gaol. He once presided over a meeting consisting of about 350 of the most abandoned and profligate men to be found in the city of London. He attended upon their invitation. The meeting was held in the Minories, and the object of these persons was to obtain his advice as to the best mode in which they could be extricated from their miserable condition. He believed that such a meeting was unparalleled in history. These men gave him an account of their lives, and many of them said that such was their state of destitution, that, if something was not done for them, they must that very night commit some act of robbery in order to procure the means of subsistence. Now, most of these men were placed in a position which enabled them to earn a decent livelihood, and on inquiring about them the other day, he was informed that there were not twenty who had resorted to their former courses. The Report of the reformatory school at Mettray, in France, entirely confirmed the fact, that if they wished really to reclaim criminals they must provide some asylum to which they could resort on their discharge from prison. But there was another mode of dealing with this subject which was still betterthe mode of prevention. They must remember the precept of Holy Writ"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." This undertaking was by no means so arduous as many persons might be led to imagine. No doubt all classes of society contributed their quota to the list of criminals; but that seed plot, which was the main source of the crime that desolated all our great towns, was limited in extent and very capable of cultivation. He would state to the meeting the result of his own investigations in the metropolis, which would afford some test of the state of things in such towns as Manchester and Birmingham, places within a much more manageable limit. He had ascertained, from minute inquiries, that the whole number of children in London who were actually in a course of training for a life of fraud, theft, and violence, did not much exceed 3,000. Further inquiry brought him to the conclusion that the whole number of the professional thieves of London (he meant those who entirely depended for their subsistence upon robbery) did not exceed 6,000. He mentioned these facts to show that this seed-plot of crime, which caused them so much perplexity and trouble, was limited in extent, and was at present within their grasp.

God only knew how long it might continue within their grasp, for in the present days one year was a century, and ten years might produce so mighty a change upon the surface of society that an evil which now appeared small and puny might grow up into a Goliath, when they might not be permitted, in God's favour, to find a David to destroy it with a sling and with a stone. But, to show them to what an extent the whole system of delinquency was within their grasp, he must ask them to remember that, if they could only get hold of these children, and train them in the way in which they should go, they would cut up by the roots nearly the whole tree of adult criminality. From the investigations he had made he arrived at the gratifying conclusion, that not 2 in 100 of those persons who had reached the age of twenty, without falling into crime and evil courses, were ever guilty of dis honesty in adolescence or old age. He knew they would be told that education was the great panacea for many of these evils. No doubt that was most true, but something more must be given than mere education, according to the usual acceptation of the term. If a child went through any period of education, the necessities of the case required that he should have fair play, that he should have the means of reducing to practice the lessons he had been taught. When he reflected upon the various difficulties which beset the paths of children and adults when they were launched into the world, he must confess the marvel to him was, not that they had so many delinquencies, but that they had so few. It must be remembered that the children of the working classes were exposed to a thousand temptations which did not beset the children of the better classes. He might very briefly indicate some of those abominations which existed in all great towns, and which offered almost irresistible temptations to numbers of these helpless and ignorant children. First, there were the penny theatres. He had examined as many as one hundred children, and he had ascertained from them that the first dishonesty of which they had been guilty was the theft of a penny from their parents, or some other person, with a view of indulging their taste for the penny theatres. He would also remind the meeting of the hazards to which these unfortunate children were exposed in what were called “casual wards.” He was satisfied that if the children were excluded from these places, and also from the low lodging-houses, one of the most

prolific sources of early delinquency would be destroyed. He would also ask those whom he addressed whether the wanton and reckless exposure, in that and other cities, of articles of value and of food, might not prove a temptation too strong to be withstood even by children who were not absolutely suffering from the pressure of want? He thought there might also, in some cases, be an overreadiness on the part of persons who detected a child of tender years in the commission of a theft to bring him before a magistrate, who probably could not do otherwise than punish the offence with imprisonment. Another great source of crime was the prevalence of receptacles for the purchase of stolen goods. Poor children were often led to commit a theft because they knew they could readily dispose of the produce of their crime to a receiver. These were, however, subordinate considerations compared with the monster evil of all-the gross indecencies, the terrible immoralities, the diseases, and the filth which existed to so frightful an extent in the courts and alleys inhabited by the poorer classes. None but those who had visited such places could form any estimate of the physical and moral influence thus produced upon the great mass of the rising generation; and he did not hesitate to say, that so long as this state of things existed they would establish reformatories or schools to little or no purpose. They might educate children at schools for four or five hours a day, but what advantage could result from such education if the poor children were sent back home to witness, during the remaining nineteen or twenty hours of the day, the most disgusting scenes and the most horrible debaucheries? He would, then, urge those whom he was addressing to bestir themselves, and, if possible, to ameliorate and elevate the position and character of parents. What was most required, and without which they would make little or no progress, was another generation of parents, who would understand the duties which devolved upon them, and who, instead of squandering in the gin-palace and the beer-shop the rewards of honest industry, would devote some portion of their earnings to promote the temporal and eternal welfare of their children. This, he believed, was the main root of the evils they had to deplore; but he hoped that there was now growing up in this country a body of young people who would fulfil their high calling, who would retrace the steps of their fore

