmates of the intermediate prison are al- lowed to send one of their own class out of bounds, to purchase the articles on which the sixpence a Aveek is to be spent. In all the time since the beginning of the system there have been but three cases of default. In one instance the man so empldyed was a person o^'weak miTid, who ought perhaps not to have been, selected ; in the other two instances the defaulters had met old friends, and had bccu tenjpted ' just to have a drink.' But hi each of these three cases the man was found waiting outsidfe the gates of the intermediate prison, looking very foolish. He had been tempted : he h.a9. yielded ; bjit he retained his coeiscience, his hope in the system, and his preference of it over the wild chances, and the remorse of flight." ac IRISH SYSTEM— GRATUITIES, The largest amount of gratuity which is attainable by a convict under a senifience of five yearSr penal servitude, and whose character is unexceptionable is as follows : — Position. Time passed in it. Rate of gra- Amount realized. tuity. Kecoxd stage. f- 3r(.l class, 2 montbs=8 weeks. Id. per week. 8d. Sud class, 6 montlis^26 weeks. 2d. is. 4d. Is't class. 12 months. *■ 1st half=26 weeks. M. 6s. Gd. 2nd hal'"=2G weeks. id. 8s. Sd. t Advanced clasps. 14 ms. or about 60 ws. Qd. £ 2-5-0 J. Intermediate stage, 9 ms. or about 39 ws. 2s. 6d. £ 4-17-6J. Total, £8-2-8(?. On his discharge, the balance of these accumulated gratuities, after deducting Av.hat he has spent or what has been spent for him, is paid to him if it does not exceed ^2. The excess if any is, unless the Directors otherwise order, paid to them by instalments on the certificate of their res- pective clergymen, or of the head constable of the district in which they reside, that they require the money for bene- ficial purposes. The prisoner when he quits Lusk or Smithfield receives the following clothes as a gratuity : 1 cloth coat, waistcoat and pantaloons ; 2 shirts, 2 pairs of stockings, 1 pocket handerkerchief, 1 pair boots, 1 necktie and 1 cap. The Recorder of Winchester, A. J. Stephent, l. l. d. remarks on gratuities : — leave. prisomnent^ .S w ' m . *^ '■% S1^ '3 2 -S 13 13 Qj o CO (M 1-1 < G Years. Yis. ms. ili5. Ms. J!/5. 3h. ii/s. Months. ' 3 2 fi 8 r2 G 10 4 6 4 3 3 8 2 6 12 6 5 9 5 4 8 2 6 12 14 G 12 6 4 6 8 2 G 12 17 9 ' 18 7 5 3 8 2 6 12 20 15 21 8 6f 8 2 6 12 28 16 24 10 7 6 8 2 6 12 4!l. 18 2Trs.6 • 12 9 8 Q 6 12 59 21 3 years. 15 10 8 2 6 12 68 24 5 „ " 111 July 1864 the Penal Servitude Act was amended and penal sentences for threa and four years abolished, making the sliortest sentence five years. " We must now give some attention to the treatment of those convicts who have earned a title to what is called a ticket or licence of leave during the remainder of tlieh* sentence. "By Act XX and XXT Vict, of 1857, certain portions of each sentence migiit he passed under a ticket of leave. In each sentence tlic amount is limited, but within tliat limit the prisoner's previous conduct fixes how much he may be granted. " By the law which was amended in July 1864, he may still receive as follows : — l^erlnd which may he passed Length of sentence. under condition of ticket of leave. 5} ears. 1 year. < G 1 6 months. 7 11 1 9 „ , 8 n 2 10 11 2 c „ ... ■ 12 !1 3 I 15 _" » 5 " As^this point, namely the'rcleasc of a prisoner on a ticket of leave, or licence, is one of vital importance, and one which lias given rise to great discnssion in England and much dift'eil'uce of opinion, it seems desirable to notice it at some length. • THE IRIsn SYSTEM — "TICKET OF LEAVE." 39 * " Rccollectiu? the profjressivc system of treatment through which a convict passes, let us consider his position wheij at the close of the inter- mediate stage, and note the further treatment under that of condilional liberty". The Directors reportihg so far backus 1859, obsej^'^ed : — " We have stated that intermediate prisons would without the assis- tance of conditional liberation, and registration, be of tliemselves incom- plete ; so on the%ther hand, witliont th(^preliminar}*treatment of inter- mediate prisons, conditional liberation would be incomplete and unsatis- factory in its results. " The system must be taken as a wftole." Now in Ireland from the very commencement of the reformatory system, the ticket of leave, the title to condi- tional liberty, ^vas only obtained aS the reward of constant efforts to do what was right by steady industry and good conduct. It was a priZjO not earned lightly, and when Earned the convict went forth into tlie world not uncared for. He was at once placed under the surveillance of the police, who were his best friends ; not only because they to a great extent prevented bad characters from leading him astray, but because they befriended and aided him to gel employment, and yet without interfering with hts freedom. Other special agencies were set in force to help the convict to support him- self, and at the same time he felt and knew that misconduct, even so much as to consorting Avith bad characters, would if persisted in assuredly lead to his being sent back to prison. The supervision was sufficient to indicate very decidedly to the convict that he could not safely adopt any half mea- sures as to honestly earning his livelihood. He must make the attempt strongly, persistently and earnestly. His previous training in the intermediate establishment had enabled him to test and to prove his powers of self-con- trol, of resisting temptations, and now in his > state of com- pqjrative frGedom he has a still further opportunity of proving that he is indeed able and willing, to lead a life of honest label. The public knowing the control and check still held over the convict, when " on ticket of leave," willingly em- ployed him. 40 THE IKISII SYSTEM—" TICKET OF LEAVE. " He came to tlicm with so to speak a certificate from liis last place, the " iirtcrmediate estabKshment," and they knew that certificate, that ticket of leave, had been hardly earned-c-not lightly gained. ' But in'^ngland all was reversed ; there, to use the worcls of Mr. Waddington, the permanent Under Secretary of the Home Department — " The ticket of " leave is not granted as tht reward of any particular good " conduct, but is for refraining from bad conduct." There, as the Recorder of Birmingham, IMr. Hill, remark- ed, " Mr. Waddington touched the question at the core. " ThatjCombined with the determination of the prison authorities in England not only not to put the ticket of leave man under the surveillance of the police, but carefully to conaeal from the police all knowledge of him, naturally produced those crimes which gave rise in England in 1862 to the justly grounded alarm regarding " tickets of leave." I cannot here enter into all the arguments adduced by the English prison aathorities for their mode of procedure : the chief and the most plausible one, but one which the posi- tive and actual experience gained in Ireland has proved to be an utter fallacy, was that, the convicts could not get employment if they were kncwn to the police. The results however of their not l)eing known to the police, were not that they shortly got employment, but that they had every facility of again reviving their criminal practices, opportunities which the well grounded panic in England showed they had fully used. Though the actual results had been so unsatisfactory in London, Sir Richard Mayne expressed to the Committee of 1856, an opinion respecting the soundness of the principle of discharging prisoners on licence, which is important as coming from one who from his position would be well qualified to judge. He says : — " My opinion is that tiie system of a ticket of leave, as far' as it releases persons, keepiii;? tli-^m under the poweij.of subsequent punish- nieut by a revocation of the licence, is a good one." ' . To'^ effect this, which is indeed the very essence of the system, and the condition under which the , licence 'is » THE IKISH SYSTEM— " TICKET OF LEAVE." 41 • granted, it is evident that some degree of supervision of the convict is necessary. • In England convicts were sent forth into society without any arrangement* being made^^ to secure t\ie due fulfilment of the conditions to the criminal, and safety from his outrages ^to the public ; on the contrary, while it is the ordinary practice of the police 'to keep convicted thieves under special supervision, these^ licence holders were pri- vileged with immunity ; for the police were kept quite in the dark regarding them, and if known to the police yet v-ere not to be in any way noticed or looked after, for fear jaf the supervision interfering with their getting employment ; a special Jmmunity was thus given to convicts. The following are the conditions which were endorsed on the licence ®f every convict liberated in *the United Kingdom, but which in England were not carried out prior to 1864, and which therefore led not only to the convict committing crime with more immunity from detection than other criminals, but to his at once tearing up his licence as the last remaining check on himself : — NOTICE* I. The power of revoking or altej'iiig the licence of a convict will most certainly be exercised in case of his misconduct. II. If therefore, he wishes to retain the privilege which by his good behaviour under penal discipline he has obtained, he must prove by his subsequent conduct that he is really worthy of Her Majesty's clemency. III. To jDroduce a forfeiture of the licence, it is by no means necessary that the holder should be convicted of any new offence. If he associates with notoriously bad characters, leads an idle and dissolute life, or has no visible means of obtaining au honest live- lihood, &c., it will be assumed that he is about to relapse into crime, and he will be at once apprehended and recommitted to prison under his original sentence." l^ie following memorandum issued in 1857 on this sub- ject is full of practical instruction, and shows how in Ireland the true principles on which tickets of leave nven should be treated were thoroughly understood and acted on : — MEMOKANDUM. DublAj Castle. 1st January 1857. Registration a/ncl supervision of convicts on ticlcet of licence. , " His Excellency tho Lord Lieutenant being desirous of accu- rately testing the practical working of the ticket of licence system, 42 THE IRISH SYSTEM— " TICKET OF LEAVE." by a well organized system of registration of licenced convictg, whereby they may be,, brought under special supervision, and a check be laid upon the evil disposed, has been pleased to sanction the following regulations, which are, therefore, circulated for the information and guidance of the conE;|;abulary. " I.'" When an offf r of employment of a prisoner is accepted, a notification thereof will be made by the Directors of Government Prisons to the Inspector General of Constabulary, by whom it will be transmitted tc^ the constabulary of the localitr in which the employment is given, with all 'necessary particulars for the purpose of being entered in a register at the constabulary station. " II. Each convict sotoVe employed will report himself at the appointed constabulary station (the name of which will be given to him) on his arrival in the district, and subsequently on the 1st of each month. , " III. A special report is to be made to head quarters by the constabulary whenever they 'shall observe a convict on licence guilty of misconduct or leading an irregular life. " IV. A convict is not to change his locality withou»: notifying the circumstances at the constabulary station, in order that his registration may be transferred to the place to which he is about to proceed. On his arrival he must report himoelf to the nearest constabulary station (of the name of which he is to be informed) and such transfer is to be reported to head quarters for the infor- mation of the D-irectors of Government Prisons. " V. An infringement of these rules by the convict will cause it to be assumed, that he is leading an idle, irregular life, and there- fore entail the rfvocation of his licence. " VI. Further regulations may hereafter be added to the fore- going should they become necessary. It will be obvious that as the employer is in every case made acquainted with the antecedents of the prisoner he wishes to engage, any enquiries that may after- wards he discreetly made as to character, conduct &c., cannot in any way affect the prospects of the convict. " It appears that of the whole number of 559 convicts on license up to the 30th September 1857, seventeen licenses have been revoked. " It wiU be observed also that in addition to the stringent obser- vation exercised over forty-two men, who are many of them exposed to the temptations of the city of Dublin, there is also the very efficient and general supervision of the constabulary ; yet the re- sults, though slight irregularities are always noted, and the terms of the licence most strictly employed, prove the revocation of rather more than three per cent." » It is very important to observe that in Ireland the sys- tem of conditional liberty on ticket of licence, was working as a complete, success at the very same time tha'o in Eng- land it was working as a complete failure. The secret of the Irish success and the English failure has been showh in the words of Mr. Waddington, the Under Secretary in the Home Department, that in England, not so- in Ireland, it was THE IRISH SYSTEM— "TICKET OF LEAVE." 43 granted not as the reward of any good conduct but for refraining from bad souduct ; and to ehis I must add the facts subsequently noted that in Ireland the ,convict on ticket of leave started a well tried man and presumably re- ^ formed, that he was placed under the friendly yet strict sur- veillance of the police, and the terms of the licence enforced ; whilst in England, the convict skirted an untried and pre- - sumably an unreformed man ; was carefully shielded from - all cognizance by the police, and "allowed to go amongst the people uncared for and unwatched. At the early period of the Irish system in 1856, when the intermediate stage of treatment was not in existence, "Sir Walter Crofton with remarkable prescience refused absolutely to attempt the system of tickets of licence until he had proved his convicts were fitted to be so trusted. Though before giwn in this treatise yet his words may well be repeated : — " We consider siicli ticket of licence to be a sort of guarantee to tlie community that in consequence of a prisoner having been sub- jected to a proper course of prison discipline and reformatory treat- ment, he is considered a fit subject to be received and employed by those outside the prison ; such reformatory coarse not haWn'g hitherto been pursued in this country, we have not felt ourselves justified in recommending the issue oi' tickets of licence." And such should be the real practical understanding between the public and the Government, regarding those tickets of leave — if this mutual understanding is not agreed to, the public will most properly refuse to employ such con- victs, and use every means in its power to prevent their re- lease on tickets of leave ; and on the other hand, the whole reformatory treatment by Government will collapse, by cut- ting off this most valuable of all its parts — the testing point of the truth or falsehood of the principles adopted in the said reformatory treatment. As before observed by the Direc- tors of Convict Prisons, " you must take the system as a whole, of which intermediate prisons or stages, apd conditional liberty on*tickets of licence or leave, are indissolubly united." It was not found in Ireland that ticket of leave men were readily given employment in th^ earhj days of the system. The public wisely held back ; but as the confidence of the public was gained, th^t justifiable and most advantageous 44 THE IRISH SYSTEM—" TICKET OF LEAVE." reticence was removed. I say advantageous because the more careful the public was before it » accepted these men, the greater, the value of its testimony now (as shown by giving them employment) to their .reformation. Lord Carlisle, formerly Viceroy of Ireland, and who took the deepest interest in the reformatory system, thus observed in 1858, regardmg discharged convicts who had passed through the Irish reformatory system : — " I perceived on one occasion a discharged prisoner forming one of a gang of haymakers on my own grounds in Phoenix Park. He was pointed out to me by the contractor for the job, who gave a gaod account of him ; but I distinctly saw on my approaching him, that he did not wish for much conversation ; he felt veiy anxious that his antecedents should not be knoAvn to his fellow workmen ; and for my own part, I feel quite resigned, all Viceroy as I Tas at the moment, to be cut by a convict." " I will rnly cite one more comment which, among other things, shows that the supervision of the police is not necessarily consi- dered irksome by the discharged prisoners themselves. This letter is addressed to Mr. Organ, the well known lecturer in the Irish p-isons, and is from a man convicted of larceny ; it being his seventh conviction. ' I am living with my father ever since, and I am going on very well ; the constabulary are doing everything in their power for ]?iy welfare. Your lectures and advice are as fresh in my mind as when I sat there listening to your fatherly expi*es- sions, and I will always think" of the advice you gave before we left you. No matter who returns you ingratitude after all your trouble, you will always find me grateful^ because you acted a father to every one of us as well as to me. I will conclude for the present, thank- ing God and you for my deliverance from bondage ; and may the Aimightj' reward you and every benevolent man who in the course of time will be an aid in the work of mercy." A few instances taken from the valuable work by Miss Carpenter (so largely extracted in this treatise) are in them- selves instructive and interesting, and indicate the feelings of those who employ men on tickets of leave or discharged convicts : — " Among the veiy first persons who ventured upon employing a man with a prison character, is an extensive builder. Some of the men whom he thus consented to take have formerly borne the worst character^. Their conduct with him however had been in every respect satisfactory. He has at present four in K's establiah- ment. '•' The tradesman in thQ street, which I have likened to Newgate street, has in his employments four men, and he made his report .on their corvduct with the utmost directness and unx-eserve. He had no complaint to make; in some respects the laborers obtained through ]\Ir. Organ are more tractable than the ordinary class of Dublin THE IBISH SYSTEM— '* TICKET OF LEAVE." 43 workmen : less inclined to cavil, less ready to take advantage of their employers in periods of pressure, more eager to persevere in winning his approval. " One of the men 'vVho had been with this gentleman had led a life of crime for many years ; another had been known to the Dublin police for the last ten years, and' though still young, had been convicted seven times. Tb^se men are sul'^ounded by property, which malice or negligence might injure to the amount of a hundred pounds. Two of them, including the man wlio was convicted seve,v times, are entrusted with the collection of bills to the amount of 40 or 50 pounds at a^ time, and thei-e is not a single instance of inaccuracy. It is to be remarked that in this instance as well as in others, the employer hacVhad several men in his service at different times, so that lie spoke from a varied and lengthened experience. " The owner of the other manufactory, which I might liken to a leather dresser's in the midst of §,t. Giles, is himself a very in- telligent man, business-like and straitforward. His transactions are extensive, and he evidently has a keen eye to the main chance, yet he naturaHy and properly expressed strong satisfaction at the con- sciousness that while serving his own interests he was engaged in a work really beneficial. One of the men employed?at this place had been for nine* years ' in crime' before conviction. He has been four years in his present place, and every day of these four years he has been earning a good character. The case of the other man is still more remarkable. He may be said to have had ex- tensive connexions in the criminal profession, and he was himself distinguished in his calling as a desperate burglar : with a fine figure, a manly aspect and an agreeable counienance, he has about him much that is considered to distinguish the gentleman. He had for some time been a ' flasl? man and his ambition as a Don Juan in that sphere had been gratified by the most remark- able ' success.' A policeman said nf this eminent burglar, that he should know his chisel in any window in Dublin ; the hero was so active and reckless that it was impossible to capture him, even with the powerful force brought against him until two of his ribs had been fractured. Another policeman a devoted servant of the Irish system, with full confidence in its efficacy, declared that the case of this man so hardened in crime, aiid so reckless, must be re- garded as an exception, in which the ticket of licence would be inajoplicable and unsafe. The fact is, the man had employed certain qualities which are not bad in themselves amid adverse circum- stances, and probably from childhood iinder the influence of a perverse ambition. The thorough discipline of the Intermediate Prisoyi however had bent these faculties back into the right direc- tion, Snd had drawn forth his better qualities. Here he is sur- rounded by property ready for the market and quite portable ; he is also placed in the midst of a neighbourhood thickly in- habited by men of the very worst character, who would but too gladly tak# part in any burglary ; yet this accomplished burglar, this man whom the police assumed to be iircorrigible, whose chisel was known in any window of, Dublin, sleeps on the out- Bide' of the window, and is trusted by tiie master without a moment's uneasiness. , ^ As the counterpart, and addition to these cases of men em- ployed, I may give specimens of the applications made by em- 46 THE IRISH SYSTEM— " TICKET OF LEAVE." ployei'S. At first of course the initiative was taken by the earnest energetic officers of the system, who were glsid to discover men in trade with sufficient understanding and trustfulness to accept the services of convicts ; but even in this short time the employers have learned to take the initiative. )Sometipes they make their applica- tion by simply walkingr.up to Smithfield, and asking for the men they want ; sometimes they make their application by letter to Mr. Organ asking for workpeople on simple business like terms, such as they would use tq any well known agent. I haye such letters before me ; one writer, a prospferous tradesman, who is altering his house, says ' could you send me a decent bricklayer to build up a wall and do a few other jobs ;' ynother, a manufacturer, says, ' I can now make a room for two of your men provided they are sober and well able to work, wages 10 shilling;? a week ; ' a third, in a large way of business; can ' employ two or three able and willing men ;' and BQ on." Mr. Organ observes : — " The employers inva,rlably prefer ticket of leave men to convicts who are unconditionally discharged, because they are under more control. The qiicstion generally put by employers who have wealth and loose property lying about is, liovj long have tlie Government control over these men ? They are always led in a very great degree by the number of years yet to serve. " I explain to the persons who employ these men the control which the Govertiment has over them whilst they are holders of a ticket of leave. I always lay fthe facts clearly before the employers, because if I were not straight-forward with them, and I was once detected, I should never be able to show my face again, so that the employers are aware that thesd men whom they take into their service have been previously in the convict prison. But the men with whom they work are not always aware of that fact. It is the interest of employers to keep the other workmen in ignorance of the fact ; and there is another thing, that if the honest workmen were to know this, I am sure they would take objection to it and make the place too hot for a discharged prisoner ; no difficulty has been found in keeping the matter concealed from the other workmen. The employer always does so, he communicates with me privately, and the other workmen are not acquainted with the character of the men or their previous mode of life. I have known cases in which the old associates of convicts have endeavoured to use their power over them, and from a fear of being betrayed to extort money froij) them. I have seen their former companions waiting in knots on the morn- ing of their discharge, and endeavouring to induce them to go with them. I have known their former associates to come up 1(.'0 miles from different parts of Ireland, in order to meet them on the morn- ing of their discharge and induce them to follow them. "When men are on the point of leaving me, I impress upon them to the greatest possible degree the danger \.hat will arise to thsm, and which they will have to meet amongst th^lr old companions ; because if a "well disposed* 'convict on being discharged is anxious to earn his biead honestly, and goes in amongst his former companions, he is sneered at and he is tormented— iu fact he has not any power to resist." THE IRISH SYSTEM — " TICKET OF LEAVE." 47 Sir Walter Crofton thus observes on the supervision over men on ticket of lea^'e : — • " The slightest infringement of the conditions of the lieence \en.ds to a revocation of it. I do not believe, and I have often put ti*is forth "vvhen I wps in the department, that any casi could be proved of a man breaking the conditions of his licence in Ireland and remaining at large ; he was sure to be put back to sei)aration, and his licence revoked. If w^ found that a man was ^jnthin a forthright of the expira- tion of his sentence, and infringed some of the conditions of the ticket of leave, we sent that man back to prison for the sake of principle. I do not know that it has ever occurred 'In a case so close as a fortnight, but it has done so close as a month or three weeks. " They were generally easily caught. They were put in the ' hue and cry ;' a warrant was issued ; and there were very few cases in which they baffled us. At first there yere a great many shifts and trials to evade, but ultimately, and before long, Avhen they found that many had their licences revoked, and were brought back, they did not even try it baffle as they did at first. " The supervision of convicts in the country is thus carried on through the constabulary. There is a notification made to *he Inspector General of the cons'tabulary the moment a man is liberated, stating to what district he is going ; the man registers himself with the head of the police, states what he is going to do, where he is going to be employed, and reports himself to him once a month. If he removes fi-om that district his registration is transferred from the district he is in at that time to the one to Avhich he goes, so that he is traced from one place to another. If he does anything to infri/ige the terms of his licence the constabulary report him, and his licence is revoked at once. He must come himself once 'a month, and report himself to tiie police, but it is evident that the police do not confine themselves to that, for knowing where he is -they would look after him a little oftener, without interfering with him. I can state from my own experience that there is no undue espionage or oppression practised by the police. I have seen some hundreds of these people after being subjected to supervision, and, with the exception of two cases in which I recollect complaints being made of interference, nothing detrimental occurred. I state distinctlj^ that in my opinion there has been no undue interference on the part of the police. I am quite sure that if police supervision were withdrawn to-morrow from the licensed convicts in Ireland, you would find but little employment for them, and you would have very serious trouble. I have no doubt that it is a very great protection to the public in Ireland." 5he four Justices from Yorkshire who were especially deputed to examine the Irish system, thus testify regarding this part of it : — " Tbei% can be no question that such a system as this (tickcfc 01 leave system as carried out in Ireland ) is a most powerful deterrent from crime* because it prodftces so much, greater cer- t&inly of detection. What really (^ters the criminally disposed is not BO much the amount of punishment as the certahif)/ that Bo;ne punishment will follow upon crime. "What encourages them is not so much mildncis of punishment a'i the hope of impunity. 48 THE IllISII SYSTEM — " TICKET OF LEAVE." " But the discharged convict knows that under this system he is likely, if re-con7^icted of felony, tq. receive a much longer Bentence, which is what he really dreads, than ho would other- wise. His identification being thus secured, all his antecedents are r^.^jjily ascertained, and systenjatically brought before the court which tries himc and he receives a sentence proportionate to his former offences as well as the last." I have not^iced how the system of conc|itional libera- tion on ticket of leave, ^0 essential a part of the reforma- tory treatment, became iji England not only a complete failure but encouraged the convicts to commit crime. Na- turally this led to the most rigid and impartial examination of the principle itself, by numerous competent authorities of all countries ; and moreover to a Parliamentary Com- mittee being appointed in England expressly to consider the point. The searching scrutiny to which the principle was subjected has been most valuable, for its truth and value have been conclusively established ; not only Avas it upheld by an overwhelming majority in spite of the panic raging in England at the time, regarding ticket of leave men, but a new Act was passed in 1864, to amend the former Acts, fully upholding the principle and giving greater power for carrying it out thoroughly, and according to the procedure proved in Ireland, to insure success : — " The new Act repudiates the whole doctrine of concealment. It provides for the supervision of ticket of leave men, first by making it incumbent on them to reiJort themselves once in evezy month to the head of the police of the district in which they reside; and next by empowering any police officer to carry a ticket holder before a magistrate to answer the .charge of breaking the con- ditions of his licence ; which charge when proved will in all serious cases work its forfeiture, and even in minor instances lead to some imprisonment." The Act says : — "A licence granted under the said Penal Servitude Acts,„or any of them, may be in the form set forth in schedule (A) to this Act annexed, and may -be written, printed, or lithographed. If any holder of a licence granted in the form set forth in the said schedule (A) is convicted; either by the verdict of a jury, or upon his own confession, of any offence for which he is indicted, his Ifcence shall be forthwith forfeited by virtue of such conviction : or if any holder of a licence granted under the said Penal Servitude Acts or any of them, who shall be ai large in the United Kingdom, s'hall, unless prevented by illness or other unavoidable cause, fail to re- port himself personally, if in Great Britain, to the chief police sta- tion of the borough or police division and if iu Ireland to the THE IRISH SYSTEM — " TICKET OF LEAVE." 49 • constabulary station of tlie locality to wliicli lie may go, within three days after his arfival therein, and, being a male, subsequently once in each month, at such time and place, in such manner and to such person as the chief officer of the constabulary fr^ce to which such station belongs silall appoint ; or shall change nis resi- dence from one police district to another without having previously notified the same to the police or constabulary station to which he last reported himself — he shall be deemed "uilty of a misdea- meanour, and^nay be summarily coiavictcd thereof, and his licence shall be forthwith forfeited by virtue of such conviction ; but he shall not be liable to any other punis];iment by virtue of such con- viction. If any holder of a licence granted in the form set forth in the said schedule (A) " I. Fails to j)roduce his licence when required to do so by any judge, justice of the peace, sheriff, sherifl"'s substitute, police or other magistrate before whom he may he brought charged with any oflence, or by any constable or officer of the police in whose cnstody he may be, and also fails to make any reasonable excuse why he does not produce the same ; or " II. Breaks any of the other conditions of his licence by an act that is no|. of itself punishable either upon iiMictment or upon summary conviction. — He shall be deemed guilty of an offence punishable summarily by imprisonment for any period not exceeding three months, with or withovit hard labor. Any constable or police officer may without warrant take into custody any holder of such licence whom he may reasonably susjiect of having committed any offence, or having broken any of the conditions of his licence, and may detain him in custody until he can be taken 'before a justice of the peace or other competent magist^'ate, and dealt with according to law." Mr. Hill, Recorder of Birmingliam, speaking of this Act in liis address to tlie Grand Jury at Birmingliam, observes : — " The principal change, writes Sir George Grey, in the law which is affected by this statute is the abolitioji of sentences of penal servitude of four and three years, leaving the sentence of five years as the shortest that can be passed in any case, and avithorizing it in those cases where only sentences of four or three years could have been passed before. This will have the effect of increasing the seA'-erity of the penal law, which owing to the very frequent use of the short sentences referred to, had in the opinion of the Royal Commissioners who lately investigated this subject, become too much relaxed. With the same object another very im- portant provision is added ; that a person convicted of a crime punishable with penal servitude, after having been previously con- victed of felony, if the judge in his discretion thinks that the punishment of penal servitude should be inflicted, shall not be so sentenced for a shorter period than seven years. It will be obscrv- Q(i that in all these cases the alternative sentence of imprisonment is not interfered with. In that respect the law continues as it stood before the jias-^iing of the late statute. The remainder and by lar the larger portion of the A!ct refers to the granting to convicts under this sentence licences to be afc large before its expiration, and intrpducc's Various regulations for the purpose of preveuting the misconduct of such persons Ijctwccu the time 50 THE miSII SYSTEM — BY MR. HILL. of tlicir release and that at wliich tlicy would have been by law- entitled to tbcir liberiy. '' I do nvDt tbink it necessary to occupy your time with any ob- servaiiaiis on this part of the subject, except to remark that among other safeguards of thf.- public it is enacted that the conviction of a licence holder upon indictment for any offence involves not merely a revocation of this licence, but it remits him to his original sen- tence as it stood ^v^ien his licence was granted, and this in addition to any punishment to Avhich ht may be sentenced upon such indict- ment. In accordance Vviththe strong recommendation of the Royal Commissiouers, an important --nodification is about to be introduced ink) the convict system, in reference to the granting of remissions ; instead of these being granted as a reward of general good conduct as heretofore, they are now to be earned by industry alone. Gene- ral good conduct, such as implicit obedience to all prison rules, will be indispensable as before, but will of itself count as nothing to- wards the obtaining the remission of a portion of the sentence. That can only lie gained by steady and laborious industry, the degree of which will be measured and recorded every day by the assign- ment to eaQh convict of a certain number of marks. A maximum amount of remission is fixed as hereinafter stated, as the utmost which can be attained by perfect industry, and the number of marks is so regulated that a convict must obtain the maximum number of marks every day, without any deduction for misconduct, in order to get the maximum remission. The sentence therefore is abso- lutely certain up to a certain point, but may possibly extend beyond that point, and will inevitably do so unless the convict persistently and strenuously exerts himself. " The principle adopted* in the scale of remission for industry and good conduct gives a maximum reduction of somewhat less than one-fourth part of the sentences izpon men, and one-third part of the sentences upon women. Wholesome restrictions have been introduced it appears in the quantity of food allowed, and also in the amount of gratuities given on discharge to convicts adjudged to penal servitude. Thus, gentlemen, you will jDerccive that the new provisions are characterised hj augmented severity; and when you learn that they are made in conformity with the views not only of the Legislature and tlie Executive Government, but that they echo, as it were, the opinions of public bodies charged by authoritj^ or who had charged themselves with the duty of careful investigation into the working of our criminal law, I think you Avill agree with mo that our new Penal Servitude Act forms an epoch in our legislation." Reviewing Criminal Law and the Irish system as now in force, Mr. Hill observes : — "The impulse which wrought the mitigation of our Criminal Code was one rather of sentiment than of rellection ; we revolted from the pain inflicted on ourselves through the sufferi.ngs of the criminal, and our own feelings once relieved we forgot to a:k ourselves whether we were t,reating the object of our sympathy' so as to promote his permanant advantage. We foVgot that to dischargo him fram prison while under the influence of false principles and the coercion of evil habits, Avas to leave him in a state of slavery more surely incompatible ' with his welfare here than anv state which could, result from the harshest visitations of THE IRISH SYSTEM — BY MR. HILL. 51 * human jurisprudence. If, then, the changes which have lately been made are such as to promote his reforfiiation, and ensure his persistence in the right path after it has been recovered, true and genuine mercy •will be far from receiving any shock by what^ has been done. And this I hum'flly believe wi^ be the cons.?quence should the uew spirit breathed into the treatment of criminals per- manently actuate all who take part in giving effect to our laws.^ You must have been struck gentlemen with the complete change of principle on wlftch remission is hereafter to be granted. Passive obedience to prison rules, however indispensable ib may be to good order, has little tendency to reform tl\e character, and will therefore do little to ensure an honest course of life after discharge. Industiy is the ground on which we must build, and in order that industry practised in jail may continue after the prisoner is at large,_ it must be willing industry, and hence the value of the remission which is held up to him as its reward ;»whereas industry produced by fear of punishment, even in the comparatively few instances where it is produced, will by the painful associations with which all memory of it must be accompanied, relax itself and fall into des- uetude, when by regaining his liberty the convict has left his fears behind him. The (jxtended duration of his sentence Vill afiord him sufficient time to make his industry habitual, and it is to con- firmed habits we must mainly look to protect him against relapse. Thus the interests of the criminal have been, we see, as carefully considered as the interests of society ; both moving onwards hand in hand. But the benefits to each do not rest here. The hour of dis- charge arrives, and the well disposed prisoner having now to tneet his greatest peril is not abandoned. He takes his gratuity, which preserves him for a time at least from^the overwhelming tempta- tion produced by want. He has to report himself to the head of the police of the district to which he resorts, and he thereby es- tablishes a relation between himself''and a public officer who both by duty, and speaking from experience, I will say also by inclina- tion, will befriend him so long as his conduct deserves it, and who will exercise over his actions the powerful influences of hope and fear. It is often assumed that the vigilance which it is the duty of the police to exercise over discharged offenders is necessarily of a h(jstile character ; but that is not so. A ticket of leave man, when his ticket becomes what it always ought to have been, a testimonial that the holder is a person who has given evidence of his eai-nest desire to do well, and of his possessing the requisite qualifications for pursuing an honest course of life, will find the head of the police of his district a protector against ill- founded suspicion, to which an ex-convict is naturally ever obnoxi- ous. And when in addition to the testimonial which the ticket of leave man brings from his prison, he can safely refer to the police for a certificate that he has continued to deserve the remissipii which has been granted to him, surely he must thus obtain facilities for procurii^g employment which will constitute a ne.w and invalu- iif)\e privilege ; while, on the other hand, his consciousness that any breach of the conditirjis on which he hokls his licence to be at large, will,* the moment it becomes known,' ensure his being forthwith deprived ofhis liberty, must give an additional force to hite good resolution. The intcrvid, then, between his discharge on ticket of leave, and the expii-'ation of the sentence pronounced upon him by the judge, is made a season of regulated responsibility. It is an ad- 52 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — '* HAEITUALS." ditional stage of probation, furnisLing motives to good conduct, wliich will only cease to act when sucli probation being fully ac- complished, he regains the footing of his neighbours who have never falleiw^ijato that miserable adversity Avhich is the oftspring of crime." I trust that th6 foregoing and other extracts have suffi- ciently shown that the principle on which the "ticket of leave'* , forms an essentfdl part of, reformatory treatment in Ire- . land and in England, has been subjected to the most search- ing examination, and has been triumphantly upheld, not only by the supporters of the Irish system, but by the most dis- tinguished English authorities, and finally by Act of Parlia- ment. Probably no part of the reformatory treatment has formed the subject of such continuous and animated debate- It was necessary therefore that I should show at some length what had been said and what had been done regarding it. With the expiration of the period' of the "ticket of leave" ends the authoritative connection of the Govern- ment and the law with the convict ; after that, he is not in England or Ireland subjected to any legal supervision such as entails- on him the performance of any duty. The IDolice in Ireland undoubtedly do continue to aid him if they can, and so also do those benevolent men and societies whose efforts are ' specially devoted to aiding in the great work of reformation, by helping convicts to earn their bread honestly. Should he relapse into evil habits, unquestionably the surveillance of the police, which is not relaxed, will be brought to bear on him so as to convince him that if he does commit an offence his arrest is certain. Before concluding this brief sketch of the Irish system, I must notice certain important points which are con- nected with the success of the system, and which, in the general sketch I did not specially describe : — CHAPTER III. MEASURES CONNECTED AVITH THE REFORMATORY SYSTEM. I. i^The Irish system assumes that every convict is so to speak an "habitual" not a casual offender, and treats him as such. * REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "REGISTRATION." 53 Sir Walter Crofton, on this point observes : — " Anothei' great ciifFerence between 'the English and Irish systems was the institution of su2:>ervision after liljei'ation ; and here I at once acknowledge what has been adduced p^ainst us, that there must have been very weal* faith on the"*part of the directors in their own system, when they thought it necessary to supplement it by supervision after liberation. I acknowledge, and I am sur% that my colleagues would do the ^ame, that I have a weak faith in any mere prison sysiem, and I think it is far better, both for the public and the convict himself, to check his prison conduct, and the prison system, by the infallible test of observation when he is at liberty. During the process of classification I had taken the pains to go through somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 convict cases, and I satisfied myself from their antecedents, and from other points brought to my notice during this examination, that a very great majority belonged t(T the criminal class and would in ordinary course return to thieving. It therefore made it im- perative, according to my mind, that we should not treat persons as casual offenders, who are in the convict prisons, but expressly as criminals living in crime by habit and repute. . It was therefore necessary to sui-round by every possible means, the commission of crime by obstructions. It was quite clear that if you could impress tipon the minds of this class that if they pursued a course of crime after liberation, they would be brought back to prison again and have lengthened sentences entailed upon them ; if you could tell them confidently that the conditions of the licences would be enforced, it would serve in a great measure to indoctrinate them with the idea that crime would be unprofitable. I am quite sure that the success of the Irish system has been mainly indebted to a feeling on the part of the convicts from the commencement of their sentences, that they could not follow crime as a vocation with inipiinity. I firml}^ believe tAat the great evils which have occurred in England, and the very great expenditure consequent on crime, has arisen from our believing that the majority of our convicts in the Govei'ument prisons were casual oft'enders. I am satisfied that there never was a greater dehision. If the police were taken into consultation, as I have always made a point of taking them into consultation in Ireland, the antecedents of those people would be reliably ascertained ; and speaking of England I feel sure that the Commissioners would find that from 70 to 75 per cent at least live by ci'ime. It is with them a vocation, a business ; and I assert that we have no reason to assume that they are only waiting for employment in order to live honestly ; on the con- trary, ..we are bound to assume from their former lives, that they Avill not do so, and therefore should take such precautions as shall protect society against them ; and in the process of protecting society against them, we shall also protect them against themselves; and that I am from practical experience prepax'ed to prove. These a^c the main features of the difference between the two systems, which start from diff"erent bases ; but it will be observed that the Irislj convict system in its procedure makes cases against itself, and therefore its statistical results cannot be compared with any other system." ' II. KegistrUtion throngliout tbe country of all offenders, 5-1 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "PREVIOUS CONVICTIOXS." with a view to habitual offenders receiving on conviction severer sentences tha'u would be passed'on a casual offender. * One great feature in the mode of registration in the United Kingdom is ' the use of photograj^hy. The likeness of each prisoner is taken and fixed into a book, when he is re- ceived into the prison on being committed for trial : when there is reason to believe that he is an old offender, his portrait is sent wherever 'the circumstances of the case dictate, and in numerous instances it has led to the dis- covery of men being old offenders. Sir Walter Crofton t)bserves : — " In tlie county prisons wlien prisoners are suspectec|. or known to have been convicts, they send up a form containing particulars, "with a desci'iption^ of the person suspected or known to be a dis- cliarged cofivdct. That conies to the convict piyson office, in order that the man may be identified ; and very often, when it is necessary, if a man demurs at all to his identification a prison officer is sent down to identify him, and if found guilty of any crime, a letter is in all cases placed on the table of the judicial officer, which has been written to the GoAX-rnor of the jail, the letter being in these terms : — ''G0VEKN3IENT PkISOXS OfFICE. Sir, ''- The enclosed particulars * * * * have been compared with the books of this office and are c'orrect. In the event of his being found guilty of the present charge, the Directors of Convict Prisons request that the notice of the judge may be particularly called to the circumstance of his being an ' habitual offender,' with the view of his receiving a sentence proportionate to his perseverance in pursuing a course of crime. ' Please to notify the result of the trial to this office, and return the enclosure at the same time.' " This is a case which actually occurred. A man was convicted for picking pockets. He was a convict and this course was pursued with him. It entailed upon him a sentence of tcii years' penal ser- vitude. His character as an 'habitual' criminal was takcju into consideration by the judge. I am able to speak confidently on two most important iDoints ; information with regard to hahitual offenders being sent in each case to the county prisons ; and in the case of ticket of leave men that their licences have been always revolcecl for an infringement of the conditions." '' As the use of photography for taking portraits of cri- minals has been found so 'immensely valuable in the United Kingdom as a means of registration, and as the ai't can without any difficulty be learnt by natives, so far as tlie REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " PUOTOGRAPnY." 55 simple taking of a portrait sufficiently good for the purposes of recognition, I give the following reifiarks by the Gover- nor of the Bristol jail, Captain Gardner, made so^ far back as 1854:— * , '^ " The advantages wliich I have myself seen derived from the use of photography as an aid to the administration of criminal justice arc such* that I am induced t* make an 'effort to j^rocure its general adoption throughout the kingdom. The importance of being enabled, in the cases of all hardened ci'iminals, to prove previous convictions must be too self-evident to dwell upon, neither does it require argument to show that the difficulties hitherto in the way of such i^roof, have been always numerous and often insurmountable. "When the convict has been seflt back to the same ^^Vn"? the recjuircd evidence has been easily procurable; but it is well known to all who Jiave been concerned in criminal administration, that the most cunning, the most skilled and the most daring offenders are migratory in their habits ; that they do not locate themselves in a particular tc.Avn or district, but extend their '' ravages to wherever there is the most open field for crime, or Avhere the chances of plunder most present themselves. That this is the case will be attested by the police of almost every large city, whose experience will have failed to connect the most extensive and best planned robberies Avith their resident known thieves. "A knowledge of the foi'egoing matter, induced me a few years ago to desiderate some mode by which descriptions of cominitted prisoners might be circulated amonget the Governors of leading jails, but numerous difliculties at first presented themselves ; perio- dical visits of inspection might bo useful, but they would have two great disadvantages ; first they would withdraw the Governor or confidential officer too frecjuently from his jail duties; and secondly, they would entail expenses which the counties could not bear. Written descriptions, in very marked cases, might be effective ; but as in the great majority of instances, it would be found impossible to make them sufficiently precise, they would only tend, where parties were sent to identify, to frequent disappointments and useless expense. " Photography then suggested itself to my mind. I haA'e now an apparatus in my jail which I use daily. I have rendered it most subservient to the object for which it was designed, and through its use have brought to justice several hardened offenders who, being unknown in my neighljoarhood, would otherwise have escaped w"ith inadequate punishment. " J. H. came into the Bristol jail upon commitment for trial a perfect stranger to me and my officers. He was well attired but very illitera!te ; the state of his hands convinced me that he had not done any hard work, whilst the superiority of his apparel over his attainments let me to suspect that he wj:? a practised thief. I for- warded his likeness to several ]")]aces, ind soon received information that he had been convicted in London and Dublin. 3 " The London officer who recognized him by his portrait, was subpoenaed as a witness, picked him out from amongst thirty or 56 REFORMATORY SYSTEM —POLICE SUPERVISION. forty otliei* prisoners, and gave evidence on his trial in October last, ■which led the Eecorder to sentence him to six years penal servitude." Sir "\y alter Crofton observes : — ""^^t he introduction of photography into our prisons is a measure Avhich I think all will agree should be concurrent with legislation, which not only notes ' habitual offenders' as a class, but entails upon them cumulative punishments, and other penal disabilities. As soon as the rala enters the, first prison, the most unmistakeable record of his identity is at once registered in the prison books in the shape of a photographip portrait. ' No, no ' exclaimed an eminent thief when he was placed before the machine, stretching forth his hands so as to hide his face. ' Xo, no, you are taking away my bread. ' The man was actuated by a prudential regard for his professional interests, when he should once more be released from j^il." III. Police supervision and control over cKscliarged offenders. In Europe this is extended not only over con- victs when discharged, but over ordinary criminals. The following extracts from Miss Carpenter's work give the replies sent by the Courts of Europe to the Parliamen- tary Committee of 1856 : ' Belgium. " In Belgium at the expiration of their sentences, persons con- victed of crimes are placed for a period of more or less length under the surveillance of the police." ^ Austria. " In Austria as soon as a prisoner has finished his time of im- prisonment, the administration makes a report of his private circumstances and of his behaviour during the time of his deten- tion, and delivers it to the head of the police ; but the delinquent himself is to be sent to the place ir/iere he resided before, and there he is subjected to more or less suiweillance by the local authorities. " Fnissia. " The measures of precaution taken by the Government in regard to discharged prisoners consist of placing them under the (Surveil- lance of the police ; and the exercise of this power has been regulated bj'^ a special law dated l'2th February IS-jO. It is the custom in Prussia, Baron de Katte tells us in his evidence before the same committee, to place a man under the surveillance of the police after the expiration pf his sentence. This forms a part of his sentence; supposing a man has been condemned to two years confinement, he is generally sentenced to ttree years of the suf-veillance of the p^olice. It is not found practically tlifct this surveillance is any hindrance to himiin getting employment. The retiu'u of the prisoner is notified to the Government of his district, and steps are takef to obtain monthly reports of him." • REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "POLICE SURVEILLANCE." 