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same in every country and in all classes, and that the difference which we observe between the highly polished inhabitants of France, England, and other countries of Europe, and the barbarian, arises principally from education, habit, and example. Order was soon introduced into the new institution, and the children arranged into different classes of labour according to their age and strength; the eldest of the boys were appointed to be carpenters, shoemakers, or smiths, according to their own choice, while some of the younger and more feeble were employed in splitting the bark of the linden tree, others in plaiting it into shoes; some plaiting straw for hats, others preparing willows for making baskets, and some had learned to make fishing-nets. The hour of assembling in school during summer was seven in the morning, and they came out again at ten; three hours in the day being amply sufficient to teach them reading, writing, and the four first rules of arithmetic, in two years: from ten to eleven they were allowed to play; at eleven the dinner-bell rung, and they proceeded two-and-two to the dining-room, where grace was distinctly pronounced by the monitor of the day, whose duty it was to read to his companions, while eating their dinners, a portion of the holy scriptures. At twelve o'clock they arranged themselves in classes according to their employment, and proceeded to their different masters to work, from which they generally returned about eight in the evening; at nine they supped, and immediately after supper their names were called over by the monitor-general, and those absent marked down for inquiry the following day. This being done, and the Evening Hymn sung by them, they retired to rest. Eight months after the opening of the school, more than sixty children went in procession to their benefactor, Count Romanzoff, dressed in clothes and shoes of their own making. His Excellency, on this occasion, ordered them a better dinner than usual, and promised to partake of it with them; which promise he fulfilled, to the inexpressible pleasure of the poor children. From this time, the institution continued to prosper, and even those who had opposed joined in praising it; the children made rapid progress both in learning and their trades, and became cheerful, obliging, and industrious.

A strict observance of the sabbath was not forgotten in the institution, and that part of the day not spent in church was appropriated to reading extracts from the holy scriptures.

By means of the school at Homel, the British system of education spread to Poland, where hitherto the strongest prejudices had existed against instructing the peasantry. Mr. Radovitch, a young man of an amiable disposition, was sent by the university of Vilno to study the system, which he did with the greatest assiduity; and soon after his return, three schools were established for the

poor

poor, upon this plan; and, according to the last accounts from thence, they were actively employed in the establishment of more. In April 1821, the school at Homel being completely established, and a plan laid down for extending the means of instruction to all the villages of the count's estate, Mr. Heard left Homel to return to England; and in giving this interesting narrative he adds, "Never shall I forget the artless demonstrations of sorrow and affection which were manifested by the children at my departure. The little fellows waited more than two hours in the court before the school, to bid me farewell; and not a few shed tears, and followed me with their eyes until I was quite out of sight. O, may He who careth for the poor and the fatherless continue his protection over these poor orphans, and incline the heart of their master and benefactor to persevere in the good work which he has begun, until the amelioration in the condition and morals of the peasantry shall prove the advantages of an industrious and moral education!"

ART. VIII-Prison Labour.

HE laudable exertions which have been recently made by the magistracy throughout the kingdom, to introduce labour into prisons are highly gratifying; and in the manufacturing counties, where there are fewer difficulties in this respect than in other districts, the employment of prisoners has been carried on at a considerable profit. The following particulars will furnish the reader with a general idea of the trades and occupations at which prisoners have been employed.

At the new house of correction at Bedford, very considerable alterations and additions are making, and a stepping mill is building, in which the prisoners are to be employed, in separate classes. In the county gaol also, employment is provided by the establishment of a mill.

The employment of the prisoners at Knutsford is very various and considerable; viz. weaving of woollen, silk, and cotton articles, blankets and druggets; tailoring, shoe-making, joinering, loommaking, coopering, whitewashing, painting, nail-making, bricklaying, masonry, blacksmith's-work, straw-mattress and chip-hat making. At this prison, the net earnings, from 25th December 1820 to 25th March 1821, (for which period the average number in confinement amounted to 125 daily,) were 1961. 7s. 7d., the cost of food 1677. 19s. 3d.,-being a clear profit to the county, beyond the cost of food, of 281. 8s. 4d.

At Bodmin, the prisoners are employed in threshing and grinding corn, sawing and polishing stones for chimney-pieces, tomb-stones,

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&c.; also in making clothing, shoes, and blankets. The females are employed in spinning and knitting; making, mending, and washing clothes for the service of the prison.

The county house of correction at Exeter, although deficient in space for accommodation, presents a gratifying scene of systematic industry. The prisoners are employed in sawing, grinding, smoothing, and polishing marble. Vases are turned, and beautiful specimens of chimney-pieces executed. The flax manufactory also in this prison is well-managed, and carried on from the first process of dressing the dried vegetable to that of weaving it. To this manufacture those prisoners are placed who are committed for long periods of confinement: those for shorter terms are employed at dressing hemp. This process is carried on by means of a bruising-mill, which is worked by the manual labour of twelve men in a set. Vagrants are also kept at hard labour. The women are fully employed in washing, making, and mending, the prison clothing.

At Durham gaol, weaving, spinning, beating flax, and making door mats, are the general employments.

At Chelmsford county house of correction, a master-weaver is employed by the county to teach some of the prisoners to weave coarse linens. A corn-mill has been erected, at which the prisoners work in companies of twenty at a time. Shoemaking, spinning, and weaving, have also been introduced.

