nerous, and high-conditioned fruits both of private and public benevo lence, spring from the soil of wellregulated Emulation; and even the same pursuit upheld after the most remarkable changes of mind in in dividuals, without any apparent consciousness of guilt in their pro ceedings; I should be more disposed to question the ground on which I am standing. If firm at all, sir, it should be made to feel so. A question involving so many interests, and affecting the fate of almost the whole rising generation, should not be left at large; nor the exertions now making in that cause be suffered to continue, if they are mischievous, or be discouraged if beneficial. The question is, indeed, now fully at issue. Many years cannot revolve over our heads, should it please God to leave us the space of ground we now occupy for the experiment, before its success will be most amply tried. According as the succeeding generation shall have been actually improved, or deteriorated in disposition, so I shall be bold to claim the argument as my own, or concede it to your correspondent. In the mean time, wishing most heartily that no objects of Emulation may be proposed to us, but the very highest and most beneficial to man; no motive enforced, but the glory of God and obedience to his will; no temper inculcated, but that of peace on earth and good will towards men;" I shall conclude, by pointing at once our prayers and our endeavours towards that bright eminence which can alone justify all means by which it shall have been obtained, the eminence of true holiness, leading, through the merits of a Redeemer, to the very throne itself of God. "Here is honour worthy our ambition; honour, after which we all are invited to aspire; which all may obtain, who strive worthily and lawfully; and of which, when once obtained, nothing can ever deprive the pos sessors *." دو VINDEX. • Horne on the 113th Psalm. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS, Remarks on Prisons. By STEVENSON MACGILL, D. D. Minister of the Trone Church of Glasgow. Glasgow, London, Longman. pp. 79. In the month of May, 1800, we had occasion to review a valuable work by Dr. Macgill, entitled, "Considerations addressed to 8 young Clergyman; OF some Trials of Principle and Character, which may arise in the Course of his Mimistry;" and we ventured to express a strong wish that it might be read by every clergyman in the kingdom. We feel nearly as strong a desire that the tract now before us may go into the hands of every Member of both Houses of the Legislature. The state of our gaols is a subject which has attracted much less than it ought to have done of the public attention. We have been distinguished of late by improvements in almost every branch of our internal polity, and by an excursive benevolence which has known no bounds but the limits of the globe; while the vice and the wretchedness which are still found united within the walls of too many of our prisons, have either been wholly overlooked, or, when dragged into notice by the indignant feelings of some benevolent individual, have often only served to excite a sentiment of hopeless regret. In a variety of in stances, indeed, much has been done to realize the philanthropic designs of a Howard; but in many of our prison-houses, the evils of our ancient system remain in a great measure unredressed. "How surprising is it," observes our anthor," that amongst a people so just and humane as the British, those objects should have received so little public attention. The evils existing in our prisons, the benevolent Howard, many years ago, laid open, in plain and moderate language, yet in a manner fitted deeply to affect the mind. In many places he excited attention, and great improvements were made. But in many places also, and in places where attention might chiefly have been expected, little has been done, and the most flagrant abuses continue to exist. In London, the seat of government, and where, from the number and character of the prisoners, it is of the first importance, not only to individuals, but to the nation, that the state of pri. sons should be made an object of regular and systematic attention, evils of the worst nature continue to prevail. Who could have thought, that, after all his labours, Howard should have had to record, in his last publication, such facts as the following? Newgate-No alteration! In three or four rooms, there were near one hundred and fifty women crowded together, many young creatures with the old and hardened, some of whom had been confined upwards of two years; on the men's side, likewise, there were many boys of twelve or fourteen years of age, some almost naked. In the men's infirmary, there were only seven iror. Bedsteads; and, at my last visit, there being twenty sick, some of them naked, and with sores, in a miserable condition, lay on the floor, with only a rug. There were four sick in the infirmary for women, which is only fifteen feet and a half by twelve, has but one window, and no bedsteads, sewers offensive, prisons not whitewashed. The Fleet, the King's Bench, and many others of the principal prisons, he marks in like manner, with the emphatic works' no alteration! I believe that several alterations have been made since that period; but how few are yet in that state which justice, humanity, religion, and enlightened policy, would dictate! At present, I consider the subject with a view to the Health of the prisoners. And is, even now, that object attended to in Newgate, for example, as might be expected in one of the first prisons of the capital of such a king dom as Britain? Unless it be greatly. changed since I had an opportunity of visiting it, about three years ago, the acconi modation for debtors and for females is the Picture of London, where mention is deplorable. In the account given of it in made of some important improvements, during the sheriffalty of Messrs. Smith and Phillips, we find still the following facts; The rooms (for debtors) are twenty-three feet by fifteen; the number of inl:abitants, is from twelve to twenty in each room. The debtor's side contains, sometimes, three hundred; and, for this number, a court is other yards, felons are lodged, and in anoprovided of fifty by thirty-two feet. In four ther, women-felons; a wretched place, in which, in three wards, are sometimes kept upwards of one hundred women." pp.17—19. As a farther illustration of our author's remark, we will here insert an extract