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No. 429, Juke 12, 1858.] THE LEADER. 567
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DISCHARGED PRISONERS. "Who would not be ...
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PUBLIC AND PRESS PRIVILEGES. Last week, ...
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THE LIMITS OT PUBLICITY. In our news dep...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Oammry Rmnttm Nif Twf Atttvtv Sanitary Condition Ok 1m_ A±Tjmy
situated in the very worst part of ^ the city , surrounded ly large , old houses , forming close and narrow streets , all crowded with people of the -worst class , poor , dirty , and dissipated ; it was built for ar large warehouse for linen . Had any pains ever been taken to make it fit for a place to live in , it might easily have been made habitable ; but there it stands : where bales of linen were stowed , now you find men and officers—that is the only difference . "With the exception of two or three large , low rooms , a large proportion of the men and all the officers are placed in cells opening hy a door
into a long passage , and at the other end having a window strongly Jjarred to the top ; no fireplaces , but a stove with a pipe passing out at the window , which vomits alternately fire , sulphureous fumes , and smoke . The window , being so completely barred , can never he cleaned without great difficulty ; but as it only looks into tlie prison-yard , this is of no great moment , though it completes the depressing effect of the cell . The men ' cells have no doors , and . a very small window . Nothing can be imagined much worse than these recesses ; so little current of air is there , thai if the place were wetted as soldiers usually do to clean it , the floor
would be wet for days . As there are no fireplaces , the stoves are dotted at intervals through the large rooms and in the passages connected with , the ceflrooms ; instead of warming the looms and affording the ventilation of a fireplace , these stoves , being always out of repair , fill the whole atmosphere with noxious fumes . But not only this , for as they are constantly made red-hot , there is gjreat danger from fire—in fact , the roof of the principal barrack-room was once found to be on fire , but fortunately in the day-time , and , thanks to the active exertions of the men , resulted in damage to the building only . As our information is derived from a medical officer
who was stationed an charge of 600 men in this barrack in tie winter of ' 55 , it is important to be able to add such testimony to the effects of bad Ventilation in " confirmation" of the result given by the Commissioners . It appears that 10 per cent . of the men were always in hospital , and that there were some most severe pulmonary and rheumatic eases ; of these two died within a month from the former cause , and some were rendered unfit for active service . Measles and mumps also prevailed . The smell in the large rooms at night is described as something loathsome and sickening , and in some of
the cell-rooms would be found one or two married couples with children , literally seething in a hot , damp atmosphere , flavoured with cabbage-leaves , potato parings , and soap-suds , with other accumulation of a young soldier family . The whole thing was duly reported , and a sort of pro forma inspection by the Engineers ordered ; but the only answer was , that it had always been so , and-had been reported over and over again , but that the Engineer department did not find it uninhabitable for troops . Such a preposterous result only shows the necessity for taking up the recommendation of the Commission with a high hand , and making the opinion and tlie orders
of the Principal Medical Officer supreme in matters concerning- the sanitary state of barracks . The Barrack Department and the Engineers see nothing of the fatal effects , and , as the evidence shows repeatedly , after any number of reports from medical officers , nothing is done . Tlie Quartern ! aster-General of the Army says : " la case of any objection to a barrack in any way , either the want of ventilation , or drainage , or " any insalubrity , lie can only forward that with the backing of tlie Commandcriu-Chief to the Minister for War . " The President
asks , " Arc you satisfied witli that arrangement ? Do you get all tliat you want for housing the troops P Certainly not . It is the old storymoney . H very thing is stopped for the want of means . " But Sir . Richard Aircy complains of the tardiness of the process , even when the money will be granted : —" Everything comes up through a variety of channels until it gets up to the decidingpoint . Pust to some junior oilicer , from that to one above him , and so on , I believe , until it gets to the top . So that , while all this marvellous machinery ot the bureau is being worked , good men and true are being sacrificed .
