REFUGE FOR PRISONERS.
TO THE EDITOR OF TILE SPECTATOR.
1, Hyde Park Place, lat June 1847.
Stu—The new system about to be developed by Government of employing pri- soners during their sentence, will soon prove the great advantage over the present • one; and will work as well here as in the Continental prisons, where the recom- mitments have thus been reduced at least 25 per cent.
Granting tickets of leave, on their arrival., to theft transported whose conduct justifies their becoming free settlers for life, is another good feature; and both the measures are a large instalment gained by the Committee, and a considerable ad- vance in the right direction. Thanks to public opinion and to the press for the progress thus made in the mune of justice and of mercy: much praise is also due to the Duke of Richmond, the Marquis of Westminster, Earl of Denbigh, the Bishops of London, of Norwich, and of Oxford, as well as the influential of both Houses, for their able advocacy in Parliament of the humane measures; which is also in accordance with the opi- nion of Richard Cobden, expressed to me as follows—" Most cordially do I sympa- thize with you in your views upon the subject of the necessity of employing those discharged from custody. I scarcely know any other question in our social eco- nomy that so loudly calls for the attention of all humane and enlightened patriots. I wish I were able to cooperate with you; but I am worn out in another cause." It is the duty of the State to punish rigorously, but at the same time it is its bounden duty to prevent crime; and as the remedy is in the power of the Legis- lature, who by education can save the juveniles; it has also the power to provide employment for adults, and save thousands from being the inmates of our gaols for life: and if only a portion of the immense annual expenditure of our criminal jurisprudence (in repeatedly prosecuting the same individual) were employed in the cultivation of the large tracts of waste land in this country and our Colonies, it would not only yield a large return for the outlay, but would provide a remedy for emergency and scarcity of food to which we are liable. Not only would it be a productive labour, but a great moral saving, as well as a test of the worthiness or worthlessness of individuals, who might by such means be enabled to return again to industrious habits, or the country be at once relieved of so many con- taminating and expensive criminals, who are continued pests of society. • I am your obliged servant, JOHN LAURIE.
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