of a letter addressed to the Lord Mayor of London, by the benevolent Mr. James Neild, on the 11th Dec. 1804. "It is now more than three years since I made my first report to the Lord Mayor and the Court of Aldermen, of the state of the Borough Compter. A Committee was appointed to inspect it. The windows were repaired and glazed: it was whitewashed and swept. This being all the improvement it has received, permit me to trespass on your Lordship's patience, and that of the honourable Court, whilst I describe its present state. "Sir Watkin Lewes, as Bailiff of the Borough, is, 1 presume, the keeper. His deputy, John Bullevant, has no salary. This prison extends its jurisdiction over five parishes. Men and women debtors have one small court-yard, about nineteen feet square; and they appear to me at all times to associate together. They have nothing but the dirty boards to sleep upon. No bedding, or even straw allowed. No fire, even in this cold and damp season. No medical assistance in sickness. No religious attentions whatever. The few remaining boards in the men-debtors' room (mentioned in my former report) are now taken away, as are the joists on which they were laid. The room is useless; the floor is earth. Neither mops, brooms, ner pails are allowed, to keep the prison clean. Soap or towels are not afforded to the prisoners; so that a man may for a debt of one guinea, remain in this wretched place forty days, without once taking off his clothes, or washing his hands and face. "Permit me now, my Lord, to submit to your consideration the allowance to this prison. It is a twopenny loaf a day; weight, March 10, 1801, six ounces! and Dccember 7, 1804, eight ounces. This scanty provision, without any nu tritious liquor, only water, is not sufficient to support the cravings of nature; and the prisoner at his discharge may be fit for an hospital, but he cannot be fit for labour.' "What shall I say to a system still continued, though respectfully submitted to the Court more than three years ago? I am informed, there has been no resident Alderman in this ward for many years, which may in some measure account for the total neglect of this miserable place." "No inquiry ever appears to be made about the state of this prison; and there being no resident Magistrate, the cries of the miserable never reach that Court where distress seldom supplicates in vain." Forgot by the City-out of reach of being heard-it seems a wretched cast-off, and may be numbered among the worst prisons in the kingdom." " When Mr. Neild visited this prison again in 1807, he found things precisely in the same state-men and women associating together; no allowance of coals, nor of kettles or saucepans to cook provisions; no mops, brooms, or pails to keep the prison clean; no bedsteads, bedding, or even straw to lie upon; debtors obliged to sleep on the dirty boards in their clothes; in short, the distress and wretched we hail, as the harbinger of a new and better order of things in this important department of public disciplinė, the appointment of a Committee of the House of Commons, on the motion of Mr. Eden, to examine into the state of our gaols, with a view to their effectual reform. We particularly recommend the work before us to the attention of that g gentleman and his Parliamentary Associates in this beneficent pursuit. The justifiable ends of a prison, Dr. Macgill conceives to be, and we think rightly, "to keep in custody the accused, till the period of their trial; to keep in custody the condemned, till the sentence of the law be executed; and, lastly, to punish by confinement, particular offences." To confine a person on the mere accusation of guilt is, unquestionably, a grievous hardship, which can only be justified by the necessity of the case, and which should therefore be softened as far as is consistent with the object of security. On no account ought he to be placed on a level, as to treatment, with convicted criminals, or forced into their society. In the case of persons condemned and kept in confinement till the sentence be executed, their imprisonment may, justly be accompanied by circumstances of degradation and personal hardship; but then these should be clearly implied in the nature of their punishment, and should in no instance be inflicted arbitrarily, but should follow from the unain biguous denunciation of the law. And this observation applies with equal force to the case of persons whose direct punishment is the privation of liberty. The sentence of the Judge should specify the accompanying circumstances of rigour, and if any farther evils, from whatever cause arising, should be superadded, they must be regarded as inhuman and unjust. The remarks of Dr. Macgill ́on confinement for debt are equally sound. The only just grounds he assigns for it, are either to prevent the debtor from leaving the country until he shall have rendered an account of his estate, and his conduct has been examined; or to punish fraud or any other criminal action of which, he may have been guilty, When confinement seems necessary, attention should be paid to the suitable accommodation of the person confined; and after he has made a fair surrender of his property, his creditors should no longer have any power over his person. Negligence, profligacy, or fraud, should indeed be punished; but then it should be punished after trial, and according to the judge's sentence. The ho nest and unfortunate would then be protected from cruelty, and no longer confounded with the gamb. ling speculator, the profligate spendthrift, or the unprincipled swindler. Prisons, therefore, may be considered under two views; as confimement for security, and confinement for punishment. In many prisons these two objects are united. In others they are kept distinct; those appropriated to the latter object exclusively being called Houses of Correction. Many of Dr. Macgill's observations are applicable to both descriptions. His thoughts, however, are chiefly directed to the consideration of the first. 1. The design for which prisons are erected, is to secure the person of the prisoners. The harsh means formerly employed for this purpose, of dark and deep dungeons, iron, chains and bolts, rivetting prisoners to the ground, &c. are either entirely abolished, or used less frequently. By a proper plan of building, indeed, even irons may be rendered wholly unnecessary, except when prisoners are riotous; and surely, unless they are really necessary, they should never be resorted to as a means of security. To put in irons persons who have not been condemned, is peculiarly cruel and unjust. 