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or twice a year by the Master of the Crown-office, and some others connected with that department. Your Committee called before them Mr. Barlow, who had visited the prison many years in company with Mr. Templer the late master. No record is made of such visitation, and no minute entered in any book kept for that purpose. If any complaints are brought before the visitors, a report is made to the puisne Judge of the King's Bench. The duty of these visitors is only to see that the rules and regulations are observed. And, in respect of complaints, Mr. Barlow does not remember that any have been made since the time of Lord Mansfield." This, then, is a mere unmeaning ceremony; and from the very constitution of it can be, as it proves by experience, of no manner of use. By this unmeaning ceremony the Court of King's Bench confess their conviction of the importance of an efficient visitation, and abstain from affording it.

"The prison is ill lighted; and, even when the Committed saw it, extremely dirty, though they were informed that for some months it had not been so clean. It smelis not only from the sewers, but from the piles of dirt heaped up behind the prison, which are offensive and unwholesome. At present no attention is paid to cleanliness in the prison."

A prisoner who was examined, describes the room into which he was put in the following terms: "There was nothing in the room but bugs and all manner of vermin, as full as ever it could hold; I never saw such a place in my life; I laid out money upon it in consequence of the dirt."

It appears in evidence, that four shillings more than the legal entrance fee, and two shillings and eightpence more than the fees upon discharge, are regularly extorted; that is to say, the law is regularly broken, and the prisoners illegally plundered; and no check was applied, nor any inquiry performed. Mr. Brooshooft, the man to whom his own duties are completely made over by the Marshal, altogether exempt from check on his part, even that of inspection, confesses in evidence that he is in the habit of receiving presents from the prisoners and their friends; and the Marshal, when he is examined upon this subject, gives it as his opinion that there is no harm in taking presents. And when the turnkeys let rooms to the prisoners for great sums of money, Mr. Jones says that they take the money not for the room, but only for the use of the furniture. It stands in evidence that Morris and the other turnkeys take money in the shape of presents or bribes from the prisoners.

One circumstance is of a nature to freeze the blood with hor

. tor.

From ten o'clock at night till after eight the next morning, that is, very nearly one half of the four-and-twenty hours,. the prisoners are left entirely to themselves. There is no mischief which, during that time, they may not do, and may not suffer. It is astonishing that murders are not frequent. No turnkey remains in the prison; no person of authority whatsoever; nothing beyond the watchmen, of whom the regular complement is stated to be four. Though there is no medical assistance provided in the prison; during this great portion of their whole time no medical assistance can be procured. If a woman were to be taken in labour, and to be sure of perishing for want of relief, she cannot obtain it. The turnkeys are out of the prison, and the doors are locked. Even if the prison were on fire, a place into which 400, 500, and even so many as 600 persons are crowded, there are no means of extrication. No power exists of giving any alarm whatsoever to the outside. We will venture to challenge the whole world, even in its most barbarous state, to produce an instance of indifference to the fate of human beings, which, in the aggregate of its horrid circumstances, surpasses this.

Let it never be forgotten, that in all this mischief the mere jailers, whether principal or secondary, are but instruments; and comparatively innocent. They at whose door the guilt lies accumulated, are they who have all along enjoyed the power, and all along been placed under every kind of obligation, to prevent this prison from being a bad prison, and with a disregard of human nature, which is almost incredible in a civilized age, have left it in the state in which it now remains. :

Another circumstance is of such a nature that we do not choose to give it in our own words. We shall give it in the words iu which it comes out in the Evidence printed by authority of the House of Commons. The following question is put to the Warden of the Fleet: "Is there any provision to oblige the keepers of the King's Bench and Fleet to provide bedding for the prisoners?" This was an important question, because the hardship is extreme, as we have often had occasion to remark, of shutting a wretched being up in a room, who has no means of providing any kind of bedding, and allowing him under any severity of cold, or any state of disease, to lie upon the naked floor. The answer is remarkable. "Yes, there is such a provision. But it has never been complied with. The Warden never found any bedding: and the Judges excused him." Is not this a circumstance worthy of remark? Ought the nation to be inattentive to

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a specimen like this? But let us hear the Judges' reasons for taking away the use of bedding from the wretched prisoners. "They said it would be attended with such an expense that the Warden could not bear it." Observe that the Chief Justices of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas receive money from the keepers of the King's Bench and Fleet prisons as a consideration upon their appointment, for the emoluments which they collect in the prison: the keepers would be able to pay less of this money if they had bedding to provide. Here is prodigious mercy and kindness towards the keepers of these prisons. But how shall we describe the feelings which are manifested towards the wretched prisoners! If sufficient funds were not placed in the hands of the keepers of the prisons for so necessary an act of humanity, the Judges ought to have done what depended upon them to have it provided from another quarter. The jailer, in his evidence, adds, and we like to exhibit all the apology they have to make,-"The prisoners, in that case, would be wasting the Warden's substance, and selling the beds and blankets continually." And could any man in his senses imagine that this argument would pass? Could no means he devised to prevent such an offence as this? How do they manage in houses of correction, where even delinquents are not left without bedding? The prison in which such a thing would be sure to happen frequently, is proved by that single fact to be a prison in a horrid state of disorder.

