Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419, New Series, January 10, 1852 by Various
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Various >> Chambers\'s Edinburgh Journal, No. 419, New Series, January 10, 1852
'Mr Dunn, one of the surgeons of the prison at Wakefield, states--"I
am convinced that many persons, especially females, get committed to
the prison on purpose to be cured of attacks of disease. Many of
them have admitted to me that it was so. A man from Bradford, who
went out last week, told me that he had been here before, and that
he had got committed again in consequence of his having a return of
his disease, and that he came to be cured.... One man who was here
for a month last autumn, and who came in a very diseased state, but
who left cured, required, during nearly the whole time, a pint of
wine per day, besides malt liquor. It was a case in which a very
liberal diet is necessary to preserve life; and it was requisite to
have a prisoner, acting as nurse, to sit up with him through the
night. The cost to the West Riding of this single case, counting
expenses of all kinds, could not have been less than L.6."
'The governor of the city prison at York said--"By the
acknowledgments of the prisoners themselves, I know that the
practice still continues of committing offences on purpose to get
committed to this prison. Four prisoners were liberated this morning
who had broken a street-lamp with the evident intention of being
sent to this prison. They were sentenced to seven days'
imprisonment, and on their liberation each prisoner was supplied
with a coat, waistcoat, pair of trousers, and a pair of shoes, and
one of them had a shirt also! Many times last winter gas-lamps and
the windows of the police-office and vagrant-office were broken, in
order to get admission to the prison. Out of eighteen male prisoners
who were brought to trial at the last Quarter-Sessions, twelve in my
opinion committed their offences for the direct purpose of being
sent to prison. Most of the vagrants committed to the prison still
pass their time in idleness; no prisoners except those sentenced to
hard labour being set to work."
'The following is an extract from the visiting justices' minute-book
at the same prison:--
"_Dec. 12th, 1849._--The number of prisoners who commit offences
with the object of being maintained during the winter increases
yearly, and is deserving of serious consideration, as a serious
expense is entailed thereby on the city. The imprisonment inflicted
is not looked on as a punishment, but a reward."'
If such really be the case, it is evident that a wrong course has
been pursued in making the prisons so comfortable. Some years ago,
when society was seized with a paroxysm of humanity, prisons were
got up in a style of palatial splendour, and criminals, the most
worthless of the population, were treated with a degree of
tenderness which was opposed to every principle of justice. Possibly
the method of reclaiming by kindness was not bad in the abstract,
and in numerous instances it was perhaps effective; but in the main
it was unsuitable to a complicated condition of ignorance, poverty,
vice, and wretchedness. It should have been borne in mind that there
is a distinct class of persons to whom any kind of provision is
desirable, and who, being sunk below all sentiments of self-respect,
shame, and regret, would very willingly sell themselves into slavery
for the sake of a momentary gratification. To think of a warm,
comfortable prison being an object of dread to this
utterly-abandoned class!
Another philosophical crotchet did no small mischief. It was alleged
that hard labour on the tread-mill would do harm: knowing that the
labour tended to no useful purpose but merely the turning of a
wheel, prisoners would feel degraded, and this feeling would prevent
their reclamation! The error here consisted in imagining that the
criminal class possessed the feelings of gentlemen; whereas the real
thing to be thought of, was to give them labour so excessively
toilsome and irksome as to be remembered with salutary horror all
the days of their life. For example, no kind of punishment, we
believe, has proved so sure a terror as that of the shot-drill in
the military prisons. This consists in lifting a cannon-ball of
perhaps twenty pounds' weight; marching with it for a dozen yards;
then laying it down; and so on, repeating the same thing for an
hour. Now this is clearly a useless and most degrading species of
labour; yet it is a terrible infliction, and we are told seldom
fails in its effect--that is to say, it deters from the commission
of crime.
The experience of the last few years would shew that much is still
to be learned in the art of criminal discipline; and indeed the
whole question of what is to be done with our criminal population is
becoming daily more perplexing. Mere confinement is found to be of
small avail. Transportation is exploded; for it improves the
circumstances of criminals instead of making them worse. Capital
punishment has also had its day, and, excepting for a very few
offences, is abandoned as useless, independently of being revolting
to humanity. One writer proposes to work convicts in gangs at
out-door labour, such as mining, and making railways; but the public
would never tolerate the spectacle of this worst species of
slave-labour; and besides, the employment of honest workers would be
ruined. We are inclined to think that imprisonment, in a severe
form, is after all the only practicable means of dealing with
criminals. If anything be urgently wanted, it is a plan for
preventing the growth of the criminal class; and this probably is
not so difficult as it may appear. Of course, till there be a far
broader system of public education than now prevails, the criminal
population will never want recruits. Nevertheless, even with our
present imperfect educational arrangements, something might be done.
The criminal class is discovered to be on the whole a narrow class.
