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not exceeding five years ; and an allowance of 5 s . per week is made by Government , when the same cannot be obtained from the parents . This sum , however , is plainly insufficient . Miss Cabpenteb , than whom there is no higher authority on such matters , estimates the annual maintenance of each child at 18 / . to 201 . There is no animal more expensive to keep than the growing boy , or girl , between 12 and 16 years of age , especially when the ordinary requirements of nature are increased by hard work . In the
best conducted parish Unions the use of liquid food , such as gruel , porridge , &c , has in consequence been discontinued , for the children of the poorer classes actually require more nutritious aliment than those of the wealthier classes . And still more so is it the case with the offspring of the « dangerous classes , ' whose blood has been impoverished , or polluted , b £ the alternate fastings and feastings of their parents . Besides , the rate of 5 s . a week has been based on the expenditure of Unions , where the numbers naturally diminish the individual cost . But in Reformatories everything depends upon each establishment being no
larger than can be impressed by the manager ' s individuality . It is entirely a question of personal influence . The Legislature will do well , perhaps , to sanction a general system , but the working of that system must be boldly entrusted to the earnest individuals who alone are likely to devote themselves to a career that implies a total abnegation of self . Another poiut connected with the reformatory system is the question , whether or not preliminary punishment should be inflicted . On this head , we entirely agree with Mr . " WHEATiiET , whose paper " On Punishments in Reformatory Schools , " was one of the most valuable read at the Conference .
According to this authority ,, the Reformatory is the complement of the gaol , not the substitute for it . The penal sentence ought to be worked out previous to admittance to the school . The Reformatory is a sort of new birth . The detention is not a part of the punishment awarded to the offence which has brought the guilty one before the magistrate , but the preventive of a course of conduct which must lead to a repetition of punishment . It is not so much the result of a
former career as the commencement of a new and a better one . It should be prospective rather than retrospective—tho dawn of hope , while the prison is the setting of vice . For some slight offences , perhaps , a private whipping may not be objectionable , but as a rule we would side with those who recommend cellular confinement for a brief period . Even on sanitary grounds it is not desirable that a criminal should be taken out of the
streets , and admitted into a Reformatory And the separate confinement will have the further effect of taming his wild spirit , and bringing him to think of the error of his ways . But in any case , the penalty of his transgression should be paid in prison , and not in the Reformatory , lest ho come to associate tho views of moral improvement and industrious exertion with the pain ensuing upon past crime . In some exceptional instances the preliminary punishment should , clearlbe almost nominalsuch
y , : as stealing food under the cogent impulse of starvation ; or when tho offender ia an infant . Au example of tho latter waB given by Miss CahrENTEit . A little girl , aged nine , porsuaded her brother , aged ton , to assist her in stealing a horse , on which they should proceed to South Wales , and then got work in a pit . A similar case was mentioned by Sir J . Pakinotoit . Some sort of punishmont is , doubtless , indispensable , until conscience becomes hotter attuned . Untutored minds have no other idea
of pleasure than that of sensual gratification . Honorary rewards are , therefore , at first , unintelligible . The body is the only medium of pain or pleasure . Even in the Reformatory itself " punishment is oftentimes necessary . And here the cellular system works admirably . At Mettray , the boys say , " " We would rather be thrashed , but the cell is better for us . " The tedium of solitary confinement makes them take to
labour as a relief , and after a time it becomes an agreeable habit—like existence , or any other incident of humanity . The comparison , too , is beneficial . The boy under punishment knows that he is there by his own fault , and that his companions are happy and free through their superior virtue . He thus learns to associate suffering with wrong-doing , and appreciating the justice of his sentence , takes his first step towards reformation .
Miss Cabpenteb is of opinion that all juvenile criminals on a second conviction should be detained in a Reformatory after the expiration of their sentence ; and even on a first conviction , unless good security can be given that they will be properly taken care of by their natural guardians . That estimable lady goes still further , and almost encroaches on the liberty of the subject in recommending that all vagabond children who refuse to attend the Ragged Schools shall be sent to
the feeding Industrial Schools , or even removed from their parents in case of contumacy . " With more reason she complains of the apathy or prejudice of magistrates , who can rarely be induced to append detention in a Reformatory to the sentence of punishment . This reluctance on their part is chiefly observable with regard to female delinquents , who , from their weaker judgment , and consequently more excitable temperament , in reality stand more in need of the discipline of the Reformatory than even male offenders .