57 * Bavaria. " As a measure of security liberated penitentiary convicts are, after the completion of their sentences, subjected by law to a special Burveillance of the police at their place of abode during five years. jp^anover. -^.^ " As to the manner of the surveillance i» respect to individuals dismissed from the penal institution, general rules cannot well be given ; the greater part must be left to the judicious consideration and circumspection of the local authorities, '^e precautionary arrangements for surveillance and ca^e should he prepared before hand, so that the individual on his arrival may be furnished with the proper directions ; such measures wiil be taken according to the reasonable judgment of the Magistrate, as may tend to lead the dismissed to a regular use of his jDersonal liberty, and regular mode of life, keeping in view the more or less dangerous inclinations manifested by him. The extent of surveillance is not to be greater than the circumstances require. Th§ public safety however must always be kept in view. Afterwards it may be considered for what the dismiaeed is to be ordered ; perhaps to report himself at cer- tain times at the police of the circuit or place : for instance in case of a pretended journey from the place or neighbourhood. Such con- trol can usually cease at the end of a year if urgent reasons do not require a prolongation. In case a prisoner liberated froni the penal institutions, and standing under surveillance, desires to change the district to which he is directed for another place on account of any good reasons, information must be sent to the Magistrate of the district to which the man intends to go. " If any man under surveillance does not obey the regulations, or withdraws secretly from the district assigned to him, police punishment is to be inflicted on him ; r^id when requested he may be treated in the same manner as suspicious and incorrigible vagabonds. Soiwny. "The laws of Saxony do not prescribe any fixed measures of pre- caution as to discharged prisoners : all of them however who can show evidence of reform are sent back to their native place ; and unless some other district should voluntarily receive them, they cannot quit their domicile until they have earned in it a certificate of good conduct for one year. After they have gained such a certificate no district is at liberty to refuse their admission. The police of their native place are wa.rnecl before hand of their approachinc/ liberation, ivith orders to exercise a surveillance over them. Nassau. " In Nassau dangerous convicts are placed §tter their liberation under the surveillance of the police for not less than one or more than five years. This surveillance consists of: — I. The superior police authorities are empowered to direct, that the individual under their surveillance do not quit his domicile, or the limits assigned to him, after night-fall without • permission from the police. That such individual do not remain in any place, if his presence there seems dangerous. ^ II. The judicial and police authorities may at any time visit the domicile of such individual. • The breach- of such orders is punished with iraprisunmeut. 58 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " POLICE SURVEILLANCE.'" ■ Baden. " The native who is^ condemned to imprisonment in a house of correction is at the same time, as far as public safety seems to be endangered by him, sentenced to be placed nnder the surveillance of tnt.^wlice : this superintendence cannot be awarded for less than one year, and not longer than for five years. " The effects of being placed under the superintendence of the police are the following : — ■*' I. Theii^person placed under such surveillance may not leave his native place, or'tiny other domicile, which with the permission of the police he may have chosen, during the night, without being allowed to do so by the Mayor ; and not for eight days without leave of the police authorities. "II. The judicial police authorities have the power ta search his house at any ti-me. '. " If the person placed under the superintendence of the police leaves his domicile or place of residence without pennission, he is at the request of the police authorities punished with three m.onths* close confinement. '^ " The person placed under the superintendence of the police is freed from , it for the time to which he has been sentenced, by giving bail for a sum to be fixed bj^ the judge. _' " The bail is forfeited when the person placed under the super- intendence of the police commits a new crime which is punishable with imprisonment in a house of correction, and such crime has been committed within the time for which bail has been accepted. " If the new crime punishable with imprisonment in a house of correction is, less than the first, the bail can be declared in part forfeited, in proportion to the crime. " The bail forfeited to Ire paid to the Treasury, deducting the indemnification to be made to the party ofi'ended against, if the au- thor of the offence is not able to furnish the sum. The Sanse TovMs. " In Hamburgh dangerous criminals are placed under the sur- veillance of the ijolice. " In Bremen no regulations have been made with regard to placing criminals under restraint after their liberation ; nor are they necessary, as such restriction may at any time be decreed by the sentence of a Court of Justice. WuHemburcf. " When the authorities of the district in which the prisoner's domicile is situated Teceive notice as to his approaching release and capabilities for work, they are bound to provide for at least his temporary employment, and to make every arrangement consistent with that object: — and for this purpose the extra wages (if any) which the prisoner has earned while in prison, or any other property that he may possess, is to be sent by the the Executive of the prison to the said authorities. ►■ ''If the prisoner departs from the route laid down in his certi- ficate of liberation, he readers himself liablp to be treated as a vagabond. „ <^ " The authorities of the district in which theprisoner's domicile is situated, must advise the executive of the prison on his arrival ; and not tUl then is his name remc/ed from the prison roll; but • SEFORMATORY SYSTEM — " POLICE SURVEILLANCE." 59 ■when he does arrive the police regulations are put in force for his surveillance. The libei^ted convict need not be sent home if he can mention some other place, to the satisfaction of the prison authori- ties, where he will be able to obtain a livelihood ; and in that case they must be informed of his arrival in that place. Nevert^^'j^less the authorities of the district in which the released convict s domi- cile is situated must be informed of it, and the prison executive must satisfy itself of his arrival in the place cf his settlement. Prisoners who ^^ave committed an offence punishable by confinement, or have been guilty of repeated vagrancy, if the sentence does not order them to be placed under the surveillance of the police of the district in which the prison is situate^, must be conveyed on their release from prison to their respective houses, in order to put in force the fmther yolice regidations against them. "One of the principal- means adopted for the moral and social reformation of liberated convicts, is the confining them to certaju prescribed limits. * " This is accomplished by the local police with the assistance of any trustworthy person, and particularly of the district clergy and members of the society for the care of liberated convicts. '•The persons so placed under restraint are summoned once a Week before the Inspector of the district, on some day not previously fixed, and he interrogates them as to their circumstances, employ- ment, &c., and reports accordingly to tha court of the district. Sometimes an inhabitant ot the district takes upon himself the duty of superintending one of the persons so restricted, and he reports his conduct to the Inspector once a fortnight, and the latter to the court of the province every quarter of a year. " Every person under such restraint, if he is irf receipt of assis- tance from the public purse, must use^his best endeavours to find employment, and if he cannot succeed must accept such as the Inspector finds for him. " A list and description of all tBe persons under restraint in the district is kept at each police oilice, together with an account of the duration of the sentence, the limits prescribed, and the nature of their employment ; copies of which are sent to the chief and all the neighbouring offices. Sweden. "In Sweden discharged prisoners are placed under the surveillance of the police until they can succeed in either getting themselves hired in service, or finding some other means of subsistence. If in a given time they neither procure one nor the other, they are liable to be again sent to the public works for a definite period." Miss Carpenter observes on the foregoing : — " Such are the principles generally recognized in these states. Offenders after receiving punishment are to have every opportunity of regaining their character, and a benevolent public helps them to do so, and is ready to receive them on condition of good conduct ; bub at the samS time society must be frotected, and this jcan be done in the case of one who has broken the laws of the country, only by a special loaichf Illness Jaeing exercised ov«r him, to arrest him in his career if he shows a disposition to wontinue the same evil courses. In the states of Europe from which these returns are s^jnt, there ajjpears to be no doubt as to the justice or the expediency of this course." CO REFORMATORY SYSTEM— " POLICE SURVEILLANCE." In the United Kingdom, as I before observed, police surveillance involving certain obligations on the convicts is only by law exercised over coavicts who are out of prison undef rtickets of leave. Over other offenders the police can only exercise a " watch." Sir Walter^ Crofton observed in 1864, ^at the Social Science Meeting : — " It is unnecessary tJbat I should do more than briefly notice the subject of police supervision over licence holders, all-important as that subject is. It has by the 4th clause of the Penal Servitude Act now become the law of the land. It will be seen by the wording of this clause that the chief officer of police has power to i-eceive a monthly report of the convict, at such time and place, in such manner, and through such person as he may appoint. Under well considered instructions therefore we may hope to find the chief constable availing himself of the co-operation of prisoners and societies, magistrates, clergymen and other responsible persons." The remarks by the Reverend W. L. Clay, the well known " Prison Chaplain," apply so forcibly to police super- vision over habitual offenders, whether convicts or other- wise, that they may well be here recorded : — " There is tb3 same prejudice against the liberates from common jails as there is against those from convict prisons, and yet it has been proved in many towns, and notably in Birmingham, by Mr. Burt, that with a fair recommendation a quondam prisoner in his true character as an " honest tlii ■f can readily obtain work, and the very society for the assistance of liberates Avhich ia affiliated to the English system, find masters for the great majority of its clients, though it never sends them out with a lie, or at any rate a "supfreS' sio veri " in their right hand. These facts are a complete answer to the plea that police suiDcrvision, by branding men as criminals cruelly robs them of the means of livelihood. But we go further and naaintain that in mercy to the old ofi'ender we are bound to watch him, in order to render his return to crime as difiicult and perilous as possible." Mr. Clay was writing in 1862, when in England there was no proper police supervision over ticket of leave men, and prior to the last Act by which that is now insured ; he says : — " It is one element of strength in the Irish system that the con- vict, carefully taught to expect almost infallible punishlnent if he relapses, soon turns his mind to honest projects. " It is one element of wtiakness in the English system, that the convict can look forward to a r.ew course of felony, highly lucratiyo and not hy any means over hazardous. And by showing that super- vision is no real hardship to the quondam thief, we incidentally pr^ye that it will never become a detriment to the public."" • REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " POLICE SURVEILLANCE." 61 On this point Mr. Frederick Hill, late Inspector of Pri- sons, and whose opirfion is of acknowleslged weight, writing so far back as 1853, observes : — f " If concurrently with the ci-ganization of a more efficient pci^ce, and a more elfective administration of the criminal iW, the plan recommend- ed in the text for keeping up for a certain period a surveillance over liberated prisoners, were brought into operation, there would probably after a time be few persons at large wjiose freedoi^ was dangerous to society ; still, with reference to these few, and previously as a means of reducing the numbers to a few, it is very desirable that the law should give power to require any person who flas once becu convicted of theft, and whom there may be reasonable ground for believing to be again in the practice of dishonesty, to show by what means he is getting a liveli- hood. " All who have had opportunities of c^taining information from police officers must be aware that there are now many criminals at large who are well known to the police, but who in tlio present state of the law cannot be touched, ownig to the difficulty of obtaining the special kind of evidence required ; and it should be remarked, that this very class of offenders is the most hurtful to society, since it consists to a great extent of receivers *of stolen goods, and other persons, whose aid is essential to the carrying on of crime as a system ; but if a jiower existed to compel these traders in iniquity to show by what means they were living, their occupation would at once be destroyed, and the machinery on which thieves depend for the disposal of their goods would fall to pieces. " I have already had occasionto refer to the numeaous instances men- tioned in my early reports, ( and othej's scattered through my subsequent reports ) where the chief ofienders in a* village town or district, those who probably committed three quarters of all the crimes, were perfectly well known to the police, and whei'e, jievertheless owing to the existing restrictions on the kinds of evidence to be received — restrictions which once perhaps might be necessary, but which now seem to be mere legal pedantry — and owing also to the practice of allowing a person who has once been apprehended and shown to be a criminal, to have his liberty again before he has given proof of amended habits, these habitual offen- ders go on, for an indefinite period, to pilfer and rob, to excite around them uneasiness and alarm, and to train young ofienders as their assis- tants and eventual successors. " It is objected to the principle now under consideration, that it is foreign to our spirit of freedom. If by our spirit of freedom be meant the freedom of criminals, I readily agree in the remark. The less liberty, however, they have the better^ for as already observed, the roW;er'« freedofk is the honest man's bondage. But if it be intended to imply that even with the high minded body of men now entrusted Avith the adminis- tration of the law, the liberties of the honest and peaceable portion of the community would be endangered by the adoption of such a rule, I for one do aot partake in those fears ; and I would suggest for the com- fort of those who do, that if there be peril in the case, our liberties have happily survived the peril for a very long^period ; for not only is the principle now contended for 7iot new, buj; it holds a prominent place in one of our noblest statutes, the great Act of Elizabeth, providing relief for the poor ; part of the first section of which directs that persons to be caTled overseers of tlie poor, ' shall take order from time to time by and 62 REFORMATORy SYSTEM — "POLICE SURVEILLANCE." ' with the consent of two or more justices of the peace, for setting to work all such persons, married or unmarried, havin/? no means to maintain them, as use no ordinanj and daihj trade of life to get their living by,'' while the fourth section directs the said justices of the peace or any of thenl,N4o send to the house of correction or common jail, ' such as shall not employ 'themselves to wQ'-k, being appoiiited thereunto as aforesaid.' " Mr. D. Hill, Recorder of Birmingliam, in his charge to the Grand Jur^ in 1853, specially alluding tO this subject, surveillance and control over discharged convicts or habitu- al offenders, proposed a system by which such men as persist in criminal pursuits, having no ostensibly honest means of living, might be brought to trial and punished. Whilst urging the necessity of penal measures against this class, Mr. Hill continues : — " And now let me gentleman ask a plain question. Is a man who has already 1?£en convicted, Avhose conduct is such that a jury is satisfied he is still a malefactor, who being called on to explain hoAv he obtains his livelihood has no answer to give, Avho is so distrusted by all the world that he cannot find bail for his good conduct, is that man, that pest of society, to remain at lai-ge ? " Is the convict then, I ask, to exhaust all our sympathies ? Are we to have no thought for the myriads of honest or faithful subjects exposed to the same frightful pe'"ils. deeply feeling the want ^ prc^ectivU, t'^e comfort of whose lives is often-time destroyed by the perpe<-ual J'-^ar which harasses their minds ? ^' " But gentlemen, we almost always tind that an over--\V)Ught strict- ness in one direction is balanced bv some glanni^ laxit}- in aucthr . Writers who evince the greatest trepidation a the jivoposal to whicti your attention has been tli-awn, themselves urg the adoption of an alternative iiifinitely more perilous to innocence tlian ' ae mos*' 'Mstorted imagination can figure to itself out of mine. Deliberate ad\ice has been given that each man should defend his house with fire arms. ^iCt us pause for a moment to examine what this advice implies. It implies that a person suddenly aroused fi-om sleep, in the dead of the nig'it, and in all the disturbance of mind which an impendmg conflict must produce, is, while pointing his blunderbuss and drawing the trigger, to acciose, try, and condemn a suspected burglai- discerned for an instant in the dark, and to execute upon him the irrevocable doom of a capital punish- ment : surely for such very fastidiou* legislators this is a soijuewhat startling recommendation. But what has resulted from this advice ? Gentlemen, within a very short interval of time two innocent persons, one of them an otncer of police, a protector instead of an assailant, have fallen ; have fallen too by the hands of clergymen who (as we shoula ail agree) if the power could be safely exercised by any class of the^coramuniry are best entitled to the trust, by the self-restraint and the merciful spirit which pertain to their sacred calling, and \xy the reluctance which above all others they must feel at sending a fellow creature t'o his account T'ith all his sins upon his head. "Nevertheless gentlemen, if the law will. permit known ruffians , to remain at large, these barbarous remedies, perhaps cannot^ and niost • RErORMATOKY SYSTEM — "POLICE SURVEILLANCE.'' 63 certainly will not, be dispensed with ; yet who does not see that any method of trial, howevei^ rude and defective, even Lynch law itself, is infinitely to be preferred." I cannot conclude tjiis subject, " police sup(|r,ision and control over habitual offenders" -y^ithout drawing at- tention to what has been most ably shown by foreign and other writers,->that " police surveillance" miifet be carried out on the principles adopted in Ireland as previously described, and must not he carried out as is too often the case on the continent merely as a general law, to be applied only to the class and regardless of the individuals. On the continent, as I have shown, many countries have adopted the principle of placing criminals of a certain class under police sur- veillance*; and of late years the orders in force in those countries have been directed to the benefitting th^ criminal by that surveillance as in Ireland, and not to the isolating him from society as one of an outcast class. Great care is paid to the education of the children of these " habituals," and every effort is made by private societies as well as by the police to get these men on discharge the nieans of honest- ly earning their livelihood. In fg:mer years such was not the ^. and ^he surveillani^e m too many cases, owing to the I iar restrictiv/ii. )f the continent, made the discharged (•'; isolated, cut vjf man, one at whom society pointed '^ut u'l 0"! help. joaron >lvjlLtndorf, in 1861, observed : — " Py ccnhvQntal supervision a criminal class is created where it formerly did not exist ; by the Irish supervision a criminal class will be destroyed where it had commenced to form itself. '• In France and in Prussia police supervision is little more than a moral stigma, a predestination to a career of crime, under the impression of which criminals lose their own moral confidence and th^r hope of a/wtore rGce])tion into the honest part of the po- pulation. Employers are deterred from any communication with discharged criminals placed under the supervision of the police. As soon as it becomes known that a man is placed under the supervisioiijOf the police, a prejudice arises against him which he csKinot overcome. The police on their part can make no distinction between different individuals ; it is suffi(^ient to know the fact that a ma»i is under supervision. ' " It would be c^uite different indeed to make police supei-- vision dependent on the prisoner's behaviour during his incarcera- tioa. It would be the grbisscst error to compare the Irish institu-< 64 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "POLICE SURVEILLAITCE." ' tion of police supervision to the continental system which bears the same name. , , " The Irish police, as far as I can see, do not make a constant sho\^^fdistl-ust towards discharged prisoners. It is their duty to give asnistance to those who according to the competent explana- tions of the prison autnorities are entitled to confidence. It is their duty to be an intermediate institution between prison olficers, discharged prisoners and employers — an institution establishedin order to carry out the views of.the prison authorities and to remove the prejudice of society against discharged prisoners, who are to report themselves to a police station, not for the purpose of being made the object of re-search and imminent prosecution, but for quite an opposite purpose, viz., of affording a proof of their good behaviour, and of testifying in their own favor. A comparison can- not possibly be admitted between the Irish establishment of supervision, which requires discharged criminals of good character to report themselves to a constabulary office, and the continental supervision, by which, on mere suspicion, discharged prisoners are dragged from their beds by night, or employers warnkl against those towards whom they felt inclined to show some sympathy, r " It may however be a question deserving further attention whether it be desirable to have a more general application of police supervision in those cases where no conditional pardons are granted, and where a prisoner, on account of his bad hehaviour, has under- gone the /iiM term of his judicial sentence. " As we have now in the Irish institutions a supervision of con- fidence with regard to offenders in the course of reformation, there may be devised a supervision of distrust with regard to oftenders who belong to the criminal tlass, and have until then remained inaccessible to moralizing efforts. Continental supervision may be rendered applicable to the latter^ class, with a view to preventing a check against such as are according to all probability inclined to the commission of new crimes. '• Habitual offenders" should, as has been sufficiently proved, be legally distinguished from that class of criminals whose crimes appear to be a result of temporai'y circum- stances. "In proportion to the increasiDg number of sentences of short im- prisonment for reconvictions, the impression on the criminals mind will be gradually diminished or at last totally extinguished. _ Hence the necessity for long terms of confinement in those cases in which previous iraprisonraent has f)rove,t, the qualifications of prison officers :— " The lowest officer in a jirison and the keeper of tho» smallest lock-up house, should iij my opinion be a person superior in his hat>its to the ordinary run of the workiiig classes, that he may 66 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " EDUCATION OF PRISONERS." constantly present to the wrong-doers who will come under his charge, an example woi^thy of their respect L.nd imitation. " In the same way that in the improved Lunatic asylums of the Resent 'day, keepers are sought for of unusually sound and vigoro'te minds, so those who are tt) have the care of criminals, should be men of sterling honesty, free from those little practices of deceit which in ordinary persons might pass without much animad- version. They s,hould be distinguished, too for habits of sobriety, industry, order, an'd cleanliness; they should be very intelligent, kind, and good-tempered, yet firm. " Again, they should be acquainted with several kinds of useful labor, and should be at least able to read and write fluently. Lastly, it is essential that they should have a liking for the kind of occu- pation in which they will be engaged. The higher the officer's position the more varied and numerous are the qualifications required. The Governor of a large prison shoiild be a person of etrong native talent, of great decision of character, yet of kind and affable manners ; he should possess great insight into human character, and into the various causes of crime, and the springs of action ; and he should be influenced by a strong desire to promote the permanent welfare of the prisoners comiliitted to his charge. He should be jDossessed of powers of command and of holding others to responsibility ; and in order to maintain these effectually, it is necessary that he should be able to determine what every one under his authority can reasonably be expected to perform, and to judge of the manner in which every duty is discharged. An extraordinary degree of intelligence is not absolutely necessary in a discipline officer of a convict prison : but good temper and a fair degree of discretion, combintJd with strict moral habits and firmness of character, are qualifications without which he cannot succeed in the discharge of his duty." V. Education of prisoners. In Ireland, in addition to the usual instruction impart- ed to classes, a lecturer, a gentleman very competent and very devoted to his duty, addresses to them plain speeches on subjects calculated to arouse their interest and awaken their faculties. As this point, education, is in India considered to be one of difficulty, I give the following copious extract showing the practice in Ireland, and those general prijiciples which may be applied to the education of the human mind in the east as well as in the west : — " Mr. Organ, the lecturer to the prison, gives the men evening lectures on subjects calculated to communicate such knowledge aa may be advantageous to them in their future life; besides st^oring their minds with useful infoVmation, and drawing them off from improp^'x" subjects of thought. He is much more than a lecturer ; he is a friend, in the highest and best sen&e, to those who perhaps never before had a fiiend worthy of the name ; he sympathizes * REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " EDUCATION OF PRISONERS." 67 with theii' difficulties and trials ; and when they are about to enter into the world, he ar:*anges for their enijgx'ation if they wish to leave the country. The subjects of the lectures for one week were :— " * Monday. — The sun, what it is and whai it does. Tuesday. — Labor, its dignity and rewards. Wednesday. — Emigration, its advantages and disadvantages. Thu7sda'j. — Crime, its profit and loss. * Friday. — Irish intermediate prisons, their rise, progress and results. Saturday. — Competitive exami'tiation. " Mr. Organ gave the men on the jn'esent occasion one of his forcible familiar addresses, and their countenances clearly indicated how completely he touched their experiences. We had now a good opportunity of studying the characters before us. Some were grey- headed old men, evidently ignorant and stupid, if not hardened in crime; sojne quite young, perhaps only eighteen ; the countenances of some were not unpleasant, and had evidently been greatly soft- ened and refined hj the discipline they had undergone ; while the bulk of them were p ertainly unprepossessing, though rfot bad, and were responsive to good sentiments or advice. One would nob have imagined oneself in such an assemblage — all convicts of a deep dye. Those of us were particularly struck with this, who had else- where seen so very different an aspect in a number of convicts in other prisons, where the hard, dogged, lowering look gives unmig- takeable proof of a bad nature, checked and repressed, not changed, " After the address the men arranged tbemselv*s in two parties, and a man on one side v/as selected to propose a question to the other. This being satisfactorily answered the challenge Avas returned, and each side seemed stimulated by a friendly rivalry to surpass the other ; to elicit as much informatk)n and call out as much real thought and opinion as possible. Sometimes a discussion arose, in which Mr. Organ was called on to take a part, which he did, not dic- tatorially, but with only the superiority arising from his own great- er knowledge and better spirit and judgment." The Directors of the Convict Prisons in 185G thus rej^ort : " Sensible of the very great importance of establishing a proper system of education in prisons, through which unfortunately thousands of human beings must pa.ss, who are in turn subjected to its influence, we are gratified at being enabled to state that although much of the past year has been taken up with arranging school- roomSj^classifying prisoners according to their attainments, appoint- ing school masters, &c., a great desire has been evinced by the prisoners to receive instruction ; and this is the more remarkable as proceeding from some advanced in age, who at the commencement of the year jattended school with the greatest reluctance. " The Head Master of Fort Camclen thus writes : — • " Were the prisoners subjected tcf a rigorous examination in literary subjects, their progress might appear slow, for ftiany of them wei'c aged mep, of blunted intellect, and speaZcMi,^ only the Irish language ; but this would be an unfair test, for most of them have 63 REFORMATORY SYSTEM—" EDUCATION OF PRISONERS." ' acquired mucli useful information, tliougli incapable of answering correctly for want of ex^iresgion. Those wli'O cannot read or write, so as to gain information from books, have l^een taught orally and by Ijicture something of life in general, and are partially educated. It is most amusing and edifying to tear these old men teaching each other geography 'hj pointing out on the maps the several countries, under the Irish names from the different colors, that mark them-. Those who have learned to read, and who also speak Irish, very generally trstiislate the subjects and substance cf their lessons into Irish for those who have failed to learn to read. " The development of the Sir Richard Mayne, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Force since its foundation in 1829, speaks strongly in his evidence before the Commission of the evil arising " from thus creating as it were by short imprisonments, a cfass of most daring convicts." Mr. Hill, 'Recorder of Birmingham, so fi^* back as 1859, in a charge to the Grand Jury, thus spoke on this point : — " Gentlemen, in a paper which was read at Bradford I find that the Magistrates of Liverpool, seconded by the Recorder of that Borough, had changed their courde of action, and had taken a line which if they have had imitators in other parts of the countiy, ma^ do something towards a sohition of (Xir difiticulty. At Liverpool the evils of short imprisonments, which are sufficiently obvious, have at length attracted the attention of the authorities ; and although they appear not to be very sanguine of producing reformation by means of long imprisonments, they have seen fit to adopt them, reasoning thus : it is^a benefit to society and to the offenders them- selves to keep them within four walls, where whatever may be their dispositions they are incapacitated from the commission of crimes. This, gentlemen, is a sound view of the question. The professional life of a criminal, if I may use or abuse such an expression, is com- paratively brief; hardship or debauchery will each of them shorten existence, and he is exposed to a combination of these causes. If then, by lengthening his imprisonment on each cff his detected offences we could insure that every met^ber of the criminal class should expend one-third of his life in prison, such a result would be tantamount to a reduction of the criminal class to two-thirds of its present number. Thus even Magistrates who are incredulous of the possibility of reformation, may, by abandoning that jjc)'- niciou-s and absurd course of short confinements, which operates as an education to crime, and which could only have been resorted to had it been chosen after due reflection by such as desired to augment instead of to diminish offences ; even these Magistrates may and I trust are beginning to act in unison with the friends of reformatory treatment, which demands as its sine qua non the extinction of that monstrous lenity, the off-spring of maudlin sentiment, which has too often turned the administration of the law into a ridiculous mockery of justice. Bat I will add that to me it stands as a most solemn duty, whatever may be our fears as to the success of our endeavours for reformation (personally I have none), to pursue the enterprise with our utmost energy and with unflinching jierseverance". The author of " Old Bailey Experiences, " published so far^back as1833, observed: — " Imprisonment, ?^ I before said, tMeves regard not, if it be onl'i^fo'r a sliort period. So ductile and ^exible is nature to circum- stances, that these men think themselves fortunate, if out of twelve months they can have foun months' run, as they term it, and I have no hesitation in affirming they would continue to go the same 74 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " SHORT AND LONG SENTENCES.' round of imprisonment and crime for an unlimited period, if the duration of life and tbeir sentences afforded them opportunity. " Whilst the present system is pursued of allowing so many olct' offenders to escape with trifling punishments the evils will be increa^ocd. " There is a distinct body of thieves, whose life and business it is to follow up a determined warfare against the constituted authorities, by li^dng in idleness and on plunder. The problem of their increase was solved when I saw so many of their known party let off every season with so77ie 8%/;^ punishment, by which means they were soon again at theij; trade ; taking care however to send into Newgate thirty or forty yoimg hands each before they would themselves be caught again. " It is the practice of all the old and knowing thieves, who have the reputation of being clever at business, to draw in young ones and make them do all that part of tlie w^ork incurring risk. " Every regular thief let out upon the town, draws into crime in the course of one year a dozen more, which continues the Species ; and this will ever be the case until the system at the Old Bailey be altered, where there really appears to be much more anxiety to take out of society casual offenders than the born and bred thief, whdse whole life has been devoted to plunder. I have said they reckon all their chances — I. Of their not being detected in the offence. II. Of their being acquitted. • III. Of coming off with what they call a small fine ( short impri- sonment ). " The only^punishment they dread is transportation ; they hold all others in contempt, and I believe even that of death would lose its terrors, did it not lead to the gi-eatest of all their dreads, viz : transpor- tation for life. Death indeed has no terrors for any one, until met with at close quarters. Tell the thiel' of death, and he will answer ' never mind I can but die once.' Name transportation and they turn pale. " This cannot be too strongly impressed on the presiding judges at the Old Bailey. Full three-fourths of the prisoners every session are determined offenders, all of whom are regardless of imprisonment for a short jieriod. Their spmts enable them to surmount such trifles, Avhen the prospect of again returning to liberty and enjoyment is not very remote. ' Go along time' they cry, 'only three months and a teazing.'' ' Never mind that ; over in ten minutes' (meaning flogging). ' I would take one for each month, if the old fellow ( the judge ) would let me off the imprisonment.' " It is the known thief who should be selected and transported, being the only punishment he dreads." Sir Jolin Bowring, F. R. s., J. P., and Deputy Lieutenant for Devon, writes : — " No point is more strongly pressed, by experience both afc home and abroad, than ihe necessity of gr'jat severity in cases of short sentences. Sir Walter Crofton recommends that when'prison disciplrue is applied to persons condemned to imprisonment for six months or less, the regime should be sha'^p and deterrent. Cantain Donatius O'Brien, the Prison Inspector, is in favor of the same divi- REFORMATORY SYSTEM— " HARD LABOR." 75 siou ; and thinks that in the case of the shorter detentions labor should be a secondary consideration and discipline very severe. It would indeed seem deserving of serious consideration whether^ the system of short imprisonments ought not to be superseded by a legislation which should in ev(?ry case allow time for the disc4iline of instruction, as well as that of punishment to be applied to all offen- ders. — ' On no subject' says Mr. F. Hill, 'are the Governors of Prisons more generally agreed than in the worthlessnes^ of repeated short imprisonments'; while the indirect expense to society in apprehensions and prosecutions, and yet more in the amount of property of which society is plundered in the intervals jDetween the imprisonments, is great indeed.' A short confinement may be insufficient for bringing about reformation for establishing habits of industry, or for giving adequate iustruction in any useful trade. The recollection of a prison to those who are condemned to a sJiort experience of its penalties should be painful and even' intolerable. In the case of the minor and unprofessional criminal, productive labor might be made subordinate to punishment ; while in cases of protracted im- prisonment remunei'ative toil should become the instrument of reform and the recompense of evidenced improvement. The Swiss report recommends^ absolute isolation by day and nigiit when im- prisonment is of less than a year's duration, after which labor in company should be permitted by day." II. Hard labor. Lord Carnarvaon, in a pamplilet, gives as* follows :— « " By the special committee of visitii.^ justices. But in any such changes they wish not only to give effect to the penal part of the system, but to see more fully developed those ijifluences which may tend to the reformation of the prisonei*. With this view they recognize both the discipline of ' hard labor ' and the discipline which may be enforced under industrial work. Both may be made integral parts of a prison system, but it is important to keep them separate. Hard labor properly so called belongs to short sentences, to the earlier stages of long imprison- ment, and to the correction of prison offences. It ought, in the opinion of the committee, never entii-ely to disappear from the system of penal discipline, but it may with advantage be allowed as the sentence advances, to give, place gradually to industrial work. They desire that from com- paratively an early time the prisoner should understand that the system under which he is placed is a strictly progressive one ; that in the suc- cessive stages of imprisonment opportunities will be given him of proving'' his good intentions by the performance of actual work, and that it depends upon himself to ameliorate his condition, morally and mate- rially." Sir Walter Crofton on this observes : — " I think if we adopt this principle as o^r guiding star, we shall not go far>wrong in our treatment of crimin^ils. The circular transmitted recently by Sir George Grey to the judges, shows us that this principle is henceforth to prevail in our convict treatment ; and I cannot see why we eannot apply it to minor offenders in a manner which may prove generally satisfactory to the public. 76 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " HARD LABOR," " It was stated in the House of Commons that although the Secretary of State in his bill took strong powers to insure tlie existence of proi)er appliances in jails to enforce " hard labor" he did not define what would be considerecl hard labor. This is I believe the real difficulty with which 'we have to contend. The medical committee, which inquired into the dietary question, prescribed an extra diet for those employed at hard labor, and defined it as labor which visibly quickens the breath and opens the porQs. I have heard objections made to this definition, but on the wliole 1 am inclined to consider it an intelligible one. The employments which M'ould produce this eifect would be the tread-wheel, the crank, stone-breaking, oakupi-beating, and some few others of the same character. I am quite aware that there are many prisoners in every jail physically unfitted to be so employed, and that although very generally the geatest rogues in the establishment they escape with veiy slight punishment. These prisoners will in general be found employed in the fatigues of the prison, in4he garden, or at some quantity of oakum picking which is not measured, or perhaps at the pleasant occupation of learning a trade from the commencement of their sentences. Sometimes we find them placed at hard labor for short periods of the day and upon extra diet in consequence. " I consider it a very serious evil to allow theoe prisoners, who form a large portion of our prison inmates, to thus escape punishment ; and believe, that if a regulated amount of labor were exacted from them, it would be very beneficial to the community. " There surely need be no difficulty in forming effective and non- effective classes in every prison. The effective class to be employed at what may be d'efined by the Secretary of State to be ' hard labor ' (which might probably be tl^e employments I have indicated), to be gradually relaxed through their own exertions^ into industrial and other more pleasant employments. " The non-effective class to b'e employed at rope-picking; the quanti- ty to be weighed to each prisoner, and to be of such an amount as to entail very considerable exertion to accomplish the task. This very penal employment, (for it can be made so) to be, as with the '■'■ hard laboi'" class, gradually relaxed, through the individunV s oion exertions, inio industrial employments ot a more pleasant description. " I would reserve the industrial employments, the fatigues of the prison, garden work, &c., ibr those prisoners who through their own exertions have attained a high class in the prison, and who either as 'effectives' or 'non-effectives' have had to bear the burden and heat of the day. I believe that the absence of interest- ing employment in the earlier portion of the sentence materially quickens tlie desire to be so employed, and can therefore be< used as a strong motive power in our dealing with prisoners. " I can state distinctly that I have seen such a classification as I have described, carried out at Winchester jail under Lord Carnavaon's plan, and I am quite satisfied that it is a gieat success, axid is very creditah)le to the establishment. Punishment is made certain and exemplary to e'/ery prisoner, and |s only relaxed through the exertions of each individual, which are recorded by marks. « " I 'iim aware that some of those who hear me will object on principle to the use of the tread-wheel and crank; and I am aware that there are many prisons which do not contain these appliances. I confess myself as favorable to their use provided they are applied Reformatory system— " sanitary results." 77 productively; and I feel quite sure that if worked upon a system such as I have describetl, we need not fear jyiy ill-effects upon the minds of the prisoners." III. Sanitary results from reformatory treatment. Miss Carpenter observes : — " All who are familiar with the effect of the lAental state on the physical condition of prisoners under separate confinement, the ex- treme care required to exclude from this severe trial of the consti- tution persons of infirm heHlth, and to watch the symptoms which may arise lest the health of the prisoners should be permanently injured by the ordeal, or still worse lest insanity or even suicide should be the termination of this punishment, will perceive in the facts stated by the officers a striking proof of the wisdom of the system adopted by the Directors, and the truth of the principles on which it 3^ founded. " It gives me pleasure to report says, the medical officer of Mount- joy separate prison, that the state of the prison during the past year has been comparatively liealthy ; this is mainly to be attributed to the con- tinuance of the system adopted in the previous year. It will be in your recollection that under the former arrangements of this prison, and previous to the alterations adopted by you, it was found necessary to subject the prisoners to a rigid examination, to test their mental and physical fitness for the severe and protracted trials they were in course of being exposed to, which led to very large rejections. But a worse consequence than this ensued ; for although every precaution was taken in the original selection, many became eiifeebled, and their health gave way eventually under the effects of the prison discipline. I am happy to report that those evils have been completely 7-emoved; qwqyj adult prisoner brought here during the past 'year, sentenced to transportation or penal servitude, has been received without a single exception, and subjected to the reformatory and separate treatment ; and Avhat is still more satisfactory, this important extension of the operations of the sys- tem has been unattended by any deterioration of health. From the statistical i-esults stated in the annexed table the sanitary condition of the prison is shown rather to have improved." The Medical Officer of the Smithfield Reformatory Prison thus reports : — " Any one conversant Avith the medical statistics of convict prisons in Irelanii' will see from the preceding hospital returns alone, that the sanitary state of the prison during these eleven months was very satisfactory and exceptional. This becomes more manifest when we consider that all the prisoners in confinement here, 251, had previously undergone long periods of confinei^ent, varying from three and a quarter to six years, and hence belonged to tlie class of convicts enfeebled by long confinement, among whom the serious illness and mortality of former yeai's chiefly occurred. It is-true they were it select class of su(?li prisoners, but very few of tliem were strong, many were delicate," and all bore the traces of long copfinement ; and moreover they were constantly employed atsuch trades as Shoe-making, tailoring, ^nat-makiug, &c., and worked more steadily and assiduously than tlie convicts here at any time. 78 REFORMATORY SYSTEM— " SANITARY RESULTS." " But the sanitary state of the prison was in reality more favorable than could be inferred from any mere numerical results, and was most remai-kably manifested in the character of the sickness that prevailed. I wftuld not attach undue importance to the total absence of mortality, which \vas probably an accidental circu^ustance ; but what was really remarkable and significant, all the diseases of the period occurred so much modified and mitigated in character, and form, as clearly indicated that the health of the prisoners was sustained by moi e peculiar sanitary influence. Thus fie cases of fever ( six only ) wer-3 of a mild and simple type, and they were the only cases of acute disease that occun-ed. The bronchitic and catarrhal cases, forming nearly half of all the cases treated, were merely common co'.ds of more or less severity, and requir- ing only a few days residence in hospital for their cttre. It Avas however in the cases of consumption and scrofula that this modification of morbid action Avas most strikingly manifested. These kindred maladies have at all times been the peculiar scourge of the convict prisons in this coun- try, and probably will long confinue to occupy a prominent place in their hospital records, even under the most enlightened and humane manage- ment. Even these intractable complaints, which when occurring in pri- soners whose health has been gradually deteriorated by confinement, almost invariably run a continuous and rapid course, were during this period so remarkably modified in form and character that except in two or three cases of long existing disease they made but little progress ; were more amenable to treatment, and in several instances were com- pletely arrested in their course. Ophthalmia, in all its forms, is also generally an unmanageable affection in prisons ; the cases in hospital chiefly of a strumous character, were, like the other forms of scrofula, unusually mild. The other chronic ailments, with the exception of one case of epilepsy, were slight and unimportant. " To what cause can we a,tta-ibute this modification of disease and immunity from serious sickness in a class of convicts whose constitutions had been more or less impaired by Jong confinement ? Many causes might be suggested to account for this result. Thus it may be said, the city generally was unusually healthy during the past year ; no epidemic dis- ease prevailed ; the prison was not overcrowded as in former years. These and similar circmnstances may have had some influence, but they are inadequate to account for the facts observed in hospital, or for the im- provement which was remarkable in the health of the prisoners who worked so steadily and laboriously. " This improved sanitary state of the prison dates from the introduc- tion of the reformatory system ; and in my opinion, is attributable to the agency of several concurring salutary influences which this sj'Stera bring to bear upon the criminal, and which produce as remarkable an improvement in the mental and moral condition, the temper, f(^plings, chai'acter and conduct of the prisoner, as in his genei'al health. "In whatever circumstance the prisoners here are observed, this im- proved state of feeling is apparent. In the workshops it is manifested in the cheerfulness, alacrity and assiduity, with which they apply them- selves to then- laborious occupations, and furnishes a striking contrajjt to the listlessness, sulleuness, and gloom, so commonlj' exhibited by the ordinary convict in similar circmnstances. lu the school, the, ear- nestness and vivacity with whick they engage in their studies after the fatigue o^.the day, and the anxiety they evince to acquire information and excel one another, afford still more satisfactory evidence of mental and moral improvement ; though at the same time it must be acknowleged REFORMATORY SYSTEM — <' SANITARY RESULTS." 79 that much of this was attributable to the agreeable and skilful manner in which instruction is imparted to them in the prison, by lecturing, diagrams, maps &c, and to judicious selection* of subjects suited to their capacity, and supplying the kind of information which is attractiv«^« and interesting to persons in their condition. In the hospital also* an im- proved state of feeling has been equally manifest. It is a common prac- tice among the convicts to endeavour to get into hospital, or to remain there after they are perfectly recovered, in order to avoid the prison duties; verij few cases of this kind have occurred unfer the new system. " Another and l)y no means unfrequent occurrence observed in the convict prisons, and more especially among the prisoners whose health has suffered fi-om long confinement, and who have been anticipating their approaching release from prison, is that wlien the prisoner is at- tacked by any serious disease, he is at once prostrated in mind and body ; and comes into the hospital with a gloomy foreboding that he will never leave the prison alive ; and lies down, a; it were, to die, hopeless and cfes- ponding, tlms rendering all the resources of art unavailing. Avery differ- ent spirit ^prevailed among the prisoners here since the change of manage- ment took place. In fact they appeared to me in most cases rather to under-rate the seriousness of their sickness, and to rely too much on their improved health, aiyi were only anxious and eager to rjtm-n to those duties which have ceased to be distasteful to them. Those M'ho have had opportunities of observing the powerful influence for good or evil, ■ that mental feelings and motions, hope and joy, grief and despondency, exercise upon the human body in sickness and in health, will have no difficulty in comprehending that this buoyant state of mind and hopeful spirit of the prisoner, must have largely contributed to produce the improved sanitary condition of the prison during the ^last year. " It is almost unnecessar}- for me t% obsei've that with prisoners in this state of mind, remunerative labor, and the acquisition of interesting and useful knoA^iedge in the school, are in themselves sanitary influences of no slight importance. " Indeed this system of treatment may be regarded as not only reform- atory, but sanitary to the prisoner, and is brought to bear on him at the period of his imprisonment when he most needs it ; so that he is, as it were, prepared, as the period of his liberation from prison approach- es, to return to society in such a state of health as will enable him to make good use of the skill and information he has acquired in con- finement. " The observations I have offered are applicable to the majority of the convicts that were in prison dm-ing the past eleven months ; there were however several who from obtuscness of mind, or natural depravity, ap- peared^ to be little aftected by the salutary influences with which they wei'e surrounded. There were also some few committed here in such a weak state of healtli, that they were unable to avail themselves of the advantages the reformatory system affords the prisoner." Miss Carpenter remarks on the foregoing-: — " The opinion of-jthe influence of the aiind over the body here speken of by the medical officer, as the resul* of one year's experience of the Irish system, was confirmed by lengthened experience. Tiiis is ex- pressed in tlie following letter written after an interval of more than ^ix years from the report just quoted. 