The practice of living by depredation runs in families, and clings
to individuals. The police of any given town could put their hand on
almost every person who lives by fraud, theft, and robbery. They
could at a day's notice secure nearly every one of them. A knowledge
of this fact has suggested to Mr Matthew Hill a plan for capturing
the whole criminal class, and obliging them to give security for
their good behaviour; failing which, they should suffer
incarceration as notoriously dangerous and troublesome to society. A
fear of trenching on the liberty of the subject may prevent this
ingenious scheme of the Recorder of Birmingham from being carried
into effect; but to something or other of the kind he proposes,
society must come at last, if it wish to save itself from being
everlastingly worried and plundered by a habitually predatory class.
In the Prison Report to which we have above referred, mention is
made of a single family of thieves, consisting of fifteen
individuals, who cost the country L.26,000 before they were got rid
of. Is not such a fact quite monstrous!
FRENCH BATTLE-PICTURES.
In an American work--_Glances at Europe_, by Mr H. Greeley--the
following sound observations occur on the battle-pictures in the
palace of Versailles: 'These battle-pieces have scarcely more
historic than artistic value, since the names of at least half of
them might be transposed, and the change be undetected by
ninety-nine out of every hundred who see them. If _all_ the French
battles were thus displayed, it might be urged with plausibility
that these galleries were historical in their character; but a full
half of the story--that which tells of French disaster and
discomfiture--is utterly suppressed. The battles of Ptolemais, of
Ivry, of Fontenoy, of Rivoli, of Austerlitz, &c. are here as
imposing as paint can make them; but never a whisper of Agincourt,
Cressy, Poitiers, Blenheim, or Ramillies; nor yet of Salamanca, of
Vittoria, of Leipsic, or Waterloo. Even the wretched succession of
forays which the French have for the last twenty years been
prosecuting in Algerine Africa, here shine resplendent; for Vernet
has painted, by Louis-Philippe's order, and at France's cost, a
succession of battle-pieces, wherein French numbers and science are
seen prevailing over Arab barbarism and irregular valour, in combats
whereof the very names have been wisely forgotten by mankind, though
they occurred but yesterday. One of these is much the largest
painting I ever saw, and is probably the largest in the world, and
it seems to have been got up merely to exhibit one of
Louis-Philippe's sons in the thickest of the fray. Last of all, we
have the Capture of Abd-el-Kader, as imposing as Vernet could make
it, but no whisper of the persistent perfidy wherewith he has been
retained for several years in bondage, in violation of the express
agreement of his captors. The whole collection is, in its general
effect, delusive and mischievous--the purpose being to exhibit war
as always glorious, and France as uniformly triumphant. It is by
means like these that the business of shattering knee-joints and
multiplying orphans is kept in countenance.'
NEW APPLICATIONS OF MANGEL-WURZEL.
A patent has been taken out for the following applications of
mangel-wurzel:--_1st_, To prepare a substance which may be combined
with, or employed in place of coffee, the mangel-wurzel roots are
well washed, cut into pieces; about the size of peas or beans, and
then dried and roasted in the same manner as coffee-berries. The
product is ground after being roasted, and it is then ready for use.
_2d_, A substitute for tea is produced by cutting the leaves of
mangel-wurzel into small strips or shreds, drying the same, and then
placing them upon a hot plate, which is kept at a temperature
sufficiently high to slightly char the leaves. The charred
mangel-wurzel leaves are to be used in precisely the same way as
tea. _3d_, To manufacture a fermented liquor, the mangel-wurzel
roots are well washed, cut into small pieces, and put into a vat,
wherein they are permitted to ferment for two or three days, at a
temperature of about 70 degrees, and water is added thereto. A
fermented liquor is thus obtained similar to perry or cider. _4th_,
When the mangel-wurzel roots are to be employed in the preparation
of wort, they are washed, and cut into small pieces, which are
dried, or slightly charred, by the action of kilns or ovens, of the
kind used for drying malt; and wort is prepared from this produce in
the same manner as from malt.
THE MARTYRDOM OF FAITHFUL IN VANITY FAIR.[6]
I.
The great human whirlpool!--'tis seething and seething:
On! No time for shrieking out, no time for breathing;
All toiling and moiling--some feebler, some bolder,
But each sees a fiend-face grin over his shoulder:
Thus merrily live they in Vanity Fair!
The great human caldron--it boils ever higher;
Some drowning, some sinking; while some, creeping nigher,
Come thirsting to lean o'er its outermost verges,
Or touch--as a child's feet touch trembling the surges:
One plunge--Ho! more souls swamped in Vanity Fair!
'Let's live while we live, for to-morrow all's over.
Drink deep, drunkard bold! and kiss close, thou mad lover!
