accept and embrace, and entertain, and hope never to part with, we declare that when the Anglican Church shall have undergone the process we are preparing for her, when we shall have made her independent of outdoor relief, and she shall appear in Ireland in her proper and legitimate character as a Voluntary Church like that of the Scottish Episcopalians, we shall be willing to forget the past and bid her freely welcome. It would be affectation in us to say that we do not regard the presence of any other religion than our own as an evil. The Anglican, the Presbyterian, and every sincere man of whatever religion, divides this feeling with us; but in a country like Ireland the evil admitted upon all hands is also allowed to have an admixture of good. To a certain extent the jealousy and vigilance of rival religions, kept within proper bounds, does, we believe, exercise a purifying influence over all the rivals. To this extent, therefore, we shall be prepared to welcome the Anglican Church as soon as its existence shall have been made at all compatible with charity and sisterhood. The English Church, says Lord Brougham, somewhere, is a mild mistress. and an unobtrusive neighbour. How she rules her family we do not care to know, but we desire nothing more earnestly than good neighbourhood and are labouring our utmost to promote it. We have already said, and with all respect for Mr. Miall, we say again, that, cæteris paribus, man for man, voluntary for voluntary, religion for religion, we prefer the Anglican to the Presbyterian; we have already assigned reasons for the preference, which we have, no doubt, Mr. Miall will find excellent. We find the "Churchman" in general more genial, better educated and more natural, in a word more to our taste than the Dissenter; a reason, perhaps, as unanswerable as any other we have given. But in this we are by no means singular. Our great Bishop of Kildare, Dr. Doyle, had the same tastes and opinions as ourselves; looking upon the Anglican body as approaching more closely to the Catholic standard of doctrine and practice than any other of the Separated communities. If, therefore, we have spoken strongly of the Establishment as distinguished from the Religion, it is a distinction which the friends of the Establishment themselves should be able to understand and prepared to accept, unless they wish to make the Church identical with the Establishment. We have hardly used a stronger expression than may be found in Peter Plymley, and what we have said, would that we had said as well. May heaven avert a Sydney Smith from Ireland. He would be worth a hundred years of life to the Establish

ment without reforming it in the least. Dr. Griffin, Dr. Higgins, and Dr. Knox are exceedingly inconvenient to us as it is. Their charity, sense, and tact are as a mantle to the nakedness of the Establishment. It is, however, reassuring to reflect that they are rather more detested by their brethren than Dr. Mac Hale, or the Delegate Apostolic. Dr. Whately was once a little in our way, but now we cordially wish him to remain. Let us have more Fleurys, an additional Whiteside, an extra Gregg, Thompsons ad nauseam, Scripture readers ad infinitum. A military chaplaincy for Gavazzi, a cure of souls and bodies for Achilli, the professorship of Italian for a conforming "figurista," "signori di ambo i sessi" contributors to the Church Missions-this or the half of this, and our work is smooth and light. Make the placards more inflammatory, the handbills more poisonous, the "special invitations to Roman Catholics" more tender. Let religion turn herself into fairings for the girls, tobacco for the old men, and tea for the old women. Let conversion come like Jupiter to the lap of Norah in a shower of half-pence, or lurk in a bale of corduroys and flannel petticoats. In mercy's name let us have more Scripture riots, additional constabulary and additional rates. Let us have, if possible, two Aprils every year, for we must apprize our English readers, if they will allow us a native figure of speech, that Irish May meetings are held in April. A double allowance of bad breath, bad passions, and bad oratory. What more? More ministers and inore bishops. From our souls we regret that the number ever was diminished. But we fear we shall be thought unreasonable, seeing how actively the Establishment is working for us without our asking. We on our side, and Mr. Miallon his, are engaged in a work of mercy for the English Church in Ireland. We in particular, should have studied the reformatory movement to little purpose, if we shut out from our care the most unreformed, though, by no means, the most youthful offender in the empire. After having lived under our mild but vigorous discipline, the convict will be restored to society; not so much punished as reclaimed; deprived of her unlawful store, but trained to honest industry; stripped of her purple and fine linen, but soberly and decently attired; an object neither of dread, nor pity, nor aversion, but free, self-balancing and independent; with rights in full, without a solitary privilege; a citizen, not a free-booter; a Religion, not an Establishment.

ART. VIII.-METTRAY; ITS RISE AND PROGRESS. Rapports Annuels des Directeurs de la Colonie Agricole et Penitentiare de Mettray. 1840 to 1856 inclusive. Tours: Imprimerie Ladeveze.

Numerous notices of the Reformatory Institution at Mettray in France, have, within the last few years, been published in this kingdom, and several of these have even been reproduced in our own pages;* thus some explanation may be deemed necessary of our reasons for again bringing the subject under the attention of our readers.

It will be recollected that the accounts which have yet reached us of Mettray have been written by strangers, who, attracted to it by rumors of its marvellous success, have gone thither to examine it for themselves, sometimes, perhaps, fearing that a close inspection would reveal defects and shortcomings which distance had rendered invisible.