80 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — *' AID TO DISCHARGED CONVICTS." ' Madam, II ' I have great pleasure in being able to assure you that the remarkable iipprovement which took place in the sanitary state of the convicts, in the intermediate prisons, on the establishment of the refor- matory system, has been fully sustained ever since. ' The diseases that have occui-red without an exception, have been of a simple character' and mild form, such as might occur in any family, and requiring merely a few days' residence in hospital for their cure. I have observed that the prisoner begins to impiove in health the mo- ment he passes the threshold of the intermediate prison, even though he be weakly and shattered by previous confinement ; and in most instances his improvement in health is so rapid as to excite the astonishment of those who have seen him at the time of his admission. 1 may observe thnt the facts stated here have been repeatedly put forth in my annual reports.' », Dr. Carr, the Medical Officer of the Philipstown Prison, where convicts are sent whose constitution cannot stand Spike Island, reports : — "The mortality per-centage r07 in the years amount of prisoners ; the numbers and ordinary natin-e of the cases (as compared with former years) treated in the hospital, which contained only 13 patients ou 31st December ; the diminished applications of trivial descriptions at the dispensarj"^; the evident decrease of invalid admissions into this prison ; my disbelief of such class being retained in other prisons ; all point out, that the leaven of phthysis, scrofula, and other deadly afflictions that formerly carried such disastrous sway, have almost entirely disappeared ; that the convict community at large has attained a healthy position, superior to that of the general population of Ireland (provable by the diiference of mortality in these two classes) while the remarkable diminution of crime, together with the improved condition and circum- stances of the people, wlio heretofore supplied the pabula of convict prison mortality, portend the great improbahility of future recurrent consequences of revolting disease so painfully developed on former occasions." IV. A system of aid to discharged convicts. The late Sir Joshua Jebb, for many years Insji^ector General of Prisons in England, is reported to have stated in 1862 :— " ^Yhatever \)e the system of prison discipline, neither the'public nor the individuals could reap any substantial benefit unless prisoners otf their release had the means otV obtaining employipent, and of putting the good resolutions formed uuda" the prison discipline into effect.' \i was in va^n to expect that they should be able to avoid crime if they could not obtain the means of subsistence. , The re-committals of ^30 per cent of the prisoners he believed to be mainly attributable to fh^ ^EFOKMATORY SYSTEM—" AID TO DISCHARGED CONVICTS." 81 neglect of discharged prisoners, and he thought Government Avould do well to second and stimulate the humane efforts, of private benevolence in their aid. A moment's reflection ought to shoAv that there was entailed by each re-committal ten times the expense which in all probab'Hty might have prevented a return to,,crime. In other countries the impor- tance of patronage or renderin.g assistance to discharged jirisoners was fully recognized, and justly regarded an a necessary complement of any general system of penal administration." Sir John Forbes, staited in his address in 1863 On this subject : — " The failure of any scheme which allows the convict at once to issue fi-om confinement into the hot-bed of former associations, without any counterbalancing impulse, can scarcely be surprising, even under the most favoi'able circumstances ; considering tliat the passions, if no^ thoi-oughly bridled by a liai)i)y acquiremeut of self control, must be in a state of morbid activity from the long period of enforced subjection, the bodily fuuc-^ions restored by regular regime to healthful activity, and tlie mental faculties sharpened to a keen desire of relief from the deadening influence of an oppi-essive routine. The man in such a state launched without rudder or compass on the free course of existence, and at once beset by tlie most alluring temptations, must infallibly give way, and cast behind him the feeble barrier of good resolutions which he may have been induced to make in a time of repose and seclusion. " These views and reflections have not been allowed to issue in hope- less regret. Lenevolent men have exerted themselves, and successfully, to mitigate these admitted evils in England." , James Marshall Esquire, writing in 1864, observes: — " When a criminal has undergone tlie sentence of the law and leaves a prison to return again to common life, it is of great importance, both to himself and to society, that whatever good resolutions he may have formed, whether proceeding from conscience or from prudence, in favor of a file of honest industry, should not be thwarted by the adverse circumstances of his situation. " The pressure of his immediate Avants, and above all the want of chai'acter, often stand fatally in the way of his success. Need we then wonder that a man in a situation so forlorn and hopeless should at length succumb, and relapse into cJ'ime as the only means of getting a living. " To avoid this deplorable result, various societies have been formed for the purpose of aiding v-ell disposed ex-prisoners in their desire of obtaining honest work, iiut is it only the tvell disposed that can be thus lielped ?, The man is now liis own master ; he is no longer the subject of compulsory discipline. The utmost that can be done for him is to remove obstacles to his getting Avork, but the battle must be fought by himself; and unless he has tlie will and the capacity to work, all eftbrts on his behalf must be fruitless. One mode of helping ex-prisoners has been the fonhation of institutions for the reception of sucJi as are willing to*subject tiiemselves to a system of stj-ict discipline, for such period as inigiit be deemed necessary for fitting thcJi to obtain work. As they come to such institutions voluntarily, ami as they may depart at any time during the perioil of probation, their going tiirough the diiicipline satisfactorily gives reasonable assurance that they arc animated by such a sincere dctirc of honest work, and ha\ c such a capacity for steady 82 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — *' AID TO DISCHARaFD CONVICTS." industry, as may justify managers in recommending them for employ- ment. But institutions involving reformatory tiaiuiug, and the maiu- teuauce of prisoners for lengthened periods, are necessarily expensive ; whEe it has been found that many prisoners coming from county or boroug!- jails, who have not as yet gon^ beyond the first stage in crime, but have previously lived by honest industry, do not stand in need of such reformatory discipline, and may be ettectually helped to obtain work at a trifling expenditure of money. It is found that a supply, according to the eAgency of the case, of lodging and food for a few Ua3s, of necessary clothing or tools of trade, or a small outUt for sea, is all that is requh-cd to get many an ex-prisoner into honest employment and give him a fresh start in a cou'.'se of well-doing. " Various associations called ' Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies' have been formed for the purpose of aiding prisoners on this plan. " The aid afforded by the Birmingham Society was supplied wholly by voluntary contributions, but its operation was so beneficial that it was corisidered advisable that the funds to be applied for the benefit of ex-prisoners by that and other similar societies, should be supplied out of the county and borough rates ; and accordingly, by the Act -25 and 26 Victoria, Cap 40, the visiting justices of county and borough prisons were empo^'f■ered to grant sums, not exceeiling ^2 in each case, to be applied for the benefit of the prisoners, through the instrumentality of discharged prisoners' aid societies, who should be approved and certified as therein mentioned. " The first step was to select an agent well accpiainted with criminals of all gradations, and at the same timy qualified to mediate with em- ployers on hehalf of the prisoners. " Three things are necessary to be ascertained as far as possible iu order to obtain a grant of assistance : — I. — That the man is sincerely desirous of honest work. II.— That he is capable of work. III.^That he needs help. " When the ofBcers of the prison consider that a prisoner's statements give hope that these points can be established, the society's agent proceeds to investigate the case out-of-doors. He makes inquiries as to the former occupations, habits, and character of the prisoner ; whether he has any fiieuds willing to assist him; and what ijrospect there is of getting him put to work. The matter is then laid before the visiting justices at their weekly meeting preceding the prisoner's discharge. If the application is entertained a sum not exceeding two pounds live shillings is directed to be applied for tiie benefit of the prisoner. According to the prison rules, each prisoner is entitled on his discharge to receive two shillings and sixpence for every three months of his imprisonmerj.t dm-ing which he has not been reported for breach of prison discipline. This is commonly called ' star money,' from his wearing on the sleeve of his j acket a star for each tu^o shil lings and sixpence due to him . In order to test their sincerity prisoners are required as a condition of obtaining assis- tance, to give up their star money to the society's agent tG be aj^pUed for their benefit along yvith the money granted by the visiting justices. It sometimes happens that fhis condition is rev+hsed and the prisoner prefers to depart with his star* money only ; when a grant is maUe, .the prisonej- leaves the prison under the cai-e of the society's agent, Avho endeavours to find employment tor him, or. encourages him to ^pply for it himself ; in the meantime, the agent assists him with food 'and REFORMATORY SYSTEM—" AID TO DISCHARGED CONVICTS." 83 lodging on a very moderate scale ; the regular allowance being six- pence a day for food, and"* four-pence a night foji lodging. "T lie expense of management in sucli a society need not in^ny case be great. ^ » " The duties of Secretary have been voluntarily undertaken by Mr. ]\Im"ray Browne, the Honorary Secretary, to whose exertions the society is deeply indebted ; and the printing has been done ii>the prison, so that the salary of the agent and a few incidental expenses constitute the whole expenditure. " The whole number discharged ftom the prison during the six months adverted to has been 3,700; whilst those it has been thought advisable to assist have been only 160. The society's tield of operations has been amongst those who have not gone beyond the tirst steps in crime, and who have previously fol!o^ved occupations to which they could return. " No dioubt there will be some failures, but it should be considered that even in a pecuniary point of view our success will cover many failures. When one man is saved from a life of crime and.^dded to the ranks of honest iudui^try, the gain is great : the community is saved, not only what he will plunder when at liberty, but the expense, some- times often renewed, of trying him for his crimes, and of maintaining and guarding him during that large portion of his life which the habitual criminal spends in prison ; but above all, a fellow creature is rescued from a life of guilt and crime, and instead of l)eiug a terror and disgrace, becomes an industrious and creditable member of the cymmunity." Mr. Shepherd, tha Governor Jf the Wakefield Jail for thirty years, established an industrial home for discharged prisoners, where, as Miss Carpenter observes : — " The men lived as in a well ordered lodging house, and paid their expenses by their own work, so that the institution had the rare merit of being self-supporting." Mr. Shepherd says regarding it : — " I have also given considerable time and thought to the subject of the reformation of criminals. About seven years ago I established in the vicinity of the prison an ' industrial home,' whereat discharged prison- ers might obtain employment, and earn a iiveiihood until they had an opportunity of meeting with other occupation. This institution, though entirely independent ol the prison, has proved a most useful and bene- ficial auxiliary to that establishment. I received kind otters of pecuni- ary assistance from several of the magistrates when I first opened the ' industrial lft)me,' but I am happy to say that I have not found it necessary to avail myself of their otters, but have managed to render it self-supporting. Its va^xe as a reformatory "Institution is proved by the facti thit 734 released prisoners have bcen'Snmatcs since the opening, and of that number at least 300 are now known to be honestly earnihg their living by various occupations, the majority of whom are settled in Wake- field or its ucighbourliood." 84 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " JUDICIAL SENTENCES." V. On judicial sentences. ^ Miss Carpenter writes : — " die gi'eat uncertainty of judicial .sentences, and the veiy different punisliments awarded for the same offences by different judges, has a most injurious effect on the public mind, and especially on that of the crimijial class." (i Mr. Richard Mayne's opinion is founded on a long ex- perience as Commissioner,, of the Metropolitan Police, since the foundation of the Force in J 829, and is therefore very important. He says : — " I believe it is not too st<;.'ong a word to use to say that the admi- nistration of the law with regard to the widely varying degrees of pun- ishment at the present day is a scandal. Some of the judges I think pass sentences of eighteen months for an offence that an'other judge would pass a sentence of five years or more of penal servitude. " The law gives them almost unlimited discretion, whether they will pass a very long sentence of penal servitude or a very short sentence of imprisonment ? Yes. You are of opinion that that latitude is univer- sally large ? Yes. " Docs it not make it perfectly uncertain and a species of lottery ? Yes, the police consider it so ; they often reported to me Avith regard to a case, ' so and so-will be tried before such ajudge and he will get a very light punishment.' " Miss Carpenter gives several illustrations of Sir R. Mayne's opinion : — " A man Avho has nearly murdered another, is restrained only for eighteen mohths. A servant girl charged with several robberies gets four months in the house of cori-ection." Mr. Avory, Clerk of Arraigns at the Central Criminal Court, in his evidence to the Royal Commission, mentions cases of poaching, in which the circumstances were as iden- tical as they well " could be," yet in the one case the pri- soner Avas sentenced to ten years' transportation, an{[ in the other to one year's imprisonment. Mr. Sidney Gurney, Clerk of Assize on the Western Circuit, says. in his evidence before the same Commission : — " There is great variet}'^ in the sentences passed by the different judges for the same offences, ?nd committed under similar circumc^tances, Mithou^ any reason for the difference that I can discover. I believe that rape is an instance in which some judges pass a very severe sentence, and otliers a moderate one. I have found that that discrepancy applies to REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "JUDICIAL SENTENCES." 85 all classes of crime. It has existed to such an extent that while for the same offence one judge would inflict imprisonment, another judge would inflict penal servitude." * The author of " Old Bailey Experiences," on this point observes : — " Turn over the pages of the Old Bailey Sessions papers for years past and you cannot but be struclc with the anomalies which are there apparent, with respect to crimes and the sentences which have followed. Tiie impression on perusal of these papers made on my mind, was as if all the business had been done by lotter}' ; and my observation during twenty-two sessions on the occurring cases has tended to convince me, that a distribution of justice from that wheel of chance could not present a more incongruous and confused record of convictions and punishments. In no case (ahva3"s excepting tlie capitals) can any -person, however acute and experiencixl, form the slig-htest opini'on -of what the judgment of tlie court will be. Of this tlie London thieves ar^ fullj' aware. I never could succeed in persuading one before his trial that he was deprived of all chance of escape. They will answer — * Look what a court it is ! how many worse than me do scramble through, and who ki^ows but I may be lucky.' What men k^iow they must ■endure, they fear ; what thej" think they can escape, they despise. Their calculation of three-fourths escaping is near the truth. Hope, the spring of action, induces each to say to himself — ' Why maj' I not be the lucky one' ? The chance thus given of acquittal is the main cause of c7-ime. Another evil arises out of this irregularity of judgments. All punish- ments are rendered severe and useful in proportion as the offender feels he deserves if, and is conscious of having only his '■''•quanttim mei'itus." Instances of this kind occur out of numbgr to confirm the rogues in their preconceived notions of the uncertainty of punishment, and that the greatest criminals come off the best. 1 liave seen some of them, after being sentenced by the court dance for hoi>rs, calling out continuously—' did I not tell you all, the biggest rogues get off the best.' " "The scene in the several yards of Newgate on the sentence days after the judgments ha\e been passed, defies any description on paper. 8ome will be seen jumping and skipping about for hours frenzied with joy 2ct the very unexpectedly mild sentence passed on them ; others are cm'sing and swearing, calling down imprecations on the Recorder, for having, as they say, so unfairly measured out justice ; all agreeing there is no proportion in the punishment to the crimes. It may be said it is of little import what these men think, so that thej" are punished. But Is it of no importance under what impression the others are discharged ? If the discharged feel (as assuredly they do) that punishment is a matter of chance, they return to their habits as the hazard ])layer goes again to the dice, in hopes of coming off a winner and reimbursing him- self for former losses. " There is another evil that comes out of these unequal sentences. The discontent it prodtices on the minds of those who fall under the more heavy jud;^ments, which militates against their reformation. Instead of reflecting on their situation as brought on by themselves, they take refuge in complaint a)i,d invective, declarii'ig they arc sacriHced, in their ojvn^anguage murdered men. ■^ " They carry this feeling with them to the hulks, where tjicy amuse eajh other v/ith all the tales of hardship within their knowledge; medi- tating revenge, by which they mean liccoming more desperate in crime 8G REFORMATOKY SYSTEM— " JUDICIAL SENTENCES." ami working reprisals on the public when thej^ should be at large again, Tliey become imbued with the notion that the jydge has more to answer for than themselves. Oixnions of thi3 nature are very common among them, and prevent the discipline to which they are subjected having its proper effect.' Minds in their state seize on any supposed injury to brood over anCi stifle their own reproaches." "^ The author proceeds to point out the objectionable connection between the city judges at this court and the city- residents. His remarks are not without instruction, and ap- ply with equal force to oth^r countries : — " Throughout the year meetings out of number take place on city business, besides dinners and convivial parties, at which the aldermen and other gentlemen of city influence are constantly in the habit of meeting thsse judges, on the familiar te^ms of intimates ; consequently through these channels any representation may be made to a judge before trial, either for or against the prisoner. Tales may be poured into his ears day after day, in various ways, so that the judge himself shall iiot see the motive, until a prejudice be etfected which renders him unfit for his ofSce. t , " It may be asked what motive any of these gentlemen can have in prejudicing the case of a prisoner ? I answer none personally ; but when it is considered they have all been in trade, and have numerous con- nexions, either commercial or otherwise, in all the grades immediately below their own, and looking at all the ramifications by which society is linked together, especially in this metropolis, it is easy to conceive that through sucl^ channels claims will be made on them not always to be resisted, and from them to the judge. That they do interfere I know, as do all others any way conue^ied with the court or prison. " This can only be reformed by the appointment of judges out of city iitfluence. , "Does it not appear extraordinary that the management ofabusiness of such national importance should be in the hands of judges who are not one remove from the middle classes of the community, and who it is well known mix every day with their fellow citizens, so as to hear every current tale connected with the very cases in which they are a few hours afterwards called on to adjudicate ; often coming into contact with the prosecutors, who for reasons before stated have occasionally an interest in prejudicing the judge. "The judges say they never allow any thing extra judicial to in- fluence them. How do they know that ? Xo one knows himself, and there is no security but by removing the possibility of his coming within the sphere of such pollution to his office. Let him be placed on a pinnacle of more importance, out of the reach of these gossips. If it Avere possible a judge ought to descend from the upper world to the seat of justice, untainted and unprejudiced by any knowledge of the matter at issue." The following remarks by the same author on hurrieil trials may well find a piaffe under this heq.ding : — "The rapid and indecent ^ manner in which the trials are usual'ly conducted at tfie Old Bailey Sessions-house is a constant theme of cen- sure by those wlio have ever entered that Court. . The rapidity Af iih EEFORaMATORY system— " treatment op VAaRANIS." 87 which the trials are despatched throws the prisoners into the utmost confusion. Fii'ty or sixly of them are kept^in readiness in the dock under the court, to be brought up as they may be called. These men seeing their fellow prisoners return tried and found guilty in a mi.lute or two after having been taken ,,up, become so alarmed aud neryous, in consequence of losing all prospect of having a patient trial, that in their efforts at the moment to re-arrange their ideas, plan of defence, and put the strongest features of their cases before the court as speedily as pos- sible, they lose all command over themselves, au^ are then, to use their own language, taken up to be knocked down like bullocks unheard. Full two-thirds of the prisoners, on their return from their trials, cannot tell of anything which has passed in ct)urt, not even, very frequently, whether they have been ti-ied ; and it is not uncommon for a man to come back after receiving his sentence on the day appointed for that purpose, saying 'It can't be me they mean, I iiave not been tried yet,' conceivDig from the celerity wit!i_ which the business was pei"- formed that he had only been up to [ icad or see a fi-esh jury empan- )ielled, for which purpose he had been probably several times called up* in the course of one or two days, waiting in the dock; with countrymen whose habits are slow, there is sometimes no possibility of persuading them to the contrary. There*are it is true some of them wretchedly stupid ; this however gives them a greater claim to our consideration, and whate'v'er may be their crimes or condi- tion, it is propel" they should be made sensible of their having justice done them on their trials. It was a boast at the Old Bailey that a recent city judge could despatch sixty or seventy trials a day ; and a lament was made that his successor did not so successfully drive on the business. With the knowledge of these facts can we wonder tlmt many serious mistakes occur." VI. The English Vagrant Xaw, and treatment of vag- rants. I notice this here because I wish particularly to point out that under it, ( under the heading " Rogues and Vagabonds") any person not having any visible means of subsistence, and not giving a good account of himself or herself, may be com- mitted to the house of correction for three calendar months to hard labor. Py the Indian law simple imprisonment not with hard labor is the punishment for such persons if they cannot give security. , This fundamental difference demands our serious atten- tion. If rogues and^ vagabonds can be checked in their career, tuined into honest courses, deterred from pursuing their own criminal modes of living by simple imprisonment,— then, it is eviilent that the punishment should not be increased 88 REFOEMATORY SYSTEM — "TREATMENT OF VAGRANTS." by liard labour ; for as Mr. Mills says in a quotation I bave previously given : " If offences could be prevented witbout purflsbment, punishment ought never to exist. It follows as a tfecessary consequence that' as little of it as possible ought to exist ;" or, applying the rule to this case, if vagrants can be reformed ,by simple imprisonment, the additional pun- ishment of labor should not be added. Now, with the greatest respect for the opinions of those v;ho differ from me on this point, I venture to assert that simple imprisonment without labor is not sufficient to prevent the offender continuing in his course of vagrancy. I go further, I assert it positively encourages him in it. What is one of the great causes, one of the prominent causes- which lies at the root, the beginning of all criminal practices ? It is idleness. 1 need not seek authority tb support me in this assertion ; the recorded evidence of all Europe proclaims it loudly, and what is it that the vagrant specially loves ? Idleness. Is simple im- prisonment without labor a state of idleness or not ? The most casual observer of our jail system must answer in the affirmative. In this climate, where epidemics break out sud- denly and rage with awful*" severity and rapidity, it is abso- lutely necessary to feed, clothe and house our prisoners, cer- tainly quite as well, and my experience says much better, than the similar class of men can feed themselves by honest labor outsixle the prison. I do not demur to this ; let our system be, on the score of health, considerate even to w^hat may appear an excess ; but what I feel bound to protest against, is the encouragement to idleness which our system of simple imprisonment almost forces on the vagrant. It may be said to this, the vagrant may work if he chooses ; he has only to ask for work and it will be given to him. Also that some do ask for it, because it then places them on the scale of diet alloAved to prisoners on hard labor. Now, I doubt the confirmed vagrant ever asking *" for labor, unless you force him t,o do so by starvation ; a proceeding which at any rate the sisutence of simple imprisonment without^ labor does not imply. If officers in charge of jails starve all such characters into asking for work, su§h pro- KEFORMATORY SYSTEM — "TREATMENT OF VAGRANTS." 89 • ceedings are illegal, and I maintain wrong in principle ; there should be in jails no trifling with th^ sentence of the law, either as regards lessening or increasing the severity of the sentence. The general reSult then is this, that by our pre- sent law we actually enable the idle vagrant to indulge in his dearly loved idleness, well fed, well slothed and well housed — for all of which we exact no return. Now I submit that such a proceeding is p.ot only most uneconomical, but it is morally wrong, because it tends to confirm the vagrant in his idle habits. The State cannot shake off the moral responsibility attaching to its enactments ; and where the experience of all other countries shows that an exactly opposite* course is pursued and always has been pursued, our present practice in India calls for most serious considera- tion. . • There can be no doubt that however little in India we may be able to attain towards the reformation of criminals still all our enactments regarding them should have this noble principle clearly recognized. Now, to. simply shut a criminal up in one of our Indian jails, and not to exact any labor from him, is to encourage him in a life of idleness, which does not tend to reform him ; jloes not tend to implant or encourage in him habits of industry. It is worth while to notice briefly the stages England has passed through in the treatment of vagrants, of men who have no ostensible livelihood and are assumed therefore to live by criminal practices. The first enactment was the seventh of Richard II, passed in 1383, followed by several others of barbarous severity in the time of Henry VIII. Xhe first of Edward VI in 154.8 repealed all former statutes on this subject, and substituted another of equal severity. Other statutes followed which revived some of thok for- mer, and the 14th of Elizabeth differed little in severity, but is noticeable as giving the fiiist mention of any place of confinement for this class apart from the common jail. Th5se places were ordered because the ordinary jails could 90 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " TREATMENT OF VAaRANTS'" not receive all the vagrants committed, and by 14tli of Elizabeth in 1576 they are called Hoiises of Correction. In, the year 1597 vagrants became, by 39 Elizabeth, the subjects of separate legislation, and at the sarae time came out the celebrated Act for the relief of the poor. The 7th of James I, passed in 1609, enforced the speedy erection of these houses of correction, and provided that the prisoners should be in no way chargeable to the country, but to have such allo^Yance as they shall deserve hy their labor. In every enactment regarding vagrants, labor has always been prescribed ; and I cannot discover that the wisdom of such a proceeding has "^ver been questioned. As ciyjlization increased so the barbarous severities fell into disuse ; but labor was always maintained as part of thej sentence. I may observe that labor should be always productive^ and if possible the prisoner should receive a certain portion of the value of his labor. In very short sentences this may be impossible, but in long sentences it is quite possible, and is fully recognized in Europe as a valuable principle. So with vagrants : if a man feels the result of his labor abso- lutely beneficial to himself, and that he can earn enough to support himself, ne at any rate is shown duriiig his im- prisonment that he can earn a living honestly by 'iis 1. bor if he chooses. A writer has aptly observed, that we v-\ould return to those natural laws which the Almighty hat laid down for the regulation of human life, and make a lan's food and enjoyment whilst injjrison depe'^d on the amoaufc of work he does, as is the case with the rest of the wor-d out of prison. Mr. Frederic Hill, late Inspecto of Pribons i * '^tland, observes regarding labor : — ' " The basis of all good systems of pi-ison discipline nr ,t • my opi- r.ion }^e ivo7-k ; steady, active, honorable work. It is by vo*:.. ilonc that the great mass of mankind can honestly live ; and unless pr..50ue*-s acquire habits of industry, aul a liking for some kind of labor, littlp hope can be entertained of their coufluct after liberation." As' I have before stated, the celebrated Act of Elizabeih pro\iding relief for the poor expressly and wisely provides heformatory system — '-treatment of vagraxts." 91 • for getting to work persons *' as use no ordinary and daily trade of life to get their living by." 1 trust this mode of treatment, namely, simple imprisonment without labor,* for the class specified in our Indian Code, may be amended ; the class comprises : — Persons without ostensible means of subsistence. Persons who cannot give a gt)od account of themselves. Persons by repute robbers, house-breakers, thieves, or receivers of stolen goorb, knowing the same to be stolen ; or of notoriously L.'.ci liveiihov>d. Persons who are not only by repute as above but by hahit robbers &c. , For all, different terras of inpi onment are provided, but in no case does 'abor, that basis ot all true prison dis- ciple, form a part. To show th^t I am not seeking f'^r the introduction of any new princ^nle into Ind\<- but 'merely for the revival of what ^as 'on '"nd n^- < ad' ntageously in force in the P^ntjal Pr -i i- F r th '" ''^-•'nng extract from a report by .ne late ^^ ¥ re. [iiir.. Commissioner of Mc^ut, 'ated oth lu^ '^i l8o.^ :J "bef>'.on Regu) tionXXlJ, i. .vrlion 10 Regulation XVII, n\)5 ; and secfior '•0 >i«.gulatiou XXX' , ] !M)y ;— successively eiiacied for Bengal. Bena '^.A tb'^ Lpper Provinces declare that all vagrants or suspected persons witf 'Ut ' ■!}■ ostensiV'e -leaus of subsistence, or who car.iotgi-'' n, satisfac) y •-"'""ount of themselves, shall he apprehended a,ud employed 0- pub' ;v s, until they find security for good behaviour or satisfy the magistrate that they will obtahi an honest livelihood. The general applicat.iuu of this law tliroughout the provinces will set before the predatory tribes the option of undergoing an indefinite course of ""lolestation, or of seeking to merit immunity b}^ the adoption of new r ' ; and I am c^anguine that if the law is steadily enforced, and the ..ecuri^ against its provisions is found, throughout the breadth and ^ thof*- b land, to lie in submitting to a settled life, that the number of insta.-ices in Avhich tjje law has to be aj^dicd will rapidly diminish. The J))eration would be expedited by persuading landed proprietors that thej incur no risk in giving honest employment to vagrants seeking a livelihood ; and furtlicr prggress might be made in raising the tribes ia then' own estimation "by yar///j!rtr if a male, be once privately whipped, either instead of or in addition to such imprison- ment, or ii;nprisonment with hard labor." The offence is defined to be that which in the English law is known as simple larceny, and is " the felonious taking and carrying away of the goods of another of what- ever value, unaccompanied with any other circumstances than the mere taking and carrying away." To constitute the offence however there' need not be an absolute carrying away ; for it will suffice if the offender with a felonious intent merely removes the goods from the place where they lay, though he do not make off with them. In 1850 a Committee ws'^s held in the House of Commons on prison discipline, before which was brought, as Miss Carpenter observes, much important evidence respecting the effect of imprisonment on juveniles, in addition to that which had been tried before; the Committee of the Lords. In 1850-51 Act 13 and 14 Vic. was passed, by which the summary jurisdiction of justices is in like cases extended to offenders of 16 years 03f age, but it expressly provides that whipping shall not ba inflicted on any offender who is more than fourteen years of age. This Act moreover gave to any young offender, oi: the parent of any such, the^ right to claim to be tried by jury and not by Act (11 and 12 ) and ( 13 and 14). REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "JUVENILE OFFENDERS." 97 In 1851, a Conference was held at Birmingliam, and adopted the following resolutions : — " The object of the conference was • " A consideration of the condition and treatment of tlie perishing and dangerous classes of children and juvenile offenders, with a view of procuring such legislative enactments as may produce a beneficial change in their actual condition and t^ieir prospects. " The cliildren whose condition requires the notice of the con- ference are L Those icho have not yet subjecied themselves to tlie grasp of the law, but Avho, by reason of the vice, neglect, or extreme poverty of their parents, are inadmissible to the existing school establish- ments, and consequently must grow up Avithout any education ; almost inevitably forming part of the perishing and dangerous classes, and ultimately becoming criminal. 11, Those ivho are already suhjeoting themselves to 2'>oUce in- terference, Ijy vagrancy, mendicancy or petty infringement of the law. IIL Those tvho have been, convicted of felony or such mis- demeanor as involves dishonesty- * "The provisions to be made for these three classes are : — For the first. — The day schools. „ second. — Industrial feedmg schools, with compulsory at- tendance. „ third. — Penal reformatory schools. *' The legislative enactments needed to bring 8?ich schools into operation are , For tlie Free Day ScJwols. Such extension of the present Government grants from the Comraittee of Council on Bducation,tis may secure their maintenance in an effective condition, they being by their nature at present excluded from aid, yet requiring it in a far higher degree than those on whom it is conferred. For the Indtvstrial Feeding Schools. Authority to magistrates to enforce attendance at such schools on children of the second class, and to require payment to the supporters of the school for each child from the parish in which the child resides, with a power to the parish officer to obtain the outlay from the parent, except in cases of inability. For the Penal Eeformatory Schools. Authority to magistrates and judges to commit juvenile offenders to such schools instead of to prison, with power of deten- tion to the Governor during the appointed period, the charge of maintenance being enforced as above." • In 1852-53 a Committee of the House of Commons adopt^ed the folloY#ing resolutions' on this important sub- ject :— ' ^ ." I. Tliat it is the opinion of this committee that a great amount of juvenile destitution, ignorance, vagrancy, and crime, has long B8 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "JUVENILE OFEENDERS.' existed in this country, for whicli no adequate remedy has yet been provided. " II. That the existence of similar evils in Prance, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the United States has been met by vigorous efforts in those countries, and in the opinion of this committee, sound policy requires that this country should promptly adopt measures for the same purpose. " III. That ij appears to this committee to be established by the evidence that a large proportion of the present aggregate of crime might be prevented, and thousands of miserable human be- ings, vs^ho have before them vnder our present system nothing but a hopeless career of wickedness and vice, might be converted into virtuous, honest, and industrious citizens, if due care were taken to rescue destitute, neglected, and criminal children from the dangers and temptations incident to their position. " IV. That a great proportion of the criminal children of this country, especially those convicted of fjrst offences, appear rather to require systematic education, care, and industrial occupation, than mere punishment. " V. That the common jails and houses of correction do not generally provide suitable means for the educational and corrective treatment of young children, who ought when guilty of crime to be treated in a manner different from the ordinary punishments of adult criminals. " A'^I. That various private reformatory establishments for young criminals have proved successful, but are not sure of per- manent support, and are deficient in legal control over the inmates. " VII. That penal reformatory establishments ought to be in- stituted for the detention aad correction of criminal children con- victed before magistrates or courts of justice of serious offences. ■" VIII. That such penal establishments ought to be founded and supported entirely at the i)ublic cost, and to be under the care and inspection of the Government. " IX. That reformatory^ schools should be established for the education and correction of children convicted of minor offences. " X. That such reformatory schools should be founded and sup- ported partially by local rates and partially by contributions from the state, and that power should be given for raising the necessary amount of local rates. " XI. That power should be given to the Government to con- tract with the niauagers of reformatory schools, founded and sup- ported by voluntary contributions, for the care and maintenance of criminal children within such institutions. " XII. That the delinquency of children, in conseqr.ence of which they may become subjects of penal or reformatory discipline, ought not to relieve parents from their liability to maintain them. " XIII. That in any legislation upon this subject, it is essential that power should be given, under such restrictions jis may be necessary to prevent hardship, or injustice, to recover from parents the whole or a portion of the cost of the maintenance of their children, Avhile detained in reformatory institutions. , " XIV. That it is also "essential that power should be given to detain 'children placed in such institutions so long as may be neces- sary for their reformation ; provided always that no child be so de- tained after the age of lt». HEFORMATORY SYSTEM — "JUVENILE OFFENDERS." 99 * " XV. That tlie sijmmary jurisdiction with respect to criminal children, given to magistrates by 10 and 11 Vict. Cap 82, has had a beneficial tendency so far as it has been exercised. " XVI. That in addition to the discretion Avhich is given by t\at statute to any court before which a child is charged with an;y» minor offence to dismiss such child on securities being found for its future good behaviour, a power should be given in such cases, in default of such sureties, to send the child to a reformatorv school. "XVII. That if during any child's detention in a reformatory school satisfactory sureties should be offered for its future good be- haviour, there should be power to release such child from future detention. * " XVni. That irrespectively of the high moral considerations which are involved in this subject, this committee desire to exjpress their belief, that whatever may be the cost of such schools and esta- blishments, they would be productive, of greB.t pecuniary saving by the effect which they would have in diminishing the sources from which OUT criminal population is now constantly recruited, and thereby reducing the cost, the great cost, of the administration of the criminal law." In 1854, Actf 17 and 18 Vict, was passed, entitled " an Act for the better care and reformation of youthful offenders in Great Britain.' ' By it the following powers are granted : Judicial officers who sentence a juvenile offender under sixteeji years of age, for any offence, to fourteen or morg than fourteen days im- prisonment, are empowered also, if they so choose, " in addi- tion to the sentence then and tjiere passed as a punishment for his offence, to direct such offender to be sent at the ex- piration of his sentence to some one of the aforesaid refor- matory schools to be named in such direction, the directors or managers of which shall be willing to receive him, and to be there detained for a period not less than two years and not exceeding five years, and such offender shall be liable to be detained pursuant to such direction." The Act provides that the original sentence must not be for less than 14 days, and that t6e Secretary of State Home Department may at any time order the discharge of an offender from any such school. • The cost of maintenance of the offender may be defray- ed either entirely c^it of " any funde which shall be provided by Act of Parliament for that pllirpose," or such portion of sucji cost as shall not.have been recovered from the parents or step-parents of such child."^ 100 REFOEMATORY SYSTEM-*" JUVENILE OFFENDERS." Absconding or refractory conduct at tlie reformatory school may be punished on the oath of one credible witness, by committal to a house of correction or jail with or without hard labor for any period not' exceeding three calendar months. "Within the period fixed in the sentence for detention at a reformatoryjschool, the Secretary of State Home Depart- ment can remove an offender from one school to another. By this Act these school^ are brought under Government inspection. In 1855 this Act was amended by Act 18 and 19 Vipt., in order to make provisioit for enforcing contribution by pa- rents to the maintenance of juvenile offenders in ^reforma- tory schools. In 1856 Act 19 and 20 Vict, was passed, " to amend the mode of committing criminal and vagrant children to refor- matory and industrial schools." By 17 and 18 Vict, of 1854, the particular school was required to be named in the direction of the justices ; by this Act this is no longer necessary. Young persons not to be sent to schools to which pa- rent &c., object. In 1857 Act 20 and 21 Vict, was passed, "to promote the establishment and extension of reformatory schools in England." Under this Act grants-in-aid may be given under the following restrictions. The grant may be applied only *' towards defraying the expenses of purchasing the site of a school on its first establishment, or the site of any extension or new establishment for the purposes of a school already established, or the expenses of building and fitting up a school on its " first establishment, or erecting, altering, er fitting up any buildings fcr the extension or improvement of a school already established; and the justices or council,- as the case may be, shall provide for the application of ^uch money accordingly."^ REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "JUVENILE OFFENDERS." 101 • » The Act further, provides that grants-in-aid may not be given to schools already established, uJless the Secretary of State has certified that the said schools are efficient, Jlnd without his sanction to the^outlay. * Amongst other points this Act for the first time recog- nizes the vital necessity, so thoroughly caA'ied out in the Irish system, of some test being applied to offenders prior to their discharge, to ascertain whether they really are reformed: the Act says :— " It shall be lawful for the managers of any reformatory school, previous to making application for the discharge of any juvenile olfendtr committed to such school, to place such offender on trial with some person, to, be named in the licence hereinafter, most willing to receive and take charge of him ; and to grant to such oftender a licence under their hands or the hand of any one of them to reside with such person for any term not exceeding thirty daj's unless sooner calle«l upon by the said manager to return to the said school ; and to require such offender to return to the said school at any time dm-ing the same ; and such managers shall bring back such offender to the said school at the expiration of the said term, provided that such offender shall not have been previously discharged from the school by order of the Secretary of State ; and any oftender avIio shall abscond from such person during such term, or shall refuse to return to the reformatory school at the end-, of such term or before the end of the time, when so required, shall be held to have ab- sconded from the school and shall be liable to the penalties in th at case made and provided. Provided always, that no such offender shall be so placed out before the expiration of on.e half of the term of detention to which he was originally sentenced," The Recorder of Bu-mingham, Mr. Hill, in his charge to the grand jury in October 1859, observes on the subject of reformation: — " The establishment of reformatory schools, I am happy to say, has been eminently successful, a result which is now universally acknow- ledged ; indeed, a long time has elapsed since I heard a dissentient voice. I attended the week before last a meeting for the promotion of social science at Bradford in Yorkshire, at which I had the happiness of meet- ing mafly trustworthy persons, well qualified to speak to this success by their practical knowledge. Some Avere mag-istrates, others managers of reformatory schools, others again were Governors of prisons, all corroborated by their testimony the success which I have claimed for the operation of reformatory schools, " Mr. Baker has labored at his reformatory with untiring zeal for many^ears, and is a high authority on the treatment of juvenile crimi- nails. He, gentlemen, attributes the effectiveness of reformatory schools to the abstraction of the young leaders of the gang. Withdrawn^from the hauats of crime, and placed imder wholesome discipline, they have neither time nor opportimity for spreading moral contagion. I use that 102 REFORMATORY SYSTEM— " JUVENILE OFFENDERS/' terra advisedly gentlemen, because I believe cr^'me to be as infectious as any of the physical malar'ies to which our frames are liable ; and there- fore, if at the close of the probation it were found that no youths had been reformed, it Avould still ( however lamentable the fact ) remain unprovod that reformatory schools had failed of all good effect. For the mere fact of keeping inmates for a long time out of the arena of crime prevents them for that period fi'om contributing to infect innocent youths with whom they would form acquaintance, and to whom they could hold out irresistible temptations. But thank God there is no necessity to place the benefits of reformatory schools on so low a footing. The inmates are indeed refonned to an extent, and in numbers far beyond my most sanguine expectations. AVc may clearly see that the withdrawal of juvenile offenders will in the course of time act power- fully in diminishing the number of the adult members of the criminal class by withholding recruits." An able writer remarks on this charge by Mr Hill : — " The reformatory scliools, small as their number is (1859) are already effecting this change ; and also may it be said that the more intellip^eiit management of prisons is gradually contributing to the same result. The reformatory operates in sevei'al ways, but chiefly in two. It takes the incorrigible lad and places him for a sufficient number for years under the reformatory process, to find out that he is corrigible. Lads who had been abandoned as hopeless, even by parents, have rrnder the management of ex- perienced and earnest man like Mr. Baker and Mr. Bengongle, proved capable ^ of being converted into honest youths. It often liapjjens that the motives which draw a lad into bad courses are a too lively symjjathy with tie companions by whom he may hap- pen to be surrounded ; boldness, ingenuity, and love of adventure, qualities which do not in any degree indicate a nature really bad, though under the tuition of Ihe marine store dealers, and in the college called the house of correction, as it used to he, these promising youths are convei'ted into very efficient thieves, swindlers and highwaymen ; professors well able to teach their art and mystery to other students. The reformatory carries off these lights of their age, removes them for five j-ears or more, or for ever ; and the consequence is. that duller spirits amongst boys of the same class fail to catch the fire of the vicious inspiration; and follow a quieter routine in some ordinary and less adventurous employment. Many an honest man is now growing up quite unaware of the thief he might have been but for the founders of reformatories." Mayhew, in his work " The Criminal Prisons of London," observes regarding juvenile delinquents : — " Nor can we explain the continual existence of so large aa amount of iniquity in the land other than by the fact of the offen- ders being regularly born and bred to the business. Not only in our juvenile prisoners do we see the futur^' bandits and ul,*-imate donvicts of the country, but we see also the bitter result of the State's ^ross neglect of its parental duties to out-cast and destitute children among us. Twist and turn the matter as we may, we '.ihall find at length, if we come to the matter -vvilling to fathom and REFORMATORY SYSTEM-^" JUVENILE OFFENDERS." 