Domestic and Foreign. 



1827.] 



tion. Now in this respect we contend the 

 130 pages of the report (to say nothing of 

 ihe most useful appendix) contain more 

 valuable matter than we have for some 

 time seen in three times 130. 



It opens with a repetition of what is 

 now recognized among reflectiug persons 

 as the true objects of punishment. This, 

 it may be said, is neither new nor rare ; 

 no, but no harm is donenay, great good 

 is done by dint of repetition especially 

 where offensive prejudices still live in the 

 breasts of myriads. It is of importance to 

 go on digging round deep-rooted preju- 

 dices, till the tall trunk shakes, and tot- 

 ters to its final fall. The object of punish- 

 ment is not to get revenge is not to win 

 satisfaction ; but to deter the ill-disposed, 

 and reform the offender and thus to se- 

 cure society. Revenge is in terms now- 

 a-days disclaimed, but it has not long been 

 thus disclaimed ; and all our laws have 

 been enacted on the erroneous, or rather 

 guilty presumption that satifaction of jus- 

 tice was the object and aim of punish- 

 ment. What is the effect ? That punish- 

 ment thus measured by a false standard 

 bears no relation to the only justifiable 

 object. Therefore, though in words we 

 disclaim revenge, our actions proclaim it, 

 and execute it. Nothing short of the 

 highest punishment may satisfy the in- 

 jured individual j but if a smaller penalty 

 will cure the culprit, and deter those who 

 are likely to become culprits, or tend to do 

 yo ; the only justifiable object of punish- 

 ment is gained, and the smaller penalty 

 ought to be the law. While no man now 

 perhaps, who understands the import of 

 the words, will assert the necessity of the 

 "satisfaction of justice," or the rig-bis of 

 vengeance, yet from the lips of every 

 second man you meet with, relative to a 

 robber, or a forgerer, or a sheep-stealer, 

 and, in some places, a poacher, you will 

 hear the phrase, the fellow deserves to be 

 hanged ! What is this but the offspring of 

 mistaken apprehension as to the illegiti- 

 mate objects of punishment ? 



To go through the report seriatim would 

 far exceed our limits; and our main pur- 

 pose in placing it among our literary no- 

 tices is rather to excite than satisfy the 

 curiosity of our readers respecting what 

 may to them seem to offer few attrac- 

 tions. 



The committee report favourably of the 

 county prisons, since the operation of the 

 present prison-act, now four years old , 

 very considerable amendments have been 

 made with respect to enlarging prisons 

 and classing prisoners ; but nothing has 

 yet been done with the town and corpo- 

 rate prisons. There are still 160 of them 

 exempt from the operation of the general 

 act. By that act corporations were em- 

 powered to treat with county gaols for 



M.M. New Series. VOL. IV. No. 22. 



4J7 



the transfer of their prisoners, and recom- 

 mended to do so ; but only twenty have 

 listened to the recommendation j and 

 consequently 140 remain in the old undis- 

 ciplined state, and they are, and always 

 have been, among the very worst in the 

 kingdom. Ireland seems to be in pretty 

 much the same state as England ; but 

 Scotland is still abominable. In the name 

 of common sense and common consistency, 

 when an act of this character is passed, 

 why does it not comprehend the whole 

 kingdom ? When shall we see the country 

 really " one and indivisible," and an Eng- 

 lishman's condition the same, whether he 

 live in this corner of the kingdom or the 

 other ? The obstructions thrown in the 

 way by the nonsensical articles of the 

 Union the pretence for the observance of 

 which has long passed 'away should be 

 trampled down forthwith. Have not the 

 Scots gained enough, and more than 

 enough, by the union of their beggarly 

 country with their wealthy neighbours, 

 to be allowed still to stickle for pernicious 

 privileges? 



The attention of the committee has been 

 seriously turned to the increasing multi- 

 tudes of prisoners; and they have fear- 

 lessly at least compared with former 

 efforts probed the question. They attri- 

 bute it, and justly, not altogether to the 

 increased population, nor altogether to 

 increased depravity, but much of it to the 

 operation of the laws, and the administra- 

 tion of the laws to the obstacles cast in 

 the way of bail to the facility, nay eager- 

 ness, with which people are thrown into 

 prison proved by the fact that one in 

 seven are discharged by the grand jurj", 

 and one in three of those who by them 

 are sent to trial acquitted some few, no 

 doubt, from technicalities, and defective 

 evidence ; but the main part from inno- 

 cence, and a sense in the court of exces- 

 sive severity on the part of prosecutors. 

 Formerly, by the common law, all offences 

 were bailable ; now, none are bailable, 

 where the suspicion of guilt amounts to a 

 strong presumption. 



Bail, however, was not originally regarded as a 

 favour, but as the just right of every subject, and 

 was never refused but in cases of absolute neces- 

 sity. The sole object to be obtained, when an in- 

 dividual is charged with crime, is to ensure his 

 appearance at the day of trial. If this can be se- 

 cured by any other means than by the custody of 

 his person, a commitment to gaol is not only un- 

 necessary, but being in itself an evil, is unjust. It 

 behoves the law, therefore, to shew a necessity for 

 the commitment, and not for the prisoner to prove 

 why he should be bailed. There are cases of daily 

 occurrence in which a strong presumption of guilt 

 exists, and when, consequently, commitment must 

 follow, where an absolute necessity for the com- 

 mitment cannot be shewn. Such are the cases 

 where the offence is of a light nature; ; and many 

 of our felonies are of this character. To a person 



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