AN INQUIRY 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 JUVENILE DEPRAVITY; 
 
 DEDICATED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF CARLISLE. 
 
 BY THOMAS BEGGS, 
 
 \l 
 
 LATE SECRETARY OF THE HEALTH OF TOWNS* ASSOCIATION, AND AUTHOR OF "LECTURES 
 ON THE MORAL ELEVATION OF THE PEOPLE." 
 
 CHARLES GILPIN, 5, BISHOPSGATE-STREET WITHOUT. 
 
 DUBLIN: JAMES B. GILPIN; LIVERPOOL: DEIGHTON AND LAUGHTON ; 
 
 EDINBURGH: MACLACHLAN AND STEWART; GLASGOW: GEORGE 
 
 GALLIE; MANCHESTER: FLETCHER AND TUBES. 
 
 1849. 
 
TYLER & REED, 
 
 PRINTERS. 
 
DEDICATED 
 
 BY PERMISSION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 EIGHT. HON. THE EAEL OF CAEL1SLE, 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 IN seeking to dedicate the following work to you, I 
 have been influenced by a higher motive than the mere wish to 
 associate your Lordship's name with any humble performance 
 of my own. 
 
 Feeling how much your Lordship has done for the working 
 classes, amongst whom I have been brought up, and to whose 
 elevation and improvement the more active labours of my life 
 have been devoted, I am desirous of recording by this means 
 iny grateful appreciation of your Lordship's services, and my 
 confident anticipation of the continuance of your efforts in 
 the same direction. 
 
 I have also been animated by a desire to attract your 
 Lordship's attention to a subject too much overlooked in the 
 inquiries of the day the intemperate habits of the population. 
 
JV DEDICATION. 
 
 After much painful experience, I feel that unless these are 
 corrected, all our benevolent exertions will be but partially 
 successful. If I am urgent on this point, it arises from a 
 deep and settled conviction that the drinking customs must 
 be abolished before we can hope for any material or per- 
 manent improvement in the condition of the people. 
 
 I am, my Lord, 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 Your Lordship's most obedient and obliged Servant, 
 
 THOMAS BEGGS. 
 
 WALTHAMSTOW, ESSEX, 
 
 March 3, 1849. 
 

 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE Author of the following work was a competitor for the 
 One Hundred Pound Prize, recently offered for the best Essay 
 on Juvenile Depravity. This Essay was undertaken at an 
 advanced period of the allotted time, and accomplished in 
 the intervals occurring during the discharge of heavy official 
 duties. Imperfect as it was however, it received the favour- 
 able recommendation of the Adjudicators to a Second Prize. 
 
 It has since undergone careful revision. Fresh facts and 
 statistics have been added, and, in many instances, more recent 
 substituted for those of an earlier date. This, in fact, was 
 rendered necessary, by the length of time occupied in the 
 Adjudication. 
 
 One of the most peremptory conditions of the Prize was, 
 that the Essay should be enforced by facts and statistics. 
 This will account for the insertion of more quotations than are 
 agreeable to an author. The book, however, will lose nothing 
 in value by it. Perhaps the most powerful series of arguments 
 would have been a mere citation of facts and authorities, with a 
 few occasional sentences to indicate the order of arrangement 
 or enforce the application. Wherever it could be done they 
 have been condensed, but where the subject required it they 
 
iv DEDICATION. 
 
 After much painful experience, I feel that unless these are 
 corrected, all our benevolent exertions will be but partially 
 successful. If I am urgent on this point, it arises from a 
 deep and settled conviction that the drinking customs must 
 be abolished before we can hope for any material or per- 
 manent improvement in the condition of the people. 
 
 I am, my Lord, 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 Your Lordship's most obedient and obliged Servant, 
 
 THOMAS BEGGS. 
 
 WALTHAMSTOW, ESSEX, 
 
 March 3, 1849. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE Author of the following work was a competitor for the 
 One Hundred Pound Prize, recently offered for the best Essay 
 on Juvenile Depravity. This Essay was undertaken at an 
 advanced period of the allotted time, and accomplished in 
 the intervals occurring during the discharge of heavy official 
 duties. Imperfect as it was however, it received the favour- 
 able recommendation of the Adjudicators to a Second Prize. 
 
 It has since undergone careful revision. Fresh facts and 
 statistics have been added, and, in many instances, more recent 
 substituted for those of an earlier date. This, in fact, was 
 rendered necessary, by the length of time occupied in the 
 Adjudication. 
 
 One of the most peremptory conditions of the Prize was, 
 that the Essay should be enforced by facts and statistics. 
 This will account for the insertion of more quotations than are 
 agreeable to an author. The book, however, will lose nothing 
 in value by it. Perhaps the most powerful series of arguments 
 would have been a mere citation of facts and authorities, with a 
 few occasional sentences to indicate the order of arrangement 
 or enforce the application. Wherever it could be done they 
 have been condensed, but where the subject required it they 
 
VI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 have been given in the style and language of the authority 
 from which they are quoted. The Author throughout has 
 endeavoured to make the work useful and impressive by a 
 weight of evidence rather than by rhetorical embellishment or 
 studied precision. 
 
 As the Author has already published many papers on the 
 subject, it is not unlikely that the same arguments may be 
 repeated in some few instances, and a coincidence of expression 
 occur. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introd 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 Page 
 ntroductory the Subject stated 1 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 The Dangerous Classes Numbers of the Criminal, Pauper, and 
 
 Vagrant Classes 17 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 The Dangerous Classes State of Education 32 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Dangerous Classes Domestic and Social Condition . . 43 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Juvenile Depravity An Inquiry into its Causes The Mining Popu- 
 lation . . . . . ... . . .5.3 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Juvenile Depravity An Inquiry into its Causes The Factory and 
 
 Agricultural Population 67 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 General Condition of the Poorer Classes Means spent in Drink 
 
 Prison and Police Statistics 78 
 
Viii CONTENTS. 
 
 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 p a <re 
 
 Prostitution Its Extent and Causes 98 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Vice and Profligacy among the more educated Classes the Drinking 
 
 Habits a Cause of Individual Degradation Sabbath Schools .117 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Consideration of Remedies ...... .133 
 
 APPENDIX .153 
 
INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND., CAUSES 
 
 OF 
 
 JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY THE SUBJECT STATED. 
 
 DURING the last few years, many circumstances have com- 
 bined to invest the subject of the present inquiry with a 
 solemn interest and importance. The investigations that pre- 
 ceded the passing of the Poor-Law Amendment Act, were 
 only the first of a series, each having a share in arousing 
 attention to the condition of the poorer classes. The spirit .of 
 inquiry once awakened has not been permitted to slumber. 
 The women and children employed in agriculture, the mining 
 population, the factory workers, and the railway labourers, 
 have severally been made the subject of official investigation 
 under Government authority. The Health of Towns Com- 
 mission has also done efficient service. Its object was really 
 to inspect the neighbourhoods and abodes of neglected 
 poverty, the fever nests of our towns and cities ; but in the 
 discharge of that duty, a mass of evidence was collected, exhi- 
 biting the nature and extent of those vices, which are the 
 inseparable companions of filth and misery. The statements 
 published from time to time, supported and strengthened by 
 the reports of the Registrar- General, have tended to give preci- 
 sion to moral as well as vital statistics, and make that assume 
 the shape of fact which had previously been mere matter of 
 speculation. It soon became apparent that there was enough 
 
2 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 to excite not only sympathy, but apprehension and alarm. A 
 large proportion of the population, were found to be grovel- 
 ling in the veriest debasement, yielding obedience only to the 
 animal instincts ; brooding in spiritual darkness in a day of 
 Gospel light, and as much excluded from the benefits of 
 civilisation, as much shut out from a participation in the 
 blessings of Christian privilege as if they were the inhabitants of 
 another hemisphere. Pauperism and crime were steadily, if 
 not rapidly, increasing, and the public burdens in consequence 
 becoming intolerable. The future of such a present seemed 
 equally deplorable. A young generation was springing up, 
 as low and degraded in habit and feeling and inheriting all 
 the vices of that which preceded it. The advance of these 
 fearful evils was contemporaneous with unwonted exertions in 
 the cause of education, and in every form of practical bene- 
 volence. Charitable institutions have multiplied exceedingly, 
 and their messages of mercy have been sent out with the 
 most commendable liberality; and yet, there has been no 
 apparent diminution of the misery that was sought to be re- 
 lieved. Some mighty power of evil, seemed to baffle not 
 only Voluntary exertion, but the efforts of Legislation. It 
 was clear, that some new agency was required to contend 
 successfully against it. 
 
 One advantage, however, has been obtained men became 
 sensible of the existence of much disease, immorality, and 
 destitution, of the extent of which they had previously but 
 a faint perception. The investigations to which reference has 
 been made were felt to be highly useful, if not absolutely 
 necessary. The results were published in voluminous reports, 
 forming some of the most mournful and instructive commen- 
 taries upon the state of society, to be found in modern 
 literature. They are the more painful from their circumstan- 
 tial and matter-of-fact character. There is nothing to excite 
 the imagination, or throw an air of romance over the darkness 
 and the suffering. There is no artistic embellishment, no 
 poetical display, everything is dull, cold, and harrowing 
 reality. These faithful revelations rear themselves in fright- 
 ful appeal and protest against the desk of the moralist and 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 3 
 
 the pulpit of the divine. They form a fixed reproach to the 
 apathy and formalism of the Christian church. It might be 
 consciousness of sins of omission and commission towards 
 the poor and needy, that induced many of those in high 
 places to avert their gaze when the picture was presented, 
 As it contained only a representation of what existed within 
 the range of every man's observation, attention was ultimately 
 enforced by the. very necessities of the case, and could 
 lot be withheld. Fragments of the evidence began to 
 appear in newspaper paragraphs, and to obtain currency in 
 addresses from the platform. Now they are put forth by all 
 classes and ranks of reformers as reasons for renewed inquiry, 
 and increased effort : and the lively assurance awaits us, 
 that all these laborious investigations will result in some- 
 thing more valuable than a library of blue books. The facts 
 accumulated are of inestimable worth : they will furnish the 
 enlightened statesman with data on which to found wholesome 
 measures of legislation ; they will enable the philosophical 
 student to solve some of the more difficult of our social pro- 
 blems, and as they have contributed in a very large degree to 
 make known the actual condition of the people, and the nature 
 of the obstacles standing in the way of improvement, the phil- 
 anthropist will be better prepared to give effect to remedial 
 agencies : but, more than all, they will lead to the substitution 
 of preventive measures for the palliative policy, which has 
 hitherto obtained This is the great desideratum men should 
 no longer waste their strength in faintly and unsuccessfully 
 struggling with the effects of evils, they should grapple with the 
 cause. From misapprehensions of this kind much endeavour has 
 been wasted, and much good seed thrown upon barren ground. 
 No error is more common than that of confounding cause 
 with effect, or treating the last in a chain of causes. Dis- 
 appointment and discouragement arise from the small progress 
 made, and, after the expenditure of much valuable time and 
 labour, it is discovered, perchance, that the symptoms have 
 been attacked, and not the disease itself. Would pious charity 
 turn away for a brief period from the distribution of alms, and 
 duly scrutinize the cases of destitution which excite sympathy 
 
 B 2 
 
4 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 and extort relief, a new grace would be added to benevolence, 
 by inducing greater discrimination in the application of its 
 means. If we turn from mere almsgiving to many of the 
 Societies, originated, and kept up by Christian beneficence, 
 it is painful to witness the large sums often dispensed among 
 the idle and profligate, which if diffused through the ordinary 
 channels of trade among the careful and industrious, would 
 do much to improve the condition of the many, and help, to 
 sustain them in honest pursuits. Other Institutions, again, 
 remind us of the charlatan who persisted in external applica- 
 tions to a local sore, without any regard to the deep-seated con- 
 stitutional malady, from which it had primarily arisen, and who 
 expressed great surprise at the failure of his favourite nostrum. 
 The ignorant and presumptuous quack is but a type of society 
 in its treatment of moral evils: they have been permitted 
 to grow, and, in many instances, have been nurtured by the 
 ill-judged, but well-meant, efforts to subdue them. When their 
 magnitude and virulence threaten the peace and repose of 
 society, then expedients are devised to lessen their severity, 
 or reduce them within the limits of endurance. The Poor 
 Laws are an example of what the community has done in its 
 collective capacity, and soup-kitchens are fair specimens of 
 what private benevolence has originated to relieve the pressure 
 of poverty. The producing causes are allowed to remain, 
 while the pauper is fed out of public or private charity, and 
 his character broken. This is a serious mistake. A loaf and 
 a cup of water may relieve the hungry and athirst, but in 
 the order of Nature the appetite will return. The only real 
 assistance is that which will enable the poor man to earn the 
 loaf for himself. It will be eaten with the keener relish when 
 paid for out of the labour of his hands. The Samaritan's 
 heart must be accompanied by knowledge, or he may injure 
 the object of his care. The actions of good men must be 
 wise, to ensure success, and bring an appropriate reward. 
 
 This philosophy is becoming partially understood, more 
 especially by those who are devising schemes for the education 
 and culture of the young. It has been well said, that a penny 
 spent in teaching will save a pound in punishing. Unless it is 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 5 
 
 more generally felt and acted upon, in vain are all the sug- 
 gested improvements of our prison discipline, or all the refine- 
 ments of our jurisprudence. These may, and will, undoubtedly 
 advantage the offender, but can do little to diminish the num- 
 ber of offences. It is wise and humane, and moreover a 
 Christian duty, to correct the habits of the criminal, and 
 restore him to society repentant and reclaimed ; but it is of 
 infinitely more importance to cut off the sources from which 
 the criminal class is supplied. The army of depredators, 
 preying upon society, is steadily kept up ; the ranks are 
 recruited from the neglected and homeless children left to 
 prowl about the streets. What is the condition of the 30,000 
 children, whom Lord Ashley describes as constituting the 
 seed-plot of " nineteen- twentieths of all the crime of the 
 metropolis?" Those who know anything of that class will 
 admit that they could only be expected to be industrious and 
 honest by miracle. If children are allowed to grow up in 
 misery, subject from the cradle to want, wretchedness, and ill- 
 usage ; if they are cut off from all opportunities of learning 
 the truths of religion ; if they hear no word of kindness ; 
 experience no sympathy; if home and its endearments are un- 
 known to them nay more, if they are accustomed to witness 
 exhibitions of cruelty, indecency, and brutality, what can 
 be expected but a race of paupers and criminals ? " Do men 
 gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles ? " The terrors of 
 the law may be held over them they look upon it as an 
 instrument of oppression, or as an inevitable destiny. Can we 
 be surprised that the earnest missionary finds them almost 
 deaf to the voice of invitation ? Can we wonder, when we 
 know that they are brought up in ignorance of all that is 
 good, and actually disciplined in evil that thousands are living 
 without " God and without hope in the world." Lord Ashley 
 in bringing this subject before the House of Commons on 
 the 28th of February 1843, remarked : " The country is 
 wearied with pamphlets and speeches on gaol discipline, model 
 prisons, and corrective processes; meanwhile crime advances 
 at a rapid pace ; many are discharged because they cannot be 
 punished, and many become worse by the very punishment 
 
 Ai.XJ.V7 *1 
 
 daily 
 
 Vn o-v 
 
ft AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 they undergo. Punishment is disarmed of a large part of its 
 terrors, because it no longer can appeal to any sense of shame; 
 and all this, because we will obstinately persist in setting our 
 own wilfulness against the experience of mankind and the 
 wisdom of revelation, and believe that we can regenerate the 
 hardened man, while we neglect the pliant childhood." : ' Were 
 the crimes of these offenders the sum total of the crimes of 
 England, although we should lament for the individuals, we 
 might disregard the consequences ; but the danger is wider, 
 deeper, fiercer; and no one who has heard these statements, 
 and believes them, can hope that twenty years more will pass 
 without some mighty convulsion, and displacement of the 
 whole system of society." There were thousands who felt the 
 full force of this appeal, and yet the time has been wasted in 
 the application of mere "corrective processes." In the session 
 of 1848, June 6th, he once more brought the subject before 
 the House of Commons: in his speech, on that occasion, he 
 observed : " Every one who took the trouble to observe, 
 could not fail to see large masses of ragged, sickly, and ill-fed 
 children squatting at the entrances of miserable courts and 
 alleys, idling away their time and engaged in no occupation 
 that was either creditable to themselves or useful to the com- 
 munity ; and if from the physical condition of these outcasts, 
 they proceeded to an estimate of their moral condition, and if 
 they consulted the records of police courts, they must come to 
 the conclusion that there was a necessity for immediate inquiry, 
 and for the application of an immediate remedy. If this 
 was called for by every sentiment of benevolence, so was it 
 demanded by every notion of justice and expediency ; and he 
 must say, in reference to the temper of the times, and the age 
 in which we lived, that it was matter of grand consideration 
 for those who consulted not only the honour but safety of this 
 great metropolis." It will be seen that his lordship was still 
 pleading for the consideration of the House, to a question 
 unequalled in its interest and importance. He asked that 
 1000 of these wretched children might be taken annually 
 from the Ragged - schools, and sent out to the Colonies. 
 He did not ask this because it was all he wanted, but 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. y 
 
 because it was all he was likely to obtain. But with every 
 respect for his Lordship's benevolence and disinterested labours 
 in the cause of humanity, there was nothing in the measure 
 proposed worthy of the name of profound statesmanship. It 
 is true it would relieve the metropolis of one-thirtieth part of 
 its juvenile delinquency, but it did not attempt to grapple with 
 the evil at its source, nor prevent the influx of fresh delin- 
 quents. The floodgates of moral pollution would still be kept 
 open, and every year would bring in fresh accessions, swelling 
 the gross amount. No doubt great, and almost insurmountable, 
 difficulties stood in the way, arising mainly from the difference 
 of opinion on the nature of a remedy. The Government had 
 manifested no intention of moving. It is true, the present 
 Premier, in a speech at the Guildhall, on the eve of his election 
 for the City of London, said " That great social improve- 
 ments are required ; that public education is lamentably defec- 
 tive ; that the treatment of criminals is a problem yet to be 
 decided." He had led the nation to believe that measures of 
 this character would be the work of his administration. But 
 nothing has yet been done by the minister towards the solution 
 of the problem he suggested. Laudable and useful as it may 
 be, to reform a portion of the youthful criminals of the 
 metropolis, and transport them to a new field of industry and 
 honourable pursuit: it can have no higher pretensions than 
 the various corrective processes, which Lord Ashley in 1843 
 so feelingly deplored. 
 
 Besides these appeals to the British Parliament, there were 
 others addressed to the public at large ;* and which, coming 
 
 * The Rev. B. W. Noel, in his " Spiritual Claims of the Metropolis," when 
 speaking of foreign missions, says : " I envy not him who can look coldly on 
 such undertakings. The necessities of the nations are urgent ; the results of 
 missionary efforts are momentous beyond expression ; our duty is plain ; and 
 we are unworthy the name we bear, if we do not prosecute them with zealous 
 and prayerful assiduity. Yet, with all these admissions, again I ask, What 
 right can we have to seek to save those who are perishing at the antipodes, and 
 to overlook those who are perishing at our doors ? Of all places in the world, 
 London has the first claims upon us. Here, within a walk 6f this place 
 [St. John's], we know that hundreds of thousands are living without the public 
 worship of God ; we have reason to fear that they are living without religion 
 
g AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 from men who have had the best opportunities of ascertaining 
 the facts of the case, backed up as they are by the statistics 
 of our prison reports, and sustained by the experience of all 
 who have had opportunities of studying the condition of the 
 poorer classes, show us that the time is appropriate for an 
 inquiry like the present. A new direction has been given to 
 the benevolence of the age. Official investigations have been 
 assisted by the labours of Home and City missionaries. The 
 formation of Ragged and Industrial-schools is the commence- 
 ment of a new era. Formed to meet the necessities of a class 
 that were shut out from other institutions, they have given 
 opportunities for studying the habits and dispositions of the 
 poor outcasts, who have not inaptly been styled the Arabs of 
 the metropolis, that could not in any other way have been 
 presented. These schools have rapidly extended through the 
 land. At a large meeting in Edinburgh, in an early part of 
 the year 1847, resolutions were passed, affirming the necessity 
 of immediate effort, as follows : " That there is a large 
 number of destitute, neglected children in the city, who, 
 having no regular means of living, nor any moral superintend- 
 ence on the part of their neighbours and relatives, are allowed 
 to grow up in habits of vagrancy and crime. That this class 
 forms the great and increasing source of that extensive juvenile 
 delinquency which is the disgrace of our large towns ; and that 
 there is an urgent call upon all who wish well to the commu- 
 nity to take immediate steps to remedy this great social evil, 
 by reclaiming those children, and providing the means of 
 raising their condition, and enabling them to lead an honest 
 and useful life." The effort in Edinburgh, which was simulta- 
 neous with others throughout the country, had been greatly 
 stimulated by the late Dr. Chalmers, who held that it was 
 
 altogether; we know that many are sunk in vice and sorrow; more guilty than 
 the heathen, because they have greater means of knowledge, and they have the 
 prospect, therefore, of a more awful end. Untaught and unreclaimed, they 
 disgrace the kingdom; they daily multiply around us; and while the number 
 of religious persons in this city has been increasing, NEVER WAS THESE, I 
 
 THINK, SO LARGE A MASS OF UTTERLY UNREGARDED HEATHENISM IN IT AS AT 
 THIS MOMENT," 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. f) 
 
 through moral and Christian machinery that the debased and 
 degraded population were to be raised up. In an early part 
 of 1846, he established a Missionary station in Westport, one 
 of the worst parts of Edinburgh, the neighbourhood of the 
 Burke and Hare murders. On various occasions he urged the 
 great importance of effort. The writer of this Essay had the 
 privilege of hearing one powerful sermon preached in behalf 
 of the mission referred to. The occasion and the circum- 
 stances made it deeply interesting. The service was held in 
 a building used as a school, and occasionally for religious 
 worship. It was an old dilapidated place, but attended on 
 that occasion by persons of position, talent, and rank. He 
 addressed the followers of the Saviour in behalf of the 
 perishing population of that neighbourhood. He described 
 a state of things existing at that moment, in places almost 
 within the reach of his voice, of the most appalling kind ; and 
 said that there was a dense population in that city of learning 
 and refinement, upon whom no sabbath ever dawned. He 
 asked and implored for help. 
 
