that year 13,981 boys and girls were committed to prison; but in the four following years the numbers were, 12,501, 10,329, 8,913, 8,029. Now, this decrease could not have depended on the reformation of the boys, because those committed in 1856 had hardly left the reformatories in 1859, when the number had sunk to 8,913, or less than two-thirds. The decrease had depended solely on the certainty of a long sentence on a second conviction, irrespective of the magnitude of the particular offence, and of the removal for long periods of all the old offenders who excited the envy of beginners by their skill and success, trained them to follow their steps, and showed by their very presence that the old system was powerless to prevent theft. From that time, though there have of course been certain fluctuations, the number of boys and girls convicted in England has never reached 9,000. But one instance will not prove a general rule. Let us take some of the large towns of England: COMMITTALS OF OFFENDERS UNDER SIXTEEN, IN LIVERPOOL, &C. Liverpool 993 349 515 3,531 1862 3,012 2,559 2,180 2,049 1,511 Here we see a nearly steady decrease in perhaps the three principal town populations in England; but whereas Liverpool opened its reformatory at the end of 1855, Manchester commenced, I think, in the early part of 1857, and the decrease curiously tallies with what I assume to be its cause. In all these towns it was the practice to send boys to prison for three months, more or less, according to the accident of the magistrates' estimation of the offence. Exactly as it became the practice to send every second conviction to a reformatory, did the crime diminish. I have a list from the books of Westminster prison in 1859, of 456 boys then in London under sixteen years of age, who had been four times or oftener committed to prison, and 165 had been eight times or oftener convicted. I believe that now, not ten boys in London under sixteen, have been four times convicted, and juvenile crime has diminished from 4,113 to 1,511. Can it be said that this is a "curious coincidence," and not a direct result? Let me give you the case occurring under my own eye in Cheltenham. The number of boys committed under the Juvenile Offenders Act in that town had risen pretty steadily from 45 in 1852 to 53 in 1856. At this time, the reformatory being well established, every boy committed for a second time, with one or two exceptions of very slight cases, was sentenced to two or three years' detention. In 1857 the number convicted was 14; in 1858 there were 25; in 1859 there were 14; in 1860-13. In 1861 some magistrates thought it better to return to the retaliative system: five or six boys on second or third convictions were sent to short imprisonments, the certainty of a long term on second conviction was removed, and the number rose to 24. In 1862, 18 boys, who had been repeatedly convicted, were sent to prison, instead of, as heretofore, to the reformatory; three of them in particular were sent from four to seven times, and of course became perfectly hardened, laughed at the punishment, and encouraged others to laugh at it also, and the total convictions rose to 49. In the year ending Michaelmas, 1863, the three boys above mentioned left Cheltenham, nine others were sent to the reformatory, and the number convicted fell to 25. In the year ending Michaelmas, 1864, the number was again reduced to 13, of whom only 2 had been previously convicted of felony. In the above account allowance must be made for the fact that in '62 the total convictions of all ages in Cheltenham increased from an average of 75 to 120, and decreased again in the following years; but this is not sufficient to account for the extraordinary proportionate increase of boys, so exactly tallying with the alteration in the system of punishment. Now if any gentleman will prove, either that my facts or figures are erroneous, or that any other cause can be shown for the rise and fall of crime in all these different parts of England, except first, the giving a nearly fixed rule of punishment, which shall be intelligible to the class who are to be prevented; and secondly, the removal from society for a lengthened period of those whom the first punishment fails to check-I will most heartily thank him for his correction. If not, I think that I may fairly ask this association to adopt the following principles : First. That to prevent the honest man from being robbed, and then heavily taxed to punish the thief who robbed him, is our duty as citizens. To save our fellow creatures from crime and temptations is our duty as Christians; but that retaliation (except for the sake of prevention,) is neither a Christian, a moral, nor a political duty. Secondly. That the adopting retaliation as the rule or measure for punishment greatly lessens the preventive effect, which is the only real use of punishment: first, because the uncertainty weakens the deterrent power; and secondly, because it affords no safeguard against men repeating their crimes time after time, till they become skilful, hardened, and dangerous. Thirdly. That a general, not universal, rule might be adopted by magistrates, which, while leaving room for a few extraordinary exceptions, might be used with good result in eighteen or nineteen cases out of twenty, and that such uniformity of practice would be intelligible to all-deterrent to future thieves-and would afford to the public a better guarantee of justice than they have at present. Fourthly. That it is desirable that on a first conviction, with rare exceptions, a short sentence should be passed, first, in order to increase the terror of the gaol; secondly, to encourage prosecutions before crime becomes habitual. An additional result will be, that the shortening of every first conviction will leave room in our gaols for a lengthening of the second. Fifthly. That if a short imprisonment, accompanied by the almost certainty of a long sentence on relapse, fail to prevent a second crime, it is desirable for the public safety that the criminal should be removed from society till such time as any habit or skill he may have acquired be lost, and until his associates will probably be dispersed. Sixthly. That if this treatment be followed up by greatly increased sentences on each relapse, it cannot but have the effect of preventing the possible existence both of skilful thieves and of organised gangs, and that this would at once annihilate the worst temptation to future criminals, be a security to the honest, and lower the cost of crime to the country. Some Prison Statistics, with Notes and Observations on the Causes of Crime. By the REV. THOMAS HUTTON, Rector of Stilton and an Ex-chaplain of Northampton County Gaol. My experience as a gaol chaplain extended over a period of ten years. The following statistics were collected during the latter five years of my chaplaincy. Total commitments during these five years......2,850 976 293 17 553 68 808 Had been or were members of benefit societies ... 