103 t eager to embrace the ti^utli of this most vital problem, that hahitiial crime is ptu-ely the consequence of want s»f fatherly care to the young, and this is demonstrated to us by the fact that in those countries where the education of all children is enforced' by law, and the young are thus made topass the frlnci'pal fart of thJir time under the eyes of a teacher and adviser, if not a guardian or friend, the national records show a less comparative amount of crime than in those nations where the youthful poor, as with us, are allowed to remain gambolling as well as gambling all the day in the gutter with fellow idlers and profligates if not with thieves. This is the sole reason to be cited why in Holland and Prussia, and even Catholic Belgium, there are less ci'iminals in proportion to the population than with us." On the Sth October 1860, the Recorder of Birming- ham, Mr. Hill, in his cluarge teethe Grand Jury, thus ob- served on the two subjects, reformatory establishments for boys and ragged schools. After attributing a great part of the diminution of crime amongst juveniles to the action of reformatories, he says : — " The futility of the deterrent principle as applied to the young may therefore now be taken as an accepted truth, requiring no fur- ther defence. But as regards the application of the jarinciple which is exemplified in reformatory schools, a fallacy yet lurks in tha public mind which I think it important should be dislodged. Pre- vention we are told is better than cure, a proposition which I believe never has been, and I think I roay venture to prophecy never will be, disputed. But gentlemen a truism is often thrust forward to cover the advance of a fallacy, and the fallacy which accompanies this truism is, that reformatories dealing only with ofi'enders are of inferior utility to schools, which, taking charge of what huve been called the 'perishing and dangerous classes of our juvenile popula- tion,' prevent their fall into crime. That seminaries of the latter kind are most essential to the well-being of the country, I for one not only admit but strenuously maintain ; but let them not be mar- shalled in oppositioii'to reformatories. Each is and I fear ever will be a social necessity ; for use what vigilance you may — you cannot bring all under this preventive tuition for whom such safeguard is intended ; and moreover it is exactly the individuals who most re- quire training whom it is difficult to allure and retain under con- trol. " prevent, then, if you can ; but reform where you have failed to prevent. It would however be unjust to reformatory schools to forget that althougli their direct purpose is to reform, they have a large incidental operation in preventing. Crime is contagious, and the more you ^diminish the number of the infected the more you limit tjis spread of the disease. But as I have already shown, particular individuals, that is to say, boy leaders, have a power of disseminating the sjeds of crime f*r beyond that po^esscd by the majority of their class whom nature has destined to bt? followers ; followers if success- fully trained in that which is good, but followers in that 'whkh.is evil when training has not beeif applied, or when it has failed of the desired effect," 104 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — '^JUVENILE OFFENDERS." Mr. Hill then alludes to the Co^iference of 1851, the proceedmgs of which*^! have described, and continues : — "AVe thus evinced gentlemen our desire to give no undue promilience to reformatory discipline over wliat has been exclusive- ly called preventive. But gentlemen, after deciding what -we should wish to be done were our means equal to our desires we had further to consider the naiure and extent of those means. " Popular assistance was indispensable, and that we knew would only be afforded in concurrence with popular sympathies, already deeply engaged on behalf of the young prisoner, who, placed on a stool iu the dock that his head might be seen over the bar, was treated as if he presented to the court his real stature, and .his oflfence dealt with according to the rules which governed the fate of adult criminals. It is not surprising that such a spectacle daily Exhibited should rouse the fe^'^lings of a Christian people, and that public opinion should point to the case of juvenile prisoners as the one which ought to absorb our efforts. But that specta9le having thank God passed away, we may readily understand how it is that the public have turned their thoughts more exclusively towards prevention f and thus great progress has been qjade in purely pre- ventive treatment. Hence the expansion of the admirable system which is designated as that of ragged schools, a name which being meant to indicate the state of the poor child on his entrance has been mistakenly supposed appropriate to him during his whole stay ; whereas it is felt by his teachers that no secular instruction can be so desirable as that which puts it in his power, partly by his own exerticxLs and partly by the good influence which he leaves to exercise over his parents, to come among his schoolfellows clothed in decent apparel. " This then is the school which we intended to describe in our first proposed resolution {vide Qonference of 1851). The scholar has vot been con\-icted of any breach of the law however slight. He has the means of subsistence furnished to him by his parents, or those who stand to him in the relation of parents. He is above the posi- tion which renders it advisable, either as regards the state or as regards himself, to convert him into a pauper, and throw the burden of his maintenance on the rate-payers to the exoneration of his natural guardians. Yet it cannot he denied that, even to render the poor child cajaable of receiving instruction and attending to the business of the school, the scanty aliment must be eked out by charity. But the burden is not so large as persons unacquainted with the class of which I am speaking would be likely to surmise. In truth it is not greater in those parts of the country with which I am most familiar than is willingly borne and administered ; these doles are scarcely capable of abuse. " By none is the danger of fostering a spirit of pauj^erism so dreaded as by the experienced and zealous philanthropist ; by him who, not content to hand over his money, in blind faith that it wiU be honestly and discreetly expended, adds his time to his other do- nations, and is rewarded by acquiring an (insight into the true principles of charity, which imbue him with a horror of the whin- ing imposture to Av'hich ill judged pecuniary aid pretty generally reduces its victims. He learns that the .best charity, that \Yhich alone deserves the name, so deals with its objects as gradually to REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "JUVENILE PAUPERS." 105 render assistance both » unnecessary and undesired. He knows too that while all other gifts have an uuvoidable'tendeucy to encourage a }3auper spirit, that of instruction is free from this , taint ; cmd lience, while he strives to reduce all other aid to a minimiyn, he puts no stint on that of education, although he is conscious of the importance of directing it strictly to the purposes to which gratui- tous education ought to limit its views ; that is to say, to the rear- ing of honest men and women, possessing the wiil and the power to maintain themselves and their families by their own toil. Gentlemen, the class of children to which I have drawn your attention is the most difficult in the world to govern. To ordinary motives and expedients the n»asters can seldom resort with efiect. The parent who pays for his children shows Ijy that act that he values what is called ' schooling,' and will lend his aid to the master to secure the attendance of the child. But the class to which I refqr is not paid for ; the instincts of the pai^nt ara sufficient to induce him after some rude fashion to feed, clothe, and house his child ; but there is no motive in his mind strong enough to compel him to pay for education. He has had none himself, or so little and that 60 repulsively offered, that he has derived neither pleasure nor profit from what he has received ; he therefore, instead (fl promoting the 23Uiictual and regular attendance of his offspring, throws hind- rances in his path to school whenever his own interests, or his caprice, or the desires of the child himself so dictate. " Again, it will be thought that the receipt of food at school would present an all-potent allurement. But in the first place the conductors act with regard to such gifts under, the wholesome restraints already pointed out, and in the next place children of this class arc inured to hunger and c»ld, and consequently often prefer their darling pleasure of wandering at their own will to a dinner, coupled as it is to the restraints of school. " Our Conference, gentlemen, stimulated popular action upon the Government and the legislature, and many of the changes for which we asked have been conceded. The Government gave liberal aid to reformatories by grants of money, and by the appointment of a most able Inspector, whose advice and supervision have been invaluable. Iiidustrial feeding schools have also received the- bounty of the Government. The industrial feeding school is a noble institution. The laws by which it is regulated owe much to the amending hand of our respected neighbour Mr. Adderly, Ji. r., who is still earnestly bent on perfecting their provisions. " But inasmuch as in the nature of things the people of every counti'v must be governed, and as that Government must be paid from a common fund, if it shall be found that instruction and training when applied to qualify the recipient for performing his duties as a member of society, reduce to a minimum the expense of governing him, and to nothing at all his injurious action on his neighboui-S, then, and so far, I look upon education to be a part of Government itself; and consequently, where the cost of such tuition cannot be extracted ffom its natural sources, I consider it is self- evideht that it should be furnished by .the state. Whether it should come from the Privy Council, or from the Home OfKce, whether it fihonld be charged upon tjie general revenue of the country, orrraised V)y local rates, these are questions into which 1 will not enter. But i stand upon the broad and irrefragable truth, that ■d>: the disburse- 106 REFORMATORY SYSTEM— " JUVENILE PAUPERS." nient is called for by the interests of the static, by the state ought it to be borne ; and I musi) unite my humble protest to the masterly argument of Sir John Pakington in the House of Commons, the fervid -^.ppeals of Dr. Guthrie, and the unanswerable remonstrances of Mary Carpenter, against the huckstering frugality with which our ministers let go their coin, shilling by shilling, to the ragged schools, a parsimony which when contrasted Tth the plenitude of our munificence in favor of '"lasses of the community able and willing to contribute to the education of their children, strikes me as the most astounding example of inconsistency which has occurred in my time." • On January 23rd 1861, a second Conftrence was held at Birmingham by all the most distinguished persons in Great Britain whrse a+t^'Hion had been directed to these subjects ; with the object of Inducing the Government*"* do something -for those poor children who from their provc'ty r.nd destitution w erf living, if . not actually in crime, yet on the veiy verge of ic. As the treatment of sach children is indissolubly conn' "+ed with that of childi'en who have actually fallc^ into the grasp of the law, and as the statements made at this Conference are lull of the most valuable instruction, I give extracts therefrom. Prior to the ^sembling /this second C'^nfercice, the following circular was issued:— "Gexee\l c'uinciple. " The welia'^e of society re quires rha. ajl its iren ^.s should be educated. Th -refore " It is the duty of the Stati", both as regards society in general *and each indiviaual composing it, to provide education for those Avho cannot obtain it for themselvps. This dut is recognized by the State, since it provides education for those who are in jails and reformatories, and therefore jome 'mpalsoi'ily under its care, and for those who are thrown or. society for oapport, i. e. paupers. " The same duty exists, but has not been disciiarged by the State towards children who are not as yob either cumin al or paupers, but whose natural r ^rdians will not, or cmnot. provide for their education. " It is an object of the vlonfereni-e to lay before the executive Government and the legislature, as a conseciuence of thb principle above stated, the imperative duty of tneir providing education for this portion of the communi-ry, the neglected ,iud destitute children of Great Britain. o " TJie following points will be proved to the satisfaction of the ConfeVence. " I. No part of the Parliamentary educational grant is directed to the instruction of this class in the ordinary branches of school REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "JUVENILE PAUPERS." 107 I'earning, althougli an» insignificant grant is made for industrial ti'aining ; but educational aid is given only to the children of those who can and will do something towards providing an education for their offspring. * " II. A very numerous cl^ss exists whose members cannot thus obtain it. "Ill This cUss has been acted on hiring the last 16 years in ragged and industrial schools, an(i sufficient proof hite been afforded to the Government and to the public tha*^ the management and plans adop- ted in these schools, in so far as there has beer sufficient pecuniary means to carry them out, have attained* the end intended, namely, the neglected and destitute»children have been saved from becoming paupers and criminals, and have become respectable, self-supporting members of society. " IV. But the experience of these \G years has proved that these schools cannot be steadily supported in tho required efficieucy, or exten- ded to all the districts needing them, oy voluntary aid alone. To be useful these schools must be good, and if li^ood, they are very expensive. " V. An essential element in ail these schools is the voluntary ac- tion of Christian beafjvolence, wliicn by persom^l effort evm more than by pecuniary expendit* i, has been *'-e menus of eleva<^;ng this ntglected class. " VI. Therefore a is the dut}^ v f Govei ..atent to give liberal finan- cial aid to those --"hools ( . u a- u''ng itself, as in the case of I'eforraa- tories, of vofuntTry eff-^r* • sc '"'■ '^ '^nable s^^hools already existing ^o t)e carried on efficiently ..id i«. .1. x the pubiiC to the estabiishm^^at of others Avhei-ev- . '' r' are needed • The ful'o^\in5 ex'-ri^cts, taken from the speeches made on the occasion, are of ecessity brief, and re " only to-such pomts as appear URe%l ^or guidance in Lidia, Mv^^ that is most intc^-esting '"^ om tt*^-! '' thouMi with -egrpt ) a being applicable only to England, or countries in au eqi ally advan- ced s tat e oivlli^ati'"^ wheie tue '"eligion of the governed is also that of th , jrnihg, Hss Fromtnt s^ '-ec^ by Mi. Hill, Recorder of Birm in ;ham: — " The object which lias called u"- together to-day is to do our best towards bringing *he little out-casts of society into the biotherhood of mankiiAl, and erabling them to hold their new position by conferring on them, so far as instruction and training at school uiay avail, the faculty of self-maintenance in both its great branches ; that is to say, the power of earning a livelihood for themselves, and xhe power of self government to protect ♦he^"' against the manifold temptations to evil by which they are sure t- oe attacked . " If then by virtvKj .i" ^ "-mall present autlay we succeed, their indus- ti'ious'neighbours will be spared the onojsus task of providing for their subsistence, and the community at large the injuries, the losses,^ and the heavy pecuniary burdens AYhich these poor children will entail oif their country should they fall into (■rime---the too frequent consequence of an tatcast 'ife. 108 REFOEMATORY SYSTEM — "JUVENILE PAUPERS." " Such being our object, we are prepared^to admit that wliateve? branches of instruction aae likely to redound more immediately to the ad]-anta^e of the individual than to the interests of society, lie beyond our scope. That the grand truths and commandments of religion should stand first in any system of education, ibr every class will not be denied. That the moral duties call for unremitting attention on the part of the teacher, will be at once admitted ; and moreover, that it is impossible too earnestly to pr^niote the moral and mental acquirements peculiarly adapted to the wants of our class of pupils, namely, honesty, intelligent and persevering industry, self control and self respect. " Specific branches of secular insti'uction must, I submit, be chosen strictly with a view to the greai end of making the pupil a good citizen, acting well his part in the rank of life in which A e was born. If the result of this training should enable him to advance his position, it Avill still remain true that such is not the mark aimed at, but an incident which we neither go out of oxir way to seek nor do we grieve over it -Hheu found. Knowing that such a con- sequence in individual instances (and none other can be reasonably 'ex- pected) while it will not disturb the ordea- of society, must operate as a useful stimulus to youths who start with vantage gi-ound in the race of life, urging t^em not to suiter themselves to be out-,run ; yet, a.s whatever may be the eifect on its worldly fortunes, sound education must always be more precious to the immortal child then to the mortal state of which it is a member, the primary duty to bestow this blessing on his little ones rests on the immediate author of their being ; — and therefore, wherever the parent is both able and willing to perform this duty, the tutelage of the state becomes unnecessary, and consequently undesirable. So far I shall probably m«et with no dissent ; but as regards what is to be done where the parent can perform his duty in whole or in part and u-ill not, grave differences of opinion exist. If you allow the repudiating parent, it is alleged, to throw the burden which he is capable of bearing himself on the shoulders of the public (he^ivily loaded as they are) the state is unjustly taxed : to which my answer is, if it is better for the state to l)ear that burden than to suffer any of its members to gi'ow up in ignorance, and so in the end to afflict it with tlj^e far heavier burdens of pauperism and crime, then, unless tlie state has both the power and the will to enforce the performance of his duty on the recalcitrant parent, it will do wisely to prefer the lighter burden to the heavier. First, then, as to compelling the parent by force of law to educate his child, either by himself, or by paying for its education by others. Is it not enough to say of this imagined project, that such a stretch of legal authority has never yet been attempted in any age or country ? and may Ave not very sately promise to withdraw our claim for education at the public cost of all children Avhose parents can, but will not, furnish the requisite means whenever such a law shall have passed our legislature ? ' But to treat the objectors with fairness, it must be admitted that obey have never dreamt of such an enactment ; what they rely upon is the natiu'al consequence on the competent parent of withholding that assistance from public sources which he himself does^not supply. But what is that consequence ? It is that his child groAVS up in ignb- rance, and encounters its disqualifications and itg perils. That however is a consequence Avhich the vpry line of conduct adopted by him" proves he is willing enough his child should encounter. Doubtless, if he himself Avere the only party to suffer, he mif'ht be left to the results of his OAvn choice. Perhaps, also, Ave might be forced to admit (hoAvever reluctantly) that if he and his child were the only parties to be con- REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "JUVENILE PAUPERS." 109 • sidered, the child must in that instance, as in so many others, be left to bear as he best may tne bitter calamities ,which spring from evil parentage. But if it remain true that the interests of the third party, the community into which the child is boi-n, will suffer or gain as the child is brought up in ignora'ice or becomes the recipient of g^d in- struction and Christian training ; and if the loss on the one hand, or the gain on the other, far outweighs the outlay which is to determine the lot of the poor cliild, are we the public to spite ourselves because if the pa- rent did its duty we should obtain the advantage without paying its price ? The objectors argue loosely from admitted facts. The parent furnishes his child Avith slielter, food and clothing, and so far identifies himself Avith his offspring. But many a*parent who will strain hard to suppl}^ physical wants, for which his sympathies are quick and easily roused, will not forego the slightest gratification to supply the want of education for his child, because that is a want which he cannot realize to his own perceptions ; so that to ar^ue frcyn the parent's willingness iiO supply wants which he does recognize, that he may be made willing to supply those which he does tiot recognize, is but fallacious reasoning. In truth, what jurists would call the solidarity of the parent and child is pushed by the objectors further than the law of nature ( which never- theless is the only law they would invoke) is able to vindicate the re- lation. But the principle for which we contend, namely that of State pro- vision for educating children whose parents neglect that duty, is practi- cally admitted in our legislation as respects various classes ; and consis- tency, in addition to more potent reasons, requires it should be extended to that of which we are the advocates. It is applied already to children in jails, to the extent of relieving the parent, whatever may be his wealth, not only from the burden of their education, but from that of their subsistence ; whereby, as I confidently submit, the principle on which I am relying is in practice exaggerated until it becomes an abuse ; in reformatory schools the principle is exemplified well nigh in its purity. Here the parent is not relieved of his whole burden ; but' up to a certain limit he he pays for his child a sum adjusted in proportion to his ability. But why should thei-e be any limit fixed on behalf of the competent parent sliort of the total cost of the child, in the boarding school in which (in lieu of a prison) he is consigned by the benignity of the law. " In poor-houses, however, the principle may be seen' in its perfect exemplification, not being unduly qualified on the one side or on the other. For the pauper (though perhaps by his own default ) having no means of self maintenance, the burden of his keep, and also his child's keep and education, falls necessarily upon the State, and the whole bur- den is at once accepted. Your children Ave are told are either the off- spring of paupers and therefore paupers themselves, and in that case must be educfited by the guardians of the poor ; or they are criminal children, who ought to be brought Avithin the grasp of the laAv, Avhen for greater offences they Avill be consigned to the reformatory, while for less infractions they will be sent to the industrial feeding school. I Avaive the objections that industrial «chools are as yet but few, and that it is. but seldom we And magistrates willing to enforce the somewhat perplexing statutes which give them compulsoiy poAvers. >\gain, I waive all objection arjsin^ out of the difficulties which Jie in the way of procuring (through the guardians of the poor) an efficient education for pau- per children ; meaning b^ efficient education one that lays'tke axe at the root of hereditary pauperism : for I stand on the position that our children are neither panjiers, nor criminalis, although tho 110 REFORMATORY SYSTEM— "JUVENILE PAUPERS." ground wliicli they occii]3y is conterminous Kith that of both classes, and the line of demarcaHou is not seldom evanescent. The physical "\va?)ts of our children are supijlied from the natural sources ; ofteii ill supplied iio doubt, yet not so ill but that the managers of rag- ged schools are willing to supplemefJfc, as occasion may arise, any deficiency so far as it is requisite to prevent the pupil from being dis- qualified by hunger from engaging in the business of the school ; and as regards thi^? expense they do not seek assistance from the Government : these children are therefore not paupers. Nor have they been convicted of the slightest breach of the law, conse- quently they are not criminals ; and therefore they cannot be sent by compulsion either to the reformatory or to the industrial feeding school. May not, I would ask, such a classification as that for which objectors contend, do something towards driving both the child and its parent into the ranks of the pauper or criminal population ? " For ourselves, we ask only that the public grant shall equal our private contributions, adding our labor, whatever that maybe worth, to the amount subscribed. Let me incidentally remark that we will not here enter into any enquiry as to whether the grants shall be drawn from the general taxation of the country or from local rates. " It cantiot be denied and ought not to be concealed, that when grants are made in proportion to private contributions, some dis- tricts will remain without provision. We are aware of this defect. It has always existed. No remedy has hitherto been discovered, and we are not prepai-ed to suggest one ourselves. The legislature and the Government have justly determined that notwithstanding the pi-ineiple of state subsidies cannot be carried into effect with syste- matic perfectiont a sufficient amount of good is attainable to justify its application as long as it ^can be accompanied by a reasonable guarantee. I believe we only ask the Go\ernment to be consistent with themselves, that not having dela^-ed their subsidy to other classes until a perfect system CQuld be devised, they shall not for such a reason withhold it from us." The Recorder moved as the first resohition : — " That obedience to the laws of God and man is powerfully pro- moted by the diffusion of sound knowledge, and the training up of the young in the exercise of the great duties of life ; wherefoi'e, it is incumbent on the state, as far as possible, to insure education for all children for whom their parents are through poverty unable, or through ignoi*ance unwilling, to provide it." Miss Carpenter, the author of that late work ( " Ouif Convicts &c.," read a valuable i^aper at this Conference, from which I give the following extracts : — " We must -first realize the existence of a portion of our popu- lation which is nearly untouched by the institutions of our counti-y ; except the poor-house, the 'police force, and ^the jail. They are in a state of semi-barbarism ; thsy are slaves of their lower instincts and passions ; they have no care for what does not immediately con- cern *cheir present needs ; nor will they sacrifice their convenience or their money to obtain education for their children : for they no more comprehend its true value than a man blind from birth caa REFORMATORY SYSTEM — «' JUVENILE PAUPERS." Ill understand the value bf sight. They live in a state of ignorance of all that constitutes civilized society ; a*pracfcical ignorance of man's immortal nature and destiny ; an ignorance which degi'iAiea below the brute creation, that ^^oes fulfil after its kind the c*id for which the Creator gave existence ; which chains the sense and de- bases by sensual indulgences ; which makes men hunger only for the bread which perish-eth and not for that which is the nutriment of true life ; which makes them thirst only for thfA whic^ stimulates to maddening frenzy, prevciating them from receiving the waters of life. ." Such is, in few and faint words, the meaning which is really hidden under the simple word ignorance ; but which is too often lost sight of in our anxiety to convoy rudiments of book learning, which we most falsely suppose will be an antidote to crime, and the •effect of such ignorance is not only ttiat the individuals laboring under it are utterly unfit to hold any useful social position in the state ;,not only that they are without such practical acquaintance with the laws of Ood and man as will withhold them from the crime into which they are continually led by the desire of _ sensual gratification ; but .that they live in a state of entA'e isolation from the comparatively virtuous and respectable portion of socie- ty, and consequently more or less in absolute antagonism to it. Now I have been frequently asked by statesmen to define this class to them, and always inefiectually ; no words or definitions which I could use conveyed the reality to those who had never •become pi'actically acquainted with it. OflRcial gentlemen who may have examined the entry books of a ragged scbcol, land found there the names of trades exercised by the parents similar to those which mny be met with in higher schools, have carried away the impres- sion that the difference between the two classes was imaginary. A visitatinn of the homes would have convinced them of the contrary ; several hours conversation with one of Her IMajesty's Inspectors of Schools, endeavouring to make him understand the peculiar require- ments of ragged schools, founded on the condition of the class they are intended for, left the subject whc^re it had begun ; but no sooner had his duties called him to inspect such a school, than he at once perceived the indescribable diftcrence which exists between the scho- lars of that and of higher schools, and saw that they required large help, and that of a different kind from otliers. The want of knowledge existing among legislators of the actual condition of the mass of the population whence spring these unfortunate childi'en, has doubtless been the cause of their remaining hitherto unhelped. " Religion and true political economy are not at variance, for both are founded on the laws by which the all-wise Euler governs the universe. If a great duty is neglected, retribution will always follow. Such has followed and ivill follow as long as the evil con- tinues ; it rests as a blight on our conntrj\ and is felt in the enormous expcnditurg of public money on our jails and work-houses." Speaking of tiese " Ragged Schools," Miss Carpenter continues : — ..■'•. • ' Sir, time has proA'ctl thnt they cannot icithoid aid from public funds efficiently carry out this work, or establish schools where most needed. 112 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — "JUVENILE PAUPERS." "While we urge that if no educational" help were given to any other portion of the pojjulation, means should be taken to extend it to this ; the state availing itself as in the case of refornaatories and in- dustri/>us schools, of existing voluntary effort ; yet since there is an annual parliamentary educational grant made to second voluntary effort, and to aid in the instruction of the people, we ask that grants should be made to these schools in the same proportion to the pecuniary coutritutions as in other schools ; and as this portion of the jjcople require the help the most, for the good of society, as well as for the benefit of the child, viost should be given to them. We ask this on the ground of simple justice." The following extracts are from a si^eech by Dr. Guthrie, of Edinburgh, delivered at this Conference : — " What then is the staS.-ving ill-treated child to do ? He must starve, or beg or steal. There is not a man on this platform who would hesitate, were he one of these children, about what course he himself would adopt. Think of your own children in such a condi- tion ! what would you expect of them ? to starve ? certainly not ; a child thus leVt is forced to become a beggar ; he wif-1 begin a beggar and end a thief. By and by he is brought to the bar of the police office, and charged with crimes which any of us would have committed had we been in his circumstances ; charged Avith crimes which he could not help committing, and punished by magistrates for sins Avhich I say he never did commit. He knew no law — where there is no law there is no trausgi-ession. That is the word of God and the common sense of man. Man nay put that infant at the bar, but I believe, as I believe that there is a just Go^^ in heaven, that when he is arraigned at the bar of the judgment day, he will not be dealt with there as a sinner ? What can sucii children do ? yet see their cruel fate. They are com- mitted to so many days" imprisonment or so many weeks' hard labor. They go in bad, they come out A\orse. You might as well bring a poker which has knocked a man's brains out, into a court of justice, and laying it on the table tiy it and find it guilty. It is all the same. " Now we have in Scotland a capital way of giving verdicts. In England it is either guilty or not guilt}'' ; we are further north and wiser in Scotland. There is many a rogue j'ou cannot prove guilt}' though you have no doubt about it ; in such a case we retm-n a verdict of ' not proven.' Now suppose a child such as those I have described put to the bar of a police court. A policeman swears ' I found the stolen property ou him,' or ' I found it at his mother's house.' AYell if I Avere the chancellpr of the j my, or the foreman as you call him, if the boy had never been sent to school, never been trained to virtue, had been brought xm to vice, and compelled by his parents to steal, the verdict I should bring- in would be, proven, but not guilty. Take him from the bar and put the guilty party there. It is not he ; it is the mother or the father who neglected him and taught him to sin ; and if there ai-e no such persons to put to the bar, then I say the fault lies Avith the ministers of 'religion and the ministers of the State who neglected this child. I turn round ou ^lie ladies and gentlemen who go "Hi th their prayer b«>X)Ics and bibles to church and I say, in neglecting that byy you are the guilty parties ; you ought to be p'uiislied, and not he." ^' Well we set up our schools, cleared j level with that of the animals ai&ong whom they have lived ; indeed, we have had boys who seemed to have acquired their most degraded attri- butes. Thus if they quarrelled with a companion, they would after regarding him side-ways, rush against him and overturn him by butting at his chest with their heads, all done v/ith such inconcei- vable rapidity that their adversary had no time to save himself from the blow." , The treatment to which the colons are subjected is thus described by the founders :— " It was absolutely necessary that we should be able to show to those who were apprehensive of evil (inflects resulting to themselves' from the assemblage of so many criminal lads in their vicinity, that even such a band might be well discipline d and harmless, and we have succeeded in dissipating all alarm and ill-will, and in gaining the confidence of our neighbours. " Deeply convinced of the importance of first impressions, we make it a point to fetch our lads ourselves from prison. " When engagements deprive us of the pleasure of going our- selves to fetch new ' colons,' and of witnessing the first hope of liberty kindle in their breasts, we depute benevolent individuals whom we can entirely trust to supply our place. " Our first care on the arrival of each is to study his character, in order ^o ascertain the treatment most suitable to him. If we would operate successfully on the individual, we must convince him that he has been sent to the colony not only for his jjresent good but for his future welfare. He must be made to understand that if the work to which he is set here is more laborious than that in which he v,'a§ employed in prison, its purpose is^to develop his' physical pow- ers while promoting his moral improvement. Finally, it is neces- sary to ^waken in his h*art those principles of religion and virtue without which no reformation is possible. " To effect a complete reformation it_ was required to i**eiore to thi^ neglected class.the li?ibits and affections of the family circle so dear to man, and which supply the firm.est bonds by which Bociety is held together. This has been accomplished by dividing 122 REFORMATORY SYSTEM-^" METTRAY." the colony into sections of forty boys, in eadi of wliicli superinten- dents, called respectively the ' chef de famille ' and the elder brother, erercise an authority maintained by kindness and good counsel. By placing the members of each of these sections or families in a position to provide for all their wants themselves, to build partly with their own hands their common dwelling house ; and to culti- vate the field and the garden belonging to it, Ave created for them the associations^of home, and a love for their own fireside, and familiarized them with the feelings and the duties which arise there. It was we believe impossible to discover a better rueans for raising these unhappy beings, the offspring of -vice, in the ej'es of the world, and in their own, and of converting them into useful members of society''. After describing the dwelling house for a family, Mr. Demetz proceeds : — Two ' coutre-jnaitres' (masters in the position of foreman) keep watch at night in each dormitory, 'caking the duty alternately till morning. Each house thus accom- modates 40 children, divided into two sections fonning one family, presided over by a chef de famille, aided by two ' coutre-maitres.'' In addition to these a colon is chosen monthly in each section who with the title of elder brother assists the sujierintendents in the managemert of the house-hold. " On Sunday an account is given before the assembled colony of the conduct of each family, and the work it has accomplished during the past week, and particulars respecting its individual members are related. Every boy who has deserved well receives encoui'agement ; every family whose conduct has been satisfactory receives a reward. This emulation among the difierent families has always had a good effeat. It was not however, sufficient, and we thought it might be possibly to excite this spirit of rivalry in good conduct to still further resvuts, by fostering it not only in indivi- duals but in the various families, so that it should animate the whole colony. — With this view we \iave established a kind of ' prize of honor' {^nix d'honneur) to be granted to the family which has in- curred no punishment during the past week ; it consists in the pri- vilege of cariying the national flag upon which the simple legend has been inscribed Honneur a la Famille. " During their military exercises the family which has earned this distinction marches at the head of the colony, whose standard bearer it has become." As the military discipline of this colony has been animad- verted on by some writers, I give the following extracts : — Lord Leigh says : — " With regard to the almost military discipline and or9.er with which the children go through their movements before and after work or meals, I consider that by it a great saving of time is made, and five or ten minxrtes upon every change ot movement are saved, which would be otherwise lost in collecting and adjustin'g stragglers, both young and old." Mr. Hall writes :— i. ," «A,nother objection, if it deserves to be called an objection, is that the system tarns so much on military discipline. Assivaie for a moment that it is so ; what then ? Until you find mc some other HEFORMATORT SYSTEM — " METTRAY." 123 » > system as eflfectual as this for the purpose we have in view, you must not ask me to yield to any abstract dislike of every thing con- nected with the profession of a soldier. But the objection isas unfounded in fact as it is trivial in its scope ; the signals are given by the sound of the trumj^et, aifd the colonists march in double file to and from their jjosts, and they salute by raising the hand to the cap as soldiers do ; that is the sum total of all that can be said to partake of military discipline ; the bell or gong if^more musical to pacific ears might be substituted for the trumpet ; the respectful salute is not essential, though I should be sorry to see it dispensed with ; the walking by twos with measured step may be given up, though the boys would not thank you tor it, and you wiU not easily invent so effectual an arrangement for seeing at a glance whether all is going on right. " We have found means of employing a part of Sunday, a day so diflEicult to get through in penitentiaries and prisons, in such a manner that while resting from labor, our lads are saved from idleness. , "Two hours of the day are spent in gymnastic exercises. Childi'en possess an exuberance of animal spirits, which they must have the means of getting rid»of, no matter how, and often this necessity has more to do with the blow they give each other than any malicious feeling. Everything which tends to fatigue them helps to keep away evil thoughts, and we take care therfore that their games shall necessitate violent exercise, that they may be tired by their play as well as by their work ; thus at night they fall asleep the moment they lie down ; and their slumber is unbroken until it is time to rise — (they rise at 5 a. m., all the year round"). The notice on the system of " i^milies" in a report on agricultural colonies, is worthy of entry : — '•' Division into families, it appears, should be the fundamental* principle of every penal and reformatory colony ; and we ai'e happy to see that this conviction which takes stronger hold on our judg- ment from day to day, is making increased progress among our public writers." In December 1849, M. Corne, speaking in the name of a commission appointed by the legislative assembly, ** looked on the division of the children into small groups as the most certain element of their moral regeneration." Those men, in the different states of Europe, who have given them- selves to fehe study of these questions all profess the same opinion. " Division into families renders suiDcriutcndenca at once more effsy, more active, and more zealous ; «niore easy because it extends over but a small nujjaber ; more acty/e, because it makes all the responi?ibility rest on the head of one person only, whose authority is well defined, and whose duties are exactly prescribed : more zealous because it create;? in the minds of the superintaiAenta feelings of sjnnpathy 'and benevolence, under the influence of this 124 REFORMATORY SYSTEM-^" METTR AY. "_ fesponsibility, and of a life spent in common with their charge. The eflect of the division into families is not less salutary tipon the young colonists, the authority exercised over them being neither imperious, nor oppressive, they become attached on their part io the master who loves them, ^d whom they leara to regard as a confidential friend ; they yield themselves more readily to conviction, and while discipline loses none of its vigour, educa- tion finds in this mutual affection a lever oi incalculahle pmver. " An agricultural ^ master superintends the cultivation of the soil, besides giving a course of lessons on this subject suited to the capacity of the lads. "Each agricultural division consists of twelve colons and a sub-agricultural master, who is either a good gardener, vine-dresser, field laborer, or hedger and ditcher, and who teaches the lads under his care the best methods of perform- ing the work, and handling their tools. When the weather is 'bad the colons plait stra^ for making theii' hats, and in future when our sheds are finished (this was in 1841) the boys will under their shelter break stones for the roads ; our intenti'->n being to make road-menders, and even stone-masons of some of them. A great number are employed during the season in picking mulberry '/eaves for the support of silk wo^-ms ; we are rapidly increasing this branch of industry, to which our circumstance^ promise high success. " The colons spend only two hours and a half per day in the school-room, a period which is as necessary for bodily rest as for mental instruction : they are taught writing and arithmetic ; the authorised system of weights and measures, linear drawing, and singing, which latter ' is very efiicacious in promoting discipline 3,nd moral improvement, t.nd whose favorable influence on very degraded natures we have already had opportunities for observing. " Field labor, besides its importance in a pecuniary point of .view, aS'ords healthful exercise to the body, while it sufficiently occupies the mind to banish evil thoughts which idleness is stire to induce ; it affords another advantage in making rest absolutely necessary to the peasant at the very hour that his brethren who dwell in towns are entering into those amusements and dissipations which tend, to enervate and demoralize the partaker. " To stimulate the enterprising and active spirits of our la- borers, we allow them to compete in each class, ainong themselves ; the trial however, being raade on the soil instead of on paper. Every month the boys assign their respective places to each under the superintendence of their masters, and once in three months these places are announced in the presence of the whole colony, when three rewards are granted to the three best workers in each class." Regarding singing, M. Demetz observes:—- " We find that very great advantages are attached to this pur- suit. The singing of our boys promotes good order, prevents conversation among them while moving from place tc place, fixes good thoughts and good words in their memory, and attaches theni to the institution where tt-^y have first felt their happy influences. A knowledge of instrmnen'^al music ensures them good pay and the prospect of advancement in the army. '■'"Every individual who has acquired the power of doin^ any one useful thing thoroughly will find opportunities for turning it to account. Success of some kind, and the sympathy of our fellow REFORMATORY SYSTEM— " METTRAi."? 125 i i creatures are necessary to us all. How many alas, unable to win the approbation of the good, have been driven to seek the applause of the wicked. We cannot make too gi^at an effort to supply useful and noble objects of ambition. ^ j " Side by side with religipus teaching and elementary instruc- tion we place industrial education ; we desire that on leaving Mettray our lads should be able, without undergoing the laborious life of an ajjprentice under often a very harsh master, to support themselves, and to earn what are usually considered good wages. Two-thirds of the colons are employed in agriculture, the rest are occupied in our workshops, in trades connected with agriculture, or which are required to supply the i;olony. Eewakds and Punishments. " Much greater use is made of rewards than of punishments } of stimulants to do right rather than of deterrents from doing wrong. Among these, are inscriptioA on the tablet of honor, and other distinctions of a similar nature ; admission to the band of instrum^tal music ; an extra allowance of food for unusual industry ; small sums of money placed in the savings bank to the credit of a ' colon' who distinguishes himself by his excellence in any handicraft, provided his conduct be irreproachav^le ; a portion of which money those lads whose names are on the tablet of honor are permitted to spend in books, writing and drawing materials, musical instruments, &c. &c., or with it to aid indigent relations ; the loan or gift of some small object of desire ( as the knife promised by M. de Courteilles to colon D.) and above all the privilege of rendering a service to their fellow creatures. Permission to join the Fire Brigade is granted as' a high reward; and the same principle is observed in^higher concessions." " I see no reason," says Lord Leigh : — " AVhy the feeling of honor, T^hich I believe to be as str&ng in an English child as in a French one, should not be appealed .to with advantage in an English reformatory. Why should we not have the tablet of honor hung up where every one can see it. At Mettray it is believed to afford a most powerful motive to good conduct, and to be unattended by any ill effests. To have Jiis name inscribed there, a ' colon' must have passed three months without punishment : yet the nuraber of names so inscribed increases yearly, and in 1854, amounted to 69 per cent upon the whole school. For the first half of 1855 the result obtained was still more satisfactory, the per-centage having then risen to 75. This fact is the more striking when we learn that rigid silence being'imposed throughout the hours of labor, a single word spoken in contravention of this rule is follow:ed by certain punish- ment, causes the name of the offender to be erased from the good conduct list, and prevents its insertion in the list for the next quarter. * » • M. Demetz observes :— ' *' Our regulations are severe £yid strictly observed. In food clothing and bedding, our lads have only what is absolutely neces- sary ; obedience and punctuality in thQ performance of tLey* duties are rigidly enforced, an'd the smallest offence is punished. With 126 HE'fOKMATORY SYSTEM — " METTKAY." all this we liave no ivalls, and yet not one of our boys (1842) has ever thouglit of escaping, not even in coining "but of the cell, where many of them have unddl'gone confinement for 10 or 15 days on bravd and water diet. It is by convincing them that we are guided in all things by a sense of justice that we acquire so powerful a hold upon our lads. To aflEbrd them a proof of this and to furnish ourselves with an additonal safeguard, wc cause all lesser oflPenders to be tried before a tribunal consisting of colons selected by us from among thosf whose names are upon the tablet of honor, reserving to ourselves only the right of mitigating such sentences as we consider too severe. Experience continued (1856) to de- monstrate the wisdom of abolishing all physical means of detention at the colony, the effect of which is to make the lads feel they are on their honor not to attempt to escape. This is so true that a ' chef happening one day to ask one of them who had tried twice over at the risk of his life to escape from prison, why he never thought of running away from the colony; where he had to work much harder, he answered — 'It is because there are no walls to Mettraj-.' " The punishments inflicted in oui' institutions are ;— '' Erasure from the tablet of honor, detention within doors, Compulsory labor. Bread and water diet, Imprisonment in a light cell, do. in a dark cell, " Before inflicting any of these punishments we have invariably X'ecourse to a preliminary measure, of which the advantage is so great that we caanot pa,ss it unmentioned. If punishment is to produce a sakdary effect it is imperative that its object should sub- mit himself to it unresistingly, and indeed that he should be the first to feel that he has deserved it. To impress this conviction on the cidprit's mind it is in the first place necessary that the penalty sh&uld be inflicted in a calm and gentle spirit, and dictated by the strictest justice, that power of reason which convinces whde it commands, as one of our excellent magistrates has so vrell said ; secondly, that both he who inflicts and he who receives chastisement, should be perfectly cool. It is impossible that these conditions should exist al the moment when a serious offence, naturally exciting indignation, has been committed ; and therefore our masters are desired when they have a complaint to make against any boy to send him to the waiting room. This is in fact our ' salle cle depot,' but we avoid the use" of every term which would recall the prison to the minds of our lads. " Being sent to the waiting room never prejudices the boy's case, and consequently he goes there willingly. Du-ectly this step haSs been taken we are informed of it, and we have then plenty of cime to refer to his antecedents, and institute an enquiry, if we deem it necessary. During this delay the culprit begins to reflect on what he has done, the master becomes cool, we have time to cons'lder the circumstances of the case, consult together, and when at length " we decide the matter, in perfeqt calmness and thproughly acquainted with the whole affair, we are s\\ve that justice is administered 'in a paternal spirit. Of all the punishments which unhappily we are under th^necessity of inflicting we must confesa that the cdl alone. exercises a moral influence ; all the rest, such as dry bread, being kept IIEFORMATORY SYSTEM— " METTRAi."' 127 i i In on Sunday, &c., hav^e a useful effect only on children under nine years of age, and always irritate older lads. Our officers have been struck with the change that seclusion in the cell has j^roduced in the most obstinate dispositions. Indeed our ' colony' themseJves have expressed their opinion of it in very plain terms, and their authority in such a case is not to be despised. ' As for us,' they say, * we would rather have a whipping, but the cell does us more good.' Since the above was written, though whipping has never been allowed, j^et latterly a slight corporal puuisliment for minor offences has been allowed, namely a blow on the open hand from a small leathern ferule. It is however rarely inflicted on any but the younger children ; like other pujjishments it is never adminis- tered excei^t by M. Demetz, or in his absence from home by Mr. Blanchard ; never at the moment of offence, and is accompanied by calm admonition. Both assured us that it creates no ill feeling, and that not a murmur against it had ever been heard. It does not involve, as other penalties do, erasure^ from the tablet of honor, aiid great care is taken that it shall in no way degrade the recipient. " It ^as substituted for the limitation to dry bread, which where the diet is as low as it can be fixed consistently with the health of laboring boys, was found instantly to, depress the strength bel(Dw labor point; especially as punishments, though fallkig but on a small class are, as regards that class often repeated." M. Demetz continues : — " Some persons who thought that separate confinement, as it has been well defined by one of our most distinguished writers, and which has hitherto been very absurdly confouiided with solitary confinement, should be thrown asid^ now that such success has been attained at Mettray, where the lads are associated together ; but this is a very serious error, which it is ou.r duty to qorrect. /Separate confinement instead of being opposed to our system is iu perfect harmony with it, and is in our opinion its indispensable complement. In the United States children before being received into insti- tutions analogous to ours are subjected to a shorter or longer term of separate confinement ; they lay aside in the cell 4he turbulent spirit they displayed outside, and silence and reflection prepare them for moral and religious instruction, and for the adoption of a new course of life. " Independently however of this wholesome influence, separate confinement is necessary also as a means of restraint. The course of treatment pursued at an agricultui-al colony does not admit of sufficient seA^erity to intimidate undisciplined disi^ositions, some of which retain their vicious propensities, unless the fear of beinc conviction that at the colony they begin a new life, wh6re force is replaced by persuasion. ' ' ^ " It has been said that the lads have a sickly appearance * and that their food is iusufncient, consisting as it does largely of bread and vegetables. It must be recollected, however, that thii is the ordinary fare of the French peasantry A\ho rarely taste meat, and that the duty of not placing individuals who have incurred the penalty of the law in a position of greater material comfort th-in their honest neighbours, is never forgotten at INIettray. " The rate of mortality iip to 1850 had not exceeded two per cent. It is shown by examining our i-cgister that the number of boys ad- mitted into the infirmary diminishes in proportion Avith the lengtli of their stay at the colony, Avliich proves \\om much their constitution must be strengthened by their healthful mode of life." M. Demetz felt the evils of short sentences as keenly as the Directors of reformatory institutions in England and Ireland felt them. ' He writes : — " In a word, every youthful oiFencler who is thus thrown pre- maturely upon the world finds himself undei* precisely the same condition which caused his fall, and which can scarcely fail to plunge him again into beggary and crime ; we have omitted no opportuni- ty during the past eight years of pointing out this, miserable and injurious operation of the penal code, and of urging the minister of justice and the members of both chaml^ers, to introduce an' amend- ment more in accordance Avith the spirit of this article ; it should be framed to provide for ^he education in an appropriate in&liitu- tion, until they have attained their "twentieth year, of all childreft committed under the age of 16 and detained by virtue of article 66." M. Demetz has arranged for the employment of his colons when they leave the colony through the agency of neighbouring residents, some of whom take on themselves this special duty, and are called patrons. In his reports he lays great stress on the previous treatment of colons iu prisons before they come to him, being severe. He says : •— " We never should obtain our end unless the treatment in pri- son was 7iars/(, enough to create a dread of being sent back there ; or in one Avord, if separate confinement were not invarlahly the proba- tion through which every colon must pass befoi-e coming to us." It is ;iecessary to notice that, under sections 375 and 376 of the civil code, children czin be detained at Mcttray at the.request of tire parents ; thjTs system is however no part of the original aim and object of Mettray, and thg con- * Certainly not in 1803 when I saw them. 130 REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " METTRAY. nection with Mettray is I believe genei^ciUy considered to be a measure of doubtful value. 