AVERAGE PRICES of CORN, from the Returns ending March 17, 1804. AVERAGE PRICES, by which Exportation and Bounty are to be regulated. THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, For MARCH, 1804. I PSALM Ixxix. 12. N following my excellent Friend in his vifits to various prifons, continued fcenes of diftrefs are prefented; and, contrafting the known liberality and humanity of the British character, the traveller fcarcely believes he is treading upon the British foil. With water in fight of the miferable prifoner, he is compelled to purchafe it at a retail premium. In another place, man, formed to walk erect, bends his wearied body to fuit the limited extent of his cell. When wearied Nature folicits fleep, moift ftraw in a dungeon under ground is her folace. The light of the fun fupplies no vivifying rays to cheer the fpirits, for they are excluded by damp and impenetrable walls. Exercife, that is calculated to ftrengthen the body, is denied by the refraint of confinement; and, inftead of focial intercourfe with his own fpecies, which might animate the defponding heart, gloomy folitude is fubfiituted. The Philanthropist I am now following is fo far from recommend ing total abstraction from fociety, or folitary confinement, that he uniformly advises the appearance of prifoners on every occafion of public worthip; to admit, if poflible, fuch a degree of liberty as to exclude irons and chains, wherever it can be done with fecurity of the prifoners; with the addition of fuch decent comforts, as may tend to foften and humanize the obdurate heart, and reclaim the vicious mind. HowARD acted upon the fame principles, though the practice of folitary confinement has been faid to have originated from his recommendation; which, however, is not to be traced in his writings, and, I am perfuaded, could not have been derived from his converfation. That thefe diftinguifhed men difcouraged the conftant and indifcriminate intercourfe and fociety of men and women prifoners, of all defcriptions of vice and profligacy, as well as that they oppofed the introduction of intoxicating fpirits and liquors into their rooms and cells, I admit; and which reafon and humanity muft approve. I well remember an anecdote, which HowARD gave me in my houfe. When at Vienna, he waited upon Count Kaunitz; who intimated a defire that the Emperor Jofeph fhould have an interview with this vifitor of prifons: HOWARD in It must have afforded an highly gratifying fpectacle, at the late Affizes at Aylesbury, to the Marquis of Trclifield, with the rest of the Grand fury, and company prefent, to puffels a NEILD as the High Sheriff of the county of Bucks; and which, indeed, did not elcape the notice of the benevolet Judge Grofe, who, in his eloquent address to the Cert, at which he prefided, remarked, that he congratulated the County on their electng to the office of High Sher ff a man who was an honoor to his country, and with whofe works of Philanthropy, he doubted not, they were well acquaintel; and that he could add much more on this fubject, were not the Sheriff himself prefent, whofe mind he would not wound, by flating all he knew, and all he merited. formed formed the Count, that he was engaged to depart from Vienna next day; but, upon the fubject being preffed upon him, he concluded to wait upon the Emperor at nine o'clock in the morning, and who inftantly prefented himself upon HOWARD's name being announced. When they retired together into a fmall room, where there was neither chair nor looking-glafs, and there they continued together nearly two hours; the Emperor liftening with attention to the ample information which HowARD was enabled to convey respecting the ftate of the prifons in the Empire, many of which he had vifited. At length he introduced thofe of the Metropolis, and defcribed the miferable fituation of feveral prifoners, who had been confined in folitary cells for nearly three years, who in that period had fcarcely feen the daylight, and in this long interval had never been brought to trial. The Emperor, ftruck with this relation, affured him, that they thould have inftant juftice; to which he replied, "It is now too late; it is not in your Majefty's power to do them juftice, or to make them a proper reparation. Solitary confinement has weakened their minds, and their faculties are fo loft and deranged as to incapacitate them from making their defence." Thefe prifoners, however, were liberated within the fpace of 24 hours. In Philadelphia, when a delinquent is conveyed to prifon, he is confined in a folitary cell, and fed upon bread and water, as long as, and no longer than, he pleafes; that is, till he is difpofed to work. As foon as he prefers labour to folitude, he is ufually allowed to work at any trade he choofes, from among thofe carried on in the prifon by different prifoners; and the profit of his labour, or a portion of it, goes to the perfon under whom he enters. After a certain fpace, when the period of the time he entered for is completed, he acquires the capacity of receiving prisoners under him, in the saine manner as he previously had worked for another. I am informed, that almoft every branch of trade is purfued, as well as the affiftance of schoolmafters and school-mistresses, in the diftinct parts of the prifon; for the fexes, for very wife reasons, are feparated. By this fyftem, habits of idleness are prevented, and thofe of induftry are promoted; and equal to thefe, in the future happiness of the offender, is the retrieving of character; which enables him once more to hold up his head among the children of men, and to claim the support, and the fociety, of his virtuous fellow citizens; many of whom are appointed to vifit the prifons, who endeavour, by counsel and mild means, to reclaim the vicious, and by animating kindness encourage the virtuous and induftrious; and when thefe leave the place of confinement, they receive written credentials of their good conduct, by which they are enabled to get into employment. I have been informed by Americans, that many of the prifoners have gained from one hundred dollars to one hundred pounds, during their confinement, and, by the capitals thus acquired, have afterwards made ample fortunes. Contraft, for a moment, the fyftem of our prifons, which are places of punishment only, rather thau of reformation. If any perfon fhould deem his time not mis-fpent, which he may devote in perufing the following letter, he will not conclude that gratitude to the community in the prifoner, on regaining light, air, and liberty, will give any generous impulfe on his mind; or any motive to benefit the members of that community, who difregarded his fufferings, and neglected the reformation of his morals; or, if he were difpofed to labour, would employ him, and thereby enable him to get his daily bread. Become an outcaft to that fociety to whom he looked for protection; his charac Gaols in Wales, &c. ter wrecked, without the means of After having painfully paffed JOHN COAKLEY LETTSON. End, Cornwall, in a little My laft letter was dated from one To give you a full account of thofe prifons which are lapfing (from neglect) into their original ftate of filth and feverity, would far exceed the limits of a letter; I muft, therefore, content myself with making a few curfory obfervations to my friend, and leave the detail to my next publication. At Caernarvon, as at Brecon, I found women in irons, and a lunatic confined with a felon, though there was plenty of room in the The pumps had been out prifon. of repair for fome time, and no water acceffible to the prifoners. Neither the Act for the prefervation of health, nor the claufes against spirituous liquors, were hung up. Poultry was kept in the court-yards, and the prifon dirty. The Rev. Mr. Lloyd obligingly accompanied me over this gaol, at my fecond vifit, and humanely promised to reprefent its ftate, with my remarks, to his Brother Magiftrates. In the miferable gaol at Dolgelly, where every defcription of prifoners affociate in a small court of 36 feet by 28 feet, I faw a poor man who had been confined for a debt of 271. 5s. 6d nearly 19 years; he was upwards of 80; and his wife, older than himself, was with him; they were carding and fpinning, by which they earned about threepence a day each, which, with the parith allowance of 2s, a week (formerly 1s. 6d.) to him, was all they had to live upon. As he could not speak Englith, I am not acquainted with the particulars of his cafe; but the gaoler informed me, fome years ago, he was at the point of farving; and |