426 



1'KISUKNH 



PRIVY-COUNCIL 



In 1877 the Elmira ( New York ) Reformatory was 

 opened, at which a now famous -vt>'in has l>een 

 adopted for the treatment nf lirst offenders under 

 thirty years of age; the principal features are in- 

 determinate sentences, the classification of prisoners 

 into three classes under the marks system, and dis- 

 charge upon probationary parole, mCHC sti|>ervision. 

 Tin- tasks are planned to avoid the evil effects of 

 monotony. The system in Elmira has yielded good 

 results, over four-fifths of the dbobugad inmates 

 having been taught to lead useful live,-. 



A grave defect alleged by American critics is 

 that in the county gaols and other places of deten- 

 tion for those awaiting trial all such prisoners are 

 compelled to associate in a common hall, with all 

 the evils which follow as a necessary result 

 It is said also that politics to a large extent 

 determine the selection of prison officials, many 

 of whom are appointed simply for services rendered 

 to their party; and that the interference of 

 labour organisations has had a considerable effect 

 in the direction of putting a stop to contract 

 labour in New York, to labour of any kind 

 in the prisons. It may be added that crime has 

 increased in the United States in a ratio far in 

 advance of the growth of population ; in 1850 the 

 prisoners represented 1 in 3442 of the population ; 

 in 1880 they were 1 in 855. In a country where so 

 many earnest and capable penologists are at work, 

 however, there is every reason to hope for an ulti- 

 mate return to better methods. 



See the article! BECCARIA, BENTHAM, CAPITAL Pt NISH- 

 MENT, CRIMINALLAW, EXECUTION, FRY, HOWARD, POLICK, 

 REFORMATORIES, ROMILLY; those on crimes such as 

 AKSOS, ASSAULT, BURGLARY, FORGERY, MURDER, RAPE, 

 THEKT, Ac. ; alo works by such as Pike, Hittory of Crime 

 in Kiiriland (187J-7C); Farrer, Crimet and Puniihmenti 

 i -- : Perry, Pi-won Labour ( Albany. 1880); Wines, 

 The State of Pruont in the Civilued World (Cambridge, 

 U.S., 1880); Havelook Ellis, Tke Criminal (188'J); 

 Punithment and the Prevention of Crime, by the present 

 author (1885) ; Major A. Griffiths, Seereti of the Priton 

 Ilmtte ( 1893 ) ; the Bulletin de la SocitU (Hntralc del 

 Pri*"ii> : 8il fierman works by Holtzendorff and Jage- 

 iiianii I l.-ws i. < i'-nzmer (1881), Aschrott, Pi-ins, &c. 



Prlsrend, a town of Albania, 72 miles E. by N. 



of s. -111:11 i. is one of the richest and most industrious 

 towns in Turkey. Pop. 39,000. 



Pristinn, a town of European Turkey, 59 miles 

 by rail N. of fjskiib. Pop. 8000. 



PH.stis. See SAWFISH. 



