Against property, such as burglary, house and shop-breaking, robbery, an increase of 25 per cent.

Against property, without violence, such as sheep-stealing, larceny, &c., 1 per cent.

Forgery, and offences against the currency, an increase of 22 per cent. on forgery, and 36 per cent. for uttering counterfeit coin. Miscellaneous offences,-against game laws, &c., and treasonable and seditious offences, 109 per cent.

Number transported from England and Wales, in 1848, 3,251
Number guilty of transportable offences

20,700 And had the law not been recently altered, 1,160 of those transported in 1848, would have been sentenced to death.

Offenders under the age of 15, are not included in these returns, being now taken before justices. Unfortunately, this class of juvenile offenders is greatly on the increase.

Other offences carried before magistrates, and cases of drunkenness, cannot be given, not being as yet made up.

A contemplation of these figures is enough to excite the concern of any person having the welfare of his country at heart; but I will make also a few extracts from the report of D. O'Brien, Esq. Inspector of Prisons of the Midland and Eastern districts. "Before Christianity can obtain a victory over the heart of a criminal, he must understand what the minister says. In the prisons to which I allude, an apathy and sterility are found, and must be found so long as the preacher is unaccompanied by the teacher." Again, "I have already, and with much reluctance, acknowledged my belief that but little reformation is to be effected in prison." "As yet, I have lighted upon no case of reformation where the chaplain's duties have been confined to the routine of Church service, unattended by attempts to make the prisoner 'read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest,' the rudiments of all good." If there were less apathy and sterility among all chaplains in doors and out, there would be less crime in the people. Again, where there is not a separate system, "Women are discharged from prison morally worse than when they were committed,-the fact is undeniable, it cannot be otherwise." Then speaking of the mixture of all degrees of crime together, he says,- -"The chaplain will pray, preach, and teach, and the Bible will be read, and religious books will be perused, and good precepts will be inculcated, and all in vain, so long as those living essences of corruption are brought into close proximity with the less tainted inmates of the female wards." Female debtors are imprisoned and celled with "prostitutes and thieves," and then, "they are condemned to hear the foul language of the stews, the unchecked blasphemy and ribaldry of the lowest prostitutes, and the outpourings of thieves." Such for instance is the goal of Coventry, and there are similar. The crimes in prison too, one against another, and with one another, can scarcely be believed, and are not repeatable.

Insufficiency of goal room prevails in every district. There is continual evidence in these reports, that people steal on purpose to get

subsistence in gaols. Could they get it in the colonies, they would not steal at all. People steal children and maim them, to excite commisseration. We hear not of burking, but it is to be feared that it still exists.

"The situation and feelings of the vagrant class, who, in the North Riding, at least constitute the bulk of the criminal population, seem to set at nought all attempts at improvement. They are undeterred by the police officer, they are not reclaimed by the discipline of the gaol, they are uninfluenced by any advice or instruction; and when liberated, they resume their former habits, their crimes and their associates. The goal is no longer regarded with aversion, but as a place of refuge for the sick, the houseless, and the destitute.' "Clean apartments and sufficiency of wholesome food, contrast agreeably with what are called 'the late bad times,' and they settle down. with remarkable complacency. The deprivation of liberty is a fitful annoyance at the first, but congenial companionship rapidly reconciles them to their periodical home; while beginners, who are really bowed down with the sense of their disgrace, are soon laughed out of their novitiate, and become shameless and hardended as the rest."

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People steal to be committed, in order to get a suit of clothes; go out, dispose of those clothes, and return again and again.

"The sums heretofore expended on prison buildings have in some cases been enormous. The cost is seldom less than £100 to £150 per prisoner; a sum sufficient for building two or three neat cottages, each able to contain a whole family, and in some instances, it has been much more.

The smallest of these sums would have paid for ten passengers to Natal.