2. It is no part of the punishment designed for prisoners, that they should suffer from disease; that CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 143. their strength should be wasted, or their constitution undermined by sickness; or that their future lives, if not cut short, as they sometimes are, should be embittered by pain and debility, and by their necessary consequences, poverty and wretchedness. Yet, from the construction and management of our prisons, such have been the dreadful effects flowing from confinement in too many instances. Our feelings revolt from such treatment even of the guilty, how much more when it becomes, as it possibly may, the portion of the innocent and unfortunate! Every consideration of justice and humanity imperiously demands that this evil should be remedied; and that, in the situation,' arrangement, and management of prisons, such attention should be paid to the air, exercise, cleanliness, and diet of the prisoners, as shall' afford a fair security against its fatal effects. On all these points Dr. Macgill makes many valuable observations, of which we can trace but a very faint outline. The situation selected for a prison, should be airy and dry; if near a great town, on that side of it from which the air and smoke of the town will generally be blown away. A spot near a river or running brook is desirable. The prison should be so constructed, as to allow the fullest possible benefit of fresh and wholesome air. This is necessary to preserve health, recover the sick, and check infection. The rooms of the prisoners should be on the second floor, and should enjoy, as indeed every corner of the prison should, the means of free ventilation. convenient space should be annexed for exercise, where females, and, if possible, the debtors, the accused, and the condemned, should be kept distinct; which might be effected either by having several separate courts, or by allotting different hours of the day for the exercise of the different classes of prisoners. If this separation be not rigidly maintained, the most in 2 I A Jurious effects may be expected to follow to the moral interests of the prisoners. To secure cleanliness both as it respects the persons of the prisoners and the prisons, is of the highest importance. The rooms and furniture should be of a kind which may easily be kept clean, and may afford little harbour for dust or ver min. The prison should be well supplied with water; each court having a pump-well and a bath, with a wash-house and boiler attached to i. Every prisoner should be obliged to keep his person and apparel clean and neat: each room should be frequently washed, and twice in the year white washed: the courts should be washed more than once every day, which would greatly freshen the air throughout the prison; and the straw of the beds, and the bed linen, should be shifted at stated times. "The habit of cleanliness is not only conducive to health, but to decency, order, diligence, and good manners. This is confirmed by the remark of Capt. Cook, who, de clared, that such men as he could induce to be more cleanly than they were disposed to be of themselves, became at the same time more, sober, more orderly, and more attentive to their duty."" p. 17. In the same spirit are some excellent remarks of our author, on the state of those wretched hovels which the labouring classes in great towns are obliged frequently to inhabit." His family presents a scene of filth and dis order; spiritless and unhappy, he is tempted to seek abroad, the comfort which his own dwelling cannot give; and habits of drink. ing, not unfrequently complete the wretch "Peat up in the narrowest and dirtiest lanes: in houses, damp, confined, airless, crowded and huddled together, more like places for cattle than for men; they breathe a foul and putrid air, and lose all spirit and desire for cleanliness, decency, and order. The effect of such circumstances, not only on the health and comfort, but morals and character of the people, is great. Those habits of decent neatness, so important, not only to comfort, but to dignity of mind, and a maintenance of character, are lost; because the opportunity of forming or main taining them, is not given. The woman loses the desire to please, and sinks into a sinttero. Home affords few inducements to the busband, after the labours of the day: edness of his condition. If such be the effect on the parents, need I enlarge on what must be the state and character of the chil dren! Can it be inconsistent with the liborty of the subject, or the rights of private property, to guard against such evils? To fix, for example, a certain width for the streets, and laues, and passages of a town, within which they shall not be contracted;" to oblige proprietors to set apart places for dunghills, and means for carrying off stag nant water, from the houses they let, according to their number and population; and to appoint rules for keeping clean, not laues and corners of the city. These might ouly the larger streets, but the narrowest all be objects of public police; and few ob jects, I am persuaded, would produce a greater effect on the comfort, health, aud manners of the people." pp. 11, 12., Dr. Macgill condemns the plan of giving to prisoners their allow ance for food in money, as pregnant with a variety of evils. Their food, he conceives, should be distributed to them from a general kitchen, according to fixed rules; and that such a plan is both prac ticable and highly beneficial, he proves from the examples of the poor-houses, infirmaries, and houses› of correction of Glasgow and many. other places. No complaint has there been made either of the quan tity or quality of the food, or of the difficulty of excluding spirituous liquors, and the consequent disor ders. This plan, if not pursued with all prisoners, which our author thinks, and we think with him, ought to be done, might at least be pursued with such as are maintained · at the public expense, which would produce much good and obviate: much evil 3. We now come to Dr. Masgill's remarks on the attention which should be paid, in the con struction and management of pri-› sons, to the moral and religious interests of the prisoners. In the first place, justice, and the ends of good government seem to require, not |