'VThe object of the directors tttrougbout is as it ougM to be of eypYj system for the treatment of criminals, to prepare their wards for the life -which awaits them on their return to the world ; the making them good colons being an incidental part of the process. The change howe-'er from the colony to employment under a pri- vate master, notwithstanding all the care which is taken at Mettray to avoid imnecessary coercion, is I'ound to be too great to be made at once without danger to the habits of the colon, and M. Demetz has consequently been led to form a small colony at Orfrasiere, some five or six leagues from the parent institution, where are 25 colons whose term of detention has nearly expired, who have dis- t;inguished themselves by good conduct, and who there enjoy_ more liberty than at Mettraj', though less than if placed out in the world." I conclude tbis brief sketch of Mettray by the '■follo^Ying extracts :— By M. Demetz :— " Every child and every man too has a good side to his character by which he may be approached, and through which his feelings may be touched and softened ; and if only this be carefully studied and means earnestly sought by wLich the master may gain an in- fluence over hirli, assuredly they will be found if the appeal be made from heart to heart." r By M. Duchetel, Minister of the Interior : — " It is a gi-and and touching spectacle to behold those lads, trained to order and to labor, strengthened and jDurified by the culture of the soil, and by the spiritual care they i-eceive, and yet restrained by a discipline strict though beneficent in accordance with the origin and aim of the institution. Morally lost while yet in childhood, through the neglect of their parents and the contami- nating example of vice, our prisons in the old state of things would have left the greater part of them svink in crime to the end ef their lives. But you convert them into honest and industrious laborers, and through yoitr exertions society no longer regai'ds them as enemies to be pursued and punished, but as instruments useful to the welfare of all." By Lord Brougham, vide speech in House of^Xords in 1847 :— " To show the eftect of these experiments in reformatory treatment he would take the French institution of Mettray as affording more details. Besides this one there had been twelve others of a similar character established in Franct, which were foun^led in consequence of the great success that attended the original institution. He avowed t'lat if he w.sre animated Avith feelings of rivalry towards France ; if he were animated by those national feelings of rivalry .which pervadccJ the bosoms of Euglishmeu ; those national leelings would lead him more to REFORMATORY SYSTEM — " METTRAY." ' 131 « .* envy the French people f«ir the erection and usefuhiess of such institu- tions than for any glory they might have derived fi-om tlieir Algerino colonies, from their Spanish marriages, or even from all that redounded to the glory of Napoleon. He envied them for what they ha^d, and which this country wanted, those noble and useful institutions." * It is necessary to remark regarding the class of offenders subjected to reformatory treatment at ]\Iettray, that youths who have committed murder and received, therefore, probably sentences for life, are 7ioi received here. Moreover, so far as I could learn by personal enquir}% 'the boys are selected from, prisons as being the best' boys, and as generally belonging to the agricuUural class, though the Paris " gamm " is to be found amongst the " colons." ' The Jlecorder of Birmingham, Mr. Hill, in his letter to Mr. Adderley, M. p., which I have already quoted, observes : — " Ever}' variety of mind Ls wrought upon by every variety of good motive, none of them violent in their action, but none of them for a moment relaxing their influence. Thus the habits of an idle and vagabond life are gradually changed into those of settled industry, and an amount of labor (profitable labor be it remembered) is thus got out of the lads ■\vhich would be 3'ielded to no amount of severity; labor, too, full of pleasant associations, and gradually producing habits which secure the crowning result — permanent reformation. Now thisperiran£nt reforftiation as regards the proportion of youths attaining it, rises ^0 p height far beyond what, myself, or as I believe, any one o( us ever dreamed of in our most sanguine moments ; ninety per cent of the " colonie" become honest and useful members of society. And ,with regard to the ten per cen^ their conduct is generp'Ij much better than could reasonably have been expected, but for the eftects produced upon them at Mettray. No Mahomedan believes more devoutly in the eflicieucy of a pilgrimago to Mecca than I do in one to i\Iettray." CHAPTER VI. EEFOPvMATORY MEASURES APPLICABLE TO OFFENDERS IN INDIA. This review of Mettray completes one portion of the task which I proposed to myself, and the sketch of rgformatofy principles and practice, as in force in Europe. I need not attempt to give any account of the many similar in^titiftions in the Lnited Kingdom* or on the continent. I have briefly delineated the main features of the two i^jstitu- tionS which offer to us in practice the best illustration of 132 REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA, "DUTY OF THE STATE." those principles as applied to adults in Ireland and juveniles in France. I have given quotations from the writings and sayings of many eminent men; their collective authority jv.stly carries with it the greatest weight ; and it is indeed worthy of note how men of all ranks in society and of all countries have i-Bstified to the necessity and the excellence of these reformatory measures. The many important measures connected with the treat- ment of prisoners have also heen briefly noticed, so as to show in each what is considered in Europe to be the best mode of procedure. It now remains to ofter a few sugges- tions as to the application of these principles to India. I trust that the authority of Europe may be felt 'sufficient to prove that the principles described may not safely or rightly be treated in India- with indifference ; how far our practice should assimilate to that of Europe must depend on local circumstances ; no servile imitation is necessary for the practical recognition of the great principles I seek to see introduced. I have given the sayings and writings of many eminent men on the subject of the duty of the State : but I add to th^m a few remarks by Mr. JVan Burghen, as quoted by Miss Carpenter : — " Tlie State or society being obliged to use compulsory privation of the liberty of natural action as the chief means of penal retribu- tiou, repres,sion and penal intimidation, thereby contracts towards those who are the subjects of it an absolute obligation to provide, not only for their physical existence, but to furnish them the means of supplying the wants of their intellectual and moral nature, which their dependant condition prevents them, from procuring for them.- selves. " The obligation of the State which is here discussed is not founded on tlie moral duty of society to exercise collectively through its Government the christian virtue of charity, of brotherly love, or in other terms of philanthropy more or less christian. Nor does the duty of which we are speaking spring directhj from the interests of society in its own preservation, which should lead the State to consider as an advantage the moral reform of individuals dangerous to its p€^ce ; with whom it must, in propor- tion as other more inhuman'nieans of repressiion fail, always fill its ]n-isons in greater number, tb release them, after a iixed time, mpre corrupt and more furious, to be the terror of the population. But this Obligation arises in the first place aa a positive and absolute right, belonging to those towards whom retributive justico is REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA, "LEGISLATIV'e ACTION." 133 « » exercised, ffom the ve^^y nature of tlie right of punishing irhich political i^ower is called upon to exercise. For this right, eiuljracing the different motives of penal repression, retribution, as avcII as the intimidation and protection of society, has its true Ijasiaonly in tRat law of moral order founded b^j the Supreme Legislator, arjd im- pressed in the nature of man created after His own image, J^i^st* sutlering must be the necessary and inevitable consequence of evil, in order to change this evil into good. ' We suffer,' says Viuet, because God has made punishment the inevitabl(A;ompanion of sin ; we sutler, because sutlering is the needful road to lead us to Him who cleanseth from sin.' " It is only under this aspect that ihe right of jjunishment, placed on its true moral basis, loses the odious character of simple ven- geance or of egotistic violtnice, which is exercised by most only to secure their own protection. "The distinction here established is ver}' important. It gives gt once a sure foundation to the absolxfte obligation which rests on the State, not only to attend to the moral wants of the prisoners, but to make theif very punishment conchtce, as it ought to do, to the amendment of their moral life ; au obligation from which it cannot withdraw without abusing tlie right of punishment Avhich belongs to it ; in order to make it degenerate, by losing its moral character of^fustice, which Is at the same time retributive and restorative, into a simple act of -violence, exercised by the strongest against the weak." I have before quoted the Attorney General of Ireland, the Right Honorable Thomas O'Hagan, but I must again note two axioms prescribed by him : — , " That for all practical purposes, lnu«an law should deal with crime not to avenge, but to prevent and to reform. " That merely vindictive and reprcr^sivc action defeats its - own purpose, aud increases the mischief it «ou!d do avray." — « Now in this province I venture to assert, and I think the same may be said as regards the rest of India, that our prison discipline is not guided by reformatory princi- ples such as I have described, and indeed cannot be until the State proceeds to legislate on the subject. I urge then that in India, the legislature shall, following the procedure of Great Britain, not only recognize the principle of allowing portions of certain sentences to be mitigareuT as regards duration and severity, if the prisoners by their industry and good conduct merit such a privilege being gi'anted to them; but shall fix by, a legislative enactment the greatest amount t)f mitigation which in each sentt^ice may under the above coiiditions be allowed. This principle once recognized and enacted, t^^e, great mainspring of all go'od conduct and successful refornmtory 134 REFORMAldRY MEASURES FOR INDIA, "LEGISLATIVE ACTION." progress in prisoners, namely hope, can he at once allowed a sufficiently free and fitting play. I consider it most important that in all such sentences f\\^Xe should be fixed by the law £t certain amount of ahsohde puniskmoit known to the judge who passes the sentence, and to the public whioh is seriously affected by the proper ex- ecution thereof. This fixed amount should, as in Ireland, be capable of only slight amelioration as regards its nature, and not at all as regards its duration. The possible amount of amelioration as regards its nature should be known to, the judge and to the public, and should be dependent on certain principles which may not be altered by jail officials. I think any treatment of prisoners which admits the pos- sibility of sentences being as a rule seriously lessened in severity or > duration by the recommendation or the opinion of jail officers, is most strongly to be deprecated. So far as is possible, the judge and the public should know what the sentence implies, and that its terms will be carried out. In England I observe that sentences to penal servitude are now fixed at five years and upwards. Also that in Ireland al- ways, and in England ver"y generally, it is assumed that persons sentenced to five yeai-s and upwards of penal servitude ar6 «a&i^«<«^ criminals and not casuah. Applying this prin- ciple to India, I urge that by a legislative enactment each sentence to penal servitude for terminable periods of five years and upwards, shall contain a certain period fixed by the law, within Avhich period the prisoner may, by the merits of his industry and good conduct, obtain such an ameliora- tion of his sentence as may under certain known and estab- lished rules be deemed fitting. For instance, taking the procedure of the United King- dom as our guide, in a sentence of five years penal s^eiwitude, three years and six months must be passed in absolute impri- sonment ; six .months may, if the prisoner merits it, be passed under intermediate treatment, and one year under a ticket of leave, — the contritions of which, as in Ireland, should, be rigidly enforced, and the prisoner sent back to prison under his original sentence if he infringes them. REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA, INTERMEDIATZ STAOE, 135 /' TICKET OF LEAVE. "^ I need not detail here the conditions prescribed in England as regards each sentence for five years and upwards ; they have already been giv§n, but I venture to suggest that the divisions of each sentence as carried out in the UfiicSSr Kingdom may well be adopted in this country, not only as regards duration, but as regards severity. * Before leaving this first step-in reformatory measures, * namely the legislative action regarding all sentences to penal servitude for five years and upwards, it is necessary that I should notice briefly the two great divisions into which t^e portion of each sentence, within which the prisoner may by his own exertions lessen its severity and duration, is divided. The divisions are :— I. The intermediate stage. II. Liberty on ticket of leave. Regarding the first, I am aware of no insurmountable difficulties existing in this province or in India which pre- vent the principle being efficienj^ly carried out. For all prisoners of the agricultural and laboring class it would not be impossible to employ them ^yith great advantage t6,.^e State, and to themselves, on our public works ; if these do not offer sufficient employment for such men, which I can- not credit, it would not be at all impossible or impractical to establish agricultural settlements similar to "Lusk" in Ireland, and bring under cultivation some of our many thousand acres of good land now left waste, — not because it is bad, but because capital and labor are needed to bring it into cultivation. Fbr all prisoners of the manufacturing classes, who work solely at trades and not at out-of-door work, it would not be impossible to erect and work advantageously establishments similar to Smithfield in Ireland, -and other institutions, where prisoaers in the inflfermediate stagyT work under conditions of almost freedom, and can realize by their own labors consider- abl« sums of money for their oiun benefit. 13G REFOLMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — '* IIABITUALS AND CASUALS." Regarding the second division, the "ticket of leave," I trust the quotations I have given from so many eminent authorities will b<3 accepted as proving that the system is in principle good, and only needs to be properly put into practice. I maintain that in this province the police can perfectly well carry out their part of the duty, and with real benefit to the prisoner ; but the remaining part of the treatment must be rigidly carried out by the magistelial department as in Ireland. I urge that it be carried out exactly as in Ire- land, without any modification or alteration. The neces- sity of these two stages has been so fully proved that I need not again bring forward the proof* already recorded. All experience elsewhere has proved that under no system- of reformatory treatment can an habitual prisoner be discharged direct from the absolute imprison- ment of an ordinary jail, into society, with impunity to him- self or to society. An intermediate stage is absolutely neces- sary to test the result of the reformatory treatment before he is discharged, alid a " ticket of leave" stage is also very neces- sary to maintain a certain'; helping, yet restraining connec- tion with him after he is discharged. Habituals and Casuals. The second great step in reformatory measures is I consider that by which habituals and casuals are subjected to distinct and separate action, both as regards the law and as regards treatment in jails. The imperative necessity of distinguishing between the habitual and the casual offender, has I think, been fully shown by the quotations I have given. The experience of all Europe is perfectly unanimous on the point. As a rule the habitual and the casual offender should never meet each other inside our jails ; such a meeting is almost equivalent in its'^results to that in the fable &f the iamb and the wolf, for the habitual ere long so corrupts the casual that he does devour him body and soul. REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — " li^'DlVlDU- 137 ALIZATION." , • In Ireland, as I have shown, all persx)ns sentenced to five years or more of penal servitude are assumed to .be " haM- tuals," and subjected to jail treatment accordingly, i see..^ no reason why we should not follow the same practice, as it seems wise, and as it falls in with the procedure which is in force in this province and I believe generally in IndLa ; , namely that of central jails for prisoners of long sentences « who may be considered habituals, and district jails for prisoners of short senteifces who may be considered casuals ; by this arrangement the long termed prisoners are of neces- sity placed in one central jail. • Individualization. The third gi;eat measure in reformatory tsreatment is that of individualization. It is an essential, indeed vital, part of all successful treatment, whether applied to the habitual, to the casual, to the adult, or to the boy. I have before given Sir Walter Crofton's forcible remarks on this point, but I am tempted to repeat them in part ; he says : — " Can we not iiulividualize, and seek after that which is good in every person old or young, and ibster it, and under the blessing of God bring it to maturity ? Do we not know that the bane of the crirnjnal cla^s is self-indulgence^ idleness, and a want of self-restraint. By ffl5rf> fore placing a premium upon self-negation, industry and self-restraint, and making these qualities the grounds, the felt grounds, of the criminal's ad- vancement you afford to him a good and reformatory training." Now there is really no insurmountable difficulty in at- tempting this mode of treatment in our jails in India ; fol- lowing the same course as that which is proved to succeed in Ireland Avith the Irish, and on the continent with its various races ; and valuing industry and good conduct by marks* — a system which first produced humanizing effects on the convicts in Norfolk Island whom a cruel discipline had almost reduced to the state of wild beasts. I have stated v^hat seem to me the three first primary steps which I con- sider may be attempted in India, and which are absolutely necessary in all reformatory measift-es. ^ I. The legislativq action whci^^by the principle ^£.hope is granted l)y the law to the prisoner, under certain coudi- 138 KErORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — "ADULT CASUALS.'' tions, including tlie intermediate stage and ticket of leave. II. The dividing all criminals into two classes, habituals and casuals, and treating them as distinct classes both by ic^i^lative and reformatory measures. III. Individualization, whereby the treatment each prisoner is subjected to is exactly noted by the system of •' marks," and his advancement towards liberty made clear- ly to depend on himself. But I have not noticed the treatment of adult casuals, i. e. of persons who are sentenced to not more than four years imprisonment. I have assamed that all persons sentenced to more than four years' imprisonment, that is to five years and upwards, are to be treated as in Ireland as habituals. Regarding these casuals, I see no reason why the same reformatory principle of " hope" should not be admitted in their treatment ; whilst as they are supposed not to be habituals, but to be offenders only for the first time, it ought not to be necessary that they should pass through any " intermediate"" stage before being discharged. I am quite aware that until our systems of registration of previous convictions and police surveillance become more pSJlect it will often happen that " habituals" will be sen- tenced as " casuals ; " but under proper jail arrangements the prisoners should not be able to contaminate each other by intercourse. It it not necessary to propose any detail of jail discip- line for this class ( the casuals ) ; each province will adapt its treatment to the races it has to deal with ; but I consider all sentences for four years and under should be termed short sentences, in contradistinction to those for fiv6 years and upwards, which should be called loDg sentences ; and that we should adopt the experience of Europe and make the treatment -during the greater portion of our short sen- tences and the earlier portion of our lon^r sentences severe, deterrent, and yet refornftitory. I have shown how in our jails p,V'3ry man ought to, work, and how industry is a re- formatoiy engine of great power. On that safe foundation REFOKMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA—" SEPARATE 139 .SLEEPINa CELLS." » may be raised without difficulty in India various systems and yet all beneficial, reforyiatory and suitable to the* races to which they are applied. Those who attempt this Cork should, amongst other points, recollect, how Sir Walter Crofton treated " idlers," and violently rebellious prisoners ; and those cunning, sneaking prisoners often the most incorrigible . among many bad ones, who behavfe very well in prison, but take care to shirk all* work, and too often successfully,— pleading their absolute state of physical weakness, and so get themselves appointed to those* pleasanter, lighter, and easier duties of the prison, which should always be the re- ward of industry combined with good conduct. I must not omit to notice one point connected with jail discipline, which appears to me of very vital importance. It is this, that whatever system of jail discipline and treat- ment we adopt, that system should absolutely prevent the possibility of one prisoner contaminating another. T am led to give prominent notice to this pi)int from observing the practice in this province, and I believe very generally in India, of putting prisoners togQther at night in one la^e barrack. I maintain that this practice not only is opposed to all reformatory principles, but is absolutely injurious to the prisoners themselves, and productive of very great evil and serious crime. It is well known that at night in 'these bar- racks, the prisoners talk and converse as they choose : one prisoner recounts his adventures to an admiring circle, whilst others plan further crimes to be carried out when released. The night is looked forward to as the period of pleasure, of gossip, and it fiiust be said and not concealed, of criminal indulgence- Unnatural crime is known and has been proved to exist in one of our largest jails in the province, and considering how difficult it* is to discover such practices it is quite possible and probable that tl^is may be carried on to a great extent ; foi> we" know that some classes of natives are addicted to this crime. I believe^ myself that la murder which -» ktely occurred in this jail, when one young man killed another 140 REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA—" SEPARATE SLEEPING CELLS." r wjtli a native spade, was committed from motives arising from this unnatural crime. Now the only real preventive "wlL^-sure to effectually stop such proceedings and crimes is, not to attempt to prevent them by native warders, on watch all night, for th^j could not be trusted to remain awake or to do their duty faithfully : but it is simr)ly to give to each prisoner a separate sleeping cell. I am quite aware that the expense at first of so doing wouljl be considerable, and I am most anxious to discover some means of producing the lesult required without ^incurring the expense ; but I am convinced that any measure short of the absolute separation of each prisoner at night will certainly fail. Prisorers employed on public works many safely be placed together at night, for then under the reformatory sys- tem they have reached the intermediate stage ; they are un- der the influence of very different feelings ; are in a position which has been achieved with difficulty, and which they will not carelessly' risk; and are tolerably near their discharge, at any rate on tickets of leave ; moreover, the refonnatory tenclency of the discipline they have passed through before t^/tj- reached that stage, may have in some degree, if not alto- gether, convinced them that it is more to their advantage not to indulge in such crimes. Prisoners employed at trades who have reached the intermediate stage still always in Ire- land, have separate sleeping cells. But whether with reference to habituals or to casuals, as we know that in India any preventive measure depending solely on the fidelity and watchfulness at night of native warders, could not be carried out with ijerfect certairAy ; and as it is evident that it is the paramount duty of the' State in all countries to be as certain as it can that its measures are not producing absolute evil ; it follows that when 'a measure tends to produce the constant probability and possibility of such a fearful state of things amongst prisoners as unnatu- ral crkne, and that measure can be annulled or changed, it is the duty of the State to insure such being done. eeformatory measures for india— "'si/ort 141 Atd long sentences.' It is difficult to conceive any expeifse being too great for a State justly, and I will add indeed profitably, to bear, rather than that any one of its measures should pfojlj'.'r - such results. But I am sure that the State would in time be amply repaid for the expense incurred. * Some return, and a very valuable return for the ex- • pense, would it is highly probable be evident at once in the decided improvement in the moral and physical con- dition of the prisoners ; but a still further and larger return would be evident in the greate/ facility with which all reformatory measures would act on each prisoner, and therefore in the higher state of reformation in which we might fairly hope he would be when returned to society. This great measlire, then, of giving in Indiana separate sleeping cell to every prisoner (not employed on public works in the intermediate stage of treatment), is I submit imperatively necessary, not only on moral grounds, though they are of the first importance, but for sanatory and reformatory purposes. It is for consideration whether the local funds of a district should or should jiot be made to bear^some part of the expenses incurred in the district jail, on account of prisoners who are clearly proved to be residents of that district. As a relief to the Imperial exchequer it seems a tempting plan, and one which within reasonable restric- tions might justly be adopted. In Great Britain each county pays a considerable portion of the jail expenses, but with that is connected a local management which has been proved to be disadvantageous. The management of prisoiis shoulcl certainly be national and not local. Short and Long Sentences. Begarding short and long sentences, I need only remark* 'that if the evil of short sentences on " habituals" has been sorely felt in Eurc^e, we have no^right to expect exemption Here if we fall into the same error ; sufficient has been written to prove that it is as unkircd to the offendcJi",* as it 142 REfOliMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — " SHORT AND LONG SENTENCES." is unjust and injurious to every honest member of societj. To show how short sentences 'passed on habitual offenders are not, in this province, deterrent ; and how much attention is required from magistrates as regards a prisoner's, previous character and convictions, before passing sentence, I give the following cases, as a few out of a great many, but enough to illustrate the futility of passing short sentences on habitual offenders. One " Dheendar" was^for three separate offences im- prisoned on 23rd April 1862, andreleased on23rd April 1866. He had not been out of jail three months when ne wasa again convicted on four separate charges and again im- prisoned; oil this occasion his sentence amounts to 8 years ; but unless our jail discipline is made more reformatory than it is at present, we may not expect that at the end of his sentence he will endeavour to earn his livelihood by honest means. NAMES. OFFENCE. < PUNISHMENT. SENTENCED. Theft, 1| year's imprisonment. March 1849 do. e nfonths. March 1860 do. 1 year. March 1862 Cattle theft, 1 year. 1865 Noor Ahmed has been eight times convictf ^ ui. theft and bad livelihood since 1850. For the 1st offence, sentenced to 1 year's imprisonment. 2nd ■> ao. 3rd 6 ms . dr 4th 6 do.- -' 5th 2 do, 6th 1 year's do, , 7 th 1 do. 8th '^ I do. In jjoth the above cases previous convictions were on the last trial duly brought to the notice of the magistrate. Aloo, KEFOKSUTORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — "'sifORT 143 AND LONG SENTENCES.'' f For theft, sentenced to 3 months imprist. in Jany. 1^1 rr^ I do. 1 year's do. in Octr. 1862 ^11 ^ do. * 30 stripes in Deer! IS^d - f do. 1 year's imprisonment and 30 stripes l7th L Jany. 1865 For theft, sentenced to 2 3^ear's imprst. in Jany. 1859 • do. 2 months September 1861 ' do. 3t) stripes April 1862 Jo- , do. . 30 do. June 1862 ioal-\ do. 1 year and 25 rupees fine or "I -r la. I 6 months more, alsp 20 stripes, J '^^^^T- ^^^P I do. 30 stripes Febry. 1865 t. • do. 4 months July 1866. Five ofthe previous convictions were duly brought to the notice of the magistrate before the last sentence was passed. The career of one Dhutta illustrates the undeterrent ejffect of our punishments and jail discipline on an habitual offender : — » Dhidta. Sentenced 8th June 1844? to 1 year's imprison- ment and stripes. Do. \ugt. 1849 to 2 do. rigoj-p^^s imprisonment. Do. Deer ."^'1 1 do. Do Ma- 3 ] do. Do. --- r 1 do. ,, Do. do. j' turned out of canton- ment on recognizance. Do. Octr. 1S55 12 stripes and turn- ^ ed out of cantonment. • * Do. ouiy 1856 1 year's imprison- ment. , Do. Febr. 1859 30 stripes and turn- " . ed out of cantonment. , Do. • Febr. 18^9 3 years imprison- ment. Do. . ' April 1862 1 do. cfo.* 144 reformatory measures for india — " short an!) long sentences " Dhitta. Sentenced Novr. 1863 6 months' impt. and 20 „ rupees fine or 6 months more. " -^ Do. July 1865 1 year's imprisonment. Do. July 1866 committed to the Ses- ' sions, in three cases; result not re- ported. The offences were chiefly " thefts." In a career af 22 years, Dhutta has spent in our jails 13 years at various times, and has been flogged three times. No doubt had he been detected in all the offences he perpetrated, he would rarely have been out of jail so long a period as 18 months. I may add to the foregoing, a case in which an offender perpetrated, a most daring burglary in a ^European shop in Umballa, the very first night after his release from jail, and was detected by his jail discharge certificate being found on the spot. Also that of a notorious bad character who, having only a few days before received 28 stripes, most deliberately murdered an old and weak man of miserly habits. The story is so illustrative of the non-deterrent effect of our treatment of bad characters, and of the low moral tone of tfe-'bwer grades of native society, that I give a brief account of it. The old man was over 60, weak and infirm, the murderer about 28 or 30, sturdy, and full six feet high. He got into the house at night, and finding the inner room, in which the old man was sleeping could not be opened, concealed himself in the outer room knowing that the old man would in the morning come into it. Towards dawn the old man arose, opened the door which till then had saved him. and all unconscious of danger, unheeding, and unsuspecting, entered the room where this " habitual" lay 'concealed. The deed was soon done. The struggle could not be long between feeble old age and vigorous manhood ; with one hand the murderer seized the old man's throat, while with the other he cruelly beat him .about the face and head. As the murderer left the house a water-carrier saw him, and sus- pecting he had been plundering intimated an intention of REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — " REGISTRATION." 145 claiming a share ; subsequently hearing, of the murder he attempted to extort money from the murderer, bjit did not give the slightest information to the police, or take any»steps to cause the murderer's arrest. Apparently by the merest chance the murderer was discovered and arrested ; for the water-carrier and the murderer squabbling a^ to the amount of money to be paid for secresy, attracted attention ; a police- man hearing the altercation near] a shop asked what the squabble was about, and* accidentally put his hand on the arm of the murderer who immediately started back ; that start produced the jingle of rupees,* which at once aroused the suspicions of the policeman who knew the man to be a noted bad character. The murderer became confused, subsequently confessed, and showed where the remainder of tljie plunder was concealed. 1 cannot omit to notice here that the punishment of whipping on adult offenders in lieu of imprisonment is in my opinion not only utterly useless and undeterrent, but decidedly degrading. My experience -leads the irresistibly to the conclusion that there is not a\i adult offender in this province who would not willingly take a flogging to get off a week's imprisonment ; on young lads it may be occasioiic^liy useful, but on adults I believe it to _ be worse than useless. This experience quite corresponds with the results assertained in England, and I am certain it is correct. It seems cheaper to flog a man and not put him into jail ; and if our jails are such as that one prisoner is able to contaminate UQOther, it may be the lesser of two evils, but it is I am con- vinced as wrong in principle as it is futile in practice ; it does not det^r any but a child. Whatever be our jail system in India, -at ieast the great principle of "incapacitation" should be enforced against " habituals." Long'Sentences cannot however be passed on "habituals" unless the antecedents and previous convictions of those habituftls are known*. This brings u^ to the important system ners is generally more felt with reference to " habituals " than to " casuals," as it is more difficult for the former cl^ss to gain re-admission amongst the -honest portion of our labouring population. I shall first therefore shosv the system J sug- gest with reference to "habituals" on discharge. Any plan whereby a sum of money is placed in a prisoner's hand at the moment of his discharge, and all further care for the REFORMAlJoRY MEASURES FOR INDIA — "AID TO DIS- 147 CHARGED PRISONERS."* prisoner stopped, is in the majority ot* cases likely to prp- duce unmitigated evil. Unless the prisoner (I am speaking of habituals) has passed through an intermediate stage sand: has acquired habits of self control, and is, so to speak, able to walk by himself, he is to all intents and purposes as un- able to guide and control himself, after having had every thing done for him for a long term of years, as a child just freed from leading-strings. The chances are, either that he viiW squander the money rapidly, or that he will join bad com- panions who will deprive him of it ; or that it will serve him as capital with which to start in a fresh career of crime. » That this principle is true, namely that a man who for some years has h?,d no necessity for using his poviers of self- control or thinking for himself, is when dependent on him- self exceedingly helpless, and requires time to regain those powers which long disuse has enervated if not destroyed, we have only to look at the army. Many a soldier, who whilst under the restraints of discipline was a* good soldier, and who left the army with an exc(^lent character, and per- haps even in the position of sergeant major, is,, when freed from 4he restraints and without the support of the -aiuiy system, quite unable to manage for himself or to control himself; he but too often falls a prey, either to his own passions which for years under army discipline were so restrained as to be unfelt by him, or to the designs of evil men amongst whom he falls almost as helpless as a child. I very rarely find that a discharged soldier however good his army character has been is fit to be trusted with the duties of a pcjlice officer unless he has left the army for some years, and m that time has re-acquired habits of self-control, power to resist temptation, &c., and proved that as he can depend on himself so others may depend on him : so un- avoidably enervating is any system which provides for all a man's, real wants, i^lieves him fr^m all care and anxiety regarding his own daily support, and protects him from thos€ temptations -whick he must experience, when uliaided and unrestrained, he has to earn his own bread. 148 REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA—" Alii TO DIS- CHARGED PRISONERS." ^ It therefore seems to me very necessary that prisoners on discharge (habituals especially) after long terms of con- ^^netient should be cared for by the State, and should not be simply turned adrift with just a little money in their posses- sion. To put tK's view into practice I suggest that to every , central jail, that is a jail containing long termed men, (habituals), should be attached an officer whose duty it would be to endeavour to aid prisoners on |;heir discharge in their efforts to get employment. Funds to a certain extent should be at his disposal for this, purpose, under proper control and restrictions. As an invariable rule every prisoner discharged, should be made to state where he purposes residing, and how he hopes to earn his living. It should be the duty of the jail authorities to report the discharge, and send the descriptive roll of every prisoner so discharged, to the chief police officer of the district in which the prisoner has stated he purposes residing. The prisoner should be told th'at if he does not arrive within a reasonable period he will be sought for ; and if he does not obtscl':. any employment or make any effort to do so, h# will assuredly be liable to further imprisonment as an incorrigible vagrant. At the same time the police should be held responsible for bringing to the notice of the magistrate of the district the case, and soliciting his aid on behalf, of every discharged prisoner, who, being willing to work, cannot find it or is without it, with a view to the magistrate doing all he can to help him. So far as the police can, they also should aid all discharged prisoners to get work, and be hekl to- some extent responsible for acting as friends and not as enemies to all who really will work. As part of this system, n.".mely aid to discharged prisoners, I suggest that there be established in connection with each jail an " Industrie" building, -"dthia which discharged prisoners can find shelter, and where food will b'e provided them on "condition that they Jirst do a vser- tain amount of work. I will not here enter at length into REFORMAl^ORY MEASURES FOR INDIA--" AID TO DIS- 149 CpARQED PRISONERS."' the question of work-houses for the' honest poor m^n who is helpless and without work, beyond s,aying that this industrial building should be as open to him as to the discharged prisoner. It is well known that in seasons of scarcity in England, and specially in Scotlar^, the poor have ■ actually committed petty offences in order to get into jail, where at any rate though the labor was hard yet they got food and good shelter : tjiey were saved from the pangs of starvation and the inclemencies of the weather. In Scotland, moreover, for some time, until the .question was raised as to the legality of thus applying prison funds; any person was admitted*to the prison who voluntarily submitted to all its rules ; he only receiving in return the food and shelter allowed to prisoners. * Mr. Frederick Hill, Inspector of Prisons in Scotland, points out how exceedingly wise and beneficial the arrange- ment proved so long as it lasted, and says : — " The principle on which these poor creatures thus obtained food ' and shelter appeared to me to be perfectly sound ; indeed, it seems one of the plainest rules of jurisprudence, and a rule which cannot be depart- ed from without danger, that whatever is enforced on the offender shoiild be open to the innocent man ; that no privilege should be awardfed to crime ; that purity should not be sent fo blacken itself as a qualiiftatioa for attainment." If therefore an honest man is entitled to the food and shelter of a jail on fulfilling its conditions, he is certainly entitled to the same in the arrangement I propose ; and which I believe would be of immense advantage, not only to the discharged prisoner, but to the honest poor, who at times are without any fault of their own thrown out of work. It,would serve as a nucleus for all such relief to the poor, and be of immense use in time of famine or scarcity. This " industrial building " I would in this country always place near the jail, so that it may be looked after to some extent by the same establishment. It would not be at all difficult to have conhected with it ^n industrial building for Europeans who are out of employ, and who are steadily in- creasing in numbers, and may be expected to increase. The native and the European industrial houses might be made to 150 REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA— " WORKHOUSES FOR THE POOR." wQi'k together admirably, and be of immense benefit to the partiess concerned, and to the State. ^?[ have merely thrown out a few ideas and sketched as it were the leading points of a system for aiding discharged prisoners, which^'^eem to me well suited to India, and faii'ly worth trying. All details could be well filled in by local authorities according to circumstances. As regards aid to discharged " casuals," who I have assumed will never be discharged from central jails but from district jails, I think a similar agency and building attach- ed to each district jail would be invaluable. Each district would then possess its " industrial house " for providing labor, and }\o doubt could work it to great advantage. It would not be difficult to frame such rules and make such arrangements as should insure these industrial houses being used only by the classes they are intended to benefit. The work would be hard, and of course no attraction for » vagrant f moreover, as Si principle nothing would be given until a certain amount of 'Work was done. Now in all these arrangements I have considered the Sfafe as taking action, and managing and controlling and bearing the cost ; and in this country, of necessity, the State is obliged to do more, to lead the way more than in England : but I do net therefore ignore the valuable aid which may and should be sought for from the people themselves. In every way I would seek to associate them with us, to interest them in our efforts, and to gain their powerful aid. Workhouses for the Poor, &o. I cannot abstain from all notice of the ordin.ary . yfork- houses, as they are commonly understood in Europe ; for the question of relief of the poor is intimately connected with the increase or decrease of crime. The time is no doubt drawing near when each large city must make collective efforts for the relief of the poor, and when the present most pernicious system of indiscriminate private charity must cease. REFORM A^TORY MEASURES FOR INDIA—" WORRHOUSES 151 , FOR THE POOR." I say pernicious and indiscriminate, for my experie^ice convinces me that the sturdiest, the most impudent, apd the most persevering beggar, always in India is the most su^ess- ful ; he lives in fact by extortion, — generally working on the superstition of the people, and success f^courages him to adhere to his vagabond life ; whilst the infirm, the sick and ", the deserving die in want and» misery, so soon as their strength is not sufl&cient to enable them to urge their claims ; and so they perish unnoticed and often unknown. The report by J. Anderson Esquire, M. d., Inspector General ^f Hospitals Presidency Circle, is so corroborative of what I assert that I give the following extracts, and sub- mit that they prcve that, in Calcutta at any rat's, the evil is now felt and seen ; and I believe there is not a large city in India where the same state of misery and distress does not as fully exist ; but it is not seen, and it is not felt, because Europeans have not yet had it forced on their observation. I fully concur with Dr. Anderson that every pity should be compelled by an act of the legislature to provide for its poor. The question is intimately connected with the preven- tion and detection of crime, for most of the beggars, and certainly most of those with religious pretensions, are incor- rigible vagabonds, and lose no opportunity of committing any offence whereby they think to benefit ; and if work'-houses are provided, the police can then with justice stop all begging. In England the agency of the police has been used for dis- bursing relief to the poor, and the expenditure has thereby been reduced one-half: a professional beggar will not apply to the police. I must not be supposed to mean that in India amongst our rural.population there is as in England the same neces- sity for providing relief for the peor, but that in our cities, where, we approach^ very similar jtate of things, the neces- sify does I believe most fully exist ; and moreover, that nothing ehost of a legislative enactment will* be sufficient to j^roduce the relief required. 152 REFOKMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA—" WORKHOUSES FOR THE POOR," . Dr. Anderson observes : — "Tt is but too evident from this return, as well as by the repoijhs of the medical officers in charge of the native and college hospitals, that there is much wretchedness amongst the poor of this great city ; that many outcasts pine away to the point of death for want of proper t^d sufficient food ; and when picked up in the streets and taken to hospital become a most serious cause of disease to the other patients. " It is very probable that 'here, as in London, there is, and always will be, a number of poor, who prefer, begging to work, more particularly when begging is a lucrative trade. " But in the great metropohs, though cases of utter wretched- ness and even of death frorii want of food, do, notwithstanding every care, sometimes harrow the minds of the public, yet these are not to be taken as instances by which to measure the condition of the population. " In Loi"don there is an organized system of charity which provides for every one food, shelter, and clothing, so as to enable the law to prohibit begging without any fear of evil consequences to real objects of charity. The Mendicity Society gives food to those who are found deserving, and each district or union has its work-house, which provides comfortably for aged men and women, for the sick and disabled, and for all persons unable to obtain work and ^.estitute of the means of subsistence. Each union has also its casual or vagrant ward for t^e relief of wanderers, who either have not, or say they have not, means of finding food and shelter for the night, and this right can be enforced at once on application before the nearest civil magistrate. In some cases relief is given out of doors, and every union has its relieving officer, who visits the poor in their abodes, and in cases of prostrating illness, or of great need, provides food and medical attendance. " I have no doubt that many of the rich natives of Calcutta bestow much of their goods to feed the poor, and that all are fully alive to the claims of humanity in behalf of their indigent and suffering brethren, but my experience in the hospitals of Calcutta leads me to the conclusion that their charity is insufficient and often misap- plied ; and that an organized system, similar to that of London, is most urgently required to prevent the extreme wretchedness and utter destitution evidenced in almost all the patients of the police hospital, and in a large proportion of those admitted into the native and college hospitals. " Every one must admit that the reaUy necessitous poor should be provided for, and not be allowed to starve in the Btreets ; and I can see noway of accomplishing this most neces?ary and benevolent object, but by a compulsory pravision for their support — a measure which I would beg to urge, in the very stronpst manner, on the legislative authorities, as a st-'re and certain means of saving the lives of many of our distressed fellow-creatures in this city." As I before said I do not ignore tiie valuable aid which we ought to receive and no doubt will receive, from the res- REFORM:VTORy MEASURES FOR INDIA—*' POLICE 153 ' SUPERVISION." pectable natives of every city in tins important duty — ^we know how very kind and charitable many of them" are ; but we must convince them that collective charity, combiried efforts, can alone meet the difficulty, and show them first the result of our arrangements. We must teaclji them, as Mr. Hill, Recorder of Birmingham, has truly remarked, that " the best charity, that which alone desgrves the name, so deals with its objects as gradually to render assistiince both un- necessary and undesired.'' As they see the benefit I have no doubt they will themselves willingly work with us, and aid. by their munificence in the support of these institutions. If in Bombay a class of natives have established poor-houses, so to speak, for animals who can no longer work for their living, it cannot be doubted but that more enlightened faces will aid in establishing poor-houses for human beings who can no longer work. Only, as in all things in this country, so in this, we must first take the initiative, and having proved the advantage of the proceeding, then let the people take their proper share of the duty and the burden. In England the noble principle of the people themselves taking action in all such measures, doing all they can for themselves and -not asking for Government aid except as a " dernier resort,"^\\?i^ not yet taken in this country deep root. No doubt it will ; until it does, the Government is forced to take the initiative ; still the principle should not be lost sight of, but be,thorougli- ly implanted in the rising generation and always encouraged in all our public measures. Returning from this digression to my suggestions for supplying aid to discharged prisoners, it is evident that the " industrial house" attached to the jail need not in any way clash ^dth ilie work-house (if there be one) of the city, even though I would admit to the former a poor man who is out of employ. » Police Supervision. • Tte next subject for notice is that of police supervision over discharged prisoners, or over kaown offenders wlio* are not living by honest means. I have shown at length how 15-4 REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — ^,' POLICE SUPERVISION." this is ejffected in Ii' eland and on the continent ; also that the Irish system has now been introduced into England. In this pi'QYince, it is as thoroughly carried out as is at present pos- sible. I am quite aware, that many persons from the kindest possible feeling?, think that police surveillance is likely to produce more harm than good ; but its necessity has been too clearly proved in other countries to admit of its being dispensed with entirely, and in the mode of its operation it need not of necessity be an evil. The police have no motive or object in interfering with a man who they know is honestly earning his living ; it is a great labor to them, exercising surveillance over active offenders, who require constant watching ; and therefore the police are not interested in adding to their labors by looking'after others. Of course the objeetion is possible, that the police may use extortion, and threaten a man with putting his name down on the surveillance books, unless he pays them not to do so. Now if this is even admitted, any one who has seen much of police working knows that it is the really bad character who can and will willingly pay the police, either to take his name out of their books or to cease their surveil- lance. As a rule, the man who once having been an offender, is earning an honest livelihood neither can nor will pay the police. His pursuits are not interfered with even though his name is for a time on the surveillance register ; whereas the pursuits of the really bad character are, for the police know he is always working in some criminal pursuit or other, and as they are responsible for the increase or decrease of crime so his working will tell against them ; moreover, no one but an European officer can either put a man's name on or take a man's name oft' the list, and he only does it after careful local inquiry. So that I maintain the system is not an evil, but an absolute necessity, and decidedly beneficial as a preventive and protective measure. It does not preven^^ the offender^ getting work ; and I am certain if the great principles I am striving for are cari'iM out, it will be a great aid to rail ex-prisoners to get work. At present where known and old " habituals " are REF0IIMA'>"10RY MEASURES FOR INDIA — " EDUCATION 155 ^ OF PRISONERS." > discharged on the country, not having passed through 'any reformatory treatment, not having been tested by any intermediate stage, how can "the poHce 7'ecomniend any 'man to employ them ? Do vi^e not hioio that they as a rule leave our jails if anything more confirmed offenders th/^n they ivent in. I am perfectly certain that the great majority of our habitual offenders invariably on release return to their old pursuits, and, poor wretches, it is hardly to be otherwise expected ; for there are no arrangements to help them to get work, and they are plunged at once from strict confinement into abso-; lute liberty. Education of Prisoners. Regarding the education of prisoners I will not say much. Nothing to my mind can be more fruitless than mere- ly teaching them to read and write, and not at the same time striving to inculcate, at any rate, those moral doctrines which are acknowledged by men of all creeds. Where you have a prisoner from the better educated classes, and know tha t reading and writing will be useful to him when he leaves the jail, I certainly would teach him ; but where you have pri- soners chiefly from the agricultural or laboring classesjand you know that reading and writing is with almost infallible certainty absolutely