"A portion of the county prison of York, capable of accommodating only one hundred and sixty prisoners, cost £200,000, which is more than £1,200 per prisoner; enough, if it had been desired, to build for each prisoner, a separate mansion, with stable and coachhouse."

Seeing the enormous expense of goals, Mr. Inspector Hill thinks that building prisons should be postponed; while other inspectors, with much satisfaction, will see them increased.

"To send a child of seven or eight years old to any ordinary prison, a fortress, with grated doors and barred windows, guarded at all points, and surrounded by high walls, would seem, when stated in plain terms, to be an act both of folly and cruelty. And when not only the public money is wasted, and the child treated without regard to the feelings of infancy, but, owing to the bad state of the prison, the little thing is placed in a position in which he is in danger of being corrupted for life, the picture, in all its features, becomes painful and revolting."

The conduct of heinous offenders is barely touched upon; that picture would be revolting indeed, and yet many of these men might, under a paternal goverment, have been first-rate members of society. They are all men of vast energy, but their course has been hampered,

they have had no field for their talents, or it has been denied them. There are thousands craving for emigration now, and it is denied to them. Many will in consequence become convicts, not that they like it, but they are driven to it. Good treatment makes us all better men. The following lines were written by a prisoner:

Caged in a prison cell, how sad, yet true,

Does the lone heart bring former scenes to view,
Till the rack'd mind, with bitter frenzy driven,
Maligns the just decrees of man and heaven.
The grated bars, the iron-studded door,
The cold bare walls, and chilly pavement floor,
The hammock, table, stool, and pious book,
The jailor's stealthy tread and jealous look,
Force back the maddened thoughts to other days,
When joyous youth was crowned with hopeful bays;
'Ere rank luxuriant folly reigned supreme,
As if this life was nothing but a dream,-
Or the aire cup had seared the unblighted heart,
And caused all holy feelings to depart.

My father's home, my mother's cheerful smile,
Where sat affection free from selfish guile;
Each pleasant hour so innocently gay,
Passed like a mellow summer's eve away.
No baneful passions fired my tranquil mind,
No wild unruly thoughts ranged unconfined;
But all was fair and gladsome as the grove,
Where warbling songsters live in artless love.
How changed my lot! no sister, mother, sire,
Now fondly sit around the wintry fire;

No household song beguiles the lengthened night;
No homely jests create a fond delight;

No Sabbath morning sees us now engage

In wrapt attention on the holy page,

Or hears the swelling notes of praise and prayer
Borne on the breeze, and floating on the air.
Oh! could my parents' shades but bend on earth
They'd mourn like me the morning of my birth ;
Cursed be the hour when first I turned astray
From keeping sacred God's own hallowed day;
When first I learned to sip the poisoned bowl,
That kills the body and corrupts the soul.
'Twas then my godly lessons, one by one,
Fled from my giddy heart, till all were gone,
And left behind a waste and dreary wild,
A conscience hardened and a soul defiled,
Oh! when I think on what I've been, and see
My present state, and think what I

may be,

Despair and horror burn and boil within,

For years of folly and continued sin,

Until my brain seems bursting with the dread,
Of heaven's just judgments falling on my head.
Almighty father, God of life and death!"

Give, oh! give me a true and living faith;

Bestow thy quickening spirit, and impart,
Thy saving grace to tranquillize my heart;
That I may better live, for time to come,
And rear my spirit for thy heavenly home.

But we must not be sentimentally pitiful to the guilty, and unjust to the honest and striving. If that course be adopted, the righteous would be swallowed up quick. Even now, the increase of crime greatly exceeds the increase of population. "In 1810, according to Mr. Pearson, there were only 5,146 commitments:" now they are 30,349. Population during that period had increased but 60 per cent. ; whilst the commitments for crime had increased 420 per cent. !

SCOTLAND.

Convictions in 1848,-3689.

Acquitted on Trial,-1196. Prisons are full; so that the General Board of Directors of Prisons report to Sir Geo. Grey, "that they should view with much satisfaction an addition to the prison accommodation of Scotland."