434 Held their meetings at public-houses 296 Lived at the time of their committal in houses 466 Ignorance is unquestionably a fruitful causo of crime. It makes men indifferent to all efforts for their mental and moral improvement, *This number, no doubt, would have been much larger but for the instruction received in many instances during previous imprisonment. but alive to all inere animal gratifications. The mere ability to read sufficiently well, so as to take an interest in the pure literature of the day, would exercise an important influence in the diminution of crime. We believe that it will be found that wherever education is at a maximum, crime will be at a minimum. But we are afraid that the influence of the school has not yet reached to any very appreciable extent that large portion of our population from whence our criminals spring. Next to ignorance amongst the fruitful sources of crime, comes drunkenness; arising from the gin shop and beershop, and the lower class of public-houses, and the singing and dancing-rooms connected with them. It would be vain to look for any very great diminution of crime, so long as these temptations continue to be multiplied on every hand, in more than an equal ratio with the increase of population. Untutored man is, to a large extent, the mere creature of circumstances; his life and character are formed from the social standard of the neighbourhood in which he happens to live. When we look, therefore, at the circumstances which surround our working men we cannot wonder that drunkenness, crime, and poverty, abound. Poverty is alleged to be a great cause of crime, and this may be perfectly true, but then intemperance is the prevailing cause of poverty. A great deal of crime proceeds directly from drunkenness, but drink is probably the indirect cause of a great deal more; and the associations of the public-house, in their influence upon the labouring classes, are essentially demoralising and crimeproducing.* The pawn-shop and the public-house club may be regarded as two great feeders of drunkenness and improvidence, therefore they both contribute to swell the ranks of crime. Out of 2,850 prisoners, only about 2 per cent. had ever had any money in a savings' bank, whereas 28 per cent. had recourse to a pawn-shop; and although 434 were, or had been, members of benefit clubs, 296 of these held their meetings at public-houses. It is to be hoped that post office savings' banks and Government annuity societies will help to diminish these great evils. We cannot, however, entertain any very sanguine hopes on this head, so long as the far more powerful attractions of the public-house beset our working men at every turn. The yearly "statutes" for hiring servants have a bad influence on the morals of the people, especially the agricultural population. Not a few prisoners have traced their ruin to the drunken habits and evil intimacies formed on these occasions. To female servants especially, such scenes cannot but be injurious in the highest degree; whatever tends to impair that modesty and sobriety of demeanour which form so important an element in the character of women, * It was ascertained that out of 820 persons who were committed in two consecutive years, upwards of 19 per cent. of the offences were committed either at public-houses or in immediate connexion therewith. inflicts a deep wound on the well-being of the working classes, it leads on to illicit intercourse, reckless and imprudent marriage, and lasting domestic misery, evils which are frequently handed down to the children of the third and fourth generations, in some still more aggravated form. The observations we have made on the evils of statutes will apply to village feasts, which are very generally scenes of riot and debauchery, and as such they contribute a considerable quota to the statistics of the gaol. Some better substitute for them is greatly needed. The people are sensual and grovelling in their pleasures, Innocent simply because they have never been taught better. recreation, manly and harmless amusements are among the pressing requirements of our country. "We owe the labouring classes," says Lord Shaftesbury, "a large debt of kindlier language and more friendly intercourse." Popular amusements would seem to present an extensive field for the assistance and direction of the higher classes; they might be turned to most useful account in counteracting the demoralising associations of the penny theatre, the casino, and the beershop, and they would also help not a little to establish that community of interest and kindly feeling between class and class which is so essential to the happiness of all. " of The new regulations affecting the common lodging houses have doubtless effected a vast amount of good, and the bringing of them under the special supervision of the police is another important step in the right direction. It is highly desirable that the "keepers such places should be persons of good moral character; the Act, however, does not provide sufficient security for this. It would be well if a certificate of character were required from the parochial clergyman previously to registration. Our common lodging houses have hitherto been dens of vice and disease. The minds of poor travellers are poisoned with the low ribaldry and obscenity of such places, and they have formed the seed plot of a large portion of the crime of the country. The vagrants are sent out from them into the surrounding villages to perform the office of spies, to discover where plunder is most likely to be found, or robberies may be safely committed; and a credulous public, under the mistaken idea of Christian charity, supports and encourages them in their vocation. If trading vagrants were not relieved, crime would be greatly diminished, a vast amount of misery and demoralisation would be prevented, and large sums would be saved for the relief of genuine poverty and distress. In one year 20,211 persons were accommodated in the common lodging houses of Northampton; 688 of these were boys, and 617 girls under 16 years of age. Model lodging houses in our large One has towns for the homeless poor would be an invaluable boon. been provided for the town of Huddersfield, and the clerk to the improvement commissioners states that "through its influence the whole class of registered common lodging houses have been raised to |