We shall conclude this article with the remarks which the Committee present to the House of Commons upon Mr. Jones and Mr. Morris. "The Marshal, Mr. Jones, from all that appeared to your Committee, is not disposed to press upon the poverty of the class of persons whom he has under his charge. The evidence before them, however, warrants your Committee in stating it to be their opinion, that he is little acquainted with what occurs in his prison. He himself avows that he seldom or ever enters within its walls. And the numerous contradictions given to his evidence by others who are in the constant habit of seeing and hearing what is really going on, would have left no doubt of that being the case, even if he had not acknowledged it. A keeper of a prison receiving from it a net annual incomé of 3599., and not daily inspecting and visiting the prison, and not being personally acquainted with all that is transacted therein, seems to your Committee to prove the existence of a state of things that ought not to be suffered to continue."

Mr. Morris, the chum-master, seems to be a most improper

person to have the management of any part of the prison. It is proved before your Committee, that he took money (which was divided among the turnkeys, all of whom are therefore equally criminal) for the purpose of obtaining from Mr. Brooshooft permission to do that which all parties knew the Marshal had forbidden to be done. His whole evidence is shuffling and prevaricating; and your Committee would have found themselves justified in reporting him to the House, if they had not attributed his conduct as much to arise from his ignorance as from wilful and criminal prevarication. There is enough in the evidence to justify the opinion, that to ensure the due execution of the duties of the officers of the prison, the attendance of the Marshal should be permanent, steady, and uniform; and that the management of the prison should not continue any longer in the present state."

This Committee have further reported on the state of the Fleet Prison, on that of the Marshalsea Prison, and on the New London Prison; that is to say, the plan of the New London Prison, for it was not yet completed, and of course not inhabited, nor subject to any system of management on which the remarks of the Committee could be offered. The account which we have thought it incumbent upon us to render, of the important evidence they have exhibited on the state of the King's Bench, has swelled this article to so great a size, that we must postpone the elucidations which we are desirous to afford on the subject of these other prisons till another opportunity. The subject is of infinite importance; and we shall not forget it.

Report on abolishing the Punishment by Death, in Pennsylvania, in Senate, February 22d, 1812.

The Committee to whom was referred the eighth item of the Governor's address, relating to the amelioration, revision, and consolidation of the Penal Code, and the petitions of sundry citizens of this commonwealth, on the subject of abolishing the punishment of death, and the substitution of hard labour for life, in the place thereof, make further Report,

THAT they are deeply impressed with the importance of main

taining a humane and efficient criminal code, for the preservation of good order, and the promotion of reform amongst those who, under the influence of unsubdued and vicious propensities, offend against the laws.

They cannot withhold their approbation of the benevolent in

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terference of the legislature, manifested at different periods, in ameliorating the punishments, which in times less enlightened have been dispensed to malefactors; nor can they refuse their approbation of the sentiments of men esteemed for their wisdom, judgement, and experience, who with the minds of statesmen possessed the hearts of philanthropists, whose situation afforded them opportunities of knowing and witnessing the effects of ameliorated systems of penal laws, as well as those of a severe and sanguinary kind, on the state of society, and the immediate objects of the law; and who have furnished to the world their decided testimony of the preference that should be given to the humane, over the homicidal code.

But whilst your Committee take pleasure in reviewing those acts of philanthropy which have so justly exalted the character of Pennsylvania, and improved the condition of civil society, they feel a decided conviction of the propriety and policy of extending still further the boundary of humanity, by abolishing the punishment of death altogether, and thereby obliterating the last feature of sanguinary law that remains to sully the pages of our criminal jurisprudence.

Your Committee might refer to the weighty and powerful example, furnished by our Divine Legislator and Redeemer, whose laws are founded on mercy, whose precepts breathe the most benign spirit of wisdom and benevolence, and whose doctrines teach us humanity and love; by which we are bound to save, Father than destroy, and to afford every opportunity of repentance and amendment of life to the violator of the law.

Independent of the many sound theological reasons that might be advanced, to disprove the right which governments assume, to take away human life, it is believed that ample evidence can be exhibited, on the ground of political expediency. The punishment by death was introduced and had its origin in the earliest ages, when barbarism was predominant, when legislation was most imperfect; principles of malevolence and revenge dictated a practice so abhorrent to the dignity and feelings of rational beings. But in this enlightened age, the weak plea of necessity can alone be offered for its continuance. Why then continue it when it has been demonstrated by the reform in the Penal Code of Pennsylvania, that since the various crimes inferior to wilful murder (which were formerly punished with death) have been punished with hard labour and solitary confinement, those offences have been less frequent and less atrocious in their character, notwithstanding the unprecedented increase of popu lation within the state. This diminution of crime is to be attributed as well to the suppression of ignominious punishments,

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