useless to them, I say it is a waste of time forcing them to learn. I am not here speaking of the young, the juveniles : by all means let them learii to read and write, no matter what class they belong to ; nor am I speaking of such prisoners who beg as a favor to learn to read and write, and show by their assiduity that they really do intend to acquire the knowledge ; but I speak of the mass of our adult prisoners. I would not compel them to learn to read and write ; it should be left to their option ; the opportunity of learning should be available to them if they wished to learn. For them I would provide industrial teaching, and the ora.1 inculcation of such jirinciples of mor- ality as commend themselves to tne minds of most men. Each man should if possible be improved ; that is, hare* his knowledge increased in that particular line of life to which ou 156 REFOKMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — *' i'lDUCATlON OF PRISONERS." ■ discharge he will' be likely to return, so that he will aosolutely take his place in society better able to do his work than when he left it. To this it nray be said that no jail is large enough to find work for masons, carpenters, agriculturalists, &c. ; true, but Af the " intermediate stage" is introduced, the world around them will provide the practical part of the work, and the jail may have helped much in the theoretical, and some little in the practical. Each prisoner should be taught the exact object the laAv has in i)assing sentence on .him, and that, part of that object is his reformation. He should feel and learn that every one is not now his enemy ; on the contrary, that all the officers in the jail atj any rate are his best friends ; he should learn the real power he does possess of'self control ; that he can honestly support himself, and that it is more to his interest to do so than to revert to his old habits ; he should thoroughly be made to understand that a return to those habits will certainly involve a return to jail. These it will be said are not very high motives to wotk on. I reply Ave must do the best with the means at our disposal, we cannot preach Christianity to our prisoners, but- we can appeal to that remnant of Divine light which I belfeve God has left in each man's conscience, which shows him what is good and what is evil, and we can try and induce him to do good if for no higher motive then simply because it is more to his interest to do so. After all, if we will only admit it, are not the selfish interests all paramount with most of us ? Look at the success of Mettray, and yet Mr. Hill says : — " How many motives are brought into operation at Mettray to promote habits of good conduct. Fvst, the selfish interests are appealed to, as those which operate upon all, from the -lowest in moral condition to the highest. Good conduct is of course rewarded, aild its' opposite j)unishe(i. There is nothing new in a resort to these principles ; it is made everywhere ; nevertheless, much may be learned in studying their skilful application at Mettray." In justice to Mettray I must add that religious instruc- tion is given its proper p'lace, as Mr. Hill goes on to say.: — ■." J?ut Mettray would be very inferior to what it is, were the selfish interests aloite appealed to. Let the inquired mark the constant 'appeal to the highest feelings, temporal as well as eternal." KEFORM^^TOIIY MEASURES FOR INDIA — "EDUCATION 157 OF PRISONERS." ^ In India we cannot give, for it would be forcing on our prisoners instruction in the Christian religion ; but there is a vast deal we laay do for their benefit -sv^thout doing that, and I consider we ought to do it. Instead of con- fining our efforts, to instructing in reading /^nd writing, men who will never require either the one or the other in their daily career, I see no reason wh;^, at any rate in our central jails, the prisoners should not be benefitted by lectures on subjects, similar to those given with advantage to the con- victs in Dublin, for instance : — Labor, its dignities, its rewards. •^ Crime, its profits and loss. The system of the prison, and its object. The effgcts of bad company. ^ Their duties to God, to themselves, and to their neighbours. I have given such copious extracts showing how this important duty is carried on in Ireland, that I need say no more. , ' , ' Amongst other points which'all reformatory measures should teach a prisoner, one very important one is self-vesped. Now I must say that our system of making eacE man wear by a string round his neck, or attached to his coat, a little wooden tablet on which is written the offence for which he was convicted and his sentence, is decidedly calculated to degrade and not to improve that man. If the principle of individualization is properly carried out, prisoners soon are known to the prison officers, and a number is quite sufficient to recognize a man by. ^ft should not be necessary to have these tablets for purposes of recognition. The only badges a prisoner should wear should be his number and honorary marks, or marks •showing his progress in working his way up 'in the prison. This^may seem a little matter, but I am satisfied it is not so, fend that if our prisoners are utterly insensible to shame and do.not care about it, §till it is to be hoped the day vriH come when they will care about it ; we should not do what is 158 KEFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — " |?RISON ' OFFICERS." wrong in principle. Again, I observe in our central jails, barracks mai'ked thus in large letters, *' thieves," " robbers," *'coineVs," &c. &c., implying that the unhappy inmates belong to one or other of these denominations. I see no object in proclaiming this lo all the jail and all who visit it ; on the con- trary, it seems a plan well suited to the pens in which you confine the live stock on lari^e farms when you wish to sepa- rate stock of particular breeds ; but to be altogether wrong as applied to the places in which you confine human beings. I pannot too strongly urge that everything which tends to destroy the self-respect of the prisoner should be at once and for ever swept away. < Prison Officers. Intimately connected with this subject is that of " prison officers." What their qualifications ought to he has been fully stated. I would only urge here, that I believe we may in India obtain a very fair class of men 'if we jWill but adequately remunerate them. To begin with the lowest menial, the 'jail " Burkuudaze," a man who is constantly on duty of some kind or other with prisoners : he is generally paid just about what a day laborer could earn in former days by carrying earth on his head, and not so much as a day laborer on the Railway works now receives. Unquestionably, if you are to expect honesty and probity from such a man, if you are to expect he will not take bribes to convey to the prisoners tobacco, &c. or to act as a messenger between the prisoner and his friends, or to wink at little irregularities, or to give little indulgences, you must pay him so well that it shall be better worth his while to serve you faithfully than to try ^nd jmake money by serving the prisoners. In Ireland and everywhere^ they pay the very greatest possible attention to getting good jail officers; see the remarks by Sir W. Crofton in Ireland ;' by Mr. Frederic Hill in Scotland ; ard M. Demetz in Trance. All ai'e unanimous that it is most essential to get the 'best officers that can possibly ]?e obtain ed ; in tr,uth it is of vital importance. At any rate then in India we REFOKKATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — *' JUDICIAL 153 SENTENCES." -, should try the effect of paying higher, t and I fully believe we shall get a very much better stamp of men, and be amply repaid by the effect of our jail discipline being so much more /ei^^ by the prisoners. In Ireland Sir vValter Crofton says : — ^ " No power of indulgence is reposed in the officers of the prison ; the system itself is humane, considerate, careful to secure the utmost amount of hope and improvement for the prisoner : and his best reliance consists in the most faithful and strict execution of the system. Any depJirture from it by the officers would be to embezzle for the benefit of an individual the moral fund avail- able for the whole class." Judicial Sentences. Regarding judicial sentences I have shown the pro- minent points which in England have been felt to be defects tending to cause a failure of justice ; and ^rom which in India we certainly may not claim exemption. If in Eng- land there is such uncertainty and difference in the sentences passed by different judges in precisely similar cases, if the sentences are said to va^y as do the results of a lottery, and this notwithstanding the existence of a strong press, of a public opinion which has every facility for making itself heard, and that publicity which attaches to all sentences in England, — how much more may we expect this to be the case in India, where sentences other than those passed in presidency capitals are rarely if ever known to the world, and where public opinion cannot as readily make itself heard. The many chances of acquittal or of inadequate punishments are stated to be in England great causes of crime, and to give encouragement to crimi- nals. Undoubtedly they produce the same result in India ; and it* would be most advantageous if the causes for an in- crease or decrease of crime, were in this country not so invariably sought for, in the failure or in the success •of the police, as in the failure or the success in admi- nistering justice. Unquestionably the tendency of all the late legisfative measures for the treatment of criminals, and the, separation of the duties of " tbief-catcher" fronv'i thief- punisher" has been very greatly to increase the difficulties IGO REFOR'MA/IORY measures for INDIA — "JJJDICIAL , SENTENCES." of conviction, and to give to offenders more chances of acquit- tal,*- I do not for one instant mean to impugn these measures, the trftth of the principles they embody cannot be injured by the errors or weaknesses of our practice. The greatest benefit that has in these matters been conferred on the peo- ple, is I believe mat by which the oflficer who tries the. offender has, or should have, nothing whatever to do with his prosecution. But I mention them to show that in addi- tion to the causes operating in Engla'nd we have yet other causes, which render it all the more desirable that some measure should be introduced whereby punishment can be made more uniform and more certain. Now in England they are most successfully meeting the difficulty byrthe system of registering all previous convic- tions, and bringing them to the notice of the judge, subse - quent to conviction and prior to passing sentence, with a view to a heavier sentence being passed than the offence by itself would call for. We have for some years attempted in the police department the same system in this province, but until it becomes a more ^xed and determined riile that a second offence should invariably be punished more severely than a'^rst, and a third thah a second, and so on, all the advantages of previous registration will be lost. As I have before repeatedly stated, the great object ever must bo to distinguish between the habitual and the casual offender. The former should be treated to 1 ong sen- tences, in which the reformatory element is given a proper time for action ; the latter to sentences, short, sharp and deterrent, — yet as far as possible also reformatory. Unless the antecedents of an offender are known; it is impossible that our laws can give enhanced punishment to the habitual ; therefore, combined with the system of registra- tion of previous convictions, is that of police surveillance ; thp former will remain but a very weak measurp without the latter. In India, where there is no such action of the press as An England], and public opinion is not so interested in such mat- ters, I consider that the action of magistrates who deal chiefly REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — " J'UlTlCIAL 161 SENTENCES.'' , with minor offences, most certainly requvres far more super- vision by the superior officers of the judicial departmeilt, than it now either can or does receive. » A most inadequate punishment may be » passed on an offender who has been several times convicted of similar offences, yet unless the attention of the superior officer is drawn to the case on .appeal, the chances are, he will not even know of it ; not that he could enhance the sentence but he could teach his subordinate how to act in such cases, and if he found him constantly acting in this way, recom- mend that his powers as a magistrate be withdrawn. It is by the impunity with which " casuals " commit a series of petty offences that* they but too often become confirmed and encouraged in careers of crime, and thus prepared to be " habituals." The treatment of minor offences cannot be safely considered an unimportant branch of the judicial department, to be left to the uncontrolled idiosyncrasies of , subordinate magistrates. It is in truth most important ; the great encouragement to crime which an indifferent treat- ment of the minor offences may produce, is only known to those who see the results and' know what the offdtiders themselves think of it. This to some extent would be remedied if a second offence was as a rule punished heavier than a first ; and perhaps this is the best and most practical check on inadequate punishments, for our superior officers have but little time to teach their subordinates. Another cause leading to produce a failure of justice is, that owing to our not having a sufficient number of European magistrates of age and experience, prisoners not only have often to be marched loi/g distances to be tried, even up to 100 miles, but they cannot be at once put on their trial. Any delay in bringing a* prisoner to trial must in India be most dangerous to the course of justice ; witnesseiS are not so well remune- rated as to be saved 'from pecuniary loss, and. they must be subjected to much inconvenience. They are of course liable to b»? tampered with, aild a case which when sent up seemed 1G2 REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — <^^ JUDICIAL f SENTENCES." ' « simple enoiigli becomes by delay enveloped in an elaborate web of deceit and untruth. /I must not omit to notfce, all important as it is, that prisoners should be brought to trial as soon as possible ; it is nearly equally important, that whilst under trial they be kept separate fr5m each other. This separation tends im- mensely to prevent all tampering with prisoners, all con- cocting of evidence, all denial of truth. The associating together in one ward of prisoners under trial, even though they have been committed for separate cases and know nothing of each other, yet often leads to the old offender suggesting to the " casual, " who perhaps in- tended to tell the truth, various artifices, prevarications, and untruths 'to be brought forward on trial. In this way an old offender may do much mischief, may impede the course of justice, and the association is nearly certain to be injurious to the casual offender. As I have elseAvhere observed, the , "habitual" and the casual should always be kept apart. If this principle of Reparation is only carried out, I feel sure the measure will be of the very greatest value in rendering the'course of justice speedy, certain, and therefore deterrent. But if the separation is necessary as regards prisoners not connected in the same case, it is infinitely more necessary when two or more prisoners are concerned in the same case. If in such cases magistrates, as a rule, would first as a pre- liminary inquiry examine each prisoner separately, and not in the presence of the other prisoners, the chances of elicit- ing the truth would be increased ten-fold. This seems a very simple common sense procedure, but as one magistrate has objected to it as contrary to the intention of our 'Code of Criminal Procedure, I feel the point needs notice. I believe it is not illegal ; and it is very evident that such a procedure is immensely to the advantage of the prisoners, i'l they are innocent and tell the truth ; for the chances are, that their statements thus separately elicited, will sufficiently agree to sati«ffr the magistrate ,of the general truth of their story ; whereas if they are guilty and do not tell the truth, the chances REFORMA'JJORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — " ALLo'wANCE 163 • TO AVITNESSES." » are their statements (unless they have hy being associated togethor been able to fabricate a story) will not agree. Inno- cent men therefore will be likely greatly to benefit by' this mode of preliminary inquiry, and the guilty be likely to be detected. I need hardly remark that if ayy part of such statement made by a prisoner is required as'fevidence against ■ any person, it must be made in the presence of that person. This just law is not however interfered with in the very least degree by the above preliminary inquiry, and I believe the procedure not only commends itself to the common sense of most magistrates ; but that half the magistrates in the w^orld invariably adopt it as being of evident advantage to the cause of justice, — as being most advantageous to innocent men, and perfectly .just to those who are guilty. , The paucity in the number of our European magistrates, which I have before noticed, also tells most injuriously in another way ; for it forces magistrates to try and get through trials as quickly as possible, so as to get through their work. , The only remedy is to have more European magistrat*es ; and I think that stipendiary local magistrates, sufficiently well paid to ensure good men taking the position, migh4; most advantageously be appointed to supplement those of the " services," who have often as much administrative duty to perform as judicial. The position of these magistrates should be pm'ely local ; should belong to no service, and give no claim to pension. Allowance to witnesses. Intimately connected with this subject, and seriously affecting the due administration of justice, is that of " al- lowance to witnesses." If the amount is not sufficient to compensate, or tolerably compensate, a man for his travelling expenses, trouble, and loss of time, he will not. be a willing witness ; and will be tempted to 'declare he knows nothing, rather ^Jian suffer the loss attendanii on giving evidence. The utmost in this province th^t we can pay witn^s^ee, no mWer who they nlay be, is 3 annas a day, an amount 164 REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — " Y,\GRANTS, ' JUVENILES, jd that to natives juvenile destitution would not appear as an evil needing any other redress than the application of that large, liberal, but indiscriminate and individual charity to which I willingly bear them witness they are much inclined. I am quite aAvare that that it will' be saidithat * juvenile destitution and delinquency does not exist in the cities of India, as it does in the United Kingdom, or to an extent calling for our attention ; to this I reply, hate we yet ever sought for it, and proved that it does not exist ? If not, I maintain that from the very nature of things it must exist. No city in the world which contains a nun^ber of hu- man beings, living within a certain confined space, and exhibi- ting every variation between poverty and riches, can be with- out a certain proportion of very poor and destitute children, who live either by beggary or crime, and from whose ranks the advlt criminal but too often springs. This neglected and destitute class was riot iliorouglily hiown even in Great Britain, till it was sought for. Dr. Guthrie speaking on the subject oi ragged schools for this class said : — ^ "But I have found it true that there is not a towrf in Scotland with a population of 6,000 people but needs a ragged school. I could mention two places in Scotland having a population of 6,000 or 7,000 each, where I Avas told by some gentlemen to whom I mentioned the subject ' Oh ther»is no need of a.raggcrl school here'. Well I said 'will you^give me thvee gentlemen who will spend three hours tomorrow forenoon, and ascer- 166 REFOR.»IA'TORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — "JUVENILE DESTITUTES AND DELINQUENTS." ' tain whether there is a sufficient luimber of children not at school, whose jiareuts are not paupers or in prison, but j-et are utterly ignorant of the benefits of education ; -who prefer the indulgence of their vices- to the good of their offspring, and have left thpir children to become beggars in the ptreets. ' They did so, and in that town of 7,000 inhabitants in the course of a three hours visitation, they found not less than 70 children in the condition I now speak of." In India I lA'ge that at any rate a portion of the educa- tional grant should be devoted to establishing schools for these children ; for though it is declared that the Government schools are open to the very lowest in caste, yet in practice the very lowest in caste will not enter ; he would feel it to be presuming to attempt to sit' with his higher caste brethren ; they would greet him with anything but a welcome. , Such a little outcast would be far happier in a school where he only met with other little outcasts like himself. For the class of children then who havenot yet subjected themselves to the grasp of the law, I would suggest that schools as above noted be opened. For those who are beggars, vagrants, or who commit petty infringements of the law, I woult'. urge the" establishment of industrial feeding schools as in England, with compulsory attendance. These are of enorraous value. They rescue a lad who has fallen under the law from being branded with the stigma of a jail : they " remove the child who was in danger of becoming a crimi- nal before he has actually joined the ranks of crime." It has been shown how Act 24 and 25 Vict, of 1861 established these schools, and their action has been so excel- lent that the number of boys in the reformatories has been greatly reduced in consequence. I need not repeat all the conditions of that Act, or all I have quoted to show the excel- lence of the measure. I can only add that if introduced into India, it will be an incalculable blessing to the people, and of the greatest possible advantage to the State. It will do more to reduce crime by striking at its very rooti,, taking away its recruits', than a whole army of police or magistrates can effect, acting only on the adult offender. As regards reformatory schools for those who have been convicted of offences'' which show they need a more coercive reformatory KBFORMi|TORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — " STATISTICS." 167 treatment, we slioulcl establish reformatories. There Jieed be no great difficulty in so doing, the ^ame general princi- ples sliould be followed as have been proved to answer in Europe ; our details of course being adapted to thci races we have to deal with. For all boys belonging to the agri- cultural class, a school something like "Mettray" would offer the best chance of success ; for those belonging to the manufacturing classes, buildings near our cities would of course be more convenient. By section 433 of the Criminal Procedure Code a magistrate can commit a boy ; under 1 6 years of age to a " reformato:^;y ;" we have therefore the intention of the legislature signified ; but in order that it may l?e carried out we need the reformatories. Statistics. , My subject would be incomplete without a few words regarding " statistics." It is of the very greatest importance, if ever we desire to test the effects produced by our laws on the happmess and well-being of the people, that we should have correct statistics of crime. This' is a subject in which his late Royal Highness the Prince Consort took great interest, and the result was an International Conference jon 2nd August 1860 at Vienna, at 'which it was observed*:— *' Much we are pei'suaded remains to be done with respect to civil and criminal judicial statistics. _ " In this country especially such statistics may be^said to be iu their infancy. This may be said to be the first year in which the statistics of civil justice have been collected in England in any complete form, and as yet no attempt has been made to extend the same to Scotland and Ireland. Nor do we possess any statistics of judicial administration in our vast colonial empire. Notwithstanding the most conflicting accounts respecting the administration of justice in British India by Native and European judges, but few facts are offered to us whereon to form « correct judgment ; we have scarcely any means for ascertaining the mode in which the British law operates in those colonies, where it is enforced under the most exceptional circumstances j and far less any mode of eliciting facts, concerning the apjalica- •tion of the Eoman, the Dutch, tjbc French, jind the Spanish laws, which still prevail in other colonies." . InTow there is no insurmountable difficulty, preventing statistics of crime being so prepared in each prcin^e in India as to admit of comparison, not only with each other 168 REFORMATORY MEASURES FOR INDIA — "STATISTICS." but with the United Kingdom. Two principal returns are at any rate necessary and possible. I suggest, as we have the great blessing of one uniform Penal Code in force throi^ghout each jprovince, that the first rfcturn should be compiled according to its nomenclature, and following the order of its chapters. It should be comparative, showing offences for the past as well as fol' the current year. It is not necessary to show crime under every section of the Code ; the offences according to various sections may well in some parts be returned under one heading ; but invariably the number of each sectioi^ should be given, so that reference to the Code itself may show exactly what offences are thus included under one heading. Whatever arrangement is de- cided on, the same form precisely should be adopted in each province. • The second return should adopt the English classifica- tion, grouping offences as denoted by the nomenclature of the Penal Code, under the headings given in the English form ; the same form being adopted in each province, and to each offence, the number of the section in the Penal Code which describes it being invariably affixed. ?o far back as 1862 I ii^troduced into this department, one return purposely to correspond with the English head- ings. — My headings are : — I. Against property and person. II. „ property with violence. III. „ „ without do., IV. Malicious offences against property. V. Offences against the currency and coin. VI. „ n public tranquility. I) The English headings are as follows, and may well be adopted : — I. Against the person. II. ,, property with violence. III. „ „'' without do., . (. IV. Malicious o.ffences against property. V. Other offences not included in the above. ' REFORMAWKY MEASURES FOR INDIA — "STATISTICS." 169 I must however Yemark that in India, the difficulties^ of secui'ing a correct registry of crime are possibly greater than elsewhire. It is the direct interest of every officer in charge of a police station to show as little crime as possible ; uhless therefore, he is very sharply looked after by European officers he will suppress all reports of crime which he, thinks he can safely conceal. The rule which I have introduced, is, that every report of a crime shall be recorded as an offence until it is proved that no offence occurred ; no doubt this may show more crime than actually occurs, but it is impossible to allow any option or discretion in the matter to the subordi- nate police ; and once the system is* thoroughly introduced, it will be as, valuable year by year for all comparative purposes as if only the exact number of offences were recorded. We find that the amount of property stolen does not, vary year, by year more than might be expected as the result of other causes, and yet the rule is always to record the amount stated by the jy^aintiff^ to be stolen, and we know the plaintiff in this country always estimates his loss at more than its real value ; still for all comparative purposes the return is Valuable. • * Whilst claiming for statistics their full value, and urging their necessity, yet I must remark also that we must bevrare of over-valuing them. In India we have not the means of noting our increase in population and wealth so readily as in England (both causes directly bearing on any comparative registers of crime) such as they have in England. ♦ No doubt also many other causes affect the truth of these registers, indeed of all statistics, and warn us to accept them with dis- crimination. For instance a more vigorous police may lead to the detection of more offences and to the supposition that crime is»increasing ; or the people may be more willing to come and report crime, and to prosecute it and give evi- dence ; and from these causes crime may seem to have in- creased, sc that until our returns can be thoroughly relied on, though I think them very val'uable, yet K we find an increased general feeling of securi'iy for life a^nd property, whilst the registers showed an increase of crime, I should bclie\re that there had not been any real increase of crime. 170 ilefor'i*ia«iory measures for india — *' transportation." Transportation. ' As tlie results bf our present system of transportation intimately' affect this province as well as other parts oi India, the sjLibject is one on which I niust offer a few remarks. I have shown how " transportation" was virtually given up in England because the colonies would no longer receive the convicts. So mlich positive evil accrued to the colonies from the presence of the convicts, that. the great advantage of " labor" in new settlements was out-balanced by the wicked- ness of the " laborers." The petition of the inhabitants of New South Wales, Victoria Van Dieman's land, South Australia, and New Zealand set forth amongst other plaints : — " That ^he magnificeut capabilities of these .colonies as fields for emigration are greatly impaii-ed, and your petitioners, as colonists grie- vously injured by the wrongs inflicted directly ou Van Dieman's laud, and indirectly on all the other colonies of Australia, through transpor- tation ; the appalling results of which have been disclosed by parlia- mentary inquiries, and have been repeatedly attested and depicted with expressions of horror by youi" Majesty's Ministers." ' Mr. Waddingtoii, the permanent Under Secretary of State for the Home Department, stated in 1856 : — • *■ The report of that Committee (Sir William Molesworth's) in 1838, was esJtremely adverse to transpoi'tation, and recommended its discon- tinuance, both as a great injustice to and a serious infliction on the colonies, and also as a bad punishment in itself ; failing to deter crimi- nals at home or reform them abroad ; iu fact it is impossible to have a report more decidedly adverse to it." The late Sir Joshua Jebb stated in his evidence : — " I say it with all due respect for the opinions of others, but I say it because my own experience rests upon an extended experience and upon facts, that the deterring effect of transportation has been gradually diminishing in the eyes of the criminal classes." The Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Campbell, in his evidence before the Select Committee of 1856!; said : — " The object of transportation, in my view of it, cannot be accom- plished, unless ,the prisoner is sent to some countiy wherj there is a demand for his la|"'or, where he era become a useful citizen, and wherb he may re-establish himself in society. There h,as been a talk of having a penal settlement in one of tbj Hebrides, or iu one of the F.Ukland islands, without really colonizing. I do not believe that that would at all prodvxij the effect, because it would be little better than merely keeping the imprisoumeut with hard labor, at home. ' The persons so dealt ' with REFORM ATORY»MEASFRES FOR INDIA — '' TRANSPORTATION." 171 * would acquire no new status ; they could not acquire property, they could not maintain their families respectably." Mr. Elliot, the Assistant Under Secretary ^of State, in the Colonial Department, ^observed before the same jOom- mittee : — • " I think that so long as a man is locked up in prison you can keep him as well at home, and you can more easily get go*d officers who are also under the influence of public opinion if an^'iliing is done amiss. The difficulty is to provide for the convicts when they become free men in a large community ; for that purpose the Falkland islands are wholly unsuited." The transportation of criminals to certain of our colonies has been shown to have produced such bad results, that the colonies " en masse'' petitioned against receiving any more convicts 'of any kind ; but we may not therefore conclude that the deportation of certain classes of offenders to places where they can under a proper system be re-adn:itted to so- ciety in that colony, is also of necessity undesirable or certain to produce bad results. We have a most striking proof, in the case of Western Australia : this colony ashed for convicts, but for a class of convicts which would be likely to be useful and not injurious. ' • The Governor says : — " The London thief is the worst man that we get, and I woifld sooner have any man than him ; he will not work if he can hefp it ; I mean the habitual thief." He also objects to clerks and persons of that descrip- sion who have been convicted of forgery and embezzlement : " These generally contrive in some way or other to escape hard labor, and live very often on the produce of their labor in former times ; these set a bad example ; the men sent out to Australia should be capable of earning their living by physical labor." The system pursued with the convicts is very similar to that» adopted in Ireland, namely a system of marks and tickets of ieave under surveillance ; it is said to answer admirably. It appears then that transportation as a system, carried out on the old principle of simply getting rid of a number of priE)oners out of a certain country, is, as a whole, preju- dicial, and we know it is very costly^ It is evident th^t as in a?l our penal measui'es so in transportation, we should 172 REFOKWA-TOHY MEASURES FOR INDIA — " TRANSPORTATION," bear in mind the reformation of the offender, and endeavour to place him in such, circumstances, that whilst he pays the penalty of his offences, he also, it may be unconscious V> ^6- forml, himself and acquires habii^^s of industry, — the habits on which an honest livelihood depends. We learn ^rom these experiences that convicts of a certain class, and with certain capabilities, may be most ad- vantageously sent to a colony like Western Australia, which requires " labor," and we see the system those convicts should be under in that colony ; we also learn that if convicts are to be simply kept between walls, that can be better done by not transporting them. As a penal deterrent measure, transportation decidedly no longer holds the position it did. On the one hand, from ihe progress of civilization and the improvements in com- munications, &c. &c., the criminal no longer looks on it with the dread attaching to it in former days ; and qp. the other hand, experience has proved that it is beneficial only under certain circun? stances, and should therefore not be so uni- versally carried out as hei'-etofore. That it is not deterrent, the experience of England directiy asserts and proves, end I believe the assertion to be equally true for India. In this province certainly trans- portation is not looked on as the dreadful sentence it was once considered to be: convicts return and convicts sendletters to their friends, and from the accounts of either parties, pre- sent or absent, the time revered horrors attaching to trans- portation are not at all upheld. That it is not generally beneficial, and therefore cannot be so universally applied as a penal measure, the experience of England abundantly testifies. It seems to me therefore self-evident, that, as India is directly affected by the conduct of each convict which returns from her penal settlements, we may not treat with indifference the experience gained elsewhere. If our penal settlements are conducted on the princi- ples in^ force in Western Australia, and have the same favor- able circumstances to offer to the convict, we may hope for REFORMATORY. MEASURES FOR INDIA — " TRANSPCfiTA-TION." 17S equally good results »; but if they are, as i believe, little more than prisons at a distance, or at most ^.gricultural reforma- tories J at a distance, I maintain that except /or certain classes of prisoners they must be open to all the objections already noted. • All political prisoners, and all life pr^oners, who are never to return to India, may probably be li'etter kept out of • the continent of India than in it. With their treatment or reformation, local Governments are not directly interested ; but as regards all convicts not sentenced for life, and which return to us, unless we can send them to a colony lil^e Western Australia, the wisdom and the economy of sending them out of their respective provinces are at least open to grave doubt. What is oiir object in deporting them? lu^it that thfe convict may as in Western Australia re-enter society in the land to which he is transported under new auspices ? Do our penal settlements offer this great boon to the convicts ? Is it to deter the.convict ? Simply to deter ? , . We know that sentences do nyt deter solely by severity ; and as they ought to contain the reformatory principle, can we not equally deter and have as good or better a chaftce 'of reforming the prisoners by treating them in our own provinces and not transporting them ? The question certainly seems, even on the ground of economy and self interest, to demand the serious attention of every Local Government. If convicts are to return to us, we are the parties directly affected by the conduct of the convict on his return; and infallibly that conduct will depend on the treatment to which he has been subjected during the period of his detention. Now, &s we know absolutely nothing of the treatment to which a convict is subjected in the Andaman islands, nor, if we did could we in any way control it ; I think it is evident that we should endeavor to retain and subject to discipline in our, own province/ as many of ovr prisoners as we can, and only send away to the Andamans the few that remain. To carry out this view I suggest, that all prisoners sentenced to 1 74 REFORIIATOKY MEASURES FOR I3IDIA — " TRANSPORTATION." terms under and up to 14 years incluisive be retained for penal servitude in thjs province, and all sentenced to longer teims or for life be sent to the Andamans. By this , means- until Ludia has a colony like Western Australia, which pre- sents io the convict immense advantages, which is willing to receive him, and which requires his labor, I think we shall act more for the j^enefit of our convicts, more for the benefit of our people amongst whom the convicts will subsequently be discharged, and lastly more economically, if we retain all prisoners sentenced to terms under and up to 14 years. When we have such a colony as Western Australia to send them to, then by all means let us mhke the utmost use of it ; for it is a grand reformatory measure, but let it be a privilege,, granted as a favor to the convict who merits it, a privilege which the convicts would soon find it in truth to be. All con- victs sentenced to terms of 14 years and under, might as a privilege be sent there if they merited it by their good con- duct and industry. All convicts sentenced to terms exceed- ing 14 years or for life should, I consider, pass the earlier ' portion of their sentences in a more penal state of servitude than could be advantageously attempted in a colony like Western Australia ; having gone through that penal stage, and merited the privilege, they -might with advantage to the colony and to themselves be sent there. By this plan the worst convicts would have "hope" of ameliorating their con- dition, and the colony would rarely get convicts whose previous conduct had not been tested, and who were therefore likely to be of little use and perhaps to be injurious. CHAPTER VIT. INDIA IS A COUNTRY WHICH PRE-EMINENTLY RERUIRES REFORMATORY MEASURES. I must add a few lines to show how India is a country which j/'re-eminentlj^ requires reformatory measures, and that therefore its psnal sentences should invaTiably recognize this great principle. I believe there is no country in the world where crime is more hereditary than in India, SPECIAL' CAUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING REFdRiCATORY 175 • , MEASURES. * > t that is " habitual" amongst certain chesses. We not only have l\abitual offenders produced indiscriminately from'*alI classes of the poor under circumstances similar tc» those existing in Europe, though as yet perhaps not to the same extent, but we have whole tribes, whole races, who are from generation to generation notoriously addicted to certain kinds of crime : now if ever reformatory action is called for, it is against habitual offeu ders , and here we have them in tho usands . I will notice a few of the chief offences which in this country are generally carried on from father to son, until death, transportation, or imprisonment has disposed of nearly the whole race : — thuggee, poisoning, dacoitee, professional swindling, coining, cattle-stealing, thieving, &c. Lastly the criminal tribes will be also briefjy noticed* Thuggee. First thuggee. I must observe that this crime has been nearly extinguished in British territory by the agency of the Thuggee Department, and that ia nativ6 states it is * believed not to prevail in any ftind of proportion to the extent that it did formerly ; but a Thuggee Department ^is still of necessity kept up solely for its suppressiois, and the crime is still perpetrated, though it is believed that the thugs who remain, have taken to poisoning their victims instead of strangling them. It is necessary to notice this crime as showing how whole families devoted themselves to its pursuit,^ and how the state of society was so depraved that this dreadful practice flourished with the connivance and almost support of the yace of land-holders, in those parts of the countries where it was most prevalent. My statements are taken from works published by the late Major General Sir William Sleeman,c c. b., for some time, so well known as the celebrat- ed chief of the Thuggee Departnient, and fit)m a report on Thuggee in the Punjab by the late* H. Brereton-, Esquire :— " ' Thuggee' hi a term applied in Iwdia to a system of roiEATMENT — " THUGGE:^." " Particular tracts -wicre chosen ia every part of India where they could murder their victims with the gre?,test convenience and security, much frequented roads passing through extensive jungles, where the grouncf was soft for the grave or the jungle thick to cover them, and the local ailihorities took no notice of the bodies. The thugs speak of such places with affection and enthusiasm, as other men would of the most delightful scenes of ^lieir early life. The most noted places wei'e among the thugs of Hindooftan. " There is not among them one who doubts the divine origin of thuggee ; not one who doubts, that he and all who have followed the trade of murder with the prescribed rites and observances were acting under the immediate orders and auspices of '4he goddess Davee, Durga, Kalee, or Bhowanee, as she is indifferently called, and consequently there is not one who feels the slightest remorse for the murders which he may in the course of his vocation have perpetrated, or assisted in perpetrating. A thug considers the persons murdered precisely in the light of victims offered up to the goddess, and he remembers them as a priest o" Jupiter remembered the oxen and a priest ot Saturn the children sacrificed upon the altars. He meditates his murders without any misgivings, he perpetrates tli^i without any emotions of pity, and'^ie remembers them without any feelings of remorse. They trouble not his dreams, uor does their recollection ever cause hiui inquietude in darkn(i^s, in solitude, or in the hour of death. As the system of thuggee prevailed on the roads so it prevailed on the rivers : each boat is provided Avith a crew of about fourteen persons, all thugs, but employed in different capacities ; some ,are employed in pulling the boat along by a rope, and appear like the dandiad got on a good way they resumed their work, and om- boat proceeded. It was now afternoon, and when a signal was given above that all was clear, the five thugs Avho sat opposite the travellers sprang in upon them and with 'Ae aid of the others strangled them. They put the roomal (cloth) round the neck from the front, Avhile all oiher thugs put it round trom behind ; they thus push them back while we push them forward. Having strangled the five men, they broke their spinal bones and pounded their private parts, and threw them out of u hole made at the side into the -river ; and* kept on their course, the boat being all this time pulled along by the men on the bank." ' Another approver, recounting an expedition with river thugs, says : — Jhoulee Khan brought two " Beetoos" to the boat ; jis soon as we got all on board Jypaul said (in Kamaree) thug language, ' let the tiiugs separate themselves fi'om the Beetoos', and' we did so, leaving the tAvo travellers together. Four men were on the bank pulling along the boat, one was at the helm acting at the same time as the " Bykurrea," or spy, and seven of the gang were below with us and the tra-«ellers. We had got on about a ' cos' (probably a mile and a half) when the Bykurrea at the helm, seeing all clear called out, ' give my sister's son pan.' This was their mode of giving the jhirnee, or signal, and the two Beetoos were strangled. After strangling them, they broke their spinal bones thus, by putting their knees upon their backs and pulling up their heads and shoulders. After doing this they pushed them out of a kind of window in the side ; every boat has two of these windows, one on each side, and they put tlie bodies out of that tOAvards the river. They break the spinal bones to prevent all chances of the people recoA'fering and giving evidence against them." The thugs who work on the roads and not on the rivers appear, 'invariably, after strangling the victim to stab him under the arm-pit on either side ; if any of the victims manage partially to escape, they are pursued and cut down with swords ; no person of any age or of any sex is allowed to escape, except as before nr^ted young children who are adopted and brought up either as thugs, or' to be married to thugs. fhugs use a language of their own'called"Ramaseeaifa": it was in full use throughout Ilindoostan, but never in thePunjab. 182 SPECIAL CAUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING REFORMATORY TREATMENT — "THUGGEE." I give a few instances of the working of thugs on the roads, showing their dexterity and boldness, the yuthless pursuit of their prey, and in what formidable numbers they could collect : — " Expeditionc'by a gang of thugs in Oude. " We followedrtlie high road for about twenty days, in search of travellers, until we reached Selempore, where we met a very old man going to the east : we won his confidence in this manner (villains) he carried a load which was too fatiguing for his age ; I said to him, after some conversation, ' you are anK)ld man, I, will aid you in carrying your load, as you are from my part of the country' ; he said ' very well, take me vfith you'. So we took him with us to Selempore, where we slept at night, we woke him aext morning before dawn and set out, and at the distance of three miles we seated him to rest as it was very dark, Madara was ready behind him and strangled him. He, was about sixty or seventy years of age ; he never spoke a word, we flung his remains into a well, having first stabbed his corpse." The same actor describes the two following scenes : — " It was in the rainy season we proceeded iia Louee Kuttra to Newel Guug (not less than seventy-five miles), where I inveigled a traveller. He was a Nujjeeb, a soldier of the Jeypore Raja ; at night I awoke him and made an excuse for starting ; we proceeded with him in the direction of the next village, Entagow ; when about midway between these two villages I endeavoured to persuade him to sit down, my object being to strangle him as the place was convenient for the mm'der ; but he said ' I will not sit down', and took his sword in his li,and ; so I strangled him as he walked along ; he instantly fell and was quickly a dead man. Bucjloo and ]\Iadara thugs aided me by pulling his legs when I seized his neck in the noose. Madara stabbed him and we buried him there. If you wish I will dig up his bones from the spot where we deposited them." Again, another case by the same man : — " That day two thugs, Adhar and Salar, the latter of whom is an expert inveigler, won a traveller's confidence. He was a Rajpoot from Lahore, going to his home ; he was lodged by the decoyers in the liouse of a Bunueea in tukeea. They awoke him during the night and set out with him, but on the way he said to his two decoyers, ' you are two suspicious persons, you look like thugs, do not come near me'. Seeing that he had become suspicious I said to the party in my secret thug language, ' go aside, he suspects you.' They returned. The traveller then addressed me expressing his doubts, and suggested that we two shoulti keep together ; I agi-eed with him and expressed my doubts of these two men ; so we walked on together, and I took an opportunity of strangling hira as he walked. Mukdoomee thug was close at hand to aid ; we fluiig the body into a spot where, there was no-water, and left it to be devom-ed by jackals. „ " A havildar and four sepoys of the 37th Regiment, then btatipued at Kju'riaul, were proceeding together to their homes near Lucknow, when kiej fell in with a gang- of thugs, who pretended to have - escorted an Em-opean officer to Futtch Ghur. and to be on their way to their SPECIAL PAUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING REFORMATORY 183 Tr'^ATMENT — " THUGGEE'-" liomes in the neighbotirhood of tliose of the '^■)arty. They spent the night at, Jelalpore ; and as thoparty were anxious to make the ni'ost of their fiu-lough, they made long marches ; and as usual left tbg place •with the gang long before daylight. The gang pretending to^ be ou escort duty was armed, while tlie sepoys, not half the number, were without arms. They had gone on about two miles when the havildar had some vague suspicion of danger, and unperceivec? sat down on the long grass by the side of the road ; the party^ had not advanced fifty paces from him Avhen the signal was given, and the sepoys were strangled. The havildar heard their stilled screams, crawled to the village of Khujolee, and brought the police to the spot, where he found the dead bodies of his companions and had them taken to Lucknow ; but all search for the murderers was fruitless. " In the beginning of 1835, one of this gang, then with me at Jubu!