No. 429, Juke 12, 1858.] The Leader. 567
No . 429 , Juke 12 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 567
Discharged Prisoners. "Who Would Not Be ...
DISCHARGED PRISONERS . "Who would not be a discharged prisoner P He obtains excellent advice gratis ) he gets donations Irom rich societies ; chaplains instruct him ; the watchlul eye of benevolence follows him « s he leaves tho gaol , sees about getting him employment , protects him from scandal-mongers , and secures Jam a place . Great noblemen , like Lord John
Russell , make speeches for him , Lord Shaftesburv prays for him , the Times prints statistical biographies about him , and Parliamentary Committees sit in gilded saloons consulting for his good . Equity and kindness are excellent things , and there is equity in recognizing that tlie prisoner may have been the victim of circumstances , and there is kindness in forgiving him if repentant . But the misfortune is that discharged prisoners are the only class in this country who receive systematic aid in obtaining employment . As Carlyle says , nothing in this world is more sad than a man seeking work and not getting it . This sad sight is seen daily , yet no kmd-liearted gentlemen organize themselves to obtain employment for him . They wait until he commits a crime , gets into prison , and gets discharged . ' If there were many societies for aiding
the working classes in getting work , we might then understand and applaud a society going still further , and affording aid even to working men who had unfortunately committed crime . But that the criminal classes should be selected from the mass of the unemployed as the only objects of compassion , is to our minds a disgraceful and demoralizing fact . It is not unaccountable , for the real motives at the bottom of all this particular philanthropy are economy and fear . The criminaL population are expensive and dangerous ; therefore let us pet them
m gaol and help them when they get out of it . The unconvicted ^ poor may die quietly in their lanes , or they may timidly parade the streets ; so long as they refrain from burglary or violence we let them alone . We advocate no socialism ; we plead , no right of the poor to charity ; we think that benevolence should be free as air—free to seek its own paths ; but when the honourable task of assisting poor working men to employment is taken tip by a Society , we consid er it most demoralizing and injurious that its action should be expressly confined to the relief of discharged prisoners .
_ The secretary of the Surrey Discharged Prisoners Aid Society , says : — " Every year upwards of 132 , 000 men , women , and children are discharged from prison ; and with regard to the vast majority of these , they may be considered as having neither friends , home , money , nor character , and have nothing- left to them but to starve , to beg , or to steal . " Are there not throughout the country many other thousand men and women who have neither friends nor money , but who may have an humble home and a good character , and who , through want of employment and want of aid societies , have
' nothing left to them but to starve , to beg , or to steal ? " These men arc left neglected ana starve for want of work , but , according to Sir B . Leighton ( Chairman of the Shropshire Quarter Sessions ) , " discharged prisoners find no difficulty in getting : work . " This curious statement is explained by the words of two chaplains—one of whom , Mr . Hatch , says , that " probably the means given to the prisoners of obtaining- a shelter and the means of living upon their discharge had something to do with the readiness with which they obtained employment . "
The information and shelter thus given to the criminal are withheld from the honest poor , who therefore enter into the great labour market under disadvantages unknown to the convicted competitor . Mr . Burt , another chaplain , accounting for Sir B . Leighton ' s startling statement , says : —" Small grants of money for the purchase of clothes or tools , or payment of lodgings , had been found efficacious . " How many an humble , honest labourer might be saved from misery and prison if such kindness had been shown him from time to time !
Public And Press Privileges. Last Week, ...