 That voice is now silent in death; but many have taken 
 up its accents, and are carrying them to the bosom of every 
 family. Great exertions are needed. Thousands of youth are 
 growing up to manhood ; it cannot be said without education, 
 for no negative term will express the truth, they are literally 
 trained to fraud and theft as a profession. The sceptic may 
 gather sufficient evidence of this by merely perambulating the 
 streets of the metropolis or the bye lanes and alleys of any 
 of our large towns. He will be at no loss to detect the young 
 recruits of the dangerous class. He may espy a group of 
 children engaged in some boisterous game, or apparently 
 lounging listlessly about. They appear in every variety of 
 ragged costume. The unwashed face, the uncombed hair, the 
 head without a hat, and the feet without shoes, bespeak a con- 
 dition of abject poverty and neglect. If they are observed for 
 a time, all the traits of character will appear. Obscenity and 
 blasphemy shock the ear ; their skill in artifice is made ap- 
 parent by the tricks practised upon each other. Some of 
 their faculties are particularly acute, and all the propensities 
 
1() AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 precociously developed. They are gathered at street- corners, 
 watching with keen and eager eye all that is passing within 
 the range of observation. They look out most greedily for an 
 opportunity of obtaining a penny by begging, purloining, or 
 by any petty drudgery. If the observer pass from the streets 
 into the police-office, he will see members of this class brought 
 before the presiding magistrate at the age of twelve or thirteen,, 
 and many of even a more tender age, probably for the second 
 or third offence. On inquiry, it will be found that the boy 
 has already learnt to smoke, drink, and practise nameless 
 debaucheries. It may be that he is the child of honest, but 
 ignorant and negligent parents ; and from being allowed to 
 wander abroad, has been seduced by older associates. It may 
 be that he is an orphan or deserted child, destitute, friendless, 
 and homeless, and has to pick up a precarious subsistence by 
 the chances of the street. It as often happens that he is the 
 offspring of profligate parents, and sent out to bring " some- 
 thing back," the "something" being converted into money, 
 and the money spent upon intoxicating liquor. It would be a 
 severe and toilsome investigation, to show in what proportion 
 these different causes furnish the outcasts and petty depredators 
 of our streets. No doubt many of these wretched beings, to 
 the disgrace of a Christian age, are without home, and aban- 
 doned by one parent, or both, seeking their nightly shelter in 
 the low lodging-houses when the proceeds of the day will 
 allow such a luxury, or sleeping under bridges and gateways 
 when they will not. Is it not a cruelty and injustice to bring 
 these wretched beings before the felons' bar ? It is a solemn 
 mockery to go through the forms of law ; and yet nearly 
 twenty thousand children, under seventeen years of age, pass 
 through our gaols every year, besides the cases summarily 
 disposed of. 
 
 At the sessions in Middlesex, the third quarter in 1847, 
 Mr. Serjeant Adams drew the attention of the grand jury to 
 the fact that there were no less than twenty-four of the offenders 
 on his list whose ages did not exceed twelve years. He 
 further stated that in one year there had been 1,600 cases where 
 summary convictions had taken place of children between the- 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. ] J 
 
 ages of seven and fifteen. The Morning Chronicle, in an 
 article on the subject, gives the case of a child only seven years 
 of age, and two feet ten inches in height, who was found 
 guilty of picking pockets, and adds the observations of the 
 presiding judge : "What can be done with this little child? 
 It would be ruin to send him to prison. These scenes are 
 positively heartrending. Am I to pass over the cases of these 
 children as though the fact of their being brought here was 
 a mere matter of course ? Am I to change my nature, and 
 steel my feelings against the claims and helpless condition of 
 so small a creature as that brought before the Court ? What 
 can be done with this little child?" Several judges and 
 magistrates, under similar circumstances, have given strong 
 expression to their feelings. The question proposed from the 
 judgment- seat is a solemn one, and must be answered by the 
 community at large. _How many children are now rising up 
 in a like condition of ignorance an'cT "neglect." 1 ' ..... Tne subject 
 of. postponement, or delay. We must " look 
 
 to it, for evil is before us." The Almighty, who has com- 
 manded us "to do judgment and love mercy," will not sleep 
 upon the wrongs of these little ones. Eetribution is exacted 
 in a variety of ways. We have only to look at the strange 
 anomalies of our social system to trace the effects of that 
 laissez-faire, which has been the principle of our morality, 
 legislation, and philosophy, for many years past. 
 
 The abolition of summary convictions, for a time, had also 
 contributed towards exhibiting the subject of juvenile delin- 
 quency to the public eye. The Press, in reporting the trials 
 at various sessions, has brought out more prominently the cases 
 of youthful crime and depravity. The writer, in the article 
 referred to, gives what he calls " a brief epitome of the entire 
 physiology of crime. He presents an account of the way in 
 which boys are allured to commit petty frauds and thefts by 
 elder accomplices, the proceeds of which are spent in ginger- 
 bread and often in gin and other flash luxuries, for which 
 the precocious delinquent has acquired a taste. After giving 
 an estimate which is certainly not overrated, that if 1600 are 
 detected there will be ten times that number continuing an 
 
[2 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 undetected course of crime ; he concludes by saying that the 
 " State is lavishing on gaols and gaolers, and police, on cul- 
 prits and convicts, and on law expenses, many times the 
 amount that would secure to every child in the land the 
 blessing of a good education." 
 
 It is now a mere truism to assert, that society has spent, in 
 abortive attempts to cure, a far larger sum than could possibly 
 be required to maintain a machinery of prevention. Millions of 
 money go annually to sustain gaols and bridewells ; hundreds 
 are grudgingly given to sustain the few preventive measures in 
 operation. In the Third Annual Report of the Ragged-school 
 Union, there is a calculation made, that the County Rates and 
 costs of prosecutions in England and Wales, the expense of 
 the Metropolitan Police, the prison at Pentonville, and Convict 
 Establishments, amount to nearly 2,000,000 sterling, every 
 convict costing from 100 to 150.* The expense of our con- 
 victs may be easily estimated in round numbers, as 2894 
 were sentenced to transportation in the year 1846, of whom 
 299 were children under seventeen years of age. The cost of 
 each prisoner annually is about 30 ; and as nearly 78,000 
 pass through the prisons yearly, it will be seen at a glance 
 what a heavy tax is laid upon the industrious and the well- 
 disposed, to sustain the profligate, the idle, and the criminal ; 
 the great amount of that profligacy, idleness, and criminality, 
 arising from causes admitting of removal. Another authority, 
 in the Morning Advertiser of Saturday, December 23, 1848, 
 states that every child rescued from evil courses, and converted 
 
 * The County Rates and costs of prosecutions in England and Wales, the 
 Metropolitan Police, Pentonville Prison, and Convict establishments, amount 
 per year to two millions sterling. 
 
 Cost of each convict, including previous imprisonment, board, 
 
 &c. , being not only lost to society, but a curse to it . . 100 to 150. 
 Five years' maintenance of a boy in an industrial school, 
 whence he will, in all probability, come out a blessing to 
 
 himself and his country 50 
 
 The Poor-rate in England is now about seven millions. That sum would 
 support 10,000 industrial-schools to feed and instruct one million of children 
 on the industrial plan. Would this seven millions for Poor-rates not be i n a 
 few years mightily reduced by a timely expenditure of a million or two in such 
 institutions ? " A stitch in time saves nine /" Report Ragged School Union, 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. j ; > 
 
 into a sober and industrious citizen, s a clear saving to the 
 country of from 300 to 500. Society is called upon to 
 exert itself, not only from those high moral and religious 
 considerations, which are potent with all good men, but by the 
 appeal made to the lower, pecuniary interest. So intimately 
 are we connected with our fellow- creatures, that we cannot in 
 any way avoid the consequences of their transgressions. 
 Eeflection will show us that in seeking the good of others we 
 promote our own. 
 
 The necessity of exertion is unquestioned ; the difficulty will 
 be found in the discovery of a remedy. This would be a 
 matter comparatively easy, if we had detected the real causes 
 of the evils we seek to cure. The popular view is, that ignorance 
 being the parent of crime, education is the great agency 
 required. A large proportion of our criminal children are 
 neglected by their parents ; and we want, say some, power 
 to create a greater responsibility betwixt parent and child. 
 This will assist us only a short way in the inquiry. Ignorance A 
 and neglect in parents have antecedents, and we must endeavour | 
 to ascertain their nature and influence. It is of little use to 
 bring our full strength to bear upon the proximate causes of 
 crime ; we must seek the more hidden and less obtrusive ones. 
 The writer already quoted has named the love of gin as one of 
 the enticements to youth of the class under review ; but we 
 must go further has the love of strong liquors in the parent 
 deprived the child of education, and of the advantages of 
 home ? Has that passion deadened the father's sense of duty, 
 or perverted the mother's affection ? Has the poor child 
 contracted the appetite for alcoholic drinks, by sipping his 
 father's glass, or drank it in with his mother's milk ? Has he 
 experienced cold, hunger, nakedness, and brutal ill-treatment, 
 through a parent's intemperance? The causes of juvenile 
 immorality must be sought not only in the want of education, 
 but in the drinking habits of the community. All reforms 
 will be partial in their operation, unless this powerful element 
 of evil is fully considered. Immensely important as education 
 is, it can do little for children so long as the parents are slaves 
 to the most selfish of all vices. 
 
}4 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 It is a matter of familiar knowledge, that vast numbers of 
 our youth are deprived of education through this cause, the 
 parents spending more upon drink than would find comfort- 
 able and decent clothing, and pay for schooling. Others who 
 have had the advantages of school education, and of kind 
 home culture, have been tempted into evil courses by the 
 various usages connected with drinking. Others again, are 
 sent to early toil, their earnings rendered necessary to gratify 
 the parents' love of drink ; and others are sent out to steal 
 or beg, that the proceeds may administer to this insatiable 
 appetite. In what way will schools and teachers meet the 
 evil ? They can do little to supply a corrective. It must not 
 be supposed that there is any lurking wish to undervalue 
 education. Upon it, when taken in its enlarged and compre- 
 hensive sense, depends the true elevation of the people, and 
 the spread of Christianity pure and undefiled. But, how are 
 its blessings to be shed abroad over this apparently inert 
 mass? We have not only to provide schools, but to create 
 scholars. We have to offer instruction, and awaken a dis- 
 position to receive it. There are obstacles in the way, and 
 they require removal, in order that the efforts of the educator 
 may have fair play. No body of social facts admits of clearer 
 proof, than that ignorance, vice, crime, and intemperance, 
 stand in intimate relationship ; ^nd it is equally capable of 
 proof, that a large proportion of the juvenile depravity which 
 startles the good and the wise, arises directly or indirectly from 
 the drinking system. The man who doubts this, would do 
 well to traverse the haunts of the destitute, and he will find 
 rags and misery existing in due proportion to the number of 
 places for the sale of drink. In these abodes, where lewdness, 
 riot and drunkenness prevail, hosts of children are shut out from 
 the light of day and the fresh air of heaven, and are equally 
 excluded from moral and spiritual light. Here we find child- 
 hood without its joys, and youth without its hopes. Every kind 
 and generous feeling is left to perish without nurture, or is 
 warped into the most revolting deformity. Shadows hang over 
 the cradle, guilt and want track the early footsteps. Among 
 earth's saddest scenes, there is none more painful than to 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. j^ 
 
 look upon the face of infancy, and find, instead of innocence 
 and mirth, the traces of bitter grief and passion. The mind 
 would experience a similar revulsion, if looking out upon a 
 favourite scene in expectation of buds and blossoms, the 
 music and fragrance of the glad spring time, it should meet 
 instead of sunshine and beauty, and the fulness of hope 
 and promise, nothing but silence, gloom, and desolation. 
 Dickens pointing to one of these neglected children, has thus 
 spoken : 
 
 " There is not one of these not one but sows a harvest 
 that mankind MUST reap. From every seed of evil in this boy, 
 a field of ruin is grown that shall be gathered in, and garnered 
 up, and sown again in many places in the world, until regions 
 are overspread with wickedness enough to raise the waters of 
 another Deluge. Open and unpunished murder in a city's 
 streets would be less guilty in its daily toleration, than one 
 such spectacle as this. 
 
 " There is not a father, by whose side in his daily or his 
 nightly walk, these creatures pass; there is not a mother 
 among all the ranks of loving mothers in this land ; there is 
 no one risen from the state of childhood, but shall be respon- 
 sible in his or her degree for this enormity. There is not a 
 country throughout the earth on which it would not bring a 
 curse. There is no religion upon earth that it would not 
 deny; there is no people upon earth it would not put to 
 shame." 
 
 This burst of eloquent indignation only expresses what 
 must be felt by every one on first contemplating the darkened 
 homes of teeming poverty. These children are immortal 
 beings, and yet they are allowed to grow up in ignorance and 
 sin, and that, too, in a land of churches and Bibles, and 
 professing Christians, as if for them there was no gracious 
 invitation no Gospel, and no Saviour ! 
 
 It was such as these that Jesus welcomed to his presence ; 
 " suffer little children to come unto me," and yet, a few years 
 will harden them into criminals, or degrade them into paupers. 
 With their first accents they lisp profanity their first acts are 
 those of cruelty or mischief. But we have a sterner task 
 
] 6 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES. 
 
 than that of moralizing on this theme : it must be dis- 
 sected, until the more secret causes of this hideous evil 
 are laid bare. We shall then be in a position to inquire, 
 what is the school to do for these children ? There is an 
 education besides that of the school, the education of the 
 home. A few hours a week, under the best instructor, can do 
 little to counteract the example of drunken or otherwise profli- 
 gate parents. It is almost a hopeless task to teach principles 
 to youth where there is no opportunity of putting them in 
 practice. Lessons inculcating a respect for truth, and the 
 importance of industry, frugality, and sobriety, can have little 
 effect when opposed by parental example. A few hours' active 
 visitation of the abodes of the poor, if undertaken in a spirit 
 of fair and scrupulous inquiry, would do much to correct pre- 
 vailing theories on this subject. Many of the higher and 
 middle- classes, from whom our Magistrates and Legislators are 
 taken, know little or nothing of the habits and manners of the 
 lower ranks. Writers and lecturers on social questions, and 
 prop ounders of schemes of amelioration, have .greatly over- 
 looked the influence of the drinking habits. Although judges, 
 magistrates, governors and chaplains of prisons, have all 
 spoken emphatically as to the connection between intemperance 
 and crime, the nature of the connection is very imperfectly 
 understood. In the discussions which have recently taken 
 place on the subject of Education, it has been almost entirely 
 overlooked. We propose therefore to inquire, what influence 
 the drinking habits of the people may be fairly said to exert 
 in preventing the spread of Education, or in laying waste its 
 fruits ? The question is fully before us ; and to an attempt 
 to answer it, the following pages will be devoted. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE DANGEROUS CLASSES. NUMBERS OF THE CRIMINAL, PAUPER, AND 
 VAGRANT CLASSES. 
 
 IT is desirable at the outset of the inquiry to ascertain as 
 accurately as possible the numbers of the vicious and profli- 
 gate classes. Perhaps the utmost that can be expected, 
 taking care to avoid hypothetical estimates,, will be an approxi- 
 mation to the truth. It is well, at all events, to underrate 
 rather than otherwise the amount : a good argument is some- 
 times damaged, and discredit thrown upon a valuable speech 
 or essay, by the use of erroneous statistics. On the subject 
 of juvenile depravity many extravagant statements have been 
 made, as well as upon the extent of crime in general. Of 
 late years it has been usual to adopt and apply to the cir- 
 cumstances of the present times a summary gathered from 
 a work of Mr. Colquhoun's, on the Police of the Metropolis, 
 published nearly fifty years ago. Considerable currency has 
 been given to the statements, by Dr. Hams, quoting them in 
 the " Great Teacher : " and much has been done thereby to 
 mislead the public as to the actual moral state of the metro- 
 polis. For example, the number of prostitutes in London is 
 given at 50,000, and this applies to 1801, the year in which 
 the book was written. Now, the whole male population of 
 London, Westminster, and the parishes within the bills of 
 mortality, was at that time only 400,000. Making, then, fair 
 deductions for the young, the very old, and the married, the 
 remainder capable of contributing to the vice of prostitution 
 could not be more than 200,000 ;* so that the estimate gives 
 one prostitute for every three or four males, and makes out 
 every third or fourth female a professed prostitute. In 1839, 
 
 * See Report of Constabulary Force Commissioners 
 C 
 
IQ AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 an official inquiry * showed that the number of known prosti- 
 tutes in London, when the population had increased to one mil- 
 lion and a half of persons, was not more than 7,000, and yet 
 in that year -a voluntary association published them as nearly 
 80,000. That number has been quoted very frequently since. 
 There are, doubtless, great numbers living a vicious life, partly 
 supported by prostitution, which cannot be estimated. State- 
 ments like this injure the cause they are intended to serve : 
 men are frightened from effort rather than invited to it, by the 
 apparently overwhelming magnitude of the evil. Of the same 
 character is the fact, so frequently used in Temperance litera- 
 ture, that 60,000 drunkards die annually in this kingdom. It 
 is a mere conjecture, and utterly at variance with probability. f 
 Making deductions for children under fifteen, and aged persons 
 above eighty, as well as for the smaller proportion of female 
 than male inebriates, it gives us every fourth or fifth person 
 dying a drunkard. Similar statements have been published, 
 making out a most appalling increase in the number of juvenile 
 delinquents. These errors arise very often from persons unac- 
 customed to the use of statistics, making calculations founded 
 on some isolated case, or exceptional fact. Many reports have 
 seemed to favour this view of the case. During one month, 
 
 * In the Appendix will be found Tables 1, 2, and 3, giving the number of 
 offenders in Liverpool, Bristol, Bath, Hull, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. They 
 are quoted from the Report of the Constabulary Force Commissioners. 
 
 f The number of those whose deaths are caused, directly and indirectly, by 
 the use of alcoholic drinks must be immense. Vast numbers die of intemperance 
 that are not so accounted in the Bills of Mortality ; but we have no means of 
 ascertaining the actual amount, The above statement is obviously a great 
 exaggeration. A rough estimate of possible deaths by intemperance would be 
 as follows: 
 
 1. Excess of deaths in England and Wales above healthy standard 
 
 of two per cent. 30,000 
 
 2. Say that two-thirds of these occur in adults .... 20,000 
 
 3. Say that half these occur in males 10,000 
 
 4. Say that for females, making one-quarter of the number of 
 
 males 2,500 
 
 5. Say that half these are due to diseases unconnected with habits 
 
 of intemperance, and half for intemperance . . . 6,250 
 
 Six thousand deaths from drunkenness per annum in England and Wales, 
 and about 10,000 in the United Kingdom, would be a very high estimate, for 
 which there is no warrant whatever. 60,000 is simply absurd. 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 for instance, in the year 1847, thirty-eight per cent, of the 
 males committed to prison at Glasgow were boys under seven- 
 teen years of age ; and a very startling calculation was founded 
 upon it. A month, however, is much too limited a time, and 
 one prison too narrow a field of observation on which to base 
 general conclusions. An examination of the subject will show 
 that there has been scarcely any augmentation of the number of 
 young criminals. In a Report, published a few years ago by 
 the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, the 
 following remark is made : " Much, however, of the apparent 
 increase in the number of prisoners, arises from other causes 
 than those connected with the advance of crime. Offences 
 which were formerly passed over, are now made the occasion 
 of frequent commitment to gaol." This serves, in part, to 
 explain the apparent increase in the number of youthful 
 offenders. The error which has hitherto prevailed of passing 
 laws with a view to suppress crime, the legislandi cacoethes, 
 if it has not multiplied crimes, has made them more conspi- 
 cuous, without having done anything towards their sup- ' 
 pression ; and has had a tendency to fill the prisons, giving 
 an apparent heavy increase, without any positive addition to 
 the number of offences. Without understanding anything of 
 the causes of crime, the Legislators of this country have passed 
 stringent laws, and created new penalties as if men could be 
 awed into virtuous conduct by the mere terrors of punishment. 
 The only beneficial result has been, that the increase of com- 
 mitments by swelling the criminal returns has startled the 
 public mind, and induced inquiry. It has led to some reforms 
 in administration, and has suggested the necessity of means 
 of prevention to supersede, in a great measure, the cumbrous, 
 expensive, and unwieldy machinery of our jurisprudence. In 
 estimating the amount of crime, due allowance must be made 
 for the circumstances now explained. The number of prisoners 
 may be greatly increased by a stringent system of law, and a 
 vigilant police, without any actual addition having been made 
 to the numbers of the criminal class. 
 
 On this subject, the increase of crime, there seems a general 
 misapprehension. In the year 1842, the commitments attained 
 
 c 2 
 
f)0 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 a maximum, having reached to 31,309. In the three suc- 
 ceeding years there was a decline, the numbers being in 1843, 
 29,591 ; in 1844, 26,542 ; and in 1845, 24,303 : the numbers 
 being less in tin's year than in any year since 1838. In 1846, 
 the numbers increased to 25,107; and in 1847, to 28,833 an 
 increase of 14' 84 per cent, in the year. In the above six 
 years, when the commitments of 1842 are compared with those 
 of 1845, the decrease appears to be 22'4 per cent.; and the 
 increase which has succeeded, comparing the latter year with 
 1847, is 18'8 per cent. The Tables in the Appendix will fur- 
 nish further particulars. Although there appears this increase 
 in the number of commitments, a much more favourable view 
 of the case is given when the nature of the offences is taken 
 into account. Although there is an increase in the amount, 
 there is a sensible diminution in the intensity of crime. 
 
 The figures here quoted give the total commitments. The 
 amount of juvenile offences, distinguishing those committed on 
 trial from those under summary convictions, will be gathered 
 by consulting the Tables (4, 5) in the Appendix. Before passing 
 on, attention may be directed to a fact, shown very forcibly by 
 the Government returns the recurrence of the same offences 
 in the same relative proportions. A comparison is made in 
 Table 6, of two quinquennial periods. The singular uniformity 
 here exhibited, shows that the tendencies to crime are governed 
 by some law, which if ascertained and understood would do 
 much to simplify the treatment of criminals, and suggest means 
 of prevention. It has long been known that certain offences 
 are incidental to certain conditions of society. Every new fact 
 of this kind is therefore important, as tending to elucidate the 
 more obscure causes of crime. 
 
 We have, however, now to do with youthful delinquency. 
 The following are the numbers of persons committed, at the 
 different periods of age, in the last year,* with the comparative 
 
 * Government Tables of Criminal Offenders for 1847. Table 7, in the 
 Appendix, will give the total number of prisoners, including summary convic- 
 tions, committed to the prisons in England and Wales for each year, during 
 a period of eight years. These Tables have been taken from Government 
 documents. 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 numbers in each of the five preceding years, beyond which the 
 calculations in this form does not extend : 
 
 NUMBERS COMMITTED. 
 