The average daily number of prisoners in Scotland in 1840, was 1041; in 1848, it was 2969; an increase of 146 per cent.

The assessment on counties for prisons in Scotland, in 1847, was £47,817; in 1848, £56,596. The cost of the gaoling system in Scotland is £19. 5s. 7d. per head per annum, exclusive of constabulary, police, convictions, prisons, repairs, &c. Building and repairing prisons, alone amounted to £17,104.

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The Inspectors of Scotch prisons report that committals have increased from 13,682 in 1846, to 17,402 in 1848. "There was no provision to meet the excess.' "The evil has been further aggravated by the additional number sentenced to long imprisonments, for which there was no room in the general prison." "Aberdeen and Dingwall are the only two important places that have had spare cells." "The separate system could not be carried out in Edinburgh and Glasgow, from being so overcrowded; so that safe custody and good order was all that could be attempted. While such has been the condition of the prisons, it is useless making observations on the probable results of imprisonments, which could do little or no good." "The loss of parents is a fruitful cause of crime in Scotland, as elsewhere." "It is chiefly from this unfortunate class that our prisons continue to be fed and multiplied, while sound policy, as well as justice and humanity, point out that they ought to be otherwise provided for." True, and Mr. Kincaid is right again, when he says, "If we would empty our prisons, I am satisfied that the all-important act of reformation must be commenced and worked out of doors, in the haunts of poverty and vice; and, above all, by snatching neglected children from the inevitable ruin that awaits them. I am of opinion that little good can be effected in prison, unless under deterring systems, such as may not be calculated to damage the energies of the prisoner, but at the same time to make him feel that an honest way of life is preferable to a prison abode."

C

Total convictions in 1848, 18,206. Acquitted on trial, 20,316. Number of cases before magistrates and petty sessions in 1848, 49,717; in 1847, 25,810. Increase, 23,907: being an increase of 93 per cent.

Number of persons committed for drunkenness, 12,302.

Of criminals, there is an increase in 1848, of 7313, or 231⁄2 per cent. The Report of the Inspector describes the state of affairs as follows: "A state of social prostration but faintly shewn, even by criminal statistics, in which the magnitude of the offence keeps pace with the increase of offenders." "This is fearfully aggravated by the insufficiency of existing accommodation in the gaols of Ireland," (in which 1190 deaths took place last year,) wholly inadequate, even in ordinary years, to the wants of the respective counties, being crowded to excess by all classes and descriptions of offenders. The establishment of a reformatory system of separation or industrial training, appears to be physically and morally impracticable.”

How fearfully this picture and these figures would have been aggravated, if juries were not overwhelmed with fear, if the assassin were not dreaded, and if witnesses dared to give their evidence!

"Cattle stealing has reached such a height, and is committed with such apparent impunity as to become a question of vital importance, threatening almost the very existence of that branch of the agricultural interest. The constabulary returns shew that offences of this description have averaged 1200 per month!"

Offences against the person, with violence, exhibit an increase of 5966, being 31 per cent. upon the previous year.

Offences against property, with violence, 2561, an increase of 15 per cent.

Offences against property, without violence, 19,547, an increase of 2063, or 12 per cent.

Malicious offences against property, have increased from 321 to 926, or 188 per cent.

Forgeries, and offences against the currency, an increase of 10 per

cent.

Miscellaneous offences shew an increase of 44 per cent.

Making a gross increase on the year 1847-48, of 7313, or 23 per

cent.

Murders have increased 66 per cent.; manslaughter, 4 per cent. ; shooting at," 29 per cent.; assaults, 33 per cent.; assaults against police, 147 per cent.; "taking and holding forcible possession," 93 per cent.; arson, 191 per cent.; killing cattle, 400 per cent.; riot, 22 per cent. : and rescue. 84 per cent.