~ pore, described this case, and stated tliat till they counted the dead bodies when about to bury them, they had supposed the whole five to be mui'dertjd. Finding one had made his escape in a mysterious man- ner they were alarmed and ran off, leaving the bodies unburied. I made the necessary reference to Lucknow, and fouud the bodies had been dis- covered and the stateiiient so far confirmed ; but i had no jope of evei* being able to discover the survivor of the party. Some months after this the havildar mentioning to his commanding officer at Nusseerabad the narrow escape be had once had near Julalpore in Onde, was sent to Lieutenant Briggs of my department then at the station ; and he des- cribed the circumstances just as they had been described to me, stating * that if he were to live to eternity, the recollection of ths horror of that moment when his poor companions had been' sti-angled within i* few paces of him and within his hearing would 'make him shudder.' " A gang of thugs accompanied from Nagpore to Bingnee, (a distance of more than 200 miies), a family consisting of two brothers and two daughters ; two lads to whom they were betrothed ; a boy about seven years old, and four ser- vants. During the journey the family actually |)ecame so intimate with the thugs that some of its members saved these very thugs from arrest and imprisonment on one oc- casion when charged with a robbery ; notwithstanding this obligation and long intimacy, the thugs strangled every one of the jDarty. The mui-der of a moonshee, his wife and infant daughter, and six servants, is thus described : — "We fr,ll in with the moonshee and his family at C^upara, between Nagpore and Jubulpore ; and they came on with uj to Lucknadown, where we found that some companies of a native regiment nndcr Euro- pean officers were expected the next mcvaing. It Avqs determined to pui them all to death that evening, as the moonshee seemed likely to keep with tlie companies ; our encampment, was near the village,,n,iAl the moonihee's tent was pitched' close to us. In the afternoon the officers' tents came on in advance, and were pitched on the other side, leaving us 184 SPECIAL CAUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING REFORMATORY [KIEATMENT — " THUQG^'E." between them and the vfilage. The classees Avere all busily occupied ia pitching them. Noor Khan and his son ,Sadee Khan and a few others, went ps soon as it became dark to the moonshee's tent, and Segan to sing and play upon a sitar as they had'been accustomed to do. During this time some of them took up the moonshee's sword on pretence of wishing to see it. His wife and childi'en were inside listening to the music. The jliimre or signal was given, but at this moment the moon- shee saw his daug/*r and called out murdei", and attempted to rush through but was seized and sti^angled. His wife hearing him ran out with the infant in her arms, but was seized by G-hubboo Khan who strangled her and took the infant. The other daughter was strangled in the tent. The grooms were at the time cleaning the horses, and one of them seeing his danger, ran under the belly of his horse and called out murder ; but he was soon seized and strangled as well as the rest. As soon as the signal was given, those of the gang who were idle began to play and sing as loud as they could, and two vicious horses were let loose, and many ran after them calling out as loud as they could, so that the calls of the moonshee and his paety were drowned. After the bodies had all been put into the grave, Dhunnee Khan urged Ghubboo to kill . the child al^ or we should be seized on crossing the Nei-budda valley. He thrcAv the child living in upon the dead bodies, and the graves were filled up over it. And the child was buried alive ? Yes." In 1806 a party of six hundred thugs assembled at a fixed place, and thence started in detachments but working in concert. cThey first murdered a party consisting of a widow of rank travellingcwith a slave girl and twelve armed attendants ; then a party of thirty one men, seven women and two' girls ; and subsequently^ numerous other parties. The following case of diamond cut diamond, illustrates the address and daring of these wretches : — " We were at least three hundred thugs, and had just performed the concluding- Ceremonies of the festival of the ' Mohurrum ' when a party of about twenty seven persons, dacoits I believe, came up on their way from the Deckan to Hindoostan. They had lour ponies laden with rich booty, wl|ich they had acquired in an expedition to the south. The following day they came on to CImpara, and Ave followed. They lodged in the town ; we outside. Boodhoo Jemadar, musulmaii, calling himself Kour Kulluck Sing and pretending to be a Hindoo of rank, went to the party and told them that the road from Chupara passed throug.h an ex- tensive and very dangerous jungle, and begged that for security we might unite our parties, as Ave were merchants and Government serA-ants, and not very Avell armed. They agreed, and the next morning one hundred and twenty five of our gang went on Avith them, while the rest came by another road, all agreeing on a rendezvous. I AA-as Avith the''r25, and on reaching two tre^o in the jungle sacred to the two saints, Ohittureea and Kuukureea, and on Avliich people tie pieces of »' oth as votive offerings, the signal Avas given, and sixteen of the dacoits Avere strangled aii'd eleven cut ^To^wn Avith SAVords. " SVhen the resident of'N'agpore, Majer Close, passed on hi? Avay from Nagpore to Bundlecund, Ave had heard of his approach Avith a lai-go SPECIAL CAUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING RBFOkMATORY 183 TR}5ATMENT — " THUGGEE ," escort, and determined to join his party in the hope of picking up some travellers ; as in the time of t\\i\ Piudarrecs, travellers of respectability geuerall;^ took advantage of sura opportunities to travel with greater security. Our gang separated intb small parties, who mixed them'selves up with the resident's parties at different places along the road, without appearing to know anything of each other, and pretended to be, like others, glad of the occasion to travel securely. Wheu^he resident reach- ed Belchree some of our parties stated that as the resident was going the western road by Rewah, they had better go the nortfiern by Powae, as there Avas no longer any danger from Pindarrees, and by separating fronl so large an escort they should get provisions much cheaper ; that water was now becoming scarce on, the western road, and was always made dirty by the elephants and camels. Other parties pretended to argue against this, but at last to yield to the strong reasons assigned. We had by this time become very intimate with a party Of travellers from Nag- pore, consisting of eighteen men, seven women and two boys. They heard our .discussions, and declared in favor of the plan of separating from the resident's party and going the northern road through Shikar- pore and Powae. On reaching Shikarpore, three cos this side of Powae, we sent on Kunhay aod Mutholee to select a place for the murder, and they chose one on the bank of the river in an extensive jui%le that lay between us and Powrie ; we contrived to make the party move off about ■midnight, persuading them that it Avas near morning ; and on reaching the place appointed they were advised to sit down and rest themselves. All our parties pretended to be as much deceived as themselves with regai'd to the time ; but not more than half of the travellers could be persuaded to sit down and rest in such solitudQ. The signal was gjven, and all but the two boys were seized and , strangled by the people who had been appointed for the purpose, and were now at their posts ready for action. The boys were taken by Jowahir and Kehree, who intended to adopt them as sons ; and the bodies of the twenty-five persons 'were all thrown into a ditch and covered w'lth earth and buslies. On seeing the bodies thrown into the ditch Jowahir's boy began to cry bittei'ly ; and finding it impossible to pacify him or to keep him quiet, Jowahir took him by the legs and dashed out his brains against a stone." The following incident shows the extraordiuaiy numbers in which the thugs on occasions collected : — " I was informed of a still more frightful murder which took place close under Gawilghur, a very few years before, of Jive 1mndi%d reo-uits that had come from some place for Gawilghur and were pitched in tents for some reason or other below the fort. Somehow or other a quantity of treasure for the fort for the night halted in this camp, and shortly after about one thousand of apparently discharged sepoys came up and said they wert5 from Hindoostaii and wanted service, and encamped at night in the same place, but in the morning there were none to be toiuid of the latter ; the rest were all lying strangled and the treasure gAne." These thugs always carry with them a pickaxe, looked on as aacred, with which to dig thc» graves of their victims : — " Thugs bi'ing up all their male children to the profession un- less ^jodily defects preve»;t them from* following it. Thetiiethod obaerved iu initiating a boy is very gradual ; at the age of ten 186 SPECIAL (.'AUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING REFORMATORY TREATMENT — " THUGGEE." or twelve years, he is first permitted to accompany a party of thugs, Oe^ of the gang, generally a near relalj^on, becomes his tutor, -R-hons the child is taught to regard with great i-espect, and w^LOm he usually serves in a irtenial capacity, darrying a bundle and dressing food fdi." him. Frequently the father acts as preceptor to the son. In the event of being questioned by travellers whom he may meet, the boy is enjoin^ to give no information further than that they are proceeding fro^ some one place to another. He is instructed to consider his interest as opposed to that of society in general ; and to deprive a hviman being of life is represented as an act merely analo- gous and equivalent to that of killing a fowl or a sheep. At first, whil& a murder is committing, the boy is sent tx) some distance from the- scene along with one of the watchers ; then allowed to see only the dead body : afterwards more and more of the secret is imparted to Him, and at leng-th the wholf. is disclosed. In the meantime, a share in the booty is usually assigned to him. He is allowed after- wards to assist in matters of minor importance while the xnurder is perpeti'ating ; but it is not until he attains the age of 18, 2'), or 22 years, according to the bodily strength he may have acquired and ^he prudence and resolution he may have evinced, that he is deemed . capable of nijfilymg the ' dhote, ' nor is he allowed to do so until he has been formally presented with one by his '.utor. Such is the effect of the cai^se of education strengthened by habit, that thugs become strongly attached to their detestable occupation, and itirely if ever abandon it. "A thug leader of some note told me that if his life were spare d he could secure the arrest of several large gangs. Seeing me disposed to doul^t his '"authority upon- a point of so much importance, he requested m^ to put him. to the proof ; to take him through the village of Sehoda, which lay two stages from Sanger on the^oad to Serouge, ( and through which I was about to pass in my tour of the district, of which I had received the civil charge ), and he would show me his ability and inclination to give me correct information. I did so, and ray tents were pitched, where tents usually are, in the small mango grove. I reached them in the even- ing, and whffji I got up in the morning he pointed out three place.5 in which he and his gang had deposited at difierent intervals the bodies of three parties of travellers. "A ptiudit and six attendants murdered iu 1818 lay among the ropes of my sleeping tent ; a havildar and four sepoys murdered iu 1824 lay under my horees ; a;nd four Bi-ahmin carriers of Ganges water and a woman murdei'ed soon after the pundit, lay within m}- sleeping tent. Tlie sward had grown over the whole, and not the sliglitest sif u of its ever having been broken was to be seen. The thing seemed to me incredible ; but after examining attentively a small brick terrace close by, and the different trees ai-ound, he declared himself prepared to stake his life upon the accnracy of his information. My wife was still sleeping over the grave of the water carriers, unconscious of what was 'doing or to^ be done. I as.seiAi)ied the people of the surrounding villages, and the thauadar and his police who resided iu the ^-iWage of Koral close by, and put tlie people to work over the grave of the havildar. Thtiy dug down^five feet without perceiving the slightest signs of the bodies or of a graveS< All the peo}»ic assenibled seemed dejighted to think that I was become weary like themselves and satisfied that the mau wa^ deranged ; \ J SPECIAL PAUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING REFORMATORY 18? TRj^ATMENT — " THUG«EE»" but there was a calm and quiet confidence about him that made me insist on going on ; and at last jve came upon the bodies of the wh-jle five, laid out precisely as he had described ; my wife, still unconscious of our object in digging, had rei^aired to the breakfast tent, whicu was pitched at some distance from the grove, and I now had the rope* of the tent removed, and the bodies of the pundit and his six companions in a much greater state of decay exhumed from, about the same depth, and from the exact spot pointed out. The water carriers were afterwards disinterred, and he offered to point out others in the different graves, but I vv^as sick of the horrid work and satislied with what he had already done. The gangs were pursued and the greater part of them takeji ; tiiis informer's life was spared." The following remarks )3y the late General Sir William Sleeman, are I consider of great vaiue and force still, even though the atrocious trade of thuggee has by the depart' ineut he organized been almost exterminated : — " But it miist admitted that this evil has prevailed in our own provinces as much a*s in Native States ; and if I were ceiled upon tJ state any simple caijse which has operated more than any other to promote its extension, I should say it was the illogical application in practice of the maxim, that ' it is better ten guilty men should es- cape than that one innocent man should suffer.' It is no doulit better that ten guilty men should escape the punishment of death and all the eternal consequences which may result frpm it, than that . one innocent man should suffer that punislihient ; but it is not Detter that ten assassins by profession should Escape and be left freely and impudently to follow every where their murderous trade, than that one innocent man should suffer the incoaivenience of temporary res- traint ; and wherever the maxim hsis been so understood a«d acted upon, the innocent have been necessarily punished for the guilty. In a country like India, abounding in associations of this kind, and with ever3^ fiicility they could desire to promote their success, and with little communion of thought or feeling between the governing and the governed, the necessity of prosecuting gang* robbers and murderers, with such a maxim so understood and acted upon, is often found to be a greater source of evil to the families and village communities who have suffered, than the robbers and murderers themselves ; for the i^robability is always in favor of the criminals being released, however notorious their character and guilt, to wreak their vengeance upon them at their leisure, after the innocent and th^ su.fferers have been ruined by the loss of time and labor wasted in attendance upon the courts to give unavailing evidence. " It is a iiiaxim with these assassins that dead men tell no tales; and upon this maxim they invariably act. Thc}^ permit no living wit- ness to their crimes to escape ; and therefore ne\er attempt the murder ,of any party until they can feel secure of being able to ihurder the wliole. They will travel with a i)arty ol unsilspecting travvUlers for days and even weeks together, eat with them, sleep with them, attend divine ■\vorshi\3 with them at the holy shrines oft the road ; and live with them in the closest terms of intimacy, till they find time and place suita- ble /or the murder of t,he whole. Having in the course »*of ages matured a system by which the attainment of any otlier direct evi- 188 SPECIAL CAUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING REFORMATORY T51EATMENT — " THUGG^'E." dence to their guilt is ■impossible, they bind each other to secresy hy the most sacred oaths that theirrsuperstition . can afibrd ; and such associations never desire from any Goverament a clearer licence to then- merciless depredations, than a cbpy of the rule 'that the testimony of any Viumber of confessing prisoners, shall not be considered a sufficient ground to authorize the detention of their associates'; for if the confess- ing prisoners escapr the laws of the country, they are put to death by the laws of the associati(^n. To suppress associations of this kind, in such a country and such a society as those of India, a departure from rules like these, however suited to ordinary times and circumstances, and to a more advanced S3\steni of society, becomes indispensably necessary ; and as they have matured their system to deprive all Governments of every other kind of direct evidence to their guilt but the testimony of their associates, it behoves all Governments in order to relieve society fi-om so intolerable an evil, to mature anether, by which their testimonies shall be rendered effectual for their conviction, without endangering the safety of the innocent." v In this province, thuggee is supposed to have been introduced ( toward the close of the last (Century, by a man belonging to one of the lowest castes an^ongst the Sikhs ; a " Muzbee," who it is said learnt the secret crinae from some Hindoostanee thugs at the great fair at Hurdwar, the sacred , bathing place on the Ganges, where many thousands of pilgrtms congregate atfnually. The system as practised in the Punjab was devoid of the peculiar ceremonies and lan- guage used by the thugs of Hindoostan. Q^he system prevailed all through the early history of the 5ikhs, and up to the date when English rule having been established the attention of our Government was drawn to it. The pe'tson who is supposed to have been the original founder of the system was caught and hanged by the late Maharaja.Kunjeet Sing; but the disciples of this first "thug" were very numerous when the " Thuggee Department " for the suppression of this fearful crime commenced operations at Loodiana in 1848. As in Hindoostan so in the Punjab, the thugs were everywhere protected by those land-holders amongst whom they resided, arid who shared their plunder. The late H. Brereton Esquire, Bengal Civil Service, in his report on thuggee in this province says : — " kVistrict officer, can thrttngh his police, arrest a known resident of any town or village in his jurisdiction, but it is a different matter when \ > SPECIAL 9AUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING REFc/rMATORY 189 TREATMENT — " THUGQEEl" the apprehension of a wandering character is retjuired. The thugs as a class ha^ve no fixed residence, aid are harboured by the lumberdars (lahd holdei-s) on the understanding tnat as thieves and vagabonds they pay for such protection, and commit ilo robbery in the village thus sheltering them. At the sight of a policeman, or rumoured approach ot S party from the thana (police station) these men move olf, and as the chances are that the names by which they have been known it their temporary residence are different from those recorded in the jist furnished by the Thuggee office, the lumberdars can safely deny all knowledge of them." The only system therefore of working successfully against such systematic •crime, is that introduced by the late Sir William Sleeman, namely that of approvers, their con- fessions being of course tested as »much as is possible, an3l received with much caution. » Major McAndrew, Deputy Inspector General of Police, in charge of the thuggee office in 1862, reported in that year that fifteen dead bodies had been found, of which eight were evidently the victims of thugs : he observes : — " It is evident therefore that although put down so far as organized bards are concerned, the crime still exists; and that the old and hai-deued thugs still at large try their hand now and then at tlieir old trade. Seven old thugs were arrested during the yeaV by the depart- mental detectives." , To show how strongly rooted in the thug, is the love of the excitement attaching to his criminal pursuits, %^ mky mention, that a thug who had been an approver in our thuggee establishment for some six years, (becoming ap- parently weary of his monotonous life under our treatment), escaped in 1864 from jail ; and though he was only three months at large, managed to poison, according to his own account, nineteen persons, of whom the cases of three who died were clearly proved against him, and for which he was hanged. So insatiable in this man Avas the furor for this fearful 'pursuit, that he told the jail officials when last captured, " you had better hang me for I must go on killing." Poisoning. , * 1860 .. ..41 cases. 1861 .. ' .. 50 *, 1862 * .. ..37 1863 .. ..34 1864 ,.. .'.33 „ •'»* 1865 .. ..42 / 190 SPEQAL i^ATISES IN INDIA REQUIRINa REF0;EMAT0RY TEGATMENT — " POISONIJfjQ. " Poisoning. JF'rom'the Police report for ISGl : — '' " The facility with v.iiich vegetaltle poisons are obtainecl ; the ea?e with wliich they can be mixed with the ordinary food, without causing suspicion ; and the sudden insensiljility of the victims, tend to malce the detection and conviction of the offenders a matter of considerable diffi- culty, c " - " In particular instances it has been detected amongst men calling themselves either prohits or brahmins, and who profess to arrange marriages ; the victim is induced to accompany them to the residence of the part}^ desirous of making the marriage, and is poisoned and robbed on the road ; death does not always ensue." By Major Mc Andrew,., then in charge of the thuggee office : — " This crime as stated in last year's report has evidently 'taken tlie place of the former method of strangulation, and occupie<] the particular attention of the department. 1 2 cases of poisoning evidently by pro- fessional crinlMals have been reported. In two cases Avith fatal effect, In the other cases, the parties, 17 in number, to w;hom poison was ad- ministered, recovered. " The suspected murderers by poison, of two men in the. Loodiana district, were recognized as old offenders ; also parties ar- rested on suspicion in the Sirsa, Rohtuk and Mooltan districts, prov- ■ iiig that the crifne of poisoning is one followed by professional thugs. *'■ The most remarkable case of thug poisoning which has been taken up and prosecuted by Ihis department was that of Mootsud- dee, the Brahmin poisoner of tha Kangra district, whose arrest was ' msntioyyd in my report of last year ; he was found guilty of seven distinei charges of murder and suffered the extreme penalty of the law at Dhurmsala in March 1862, having confessed to the murder of (19) nineteen persons. " If other criminals of the same stamp still frequent that part of the country, they will have to abandon the marriage contracting plant, and tdke to some other means of deluding and enticing away their intended victims. The people of the hill states have now been, put fully on their guard against poisoners ; there was a great deal of talk an(l. excitement regarding Mootsuddee's case, particularly among the numerous friends and relations of the people he had murdered. In investigating the case, I w^as surprised, seeing that his appearance was known to so many parties, and that the police had frequently been placed on the alert, how he siiould hava for sa many years escaped detection, as at intervals of a jTew years he revisited the same parts of the country, and under the same pretence of marriage contracting, enticed away and murdered people. " It is surprising how easily these poisoners get into intimacy with parties of travellers to whom they attach themselves, and how, they gradually, b^ making themselves useful in many little ways, bring about their great object, cooking and eAting together : when the deadly' ' datoora ' is quietly slipped into the food, and the u,n- susp^c^ing traveller is plundered and left dead or senseless. I have observe^l in several cases, that parties who recovered from large quantities of datoora, were rendered useless fur lil'e from the effects > SPECIAL CAUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING RErofeMATOBY 191 TREViMENT — " POISONING^" of the poison : one man was brouglit to me a perfect cripple, in wliich state he had been for (7) seven years, from the effeat of poi&bn given him by Mootsuddee. The pursuit after the poisonei^s did not comiiience till 1855, but little was done until 1858 ; altogether Gi persons have been arrested on charges of poisoning." * It will be recollected that in the brief skel^chof "thuggee" it is shown that poisoning by " datoorcV was ^practised by the regular thugs so far back as 1810, as a kind of preliminary to strangling their victims. As they got bolder the use of poison was uncommon, but now,' there is an evident tendency to use it again, not preparatory to strangling the victim but simply to plunder with safety. • The. following case, taken from Police report for 1865, illustrates the way in which poisons are used, and the diffi- culties of detecting the poisoner : — , " On the 23rd April two men were found lying senseless at a well close to the Gorinda police station on the grand trunk road, twelve miles from Umritsur, and were sent in for treatment ; the Civil Surgeon gave his opinion that they had been poisoned by ' datura' and treating them for that poison, succeeded in bringing them round. They stated that they were inliabita,nts of Hoshiarpore, and had come to Umritsurfor work on the Railway ; Ihat at a serai ( way-side inn ) near Umritsur, they had been joined l>y a one-eyed person who introduced himself as one Heera, and who recommended them to accompany him to Lahore where coolies were better paid\ Th"ey accordingly did so, and on the road bought some flour at a buntieah's shop, Heera buying some dal at the same time with the goor ( a coarse kind of sugar) and other spices. Towards mid-day they agreed to stop at the well where they were found, to cook their food. Heera commenced to cook the dnl, and sent one of tlie two others to fetch some water, and the other to knead the flour at the Avell ; when their cooking was over. Heera made them eat of the dal, contenting himself with the atta cakes and goor : just then the owers of the well wlio had been working in their fields drew nigh, to rest coring the heat of the day. Heera proposed to move on, and on the other two refusing to do so until later in the day he went off ( no doubt he did BO knowing the poison would soon act and that he could not rob them iri so public a place as that Avherein they then lay). They laid down to sieep.and remembered notliing more until they recovered their senses in the hospital ; they were taken before a mngistrate and their evidence recorded, but the magistrate in his order said he was of opiiTiion that the police could not do anything more towards the conviction of any one ; all endeavours to find Heera liaving ])rovcd frnitless. On the 13tli May, ' Mr. Christie, 'Assistant District Superintendent, wlien attesting' the bad cl^aracters of tlic Narowal sub- diyision (-SS miles distant from the scene of the jioisoning case) found a man named Jotee Kahar absent from Ins villaf^o. On enquiry ,,i4 was clicitsd that he was an in(;o>;ri,i(iHlc rover, and on Mr. Christie's >fuestion- ing the people he found that the cjescnptlou given by them exactly / 192 SPECIAL Iauses in inbia requiking reformatory TREATMENT — " DACOITE^Ji;." tallied with that given of Heera by the two men who were drugged. Ht therefor e,dh-ected the lumberdar (hepd man of the village) to look but fof the return of Jotee, and to make Iiim over to the police. Jotee was thus apprehended on the 27th July, and on the 2nd August was recog- nized b'y the owners ot the well where the two men were found, as being the same mau they had seen ^vith them. The two men could not be found for some tinv^, but at last were found at Mooltan, (250 miles otf) and on their arriva^l were separately shown some 18 one-eyed men, amongst whom Jotee was placed, and both without hesitation picked him out as the man who had drugged them. " Jotee, alias Heera, was sent up for trial and convicted by the Sub- Judge on the 3rd October and sentenced io four years' imprisonment, (a sentence I consider far too lenient for a man who thus trifles with l?uman life). " Jotee was a known bad character, having three former convictions against him for theft. A little before the commission of the above offence a man named Gusseetoo had been drugged in the Goordaspore 'district on the Umritsur road. lie was himself in jail for theft, but was sent for and identified Jotee out of 25 one-eyed persons as the man who had drugged him/i Jotee has therefore been again put' on his trial in the Goordaspoor district, and tlu-ee other cases of a similar nature have since turned up against him there, for which he is now pending his trial in the Umritsur Sessions Court as a professional poisoner on three separate counts." Dacoitee. o *Trom reports by Major Tighe, Deputy Commissioner of iJmballa, and Major McAndrew, formerly Assistant in the Thiuggf?3 Department and now Deputy Inspector General of Police : By Major Tighe:— " Dacoitee has it may be said lain dormant in the Cis-Sutlej, since the execution of Bhugail Singh and others at Loodhiana in 1852; and hardly a case appears to have occurred for years in the British jurisdic- tion, with the exception of a remarkable one in Loodhiana city in January 1856, when a small party entered a merchant's house in the city, carried off a small box containing jewellery and some money, and got clear off without blood-shed or wounds or before an alarm was given, and left no trace behind them. This case has up to this day never been discovered ; but from the information sitbsequently obtained it would appear to have been committed by the remnant of the above named notorious Bhugail Singh's baud, who having taken refuge 'n Bikaneer, in concert with a few of the Bikaneer plunderers, made this solitary expedi- tion into their old haunts. This dacoitee was not followed up by auy increase in the British States ; and certainlv up to 1859-61 thtre were no cases in tliese statet or indeed gen'vjrally in the Punjab, of course except-' ing the li-ontier where the dacoitees are of a difterno property shall be forthcoming, it is most improbable in any case that evidence beyond that of those concern- ed can ever be obtained. The ordinary proceedings are all carried on in a systematic and regular manner. " Of the 30 or 40 men concerned in the principal dacoitees, certainly as a rule not more than one-third are professional dacoits, J making dacoitee a living : the remainder are young men of* the neighbourhood distantly connected with one or other of the old hands ; they are not generally of notorious bad character, but men accustomed to hang about fairs, and noted for wrestling cv other sports. The leader having fixed with the principal raembers*»f the gang the likely place for a dacoitee, generally two or three days' march from the first meeting place, and always in another jurisdiction, dis- perses his head men, who again assemble after three or four days at a fixed spot in the desired direction, each bringing with him some two or three less experienced hands ; the baud thus augmentedis dispersed ■ during the day : they asseml)Ic at night in some favorable spot a few miles off, generally (with a view of mis-leading subsequent inquiry ) beyond the place to be attacked ; here they distinbute the arms, fix spear-heads, prepare mashals ( torches, ) : at about half past 10 or 11 they proceed to the attack: arrived about 3 or 400 5'^ards from the house they deposit under some tree or spot they can eas'iy find again, their clothes, shoes and bundles, and then settle themselyes into the approved dacoit costume : they leave their pugrees or turbans with the clothes, retaining the doputta or inner turban worn below the regular turban ; the beard and whiskers aj:e covered with the " dhata," a small piece of cloth com- ing under the chin and tied on the top of the head, over the doputta. This with the ' kach' or short draAvers peculi;li' to the Sikhs complejjes the costunnf. All being dressed exactly alike with only th^ eyes and nose to be seen tlii-ough the 'dhata,' -and not a par- ticle of beard or whisker visiljle, they almost defy reco,ojn^tion in spite of the flaming torches ( mashals ) which they freely use 194 SPECIAL lOAUSES IN INDIA REQUTRINa REFCRMATORY MEASURES — " DACOITET=;." < ill soarcliing. Having reached the house, and gained an entrance, liearly invariably by scaling the roof, they leave a few of the gang to watch below, and the main body, dropping into the innev courts, surpiisethe inmates. " The men are kept apart and the women stripped of their jewels. As a rule the plundering is done politely, and the instances of ill-treatment are uncommon ; while all this is going on an alarm gene- rally is given in the village, and by the time tlie dacoits are finishing, a croAvd has collected ; they are kept in play for a time by the leader declaring they are the Government jwlice investigating a case of co7j- cealment of arms, or some criminal charge ; at last the booty is collected, the leader gives the signal and all the men simultaneously leave, as they came j-, if resistance is otFered by tke villagers, ai'ms are at once used, and blood shed. But as a nile the conntiy being disarmed, they five allowed to pass quietly away ; having picked up their clothes the whole party in a body go a,t a good pace for some 3 or 4 miles ; on reaching a suitable spot one of the leaders spreads a sheet and the Avhole gang are subjected to a rigid search. The booty is 'collected in 2 or 3 bundles and entrusted to 3 or 4 of the party ; a rendevouz is named, generally some 40 or 50 miles off, and again in a difterent juris- ■ diction, whfi'e at some future day revision is ^tO take place ; in some few cases only, the cash is divided on the spot. " In the intcrvr'i *Iic leaders endeavour to disi')0se of the valuables; on the appointed day they produce the cash they have received for the jewelry and the vrhole is divided, the leaders getting the greater share. In cases when the jcweliy has not been disposed of and has gone into the raelthig pot,^ it is broken up and pounded so as to become almost inditting-uishable, and then weighed out in shares. When possible however these shares are rff-purciiased by the principal men from the young hands, who receive cash only ; as a rale the division is made in cash< There is as usual little honor among thieves, and the lion's share t/ills to the old hands, wjio getting some 3 or 400 rupees worth, give the j'oung hands from 15 to 20 rupees a piece only. " The above description with but slight variation answers fcK* a description of any one of those dacoitees ; and the distance at which the property is disposed of is one of the most serious ditticulties thrown in the face of the police." Major Tiglie shows by genealogical tables how the gangs are connected with the old " stock, " and how the members of each gang are connected with each other by- marriage, &c. proving indisputably that the crime is here- ditary and followed as a profession from father to sort. Nearly all the leaders of note are now' in custody, some 130 professional dacoits having been captured since 1864 ; and whilst many have been sentenced there is evir dence to convict many more. Major Mc^ndrew observes : — " In 1862 there were 142 registered dacoits still on the list;vof this Bijmber many had died and others had left the country or we -e known ^co have taken to cultivation, &c. Laitterly as the drime SPECIAL CAUSES IN INDIA REQUIRING REFO'^mXtORY 195 MLJ^SURES — " DACOITEE." seemed to be put down the pursuit was relaxid, and beyond taking^ heavy security, judicial punishments were not frequently enforcer", ; but the clacoits felt that they l^rere watched, and that the approvers - their old associates were avaifeble to recognize them, and 'they entertained a great di^ead of the thuggee department. "Wh*a this department was abolished in 1862-63, the measure was not long unknown to the members of the old dacoit bandf, in whom still existed a strong desire to return to a career of excitement and plun- der." "* From the Police report for 1865 : — " Murder in dacoitee-^one case occurred in the Umritsur district : it was a regular dacoitee on the old plan ; \n\t every man , concerned was, after some weeks, captured and prosecuted to conviction. • " The statements made by Esur Singh and the villagers were extremely* exaggerated, with respect to the number of dacoits, their arms, behaviour and the amount of j^roperty plundered, the latter being stated at Rs. 5,1-20. From investigation on the spot the following fActs were elicited ; a dacoitee hacl^ been com-, mitted by a gang of some 8 or 10 men armed with' sticks and spikes, the only sword employed was one they secured from plaintiff's house ; that they had, as soon as the villagers had retired to rest, rushed on the plaintiff's house, which is at a little distance from the village, placed sentries on the approaches to it ; lighted torches and broke open the doors with hatchets^ and then laid , hands upon what they could get ; they then retreated and Tere followed up by the plaintifi' and villagers who tried to capture some of them : in the fight which ensued plaintiff's arm was broken, and a servant of his hit over the head and struck down senseless (from the effect of this blow be died in hospitij}^ soon after). The dacoits succeeded in getting clear off, leaving only a hatchet and turban behind. " It appeared from the evidence that the dacoitee was planned by Nos. 1 and 2, who each agreed, in order to avoid detection as as much as possible, to bring a party of his own, strang&rs to each other ; thus making it necessary for one of each party to be arrested before the gang could be discovered, and then only by his confessing. " Accordingly No. 1 brought Nos. 4 and 7 : No. 2 broug|jt 3, 5 and 6. As before noted, all were captured and convicted." From Police report for 1865. In-road by dacoits from the KHetree State : — " On the l'2tli November 1865, the bullock train cart was stopped and plundered of Englisli i)Iece goods, gold lace, and other pro])erty to the value of Rupees 2,809, annas 4, pies 6, on the Delhi road, about seven iniles east 'of Rohtuk, by a baud of nine dacoits armed witli large clubs and kuives, and mounted on six fleet rifling camels. '• " There Avere scv«n strong able bodied passengers in the cart, but they a]>^ear to have been paralysed by f'e!ir, and made no resistance, but a-'/owed themselves to be gagged and itied to the cart wheels Avith their oina. .turbans. Three of V^e passengers ^vere natives of Shck'iit\^atee ; and it is note-worthy that they wcre_ neither plundered nor ill-used by 19G SPECIAL 'JAUSES IN INDIA REQUIRINa REFORMATORY . MEASURES — "PROFESSIONAL SjvyiNDLiNG." the dacoits, who accoAipauiecl the bullock train cart from one of the svfourbs of the city of Delhi known as ' Taleewara.' The dacoits were vigorQjisly pursued by the police, but' being Avell mounted on camels trained to go long distances at a rapid pace, they managed to effect their escape \o their lair in the jungle of Bud-bui-, Bohana, in the Khetree district (Shekhawatee) of the Rajpootana State. " The dacoitsf broke through the strong Customs line with its large hedge and numerous watchmen, receiving apparently no more opposition than the hedge itself offered. " The police ascertained the names of the leaders of the band. The Puttiala officials through whose territory the marauders fled gave eveiy assistance, joining in tlie pm-suit and keepivg up with it to the last ; but as the Khetree Raja would not afford any aid whatever, the attempt to c^apture the gang failed. These dacoits are a regularly organized band ; and are said to plunder, frora time to time, in districts of the North Western Provinces iu the direction of Agra. " Now as j-egards the prevention of these in-roads fivm foreign territory, we are at a gi'eat disadvantage ; our enemies can not only select their time and place, but have their agents in Delhi and Bhewauee, *he two chief places between which valuable property is sent, and by those means mey are enabled to plan and attempt a dacoitee with almost certain success. They know that once in Rajpootaiia they are quite safe. Puttiala vigorously hunts them out, but not so Rajpootana : there they apparently are absolutely and positively safe. The Khetree officials refused to do anything." The Commissioner, Mr. Naesmytb, in this case obser- ves : — ^ " The daring dacoitee which occiu-red near Rohtuk towards the close of the year, committed by a band which was traced to Khetree in Sh^raiawattee is still under inyestigatiou by the district authorities. The unsettled state of ShekhaAvattee is a constant source of annoyance ; numerous representations have been made on the subject to the political agent, and to some extent of late years there is improvement; but no certainty can be felt, no assurance of secm-ity fi-om the raids of these lawless gangs , who appear not only to be unrestrained in any way by the native authorities, but are actually sheltered and protected when pm-sued by our police." Professional Swindling. Regarding professional swindling, it is perhaps sufficient to remark that the offence is by no means rare, and is persistently continued in until the parties are arrested. One very common mode of swindling by this people who wander about the country, is by pretending to be able to change copper into silver or gold, ,&c., or to double the value of all money intrusted to them. Here, as elsen^here, they trade on the credulity of the people, rarely swindling to any very great extent.on one occasion, but living entirely by swindling,^ af,i(J by petty thefts of any thing they can pick up. special" CAUSES IN *INDIA REQUIRING REIpRllilATORY 197 MEASU'ilES— '; COININa," " CATTLE, STEALING.", Coining. • ' ^ Ooining is an offenco which though not as y^t practised to a serious extent, is yet Jinown to be constantly attempted, and requires great vigilance on the part of the police. The number «of cases of counterfeiting '6,nd passing into circulation counterfeit coin, or fraudulently diminishing weight of coin, &c., during the last years are shown thus : — ■ 1860 1861 .1862 1863 1864 1865 95 246 163 ^ 146 134 141 > J Cattle Stealing. Cattle stealing in this province and in parts of the North Western Provinces, is carried on under ce?^ain systerii- atic arrangements, but the police of both provinces have to a great extent broken up the various organizations, and narrowed so to speak the limits of the trade. These statistics show how it has fluctuated in thi'i province : — <, 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 Cases 5,712 7,394 4,368 3,387 3,959 '4,275. The crime prevails chiefly in our large grazing tracts, where herds of 5 or 600 head of cattle are often in the charge of one or more boys ; but it also prevails along our lines of rivers. A river police has to some extent checked the trade, but not effectually, for it is still possible and must be pos- sible for a herd of 30 or 40 to be driven off into a stream, made to swim down as they often are 20 or 30 miles to destroy all tracks, then crossed over and driven off long distances to where sales can be effected. The crime of cattle stealing is as yet not looked on in this province in any other light than cattle lifting was in Scotland two hundred years ago ; the oijly disgrace attaching to it, is that of detec- tion* Wealthy, and apparently respectable land-holders, J readily deal in stolen cattle. It isjessentially an offen«6» which is hereditary and carried on from father to son amongst our 198 SPECUi- CjiUSES IN INDIA REQUIRINa REFORMATORY MEASURES — " OUR CRIMINAL ^RIBES." HfOmadic races. No doubt the way in which large herds are left to the clire of one or two boys leads to many petty, cattle thefts"; for instance if a cow-herd loses a cow, and fails to track her up and find her, he at once takes the first op- portunity of stealing one to replace her. But admitting, these subsidiary causes it is certam that the offence is regularly carried on, and is in fact amongst certain classes a " trade." Such classes rarely commit other offences, but in these cases they indubitably are "•habituals," and so habitually addicted to it that it is well known an old and worn out father of a cattle stealing family will willingly give himself up and declare himself to be the thief in a case, iu order that the younger members of his family, sons • or relations, who are the guilty parties, may escape, and carry on the trade which, their imprison- ment might check or even stop. Our Criminal Tribes. J will only notice a few of the most celebrated ; but this province like other parts 6f India possesses numerous races greatly addicted to crime. Irr 1856 the Judicial KJommissioner of the Punjab wrote to all Commissioners : — " It has been determined to adopt coercive measures towards cer-. tain classes notorious as robbers and plunderers in the Punjab, and I request you will see that the measures sanctioned are fully and completely carried out." And to the Secretary to Chief Commissioner : — " The Commissioners are unanimous that coercive measures should be adopted with regai'd to them. In these opinions I concm\" Restrictive measures similar to those enforced in^ 1852 against the Muzbees (amongst whom thuggee existed) were ordered to be imposed on all Sansees, Harnees, and Bowreeahs. These mea^ares obliged them not to be absent from their Tillages without leave,^and punished 'them if they rvere. liixl.SSS E. Prinsep Esquire, Bengal Civil Service, origi-|i nated a scheme for collecting, certain members of kuowu SPECIAD CAUSES INjINDIA REQUIRING REF6rMAT0RY 199 M^EASUR^ES — " OUR CRIMINAL TRIBlJte," > ♦ criminal tribes, locating them on good lands, and obliging them to obtain a subsistejjce from agriculture. ^ By the exertions of Oaptain Urmston, Mr. Macnabb, and Captain Mercer, these measures were carried out :*villa<^es were created called "reformatories^" lai^ls, grain, seed, cattle, implements of agriculture, &c, we^-e all given ; wells were sunk ; many land-holders helped ; the members of the tribes found in three districts were collected, located, and ordered to keep to theii- own lands and to cultiv^e it. I was called on by the Government to report on these reformatories ; and last year, aided by Mr. Prinsep, Bengal Civil Sel'vice, Commissioner of " Settlement," who has always taken the greatest interest in, and given the most cordial support to, all rt^formatory measures, carefully e^jamined antl reported on them*. Though in this treatise I only intended to notice these criminal tribes with a view to showing how necessary it is to have repressive yet reformatory measures ajDplied to them,* and that any country which posseDses such tribes ought to recognize in its laws the reformatory treatment of offenders, yet as it may perhaps be useful I give the following extraiitj^ from a printed report by Mrl Macnabb, and from my report. The two tribes subjected to these measures are the Sansees and Pukheewars. „ By Mr. Macnabb, Deputy Commissioner of Sealkot : — " Tlie following account is tliiit most generally current as to the origin of the Sansees and Pukheewars. *" Sansees. Thieving tribe. In tlie reign of Sher Shah, Hijra 809, Tagi'ul, Soobahof Bengal, finding no others])ort, set his dogs &c. after some jungle jncn; they ran off, leaving a new born babe ; one of the servants picked it up, saying 'Sans hai/ (it breathes), hence he was called 'Sansee. ' Babe grew and married, but ])referriiig the raw flesh of cats, jackals, or any game to civilized life ran off to the Punjab and liut up at Dodowal jn the Sealkot district. Since then his descendants have lived in mat huts, near some village or other, n^yer associating even with each other. They have no refigion, and no jr^neological tree ; in fact, they have alwa^^s' remained jungle men, livhig by the chase or Jhieyiitg. They have only lately ceased eating raVv flesh ; the only "/•istinction among them is, some burn, some bury their dead, o.'jQording h they have lived near lIi.\Kloo or MahoAedan villages. * 200 SPECiA^i Causes in india REQuii^iNG refop.matory MEASURES — " OUR CRIMINAL 'f'RIBES^/' ytilcheeivars, ]\Iussulman thieving tribe, but more civilized than the Sansees. In the reigK of Feroze Shah 11., a khidmutgar of the king, by'' name Rae Khutrees passed ; two of the latter ran off ; but the third after a long struggle was robbed, his. oar-rings being torn out of his ears and himself severely beaten. Two of these men were convicted, and I have little doubc of the guilt of the third, though the evidence was not sufficient for a conviction." From the Police report of 1861, the following is ex- tracted as also illustrating the daring character of these Sansees : — " Jhungnn, s(jin of Essur^ ^a Tegawal Sansee and resident of < Goordaspore district, had often been imprisoned for theft ; but it was not till i860 that he came(;into notoriety, Svhen he wifch^o again disperse and live all over the district ; "when an European officer visit- ed them they simulated starvation and sickness, and on one occasion even death ; but the corpse got up and fled when the officer proceeded to examine it. Thejf spent their days wandering about begging in the neighbouring villages, or hunting for game or lizards, or other reptiles ; to procure the luxuly of tobacco or any inebriating liquor they would bai-ter away to the shrewd " Bunneah" the prospective value of what little crops they had raised ; so long as they were free from sickness they managed to live fairly enough, nearly as well in fact as they had before ,, they were put into ' Kot,' but directly an individual, or, as sometimes happened, worse still, a whole family was prostrated with sickness, and unable to go out and beg, then fhe full force of previous improvidence -was sorely felt. The reformatories suffered severely fi'om an epidemic, a low kind of fever which ravaged parts of the Punjab. The statistics show the mortality to have been as follows. 5'rom March 1864 to March 1865, 892 so^als died out of a population of about 2,273, or nearly 39 per cent. " This low fever I must obseiwe, whenever it visited a village, generally pressed more heavily on the low caste members of the com- munity than on others ; and this is attributed to the low castes feeding , on the carcases^of animals which had died of disease, and on other desd-iptious of impure foed. Moreover it must not be supposed that our own villages were free fi'Ot-n it, or our own jails ; apparently it has been a very general scourge in these dish'icts, and though I have not the information to prove it, yet I have no doubt it has prevailed throughout the Pija^ab in our jails and in many of our districts. Mortalitj' in our jails in districts around Sealkote : — I Q/,„ 5 Sealkote, 10 per cent. ^'^^'^ I Lahore, 13 97 j Sealkote, 0-52 ' -, g/; . 3 Goojrauwalla, ... ... 17-66 ^'**'*1Umritsur, 14-25 (Lahore, 11-03 " The same kind of low fever pre\ailed in Scotland in the beginning and end oi'^ 1864 The Registrar of Scotland, in his report for 1864, observes — ' there is nothing in the meteorological phenomenon of the year to account for the gi'eat epidemic of typhus which prevailed. It attacked large masses ot the people in the early months of the year, abatejl in the warmer season, but again resumed its virulence in September, and in- creased more and more till the year closed.' " " In one Kot the epidemic appeared in 1865, and in all the others but one, which was quite free from it, the epidemic ajipeared as iu Scotland in the early part of 1864, and was again virulent iii the latter part of the year aVid in the beginhing of 1865. " As a rule the ' Kots' are over crowded, and the houses not larga enough to contain the people. 'The San sees do not cai-e much ab6ut this, they .n^e so accustomed to huddle together, covered with the most filtlSy rags, tli«.t unless prevented thfey mil sleep iij a hut in far greater .nuny- bers than is at all healthy. SPECIAL CAUSES IN JNDIA REQUIRING REFORM'ATORY 205/ M3ASUR3S— " OUR CRIMINAL TRIBES^." " Possibly in the cold season the want of clothes tends to this hudclling together ; but the Sansee will n^ever spend his money on clothes if he eg A help it ;-» like all thieves in evey part of the world he is passionately foM of jewelry, and will deny himseH' clothes to get it. , " In addition to the evils of over-crowding, as tending to induce sickness, the habits of the Sansees must not be forg-otten. If not con- stantly looked after, they will allow filth of all kinds to accumulate ^yithin the enclosure, up to the very doors of tife huts. This has occurred no doubt very generally. There is no re^ason why Ave should not succeed in securing to these people as good a chance of health under the 'Kot' system as is enjoyed by the villages around ; of coui'se gi-eat care should be taken to secure healthy sites. " Their chief enemies "are their own filthy habits, ^^hey recover quickly from sickness and improve rapidly under ordinary sanitary* rules. There is no doubt that owing to the increase of the inhabitants the lands allotted to these ' Kots' will hot in a year or so be sufficient to support them ; as yet they had in three of the ' Kots' not enough produce th support them, taking an average rate of one seer of atta (wheat) per diem to an adult male or female, and ^ seer (one pound) for each child. This is a point needing serious attention : the help they have received from tiie people cannot be expected to contii^ue, and that of the Government sljould it possible not be conveyed in the very objec- tionable mode of giving food without receiving work for it. I depre- cate giving more laud than is absolutely needed to support the present inhabitants, considering them as villages ; and I would not make any provision in laiid for children which may be born after the limits in land of a ' Kot' are once fixed and each family has received jts share. Their , descendants should and must manage to support themselves, as do those of former agTiculturalists. ' " In some of the ' Kots' the lands Lave been subdivided amongst the families compromising these 'Kots'; each family having its ,, portion ; but this has not been done in all, and I do not think where it biis b'eeu done that each family sufficiently clearly knoAvs the actual fields that belong to it. I attach great importance to the creation of this interest in the soil. The family Avill give its labor far more willingly for what it is to reap entirely for itself, than for that which is to be for the gene- ral benefit, and of Avhich it will only receive a portion. Tx^e old saying, ' what is every man's work is no man's Avork' applies fully to the Sansees, and the cultivation Avill not be efiected * coji amorc' until each man feels the fields he cultivates are his own. " The labor of manufactures is apparently more repugnant to these people than that of agriculture ; nevertheless an attempt has been made to get them to make rope, taut, &c., and these efforts might be advan- tageou'^ly extended. " The attempt, the original design, has by no means been a failm'e. The fact remains that in spite of many difficulties, in spite of great sick- ness, scarcity of food, and land requiring hard labor to get a crop fi-om it, the possibility of getting thieving tribes to attempt their own support ' by agricultural instead of criminal pursuits, has be- great encouragement to this most impoi'tant part of the reformatory treatment. " I do not advocate the attempting towards these tribes such a re- formatory system ot control as I should certainl)- strongly recommend to be enforced in all juv<»nile reformatories ; but I consider we owe it to ourselves, to them, and to the community amongst whom we have locat- ed these criminal tribes, to establish over them such supervision as shall to the best of our judgment lead to their reformation and to the peace and secm'ity«v,-f the country.- It is no slight responsibility which the Vjovernmeut has undertaken ; but I may note as worthy of attention that the Government commences jts labors with the gi-eat advantage of having all these people in families, the very system which at ' Mettray' is found to be so absolutely necessary." Mr. Macnabb, Deputy Commissioner of Sealkote, in Lis report of 1862, observes : — ., " In the f oformatories the Pukhewars are the more troublesome of the two ; they have a stronger disposition to wander," but both they and the Sansees liave shown such an evident disposition to take advantage of the opportunities aiforded them by the reformatories that I have no doubt of their soon taking to settled ways of life.