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fathers, and who would lead their own children in a better and safer way. There was another class of unfortunate children to whose case he wished to direct the attention of the meeting-he alluded to the class of young mendicants and vagrants, who were being brought up by their parents in habits of mendicity, as a preparation for the more dangerous practice of violence and crime. He had no doubt the meeting would be surprised if he were to prove to them, as he could do, that a a very large proportion of the ragged, sickly, miserable objects they saw in the streets, were the children of parents in the receipt of wages varying from 16s. to 30s., and even 40s. a week. This sum such parents consumed in drunkenness and debauchery, and then they sent out their miserable children to be ruined, in body now and in soul hereafter, solely that they might obtain increased means for gratifying their disgusting and ruinous propensities. He hoped a law would be passed, providing that children found in the streets as mendicants should be consigned to the reformatories which it was their object to establish, and he considered to all those reformatories should be attached a wing for children who were neglected but untainted with crime, where such unfortunate beings might receive that paternal care which their natural protectors neglected to accord to them. He hoped that, when children were sent to those establishments, the parents would be compelled by law to contribute amply to their maintenance and education. introducing a bill on this subject into the House of Lords, he had cited a number of instances in proof of the statements he had just made; and a new instance had recently been made public in one of the police reports of the Times. [The noble lord here read, from the Times, the report of the examination of a boy named Sullivan, at the Marlborough Street police court, on a charge of vagrancy, when the lad said he obtained sometimes as much as 2s. a day in charity, which was expended in gin and ale.] He (the chairman) considered that the abolition of transportation, and the legislative detention of criminals within this country, should stimalate them not only to endeavour to effect the reformation of criminals, but, if possible, to cut off the supply. Great Britain had something more to do than to spend her time and strength in retracing her steps, in recovering what had been lost, and in chastising the guilty; her great vocation was to cover the world

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with the laws, the liberties, and the religion of the Anglo-Saxon race. Let her send forth every year swarms of industrious, sober, Christian citizens to people the forty great colonies that composed her colonial empire. If she did that in a proper spirit, she would have everything to hope and nothing to fear. The blessing of Almighty God would rest upon such a work ; the effort would return into her own bosom, and her children would rise up and call her blessed. (Loud and continued cheering.)

Sir J. Pakington having given a brief sketch of the proceedings which had taken place at the Conference in the morning, and of the Resolutions which were then adopted, submitted to the Meeting the following Resolution :

"That this Meeting, having received information of the proceeding of the Conference held this day, in reference to the national treatment of 'morally destitute and criminal children,' expresses its hearty concurrence with the Resolutions which have been adopted."

In the course of his observations, the Right Hon. Baronet remarked,—That there were three great social questions which in the present day deserved serious attention. The first was the system of secondary punishments with which crime should be visited; the second, how and to what extent they should afford to the people the means of general education; and thirdly, in what manner they should deal with the destitute and criminal population. No one was more anxious than himself that the Government should speedily take measures to render sound elementary education universal in this country. The Right Hon. Baronet showed, from Parliamentary Reports on the subject of education, that while in Germany, Switzerland, and many parts of Europe, the proportion of the population educated in schools was 1 in 6; in the Free States of America 1 in 7; and in the Slave States of America 1 in 12; England was, in this respect upon a level with the Slave States, as only 1 in 12 of the English population was now receiving instruction in schools. The consequence was, that the mass of our population were trained to crime; and he conceived that the remedy for the existing state of things would be the establishment of a universal system of education, combined with reformatories for those who had been led into crime.

Mr. Adderley, M.P., seconded the Resolution, and observed that he had

withdrawn the measure he had introduced into the House of Commons on this subject during the last session, after it had passed through two stages, in consequence of a promise made by her Majesty's Government that they would take up the question during the ensuing session. He feared that other matters of apparently pressing importance might divert the attention of the Government from this subject, and expressed his hope that petitions in favour of a reformatory system would be sent up to Parliament from all parts of the kingdom.