At Gloucester, a mill has also recently been erected, and there is a forcing-pump, worked by a tread-wheel. The prisoners weave and manufacture cloth, sacking, saddle-girths, towels, and stockings. At Winchester house of correction, two corn-mills are in daily operation, which employ twenty-eight men at one time. The convicts' dresses and shoes are made in the prison; and the women card and spin, and make the clothing.

At Hereford penitentiary, a corn-mill has been built; and the prisoners are employed in making clothing, shoes, bedding, and in the manufacture of bags, for sale, from the raw material.

At Lancaster Castle, from thirty-eight to fifty pieces of Manchester cottons are worked off per week. The amount of earnings for the last year is stated to be 8601.

At the Manchester New Bailey, weaving is the general employment of the prison. The amount of earnings, up to July 1820, for one year, amounted to 2056l. 6s. 10d.

Preston house of correction is justly distinguished by the industry which prevails.

At Leicester county house of correction, the employments are grinding corn, carding wool, spinning, and a stocking manufactory. At Boston, the prisoners are employed in the manufacture of worsted, and the grinding of corn.

At

At the Millbank penitentiary, a mill has been erected for grinding corn consumed in the establishment; also a machine for raising water; and another mill, with a similar machine, is to be erected, for the employment of other prisoners, in a distinct part of the building. The amount of the prisoners' earnings, during the last year, was 40471. 4s.

At Shrewsbury, a mill has been erected, which employs eighteen men at one time, and the prisoners change this labour three times in the day; the remaining prisoners are employed in weaving laces, making list shoes, &c. The female prisoners are employed in baking, washing, spinning, knitting stockings and gloves, also making the sheets and wearing-apparel consumed in the gaol.

At Stafford, all the prisoners, excepting those before trial, are employed in dressing flax, spinning, weaving cloth for prison clothing, rugs, blankets, knitting stockings, heading pins for the Birmingham manufacturers, shoemaking, tailoring, and grinding corn. At Lewes house of correction, the prisoners are employed in dressing flax and beating hemp.

In the house of correction at Warwick, work appears to be carried on with much spirit. The mill for grinding corn employs twenty men or upwards, and from a bakehouse adjoining supplies of excellent bread are regularly conveyed to this and the county gaol, and the saving to the county from this alone is estimated at some hundreds of pounds per annum. Wire-drawing is carried on, and the prisoners perform the whole process. They are also employed in a woollen manufacture, which is very successful. Rugs, blankets, horse-cloths, carpets, girths, and other coarse articles are also made. The females are chiefly employed in spinning and carding wool.

At Devizes, some of the prisoners, in their working-cells are employed in knitting their own stockings, making gloves, shoes, straw hats, weaving shirting, blanketing, and cloth. Another class of prisoners is employed at various kinds of work for the use of the prison-tailoring, shoemaking, &c. There is a corn-mill, at which sixteen men work at one time.

At Worcester county gaol, the system of employment is admirable. Every article of dress worn by the prisoners here is made from the raw material: sacking and bags are the only articles made for sale. Much corn is ground here; and so excellent have been the effects of the mill, that the magistrates are about to erect another.

At Wakefield, and Beverley, the prisoners have been fully employed on the extensive works carried on in the new houses of correction at those places.

At Northleach, Gosport, Huntingdon, and Louth, mills have been erected for the purpose of employing the prisoners, although not on the tread-wheel system.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

ART. IX.-A Voyage to Africa; including a Narrative of an Embassy to one of the interior Kingdoms (Ashantee), in the year 1820: by WILLIAM HUTTON.

M

R. BOW DICH'S book, relative to the Ashantees, though written with considerable vigour, showed too young and arrogant a spirit, to secure the attention and credit to which the general accuracy of its information now seems deservedly to entitle it. The writer of the present narrative,-a person of a more subdued temperament, placed in nearly the same circumstances, engaged in nearly the same occupations, and encountering nearly the same impediments, persons, and places, confirms, with very few exceptions, his predecessor's descriptions, and scarcely casts a doubt upon any of them. The youthful eyes of Mr. Bowdich were dazzled by the glare and gilding of the Ashantee court, and saw rather more splendour than met the steadier gaze and more practised vision of his successor. The glow and colouring of the first artist is sobered by the quieter pencil of the second; but the picture remains essentially the same.

Our readers generally, it may be presumed, are not very familiar with the state of the British settlements on the Gold Coast. Since the abandonment of the slave trade, they have fallen into comparative insignificance. As establishments merely subservient to the advantages of a trading company, and that of inferior importance, they excite no general interest: it is only when coupled with the great object of African civilization, that they present any title to public consideration. In this momentous view, nothing is insignificant; though altogether incapable, in their present constitution, of advancing the great purposes of the friends of humanity, they may possibly be converted into very useful instruments. In their origin, nothing was thought of but the advantages of trade, and therefore we are not entitled to complain of their being incompetent to the production of effects which were never contemplated. These settlements, or rather forts and factories, were established for the promotion and protection of the slave trade ;-gold, and gum, and ivory were very inferior objects. They extended along the line of the Gold Coast, a length of 250 or 300 miles, and have varied, in number and position, according to the exigency of circumstances. When the main branch of the African trade was abandoned, these forts still subsisted. Public establishments are indeed not always reducible in exact proportion as the necessity for them diminishes: in the present case, we believe, at the time, there was no attempt whatever at reduction. The expense at

tending

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