and should be kept constantly in mind by all who may, in Ireland, hereafter have the guidance of Reformatory Institutions. The Chaplain and the School-master are the officers of Reformatories; they make or mar the success of the whole system; and where men possessing the great and noble qualities, so truthfully and earnestly indicated by Mr. Baker, are secured as chaplains or as school-masters, they should be respected as men whose callings, high though they be, are yet rendered worthy still greater esteem by the possession of all those qualities which constitute perfection in the respective avocations. In fixing the payment of such men they should be looked upon not as officers of a Reformatory, but as benefactors to the commonwealth; as men who save money for the State, and, taking a higher range of thought, save souls for heavenawakening in each "City Arab" and "Home Heathen" "the energy and spirit of a MAN." Thus we have placed before our readers the whole bearings of this question of Reformatory Schools for Ireland; it is for our Parliamentary representatives to say whether we shall have them-to the salvation of our young criminals, or whether we shall have them not, to the increase of crime and to the increase of taxation. If the reader doubt this assertion, we refer him to pages 12 and 13 of the present Quarterly Record, and he will, in the admirable and eloquent speech of Mr. Recorder Hill, discover the true wisdom and economy of Reformatory training, proved and explained with Mr. Hill's usual power, and persuasiveness of thoughtful argument. In conclusion, we would entreat the framers of any Reformatory Schools' Act for Ireland, to keep ever before them the principle of separation in religion, embodied in the second section of the Bill we have been discussing: they will do so if enlightened and well informed advocates of the Reformatory principle-they will do so if they mean to be honest towards the country, and towards those who have so earnestly worked out the principle in England. It is no interference with the noble system of National Education for Ireland; did we think so, nay, if we did not know, the contrary to be the fact, we would contend with all our power against the adoption of this section, in support of which we are now so earnest. We have written that the arguments founded on the economy of the system are all in favor of Reformatory establishments; but since we commenced the writing of this paper we have received a reprint of a very admirable letter, written by Mr. Joseph Sadler, formerly Chief Constable of Stockport, and printed in The Stockport Advertiser, of April 13th, 1855, and which makes the matter clear. Addressing the Editor, Mr. Sadler writes : "In the article supporting the projected establishment for juvenile reform in Cheshire, you adduce several good and plausible reasons in its favour; and, amongst other grounds, you urge economy. And to this latter consideration, on the present occasion, I shall confine myself. You say it (the measure) must approve itself to the heart and understanding of every Christian and thoughtful individual; or to economists, to those who wish to lighten the national burthens, we would state a startling fact, that criminal prosecutions have cost this country from £800 to £2,000 a year.' Now, if I am correct in supposing that this startling fact has reference to the cost of criminal procedure in this country, for one year-which, I think, is what is meant—permit me to inform your readers that the sum you mention is much below the mark. Indeed, I was doubting whether it was not a misprint; but, however that may be, the following items will convey a better idea than your own of what the real cost to this county is, annually, connected with criminal proceedings, police, &c. Cost of Criminal Procedure in Cheshire for the Year ending September 29th, 1854. Prosecutions at Assizes..... Ditto at Sessions...... Constables as witnesses Marshall, Crier of the Court, &c ........ Clerk of the Peace, arraigning prisoners, &c......................... Clerk of Indictment's Salary Prosecution of Juvenile Offenders £ s. d. 3,013 4 8,990 14 840 4 233 6 4 82 4 0 10 15 0 61 5 6 930 6 7 5,931 7 2 Lockups in different parts of the County Thus, the sum of £49,639 6s. 34d. was expended, within the county of Chester alone, during the year ending the 29th September 1854, on criminal prosecutions, gaols, and other bodies and officials connected with the criminal procedure of the various Courts within the county. My opinion is, that this amount does not exceed the usual annual expenditure, for the same purposes, during many years past, in the County of Chester; nor, with the present system, is it likely to be less. Lest any douht should be entertained, by yourself or any of your readers as to the correctness of these calculations and figures, I here hand you documents as vouchers, which not only furnish every particular item making up this vast array, but are of such authority as you will at once perceive proves, beyond all doubt, my veracity, and their own authenticity." This is the evidence of one intimately acquainted with the subject before us, and to the weight of his evidence nothing can be added. Much as we desire to see this Bill, which we have been considering, enacted; and highly as we esteem the good sense of its provisions, and their adaptability to suppress juvenile crime, yet we consider that the measure must lose half its effect if it be not backed and perfected by the extension, to Ireland, of a rigid Lodging House Act, and one which must be rigorously and unceasingly carried out by the police. From the first Report of the Directors of Convict Prisons in Ireland, now before us, it appears that our young offenders pass from the Lodging House to the Gaol, from the Gaol to the Lodging House, and after a series of these changes in Cork, Dublin, Belfast and Limerick, the "City Arabs" are cast for support, during four years penal servitude, upon the Consolidated Fund.