Privateer, a ship owned by a private indi- 

 vidual, which, under government permission, ex- 

 pressed by a Letter of Marque (q.v. ), makes war 

 upon the shipping of a hostile power. To make 

 war upon an enemy without this commission, or 

 upon the shipping of a nation not specified in it, 

 is piracy. Privateering was abolished by mutual 

 agreement among European nations, except Spain, 

 by the Declaration of Paris in 1850; but the 

 United States of America refused to sign the 

 treaty, for reasons which are given in the article 

 Paris' (q.v.). It is doubtful, however, how far 

 that abolition would stand in n general war, for 

 privateering is the natural resource of a nation 

 whose regular navy is too weak to make head 

 against the maritime, power of the enemy, especi- 

 ally when the latter offers the temptation o{ a 

 wealthy commerce. It was usual for the country 

 on whose behalf the privateers carried on war i<> take 

 security for their duty respecting the rights of neu- 

 trals ami allies, and their olwerving generally the law 

 of nations. While not considered Pirates (q.v.) by 

 the law of nations, they were looked upon an little 

 better during the great wars at the end of the 18th 

 and the l>eginning of the 19th century, and an a rule 

 received but scant mercy at the hands of the regular 

 In the wars of 1793-1814 many English 



privateers were afloat. Hut in the same period no less 

 than 10.H71 English ships, with over 100,000,000, 

 \vcie taken by French 'corsairs;' the lireton priva- 

 teer Surcouf took, in two months of 1S07, prizes 

 worth -.1)1,250. At the American Hi-volution the 

 new republic fully rrali-ed the advantage of its 



{Hisition in preying on the mercantile marine of 

 Ireat Britain ; and in the war of 1812 British com- 

 merce suffered severely at the hands of American, 

 privateers, of which it was computed that some 250 

 were afloat. During the American civil war the 

 Confederate cruisers were at first regardi-d in 

 the north as mere pirates ; and the Alabama ( 'hums 

 origbutad in the charge against Hritnin of allowing 

 the departure of privateers from British port-. In 

 1870 Prussia made a decree in favour of crcn'iiig 

 a 'volunteer navy.' See ENEMY, Nil n:\ini. 

 ALABAMA, BUCCANEERS, CORSAIR, PIRACY, PKIZE; 

 Norman, The Corsair* of J-'ranre (1887); Comer 

 Williams, The Liverpool Privcttrers ( 1807 I. 



Privet (Liguttrwn), a genus of plants of the 

 natural order Oleaceii 1 , containing a numl>er of 

 species of shrubs and small trees with opposite 

 leaves, which are simple and entire at the margin ; 

 the flowers small, white, and in terminal panicle* ; 

 the calyx slightly 4 toothed ; the corolla funnel- 

 shaped and 4-cleft ; the stamens two, projecting 

 hevond the tube of the corolla ; the berries 2-celled. 

 ( 'cimmon Privet ( /.. rn/i/tire) is a shrub growing in 

 bushy places and about the lioiders of woods in the 

 middle and south of Europe, and in some parts 

 of Britain, now also naturalised in some parts of 

 North America. It had half-evergreen, smooth, 

 lanceolate leaves; and lierries about the si/c of 

 peas, black, rarely white, yellow, or green. The 

 flowers have a strong and sweetish smell ; the 

 leaves are mildly astringent, and were formerly 

 used in medicine. The berries, which hang on the 

 shrub during winter, have a diMgrwftbU taste, 

 but serve as food for many kinds of birds ; they 

 are used fordyeing red, and, with various additions, 

 green, blue, and black. A rose -coloured pigment 

 obtained from them is used for colouring maps. 

 The wood is hard, ami is used by turners, and by 



si makers for making wooden pegs. Privet, 



although not spiny, is much used for hedges, often 

 mixed with some spiny shrub, or with Ix-ech. It 

 bears clipping well, ami grows well in the smoke 

 of towns, also under the shade of trees. A number 

 of species of privet are natives of different parts of 

 the East, and some of them are now to be seen in 

 shrubberies in Britain. Most kinds of privet grow 

 I readily from cuttings, but some of the more oina 

 mental kinds are increased l,y grafting them U|K>II 

 the common or other more vigorous species. It 

 has now l-en proved that the shrub the white wax 

 insect of China deposits the wax on is /.. /m-n/mn. 

 Sec WAX IxsKCT. 



Privilege. For the privileges of counsel, see 

 RAKKISTKK : for the privileges of parliament, see 

 PARLIAMENT; for those of peers and ambassadors, 

 see NOBILITY, AMBASSADOR; for privileged com- 

 miinications, see CoNKlliKNTiAl.rrv, I.IIIKI. ; for 

 the socredness of the confessional, see CnXKI- 

 DKNTIALITY ; see also ARREST, DEBT, SANCTUARY, 

 So\ H:KK:X. 



Privy-roilllHl. Wherever a feudal system of 

 go\ eminent lias prevailed it has Iveen customary 

 for the sovereign to summon, from time to time, a 

 council of his barons or nobles 'to advise him in 

 matters of state. This practice was Adopted by 

 feudal monarchs rather as a privilege than as a 

 duty, since it gave them the means of enforcing 

 from |M)werful feudatories an acknowledgment of 

 their sovereign right*. The attendance of a baron 

 at the court of his lord was a tacit admission of 

 the suzerainty of the latter. 