 1842 
 
 1843 
 
 1844 
 
 1845 
 
 1846 
 
 1847 
 
 Age under 15 years 
 
 1,672 
 
 1,670 
 
 1,596 
 
 1,549 
 
 1,640 
 
 1,767 
 
 15 and under 20 
 
 6,884 
 
 6,725 
 
 6,190 
 
 5,850 
 
 6,136 
 
 6,967 
 
 20 25 
 
 7,731 
 
 7,200 
 
 6,399 
 
 5,881 
 
 5,856 
 
 6,625 
 
 25 30 
 
 4,781 
 
 4,419 
 
 3,924 
 
 3,471 
 
 3,655 
 
 4,209 
 
 30 40 
 
 5,274 
 
 4,839 
 
 4,079 
 
 3,805 
 
 3,972 
 
 4,823 
 
 40 50 
 
 2,592 
 
 2,399 
 
 2,202 
 
 1,987 
 
 2,120 
 
 2,464 
 
 50 60 
 
 1,183 
 
 1,044 
 
 1,049 
 
 874 
 
 859 
 
 1,033 
 
 60 years and above 
 
 573 
 
 547 
 
 524 
 
 418 
 
 456 
 
 528 
 
 Ages not ascertained 
 
 619 
 
 748 
 
 579 
 
 468 
 
 413 
 
 417 
 
 The centesimal proportion exhibits last year a continuation 
 of the same uniformity of result as in the previous years. The 
 Commitments under the age of fifteen have slightly decreased, 
 but not in any proportion to the numbers committed under 
 the Juvenile Offenders' Act." 
 
 Centesimal proportion in the 
 years. 
 
 1842 
 
 1843 
 
 1844 
 
 1845 
 
 1846 
 
 1847 
 
 Age under 15 years 
 
 5-3 
 
 57 
 
 6'0 
 
 6'4 
 
 6-5 
 
 6-1 
 
 1 5 and under 20 years 
 
 22-0 
 
 22-7 
 
 23-3 
 
 24-1 
 
 24-5 
 
 24-2 
 
 20 , 25 
 
 24-7 
 
 24-3 
 
 24-1 
 
 24-2 
 
 23-3 
 
 23-0 
 
 25 , 30 
 
 15-3 
 
 14-9 
 
 14'9 
 
 14-3 
 
 14-6 
 
 14-7 
 
 30 , 40 
 
 16-8 
 
 16-4 
 
 15-3 
 
 15-6 
 
 15-8 
 
 167 
 
 40 , 50 
 
 8-3 
 
 8-1 
 
 8-3 
 
 8'2 
 
 8'4 
 
 8'5 
 
 50 , 60 
 
 3.8 
 
 3-5 
 
 3-9 
 
 3'6 
 
 3-4 
 
 3'6 
 
 60 years and above 
 
 1-8 
 
 1-9 
 
 2-0 
 
 l7 
 
 1-8 
 
 1-8 
 
 Ages not ascertained 
 
 2-0 
 
 2'5 
 
 2-2 
 
 1-9 
 
 17 
 
 1-4 
 
 It should be remarked, that over the whole of the country 
 the tendency to crime is nearly five times greater in the male 
 than in the female sex. The proportions vary considerably. 
 In the Northern Mining District it is 33'6 per cent.; in the 
 Midland Agricultural Counties, 14*5 per cent. 
 
 Another element must be taken into account. In July, 
 1847, an Act was passed, enabling two Justices to convict 
 summarily, offenders under the age of fourteen years. Such 
 convictions will affect the comparison of the number of com- 
 
22 
 
 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 mitments, although the short time the Act has "been in opera- 
 tion renders it difficult to say to what extent. The numbers 
 had increased from month to month up to the close of the 
 year, as will be seen from the following Table : 
 
 *August. 
 
 September. 
 
 October. 
 
 November, 
 
 December. 
 
 Total. 
 
 M. 
 
 46 
 
 F. 
 2 
 
 Total 
 48 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 5 
 
 Total 
 81 
 
 M. 
 96 
 
 F. 
 14 
 
 Total 
 110 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 Total 
 130 
 
 It 
 
 132 
 
 F. 
 
 Total 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 45 
 
 Total 
 514 
 
 70 
 
 119 
 
 11 
 
 13 
 
 145 
 
 469 
 
 It is probable, that the Act had not come fully into opera- 
 tion at the close of the year; but it gives us a total of 469 
 males and forty-five females convicted under it in seven 
 months, all under fourteen years of age. 
 
 Mr. F. G. P. Neison, in " The Statistics of Crime," pub- 
 lished in 1847, states, "that any increase or decrease in the 
 amount of crime in certain districts over and above the average 
 of the country is not explained so much by fluctuations in 
 the tendency to crime at ages 10 15, and 15 20, as by the 
 increase or decrease of crime at more advanced ages; lead- 
 ing to the conclusion, that in the juvenile periods of life the 
 tendency to crime is within the influence of more constant 
 laws or elements." He shows, " that from 20 to 60 years of 
 age, there has been a gradual increase of crime since the 
 year 1834, of from 20 to 21 per cent., varying with the age; 
 but during the same years, there has been at the younger ages, 
 15 20, an uniform decrease of 14*588 per cent. : thus proving 
 by the facts of the case, that over a period of eleven years, 
 ending December, 1844, there has been a decrease of crime 
 among the population at the younger ages." 
 
 These statements are accompanied by elaborate Tables, 
 proving, in the words of Mr. Neison, that " while three-fourths 
 of all the crime of the country is confined to offences against 
 property, without violence, that among the population of sixteen 
 
 Government Tables of Criminal Offenders, for 1847. 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. gg 
 
 years and younger, more than nine-tenths of all the crime are 
 due to this class of offences." And he remarks, " that the 
 nature of these offences places them within the reach of such 
 remedial measures as would certainly to a great extent 
 remove them from the criminal calendar, and thus go far toward 
 the prevention of three-fourths of the crime of the country." 
 Mr. Clay, of Preston, speaks of the decrease of crime in that 
 neighbourhood, notwithstanding the severe distress of 1846-7, 
 and 1848. He says, in reference to the gaol of which he is 
 chaplain : " It is another highly gratifying circumstance, that 
 more than one-half of the whole decrease (twenty) in committals 
 to the Sessions of male offenders, must he placed to the credit 
 of the juvenile population. Thrown out of employ to a still 
 greater extent than in the previous year, hoys of fifteen and 
 under have been reduced from thirty-three to twenty-two. 
 
 A glance at the Tables given in the Appendix will show that 
 the number of persons confined in the prisons in England 
 and Wales is upwards of 100,000 yearly, making, according 
 to Table 7, one in every 154 of the entire population. A 
 further consultation of criminal statistics will give the fact 
 that the prisons are charged from five to seven times a year, 
 varying at particular periods with from 12,000 to 20,000 
 offenders from the able-bodied of the population. By the 
 Table, No. 8, it appears that the number of juvenile offenders, 
 i. ., persons under seventeen years of age, confined in the 
 prisons of England and Wales in 1846 was 15,726, of which 
 13,444 were males, and 2,282 females. 
 
 It will be observed that these Tables only give the amount 
 of commitments and summary convictions. There is no means 
 of forming more than an approximate estimate of the num- 
 bers who are pursuing an undetected course of crime, many 
 of whom are dismissed from the Police-court from insufficiency 
 of evidence or indisposition on the part of the injured persons 
 to prosecute. From the Criminal Returns of the Metropolitan 
 Police for 1847, we gather the following important particulars : 
 
 During the year there were taken into custody by the Metro- 
 politan Police, 41,479 male and 20,702 female offenders or 
 disorderly characters. Out of this number, there were 9,004 
 
4, AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 cases of drunkenness 5,307 males and 3,697 females; 1,742 
 prostitutes; disorderly characters, 3,919; and another item of 
 drunk and disorderly characters of 4,1 Cl males and 3,709 
 females. The number of juveniles were as follows. See 
 Tahle 9, Appendix. 
 
 306 males and 56 females, under 10 years of age. 
 3,226 456 10 years and under 15. 
 8,405 3,249 15 years and under 20. 
 
 Of which there were summarily disposed of or held to bail, 
 
 47 males and 10 females, under 10 years of age. 
 1,494 132 10 years and under 15. 
 3,997 1,376 15 years and under 20. 
 
 There were tried and convicted : 
 
 7 males, under 10 years of age. 
 305 males, 35 females, 10 years and under 15. 
 1,164 males, 214 females, 15 years and under 20. 
 
 In calculating the gross amount of delinquents it is im- 
 portant to keep in view the shortness of their career, and to 
 make due allowance for the number of re-commitments. In 
 the Keport of the Constabulary Force Commissioners, already 
 referred to, it is estimated that the average career of habitual 
 depredators is about five or six years ; that is, from the com- 
 mencement of a predatory life to the termination by trans- 
 portation or otherwise. Mr. Chesterton, of Coldbath-fields 
 Prison, made inquiries with a view of ascertaining the probable 
 amount of loss sustained by the community through the pro- 
 fessional thieves of the metropolis. He calculated from the 
 statements made to him, that one clay with another the pick- 
 pockets would steal five or six pocket handkerchiefs, or things 
 equal in value ; that they must do that in order to maintain them 
 in their usual habits of enjoyment. It may be observed here, 
 that most of the stealing from the pocket in England takes 
 place on the night when wages are paid, and the men drunk. 
 The amount of plunder to sustain this class of depredators, 
 but which does not admit of closer calculation, is a startling 
 and important item in the cost of crime. Some idea of its 
 magnitude may be formed by a statement in the Keport of Mr, 
 

 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 John Holmes, of the Town- Council of Liverpool, on March 
 2nd, 1836, to the Watch Committee, on the state of crime in 
 the Borough. He says, " There are sixty to seventy taps, 
 and several hundreds of beer-shops, supported entirely by the 
 worst of characters. There are 300 bad houses, and 1,200 
 women living in them ; 2,400 of the same class live in private 
 apartments, a very large proportion of whom have thieves as 
 their constant companions. There are an additional number 
 of 1,000 known male thieves, and 500 more who work at 
 intervals, and steal when they can. To this must be added 
 600 frequenting the docks, and upwards of 1,200 thieves under 
 fifteen years of age, the tools of adults. This mass of vice 
 is maintained at an expense to society the amount of which 
 staggers belief by the accounts placed in the hands of your 
 Committee it is estimated at upwards of ^700,000." We may 
 state here, that in addition to the particulars already furnished 
 on the Metropolis, that there are 7,000 houses for the sale 
 of drink; and it appears by the Police Returns, that in 1847 
 in no less than 933 cases the landlords of public-houses and 
 beer-shops were summoned for various offences against the 
 law, and in 756 cases conviction followed. 
 
 There is an immense mass of profligacy not accounted for 
 in any criminal returns, but which it is necessary to take into 
 account. There is a migrant class, known as tramps or 
 vagrants, professional mendicants in fact, who have been 
 encouraged of late by the provision made for them in work- 
 houses and different kinds of voluntary charity. Besides 
 these, or rather belonging to them, are the fabricators of 
 distressing accidents, and begging-letter impostors. There 
 is every reason to believe that this class individually spend 
 upon mere sensual gratifications, a sum much larger than the 
 average earnings of the honest and industrious artisan and 
 labourer. Then, again, there is a class of prostitutes who live 
 mainly by theft, and who lavish the fruits of their peculations 
 upon favourites. These " fancy-men " assist the girls in their 
 robberies, and sometimes subject the poor women to the most 
 brutal ill-treatment. The low public-houses are the resorts of 
 these wretched beings. It is important to the purpose of this 
 
2Q AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 inquiry, that the conclusion drawn by the members of the 
 Constabulary Force Commission should be given. In bring- 
 ing in their Report, they remark : " Having investigated the 
 general causes of depredation, of vagrancy, and of mendicancy, 
 as developed by examinations of the previous lives of criminals 
 and of vagrants in the gaols, we find that in scarcely any cases 
 is it ascribable to the pressure of unavoidable want or destitu- 
 tion ; and that in the great majority of cases it arises from the 
 temptation of obtaining property with a less degree of labour 
 than by regular industry." 
 
 In addition to the pauper class, which in the year 1847 
 amounted to 1,721,350 persons receiving out-door and in-door 
 relief, being a ratio of lO'l per cent, to the population, there 
 are the tramps or vagrants. The number of vagrants relieved 
 on the 25th March, 1848, in or out of the workhouse, in 626 
 Unions, was 16,086. The total number admitted into the 
 workhouses in the metropolitan parishes was 104,459 ; being 
 an excess of 18,096 over and above the corresponding quarter 
 of 1846. The number of applicants to the London Mendi- 
 city Society in one month, from the 1st to the 31st of January, 
 1848, was 22,296. This immense increase of vagrancy is 
 mainly attributable to the influx of Irish mendicants, who 
 crowded into this country to avoid the horrors of starvation 
 in their own. Out of the number quoted above, there were 
 21,578 of Irish. In one day, the 6th of March, 1848, there 
 were 741 applicants, 681 out of the number belonging to 
 the sister country. In the Reports and communications on 
 vagrancy presented to the Poor-Law Board in 1848, there 
 is a Table given of the number of vagrants and tramps 
 relieved in the workhouses on each night of the week from 
 Sunday, 14th December, to Saturday, 20th December, 1845 
 (Tables 10). It will be seen that the number of children under 
 the age of 16 was 1,375, 813 males and 562 females; and 
 that in the corresponding week of 1846, the numbers were 
 1549 males and 1074 females, of 16 years and under. 
 
 The statistics now given will supply the reader with 
 material to estimate the numbers of the dangerous class 
 comprising thieves, paupers, vagrants, prostitutes, impostors, 
 
I OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 37 
 
 and mendicants. These are all preying upon society. There 
 is no means of ascertaining the entire cost of such a host of 
 vagabonds. There are the heavy amount of Poors-rates, the cost 
 of Prisons and Police, the amount levied upon the charitable 
 in the shape of alms, contributions to soup-kitchens and the 
 like, as well as the loss sustained annually by depredations of 
 various kinds. This, in the aggregate, exceeds the interest of 
 the National Debt, and may well startle the discerning. The 
 industrious portion of the community are weighed down by 
 heavy and all but insupportable taxation, while sums suffi- 
 cient to reanimate the drooping commerce of the country are 
 lavished upon the profligate, the vicious, and the idle. In the 
 documents sent up to the Poor-Law Board from different 
 parishes, there are several strong expressions on the hardship 
 of fostering by injudicious kindness the growth of vagrancy. 
 The Clerk of the Thirsk Union, says : " There can be no 
 doubt, that when in full work the characters relieved in the 
 workhouse have spent their money in dissipation." A Peti- 
 tion from Marlborough in Wiltshire to the House of Com- 
 mons, states : " That the number of trampers relieved during 
 the last year exceeds 3,500 being more than double the total 
 number of inhabitants in the parish :" they add " That your 
 Petitioners believe the persons so travelling about are for the 
 most part idle and disorderly characters, who are unwilling to 
 work; but get their maintenance by roaming about the country 
 from one workhouse to another in a most systematic manner 
 and course, and begging in the intermediate places." Further 
 testimonies are given in a note.* 
 
 These facts and figures will enable the inquirer to appreciate 
 
 * The Clerk of the Warwick Union, says : " The conduct of the vagrants, 
 in many instances, has been most violent and refractory ; several of the worst 
 cases have, been taken before the Magistrates, and committed to gaol ; and 
 many others would have been dealt with in a similar way but for the expense, 
 which falls heavily upon the small parish of St. Nicholas Warwick, in which 
 the Union -house is situated. At times the most horrid threats are held out to 
 the master and other officers of the Union ; and on one occasion the master 
 was lame for six weeks, from a violent kick which he received from a most 
 powerful man, who swore he would be the death of him." 
 
 The Master of the Cosford Union Workhouse, says : " From all that I can 
 
28 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 the various elements of the dangerous class. In all cities the 
 causes of crime are similar. In Paris, we find the criminals 
 spring from the same ranks, and produced by the same means. 
 They are composed of a race of men and women, addicted to 
 sensual gratifications, losing in the pleasure of to-day all con- 
 sideration of the wants of to-morrow, and impatient of the 
 restraints of honest and steady labour. In that capital the 
 people are more prone to excitement, the consequence of 
 which is that the national gaiety soon degenerates among 
 the lower classes into gross licentiousness, they follow illicit 
 pleasures with the ardour that others manifest in more laudable 
 pursuits. Thousands of youth, of both sexes, are thrown 
 homeless upon the world ; and if they survive the first hard- 
 ships of such a lot, they" become enterprising, bold, and reck- 
 less in the lawless employments to which they have recourse. 
 Others are tempted to throw off the bonds of discipline or 
 authority, for a life of adventure ; the enticements and the 
 results are the same. Before the child is thrown oif, the 
 coarser and fiercer part of manhood is put on ; the gaming- 
 
 glean from the history of vagrants admitted here, it appears to be their usual 
 practice, with few exceptions, to live through the day by begging, and availing 
 themselves of the accommodation provided for them in a workhouse at night. 
 I feel confirmed in this opinion, from the fact, that few remain here to break- 
 fast in the morning, preferring leaving the house at an early hour, to doing any 
 work to entitle them to a breakfast. 
 
 " Some of these go about with tapes, matches, and other small articles for 
 sale, the better, no doubt, to cover their real character ; but begging is sure to 
 follow a refusal to purchase their goods. 
 
 " Above four years ago, I admitted into the house a bold beggar, almost in 
 a state of nudity. On the following morning, I endeavoured to elicit from him 
 his mode of life. Among other things, he observed, that he found it to his 
 advantage to travel in that state, with a view to excite the compassion of the 
 public. He further added, that the greatest sum he ever realized in one day by 
 begging, was ten shillings ; but when begging through a large town, he thought 
 it a poor day's work if he did not beg five shillings." 
 
 " My experience leads me to believe vagrancy to be the first step towards 
 the committal of felony. I have known numerous cases where the career in 
 crime commenced in vagrancy ; and I am further of an opinion, that the sup- 
 pression of vagrancy would go far in suppressing a great amount of imposition 
 and depredation ; and, I might further add, it would act as a check on juvenile 
 delinquency." 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. gg 
 
 table, the theatre, the masquerade, the tavern, are the usual 
 resorts of the Gamin de Paris. To procure the means of 
 indulgence, and to sustain a life of wild independence, he 
 acquires a knowledge of every Mnd of roguery: he soon 
 becomes an adept the systematic enemy of property, industry, 
 and law. This is the character of the Bedouin of civilised 
 communities, differing in some of the minor features accord- 
 ingly as he may be influenced by local circumstances, but 
 with the same broad general characteristics. They know little 
 or nothing of family ties or obligations. In France the 
 marriage bond is rarely entered into by the lowest classes, or 
 respected if it is. In fact, this is a mere reflection of the 
 morality of the higher classes, amongst whom the marriage tie 
 is equally disregarded. Few tramps, either in that country 
 or in England, have real wive"s, and amongst the lowest 
 class of labourers, cohabitation without marriage is common. 
 Among the "navvies" in this country the only contract is 
 usually made at a beer-house, where both parties jump over a 
 broom-stick. The population, however, increases, as there are 
 neither the restraints of prudence nor morality. Numbers are 
 hurried out of existence through neglect, want, and privation 
 the remainder grow up as a scourge to the society among 
 whose institutions they are bred. The statistics furnished to 
 us will give some idea of the numbers who are thrown upon 
 the world, to all the chances of an irregular and predatory life, 
 and from which there appears no avenue of escape. In 1833, 
 out of 27,460 children born in Paris, 9347 were illegitimate. 
 In 1834, the total number of births was 29,130; 9985 of that 
 number were illegitimate, and only 1170 of these were acknow- j 
 ledged by their parents ; these become the delinquents of the 1 
 streets, and systematically prey upon society. In the various 
 Keports of the Institutions in Paris, examples are given of 
 fearful interest, one or two of which may be cited. There is 
 mention made of a boy, twelve years of age, who was the captain 
 of a band of thieves of a similar age ; he was called by his com- 
 panions, " Le petit Vidocq." He very commonly received as 
 his share of the plunder thirty francs a day, the whole of which 
 he spent in drinking and other vices. Another, only ten years 
 
f 
 / 
 
 30 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 of age, was taken up as a confirmed vagabond, and when in 
 prison he introduced the amusement of throwing dice, which 
 he taught his companions to make of bread. The writer from 
 whose account the foregoing is abridged, says : " Indeed, it 
 is a general remark that the children who roam about the 
 streets of Paris, sleeping on the stones and stealing scraps of 
 food from the meat- shops, (charcutiers,) forget the sense of 
 dependence, and lose the gift of tears they are as barbarous 
 and as brave as North American Indians." The Rapport de 
 la Societe de Patronage, 1833, on whose authority these facts 
 are given, states, that of the juvenile delinquents of Paris, 
 one-fifth are orphans, one-half of which are fatherless, and 
 one -half motherless. 
 
 n London we have a class as wild, and perhaps even more 
 incorrigible than those spawned forth by the dangerous classes 
 of Paris. There is a higher respect for religion, and perhaps 
 a more general observance of the marriage-tie among our 
 eople, and yet we find a state of morals very little better. 
 In 1845, the number of illegitimate births in England and 
 Wales was 38,241, or seven per cent, of the children born 
 alive. This is according to the Returns furnished to the 
 Registrar- General, but he remarks, " Either through the in- 
 completeness of the Schedules, the misstatements of inform- 
 ants, or a want of vigilance in the Registrars, there is reason 
 to suspect that in large towns, and particularly in London, 
 a considerable number of illegitimate children either escape 
 registration altogether, or are registered as though their parents 
 were married." Here, then, is one source to supply the con- 
 sumption of delinquency and crime. Those who know how 
 these poor children fare on their first entrance into life, for no 
 fault of their own, reaping the fruits of their parents' trans- 
 gressions, will be prepared to expect that a large proportion 
 who escape early death run into sin and immorality, and 
 thicken the mass of the suffering and the guilty. In the 
 Reports of the City Mission, it is mentioned as a constant 
 source of regret, that so many of the population are living in 
 a state of concubinage. One Missionary reports having in- 
 duced 29 couples to get married in one year ; and another 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. QJ 
 
 states that in his district, to his certain knowledge, 50 couples 
 were living together in an unmarried state. 
 