* * This reference, in the Report of the Directors of Convict Prisons, to the necessity for a Lodging House Act, reminds us of the unpleasant fact that the Model Lodging Houses established in Dublin have not been so extensively used by the working classes as was hoped by the founders. In England it is otherwise, and amongst the philanthropic movements of the day one of the most remarkable is the establishment, in the village of Charlton Marshall, near Blandford, Dorsetshire, of a Club House, intended chiefly, but not exclusively, for laborers and artizans. The building consists of two houses, in height one story above the ground floor: a portion of one house is set aside for a bake-house and shop, which will be useful to, though independent of the club. Exclusive of the shop. and other offices, the buildings comprise a sitting room, twelve feet two by forty-two; a reading and writing room, eighteen feet by fourteen; a hall for refreshment, talking, and reading, twenty-nine fect two by twenty, and sixteen feet six high. The Promoter of this novel club is a gentleman well acquainted with the wants and wishes of the laboring and artizan classes-Thomas Horlock Bastard, Esq., and he thus describes his plan to us: The idea of such a Club-house suggested itself to its Promoter, from his attention having been drawn to the little benefit which has accrued, from Mechanics' Institutes, to Labourers, or even to Mechanics; and from his attributing this ill-success to the circumstance that, in these institutions, intellectual recreation has been made the sole object, without any consideration of the question, whether the physical comfort of the members has previously been provided for. This led him to consider what were the real wants of the least If this unwise course be continued; if we permit the low lodging house keeper to become the constant corrupter of favoured of the industrious classes, and how, in supplying these, the opportunity might be taken morally to elevate their habits, tastes, and aims. It must be allowed that their first want is an increase of physical comfort,-indeed of all that is included in the comfortable home-shelter, warmth, food, light, conversation, and sympathy,and that until these essentials are duly provided for, it is of little use to offer the classes in question intellectual recreation. Only a small amount of comfort is enjoyed by the rural labourers in their own houses, where, usually in one sinall room, and with a scanty fire, all that is necessary for cooking, or for the care of the children, must be done; and the public-house, with its cheerful fire, its jovial talk, and its opiate pipe, is therefore resorted to by those adults who have money, or can obtain credit, whilst the lads and boys, without either, and whose restlessness makes them a trouble in their parents' homes, crowd round the blacksmith's fire, or indulge in conduct not always orderly. For the labouring class then some COMMON HOME is necessary, and why should this not be of the club-house kind? The rich find it advantageous to club together, for the purpose of supplying themselves with comforts and conveniences which their individual means would not afford, and why should not the poor do the same? The Promoter believes that, with proper adaptation to circumstances, such a LABOURER'S CLUB is capable of being successfully established, and he has therefore undertaken the erection of the building represented above, where he proposes to submit the project to the test of experiment. He entertains the belief that there are but few in any class, who, having the choice presented to them, do not prefer a rational and moral course to one of an opposite character, and he relies for the success of the Club on the plan of providing, as a first principle, the means of increasing the physical comfort of the Members, under the condition, however, of decorous conduct; and then supplying, as a subservient measure, a resource for their intellectual recreation. As moral improvement is an object with, and the risk of the necessary outlay is borne by, the Promoter, he deems it allowable, in forming the Club, to make the following conditions-viz., that decorous conduct shall be strictly enforced; that no intoxicating liquors or tobacco shall be supplied or introduced, nor smoking allowed; and that female members shall be admitted; and he proposes that the Club-house shall be shut on Sundays from Ten o'clock in the morning until Five in the afternoon. With these exceptions, the Club will be similar in principle to those in London, the grand difference being in the amount of the subscriptions, and the things provided. The entrance-money is proposed to be Sixpence, and the subscriptions Three-Halfpence per Week for Males, and One Penny per Week for Females. The things provided to be tea, coffee, sugar, milk, bread, butter, cheese, fruit, buns, biscuits, and effervescent drinks, and possibly cocoa, chocolate, soup, and cold meat,-all at prices a little exceeding their cost, to pay for fuel and service,— one daily and one weekly London, and one provincial newspaper, a the young offender, we can, in reason, only expect an increase of crime, a perpetually swelling amount of taxation. Our readers are aware, from the series of papers on social and moral questions already printed in this REVIEW, how disgracefully and how carelessly the Legislature permits the existence of lodging houses, notorious as the haunts of the thief, the prostitute, and the young offender. Against this terrible neglect many voices have been raised: Henry Mayhew, Mr. Clay, Frederic Hill, Mr. Recorder Hill, Miss Carpenter, Mr. Kingsmill, all have been earnest in exposing the mischief springing from these seed plots of vice and crime e; and again, we repeat our trust that any Reformatory Act extended to Ireland shall be accompanied by a stringent statute, regulating common lodging houses, and we trust too, that the police authorities will take care that its provisions are neither neglected nor slighted with impunity. If we have written at too great length upon the subjects of the paper, the reader will pardon us: the questions before us are of paramount importance, and by the Bill, the provisions of which we have analysed and explained, great benefit is offered to the country. Whether we bring to its consideration the sordid thoughts of one who remembers only that it decreases taxation in its results, or whether we contemplate it in that noble spirit, imbuing the true heart of Mary Carpenter, when she so eloquently wrote, in one of her invaluable books, "Christian men and Christian women must become the fathers and mothers of these moral orphans. They must restore them to the true conditions of childhood, give them few periodicals, and some books and maps. There are, however, reasons for expecting that some friends of the project will add newspapers and periodicals of not very old date, and books and other sources of intellectual recreation. In order to extend the advantages of the Club, and give it a better chance of success amongst a small population, it is proposed to admit persons for one day, on payment of a penny, but without giving them any right to interfere in the Club concerns. It is intended that the Club shall, eventually, be governed by rules, and its management entrusted to a Committee of the Members; but at first, whilst ascertaining what is necessary-what can be sustained, and what probability there is of success-the Promoter proposes to conduct it provisionally, with the aid of a Committee and a Manager. It is also contemplated, with the consent of the Members, at certain times of the day, to use the Reading-room for school purposes, and that, occasionally, information of an instructive and amusing kind shall be communicated in the shape of short lectures. |