The Rev. John Clay, Chaplain of Preston jail, supported the Resolution, and urged the importance of training children in industrial habits. He observed, that in the three months preceding the strike at Preston, there were committed to the jail of that place 183 persons of either sex and of all ages. During the three months after the commencement of the strike, the number of committals was 162, although 7,000 children had been deprived of work; and he argued from this circumstance, that the industrial habits which the children had acquired in the factories had in a great measure preserved them from criminal practices.

The motion was then adopted. The Earl of Harrowby proposed the second Resolution :

"That this Meeting trusts that the legislation which is necessary for establishing Industrial Reformatory Schools will encourage the enlightened and philanthropic managers of those institutions maintained by voluntary effort, which have already awakened public attention to the subject, and which ought to be fostered and multiplied for the sake of the varied and valuable experiences they are calculated to supply, the individual zeal and interest they enlist, and the opportunity they present for the immediate adoption of treatment towards criminal children different from the ordinary punishment of adults."

In the course of some brief remarks, the noble Earl explained that it was not their object to induce the Legislature to enact that henceforth no child under the age of sixteen or seventeen should be committed to prison; but they wished that magistrates should not be compelled to send to jails young criminals whom they thought might advantageously be consigned to Reformatories. He disapproved of the establishment of such institutions under the complete control of the Government. He hoped the Government would encou

rage and foster institutions of this kind; he, however, thought the public should take care that the Government never superseded private efforts and liberality. The Resolution was agreed to.

Lord Lyttleton briefly moved the following Resolution :—

"That the Reformatories established privately in this and other countries have been very successful, and afford decisive proof of the practicability and fitness of the mode of treatment of juvenile crime which they have adopted."

The noble Lord expressed his opinion that Reformatories should be established, if possible by voluntary efforts, under the sanction of the Government, but that if private liberality did not meet the requirements of the case, it might be advisable that the Government itself should provide such institutions.

The Resolution was seconded by Mr. Woolrich Whitmore, and was adopted.

OLD SCHOOL.

On the motion of Mr. R. M. Milnes, M.P., seconded by the Hon. A. Kinnaird, M.P., the following Resolution was agreed

to :

"That petitions from this Meeting be presented to both Houses of Parliament in favour of the objects sought by the Conference, and that such petitions be signed by the chairman on behalf of the Meeting; and that the noblemen and members of the House of Commons now present be respectively requested to support the prayer of such petitions, and that they be respectively presented by the Earl of Shaftesbury and Sir John Pakington."

On the motion of Lord Calthorpe, seconded by the Rev. S. Turner, a vote of thanks was passed to the Earl of Shaftesbury for his conduct in the chair; and the noble Earl having briefly returned thanks, the proceedings terminated.

Him as prigs wot is n't his'n,
When he's cotched he goes to prison;

That's the rule I go on.

Flog him till he roars with pain,— Then half starve,-then flog again,— Next day starve, and so on.

NEW SCHOOL.

He whose infancy neglected,
Faculties all misdirected,

Into crime may lead him;
May be yet reclaim'd from sin.
Hapless outcast! take him in,

Teach him! clothe him! feed him! OLD SCHOOL.

Take him in!-To prison, yes!
Clothe him!-Aye, with prison dress!
Teach him!-Aye, with scourging!
Feed him!-Yes, with prison fare,
Nought but wears a jail-like air;
Thus his guilt be purging!

NEW SCHOOL.

Set before his youthful mind All that's holy, just, and kind; Let him feel he 's human. Rouse in him his self respect; Show him we e'en yet expect He'll live to be a true man.

OLD SCHOOL.

Let him herd with felons old, Swindlers cunning, burglars bold,All their arts they'll teach him.

Let his heart be harden'd, till Knowledge of what's good or ill Never more can reach him.

NEW SCHOOL.

Though a vagrant from his birth,
Though a stain on God's fair earth,
Not on him the blame be.
Taught to steal as soon as walk,
Taught to lie as soon as talk,
On our heads the shame be.

On our heads-for we have stay'd
Hands which should be stretch'd to aid,
Shielding from temptation.

Jails instead of schools we've tried;
Scourges, hangman, we provide,
'Stead of education.

OLD SCHOOL.

Hangman, jails, we'll all employ,
When to mankind grows this boy,
Savage, harden'd, callous.
Terror to his fellow men,

Nought can save us from him, then,
But at last the gallows.

NEW SCHOOL.

No! the hangman's day is o'er; Terror now shall reign no more;

Kindness, care, attention, Will be found a means more sure. Long you've tried in vain to cure ; Now we'll try prevention.