 These statistics show us from whence come the continual 
 accessions to the great fund of juvenile depravity, dragging in 
 occasionally the children of the better-educated classes. This 
 vice and crime involves, as we have seen, a loss that might 
 well weigh down a less wealthy community than that of Eng- 
 land, and dismay a people less bold and energetic. But the 
 more painful part of the subject is behind, the awful pro- 
 ductiveness of these wretched beings. Numerically the great 
 bulk of misery suffers no diminution. Epidemic after epidemic 
 sweeps among them ; death cuts them down ; they are scat- 
 tered by casualty and suffering far and wide, and yet others 
 spring up and occupy the vacant places. If by any well- 
 sustained effort the evil is moderated in one direction, it 
 breaks out with increased virulence in another. Some thou- 
 sands are annually transported, others have their career of 
 crime cut short by imprisonment, and yet there remains the 
 great multitude of vicious and sinful beings. With an ap- 
 palling prolificness, they usher into existence crowds of ill- 
 conditioned children ; one generation rapidly succeeds another, 
 each one prematurely ripening for the scythe of death, or for 
 the workhouse and the prison. Amongst all our theories and 
 speculations, we have much yet to learn, much practical know- 
 ledge to acquire. With all the present zeal in the cause 
 of reform, society remains content with the expedients that 
 have been so fully proved to be abortive. Our means of relief 
 are multiplying, and yet they are too scanty to meet the 
 demand. Our remedies seem not to have any sensible effect. 
 And how should they ? We allow crime and poverty to grow ; 
 we nourish them into life and strength ; the seeds are cast 
 abroad, and they choke up the kindly grain. Verily we sow 
 the wind and reap the whirlwind. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DANGKEOUS CLASSES. STATE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 IT will be seen, on advancing another step in the inquiry, 
 that the Criminal and Pauper class is the least instructed part 
 of the community. The test usually employed is a rery im- 
 perfect one. but it shows most indubitably the close connc 
 between ignorance and vice. The mode usually adopted 
 ascertain the amount of instruction possessed by those who 
 pass through our Prisons and Police-offices. Nice distinc- 
 tions under such circumstances cannot be made, and the 
 ability to read and write is nearly all that is taken into account. 
 This amount of instruction may exist with an absolute want 
 of moral and religious training; but as it may be safely 
 assumed that the possession of such a meagre knowledge 
 indicates a superior parentage and better training than that 
 enjoyed by those who have attained the age of youth and 
 manhood without such elementary information, the Tables 
 published in our Prison Eeports are therefore extremely in- 
 teresting and valuable. But they are rather exponents of the 
 condition of the people than indications of the influence of 
 education upon crime. The following Tables are taken from 
 the Twelfth Report of the Inspector of Prisons, and relate to the 
 year 1846: 
 
 the state of Instruction of the total number of Prisoners for trial, 
 or Hied at Assizes and Sessions in England and Wales daring the Year. 
 
 
 Total Adult ........ 4889 1713 3446 
 
 1456 6795 1401 1831 216 17 
 
 TotalJavenik.. 
 
 Total Adult fc Juvenile 5875 1956 4211 
 
 Grand Total, both Sexes 7S31 
 
 1 
 
AN INQUIIIY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES, ETC. f>,> 
 
 Showing the State of Instruction of the Total Number of Prisoners under 
 Summary Convictions in England and Wales in the course of the year. 
 
 Adult Offenders, f. e. Pri 
 soners above 17 years of age 
 Juvenile Offenders, t. e. Pri 
 soners under 17 years of age 
 
 Can neither 
 read nor 
 Write. 
 
 Can Read 
 only. 
 
 Can Read or 
 Write, or both 
 imperfec*ly. 
 
 Can Read 
 and Write 
 well. 
 
 State of In- 
 struction 
 not ascer- 
 tained. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. P. 
 
 Total Adult 
 
 12,404 
 2,626 
 
 6669 8064 
 616 1374 
 
 4239 
 230 
 
 4469 
 ^^ 
 907 
 
 20,050 4436 
 2,346 204 
 
 22,396 4640 
 27,036 
 
 2120 
 157 
 
 2277 
 -^-v 
 2,4 
 
 187 
 
 y 
 
 196 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ? 
 
 190 43 
 23 5 
 
 213 48 
 261 
 
 Total Juvenile 
 
 
 Total Adult & Juvenile 1 5,030 7285 
 Grand Total, both Sexes 22,315 
 
 9438 
 ^^- 
 13, 
 
 In the Table given in the Appendix showing the numher of 
 offenders brought before the Metropolitan Police-courts, the 
 state of knowledge of the two classes, juveniles and adults, 
 is also shown. ^ ^ ^ -3* ' 
 
 Mr. Neison, in the work already quoted, has given a Table 
 showing the proportions of the partially-instructed and totally 
 uninstructed. It is estimated for the years 184*2-3-4 : 
 
 21,779 or 31-3 per cent, of all the criminals who could neither read nor write ; 
 41,620 or 59'8 per cent, who could read and write imperfectly; 
 5,909 or 8 '5 per cent, who could read and write well ; and 
 308 or 0'4 per cent, of superior education. 
 
 69,616 
 1,924 whose instruction was not ascertained. 
 
 71,540. 
 
 The Rev. John Clay, of Preston, has entered more minutely 
 into the inquiry, and endeavoured to ascertain the attainments 
 of the criminals with regard to religious doctrine. The 
 following Tables, extracted from his last Report, exhibit some 
 interesting facts which must have required great care in the 
 collection ; and as they serve to throw light upon the con- 
 dition of the criminal class, they will not be out of place here. 
 Tables 20, 21, 22, Twenty-fifth Report of Preston House of 
 Correction. 
 
34 
 
 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 TABLE No. 20. 
 
 EDUCATION OF PRISONERS. 
 
 
 SESSIONS. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 
 
 PER 
 
 
 
 PER 
 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 CENT. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 CENT. 
 
 Unable to read .... 
 
 125 
 
 48 
 
 51-2 
 
 429 
 
 142 
 
 54-6 
 
 
 52 
 
 18 
 
 20'7 
 
 211 
 
 36 
 
 23-6 
 
 Read ; write ill .... 
 
 81 
 
 7 
 
 26- 
 
 214 
 
 8 
 
 21-2 
 
 Read and write well . . 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 T4 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Superior education . . . 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 265 
 
 73 
 
 
 859 
 
 186 
 
 
 TABLE No. 21. 
 
 RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF PRISONERS. 
 
 DEGREES OF KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 SESSIONS. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 PER 
 CEM'. 
 
 M. 
 
 2 
 
 497 
 73 
 
 1 
 
 
 F. 
 
 PER 
 
 CENT. 
 
 Ignorant of the Saviour's name, 
 and unable to repeat the 
 
 95 
 
 139 
 29 
 
 2 
 
 
 32 
 
 36 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 37'5 
 
 51-7 
 10-0 
 
 6 
 
 99 
 
 81 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 37-0 
 
 55-0 
 7-6 
 
 1 
 
 Knowing the Saviour's name, 
 and able to repeat the Lord's 
 Prayer more or less imper- 
 fectly ... 
 
 Acquainted with the element- 
 ary truths of religion . . 
 Possessing that general know- 
 ledge level to the capacities 
 of the uneducated ... 
 Familiar with the Scriptures, 
 and well instructed ... 
 
 265 
 
 73 
 
 859 
 
 186 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 TABLE No. 22. 
 
 Intended to show the degree of ignorance in prisoners, on the most ordinary 
 subjects, as compared to their direct or indirect acquaintance with demo- 
 ralizing literature : the centesimal proportion calculated on the aggregate 
 of the committals (338 Sessions, and 1045 summary cases). 
 
 
 SESSIONS. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 DEGREES OF IGNORANCE, Sec 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PSR 
 
 
 
 PER 
 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 CENT. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 CENT. 
 
 Unable to name the months 
 
 156 
 
 .53 
 
 61-8 
 
 486 
 
 147 
 
 60-5 
 
 Ignorant of the name of the j 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 reigning sovereign 
 
 154 
 
 46 
 
 59-1 
 
 489 
 
 129 
 
 59-1 
 
 Ignorant of the words, " vir- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tue," " vice," &c. ... 
 
 157 
 
 51 
 
 6T5 
 
 479 
 
 132 
 
 584 
 
 Unable to count a hundred . 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 
 68 
 
 103 
 
 31 
 
 12-8 
 
 Having read, or heard read. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Books about Dick Turpin 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and Jack Sheppard . . 
 
 146 
 
 32 
 
 52'6 
 
 ! 392 
 
 68 
 
 44'0 
 
 
 
 
 1 ; 
 
 
 
 This is only the experience of one prison, but is supported 
 by the evidence derived from other unexceptionable sources. 
 By a Table drawn out by Mr. Highton, in relation to the 
 Borough gaol of Liverpool, it appears that out of 3G30 
 persons of both sexes and all ages committed to that prison 
 in 1846, and never in prison previously, 3i'l per cent, could 
 neither read nor write, and only 2' 1 per cent, could read and 
 write well. It was ascertained by him, that 
 
 2689 or 74 per cent, had been at day-school one year and upwards. 
 1660 45'7 four years and upwards. 
 
 567 15-6 per cent, had been at Sunday-school one year. 
 
 332 9 - l four years. 
 
 Mr. Clay remarks, " It will not do, then, to give us the 
 number of schools and scholars in answer to the complaints of 
 non-education."* 
 
 * In another Report, Mr. Clay says, " Let me present a short summary of 
 three years' observations, hard naked statistics, which I will clothe in but little 
 commentary. During the period I name, the performance of my duty has 
 brought me into contact with 1,733 men and boys and 387 women and girls, 
 altogether unable to read ; with 1,301 men and boys, and 287 women and girls 
 
36 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 This is a sufficiently gloomy picture, but it does not leave 
 us without consolation. We see that the neglected classes 
 fill our workhouses and our jails, and we see also, that the 
 evils are within the control of human effort. There can be 
 no doubt, that even the small amount of instruction, mis- 
 called education, obtained at an ordinary school, has a certain 
 effect in checking the tendencies to crime. How very scanty 
 the knowledge thus acquired may be, we have not to learn 
 from the experience of prisoners. Any one conversant with 
 the mere routine character of our school-teaching, will know, 
 that at the best it gives a knowledge of words and names 
 rather than things. Amongst many illustrations that might 
 be given, there is the following one related by Mr. Clay; 
 <( A boy of sixteen, who could read passages from the New 
 Testament with fluency, nevertheless, proved quite ignorant of 
 the meaning of the words he uttered. When I intimated 
 surprise at this, he said in a tone which strongly expressed 
 a sense of injustice done him, " Why they never taught me 
 the meaning of the words." 
 
 The facts here given are corroborated by the Eeports of the 
 Ragged-schools. These institutions have sprung up to supply 
 a want long felt. The attendance at a British or a National 
 school implies some conduct, orderly behaviour, and regularity 
 of life. Some punctuality in attendance must be observed ; 
 some attention to clothing, cleanliness, and demeanour, be 
 paid. These regulations would exclude the very lowest class. 
 The Ragged schools opened the door, and issued an invitation 
 to those whom every other institution would reject. They 
 have supplied us with a mass of valuable facts. Lord Ashley 
 stated at the Second Annual Meeting of the Ragged-school 
 Union, on June 9th, 1846, that at one Sunday Evening Ragged- 
 
 who knew not the name of the reigning sovereign ; with 1,290 men and boys, 
 and 293 women and girls, so incapable of receiving moral and religious 
 instruction ; that to speak to them of virtue, vice, iniquity, or holiness, was to 
 speak to them in an unknown tongue ; and with 1,120 men and boys, and 257 
 women and girls, so destitute of the merest rudiments of Christian knowledge, 
 so untaught in religious forms and practices, that they know not the name 
 of Him who died for th^ir sins, nor could they utter a prayer to their Father 
 in heaven," 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 37 
 
 school, during that year, the average attendance was 260, 
 whose ages ran from five to twenty years ; 42 had no parents ; 
 21 had stepmothers ; 7 were children of convicts. They lived 
 by picking up coals and other things on the banks of the river, 
 and other similar means. Twenty- seven of them had been, 
 imprisoned ; and in answer to the question, what drove these 
 children first to crime ? " it was said that in some cases the 
 parents sent them out, saying that they must get their living 
 how they could. Others had no parents, and were unable to 
 resist the temptations to which they were exposed ; 36 had run 
 away from their homes ; 19 slept in lodging-houses; 41 lived 
 by begging; 29 never slept on beds; 17 had no shoes nor 
 stockings; 37 had no hats, caps, or bonnets; and 12 had no 
 body linen." 
 
 It was stated in the First Annual Report of the Ragged- 
 school Union, " that the number of children without education 
 of any kind in London considerably exceeded 100,000." " In 
 Spitalfields and Bethnal- green, out of a population of 112,000, 
 it has been lately ascertained (by examination from house to 
 house) that 16,000 children are without any means of in- 
 struction." 
 
 In the Annual Report of the London City Mission for the 
 same year, it is stated that in the district bounded by Port- 
 land-place, Oxford-street, Great Marylebone-street, Thayer- 
 street, and James-street, out of 652 families of the poor, 290 
 were without a Bible, 312 adults could not read, and 447 
 children went to no school. 
 
 In the Third Report of George-street Free school, Lisson- 
 grove, it is said, " It is situated in a neighbourhood which 
 is the resort of bad characters of every description, and the 
 scene of vice. It stands pre-eminent in wickedness, so much 
 so, that a portion of it has acquired the name of Little Hell," 
 In St. Pancras, " it has been ascertained, that in 464 houses, 
 there are living 698 families, composed of 2,960 individuals. 
 Of this number, 1,200 are children under twelve years of age ; 
 356 of whom attend school. Although this be the state of 
 the neighbourhood north of the school, it is to be feared 
 that the inhabitants south are much worse." In Mile-end 
 
gg . AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 New Town, *' upon visiting the inhabitants of the immediate 
 locality, there were found in 400 houses 1,005 families, having 
 1,533 children, only 215 of whom attended any school, and 
 196 only could read. In the 1,005 families there were found 
 only 211 Bibles and 12 Testaments.* 
 
 In the First Report it is described, " On the opening 
 of some schools, the children behaved more like savages 
 than civilised beings, and were as ignorant of God or a 
 Saviour as heathens ; and many did not know their own 
 names." A visitor of one of these schools describes their 
 conduct in dovetailing into the hymns the fag end of flash 
 songs, and their disposition to jest with the most sacred 
 things. Sometimes questions of a startling and unanswerable 
 kind are asked by them, of which a specimen is given. * If 
 you were starving and hungry, would not you steal ?' ' What's 
 the use of hanging Tappan, will that convert him ?' 
 
 The average number of attendants at one school was 1,600 ; 
 of these, 1 62 confess they have been in prison, 116 have run away 
 
 * BROADWALI,, BLACKFRIARS. These schools are situated in a locality 
 usually inhabited by costermongers, scavengers, vendors of matches, and other 
 cheap commodities, who live up to the full amount of their earnings, and leave 
 their offspring totally neglected, suffering them to roam through the streets in 
 filth and wretchedness. For the benefit of these outcasts this school has been 
 established. It was ascertained some time since, by personal investigation, 
 that 2,948 families, composed of 7,543 persons, were living in 737 houses, 1,913 
 of whom were under seven years of age, and 1,000 of this number attended no 
 school. 
 
 HOPKINS'-STREET RAGGED-SCHOOL, NEAR GOLDEN-SQUARE. The founders 
 
 of this school state, that in this locality there are hundreds of children and 
 young persons whose destitute condition prevents their assembling in other 
 schools where the children of the labouring classes are usually educated. 
 Many of these children have lost their parents, and others have been deserted 
 by them ; no small number are the offspring of parents, themselves so aban- 
 doned to vicious pursuits, as to be utterly indifferent to their welfare ; they are 
 growing up in complete ignorance, both of the ordinary elements of education, 
 and of their duties as members of society. They are dirty, ragged, and forlorn, 
 without regular employment; they wander about, seeking by begging or 
 thieving to supply their need. 
 
 GRAY'S-!NN-LANE. This school is situated in a neighbourhood well known 
 for its moral destitution. Lar^e numbers of poor children, mostly of Irish 
 Romanists, Mere without any means of instruction, being unable to attend a 
 day-school, owing to their having to beg, or sell fruit, &c., in the streets, and 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. QQ 
 
 from home, 170 sleep in lodging-houses, 253 live by begging, 
 2 1 (i have no shoes or stockings, 280 have no cap or bonnet, 
 101 have no body linen, 249 never sleep in beds, OK are the 
 children of convicts, 125 have stepmothers, and 30G have lost 
 one or both parents. A large proportion have lost both. 
 
 We have similar testimonies from other places. In Wales, 
 it was lately stated by the Rev. Mr. Griffiths, Principal of the 
 College of Brecknock, that out of 250,000 children who 
 ought to be at school, there were 70,000 who did not attend 
 any school at all, " w r hile the majority of those who did, were 
 receiving any thing but a good education." 
 
 The First Report of the Manchester Juvenile Refuge shows, 
 that since the foundation up to the close of the year, there 
 had been admitted altogether, 89 boys and 42 girls; total 139. 
 Of these, 29 were without fathers, 7 without mothers, and 9 
 without either father or mother. Out of this number four 
 could write a little, four could read the New Testament, 10 
 could read tolerably words of one or two syllables, 20 knew 
 the alphabet imperfectly ; all the remainder were in utter 
 ignorance on these points. The great majority of those who 
 were admitted, had previously maintained themselves by beg- 
 ging. Lord Ashley said in the House of Commons, in 1841, 
 that 1,500 children were added to " les classes dangereuses" 
 every year in Manchester. Surprise will cease when another 
 fact is taken in connexion, that in this busy manufacturing 
 town there were in that year 769 beer houses, 498 public 
 houses, 309 brothels, above 300 houses where prostitutes are 
 kept, and 109 lodging-houses where the sexes indiscriminately 
 sleep together. 
 
 Mr. H. Miller, in his Report of the Glasgow Prison, dated 
 
 their parents too poor or too indifft-rent to the welfare of their offspring to 
 provide either for the culture of their minds, or the clothing of their bodies. 
 
 COMPTON- PLACE SCHOOL, JuDD-STREET, BRUNSWICK-SQUARE. This School 
 
 is in one of the darkest corners of the metropolis, although surrounded and 
 hidden by a neighbourhood of high respectability. Scarcely a month passes 
 but live or six of the young people have been removed from the neighbourhood 
 to prison. The conduct of the young inhabitants towards those who are 
 endeavouring to rescue them from a state of ignorance and crime, is frequently 
 stamped with rudeness and insult. 
 
40 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 February 22, 1847, says, " that in only 26 cases out of 119 
 children coming under his care are both parents living, while 
 in 44 cases the mother only survives, and in 27 cases the 
 father only survives, leaving 22 without father or mother. And 
 he goes on to say, " Helpless creatures these children are ; 
 too young to have acquired a trade, sleeping on stairs and in 
 closes, in rags and in wretchedness, for the most part depend- 
 ing on casual charity, exposed to every kind of temptation, 
 and that constantly." 
 
 The Eev. A. Hume examined in person, assisted by several 
 students of Birkenhead College, a district of Liverpool named 
 Vauxhall. It has been recently separated by the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners to form a new parish. The result of that 
 minute inquiry is given in the Appendix, Table 11. The 
 district comprises 27 streets and 226 courts connected with 
 these. Most of the 1 streets are private; leading only to the 
 houses in them. There are 152 inhabited cellars, and in 515 
 cases more than one family occupy a house. There are more 
 than 2,300 families belonging to the labouring class, and 
 1,838 of them, containing 6,223 individuals, are supported by 
 casual and ill-paid labour. There are 76 public-houses, and 
 51 beer-houses. There are 9,099 persons who attend neither 
 church nor chapel. There are 3,228 children betwixt the ages 
 of three years and a half and 12 years; 1136 of these only are 
 in attendance at school; 2,092 are not receiving any school 
 instruction, It is impossible to calculate the amount of evil 
 concealed beneath these statistics. The naked figures, when 
 fairly weighed and balanced, give the key to many a difficult 
 question, and will explain some of the perplexing features of 
 our present social position, 
 
 It is not easy, perhaps, to state the precise number of 
 children of a suitable age for receiving instruction who are not 
 attending any school. The late discussions on the subject of 
 national education have been conducted too much in the spirit 
 of partizanship, and have consequently left a shade of doubt 
 upon the statements. It is not essential to the purpose of this 
 Essay that time should be occupied in collating evidence or 
 comparing the figures of opposing parties. It is agreed on all 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 41 
 
 lands that a large mass of the younger population is growing 
 ip in physical and moral destitution. The state of ignorance 
 >f our criminal and pauper classes, if it is not a sufficient test 
 )f the influence of education on crime, at any rate shows that 
 great bulk of detected criminals are grossly ignorant, more 
 specially of that higher knowledge which is generally found 
 supply motives of self-respect, and stimulate to virtuous 
 mduct and the observance of decent habits. The concurrent 
 testimonies of those who have had the best opportunities of 
 eliciting the truth, remove it beyond doubt that the poorer 
 population are placed not only unfavourably, but in a position 
 that almost forbids the growth or expansion of better feelings ; 
 a condition, in fact, that seems to shut out hope. 
 
 The statements here given will enable the intelligent and 
 candid inquirer to estimate the condition of the people with 
 regard to education. He will also obtain a glimpse of domestic 
 life amongst the lowest class. He will find that they are sunk 
 in degradation so deep, as to be almost lost to a sense of it. 
 And yet we find the glimmerings of those higher faculties 
 which are never wholly extinguished, and which might, by 
 proper effort, be fanned into glowing life. The spark of 
 Divinity resident in all God's reasoning creatures survives to 
 the last, and in the desolation of sin and sorrow still struggles 
 for existence. In the hearts of the most abandoned, the crime- 
 seared and the callous, there is some chord that would vibrate 
 to the touch of kindness. There is some hour when the 
 darkest soul looks out and sighs for an opportunity of escape 
 from the thraldom of sin ; but perhaps there is none nigh at 
 the propitious moment to point the way. The City Missionary 
 finds in the vilest haunts some willing listeners. If he fails 
 to arouse them from the torpor in which their higher feelings 
 are steeped, it is seldom he does not succeed to awaken a 
 transient burst of feeling, some recognition of the truth he 
 urges, although it may be too feeble to struggle with the 
 guilty thoughts and lawless desires which have grown with 
 their existence and strengthened with their strength. It is an 
 evanescent gleam upon a blackened and starless sky, perhaps 
 one softening thought upon a life of misery. In those haunts 
 
42 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES, ETC. 
 
 it finds no abiding place, and lights the heart for a moment only, 
 to leave all as hopeless as before. But here are young hearts still 
 capable of receiving impressions; they are however learning their 
 sad lesson in the gloomy abodes of our neglected population. 
 It is the nature of everything to produce its kind. . Neglect 
 will produce alienation. Harshness will lead to stubbornness 
 and intractability ; and where there is no manifestation of 
 affection on the part of the parent, it is vain to expect the 
 cheerful performance of duty on the part of the child. From 
 this population come the thousands who fill our hospitals, 
 poor-houses, and houses of refuge : they are trained to no 
 useful occupation, no feeling of honest self-dependence is 
 cultivated. They are never taught to look to their own re- 
 sources for anything that public charity can supply, or which 
 they can procure by begging or mendacity. This is a fearful 
 and dangerous state of things. Jeremy Taylor says, " If the 
 people die for want of knowledge, they who are set over them 
 shall also die for their want of charity." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DANGEROUS CLASS DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION. 
 
