6 MARCH 1847, Page 11

A correspondent reminds us that Sir William Molesworth was not

the first to attack that system of convict-punishment which is now abandoned; but that the Archbishop of Dublin did so ten years before Sir William's Committee sat. We can never forget that Dr. Whately is the great au- thority in this branch of social morals: the effect of his writings and influence in modifying the general views on the subject of corrective dis- cipline is too apparent and too constant for oblivion. But when we wrote last week, our regard was for the moment limited to the House of Com- mons, where Ministers, seven years ago, resisted what they now carry into effect.