Aug 16 1827 Criminal Commitments & Convictions #2 - Cumberland and Westmorland Newspaper Transcriptions

Aug 16 1827 Criminal Commitments & Convictions #2

The Times, Thursday, Aug 16, 1827; pg. 4; Issue 13359; col A

       REPORT of the COMMITTEE of the HOUSE of COMMONS on
             CRIMINAL COMMITMENTS and CONVICTIONS, &c.
                                                  [continued]

It is not for your committee to enter into any discussion on questions of
economy. But they think it their duty to call the attention of the house to the
degradation of the moral character of the labouring classes which attends the
vicious system of supporting from the poor rates a number of young men, for whom
the parish only finds partial employment. The wretchedness of their condition,
the want of regular habits, and of the due subordination of the labourer to his
employer, all tend greatly to the promotion of crime. Early marriages,
contracted either to avoid going to prison on a charge of bastardy, or with a
view of receiving a better allowance from the parish, increase the evil, and
multiply a population for whom there is no certain employment, and a miserable
subsistence; and in this situation they are too apt to believe they can improve
their condition by offending against the laws.

The best remedy for such a state of things would undoubtedly be a great increase
in the demand for labour. But whether that increase takes place or not, some
amendment of the poor laws, which might prevent the prevailing abuses from being
carried further, seems to be called for. At present, while in many countries the
character of the labourer is daily becoming worse, and the means of his employer
daily becoming less, there are other districts where the old and wholesome
administration of the poor laws prevails, where the wages given are sufficient
for the maintenance of the labourer, and the feeling of independence is not yet
obliterated.

The evidence taken before the committee shows undeniably that the great increase
of preserves for game which has taken place of late years has tended materially
to the increase of crime in particular districts; a pheasant or a hare is so
easily taken, that a labourer only half employed, and ill fed, cannot resist the
temptation. Men of wild character likewise have within their reach both the
means of gratifying their love of sport, and the means of disposing of their
booty. Some are of opinion that if the sale of game were allowed by law,
poaching would not be so frequently resorted to. Whether such a speculation be
well founded or no, it appears to be the duty of the legislature to listen to
every rational proposal on the subject of the game laws, and rather to hazard an
experiment which may fail, than to allow the present evils to continue without
any effort to counteract them.

When on this subject it deserves remark, that in the return of the commitments
of prisoners for trial, none are to be found for offences against the game laws
till the passing of the act which subjects men to transportation for going armed
at night in pursuit of game. This offence does not appear by the returns to have
increased since the passing of the act; the number committed in 1827 being 127,
and in 1826, 126. But many of the petty larcencies in the agricultural counties
are to be attributed to the vicious habits created by poaching.

With regard to prison discipline, your committee will make at present but two
short remarks. The one is, that little good seems to be effected by confinement,
unless accompanied by bodily labour. The other, that the construction and
regulation of the tread-mill, the prison diet, and the hours to be employed in
hard labour, ought to be made as nearly as possible uniform in every gaol of the
kingdom.

With respect to the increased frequency of commitments under the Malicious
Trespass Act, the Committee would observe that although petty offences ought not
to go altogether unpunished, there can be no greater evil than the abuse of the
power of sending to prison for trifling trespasses; so far from preventing
atrocious offences, the committee is of opinion, that the mere fact of having
been sent to prison is likely to deprive a man of one of the greatest moral
restraints - the dread of being marked out as a criminal in the face of his
country. To this evil is to be added the danger of associating with bad
characters in prison, and the difficulty which sometimes occurs of finding
employment after being discharged.

The committee now proceed to furnish a summary of the evidence taken before
them.

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There were further interviews with people from various parts of the country, which
have not been transcribed here. They include:

Mr. PYM, a magistrate from Cambridgeshire,
The Reverend Dr. HUNT from Bedford,
Mr. ORRIDGE, governor of the gaol and house of correction at Bury St. Edmund's,
Sir Thomas BARING, a magistrate in the county of Hants,
and last, Sir James GRAHAM, Bart., magistrate for the county of Cumberland

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