 IT is necessary now to ascertain the condition of the poorer 
 population, or rather the state of the neighbourhoods into 
 which they crowd for shelter or concealment a stifling and 
 reeking mass. Domestic influences are known to be powerful \ 
 in forming character. The cultivation of the virtues depends, 
 greatly upon physical circumstances : home endearments, j 
 and family attachments, are at the very foundation of man's/ 
 social character. In what position are the bulk of the working 
 classes placed ? What is the character of those abodes which, 
 in solemn mockery, are called homes ; and what influence do 
 such exert upon the habits and dispositions of the young? 
 The Reports of the Health of Towns Commission have exhi- 
 bited some fearful facts. The overcrowding, and the conse- 
 quent absence of all decent observances, is not confined to 
 our town populations, but extends to our suburban districts, 
 and our agricultural villages. In small incommodious and 
 wretchedly-ventilated apartments, whole families are stowed in : 
 fathers and grown-up daughters, brothers and sisters, and very i 
 often strangers, are brought together in such a way as to shock 
 every humane and decent feeling. Some of the facts already 
 given will intimate the defective arrangements as to lodging 
 and dwelling. It is necessary to give a more minute descrip- 
 tion of the resorts of the dangerous classes, and the homes of 
 those who are picking up a precarious subsistence, or practising 
 mendicancy for a living. Many of the young criminals fre- 
 quent the low lodging-houses. Lord Ashley quotes the de- 
 scription of one by a City Missionary : " The City Missionary, 
 speaking of a lodging-house, and referring to the ' parlour '- 
 for there are many euphonious terms employed said : 
 
 "The parlour measures 18 feet by 10. Beds are arranged on 
 each side of it, composed of straw, rags, and shavings. Here are 
 
/J4 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 27 male and female adults, and 31 children, with several dogs; in 
 all, 58 human beings in a contracted den, from which light and air 
 are systematically excluded. It is impossible," he says, "to convey 
 a just idea of their state. The quantities of vermin are amazing. 
 I have entered a room, and in a few minutes I have felt them drop- 
 ping on my hat from the ceiling like peas. 'They may be gathered 
 by handfuls,' observed one of the inmates. ' I could fill a pail in 
 a few minutes. I have been so tormented with the itch, that on two 
 occasions I filled my pockets with stones, and waited till a policeman 
 came up, and then broke a lamp, that I might be sent to prison, and 
 there be cleansed, as is required before new-comers are admitted.' 
 'Ah!' said another, standing by, * you can get a comfortable 
 snooze and scrub there.'" 
 
 His Lordship observes : "A vast number of boys of tender years 
 resorted to these houses. He wished to show what a variety of 
 circumstances stood in the way of their moral or physical improve- 
 ment. The existence of these houses was one of those circum- 
 stances. He had given a sample of the houses such children were 
 compelled to inhabit."* 
 
 This is a sample of the lodging-houses. What, then, are 
 the dwellings of the poor ? A Committee was appointed in 
 1847, by the Statistical Society, consisting of Colonel Sykes, 
 Dr. Guy, and Mr. Neison, to inquire into the condition of the 
 population of Church-lane, St. Giles. They examined fifty-six 
 rooms. The number of tenants was 463 ; the number of males, 
 above twenty years of age, 111; the number of females, above 
 twenty years of age, 138 ; the number of males, under twenty 
 years of age, 117; the number of females, under twenty years, 
 97. The number of families was 100, and the number of 
 bedsteads for the accommodation of the whole population was 
 90. It is impossible, perhaps, to imagine a more deplorable 
 picture of human wretchedness than that which is here exhi* 
 bited ; but in order to understand it correctly, it must be 
 examined in detail. The examples are taken almost at random, 
 The reader must enter some of the apartments : 
 
 House, No. 3. Two Parlours on Ground Floor. 
 
 Size of rooms : Front room, 17ft. 6in. long, 13ft. 9in. broad, 8ft. 
 high; size of windows, 5ft. 4in. by 4ft.; back room, lift. 4in. 
 square; rent paid, 55. weekly; under-rent paid, Is. 6d. each adult ; 
 time occupied, 5 years. Number of families, 4 ; consisting of 
 
 * Lord Ashley's speech in the House of Commons, in the session of 1848. 
 

 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 45 
 
 5 males above 20, 5 females above 20, 3 males under 20, and 4 
 females under 20 : total, 17. Country, Irish; trade, dealers and 
 mendicants. State of rooms, dirty ; state of furniture, bad and dirty ; 
 state of windows, 8 panes whole, 8 broken. Number of beds, 6 ; 
 number of bedsteads, 5 ; of which 3 in front room, 2 in back. Yard 
 filthy, covered with night-soil ; no privy, no water. 
 
 These are nightly lodging -rooms, and the landlady frequently 
 accommodates four or five more persons at 3d. per night. The 
 entrance to the back-room is by a door 4ft. 2in. by 3ft., the room 
 itself being a kind of black-hole. 
 
 No. 4. First Floor. 
 
 Size of room, 17ft. long, 13ft. broad, 8ft. high; size of window, 
 5ft. 4in. by 3ft..2in. ; rent paid, 3,9. weekly ; under-rent paid, ; 
 time occupied, 1 month. Number of families, 4 ; consisting of 
 5 males above 20, 5 females above 20, 4 males under 20, 2 females 
 under 20; total, 16. Number of persons ill, 2, one man dying. 
 Country, Irish ; trade, mendicants and dealers. State of rooms, 
 filthy ; state of furniture, bad, dirty, only 1 table and 2 chairs : 
 state of windows, 8 broken panes. Number of beds, 1 bed and a 
 quantity of shavings ; number of bedsteads, 1. 
 
 Particulars of the above Families. 1. Man, wife, and 2 children, 
 pay 1*. per week ; 2. Man and 1 daughter, lOd. ; 3. Two females, 
 single, lOd. ; 4. Man, wife, and 3 children (landlord) ; o. Man, 
 wife, and 1 child, Is. 
 
 Two of the single women were 25, and 1 of the boys was 18. 
 Here were 16 persons with only one bedstead! The landlord 
 covered his rent, and made Sd. weekly.* 
 
 These cases are taken verbatim from the published Keport. 
 The Committee did not carry their inquiries into the general 
 habits of the inmates : it was scarcely necessary, as the 
 moral condition of the population must he low indeed. We 
 have in the Report of the Health of Towns Commission a great 
 mass of similar evidence. In the parish of St. Dennis, York, it 
 is reported that " from 8 to 11 persons slept in one room in 
 4 per cent, of the families resident there ; in 7i per cent, from 
 
 * Exception may be taken that these are Irish, whose habics are known to 
 be much more filthy than those of the English population ; but everyone must 
 recollect the fearful description given in the various Sanitary Reports of the 
 dwellings of the poorer population. It is not necessary to detain the reader by 
 more than one example. By the Sanitary Report, it appears that, " The sum 
 spent by the people of Bury, a manufacturing town, with a population of 25,000 
 inhabitants, is above 5 1,000 in the single articles of beer and spiri;s. this 
 
Q AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 G to 8 persons slept in one room; of the total 2,195 families 
 visited by district visitors, 26 per cent, had one room only 
 for all purposes." In Preston in a few districts examined, 
 in 84 cases, 4 persons slept in the same bed ; in 28 
 cases 5; in 13 cases 6; in 13 cases 7 ; in 1 case 8. No 
 fruit could be expected from such a soil but disorder and 
 vice. Whether we look to the drinking habits as the cause 
 or the effect, we find them almost invariably associated with 
 a bad sanitary condition. In the very worst neighbourhoods, 
 and amongst the most degraded population, the greatest 
 number of houses for the sale of drink will be found. Many 
 of these wretched people spend upon intoxicating liquor a 
 sum that would pay for better dwellings and purchase con- 
 veniences and comforts ; they prefer the habits which keep 
 them in the hovel. These inquiries are important, but they 
 would be greatly increased in value if an effort were made to 
 ascertain the extent of drinking among such a population, 
 with a view of tracing the connection between intemperance 
 and the undoubted misery that prevails. 
 
 In Mr. Hill's last Keport on the Prisons in Scotland, it 
 is shown that in the poorest localities in Edinburgh, where 
 73 per cent, of the crime is committed, more than 50 per cent, of 
 the spirit-licenses are held : " and it may be safely affirmed 
 that 60 per cent, of the drinking-houses are in these very 
 localities. This," observes the writer, " certainly shows the 
 
 amounts to 2 3s. 4d. per head for each man, woman, and child ;" and, "this 
 sum would pay the rent and taxes of upwards of 6,770 new cottages, at 
 8 per annum." 
 
 An abstract is given of a Report made by the Manchester Statistical Society, 
 after an active and careful examination, from house to house, by one of their 
 Agents. To use the words of the Report, " With such an expenditure on one 
 source of dissipation and ill-health, it appeared that of 2,755 of their dwellings 
 examined, only 1,661 were decidedly comfortable ; that a smaller number were 
 well furnished ; that the number of families in which there were less than two 
 persons sleeping in one bed, was only 413 ; that the nnmber in which, on the 
 average, there were more than two persons in a bed was 1,512 ; that the num- 
 ber of families who had not less than three persons, and less than four, was 
 773 ; that the number of families in which there were at least four persons, 
 but less than five persons to one bed, was 207. There were sixty-three families 
 where there were at le;<st five persons to one bed ; and there were some in 
 which six persons were packed in one b<.d. M 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 47 
 
 t>sc relationship which exists between drinking-houses, 
 verty, arid crime." A writer in \}\^(rlnsf/ow Times, gives the 
 lowing picture of Sabbath-desecration : " Pipehouse Close 
 is a most densely populated locality, and contains about 150 
 families. I stood on one Sunday morning about an hour 
 looking at a 'wee pawn,' and in that period no less than fifty 
 persons went in." In an entry near by, he saw men, women, 
 and children, "stripping their coats, petticoats, jackets, frocks, 
 shoes, etc. Nearly opposite the pawn there is a spirit- cellar, 
 which, under the name of selling milk, catches with scarcely 
 an exception all the wee-pawn dupes, and wrings from them 
 the last farthing." 
 
 But postponing any discussion on the drinking habits 
 as a cause of this depraved condition, the overcrowding 
 'itself is unfavourable to health and to morals. Whenever a 
 population are so placed, a low tone of morality and an inferior 
 standard of decency prevail. Every sense of propriety revolts 
 at the bare idea of numbers of persons herding together with- 
 out separation of age or sex. It must have the worst possible 
 effect upon youth. Abandoned women have repeatedly stated 
 that their first step in crime was owing to their sleeping in the 
 same room with persons of the opposite sex in their early 
 years. Improper intimacy takes place, and a life of depravity 
 is the result. Mr. Baker of Leeds, states, that "circumstances 
 occur which humanity shudders to contemplate." He gives 
 an instance " of a daughter and father standing at the bar of 
 the Leeds Sessions as criminals ; the one in concealing, and 
 the other in being an accessory to concealing the birth of an 
 illegitimate child, born on the body of the daughter by the 
 father; and another in November, 1841. The Eegistrar of 
 that borough recorded the birth of an illegitimate child, born 
 on the body of a young girl, only sixteen years of age, who 
 lived with her mother, who cohabited with her lodger, the 
 father of this child, of which the girl had been pregnant five 
 months when the mother died." Mr. Barnett, Clerk of the 
 Nottingham Union, says, " Girls and youths destitute of 
 adequate house-room, and freed from parental control, are 
 accustomed to gross immoralities." Many instances might be 
 
48 AN 1NOUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 given; but not to multiply evidence on a painful and un- 
 pleasant subject, one more example must suffice. An inquest 
 was held some ten years ago, in a manufacturing town in 
 Yorkshire, upon a girl who had committed suicide. It appears 
 that herself and an elder sister slept in the same apartment 
 with the father and mother. An improper intercourse took 
 place between the father, a brutal, drunken, and degraded 
 man, and the daughter, aged sixteen. She became pregnant, 
 and, unable to bear the shame and remorse, took poison. Her 
 dying confession revealed the whole truth. This is a topic of 
 extreme delicacy, but its importance outweighs every other 
 consideration, and is too weighty to admit of entire silence in 
 an inquiry into the causes of juvenile depravity. 
 
 Irrespective of any direct immorality, there is a very per- 
 nicious effect produced upon the minds of the young by this 
 overcrowding : it blunts the feelings by bringing the sexes 
 together under circumstances the most painful and humiliating. 
 The mind from which all sense of decency is not obliterated 
 will shrink from this contact. Coarse language, slovenly, 
 filthy, and indecorous habits, and impure desires must neces- 
 sarily arise from such unhappy communion. That modesty 
 which is the best guardian of virtue in a woman, cannot be 
 preserved, and tenderness and attention on the part of the 
 other sex is impossible. Dr. Southwood Smith says, " If you 
 reduce men down to the level of brutes, you will soon find 
 manners appropriate to the degradation." The passions are 
 excited into premature activity ; there is no motive to restraint ; 
 their actions are not regulated by any prudential consideration; 
 and the consequence is, that females of this class, ill-prepared 
 and ill-instructed, are surrounded by a family at an age too 
 tender to undertake the responsibilities of the wife and mother. 
 It is no unusual thing to see mothers at fifteen and sixteen, 
 and many at even an earlier age. One imperfectly developed 
 generation succeeds another, runs the same course, and leaves a 
 like ill-conditioned progeny behind it. We see in the melan- 
 choly results, the operation of the divine law, " visiting the 
 sins of the father upon the children unto the third and fourth 
 generation." 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. ^Q 
 
 The children reared up in these crowded and neglected neigh- 
 bourhoods, constitute a class as distinct in form and feature 
 as in hahits from the better- conditioned children of the middle 
 classes : they appear almost to belong to a separate race. 
 There may be considerable scepticism on this point, but when 
 the effects of a vicious parentage are carefully examined, very 
 often extending over two or three generations, moral and phy- 
 sical deterioration can only be expected. Let the children who 
 constitute the predatory hordes of the street be contrasted with 
 those who gather round the circle of a well-conducted home, 
 and the inferiority of the former is palpable at once. It could 
 not be otherwise : want, early and daily acquaintance with 
 misery, exposure to cold, harshness, and ill-usage, must have 
 an effect upon the body as well as upon the mind. These 
 children are thus described by Dr. Aldis : 
 
 " They are emaciated, pale, and thin, and in a low condition. 
 They complain of sinking, depression of the strength, loss of spirits, 
 loss of appetite, accompanied by pains in different parts of the body, 
 with disturbed sleep." "The depressed and low condition of health 
 in which these people are always found, induces habits of intem- 
 perance, unfortunately so common among them." "The children, 
 (says another,) are diminutive, pale, squalid, sickly, irritable ; I 
 rarely saw a child in a really healthy state." 
 
 Lord Ashley, in quoting this opinion, says : 
 
 "A. clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Champneys, of Whitechapel, had told 
 him of the singular aptitude of those children to learn. Mr. Champ- 
 neys said, he could only attribute it to their nervous susceptibility, 
 produced by the circumstances in which they were placed. He 
 added, that while it would stimulate them to learn what was good as 
 well as what was bad, the readiness with which they learned bad 
 habits was most alarming. The condition of those children was very- 
 peculiar : their nervous susceptibility was stimulated so that they 
 acted with a promptitude and activity beyond their years. Many, 
 from the condition in which they had been brought up, were greatly 
 enfeebled ; and though much might be done to restore their health 
 and strength by giving them proper food and allowing them to breathe 
 a purer air, yet upon examination it was found that these children 
 had all some defect or other which was sufficient to exclude them 
 
50 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 from employment. A friend of his, a Lord of the Admiralty, had 
 arranged that if any of those children could be selected who were 
 fit for employment, they should be taken on board a ship in her 
 Majesty's service. Five were sent to be examined; but in the 
 twinkling of an eye tne examiner rejected them, though they were 
 the picked boys of the school. After those children had been for a 
 few months at the school, where they were fed and taken care of, they 
 appeared to be changed. They became strengthened, fit for work, 
 and showed to what condition they might arrive, recovering from the 
 neglect to which they had been originally subjected." 
 
 The statement as to the aptitude of the children to learn 
 must be taken with considerable qualification. They learn 
 with so much greater facility, and manifest a capacity so much 
 superior to what is usually expected from them, that the judg- 
 ment is misled. Most of them inherit diseased constitutions, 
 have scrofulous temperaments, and altogether an inferior 
 physical organisation ; and this is necessarily accompanied by 
 a proportionate deficiency of mental power. How often, for 
 example, are the children of drunkards affected by weakness of 
 intellect, the consequence of the excesses of their parents ? This 
 however will form a subject for a subsequent part of the inquiry. 
 A smartness in some particular pursuit is perfectly compatible 
 with general feebleness. All of them would probably mani- 
 fest a deficiency if put to intellectual labour requiring long- 
 sustained effort. There cannot be the same strength of 
 mind, or an equal capacity, in children exposed to the casual- 
 ties of poverty as in those who are brought up under kind and 
 tender care, and enjoying a fair share of the blessings so essen- 
 tial to mental as well as bodily health, air, light, warmth, and 
 cleanliness. The following description of the children at Nor- 
 wood school will also describe the groups that throng the 
 streets : "The pauper children assembled at Norwood from 
 the garrets, cellars, and wretched rooms of alleys and courts in 
 the dense parts of London, are often sent thither in a low 
 state of destitution, covered with rags and vermin, often the 
 victims of chronic disease, almost universally stunted in their 
 growth, and sometimes emaciated with want. The low-browed 
 and inexpressive physiognomy, or malign aspect of the boys is 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 a true index to the mental darkness, the stubborn tempers, the 
 hopeless spirits, and the vicious habits on which the master has 
 to work." 
 
 There is no wretched child learning the lesson of crime 
 without ability and even aptitude for acquiring that higher i 
 knowledge, which would form the useful member of society, 
 but to suppose evil influences could attend him from the 
 cradle upwards without leaving their traces on the mind and 
 body, is to suppose that the human being is exempt from the 
 operation of the physical and organic law. There are excep- 
 tions to this as to every other rule : as a class they offer much 
 less promise to the teacher. Mr. Chadwick, in the Sanitary 
 Keport, speaks of an experiment having been tried in Glasgow, 
 and the progress of two classes of children compared. One 
 set was taken from the wynds and placed under the care of 
 one of the most skilful and successful infant teachers ; the 
 other was a set of children from a healthy district, of better 
 physical condition, placed under the care of a pupil of the 
 same master. After a sufficient trial, the comparative in- 
 feriority of the first class of pupils, and the teacher's inability 
 to make the same progress with them, was acknowledged. All 
 certainly are susceptible of improvement, but the condition 
 of the population under discussion renders the work of the 
 instructor more difficult. 
 
 There is now brought together a mass of evidence, gleaned 
 from many sources, of a most conclusive kind, as to the con- 
 dition," moral and physical, of the classes from whence spring 
 the hosts of juvenile vagrants and criminals. The state of 
 that young population is truthfully delineated ; they are desti- 
 tute of counsel, care, teaching except that which is pernicious 
 and they are without any ostensible means of procuring a 
 livelihood. When we regard the thousands who gather round 
 the gin-shops, and crawl from them in a desperate state of self- 
 abandonment into holes and corners and filthy hovels, a pain- 
 ful hopelessness comes over the mind an impression that they 
 are beyond any human instrumentality, and that unless God in 
 his mercy breathes upon them, and dispels the thick darkness, 
 they must perish as they have lived. But the, young genera- 
 
 E 2 
 
52 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES ETC. 
 
 tion springing up, are capable of better things : they might, 
 under favourable auspices, be trained to a life of industry and 
 sobriety with the same ease that they are now trained to one 
 of vagabondry, idleness, or wickedness. The vice of childhood 
 ripens into the crime of manhood. The boy who is detected 
 to-day in an attempt to steal an orange from a stall, and who is 
 kicked and spurned, will, in all probability, mature into the 
 hardened thief, and may ultimately be transported from the 1 
 felon's bar. The child who is sent out to whine a string of , 
 falsehoods to excite the compassion of the passers by, can- 
 not easily be taught in after years a respect for truth ; listening 
 constantly to profane and obscene language, witnessing daily 
 brawls, quarrels, and sights of cruelty, familiarises the mind 
 to every brutality. To undermine the peace and security of 
 states, no more effectual means can be employed than those 
 which will corrupt the minds and morals of the young. The 
 children who throng the play-ground, the school, or the 
 streets, are the fathers, teachers and exemplars of the next 
 generation. How far are they able to discharge the duties 
 devolving upon them ? It is not more impossible to raise 
 up a community of strong and beautiful men and women 
 out of a race of cripples, than it would be to produce a 
 high-minded and intellectual population out of the dens here 
 described. As easy would it be for the horticulturist, when he ,' 
 has spent years of toil in training his shrubs and trees into the 2 
 most fantastic and grotesque forms, to restore them to perfect 
 beauty and symmetry, as to take the human being, who has | 
 been brought up under these evil influences, when the character 
 is fixed and settled, and implant habits of order, punctu- 
 ality, industry, and self-respect. The work must begin with the I 
 young ; they must be dealt with while the mind is still facile, 
 and the disposition pliable. If the present order of things * 
 is to continue, no fruit can be expected but deteriorated men 
 and women, each generation lower in the scale than that which 
 has preceded it. 
 
CHAPTEK V. 
 
 JUVENILE DEPRAVITY AX INQUIRY INTO ITS CAUSES - THE MINING 
 POPULATION. 
 
 IT becomes now the business of this inquiry to investigate 
 the causes of the crime and profligacy which have been 
 described in the preceding chapters, and to trace the con- 
 nection between vice and ignorance, and drinking habits. 
 The reader must be reminded that the statistics presented, 
 show only the number of offenders brought before the Police- 
 office or the Criminal Court. Besides the amount of undetected 
 offences, there is a multitude of transgressions against pro- 
 priety and morals of which the law can take no cognisance, and 
 which inflict probably more injury on society than those 
 amenable to its authority. These cannot be even estimated by 
 figures. There are numbers of young men, for instance, to be 
 met with in our thoroughfares, smoking cigars and aping all 
 the follies of men of fashion. They are depraved in taste, 
 conduct, and understanding, spending their time in dissipation 
 and licentiousness. Many of these youths inflict upon society 
 deeper wrongs, and create far more domestic misery than the 
 youth of the lower class whose offences are mainly against 
 property ; and yet many of the former have received what is 
 ordinarily termed a good education. 
 