* The whole of the Pukhewai's have not yet been brought into the reformatory, but only 'those^who held liicle or no Jand. The agiicultm-al portion of the Sansees have only been brought in witlwn the last t«'0 mouths (August 18G2) ; but notwithstanding this the police retm-ns for April, May and June show that crimes have decreased to 173 in thefts and burglaries, as compared with 307,, in the same quarter last yeai". The country people are delight- ed with '"che new arrangement. The Commissioner was told when lately in the district that, 'now professional thieving was being put a stop to.' If there were any waste land in the district, I would most earnestly urge that arrangements might he made for the remaining Pukhewai's, also for all ' Chooras' of douhtful character. " When in charge of the Jhelum district in 18581 was most anxious to have a i-elorniatory for the Chooras of Kala. I hear that the Kala thieves are still in correspondence with the budmashes (bad characters) of Zufferwai*" The following notice by M. H. Court Esquire, Civil Ser- vice, and Inspector General of Police North Western Pj,'.ovin- ces, of professional criminals and criminal tribes, ,is interest- ing and instructive : — In the Meerut districts the Delhhcal Bhowreeahs ai'e , found in considerable numbers. Their profession is stealing from tents. Leaving their villages after t^le rains, they ^\'ander over all India in small gangs, — . . f * Last year 1865, 1 found a Pukhewar reformatory much more flourishing than any of the Sansee Kots, thus verifying/ Mr. Madhabb's supposition. SPECIAL CAUSER IN INDIA REQUIRING REFORMATORY 207 MEASURES — " OUR CRIMINAL TRIBES." attaching themselves to the camps of regiments,, officers and native chiefs, returuing with their plunder ii\ April and May. Nominal registers -^/^e formed'>of every man of the ti;^e, and of the village choseli by them for residence. Occupation is provided for such as want occupation, bj»giving good culturable land for tillage in the Bidowlee ilaqua, in the Mozuflfer- nuggur district. This land is given rent-free for the first year, and at small rental for following years. They are not compelled to settle here, but they have the offer of doing so, that they may not have the excuse of being driven to crime in order to support life. Wherever resident, they are warned that, if found absent and at a distance from their homes, without ostensible or known means of life, they will be prosecuted for being members of a professional tribe of thieves. Scarcely less trouble- some are the Simoriahs, a tribe inhabiting several parts of VLe Lullutpore district and the Duttia territory. From time immemorial they hav3 followed the sole profession of thieving^ but in the course of years, pro- bably from the fact of their always marrying in and in, and exclusively in their own tribe, their numbers diminished, and they recruited them- selves hf the purchase of children of otlier castes : ' Thakoors/ 'Aheers, ' 'Kunjars, ' 'Telees, ' *Kachees, ' and 'Chumars, ' in- discriminately. Thi^se children were in their youth taught the particular branch of the profession of their adopted fathers, in which ^Jieir assistance was necessary, and Ayere made use of by. the ' Sunoriahs' to eifect their projected thefts. When they outgrew tlie age in which tliey could be useful as apprentices, they, in their turn, became master thieves. They choose some lai-ge city not less than 100 miles distant from their homes as their field of operations, and set out for it in gangs of about 60. When they get near it they separate into smaller gangs, drere up the children^ as beggars, and others as rich and respectable men. The lattei*go to some well-known ' Sahoocar ' and begin bargaining and looking at his valuable things ; in the meantime the beggar comes up and manages to abstract some of the things. If he is found out the ' rich nian' 'jftea persuades the shopkeeper to let him off with a flogging on acccoAnt of his ' extreme youth and apparent poverty.' " With a view to watching the Bhudduks in Goruckpore, a special police was located in that district in connection with a similar police in Gondali. It was discovered that the Bhudduks were not'implicated in any of the dacoitee cases, though they are still a disreputable and most debauched race. ]\Ir. Court considered that the Bhudduk settlement at Salikram in Goruckpore should not be allowed to dwindle away, as many of the Budduks, who were ejected from the police, i^jsorted to it, instead of returning to forest-life and crime. Of other resident profess- ional dacoits and thieves, the Meenas were now the most formidable, but they were not residents of these provinces, but of the Goorgaon district in tJie L^unjab provinces, and in the foreign territory of Ulwur, and could not therefore come under the observation of the North- Western Province police. They are a formidable gang of dacoits, addicted to armed attacks on houses and on traffic carts ; and they travel any distance in pursuit of ^ dacoitee. • Aheriahs, residents in AUygurh, Mynpoorie knd Etali districts ' combine for highAvay robbery chiefly. The BehHialis were found in Etawah and part of C^wupore ; Bhowreeahs in Cawnpore, ; JPasses on the Gynges banks from Futtehpore to AMaliabad, andtlienceon the border 'Villages of Jounpore ; and these were all resident criminals, who more or Jess, united for violent attacks upon property. In their owj districts they were almost universally the village chowkeedars, but not the less 208 SPECIAL CAUSES IN INDIA REQU^iRINr- REFORMATOHY MEASURES — " OUR CRIMINAL "IRIBEo." habitually addicted to plundering elsewhere. The wanderhig tribes of piofessional criminals are large in numbw. The Sanseealis, Kunjurahs, and Harboorahs, are the most notorioua The men scatter dbout iu searclf of plunder. The younger Avonran attach themselves to village proprietcys and others, who give shelter and assistance to the ti-ibe ; and though search of the camp will seldom fail to recover stolen property, the only offenders to be found are decrepid old women or children, with whom it is impossible to deal, and the seizure of whom necessitates the care and keep of numerous donkeys, goats and dogs, which they invariably possess in considerable numbers. The Sanseeahs are addicted to the manufacture of counterfeit coin, in addition to thieving. The only way of dealing with criminal tribes seemed to be by detaching a police cons- table or offiCel to accompany and keep watch over their camps." There are many other criminal tribes scattered through this province ; amongst whom the Goojurs are probably the most numerous, and are addicted chiefly to cattle stealing* The Bowreahs and Harnees are also numerous, but the Meenas are the most celebrated. These men live entirely by dacoitee, and plundering expe- ditions carried on at long distances from their own houses ; they work all over Central India, and from the southern-most , part of the Pnnjab down to Bombay. The following extract shoVvs their mode of oper,^tions, how widely spread are their depredations, and how systematically carried out. Extract from a letter from Lieutenant Colonel J. C. Brooke^ CjftciatiTig Political Agent, Jeypore, to Major General G. St. P. Lawrence, C. B., Agent, Governor General, No. 85-35 J, dated \st December 1862, " 6. The mode in which the Meenas proceed is as follows : — They leave their villages in gangs of twelve to twenty men, each gang under a favourite jemadar ; and three or four jemadars, with their quotas, join together in most ventures. They remain away fi-om their homes sometimes for a year or two ; their beats are either towards Hyderabad* in the Deccan, Malwa, or Guzerat. On arriving at a district, they spread themselves through the several towns, some in the disguise of fakeers or brahmins, some as sellers of grass or wood, some as brick-makers, &c. They will steadily continue at th^ trade they have chosen for months, till they are considered residents of the place and find an opportunity of em-iching themselves, -ftheu they all join and commit the robbery or burglary, and reth-e to then- homes for the distribution of the booty. " 7. The families of the Meenas during their absence are fed by , bunyas, who are jiMd on the retarn of the expedition. As the plunder is generally in bullion, the bunyas also maj-e a large profit by the purchase of the booty at much'- below its value. It being diffi(?alt for the Meenas to convey through the country large suras of money,' camel^ *aj-e frequently hu-ed before starting, and the owner of a c?mei shares equally with the men of the gang. In one case ( No. 12) the » \ special' CAUSES IN tCNDIA KEQUIRINa REFORlrlATORY 209 measurI:s — " OUR criminal tribe'^s." > t » Meenas, being unprovided with carriage, (|i-essed up some of their number as Government ch,upprassees, and so escaped search ; yit generaUy speaking, the CustQjns officers of the Kative States have to be bought over. On arriving at their homes the Meenas are » liable to be imprisoned and squeezed of a portion of their illicit gai'^s by the local district oliicers, thannadars, and others, who are well aware ot the cause of their absence, and are on the look-out for their return. Thus all parties are interested in the success of the 'expeditious, whilst the Meenas seldom secure much for themselves ; ftud from the way in which such property is acquired, it is quickly squandered. The Meenas are, therefore ever ready to start on fresh expeditions. " 8. The gomastahs and servants of the bankers who are robbed frequently connive at the rdbbery and share in the gain. » In one case which lately came to my notice a Bhopal banker's gomastah, whost? home lay in the Jeypore territory, engaged a gang of about 20 Meenas from his native village to rob his employer : he also took a bunya with the gang to supply them with food. The Meenas disguised themselves as jogees and fakecrs, lived near the banker for nearly a 3-ear, so as to become well acquainted with the pi'emises, &c., and took their food froiji their own bunya, who was paid for the same by the gomastah. The banker, however, treated the supposed fakeei^ with such kindness, jthat, Avhen the time came, the Meenas positively refused to perpetrate any dacoitee on his property. However, as they had no intention of returning empty-handed, they committed a higli^ way robbery elsewhere, on their own account, the bunya who supplied food decamping with them. The gomastah informed against the Meenas, as they refused to give him a share of the ventm-e they* had themselves "^ undertaken. Many others of the cases now reported are som^vhat similar, but the above will be sufficient as an example of the system. " 9. On enquiry at Kote I was told that there Avere at least four or five gangs absent at tb is very time lookiug'out for plunder.* Dejioo aud Jemah, two jemadars of Shajehanpore, are away toward*>Malwa or Guzerat ; Dhokla, Jhep of Maunda, in Jouorawutfcee, and Jora, have also gone in the same direction ; Khema, sou of Geedoo, is towai'ds Hyderabad. Each gang has from 10 to 20 men in it. - " 10. The Meenas who commit these raids inhabit an extent of country aboirt 60 or 70 miles in length and about 4u in breadth, extending from Shahpoorah, a town 40 miles north of Jeypore, to Shajehanpore, in Goorgaon. Their most noted haunts are Kote Pootlee in the Khetree State, Bhyrore, and ShajehanjDore. The plundering Meenas are supposed to number about 1,400 ;* of these, about 500, including some of the principal jemadars, reside at Shajehanpore and its neighbourhood, and about the same number ia the Krrte Pootlee district. There are about 300 at Bhyrore, Gazee ka Thaunah, S^c, and the same number in Neemka Thannah, Jonoi-a- wuttee, and Butteesea as the country about Shahpoora is called." Meenas, Extract from police report for 1865 : — •, " We have altogether 535 adult males in this district (Goorgaon), of whom when measures for their repression Avere commenced in June "•1863, only 251 were present, the rest being reported as absent on r^-ed^tory excursions, Now^our list shows»384 present, and 15], *aDseut; the absentees being thus accounted for :— • 210 SPECIa£ causes in India KEQUlfaNGtiKEFORMATORY Me'aSUR^S — " OUR CRIMINAL ^RIBESi" In jail in variow native states, ... 90 \ „ , British territory, k 10 In custody of Tliuggee Departnk?nt, ... ... la «• 118 Still at large, ... 33 Total, ... 151 Those in jail in various native states are scattered through all the states, showing how large an extent of country they roam^ver. There are not more .than 535 adult Meenas Belonging to this province, and of these only 33 are un- accounted for. Besides those mentioned there are other tribes addicted to criminal pursuits, and also various wander- ing tribes of gypsies ; these last, though not generally com- plained of, yet are known to lose no opportunity of pilfering, and are ol^^en of necessity placed under surveillance. Any detailed account of these tribes is unnecessary ; the nature of the preventive measures which have been found necessary, tried, and proved to succeed to some extent, has been '^sufficiently de*scribed. , The same measures have been I believe again tried in the ITorth Western Provinces, and with advantage. As regards criminals from all classes in society, we 'lia^ in 1865 under surveillance 46,117 persons, who had been convicted once or oftener of one or more of the following offences : — dacoitee, administering poisonous drugs, robbery, theft, house-breaking of all kinds, coining, kidnap- ing, bad livelihood. This is only the number of offenders ascertained by the police to be offenders : unquestionably, considering our criminal tribes, gypsies, beggars, vagrants &c., we have really very many more who do not live by honest pursuits. 6,979 persons convicted of one or more of the above offences were released from jail during the year and discharged on society ; on the other hand 5,843 were released from surveillance. The numbOi^ of prisoners in our jails does not seem to' decrease, the daily average in 1863 was 9,834'45, and iA 1864, 9,502-4i: I have not the report for 1865. liV«1863, 20,575 were received :into the jails. Jn 1864, 22,417 ditto, ditto. CDNCLtJSION. ^ * 211 In 1864, 718 juveniles were convicted of offence^ for which they were liable to whipping ; of ihese 279 were whipii- ed, 319 whipped and imprisoned, and 122 imprisoned. I feel sure this number, 718, dot^ not fully represent all the' juve- niles either addicted to crime or even punished for it, but it is all our statistics show. The majority of ^hese would have been much benefitted by good reformatory treatment in- stead of imprisonment and whipping. Taking our daily average in jail at 9,500, and at large as 45,000, we have 54,000 known offendeVs, of whom about 20,00e' are yearly passing in and out of jail, and 9,500 permanently in jail. , » Comparing our known ofi"enders at large with England and Wales, excluding tramps and vagrants, of whom we have as yet no correct register, the returns show : — ■ Punjab known offenders at large, . . 1864, 45,000 England and Wales, .. 1864, 84,817 Proportion to population. England, population = 20,061,725 or 4;1 offenders to. 1,000 p«)ple. Punjab, = 14,97^,250 or 3 do. CHAPTER VIII: CONCLUSION. My task is now completed. I have endeavoured to show why it is desirable to profit by the experience of other countries, and to introduce into India such ^legislative, preventive and reformatory measures as in those countries have been proved to greatly tend to the prevention of crime and *o the reformation of the offender. I have also shown at some Ichgth, the principles on which these measures depend, and the measures themselves, together with the opinions' of all the most eminent of the authorities of Europe on this important subject. The duty of the* State in every country has been most fully shovfti by the various authorities 'guoted in this work, and their arguments need noti "to be strengthened. The excellence of the principles and of the 212 * f cokclus/On. j measures has been proved by experience ; tbe necessity of ti^^ir introduction itito India, I ^liave attempted to prove, but freely admit tliat the attempt §»-eatly needs the sapport of far more powerful advocates. *I trust however that at any rate it may be the means of inducing others to give their aid towards the intriduction into India of the principle, proclaim- ed in 1861 by the Right Honorable Thomas O'Hagan, Her Majesty's Attorney General of Ireland, '' that for all prac- tical purposes human law should deal with crime not to avenge, bivt'to prevent and to reform." Or, as enunciated by the House of Commons in 1856, "that in addition to the Jixed portion of the sentence considered to be the minmum period of atonement for the offence, it is necessary that there should be another portion of the sentence for the protection o-r the publjc." * It is that other portion whijh allows to the prisoner hope to ameliorate his sentence by his own exertions, and within which the effects of his former reformatory treatment are tested prior to his. •free discharge into society ; and it is prescribed in order that proper protection may thereby be insured Jbo society against those who are proved not to be reformed. Now as regards India, not only do we possess the same causes which in Europe are found to produce crime, (though as yet those causes may perhaps not prevail to the same,extent) but in our criminal tribes, where crime is hereditary and systematically carried on from father to son, we possess additional causes. It will be said that the populations of India are so scattered, that as yet they present no similarity to those of Europe ; that crime in India is not either in n?iture or Extent such as to require for the security of Kfe and property any special reformatory measures for its suppression. It is true that our populations are scattered, and specially so the rural . portions ; but we possess large towQS anc^ cities where all the cu'cumstanoes incidental to crime in towns in Eftrope are to « be found, either Jull-blown or germinating. Thq' extraordinary spread of that fearful' practice " thuggee, "' CONCLUSION. ^ • 213 (which even now requires an extensive establishment to be maintained for its prevention) shows what even our scatt'ererl populations can do ; and^the brief sketch I have given of its practices shows how necessJirily stringent were the preven- tive measures adopted in its suppression. It is true we have suppressed it ; though we are still obliged* to maintain a special agency to keep it down ; and some persons may argue from the success of this "Agency" known as the Thuggee Department, that the same preventive measures without any reformatory efforts would be sufficieifffor deal- ing satisfactorily with all our criminals. But are such persons prepared to hang, trans'port or imprison for life every hri)itual offender who contimies in crime ? For such was the treatment all thugs received (and justly) who persisted in thuggee. If they^will do so, then I grant that the criminal will indeed be inca^acdtated from committing crime, and his reformation may, so far as security to life and property is concerned, be ignored. But society will not thus incapacitate for ever the habitual offender ; it must therefore, if it desires immunity from his oft-recurring offences, take such meaEPures as will tend to reform him. Now in very truth the Thuggee Department did to a very great extent also aim at reform- ing its prisoners ; for it established industrial prisonV, and kept within them, not only the thug but his whole family ; it trained up the children in habits of industry ; and the excellence of their manufactures are known throughout all India. Observe the wisdom of its practice ; it incapacitated the thug during his life, but it did not thereby throw a whole family on tlie world to steal or to starve J *it knew that unless cared for, the children infallibly would try and follow »the father's practices, and so it took care of the whole family ; kepf". up the humanizing and beneficial influence of family ties when freed from criminal influences, and no doubt did quite as much to suppress thuggee, • if not more, by this care for the cliildren, thafi was ever e'^Sfected by hang- ing or transporting i?lie parents. IJ; must not be inferred from 't}iis that the reformatory efforts of the Tliuggee Department Aver(^ complete; but it did what it'could, under the teisting 214 ♦ OONCLUSVN. ■ •' .. .' • cirGumstances : it incapacitated the thug and his whole fe,mily, and made them pay for their support so far as their labor couM* and it allowed the mgn to earn money also for thenaselves and families, There'are at present no proper arrangements for aiding '\e families of dfctdsed thugs towards earniw^ an honest livelihood : we have taken 16 thug boys ircO + he police in the ho]>e of thereby helping them to shake off J e bad instincts attaching to their birth, but as yet the result is not so good as it might be ; hecau'se ,their traifiilig aad education have not'been such as to produce really good results »vith Sf -de de' ree of certainty. Until the legislature will consent to linprisou halituals for life or until they are reformed, and thereby incapacitat'^ them from committing offences, rendering their reformation a matter not so directly affecting the interests of 'oociety, we niuSt, if from selfish motive, alune, endeavour to, effect their refor-^ mation as well as their punishment before they are discharged into society. The habitual preys on soci'ity ; he is constantly obnoxious to the security oi life and property ; society there- forer is of necessity greatly interested in his being incapaci- tated, either by perpetual c^nfi ement or by mental refor- mgitiont The Recorder of Birmingham, Mr. Hill, writes in his report on the Irish system : — " Keep your prisoners iiuder soi.nd and eulighfened discipline unti they are reformed ; keep tiiem for ycur '"wu sakes, and for theirs. The vast majority of all who enter .^ our pvioons as criminal r-an be sent back into the world after no unreasonable term of probation, honest men and useful citizens. Let the small minority remain, and if death aiTive before reformation let them remain for life." In the ordinary state of society under civilized and vigorous Governments, any constant increase of crime year by year may be clearly traced, as a general rule, \o the increase of tlie criminal race, and not to any greater activity on their part. ' ^ For short jJeriods crim'e often increases from various causes, but as those causey pass away so* does the .increase* Agaip, under civilized and vigorous Governments, as a ruli?,' all opeil and violent offences against property should decrbascj ■INCLUSION. 21i and be kept well down by preventive measilres alone ; buf as the criminal population increases, so criraes, though they will assumei^ less heinous form^ will assuredly greatly and steadi]ly increase year by year. This is, in the Punjab, to some e^Jtent shown by thuggee being supplanted by " poisoning,' * which has been taken to by those who no longer daije to carry on thuggee ; and inasmuch as it is used not so much to produce death as insensibility, the victims often recover and so it may be considered a less heinous form of crime than thuggee. Offences not of^ a very heinous nature have I also believe increased all over India during the last ten years, showing an increase in the criminS,! population. I have not the statistics to prove this, as regards all India ; but for this province the following figurer seem to support it. Owing to the Penal Code and its nomenclature not having been intro-» duced prior to 1st ^January 1862, a comparison with earlier years cannot be made. Taking 1862 as compared with 1865 we have : — Noif-BAILABLF^ OrFENCES. Bailable. 1862. 1865, a- 1862. 1865. Incre'ase per ceirt. Frontier districts Trans-Indus, ... Cis-Indus, 3,021 18,813 3,895 20,623 28-9 9-6 4,337 18,493 4i^78 26,854 10- 45- Value of property stolen and recovered :— Stolen. Recovered. 1}562, .. 7,08,975 2,87,003 = 40 per cent. 1863, •.. 7,11,284 1,93,738 = 27 1864, ,. 8,94,340 2,47,734 = 27 1865, .. 9,61,827 3,08,134 =.: 32 Our violent crime, with the exception of astidden out-burst by da'ioits in 1864— nearly the whole of whom have been, captured — has not become of a m9re violent charactfti> but petty offences have largely increased. 216 CONCLUSIOI^ „ The statistics 'of the Central Provinces show that the criminal classes are faking more to the perpetration of lesser ol^iences, aacl abandoning the greater. The Chief Commis- sioner observes : — "A?j regards the state of crime the first noticeable circumstance is the decrease of all kinds of the most heinous and dangerous offences : — these have fallen fnam 323 in 1864 to 265 in 1865 ; the decrease being 17 per cent. The next noticeable circumstance in the report is the progi'essive increase of the lesser crimes, chiefly against property. " Last year the Chief Commissioner pointed out various reasons for supposing that if a part of this increase may be nominal still a large part is real. If the increase merely arose ft'om improved reporting it fwould be more general than it is ; Avhereas it is very diverse, being found considerable in some districts and not at all in others ; while in some on the contrary there is a decrease/ You justly observe that ,this year's report abounds with facts tending to the same conclusion. The Judicial Commissioner also holds that there is a real increase. And «iu several districts the Deputy Commissioners allege that the distress arising tcx individuals fi'om the rise of prices of food provokes crime." From the Police Report of Central .Provinces. 1864. 1865. Cjenteal Provinces, r . fTha^-s, 2 1; Dacoits, " .., 3 1 '^ -i Poison, 4 1 j| 1 For sake of robbery, l_ Ordinary, 17 IQ ' 60 65 ^ Attempt at murder. 11 12 •4 Culpable homicide, 13 la Grievous hurt and aggravated assault, 26 21 Rioting with deadly weapons, 1 Do. Ordinary, 30 29 Dacoitee, 33 23 Robbery with hurt or deadly weapons, 32 17 Rpbbery, Theft with preparation for hurt. 54 39 ' 8 9 Rape, ... Total of Class I. 'Theft by house-breaking and house-trespass, Cattle theft, 29 23 323 L 265 ' 5,633 7,140 H 1,125 970 2 Ordinary, thefts, 9,495 9,585 Receiving stolen property, ^ 426 542 . A Mischief by' lire, , Coining, &c., ... , ... ' ... " , • ' Total of Class II. 29 17 "^ 1 14 8 <- < 16,6.32 1^.26;: r|0NCLUSION. 217 Tlie table sliows, serious offences— decre.*se, . . 21 p'er cent. Less ditto increase,. . 9 dittol Tr>king the Penal Cocle classification, the Police report of the Central Provinces shows : — Non-Bailable, . Bailable, . . . 1864. 1865. 10,734 • 2,388 18,774 3,078 , * Increase. 12 per cent. 54 ' ditto. T]ie Indian Penal Code includes under the heading non- bailable ^lany petty offences ; but still the comparison under its headings, non-bailable and bailable is useful, and shows that offences of • a lesser nature are increasing in th^a ■t Central Province^ as in the Punjab, at a greater ratio than the more serious. It is necessary to note here that in this province all offences reported are recorded as offences, unless by a magisterial order an offence is declared not to have occurred. This may often lead to offences being reccjded that did not really occur ; but the rule is necessary, and for all comparative purposes the returns are not affected by ^ it. If to the foregoing considerations, we add the fact, that the practical working of each of the various religions prevailing in India, does not produce as high, a state of morality as exists in Europe amongst those ranks of society which by their position are above the ordinary temptations to crime, and that the moral tone of native society, in India is infinitely below that of Europe, we see another cause tending, however indirectly, yet surely to afiect the increase or decrease of criminals and of crime ; a cause, moreover, which will not be checked by solely preventive measures. Man is an imitative animal; the loAver orders naturally .to some extent copy the higher j if a low ipne of morality prevails amongst ,the latter, a lower still may bo ex- , pected amongst the former. Pirhaps some will be found to ijrge that as the religions of the governed never iji' 'India 218 CONdLUSIOl^ are those of the 'governors, so as we cannot attempt to influence the minds .of the criminal class by religious teach- ing, we may not hope for success in" any reformatory measures. Now, without in the very sligh^-est degree impugning the great effect on the mind of religious influence, on the contrary, acknowledging fully its immense vali'O, yet it appears to me very evident (as has boen rep^^atedly shown in this work), that there are certain measures w^nch may with advantage be brought 'o bear or an offender no matter what his creed is : there aj^e certain -instincts universally implanted in huma^ *iiatui'e, whio„ may be acce 1 on ; ? id to take the lowest, self-interest, the Recorder of Lxrmi'igham, Mr. Hill, has shown how that is the first acted (»n at Met ray, and how .pauch it is appealed to- YIe, all kno^^ ho?' pcAverful an incentive it is, either to good or to bid conduct ; and 1 can see ro loason why we shbuldnot work on i 'n this coun* y, and endea\our to convince the piisoner how we can and v *11 make it more advantageous to his self-interest to do gooa than to do evil. If we once convince him of is we shall certainly have con- siderably aafanced t onwards, inducing him to do good find Abstain from evil. j^lsewHere I have fully shown the admirable mode adopted in Ireland foi producing this ve^y ccnvicti'^n in 'the -^.nind of tne prisoner He ib convinced that it ^s the ^esii-e of the Gover^^ -^iient ard me bject of the pris^ri treatment to reform as -^-.41 as to punish ^ n : he is made to feel the severity of the punishment s'irel>' - ~^ied to crime : he sees that all around him wish him V ' ant '^ aid him to do well ; he knows thac after discharge .,. I •.; endeavours to earn 5>n honest livelihood he Avill receive si ^ficient aid to do so, but that ii he persists in crime Le will infaliiblj be soon caught and re-committed to a longer term of p,unish- ment. I have ^hown how Sir Walter Crofton individuahzed each prisoner, sought for the goo 1 which is so often to be found in men when least expected, and always treated men as if they had it, ujitil he found they neither had it nor would* receive it. The education aimed at ins'.ucmg self -respect, and a love of honest industry ; and I may add, again quoting. MissNj'erpenter :--;:'' . * ' CONCLUSION.* "* 219 " The total absence of religious bias in the^admlnistration of the prison laws and rules, both as regards oflScers and prisoners, ai>' 1. their promotions, has not failed to se^cure that respe(!t and obedience which seldom attends partiality, especially in Ireland where' the people are veiy sensitive in relig' jus matters.' , » o Now all these practical a^^" £ would say common sense measures m" 7 surely be en torced in the treatment of pri- soners in Inaia ; and we need not abstain from all reforma- tory measures, because we way not force on our prisoners the Christian religion. ' ■> • I have shown the reformatory and preventive measures' in force against om* crim^xial tribes ; and there is no doubt, that in justice to the honest portion of our population, it is necessary (until all habitual criminals are subjected to re- strictive measures, of an effective kind) to exercise a surveil- lance over, and keep under certain restraints, tbose tribes which have been and are from generation to generation ad- dicted to criminal pursuits, as a means of livelihood. The principle was enforced with advantage in the . North Western Provinces by Mr , Cfiarles Raikes, \^hen magistrate of Mynpooree, against the Bahilias, a thieving race. Mr. Court, Inspector General of Police North Western Provinces, fully carried it out against various tribes ; and, as I have shown, the Board of Administration in this province instituted it against the Sansees and Harnees and other criminal races. But if this measure is found to I5e wise and necessary ; if because a man belongs to a criminal tribe he is assumed to be addicted to criminal pursuits, (even though he may never have been convicted of an offence, or even known to the police as a criminal by repute), and is there- fore sabjected to the surveillance and restraints imposed on the whole tribe, afrrHori is it wise and necessary to enforce at least equally stringent rules of surveillance, &c., against those mdn who though they do not happen 'to belong by birth to any one of the knov/n criminal trib^, are yet well know!» by previous convictions, o by repute, .and by their practice, to be habitual offender'f. This is a point ,which deci(ledly calls for legiijlative action. As matters now stand 520 ' , • CONCLUSIOR^ / ' the habitual offender when discharged from our jails can oply be called on to"- give security for future good conduct ; and if he cannot find it he is liable to simple imprisonment witlwut labor. Practically thii^ apparent hold over an habitual is of no use whatever. Many habituals can give the security out- of their previous ill-gotten gains, or get other persons to be security for them ; they then go off to other parts of the country, and though living by crime yet until caught and convicted are free from all restraint. As a rule magistrates shrink from coTrimitting a man to prison if he cannot give security, and is merely charged as being an " habitual," or as being a man with no ostensible means of livelihood. If each habitual offender were on dis- charge subjected to the restrictive measures now imposed on our criminal tribes, and was punished if he resisted those measures ; and if we had thoroughly efficient systems of registry for all offenders, and second offences were punished in all cases more severely than first offences, and so on ; we might with 'justice .relieve our criminal tribes from the unenviable distinction thVy now possess ; tending as it does to destroy the growth of self-respect ; and we might keep uncler 'proper restraint all habituals, no matter of what class-', and without reference to their parentage. Amongst the various measures noticed in this work, the following ^t any rate appear to be such as L}ay be advan- tageously and without difficulty introduced into India : — I. f The legislative action ; whereby, as before explained, the principle of " hope" is allowed to all prisoners, habitual or casual. II. Individualization ; whereby each prisoner is treated individually, and has his progress to liberty, which depends on himself, tested by the system of marks, for industry and good conduct. <' ' • ' III. The separation!, of habituals from casuak ; not only iia the treatment theyi receive by law, but in our jail arrangements. ' CONCLUSION. ' ^ 221 IV. Such a system of jail disciplin'i that one prisoner will not have the opportunity as at present of contaminating the o^^her. One main feature in the system • being llie providing separate sleeping ° cells for each prisoner, wiiether habitual or casual : facts having proved that if tlii^ is not done great evil and contamination do result, amounting even to unnatural crime. The present system of prisoners sleeping together in one long ward is a great and a crying evil, producing all kinds of immorality, and utterly destroying any good or deterrent effect in jail discipline. ^ « .1 I c{?^not too strongly urge this practical measure. No question of expense should for one instant be allowed to delay it. V. The introduction of the system of the intermediate stage and the ticket of leave. * VI. The employment of adults of the laboring classes who reach the intermediate stage, on public works. VII. The establishment of industrial buildings for the' manufacturing classes who reach the intermediate stage. VIII. The proper supervision of all prisoners, after discharge, with an efficient system of registry, inclilt'dng the use of photography, so that the previous career and offences of a prisoner may be known when brought to trial. IX. The establishment of agricultural Colonies and reformatory establishments for juveniles. X. The establishment in connection with each jail of an industrial house for the benefit of discharged prisoners, or of the honest poor who seek work but cannot find it. XI. The allotting of a portion of the Government Edu- cational grant to the establishment of schools for low caste children, especially those of the classes described. XII. The establishment Of industrial) feeding schools on tl^e principles ■jf)roved to succeed in the United Kingdom ; such institutions being specially valuable to rescue juveniles not yet guilty of offerjces before they join the ranks ^oi crime. 222 < ' CONCLUSION/ , '' / ■ XIlI. The Extension to all '' hnhhicds' of special restrictive measures, jvithout reference to whether they are members of a criminal tribe or not.' ^ ^IV. The extension of our reformatory measures to all criminal tribes which, like the Sansees, &c, can, as has been shown, be eollected, located together, and obliged to live by agriculture ; but such measures to be placed on a thoroughly efficient footing, especially as regards supervision by suitable officers. , XV. Hard labor to form a part of all sentences. XVI. A proper systeiji of aid to discharged prisoners. XVII. Proper provision by law for all beggars, vagrants, &c. and for the poor, in every large city ; so that begging may be with justice made punishable by la^^, — the measure to be extended to small towns &c. according to the necessity. XVIII. Statistical returns of crimes for all India, so as to show the practical working of our laws and preven- tive measures ; and to admit not only of comparing province *with^r)rovince,*but with.the returns of the United Kingdom : — such returns being perfbctly possible and by no means difficult to arrange. ' It 'will be said that these measures will entail a greater expense than the country can afford : no doubt the expense at first starting as regards buildings will be considemble, and subsequently as regards establish- ments ; but I conceive each Local Government might wisely be empowered to introduce within certain limits local taxation ^y meet say a moiety of these expenses, and to relieve the imperial exchequer of one-half the expense. The principle seems to me most just; of course * local circumstances regulating the extent to which it is carried out. So long as the management remains with each Local Government, and is not too must trusted to local managers, I think the peopie should be "given a share in the manage- ment, and every encouragement to take afi interest in the raeasu^^s. Their aid to allrlischarged prisoners is of course, imperatively necessary, ancl judging fi»om the support they >C0NCLUSI0N. > 223 \ I gave to the Sansee Kot scheme, and 'from their general character, I feel sanguine of their, not failing Us in this ijiatter. It is most important to develop as mifch as possible the action 'of the people themselves, but we must not risk the success of such great meaStires on the independent action of a number of local boards, free from Government control and direction. If these great measures are introduced we shall at any rate be doing what is possible, to reform the criminal committed to our jails, and may cert&inly expect not only to dq much good, but to reap great advantage therefrom. The actual expenses I have alluded to will I believe be more thlin repaid by the reduction in the number of our prisoners, and consequently in the cost of prosecution and jails. For the last six years it has been my desire ^o see these measures introduced. In the Police report for 1862, I drew attention to the Irish system ; to the necessity of effi- cient registry and surveillance of habituals ; and to statistics. I urged the adoption of the measures found so ' advanta3eous in Ireland. In 1863 I went to Ireland, personally examined the working of its penal measures, also those of Mettray in France ; the Irish system of police ; that of EnglalVil, and its reformatory measures. Three years further experience compels me but the more strongly to urge the recognition in India of those reformatory principles which I thon urged and now again advocate. In 1862 I then reported, vide Police report of that year ; " 111 the United Kingdom the necessity of close attention being direct- ed to the class of habitual offenders, has been fully felt ; the greatest efforts are now made to ascertain the effects of prison discipline on these classes; and to'carry out such a continued system of prison discipline and police sm'veillance, tijat the offender shall if possible be reclaimed, and if not, that society shall be protected from him. The effect of prison discipline must ever be a subject of the greatest interest to a police officer ; indeed the prisoipand police authorities, experience has proved; succeed best when working together in the closest accord/' ;^ Sir Walter Ci'bfton observes,>on this point :— " From what has been stated, it wi^jl I think be evident t^iit it is witLin oui* power to remove the nationUl blot of having i'j annually 224 CONCLUSION, I recorded, 'that very ma-.iy thousands of habitual offenders are making crim^, their vocation ; and are setting the law at defiance by means of their immunity. That by- an united and concurrent action against crime, on -the part of penal legislation, prison sj^stem and police action, such a course, is not only practicable but that it is very far from being difficult. Let things remain as they are and crime will multiply again and again ; our convict prisons and their cost will increase ; and the action of our police and reformatory schools be to a great extent nullified." Habitual offenders certainly in tliis province liave not decreased in number since 1862. In that year I reported tliat the police were specially directing their attention to two great poin**:sj — "I. Such a knowledge of habitual criminals that it shall be hardly possible for one of that- class to be sentenced by a,magistrate without the magistrate after convicting the prisoner being duly informed of the antecedents of the said criminal ; the object being to ensure a longer sentence then would otherwise have been passed. The opportunity to the Jail department of the long sentence being theirs to turn it to the benefit of society, by doing all they can to reform tbo prisoner. " II. Slch sm-veillance over habitual offenders out of jail, that whilst the offenders shall be aided to try and earn an homtst livelihood, society shall be protected from their depredations." We then had under surveillance 33,001 offenders. In . 1865, we had.46,117 under surveillance. It must not be supijosed that the whol»e of those under surveillance are habitual offenders. Many have only been convicted once ; and directly it is ascertained that thay have lived so long by honest practices as to be fairly considered reformed, they are struck off our rolls. For instance, in this year (1865) 6,979 prisoners were discharged from jail, having been convicted of one or other of the following offences ; and 5,843 were struck off our rolls as no lonjff r requiring surveillance. Released from jail 1865. Offence. No. Offence. ' No. Theft, Ditto of cattle', Highway robbery^' Robbeiy, House-breaking, , " 2,839 1,142 30 25 1,>07 Dacoitee, Poisoning, T. Coining, Receiving stolen property. Kidnapping, Bad livelihood, 12 7 33 582 1 24 1,175 {lONCLUSION. ' -» 225 I much regret that it has not beefi possible to ^how by statistics, how crime has fluctuated $luring the last 10 or 15 years in each province in India, or even in this province ; but in truth the statistics so far as I can ascertahi do not exist in such a form as to admit of a comparative state- ment being made ; and certainly, as the new nomenclature of the Penal Code was introduced in 1862, it would be difficult to make any reliable comparison between crime 1 years ago and now. So far I freely admit, that I cannot strongly prove by statistics the necessity of reformatory measures ; but on the other hand, let the many causes of crime which exist i^ this couiltry be recollected, tlie prevalence of paganism, false rel'igions, the low moral tone of the people, rich and poor, the reputed corruption attaching to the great majority of natives employed- in our judicial administration, the want of confidence in o:^r courts so generally felt by rllatives, and consequently the great extent to which crime is concealed by many sooner than suffer the loss of time and money attach- ing to a prosecution, when they are liable to be kept wait- ing, to receive little or no remuneration for t'heir time* and trouble, and to be in many ways subjected to inconvenieoice if to nothing worse. Consider again our numerous criminal tribes, our hordes of vagrants, mendicants, &c., who swai-m at all the large fairs, sacred places, and at all large public gather- ings, who are habitually addicted to crime, and of the num- ber of whom owing to the wandering habits of mrjny we have not even a correct estimate. It is to me quite inconceivable that crime does not exist in this province, or in any part of India, to an extent which, considering the benefit of society alone, requires reformatory treatulent. I feel sure that we do not yet know the full amount of ciime which exists ; and that with many of the causes known to exist in Europe and to produce crime ( such as crowded populations in cities &c., ), and ai'so with many causes peculiar to India, it is a tact that criihe does exist to an ey^iCnt demanding reformatory-^treatment.' .But let us take a higher view, and as I submit tje true view of thQ^ques- tiou ; were there but cme crimin^ii in this province, it is our 226 . CONCLUSIOI^I duty so to treat tlmt one man, that whilst we punish him we also help him to become a reformed character. Lord Brougham last year at the Social Science Meeting thus spoke regarding England's reformatory measures :— " aSTotliiiig can be more satisfactory than the proceediugs last year with respect to the reformatory system, and credit is due to the Home Department, of which we had formerly reason to complain. The great changes which have been eftected are entirely in accordance with the views often urged by the Association and its supporters. In the class of penal servitude ; the subdivision of large prisons ; the introduction of the mark system ; the reduction of the excessive gi-atuities, and of the dietary ; the use of photygKiphy ; and the giving police' superintendence ( beneficial iiot only to the public at large but to the convicts themselves ) are cjreat and important improvements ; a)|d these, together wit' the ^se ot inter- mediate prisons in certain cases, have approached ur own system to the Irish. ,, " The great principle has now received full effect that the term of punishment should be lessened not merely by the convict''? - ondu *■ since his imprisonment, but by his subsequet^t conduct, until tn^ sup -_ion now first at tally exercised under the ticket of leave has e f wbicb the convict, after a series of gradations, is .. d to ab"rr'^ '>ut dull kepi in check by the deterrent principle of supervisicn. ^-jy this means are reconcikd tte punishment of crime for the mfraci m of tne laws, and the requirements of society, with the theories of benevo- lent and compassionate individuals, and the associations which have been formed ^ " the assistance of the discharged offender. Only thus can J:e uotained true consciousness in the convict's mind, of the great injustice which he has entailed on society by his guilt. There still exists much ignorance as to the requiremen;/S -^f justice, and its relations with the object of reformatoxy discipline in ^carry- ing out punishment. Originating in, and founded on justice, the nature of punishment consists in discipline, and should never be otherwise used, than so as to serve the further development ^.f the better qualities of humanity. The cause of punishment can alone be considered as an evil, and its effects should never produce any but good results ;;-a system of punishment which produces torpor and inaction in the mental faculties, is just a^^ unreasonable as the old exploded coercive treatment of the insane. The accompliihment - ■ ■ ' • •■ IS the reformation of the offender, by offender to perceive the necessity for of justice consequently requiv such •& system as enables tho his punxshmeut, and the amount of his- guilt j and it is only by *' *;iONCLUSION. ' > 227 penal discipline that tlie influencing motives oi\lie judicial sentence can be re-produced. The reformatory treatment of criminals is in- deed not always required, for there are some^cases of found breaches of law, ^not otherwise criminal, in which it would be unnecessary to require a reformatory treaitne^it. In such cases it is only -leces- sary that the punishment should be a manifestation of deterrent justice, but it ought to be such as would neither prevent moral pro- gress, nor entail the danger of corruption by association. Any punish- ment producing by its forms of discipline, despair, revengeful and angry feelings, or which hltmts the moral perceptions, or produces listlessness, is the greatest crime which a Government can commit, and is an outrage against religion., morality and laio." These true principles were sliadowed fortl) more than a hundred years ago by Oliver Goldsmith, in hiL well known' siory of ^ihe Vicar of Wakefield- ->-wherein he says : — " It were highly to be wished that legislative power would direct the' law rather to reformation than to severity ; that it would Boon be convinced that the work of eradicating crimes is not by making punishments famiUff but formidable. Then instead of our present prisons which finu or make men guilty ; which enclose ^wretches for the commission of a\ie crime, and return them, if returned alive, fitted for thfci perpetration of thousands ; it were to be wished that we had as in other parts of Europe places of penitence and solitude, where the accused might be attended by such as would give them repentance, if guilty, or new motives to virtue, if innocent. These people however fallen, are still men, and that is a very good 'title to ' my affections. Good counsel rejected, re^turhs to enrich the giver's bosom ; and, though the instruction I communicate may not m^nd them it will assuredly mend myself. If these wretches were princes, there would be thousands ready to offer their ministry : but, in 113- I ■ninion the heart that is buried in a dungeon is as precious as thau M^hich is seated on a throne. If I can mend them, I will; per- haps tney will not all despise me. Perhaps I may catch up even one from Lhe gulf and that will be a great gain ; for is there upon earth, a gem so precious as the human soul ?" j The I ttorney General for Ireland, the Right Honorable Thomas Hagan, who^e words I have already quoted, says :— ' ' " There is no mystery about it, no str.rt ag application of any moral power. It carries to a further result the doctrines which have already had their application to some extent in England, and more largely ctfi the continent of Europe, and in particular instances with special success, under Montesinos and Obermaier in Bavaria and Spain. It is not my province to judge how far it may be avail- able in other lands ; how far it may have had, as I think it has had, •some peculiar facilities for fortunate* application, fyom the circum- Btances of Ireland anrl the character of her people ; how far there may h% difficulties to overcome in appVing it to la?i'ger prison popu- lations, more deeply steeped in crime. These are questions of ^jfeig^t and importance, on which ' ihere may be diffevc'iice of opimou. I am content to* know that .a great good has been done, 228 (' ' CONCLUSION^ ^' % find a great exaiTipld» afforded ; that careful effort, pei^sevei'ingly ])ursue(l, has been found undoubtedly efficacious in the reformation of convicts and the dim'fnution of crime ; and that our country has reason to be pix)nd of the achievement and grateful for the^ bene- fit it confers ; and I am more than wi^lirf'^ to believe that as ' of one blood God formed all the nations of the earth,' as we are endowed with the same nature, prompted by the same impulses, and stimulated or controlled by the same affections and desii^es ; there is no good reason for supposing, that the experiment which has been so successful in Ireland should fail in other countries ; or that» according to their various circumstances and necessities, they should not be able, most yrnfifahhj, to apply the prluci^ples which have been so well tested here. r, " Let no man say that those who are friends of reformatory ir^stitutions aspire after an impossible Utopia, or indulge in dreams of the perfectibility of oiir earthiy state, such as deluded,. many irt the gencratiori that went before us. Whilst time lasts there will be poverty and sin. Society will need to resist its enemies and subdue them by stringent laws and heavy penalties. None know better than those who labor to improve it, how deceitful and wicked ia the human heart. But we do not refuse, because we cannot make our woi»ld a Paradise, to strive for its amendment, and though amongst the young and the old we may not iiope to, extinguish crime, which will surge or subside according to circumstances, we are surely bound to do what wo can, that its evils may be mitigated and its sphere contracted." J. trust tliat this n-ttempt to draw attention to this im- portant subject, the reformatory treatment of offenders, old and young, may induce many persons to bestow on it their careful 'consideration and cordial support. Our present system of treating offenders, either in or out of jail, appears to me to be most imperfect in many of its measures, and positively c^il in others ; but, that it is quite possible to re- move both the imperfections and the evils, and that it is our duty to do so. I cannot but think that the treatment of prisoners in- our jails is more calculated to contaminate and injure the morality of prisoners than to improve it, ( especially by the pernicious practice of prisoners sleeping togetfeer in long wards ) ; that it tends to ignore and therefore to blunt and deaden all the moral faculties ; that it"- should ^ do more than^'^merely teach prisoners to read and write; and that^ it does not as a rul^ impart to^ the prisoner any other instruftion of any kind likely to be, of the Slightest use to liiui morally or physically whea >^ C(ONCLUSION. 229 he is discharged from jail ; that its very system of strict restraint prior to absolute liberty is eminently calculated to make the prisoner who nas been confined for any time, unfit to be trusted with rlie liberty into which he is thus suddenly thrust ; and, lastly, that it makes no effoi t what- ever to aid or care for the prisoner when he is discharged. The system in this province, and I believe in other parts of India, aims at being most humane and considerate in its treatment of criminals ; and in truth in some ways it is to be feared that the prisoners live too well ; uut its treat-^ ment seems to aim at nothing beyond keeping the prisoners clean, healthy, well-fed, well-clothed, well-housed, under kind treatment, and in good condition ; all very good points in their way ; but something more is needed for the treat- ment of human beings ; lastly, it aims at obtaining a certain amount of labor, the produce of which sells well, and shows a good annual return, viewed as a financial speculation. Some years ago I caused careful inquiries to be made in every district, and in only one instance had a discharged , prisoner attempted to earn his livelihood by working at the trade taught him in jail. I am aware that some part of the time of jDrisoners must be occupied in work which they cannot follow when discharged, specially those be- longing to the agricultural classes; but still, before a prisoner is discharged, opportunity may and should be found to instruct him in those pursuits which' will benefit him on discharge. Jail discipline cannot be blamed for fostering idleness ; the law and not the jail produces this deplorable result, when it allows imprisonment, but not labor to be iufiicted on vagrants, tramps, &c. It may be said that at any rate our system inculcates habits of in- dustry and p^customs a man to work : certainly, if a man for many years has been forced to work a certain number of hours a day. he may have acquired the habit of workings from the same cause that a horse in a mill acquires the habit ,of constantly moving round in a circle ; but as during that period he has had no share iji the produce of his labors, tto i&ducemeut to be industrious, to take au inter«jst iiihi& 230 , ' CONCLUSION^ (, /, f < work, felt no benefit from it, the chances are that it always remains distasteful t(? him ; he knows not whether the value of his labors could support him oi^ not, and on discharge the OLly motive which made him -woik, namely force, being removed; he not unnaturally does not turn to that which has been his ^punishment for so many years. The reforma- tory system in Europe makes labor not simply a punish- ment, but also a privilege, a reward, a means of benefit to the man himself; this he sees, feels and proportionately appreciatec. , . I must now conclude, trusting I have shown that the treatment of criminals and the prevention of crime are measures which, deeply affecting the temporal and possibly the eternal interests of a large portion of the 200 mil- liens of Her Majesty's subjects in Indi^, are worthy of the attention and support of every Englishman who cares for the well-being of this great Empire, England's noblest possession, but to which attaches the very gravest respon- sibility. May the Almighty cause the hearts of many to take deep -Interest in this important subject; and may England be the highly honored instrument in His hands of doing much 'good to the numbers in this land, who, buried in ignorance, and in the degrading superstitions of paganism and of false religions, have not the light of His truth, nor the advantages of a higher civilization, restraining them from evil practices, and inclining them to good. Finis. C' HV 9792 H97r L 007 326 648 8 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 909 720 5