PUBLIC AND PRESS PRIVILEGES . Last week , the four judges of tho Court of Queen ' s Bench concurred in a decision of the utmost importance to the public and the press . The question which arose was , in point of fact , new to the Court , for none of the precedents quoted could bo adduced as involving a precisely identical principle . It had been distinctly laid down some years previously , that to publish a full , true , and particular account of proceedings in courts of justice upon , a trial , is not libellous , unless " containing matter
defamatory of a person who is neither party to the suil , nor present at the time of the inquiry . " It had been held , however , mi indictable offence , to publish any account of cx-parte proceedings before a magistrate \ and some law books contain the opinion thai ; the publication of proceedings before a coroner ' s inquest , or a preliminary inquiry before a magistrate , however correct the statement , if it contain matter libellous of anothor
is actionable . This , then , was the problem brought into the Court of Queen ' s Bench for solution ; and , although Lord Campbell declined to lay down the law broadly upon all the points involved , the result was of a very satisfactory character , both to the defendants in the case , and to the press and public generally . The Daily Telegraph had reported certain proceedings at the Guildhall , arising out of a charge of perjury ; and upon an action for libel brought against the proprietors , a jury had found the reports to have been fair and impartial . Then , however , the question arose , Are such reports legal at all , however impartial they may be ? It is needless to say what effect a decision in the negative must have had . It would have closed our police courts
against the supervision of that active censor , the general reader , and would have destroyed a , very important principle of utility belonging to the daily newspaper . Therefore the metropolitan press has not exaggerated the importance of Lord Campbell ' s " judgment ; nor does the Daily Telegraph arrogate too much for itself when , it claims the merit of having fought a useful battle in its own interest and that of its contemporaries . The first organ—as is welt known—of the cheap daily press , with an unparalleled circulation among all classes of readers , and justifying by its ability and success the expectations of those who abolished the stamp duty , the Daily Telegraph certainly merits a word of congratulation upon its spirited assertion of journalistic privileges in the Courts of Law . " ^
The Limits Ot Publicity. In Our News Dep...
THE LIMITS OT PUBLICITY . In our news department this week a conspicuous omission may be misinterpreted . We owe it to our readers to declare that it is a deliberate omission , justified by the principle to which we have always steadily adhered , that affairs strictl y private ought never to be brought before the public . The public is , b y several circumstances , disqualified from discussing them . On a vast number of questions that originate ^ and terminate within the private circle , the public has so little made up its mind that it cannot adjudicate with any fixity of principle , or clearness of conclusion . Of all courts , " the-miMic' *
is that which possesses the least power of collecting evidence , still less of sifting it . The judge is at the mercy of gossip , and has not the slightest authority , if it nad machinery , to make an inquisition . It is , therefore , a judge before whom obtrusiyeness may always carry the day ; before whom , injured innocence may suffer judgment to go by default ; or worse , may be betrayed into making a half-defence , which , on reflection , it cannot complete ; and it may thus seem to be convicted on the pleadings . For observe , in many , cases the true explanation is one that cannot be brought forward . Instances
may happen in which it is necessary to invoke the aid of the law to restrain positive crime , or to aid in preventing mischief ; and publicity is so essential as a check upon the oppressive tendencies of the Executive , that we must submit to it . Yet how intolerable it is ! What grievous injustice is often done by public opinion to the weak and the defenceless ! Even in affairs where the law only steps in to aid in a friendly interference , the public often injures simply in knotting . Look at a case now before a public court , in which a most estimable and engaging young lady becomes , most unjustly , a subject of notice , comment , conjecture , and impertinent uei Aim iius is
unuu . , wrong uono wuere me puuiichas all the aid of a legal machinery to marshal , sift , and control the evidence . But when there is no such appeal to an established tribunal , an appeal to the public can scarcely ever bo anything but unfortunate . The whole case can never be known . Instances in proof of this will occur to every reader . In . most coses , in almost all , where domestic differences of a sacredly intimate nature arc thrust upon public notice , the one to suffer from publicity is the woman ; and no explanations can retrieve the wrong too often inflicted upon her by making her the subject of any
public discussion . It is on these grounds that to purely private andl personal affairs , not presented before any authorized tribunal , we would absolutely ? refuse publicity , although we would secure the fullest publicity to check the abuses of tho legal executive , and would promote the freest possible discussion on tho general principles by which such cases ought to be guided . Two principles at least arc applicable to every case—to assume nothing that wo do not know , and to put generous constructions upon what wo da know .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 12, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12061858/page/15/
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