 / Prison and Police statistics show that crime is almost con- 
 ffined to the uneducated classes, and the inference is, that 
 Education would greatly diminish the calendar. When educa- 
 tion is understood to mean the training of the moral habits, 
 as well as intellectual instruction, there can be no doubt of 
 its good effects. But in all ranks there are low vices and 
 depraved habits. Vulgar and uneducated men are driven to 
 plunder and petty theft as the only means within the reach of 
 
54 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 their ability of obtaining resources without the irksomeness of 
 labour. Men of intellectual attainments, but of profligate 
 and vicious inclinations, resort to expedients which secure to 
 them all the advantages of fraud, with an impunity from its 
 consequences. Perhaps the most degraded class in Paris are 
 the copying clerks, men who write well, and many of whom 
 have had a superior education. This class is composed of 
 expelled students, disgraced merchants' clerks, bankrupt 
 schoolmasters, cashiered officers, and liberated convicts. Their 
 vices are drunkenness, gluttony, gambling, and idleness. In 
 every large city there will necessarily exist a number of adven- 
 turers, living, as it is termed, by their wits, and carrying on 
 their depredations with much system and effect. They are 
 continually recruited from the ranks of the thoughtless, from 
 men of education without professions, or disappointed aspi- 
 rants of various kinds. They become ready panders to young 
 men of means, initiating them into all the mysteries of gay life, 
 and plundering them on every available occasion. The most 
 despicable of this debased class, are those who attach them- 
 selves to some poor girl and live out of the wages of her sin. 
 The soldier, Henry Ducker, who fell by the hands of the girl 
 he had not only wronged but insulted, was an example of a 
 numerous class, many of whom are his superiors in education 
 and position. Annette Meyers is but one of many victims to 
 the cruelty and brutality of the other sex. The fate to which 
 in a moment of desperation she doomed the man who had 
 excited, and then trampled upon, an ardent and misplaced 
 affection is merciful to that to which she would have 
 fallen had she yielded to his suggestions. He had won her 
 love, and tried to use the ascendancy it gave him over her, to 
 the most wicked of all purposes. He wanted means to sustain 
 his debaucheries, and was willing to procure them by the poor 
 girl's prostitution. Many such men there are who meet with 
 no earthly avenger, systematically debauching youth and living 
 on the price of blood ! 
 
 It would require much more acute powers of observation 
 than any which have hitherto been employed in this direction 
 to discriminate the influence of each of the acknowledged 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 55 
 
 causes operating in the production of delinquency and crime. 
 Much valuable labour is wasted very often by ascribing to one 
 that which really belongs to a number of concurrent causes. 
 Most men have their favourite remedies for our social evils, 
 and each, perhaps, has looked at the moral condition from one 
 point of view. Some accident may have determined the pre- 
 ference. The temperance reformer, for instance, has given 
 close attention to the drinking system in all its forms. He 
 sees that it is associated with domestic misery, loss of cha- 
 racter, degradation, and hard-heartedness, and intently gazing 
 over this extended field of mischief, he supposes that he has 
 discovered the real cause of our social ills. From that time 
 he looks with a partial eye upon all evidence that supports his 
 own view, and rejects, on slight or imperfect examination, 
 whatever seems to oppose it. It is impossible to overrate the 
 importance of the temperance cause, but it can only be 
 effectually worked by men who take a comprehensive view of 
 society, and who will give themselves the trouble to discover 
 where intemperance maybe the cause, and where it -may be 
 the effect of other evils with which it is associated, and which 
 are always in silent operation filling up the ranks of the intem- 
 perate. The earnest advocate of education, tracing the rela- 
 tionship between intemperance and crime, is apt to neglect the 
 various obstacles standing in the way of his benevolent efforts. 
 It is strange that practices so remarkable as those connected 
 with our drinking system, so general and powerful in their 
 influence, should have been so much overlooked. It can only 
 be accounted for, on the principle that the human mind is 
 reconciled to the existence of evils in proportion as they 
 become familiar. It would be mere wild assertion to affirm that 
 all juvenile vice is the consequence of drinking habits : but 
 is it not a powerful cause among others, of profligacy and 
 crime of all kinds? There is undoubted proof that our 
 criminals spring from the uneducated classes, does it therefore 
 follow that schools and teachers are the remedy ? Are there 
 not some preliminary inquiries ? Have not the gin-shops and 
 public-houses much to do not only with crime, but in the 
 dissipation of means which ought to be employed in the 
 
56 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 education of youth? How far are the drinking usages, un- 
 fortunately countenanced and smiled upon by the good and the 
 wise, to be charged with the neglect and ruin of the rising 
 generation ? This question was cursorily mooted at the con- 
 clusion of the first Chapter, and must not be lost sight of in 
 any stage of this inquiry. 
 
 The drinking habits operate, in the first place, in preventing 
 the education of youth. A large proportion of the children 
 not attending school, belong to intemperate parents. Thou- 
 sands of the heads of families, from undervaluing education, or 
 because they are loth to relinquish some self- gratification, will 
 not avail themselves of the opportunities offered : they will 
 not make the slightest sacrifice to obtain instruction for their 
 children. We have it on the authority of Mr. Watkins, one of 
 the Inspectors of Schools: "Strange as the truth may be, I 
 believe that one of the greatest hindrances to education comes 
 from those who ought to be the most forward to support it 
 from the parents themselves" It appears that when children 
 attend school so irregularly as to excite remark, it is found 
 on examination that any trifling pretext is sufficient to keep 
 them away, and that a weekly earning of 6d. or Sd. will 
 induce the parents to withdraw them ; nay, in fact, the occa- 
 sional earning of 2d., although the child in the performance 
 of the labour may destroy more than that value in clothing, 
 is a sufficient inducement to interfere with their regular 
 attendance. 
 
 Justice to the working classes demands that other facts 
 should be stated. Many are compelled by their own insuffi- 
 ciency of earnings to send their children to early toil. A 
 statement was published in 1846, which was well authenticated, 
 in relation to the workpeople of Leicester. It gave the average 
 earnings of 500 workmen engaged in the staple trade of that 
 town. The weekly amount was an average of 4s. l\d. per 
 week. What can we expect from a population thus reduced ? 
 This, unfortunately, is no solitary case. These are not the 
 circumstances in the midst of which either a healthy or a 
 moral race of men and women can grow up. How can the 
 affections be nurtured, or the love of offspring be developed ? 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 57 
 
 An account was given by the Statistical Committee, appointed 
 by the Anti-Corn Law Conference, in March, 1842, of 8,666 
 persons whose income was only Is. 2%d. per week ; and many 
 instances are known of poor widows struggling to procure 
 subsistence for themselves and families, by making shirts at 
 from Is. to Is. Gd. per dozen. Let those who sleep softly 
 and fare well, try to realise the abject wretchedness of such 
 a condition the hopings against hope the conflicts with 
 despair that must ensue. Can it be wondered that the voice 
 of religion or law finds scanty audience among them? This 
 is not the place to discuss the remedies, as it might lead the 
 inquiry into the vexed arena of party and political discussion. 
 It may be dismissed, therefore, with an expression of the hope, 
 that before long the great principles of the Christian religion, 
 which can alone triumph over selfishness and pride, will be 
 recognised in the high-places of the earth by those who have 
 to make laws for the government of states ! Moreover, it must 
 be hoped the people will soon learn to regard them as the rule 
 of conduct in the warehouse and the mart, and apply them to 
 the business of every- day life. This poverty, by pushing 
 thousands down to desperation and pauperism, must have the 
 most grievous effect upon the nation's morality. How deplo- 
 rable the condition, when the wages of children are looked to 
 as an indispensable supplement to the earnings of the father ! 
 It operates most successfully against the efforts of the educa- 
 tor, and against all social, moral, and intellectual improvement. 
 There is, however, a large class having the means, who 
 expend upon the filthy weed tobacco a sum more than sufficient 
 to pay for the education of their children. There are thousands 
 whose homes present the greatest apparent destitution, whose 
 children are squalid and wretched, and yet the tavern-bill will 
 amount to several shillings weekly. Many of the well-paid 
 operatives exhibit more of the external signs of poverty than 
 the poorly paid. If they are asked why the children are not 
 at school, the answer is, they are too poor. What class of 
 institutions can meet cases like these ? It has been shown by 
 the recent investigations, that the school accommodation now 
 provided, is 50 per cent, more than it was in 1833, and this is 
 
58 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 exclusive of the workhouse-schools : if the last were included, it 
 would raise the increase to 70 per cent. It is stated by some that 
 the present schools are capable of accommodating a larger pro- 
 portion of children than may reasonably be expected to attend. 
 Be this as it may, a very small number of those who ought 
 to attend school, are in actual and regular attendance. In the 
 United States, where universality of education has been so 
 repeatedly boasted, we find the same neglect wherever the 
 drinking habits have taken deep hold of the population. It is 
 reported, that " there are in Albany more than 1,500 children 
 growing up in idleness, insubordination, vice, and crime." 
 The authority from which this is quoted does not inform us of 
 the cause of this degradation, and of the irregular attendance 
 complained of in that state, but from other sources we obtain 
 a full explanation it arises from the disregard and profligacy 
 of parents. The same Report speaks of " the multitude of 
 children who will not give their attendance upon any school 
 with regularity, who wilfully refuse to be educated, or by 
 neglect of their parents and friends are roving the streets, 
 growing up in ignorance and depravity in the midst of schools 
 which open their doors on every hand to receive them." 
 In America labour is much more abundant, considerably better 
 paid, and subject to less fluctuation, and provisions are cheaper. 
 In scarcely any instances, as in some densely-peopled states, 
 are parents compelled to avail themselves of the labour of their 
 children to eke out their own scanty earnings, and yet we find 
 children deprived of education. Every careful inquiry, con- 
 ducted in this country, helps us to similar facts. A laborious 
 man, who has been employed for some years as a Temperance 
 Missionary, furnished some facts on this subject, the result of 
 personal investigation. In one large parish in the metropolis, 
 the parish of Shadwell, almost entirely filled with poor 
 inhabitants, out of nearly 3,000 children of a suitable age for 
 instruction, only 513 were attending Sabbath- schools. The 
 regions assigned by masters, mistresses, and superintendents 
 were, firstly, intemperance of parents ; secondly, poverty of 
 parents. The children thus thrown upon the streets, afford 
 material for the Fagins who tempt them to their haunts, and 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 59 
 
 initiate them in the arts of theft and fraud. In the same 
 district an inquiry was made by this Missionary, the result of 
 which was, that out of 885 persons, who entered one large gin- 
 shop in the same parish in the space of two hours and a 
 quarter, during the busy time of a Saturday evening, 339 
 were women, 28 were women with children at their breasts, 
 and 49 were apparently under twelve years of age. The 
 experience of those among the active voluntary agents of the 
 Temperance Societies, who have visited the abodes of the 
 poorer classes, and inquired carefully into their habits, will 
 corroborate this. It is no unusual thing to find men earning 
 high wages, neglecting their homes and children, and when 
 thrown out of work by the casualties of trade or by sickness, 
 having to resort to the workhouse, while others with scanty 
 receipts preserve a decent home, pay their way, and succeed 
 in giving an education to their children. 
 
 The Rev. James Sherman, of Surrey Chapel, London, 
 observes : 
 
 " An intelligent mechanic, who works in an extensive factory } 
 told me, that he feared one half of the mechanics in the metropolis 
 wholly neglected public worship ; and from all the investigation he 
 had been able to make, as to his brother workmen, this chiefly arose 
 from one cause, and that cause was addictedness to drinking ; I do 
 not say to drunkenness, but to drinking. In regard to education, 
 they cannot give it to their children, because the money is spent in 
 liquor." 
 
 There is ample evidence on this point, showing that 
 ignorance prevails to a great extent amongst many populations 
 silong with high wages. The Eeport of the Commissioners 
 appointed to inquire into the condition of children employed 
 in mines furnishes many facts on this subject. The results of 
 the inquiry were published in 1842. They are described as 
 " the offscouring of a peculiar, a mischievous, and an un- 
 lettered race." " They are physically and morally insulated by 
 the peculiarities of their employment, and become gregarflus. 
 They are placed in a situation the most unfavourable for any 
 advance in civilisation. Their ignorance does not arise from 
 want of means to pay for instruction. They can earn good 
 
QO AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 wages. A father with his three sons will get 2 10s. per 
 week. The labour of one ablebodied man will bring 23s. 
 per week. Eent is cheap, and coals are brought to the door. 
 The villages, in a sanitary point of view, are very wretched, 
 indicating a low sense of comfort. They are rapidly run up, 
 and even in our agricultural districts a collier's cottage may be 
 readily known by a heap of filth and rubbish without, and a 
 fierce bull-dog within." In one village described by Dr. 
 Mitchell, and containing 5,000 souls, there were thirty beer- 
 shops, but without a church or chapel, save a meeting-house 
 of the Wesleyans, who, says Dr. Leifchild, " have chiefly, and 
 in several instances exclusively, undertaken the charge of 
 providing religious instruction in the collieries. Considerable 
 moral amelioration has ensued through their agency, for which 
 they merit and have received from nearly all parties their meed 
 of praise." Among this population, then, we do not expect to 
 see schools or teachers in request. Mr. Somers, surgeon of 
 Bedworth, says, " We want the Temperance Society among us 
 very much ; they drink very much here. The colliers are 
 very ignorant : few can read or write. The colliers who earn 
 the most money do not keep their families better than those 
 who earn less." Charles Bleaden says, " A good many go to 
 the public-houses on Saturday night and get drunk. Some 
 spend all their money and the next week clam, for it ; that is, go 
 without victuals or get what they can from their companions 
 in the pit. Their wives and families must do what they can, 
 and are regularly starved." He adds, " We have always a 
 good dinner on Sunday ; we have teetotallers, but very few ; 
 none of them miners. We could not follow the work up 
 without beer. If one of that sort were to attempt to come 
 amongst us we should take him to the canal." The children 
 at the period of inquiry commenced work at the age of eight. 
 Beer-houses were licensed without restraint, and wages were 
 paid at them or at the truck-shops. They were paid in gangs, 
 and all their societies were held, as a matter of course, in the 
 same place. The consequence was that men, women, and 
 children were all contaminated with the vice of drunkenness. 
 Mr. Halliwell, of Wigan, says, " that the ale-houses are 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. gj 
 
 thronged by quite young boys on every Saturday night, who 
 crowd to them on Sunday morning as soon as the door is 
 open." " I say, that every collier gets drunk on Saturday if 
 he can afford it." There is a great mass of evidence, proving 
 the general ignorance of this population. One or two extracts 
 must suffice : 
 
 " Ann Eggley, aged eighteen : I am sure I don't know how 
 to spell my name I don't know my letters. I went a little 
 to a Sunday-school, but soon gave it over. I walk about and 
 get fresh air on Sundays. I never go to church or chapel. I 
 never heard of Christ at all ; nobody has ever told me about 
 him, nor have my father and mother ever taught me to pray. 
 I know no prayer I never pray I have been taught nothing 
 about such things." 
 
 This witness was from a colliery in Yorkshire ; the other 
 instances are from Warwickshire : 
 
 " Eliza Coats, aged eleven : I do nought on Sundays. I 
 don't know where I shall go if I am a bad girl. I never heard 
 of Jesus Christ. I think God made the world, but I don't 
 know where God is." 
 
 " William Cruchelow, aged sixteen : I can read the Bible 
 go to school five nights in the week. I don't know anything 
 of Moses. Never heard of France. I don't know what America 
 is. Never heard of Scotland nor Ireland. Can't tell how 
 many weeks there are in a year. There are twelve pence in a 
 shilling, and twenty shillings in a pound. There are eight 
 pints in a gallon of ale." 
 
 " Edward Whitehead, aged fifteen : I go to church three 
 times on Sundays. Do not know where Birmingham is nor 
 where London is. I never heard of Ireland. I have seen 
 Irishmen." 
 
 " William Butler, aged nineteen : I go to church on Sun- 
 days. I read the Testament, and sometimes in the Bible, but 
 no other book. I can say my catechism. We sometimes work 
 a few hours at a time. When there is no sale we get no 
 money, but only ale when we leave at eleven. I generally get 
 drunk on such occasions." 
 
 These examples are extracted, almost at random, from a 
 
g AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 voluminous Keport and from a great mass of evidence of a 
 similar kind. The condition of women has been generally 
 considered a test of civilisation here they are sunk to the 
 lowest depths of degradation; their want of chastity is prover- 
 bial, and the morals of the men bad. Amongst this population, 
 however, there is a remarkable absence of great crimes. It is 
 stated also in evidence, that like all ignorant people they have 
 great faith in quack medicines; and also that one-half the 
 children die before the age of three years, poisoned by the 
 nostrums of gin and opium. Their amusements are cruel 
 nearly all of them keep bull-dogs. It is described that some- 
 times in summer they will sit round the door of the public- 
 house in a great circle all on their hams, every man his bull- 
 dog between his knees, and in this posture they will drink and 
 smoke. Even in the more intelligent districts " the great and 
 growing reluctance among the colliers to spare their children 
 time for schooling" is spoken of. Very often the child will 
 only earn from lOd. to Is. 6d., and this is considered a suffi- 
 cient sum to justify the parent in keeping it from school even 
 when means of education are at hand. 
 
 It may be said that this is a peculiar community affording 
 no fair specimen of the poorer classes. That will be seen 
 as the inquiry proceeds. One thing is clearly proved, that 
 among this laborious and neglected population the means are 
 lavished upon sensual indulgences that would, if properly 
 employed, elevate their condition to one of comfort not exceeded 
 by any portion of the labouring classes. 
 
 In the Report of Mr. Tremenheere (1845) the Commissioner 
 for inquiring into the mining districts, we find a similar account 
 of a population in Monmouthshire and Brecon of 140,000 
 souls. And here again it is clearly shown how little high 
 wages contribute to domestic comfort or elevation of character, 
 among a population wedded to drinking and vicious pursuits. 
 That gentleman speaks of the notoriously great and general 
 increase of intemperance throughout the whole of an extensive 
 district comprising a population of 140,000 souls, since the 
 return of high wages in 1844. The public-houses were usually 
 full on Sunday evenings as at other convenient times ; and in 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. gg 
 
 one parish, out of a population of 7,000, there were stated to 
 be not less than 1,200 to 1,500 people frequenting the beer- 
 louses every Sunday evening ; and it was common for the con- 
 gregations, after evening service, to flock to the beer-houses : 
 
 Mr. Tremenheere says : 
 
 " The general state of things seems to be summed up in the 
 expression frequently used in answer to my inquiries on this point, 
 ' the more wages they get the more they spend in drink ;' and, un- 
 happily, it is also added, * the less they spend in the education of 
 their children ;' for, notwithstanding their own ample earnings, the 
 moment there is the least demand for their children's labour they 
 take them from school at the earliest age at which they can earn 
 anything, whereas when employment is slack they are content that 
 they should be left at school, provided it cost them little. Females 
 in many cases frequent the public-houses and beer-shops with the 
 men, or if they remain at home they often send their daughters for 
 spirits. With the participation of the female part of the population 
 in these demoralising habits, the prospect of amendment in this 
 particular seems remote." 
 
 The melancholy foreboding with which this description con- 
 cludes will be forced upon the reader when he reflects upon 
 the domestic relations of such a people. One thing is con- 
 clusive, that wherever a population is drawn together earning 
 high wages, and without due provision for their higher wants, 
 demoralisation will necessarily ensue. Their great gains become 
 an evil, encouraging a reckless career of dissipation : contamina- 
 tion is spread wherever the influence extends. One man out of 
 the district said, in relation to Glamorganshire : " It is almost 
 certain ruin to a young man to go there" (i.e. to Merthyr and 
 the neighbouring valleys). " Two of my sons went, and one 
 has turned out bad already. Some go, and they come back all 
 the worse for it." 
 
 It will be instructive to take in contrast the state of the 
 population in the Cwm Avon, Iron, Coal, Copper, Tin, and 
 Chemical Works, four miles from Neath, Glamorganshire. 
 The number of men, women, and children employed is about 
 4,500. The employers seem to have had a just and humane 
 
04 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 regard for the interest of the workpeople. The sanitary con- 
 dition of their dwellings is of the most favourable kind, 
 with suitable accommodation for the wants of families. The 
 arrangements more especially to be noticed here, are those 
 having immediate reference to the moral and religious im- 
 provement of the workpeople. There is a parish church, and 
 resident clergyman. The church has been improved by the 
 Company, which has also built several Dissenting chapels. 
 They are supported by the congregations attending them. 
 It is a part of their arrangements on engaging their men, 
 that those earning twelve shillings per week, contribute three- 
 farthings to the support of the school, for which payment he 
 is entitled to send all his children : it also admits the young 
 men to the Evening- school. If there is any deficiency, for 
 this sum does not cover all expenses, it is made up by the 
 Company. Mr. Joshua Williams says, " I believe there are 
 few children in the valley not under education. If we find 
 the children of any family not coming to school, we send to 
 inquire the reason. The attendance at the Church Sunday- 
 school is considerable ; the Dissenting chapels are also always 
 full." The Evening-school for young men is well attended, 
 and most of the men can read. Lectures on useful and enter- 
 taining subjects are encouraged ; singing is taught in classes, 
 and innocent and healthful sports are provided. 
 
 " The temptation of the public-house is as far as possible re- 
 moved. There are only two allowed upon the property of the 
 Company, which are also kept under strict regulations, and are 
 never open after 10 o'clock at night. Mr. Vigurs adds the re- 
 markable testimony (in most striking contrast with the degraded 
 sensuality of the people of the great works ' on the hills ' of Mon- 
 mouthshire and Brecon), that he does not remember to have seen, 
 during his long residence, a drunken man wandering about, or that 
 a case, arising out of drunkenness, was once brought before the 
 magistrates." 
 