Many other points of great interest were discussed at the Conference , but to which our limited space prevents us from further alluding . Great already has been the good wrought by the Reformatories now in existence . At Red Hill , owing to the indefatigable exertions and enlightened zeal of the Rev . Sydney Tubneb , out of 720 boys discharged , 70 per cent , have been reclaimed ; and of 372 who went to the colonies , 233 have turned out satisfactorily ; and of the remaining 139 , tho fate of 87 is unknown . Miss Cakpenteb is
able to give an equally good report of those she has placed out iu the world . Indeed from all quarters the most encouraging prospects greet the eyes . It remains with the Legislature to give the finishing touch to the disinterested labours of so many practical philanthropists . Money must bo liberally granted and unfettered with tho restrictions that usually render Government aid as obstructive as the body of a dead man linked to ono in health and strength . Above all , lot no Pharisee mcddlo with the good work . This ia neutral ground on which all creeds and sects and opinions may labour hand in hand .
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PROGRAMME OF O'DONNELL AND CONFESSION OE LOUIS NAPOLEON . If M . Huoelmann has not been employed , he has been permitted , both in Paris and Madrid . Ho is an agont therefore of some power which possesses influences in both capitals , and presently wo shall bo able to guess tho nature of that power . " For tho moment , we may safely regard him as tho agent at once of Marshal O ' DoNNELL , tho "S panish dictator , and of a party in Franco who regard tho Marshal as a mercantile instrument , and have certain funds staked upon hia success . Tho fun of tho thing is , that boforo Marshal O'Donneli / s schome lms been quite worked out , this clover ngent , who ia evidently too
fast for Spanish dignity , explains to us the whole conspiracy . It is a remarkable plot . "We all remembei that General O'Donnem * had attempted i species of military revolt in Spain , and hac failed , when Espabtero appeared upon the scene , accepted the chief post in the Government , and saved the ex-Governor of Cuba from total failure . O'DonneiIi was promoted to be the second to Espabtebo in the Spanish Cabinet . The Duke of Victoria has never
been a very successful man . He has possessed the confidence of the Spanish nation , but not realized it . He has accepted trusts , has been faithful to them in his own person , but has shown incapacity to defend them either against treachery or aggression . He has been like the manager of a bank , who scorned to appropriate the money himself , but who lacked the energy to expel the embezzler , to refuse the note of the forger , or to confront the burglar pistol in hand . The
agent of Marshal O'Donnell confesses that his patron has effected a complete fraud upon the late Prime Minister . O'Donnell accepted the revolution " condition that he should be considered as its Moderator ;'' in other words , he accepted i t to betray it . During the two years that he occupied the office he busied himself in plans , which were remarked at the time , to remove liberal officers from the army , and to replace them by officers attached to Absolutist principles . This was
an organization of the army . " According to the account before us , Espabtebo was permitting the monarchy to drift " towards an abyss , a catastrophe which was too near to be staved off ; " and now came O'Don-NELii ' s turn . It was his business , " not to make , but to impede the revolution , in delivering the monarchy from the hesitating councils . " In short , " the loyal ally of the revolution" now seizes the opportunity to prevent it . In order to complete his work , ele
" it is necessary to develop the military - ment completely . " " That element is in all places necessary to the work of regeneration of a country , " but it is particularly so in Spain . There are three things also set down in this programme of General O'DoNJtfELii'sthey are : restoration of the initiative of the Crown , importation of Societes de Credit from Paris , and the restoration of Catholic unity . " The capital idea , which has , for many ages , represented the evil of humanity , has been that which the French revolution brought
into " Western Europe—the idea of revolt against Catholic unity . " It is that which " has furnished to the revolution of France and England their fratricidal arms , " and it is that idea which O'Donneli , is destined to conquer as a saving angel , while he restores tho initiative of Queen Isabella and the Credit Societies of M . IIugelmann . Such is the programme of O'Donnexl as advertized by his Paris agent . the
In order that wo may appreciate approaching regeneration of Spain , tho French editor of tho Spanish paper gives us written photographs of three principal personages . Queen Isa . bel . la is twenty-three years of ago ; " a woman of an imposing stature , with a countenance that has the fault of permitting her goodness to be too transparent ; a lip constantly smiling , whioh is never opened to utter an accent of nnger or hatred ; griefs betrayed only by tears , when she c ould not devour those tears in silence . " In any other
position , says the cunning writer , " her style of boauty would not have been remarkable , but upon tho throne- she has all that is _ requisite worthily to represent royal majesty . " In short she iB a young lady without any beauty that would render her remarkable , but for the persons who Btand near her . Tura > r them . /
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Apotst 30 , 1856 . 1 IEE LBADEK , 829
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 30, 1856, page 829, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2156/page/13/
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