Such a consequence, however, has never resulted from a visit to the Institution, and the desire which has been felt after seeing it to diffuse the valuable information gained there, has led to the publication of the various pamphlets to which we have alluded. But these convey to us the impression which the Colony has produced on individuals who have each viewed it under one phase only of its existence, and, so to speak, from without. They have photographed for our contemplation, the admirable results which have been obtained. For the amateur philanthropist this may suffice, but the earnest student of reformatory science seeks much more instruction than the finished picture can convey. He must learn how such a work has been accomplished, in what manner it was begun, what difficulties impeded its progress, and how they were surmounted-knowledge which can be gained only by a patient study of its gradual development. No history of Mettray such as can supply this need has yet been written, but the annual reports afford much of the desired information, and the whole series (the earlier numbers of which are become very scarce,) having been placed in our hands, we have thought to render some service to the cause of criminal reformation by laying before our readers extracts from them.

Among them we may mention Mr. Hall's two invaluable Lectures, another by Mr. Wheatley, and a Charge by the Recorder of Birmingham.

as copious as our limits will permit-occasionally abridging the narrative for the sake of brevity.

The Reports are addressed to the members of the Société Paternelle, a small association originated by M. Demetz as the first step towards founding Mettray. It consists of the chief promoters of the enterprise, having for its President the Count de Gasparin, for Vice President M. Demetz, and for Secretary-General the Count de Flavigny; but it has never interfered in the management of the institution, which has always rested solely in the hands of the Directors. It is consequently to their genius and self-devotion, that the system and the success of Mettray are alike owing, and strongly impressed as we had before been with their merits, we must confess it was not until after an attentive perusal of the seventeen annual reports which have now appeared, that we became fully aware of the exalted benevolence and the profound philosophy, which through M. M. Demetz and de Courteilles, have wrought such benefit to mankind-a benevolence, which neither the most arduous labors, nor the closest personal intercourse with the miserable beings it sought to reclaim, could weary or disgust-a philosophy, which while successfully solving the most difficult of social problems, did not disdain to occupy itself with the minutest details of domestic economy.

To the second and succeeding reports, up to the period of M. de Courteilles' death, the names of both Directors are appended, but the first which was read to the Société Paternelle, at their first annual meeting on the 7th of June, 1840, is signed by M. Demetz alone. Referring to it in his opening address, the President, M. de Gasparin, says :

The modesty of its author will not succeed in concealing from you the sacrifices and self-devotion on the part of M. Demetz and M. de Bretignères de Courteilles, by which alone we could have reached the position we already occupy. Abandoning the career in which they were engaged, and the habits of a whole life-time, they gave themselves up with pious zeal to the cause of criminal reformation. Personal and pecuniary sacrifices they estimated as nothing; their philanthropy overcame every obstacle, and they find their reward in the approbation of their own consciences, and of all good

men.

It is known to our readers that by the 66th article of the Code Napoléon children in France, under 16 years of age, who are found guilty of an offence, may be acquitted as having

acted sans discernement, in which case they are liable to detention in prison for a certain number of years, according to the sentence of the magistrate before whom they are tried. He has, however, the option of treating them as adult offenders, in which case they undergo conviction. This, however, happens comparatively rarely, but until the establishment of Reformatory Schools, the child derived little or no benefit from his privilege of acquittal. He was still exposed, for a period often of many years, to the injurious influences of a prison where he was frequently associated with hardened felons. It was to give life and action then to this dead letter that M. Demetz resolved to establish the agricultural colony of Mettray.

and

We will now turn to the first Report, only premising with reference to our translation, that for convenience sake we have retained the terms colony, colon, chef de famille, sous chef, and contre-maitre, as our language possesses no words precisely equivalent to them. The two first are self-explaining; the chef de famille is the officer placed at the head of each family, to which he discharges the duties of a father, concerning himself more particularly with the moral supervision bodily health of his wards. He has invariably been trained in the Ecole Preparatoire, as has also the sous chef, a youth who acts under the the chef de famille, and in time rises to a similar post. Contre-maitre may be translated "industrial master," and during the early existence of the Colony it was not indispensable that he should have been educated in the Ecole Preparatoire, though it is so now. If formerly, however, he had been so educated he was permitted to take a share in the moral training of the colons, by filling the office of sous chef.

In June, 1889, the Société Paternelle, issued its prospectus, and selected the village of Mettray as the site of the Colony it had re. solved to found. M. Bretignères de Courteilles had offered a tract of land there, peculiarly suited to the purpose; and from that moment, we became associated in the enterprise to which henceforth our lives are devoted. We now appealed to public charity in favor of an institution eminently calculated to benefit society, and we met with a warm response.

Five hundred subscribers gave in their names within the first year, including the king and the rest of the royal family, his ministers, many members of the Chamber of Peers, and of