 The results are described in other ways : 
 
 "The results of these judicious measures of moral government 
 were described to me to be such as they deserved to be ; the satis- 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 55 
 
 faction and advantage of the employers, and the comfort, quiet, 
 health, good morals, respectability, and intelligence of the work- 
 people. The Sunday is kept with much propriety ; no assemblages 
 of children idling about, are allowed ; they are expected to be either 
 with their parents, or at the Sunday-school. The parents receive 
 the earnings of the children till near the time when they think of 
 marrying. The effect of the contrary habit, so injurious wherever 
 it has taken root, and ending in the total loss of all domestic disci- 
 pline and the disruption of all family ties, appears, from what was 
 described to me, to be perfectly well known, and avoided. Instead 
 of allowing a son, as soon as he earns money enough to keep him, 
 to board where he likes, the habit here was, (as it was expressed) 
 that 'if a boy is wildly inclined, the father will not let him have 
 any money at all." 3 
 
 " Where so much money is earned, and the habits of the people 
 are so steady, the general standard of comfort is remarkably high, 
 and may be seen in the state of their cottages, their dress, their 
 food, and general appearance of health and well-being. Many were 
 said to have saved no inconsiderable sums of money." 
 
 This is important and valuable evidence, showing most 
 forcibly the good effects of wise regulations on the part of 
 employers. When the habits of such a population are con- 
 trasted with those of the Maestig Iron-works, (a description 
 of which has already been given,) the effect is most striking. 
 The wages in both cases are about the same, the difference 
 arising solely from the habits, and application of earnings. 
 How much of that difference may be explained by the fact, 
 that in one case every fourth house is a public-house, and in 
 the other everything has been done to lessen the facilities to 
 intemperance ! 
 
 In the Keport on Mines and Collieries, one of the Sub- 
 Commissioners, Mr. Waring, gives a contrast of two boys, one 
 with a " drunken father," and " an improvident slattern of a 
 mother," the other duly cared for ; both working at the same 
 employment. They earn about the same wages. One gets, 
 after his " day's work, whatever he can catch at home, and has 
 gone without food sometimes for three days." His appearance 
 is stunted, starveling, and miserable, and he has never known 
 
 F 
 
66 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES, ETC. 
 
 the luxury of a pair of stockings. The other boy is well fed, 
 and warm clothing is kept on his hack. His appearance is 
 better, and though younger than the other, he is a head 
 taller. 
 
 Dr. Scott Alison describes the condition of the highly paid 
 collier population of Tranent : " A man, his wife, and perhaps 
 two children, may earn 40s. a week ... If a stranger went 
 into the house of a collier he might exclaim, ' What extreme 
 wretchedness and destitution ! ' when, in fact, they had re- 
 ceived 30s. which before the Tuesday had all been squan- 
 dered." Dr. Sym describes the collier population of Ayr; 
 " Although the colliers have large wages, they are, from their 
 want of economy and their dissolute habits, uniformly in 
 poverty; and their families, though well fed, are miserably 
 clothed, ill-lodged, uneducated, and less industrious than the 
 families of the weavers?" Several contrasts are given in the 
 Sanitary Report from which the above is extracted, proving 
 that, without corresponding good habits, high wages are no 
 advantage to the population. 
 
 Those who will reflect upon the influence of circumstances 
 in the formation of habits, will be at no loss to discover, after 
 reading these facts, the cause of the demoralisation that pre- 
 vails among the juvenile population in these districts. Would 
 that it were confined to the mining population; but our sub- 
 sequent chapters will show, that like causes produce like 
 effects in the busy neighbourhoods of our large towns. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JUVENILE DEPRAVITY AN INQUIRY INTO ITS CAUSES THE FACTORY AND 
 AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 
 
 WE now pass on to the factory workers, among whom we 
 find the same evil agencies in active operation. In too many 
 instances children have to lahour at an early age, in order that 
 their scanty earnings may assist in meeting the expenses of a 
 home ; others, where no such necessity exists, are driven to 
 work while the parents spend their time in a state of listless 
 idleness and humiliating dependence, or indulgence in vicious 
 pleasures. Infant as well as female lahour has had the most 
 withering effect upon the morals of the community. All the 
 plausihle arguments used in favour of it, or rather in apology, 
 cannot reason away the facts which condemn it. The very 
 circumstance of taking females away from the care of their 
 homes arid the guardianship and education of their children, 
 renders it highly objectionable. Mothers are the earliest and 
 most influential instructors of youth, for evil or for good. How 
 can the maternal duties be discharged if those upon whom they 
 devolve are shut up in the factory twelve hours out of the 
 twenty-four? Nothing can compensate for the injuries inflicted 
 upon society by dooming women and children to labour. The 
 effects upon the physical and moral character of the population 
 have been most disastrous. Independently of its other mischiefs, 
 a premium has been offered to the profligacy of parents. Many, 
 instead of regarding a large family as an object of solicitude, 
 speculate upon it as a matter of profit. The Factory Bill was 
 not so much required to protect the child from the avarice of the 
 employer, although that was the cry of the popular declaimer, 
 as from the inhumanity of the parents. The former might 
 
 F 2 
 
gg AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 much more easily be brought under the influence of public 
 opinion, than the latter could be induced to forego the advan- 
 tages that accrued from the labour of their little ones. 
 
 The attempt to legislate on this subject was met with the 
 same hostility as all other attempts to bring our social evils 
 under control. It was urged, that any interference with the 
 arrangements existing between the employer and the employed 
 was not within the province of Government. Granting the 
 principle, the factory measure in relation to children was 
 needed as a protection to those who were too young and too 
 helpless to protect themselves ; and the first duty of Govern- 
 ment is protection. It was remarked by Sir James Graham in 
 the House of Commons, on March 15, 1844, that there were 
 35,000 children employed in calico-printing alone ; that they 
 were worked without limitation of time ; that they began to 
 labour at six years of age, and that even at that age they 
 worked sixteen hours a day ; and that even night labour 
 was not prohibited. Can it be expected that children thus 
 employed can avail themselves, even if disposed, of the tuition 
 of the school ? The Sabbath- school is invitingly open, and the 
 devoted teacher is in attendance ; but the children are worn out 
 in mind and body by six days' toil, and they sleep and lounge 
 about on the seventh. Lord Ashley, when speaking of the 
 employment of children in mines, says : " It is instructive to 
 observe, how we compel as it were vice and misery on the one 
 hand and endeavour to suppress them with the other ; but the 
 whole course of our manufacturing system tends to these 
 results ; you encourage children from the earliest and tenderest 
 years in these long, painful, and destructive occupations ; 
 when they have approached to manhood, they have outgrown 
 their employments, and they are turned upon the world with- 
 out moral, without professional education ; the business they 
 have learned avails them nothing ; to what can they turn their 
 hands for a maintenance ? The children, for instance, who 
 have been taught to make pins, having reached fourteen or 
 fifteen years of age are unfit to make pins any longer ; to pro- 
 cure an honest livelihood becomes to them almost impossible. 
 The governors of prisons, the relieving-officers, will tell you 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. QQ 
 
 iat the vicious resort to plunder and prostitution ; the rest 
 down." This presents, however, only one feature of the 
 
 lournful picture. The crowding together of both sexes and 
 ious ages, without any control or moral superintendence, has 
 
 ?en highly injurious. The Eev. G. S. Bull, who had great 
 >pportunities of becoming acquainted with the factory opera- 
 tives, gave in evidence : " I should say that they have very 
 little opportunity of learning good domestic habits. . . . The 
 parental influence is very small indeed over them. . . . They 
 
 see very little of their parents I have heard 
 
 such obscene conversation from little children as has quite 
 astonished me." And he adds, in another place : " The 
 parents oblige their children to go to the mill at a very early 
 age. I have known instances where they have every morning 
 pulled them out of bed for that purpose, and shook them while 
 they awoke." The most painful reflection arising from a con- 
 templation of this distressing subject is that the arm of the 
 law was required to protect the child from its parent. 
 
 Unnatural as it appears, this however was the case. When 
 
 e law came into operation restricting the hours, and deter- 
 mining the age at which children should be allowed to labour, 
 every artifice was resorted to, and every evasion attempted. 
 In the Eeports of the Inspectors this fact is repeatedly and 
 distinctly stated. In that of Mr. Leonard Horner, presented 
 to the Government in Nov. 1843, he says, that between the 
 8th of September and the 24th of November he interfered in 
 109 cases in 49 mills in different parts of his district, the cer- 
 tificates having been granted by 24 surgeons. 
 
 " He saw many certified as being 1 3 years of age who certainly 
 had not the ordinary strength and appearance of that age. 
 
 " That all those cases arose from carelessness on the part of the 
 surgeons, I am not prepared to affirm ; the surgeons are very liable 
 to be imposed upon, by the substitution of one child for another, and 
 other deceptions practised by the parents. The deceptions are 
 frequently carried to the length of forgery and falsification of ex- 
 tracts from baptismal registers. Within the last three months five 
 such cases have been detected ; the parties were prosecuted, con- 
 victed, and sent to the House of Correction for short periods." 
 
70 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 There has not been one Eeport where complaints of this 
 kind have not been made ; and it is well known to those who 
 are acquainted with the habits of the labouring classes in the 
 factory districts, that the parents make no effort to save the 
 children from labour, but look upon it as a source of income 
 of which it would be the greatest hardship to deprive them. 
 A lady who has taken a great interest in education and tem- 
 perance, states, that in Lanarkshire it is almost without excep- 
 tion the fact, that it is only the children of intemperate parents 
 who are sent to labour. 
 
 We proceed now to the evidence of the Childrens' Employ- 
 ment Commission, collected by Mr. Grainger. In the very out- 
 set of the Eeport he gives an instance of the extravagance of 
 mechanics when times are good. He quotes the case of a 
 journeyman gunmaker, " who during the last war, with the 
 aid of one or two lads, earned from 6 to 7 per week. This 
 man and his family lived in the most extravagant manner, 
 indulging sometimes in a broiled fowl for luncheon. It gene- 
 rally happened that the man borrowed money from his em- 
 ployer during the course of the week, and he allowed his 
 children to run in rags about the streets." Mr. Grainger gives 
 many valuable testimonies. A few examples must suffice. 
 Archdeacon Wilkins, of Nottingham, says, " indeed it is no 
 uncommon thing to find that the parents, the fathers in parti- 
 cular, not only do little or nothing towards the maintenance of 
 their family, but live idly upon the earnings of the younger 
 members." Mr. J. H. Smith of the same place, " Almost 
 all the families employed in the manufactures of Nottingham 
 are, with few exceptions, supported more or less by the labour 
 of their children." Mary Walters says, " Many families are 
 obliged to be supported by the labour of their children: pro- 
 visions are very high and wages very low." Similar state- 
 ments were made by many persons examined by Mr. Grainger. 
 Some broadly assert that children were sent to toil from the 
 necessities of their parents, the earnings being a supplemental 
 part of the wages ; others intimate that intemperate or impro- 
 vident habits created the necessity ; but all concur that the 
 labour of young persons, particularly of the female sex, was 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 7J 
 
 highly demoralising. Mr. Joseph Conway, of Birmingham, 
 thinks, " that the husband and children are frequently made 
 uncomfortable by the wife not knowing how to economise, and 
 properly prepare the food which they can afford, and that 
 this want of domestic comfort often drives the husband to the 
 alehouse." How, it may be asked, can this class of women 
 be expected to know anything of household matters? The 
 mother of the girl working in the factory was probably like 
 herself, ignorant, and condemned like her to some employ- 
 ment at the age when girls in better- conducted families 
 begin to acquire the knowledge necessary for the management 
 of a home, and which knowledge is rather the result of habit 
 than instruction. Mr. Joseph Corbett gives us, from his own 
 experience, an account which is at once felt to be the history 
 of thousands. Mr. Corbett is a working man and a zealous 
 friend to temperance. He takes an active and earnest interest 
 in the condition of his own class, of which he is an ornament. 
 He says, " Not one moment's happiness did I ever see under 
 my father's roof. All this dismal state of things I can dis- 
 tinctly trace to the entire absence of all training and instruc- 
 tion in my mother. My father became intemperate, and his 
 intemperance made her necessitous. She made many efforts 
 to abstain from shop work, but her pecuniary necessities forced 
 her back into the shop. The family was large, and every 
 moment required at home .... My mother's ignorance of 
 household duties; my father's irritability and intemperance; 
 the frightful poverty, the constant quarrelling; the per- 
 nicious example of my brothers and sisters; the bad effect 
 upon the future conduct of my brothers, one and all of us 
 being forced out to work so young that our feeble earnings 
 would produce only one shilling per week; cold and hunger 
 and the innumerable sufferings of my childhood crowd upon my 
 mind and overpower me. They keep alive a deep anxiety for 
 the emancipation of the thousands of families in this great 
 town (Birmingham) and neighbourhood who are in a similar 
 state of horrible misery." 
 
 This statement made a deep impression on the mind of the 
 Commissioner, as well it might, and beyond it examples need 
 
yg AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 not be cited. We turn to another class of the population 
 those employed in agriculture. In 1842 an investigation was 
 originated by the Poor-Law Commissioners, more especially in 
 relation to the women and children employed in the country 
 districts. In the Keport published the following year, there 
 is a full exposition of the evils of female and infant labour. 
 Girls begin at the age of puberty, and boys at 9 or 10, to 
 labour in the fields ; and both sexes are taken at a much 
 earlier age for occasional employments. A few extracts must 
 be made. Mr. Travers, of Blandford, Devonshire, describes 
 the work as improper for women, as it brings them into inter- 
 course with men, and leads to improper conversation and loose 
 habits. He keeps his own sons away in consequence of the 
 demoralising influence, and objects to the employment of boys 
 where there are women. He speaks strongly to the fact, that 
 when girls go to labour in the fields for two or three years 
 they become unfit for servants, and impatient of the restraint 
 which an attention to domestic duties would impose. He 
 suggests the desirableness of keeping girls out of the fields 
 altogether. 
 
 H. N. Tilset, Esq., of North Petherton, Surgeon, complains 
 that, 
 
 " The morality of the women thus engaged is mostly low, and 
 their language is often most filthy and disgusting. There is no 
 great disposition among them to attend to religious instruction, and 
 when an exception happens, it is frequently frustrated by want of 
 proper clothing, 
 
 Mr. Alfred Austin, one of the Assistant- Commissioners, 
 sums up at great length a mass of similar evidence. He 
 describes the women of this class as in a state of ignorance 
 affecting the most ordinary wants of their families. They are 
 ignorant of cooking and needlework, except where they have 
 been fortunate enough to live in service before getting married. 
 They are unacquainted with all that is necessary to promote 
 the comfort and welfare of a home. The result is, that the 
 daughters similarly brought up are slatternly and ignorant, 
 and from being unfit for service are driven into the fields to 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 73 
 
 labour. Young children are left at home under very inade- 
 quate conduct and almost without restraint, and are liable to 
 accidents, besides which their passions are left to play at 
 will, and to expand into every lawless form. He states, that 
 
 " One woman, accustomed all her life to work in the fields, 
 and a most excellent specimen of her class, industrious, careful, 
 and thriving, and having moreover a large family, told me ' I 
 have always left my children to themselves, and, God be praised ! 
 nothing has ever happened to them, though I have thought it 
 dangerous. I have many a time come home, and have thought it 
 a mercy to find nothing has happened to them/ " 
 
 The unfortunate man who marries a woman of this class 
 suffers also ; there is neither order nor comfort in the home, 
 nor economy in the expenditure of his scanty means. His 
 meals are irregular and ill-prepared, and his own fireside pre- 
 sents so few attractions that he is tempted to the beer-house. 
 
 This story is similar in all the main features to that which 
 has already been given from the practical experience of Joseph 
 Corbett. But what have the drinking habits to do with the 
 excessive toil, extreme poverty, and ignorance of this popu- 
 lation? We find evidence sufficient to satisfy the candid 
 inquirer that even among this ill -paid class, the sums spent 
 upon drink would, if properly applied, alter their condition 
 materially for the better. Mr. Austin tells us, that 
 
 " In some parts of the agricultural counties, part of the wages of 
 men and women is paid in cider, and also of boys, from the earliest 
 age at which they begin to work. A man has three or four pints 
 of cider a day, a woman half that quantity. The man's cider is 
 reckoned worth from Is. 3d. to Is. 6d. a week." 
 
 Mr. Somers of Othery, condemns this practice, and has 
 discontinued it. He says, that the habits of drinking, which 
 are unhappily so prevalent among that class, arise in a great 
 measure from the practice of paying wages partly in cider; 
 in fact, he says that 
 
 "The practice of giving a young man cider in lieu of higher 
 wages, is the great cause of the prevalence of the vice of drunken- 
 
74 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 ness in these counties. As soon as a boy begins to work at nine 
 years old, he is encouraged to drink by the farmer ; and from that 
 time the habit gains ground, and it is nearly impossible to eradicate 
 it afterwards." 
 
 The Eev. S. G. Osborne, Dorsetshire, in a letter to the 
 Commissioners, traces the 
 
 " Immorality of the labeuring classes to defective education, the 
 want of means to preserve decency in their families, and the tempta- 
 tions to intemperance which are to be found in the manner in which 
 the beer-shop keepers, unchecked by legal interference, offer at every 
 hour of the day, and almost every hour of the night, all the induce- 
 ments likely to draw the labourer from home, and to fix him in a 
 love of drink and bad company. I trace much of the crime he 
 commits to absolute want." 
 
 In another place : 
 
 " I once spoke to a rather wealthy farmer on the impropriety of 
 giving so much beer to the young of both sexes employed in the 
 hay-fields, and the allowing unchecked the grossness of their con- 
 versation, and the indecency of many of their acts. His answer 
 was to this effect : * Those young ones would never stick to their 
 work if it was not for the beer I find them and the fun they make 
 for themselves.' I have no hesitation in affirming that field-work 
 for women, let it be overlooked how it may, is liable to great moral 
 abuse ; that little overlooked, as it mostly is, it is one of the greatest 
 sources of immorality that I know." 
 
 Daniel Cox, of Othery, says, " Boys get their half-pints of 
 cider a day nearly always ;" and George Small, of the same 
 place, says, that " Women are often intoxicated at the end of 
 the day; and young men and women get together in a very 
 improper way." 
 
 When we look at the utter ignorance of mothers of this 
 class, we cease to wonder at the frightful infant mortality, 
 which is the least evil attendant upon this condition. One- 
 half of the children dying before the age of five years, is a 
 sufficient indication of the unfavourable physical circumstances 
 to which they are subject. But the moral evils are far more 
 appalling. As an instance we may name the practice of 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 75 
 
 administering narcotic drugs to children, and which prevails 
 so extensively in many of the manufacturing towns. The 
 custom is thus described by Dr. Lyon Playfair, who made it 
 a subject of special investigation when engaged in similar 
 inquiries among the Lancashire population. The mother has 
 to go to a mill to her employment, and leaves her child 
 at home under the care of some little girl, or other very 
 imperfect superintendence. In order that the child may be 
 as little troublesome as possible, a dose of " quietness (a 
 preparation of opium) is given to it, and it dozes away its 
 hours until the return of the mother at mid- day : another 
 dose is then given to it, to carry it safely through until the 
 evening. The evening brings its duties and fatigue for the 
 parent, and as she must sleep through the night to enable her 
 to follow her labour next day, the child has again given to it 
 a portion of this horrible mixture. Thus the poor babe is 
 supplied two or three times a day with a deadly drug. The 
 vital energies are repressed, the growth checked, and disease in- 
 duced. Vast numbers are relieved from the suffering by early 
 death. Many continue to linger out a wretched existence, and 
 are overtaken at the period when the struggle for the means 
 of subsistence ought to commence, by premature decrepitude. 
 Very few escape the most serious consequences. The use of 
 these stupifying drugs induces a morbid condition of body 
 and a depraved appetite that food will not satisfy ; and thus 
 we have the children of these districts rushing with the greatest 
 avidity to intoxicating drinks at the tenderest age, and be- 
 coming inveterate drunkards even at the age of twenty or 
 twenty- one. "It is curious," one witness observes, " to see 
 the children who come to the shops to purchase these drugs ; 
 they know the bottle and stretch out their hand for it, and 
 when they get it drink it as eagerly as the drunkard does his 
 glass." In the Registrar- General's Eeport, for 1842, thirty- 
 nine deaths are registered as acknowledged cases of poisoning 
 by an overdose of opium. Among this neglected population, 
 there are generations of drunkards ; the power of self-govern- 
 ment is almost entirely lost, and they become incapable of 
 resisting the temptations to excess whenever the means of 
 
7(5 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 indulgence are placed within their reach. All moral influences 
 are lost upon them, and there would appear no way of weaning 
 them from the destructive habits of drinking but that of placing 
 them under restraint. They are unquestionably moral patients, 
 labouring under disease, upon whom all arguments and remon- 
 strance are lost. 
 
 The hereditary predisposition to vice and crime has been 
 too much overlooked. Attention has been directed to the 
 transmission of certain forms of insanity ; and intemperance 
 has already been recognised by the best authorities as one 
 powerful producing cause of mental affections. Dr. John 
 Reid, in a work on " Hypochondriasis," says : " If the infant 
 of an intemperate mother so far escape as to be ushered alive 
 into the world, little physical vigour or intellectual health can 
 be expected from a human being whose constitution has been 
 made to know the influence of alcohol before it was exposed 
 even to that of air." Dr. Browne, in his work on " Hereditary 
 Insanity," bears the same testimony : " The drunkard injures 
 and enfeebles his own nervous system and entails a sin upon 
 his family/' Facts and statistics incontestably prove the cor- 
 rectness of these opinions. In Paris, out of 1,200 idiots 
 1,100 had drunken parents. Dr. Corsellis referred one- third 
 of the cases in theWakefield Lunatic Asylum to intemperance. 
 Dr. Poole, of Montrose, gives the proportion as one in twenty- 
 four ; and Dr. Prichard states, that in an Asylum at Liverpool, 
 257 out of 495 patients had become insane through intem- 
 perance. The best writers on Insanity, unite in tracing in- 
 temperance as one of the most influential causes of mental 
 affections. Dr. Caldwell says : 
 
 " Every constitutional quality, whether good or bad, may descend 
 by inheritance from parent to child. A long continued habit of 
 drunkenness becomes as essentially constitutional as a pre- disposition 
 to gout or pulmonary consumption. This increases in a manifold 
 degree the responsibility of parents in relation to temperance. 
 By habits of intemperance, they not only degrade and ruin them- 
 selves, but transmit the elements of like degradation and ruin to 
 their posterity. In hundreds and thousands of instances, parents 
 having had children born to them while their habits were temperate, 
 have afterwards become intemperate, and had other children subse- 
 quently born. In such cases it is matter of notoriety, that the 
 

 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 77 
 
 younger children have become addicted to the practice of intoxica- 
 tion much more frequently than the elder, in the proportion of five 
 to one." 
 