Smile, hypocrite, smile! it is no such hard labour,
While each with red hand tears the heart of his neighbour
All slyly.--We're strange folk in Vanity Fair!
'Hist!--each for himself, or _herself_, which sounds smoother,
Though man's no upholder, and woman no soother,
Both struggle alike here.--What, weeping?--what, raving?
Pah!--fight out the battle all! No time for saving!
Ha! ha! 'tis a wondrous place, Vanity Fair!'
The mad crowd divides, and then closes swift after;
Afar, towers the pyre, lit with shouting and laughter;
'What new sport is this?' lisps a reveller, half turning;--
'One Faithful, poor wretch! who is led to the burning:
He cumbered us sorely in Vanity Fair!
'A dreamer--who held every man for a brother;
A coward--who, emit on one cheek, gave the other:
A fool--whose blind truth aye believed all knaves' lying;
Too simple to live, so most fitted for dying.
Ha! such are best swept out of Vanity Fair.'
II.
Silence! though the flame-drifts wave and flutter;
Silence! though the crowd their curses mutter;
Silence! through this fiery purgatory
God is leading up a soul to glory.
See, the white lips with no moans are trembling,
Hate of foes, or plaint of friends' dissembling;
If sighs come--most patient prayers outlive them:
_'Lord, these know not what they do. Forgive them!'_
Thirstier still the roaring flames are glowing,
Fainter in his ear the laughters growing;
Brief endures the fierce and fiery trial--
Angel-welcomes drown the earth-denial.
Now the amorous death-fires, gleaming ruddy,
Clasp him close. Down sinks the quivering body,
While through harmless flames immortal flying
Shoots the beauteous soul. This--this is _dying_!
Lo! the opening heavens with splendours rifted;
Lo! the palms that wait those hands uplifted;
And the fiery chariot cloud-descending,
And the legioned angels close attending!
Let his poor dust mingle with the embers,
While the crowd sweeps on, and none remembers;
Saints and angels through the Infinite glory,
Praising God, recount the martyr's story.
Thou, who through the trial-fires bewildering
Of this cruel world, dost lead Thy children,
With the purifying give the balm;
Grant to martyr-pangs the martyr's palm!
* * * * *
[Footnote 6: Suggested partly by a sketch in David Scott's
illustrations of the _Pilgrim's Progress_.]
VARIETY OF AMBER.
There is a variety of amber, of the opacity of white wax, with a
very slight yellowish tinge. It is found intermixed with yellow
amber, in thin bands of some breadth. When the magnificent pile of
buildings called Fonthill Abbey was exhibited to the public, before
the sale of its curious and costly furniture, it contained an amber
cabinet, as beautiful in workmanship as material. It was
quadrangular, and about fifteen inches by twelve at the base,
standing on four legs, that raised it about half an inch from its
pedestal. It was pyramidal in form, about fourteen inches high, and
divided into eleven stages. These were separated by a ledge of
yellow amber, about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, projecting a
little over the under stage, like a cornice. The front of each stage
was ornamented with recumbent figures in white amber, in relief.
Some parts were at least one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The
effect was much like that of the white figures on the purple ground
of the well-known Portland Vase. Each stage had the appearance of
opening as a drawer. The top was flat, and the whole of the yellow
amber beautifully transparent.
HAVE SERPENTS TASTE?
Some naturalists have surmised that serpents have no sense of taste,
because the boa-constrictor in the Zoological Gardens swallowed his
blanket. Chemistry may, however, assist us in solving the mystery,
and induce us to draw quite an opposite conclusion from the curious
circumstance alluded to. May not the mistake of the serpent be
attributed to the marvellous acuteness of his taste? Take this
reason: All vegetable substances contain starch, all animal
substances contain ammonia; now it is most probable that the snake
detected the animal quality--the ammonia--in the wool of the
blanket, and he therefore naturally enough inferred that his bed was
something suitable to his digestive organs. It is certain that he
committed an error of judgment, but that error may be traceable to
the subtilty of his taste rather than to its obtuseness. We throw
out this suggestion as a specimen, if nothing better, of what
contradictory inferences may be drawn from a single fact, and as a
hint of how much caution is necessary in arriving at absolute
opinions, even when the evidence is apparently most unmistakable.
AN AMERICAN EDITOR.
He is a dangerous man to be trifled with. The grand hickory-stick he
twirls in his hand would be enough, with his dare-devil look, to
frighten most persons; but when we state that in the depth of the
pocket of the remarkable check-coat that he wears he conceals one of
the most beautiful 'persuaders' ever manufactured by Colt, we are
satisfied he will be a terror to all evil-doers. We should also
state that generally he is occupied doing out-door business, but
that on every Saturday until one o'clock P.M. he is always at the
office, perfectly ready and willing to give any and every
satisfaction for the articles he publishes.--_Boston Rouge Gazette._
* * * * *
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