 Dr. George Kobinson, Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence 
 to the Medical-school, Newcastle, in a valuable paper on the 
 connection between Intemperance and Insanity, gives the 
 following Table : 
 
 Number of cases in which hereditary predisposition was traced 2,526 
 
 Number of cases caused by intemperance .... 1,799 
 
 Number caused by vice and sensuality 551 
 
 Number induced by various moral causes ; viz., poverty, grief, 
 
 disappointment, sudden fright, etc 2,969 
 
 Number caused by study and intense mental excitement . 358 
 
 Number caused by religious anxiety and excitement . . 808 
 Number caused by bodily disorder (including 367 puerperal 
 
 cases) 4 . . * 3,187 
 
 Number of cases in which the cause was unknown . , * 2,335 
 Total number of cases returned ..*... 12,007 
 
 Proportion per cent, ascribed to intemperance . . . 17 '9 7 
 
 Proportion per cent, ascribed to intemperance and vice . . 19*57 
 
 He very justly remarks that many of the cases put down 
 as unknown might be fairly attributed to various forms of 
 intemperance. Unquestionably a considerable proportion of 
 those classified as arising from hereditary predisposition might 
 be traced to intemperate habits. If intemperance operates in 
 producing insanity to so great an extent, is it not equally 
 probable that the moral obliquity from which springs so much 
 depravity and crime arises from imperfectly- developed or 
 diseased brains the result of systematic drunkenness and de- 
 bauchery in the parents ? There are many who, falling short 
 of absolute insanity, have weak perceptions and feeble under- 
 standings. Intemperance and insanity, the great curses of 
 civilisation, not only act and react upon each other, but have 
 much to do with the parentage of crime and poverty, and the 
 multitude of evils with which they are ever associated. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GENERAL CONDITION OF THE POORER CLASSES MEANS SPENT IN 
 DRINK PRISON AND POLICE STATISTICS. 
 
 IT must not be supposed that the evils here described are 
 confined to the classes whose condition we have been glancing 
 at; they extend to all, even the better-paid operatives and 
 mechanics. If we are told that the poverty of the parents 
 prevents children being sent to school, or interferes with their 
 ability to train them in decent habits of self-respect, the 
 answer is that on a most moderate computation the working 
 classes spend upon intoxicating drinks an annual sum of 
 twenty-six millions of money. The Rev. John Clay gives a 
 Table, in his Twenty-fourth Eeport, showing the average 
 earnings of 181 men employed in one establishment, and the 
 weekly expenditure in drink, by which it appears that 22'4 per 
 cent, of the wages earned by these men is spent in the grati- 
 fication of this propensity. See Table 12. 
 
 Some few years ago a Committee of operatives in Ashton- 
 Under-Lyne, assisted Mr. Coulthart, one of the principal 
 bankers in the town, in an inquiry of much interest and im- 
 portance. It was an attempt to ascertain the amount spent by 
 the cotton operatives in various articles of consumption, and 
 those were brought into comparison with the expenditure in 
 drink; from which it appeared that while 14,000 is spent 
 annually in intoxicating liquors, only 2,000 is spent in edu- 
 cation, and 2,410 deposited in the Savings Bank. 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 79 
 
 The following are the items : 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Food > 185,720 
 
 Clothing 26,410 
 
 
 8,180 
 
 Education 
 
 2,220 
 14,430 
 
 Medicine and Medical advice 
 
 6,160 
 2,140 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 288,750 
 
 In the twenty- second Keport of the Preston House of Cor- 
 rection, the Rev. J. Clay speaks as follows : 
 
 " The head and front of the direct causes of moral disorder is now, 
 as it has been long, DRUNKENNESS. Men and women are led into 
 further crime, by the previous crime of intoxication, and children are 
 exposed to every demoralising influence by the neglect of their 
 drunken parents. 
 
 To this may be added the testimony of Mr. Wontner, a 
 man of great experience, who says : 
 
 The cases of juvenile offenders from nine to thirteen years of age, 
 arise partly from the difficulties of obtaining employment for children 
 of those ages, partly from the want of the power of superintendence 
 of parents, who being in employment themselves have not the power 
 to look after their children, and in a far greater proportion from the 
 criminal neglect and example of parents. 
 
 On looking over the Eegistry of the Juvenile Offenders kept 
 in the Westminster Bridewell, it was found that in 1847, 
 seven-eights of those under seventeen years of age had no 
 occupation; and in 1848, 950 out of 1040 convicted, had 
 not been brought up to any employment. 
 
 Mr. Clay, who has been repeatedly referred to, gives, in the 
 Report for 1840, a few cases coming under his own notice, as 
 he says, by way of " exhibiting examples of the unhappy cir- 
 cumstances which nurture and encourage demoralisation." He 
 adds, they only form a small portion of those passing under 
 his care during the year : 
 
 E. W., aged 17. Fourth commitment. Parents separated the 
 
8Q AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 mother having lived in adultery, and the father having been twice in 
 prison. 
 
 J. F., aged 14. Father dead. Mother has three illegitimate 
 children. 
 
 J. T. C., aged 16. Says, "Father gets drunk every Saturday-- 
 night, and beats my mother and me, because I'm a chance child. I 
 was five years old when my mother married my stepfather." 
 
 T. C., aged 12. Charged with setting fire to a factory. Mother 
 dead. Father in America. Quite insensible of the enormity of his 
 offence. 
 
 R. N., aged 15. Second offence. Father often imprisoned for 
 drunkenness and neglect of family ; and would not let prisoner 
 remain at home because he could not get work. 
 
 Sarah T., aged 15. Daughter of a canal boatman. Assisted her 
 father, and after his death, for a short time, her mother, in the 
 management of the boat. Mother went to live with an elder 
 daughter ; and prisoner hired herself to a canal boatman to steer and 
 drive the horse. Never was in a place of worship. Was instigated 
 to her offence by the boatman. 
 
 J. H., aged 15. Fourth offence. Mother and stepfather live 
 separate. 
 
 W. B., aged 13. Father died in Lancaster Castle while under- 
 going a second imprisonment for base coin. Mother a profligate, 
 and now imprisoned for a similar offence. 
 
 H. F., aged 16. Sixth offence. Illegitimate. "Mother first 
 'ticed him to steal flour from the mill at Moulden Water." 
 
 W. B., aged 15. Mother dead twelve years. Deserted by his 
 father four years ago. 
 
 T. W., aged 17. His father, who has eight children, a drunkard, 
 and now in prison for poaching. 
 
 J. C., aged 17. Both parents drunkards, and father turned him 
 out of doors. 
 
 B. G. H., aged 14. Discharged from the factory for bathing in 
 the lodge. Father told him to go about his business if he could get 
 no work. Father has taken to drinking lately ; always treated him 
 ill, and said he was not his. 
 
 T. R., aged 15. Father a drunken profligate, and has been 
 frequently imprisoned ; has seven children. 
 
 B. C., aged 15. Stepfather sent him to steal onions. 
 R. N., aged 17. Third commitment. Parents addicted to drink- 
 ing. " Father drunk for weeks together." 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY s j 
 
 W. W., aged 16. Second commitment. "Stepmother will not 
 let him live at home." 
 
 J. W., aged 16. Father a soldier abroad. Mother deserted him 
 in infancy. 
 
 J. W., aged 15. Mother dead. Father in prison. 
 
 W. S., aged 15. Too late at his work on the morning of his 
 offence, and durst not go home for fear of his father "licking him." 
 
 M. C., aged 14. Mother dead six months ago. Stepfather turned 
 him out of doors as soon as he (prisoner) became unemployed. 
 
 J. B., aged 14. Illegitimate. Mother, after his birth, married 
 his stepfather, and they have since separated. " I did not know 
 that I had a mother until about two years ago, when I began to get 
 some wages at the factory, and then she fetched me from the old 
 woman who had nursed me." 
 
 J. M'C., aged 16. Of Irish parents in Manchester. Father a 
 " navigator." Left to his own guidance from the earliest period he 
 can recollect. " Mother was honest, but father encouraged me to 
 steal ; he was a great drunkard, and when in liquor he used to beat 
 me and my mother with anything he could lay hold of. Parents 
 never went to any place of worship ; and I never was in one until I 
 was in this chapel. I turned a wheel for a tobacconist three years 
 then he broke ; and after I had been idle for three or four weeks, 
 my father turned me out of doors." (Tried at the August Sessions 
 for a fourth offence, and transported.} 
 
 Mr. William Clark, Inspector of the Poor of Aberdeen, says 
 " In more than half the cases in which parochial relief is applied 
 for, the necessity for it often arises from dissipated habits, either of 
 the parties themselves, or of their parents, who ought to support 
 them. The money which we pay away in relief is often taken at 
 once to the whiskey-shop. It often happens that the mother of a 
 number of children expends the allowance in whiskey, commits a 
 breach of the peace, and is sent to prison. The children are thus 
 thrown on our hands, and we are frequently obliged to pay a second 
 time for their support in the Industrial school. The offence of de- 
 serting wives and children is much on the increase. In most cases 
 I could show the offender is wasting upon drink more than sufficient 
 to support his family." 
 
 The Twelfth Report of the Inspectors of Prisons furnishes 
 several instances equally striking. The question is asked of a 
 number of prisoners in the Edinburgh Gaol, "What do you 
 assign as the cause of your first falling into error ? "- 
 "Drink ! " is almost invariably the answer. The cases now 
 quoted are those under twenty years of age : 
 
 G 
 
AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 1 
 
 Offence 
 
 How many 
 times pre- 
 viously in 
 Prison. 
 
 Parents 
 alive. 
 
 Did you when 
 young attend any 
 and what School, 
 and how long ? 
 
 At what 
 age did you 
 commence 
 Work? 
 
 Cause of 
 First 
 Offence. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 19 
 
 Assault 
 
 ... 
 
 Mother. 
 
 Castlewynd 2 yrs. 
 2 years Sabbath. 
 
 14 
 
 Drink. 
 
 It would be much better 
 not to license houses to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 sell drink, than to put 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 people in prison for 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 getting drunk. 
 
 15 
 
 Theft. 
 
 ... 
 
 Both. 
 
 5 years. 
 
 12 
 
 Bad 
 Company. 
 
 
 17 
 
 Theft. 
 
 3 
 
 Mother. 
 
 4 years. 
 
 14 
 
 ... 
 
 My mother drinks. She 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 put me and my brother 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 out of the house : -were 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 forced to steal. 
 
 15 
 
 Theft. 
 
 2 
 
 Mother and 
 Step- father. 
 
 2 years. 
 
 8 
 
 ... 
 
 One brother and two 
 younger sisters. 
 
 16 
 
 Theft. 
 
 11 
 
 Both. 
 
 2 years. 
 
 ... 
 
 
 Father ran away mother 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 begs. 
 
 16 
 
 Theft. 
 
 ... 
 
 Neither. 
 
 None. 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 This boy appears silly. 
 
 12 
 
 Theft. 
 
 ... 
 
 Both. 
 
 None. 
 
 
 ... 
 
 One sister and one brother 
 
 17 
 
 Theft. 
 
 ... 
 
 Both. 
 
 4 years day, 
 4 years Sabbath. 
 
 14 
 
 
 younger. 
 Four brothers and one 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 sister younger. Father 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and mother both drink. 
 
 15 
 
 Theft. 
 
 ... 
 
 Both. 
 
 2 years. 
 
 14 
 
 ... 
 
 One brother and one sis- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ter younger. Father 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 drinks. 
 
 13 
 
 Theft. 
 
 3 
 
 Both. 
 
 never at school. 
 
 None. 
 
 ... 
 
 Father and mother both 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 drink, and are sent to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 prison. 
 
 10f 
 
 Theft 
 
 4 
 
 Both. 
 
 6 months. 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 
 9 
 
 Theft. 
 
 2 
 
 Both. 
 
 None. 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 I do nothing but steal. I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 do not stay at home. I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 stop in a lodging-house 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 kept by a woman named. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 P.S. Get agood bed for 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2d., worse for ld. She 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 would not turn out those 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 she knew, although they 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 had no money. I have 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 seen more than 20 hoys 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 about my own age, or a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 little older, stopping in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 this house, and some- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 times some girls, perhaps 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 seven, all, both boys anc 
 girls, live by stealing or 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 begging; sometimes we 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 bring the things we stea 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 to the house, and she 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tells the bigger lasses to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 sell them: will give us 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 meat when we run short 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of money. I have three 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 brothers older and one 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 sister younger than my- 
 
 18 
 
 Assault 
 and 
 
 18 
 
 Father. 
 
 5 years. 
 
 13 
 
 Drink. 
 
 self. 
 Drink and evil company. 
 
 
 robbery. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 Theft. 
 
 4 
 
 Both. 
 
 6 months. 
 
 12 
 
 Drink. 
 
 Drink and bad company. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 My mother is insane, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and my father drinks. 
 
 * This boy's father has been upwards of twenty times in prison. He is now in 
 the general prison. His mother has been three times in prison, 
 f Father has been several times in prison. One brother in general prison. A 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. gg 
 
 The whole of the Table from which these cases are extracted 
 is so instructive, that it is given entire in the Appendix. It 
 was made at the request of one of the Edinburgh Magistrates. 
 The Twelfth Eeport of the Inspectors of Prisons contains a 
 statement made by the Superintendent of Police at Aberdeen : 
 
 " There are ten bad females in Aberdeen, who commit many 
 offences and give great trouble to the Police. Three of these families 
 are particularly distinguished for their misconduct. The parents of 
 each are of a very bad character. They are seldom sober, and some- 
 times desert their children for weeks together and go off into the 
 country. In each of these three families there are five or six children. 
 These children spend half their time in the watch-house. Although 
 so very young they are hardened in vice, owing to the bad example of 
 parents* and the wretched manner in which they have been brought 
 up. The two oldest girls, who are not more than thirteen or fourteen 
 years old, are already regular prostitutes, and are sometimes brought 
 to the Police-office quite drunk. The children have been repeatedly 
 sent to the House of Refuge or Industrial School, but they have 
 been taken away again by their parents in order that they might be 
 employed in begging. In many cases children are sent out by their 
 parents to steal as well as to beg, as has often been clearly proved. 
 I believe that the parents of each of these families are quite able 
 to maintain their children if they would remain sober." 
 
 These facts lead to a painful, but necessary inquiry. It is 
 quite clear that parents spend upon drink and other self- 
 indulgences, the money that would purchase home comforts 
 and pay for the education of their children. They thus become 
 agents in the demoralisation of their offspring. But they are 
 in a great many instances the active promoters, the actual 
 inciters to crime. They send the children out to commit 
 crime. Experience has shown, that when the passion for 
 stimulating drinks is once produced, there is no folly, no 
 madness, no cruelty or barbarity that may not be perpe- 
 trated under its influence. No being is so savage and ruth- 
 less as the man debased by drink. The mother of a happy 
 home, watching the slumbers of her darling babe, and de- 
 riving her principal happiness from the hopes that child has 
 awakened in her heart, may well be pardoned for incredulity 
 
 second brother several times in prison, now a soldier. A sister, eighteen 
 years of age, has been on the streets for the last four years, and several times 
 in prison; now married to a man who has been in prison sixteen times. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 on a subject like this. But she knows nothing of the dark 
 homes and darker minds, that gather in guilt and self-aban- 
 donment in the hovels of our large towns. She cannot 
 understand the utter desolation of those who have no enjoy- 
 ment but in the delirium of intoxication. Would that we 
 could draw aside the mantle that every evening throws over 
 our busy cities, and take our smiling and happy mothers to 
 look upon those dismal dens where vice and misery hold their 
 court together. It might banish the smile for a season, and 
 throw shadows over the brightness of many a coming day. 
 But it would arouse them to effort, in behalf of the thousands 
 of young, tender, and as yet, innocent beings, around whose 
 entrance into life dark clouds lour and threaten. At least, 
 they would learn how daily familiarity with want and its grim 
 associates can extinguish a feeling, the most unselfish, the 
 most holy, the least earthly of all human affections a 
 mother's love. 
 
 We pass to matter of fact. Mr. Hill, in his Eeport on the 
 Prisons in Scotland, says, " To such an extent is the selfish 
 principle predominant in some parents, that applications have 
 been made to a person, believed by the parties to have influence 
 with the Kecorder of one of our large towns, to obtain sen- 
 tences of transportation in the cases of young persons, for the 
 avowed purpose of relieving the parents of the further cost of 
 their support." In certain districts of the country, mothers are 
 known to dose their children with narcotic drugs, inflicting a 
 lingering death, in order to procure a few pounds from a burial 
 club in which the child has been insured. Can anything be 
 imagined more horrible ? and yet it is merciful to the act of 
 inciting a child to theft, or prostitution. In most instances, 
 where these frightful cases have been brought home to the 
 wretched parents, they have been discovered to be drunkards. 
 In the year 1846, a father was tried at the York Assizes for 
 the murder of his child, and on the trial it was proved that the 
 act was committed to procure fifty shillings from a burial club. 
 One witness took oath that the father had said, in his hearing, 
 that he had another child whose death would bring him fifty 
 shillings, and two others, who, when they died, would bring 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. $5 
 
 him five pounds a piece. At the Autumn Assizes in 1848, a 
 woman was tried for the murder of her two children, and no 
 motive could be assigned for the commission of the crime but 
 the desire to appropriate the money due from the burial 
 society in case of death. In Warrington, about the same time, 
 a coroner's inquest returned a verdict of wilful murder against 
 a woman for poisoning her husband, it having been proved 
 that she had received 20 from different burial societies since 
 his death. In the Reports of the Health of Towns Commis- 
 sion several instances are given, where parents are found 
 speculating upon the chances of life of their children that 
 happen to be enrolled in burial clubs. A lady had offered to 
 a young woman, whom she was anxious to engage as a wet 
 nurse, to send a medical man to a child that was ill ; the reply 
 of the nurse was, " Oh, never mind, ma'am ; it 's in two 
 burial clubs." Those who watch carefully the Police-offices 
 and criminal courts will be able to trace, in the cases brought 
 before them, the connection betwixt intemperance and these 
 atrocities. Two of the cases named above were clearly trace- 
 able to intemperate habits ; in the others, the habits of the 
 guilty party did not transpire. 
 
 A vicious disposition or depraved taste, unconnected by 
 any subsequent training, soon developes itself in the pursuits. 
 There is a disposition to cruelty, and an insensibility to suffer- 
 ing. In cases of accident or fire, crowds of these children 
 even of the tenderest years are soon brought together. In the 
 instances of riots the large proportion of the crowd are mere 
 boys. If they see a drunkard or an imbecile in the street 
 they find delight in tormenting him, and utter shouts of 
 laughter at his frantic efforts to avenge the insult or escape from 
 his tormentors. In cases of public executions they have a 
 grand treat. Mr. C. Gilpin, who has devoted the energies of 
 his practical and earnest mind to efforts for the abolition of 
 capital punishments, communicated the following statement to 
 the author. He had on one occasion made extraordinary 
 exertions to save the life of a wretched girl, and he describes 
 his visit to Newgate on the Sunday evening, where he had 
 
gg AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 been to ascertain if a reprieve had been received : " On 
 approaching the prison I was astonished to find that even 
 at that early hour, not quite seven o'clock, many had collected 
 about the Debtor's door to ensure good places to see the 
 spectacle which was to be exhibited on the morrow. A 
 large proportion of those I saw were young people, almost 
 children in years, but old in vice, profligacy, and debauchery. 
 These purposed staying in the street during the night to be 
 ready for the morning's show. I spoke to several, and it was 
 evident they all looked to the ' hanging' as they would to a 
 prize-fight or a bull-bait, only that the former was much more 
 attractive and exciting. The lewd, obscene, and filthy con- 
 versation of these young expectants of the moral lesson 
 that was about to be taught by a Christian Government 
 would have convinced me, had I needed such conviction, 
 that were we desirous of promoting instead of checking the 
 demoralisation of our people, we could not devise a better 
 means to secure the end than by public exhibitions of this 
 kind." This testimony, coming from a man of enlarged expe- 
 rience, is amply supported by others who have paid attention 
 to this important subject. While we rejoice, then, at the 
 gradual decline of that ferocious spirit which once characterised 
 English mobs, and which kept alive prize-fights, bull and 
 badger-baits, and other brutal amusements ; while we see that 
 public feeling has shamed from the higher ranks the practice of 
 duelling, we deplore the continuance of a system of vindictive 
 punishment, which panders to the worst passions of human 
 nature, and stimulates the very feelings that it is the object of 
 law and government to repress. The people can never be taught 
 to place a high value upon human life until rulers respect it. 
 The effects of executions are such as might be expected. They 
 encourage violent passions, and promote the perpetration of 
 crimes of violence. The following statement, made by Mr. 
 Roberts of Bristol, who for many years visited criminals under 
 sentence of death, speaks more eloquently than volumes of 
 reasoning. He found that out of 167 whom he thus visited 
 165 had attended previous executions. It is well-known to 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. gy 
 
 the police, that the pickpockets and depredators of every class 
 expect to reap a harvest from the crowds assembled at every 
 execution ; so much for the example of capital punishments. 
 
 It is a melancholy fact, too, but one for which the reader 
 will be qutie prepared, that on the occasions when the law reads 
 so solemn a lesson, the public-houses and gin-shops are filled 
 with those for whose especial benefit the hangman performs 
 the duties of his horrid office. 
 
 We may encourage the hope that the intelligence of the 
 country, which is now directed very strongly to improved 
 modes of prison discipline, will soon cry down the system of 
 vindictive punishments of all kinds, and that the gibbet will 
 take its place among the other barbarisms of a past age 
 the rack, the pillory, and the whipping-post. Those only who 
 have made it a duty, a painful and arduous one it is truly, 
 to trace the sources of demoralisation, can fully appreciate 
 the effect of these various causes in blunting the young sensi- 
 bilities and imbruting the juvenile population. Among the 
 benignant indications of the time, is the growing indisposition 
 of juries to convict in cases where conviction will be followed 
 by death. It may be sometimes wise, it is not always so, for 
 governments to permit public opinion to enforce concession to 
 its demands. 
 
 The following cases are taken from the Police Reports in the 
 Times newspaper during three months. They show the con- 
 nection between drinking habits and various forms of depravity. 
 They afford a fair sample, on the whole, of the cases on which 
 our magistrates have to adjudicate :* 
 
 * (Times, Dec. 14, 1847.) WORSHIP-STREET. Jane Gough, a young woman, 
 was charged with having, by her negligent and drunken conduct, caused the 
 death of her male infant, four weeks old. 
 
 Inspector Gravestock stated, that the prisoner, who was very much intoxi- 
 cated, was brought to the station-house at a late hour on Saturday-night, with 
 an infant in her arms, and as she was not in a state to be intrusted with it, he 
 sent the child to the workhouse, and detained the prisoner upon the charge of 
 being drunk and incapable of taking care of herself. On the following morning 
 the infant was sent back by the workhouse authorities, and, as she had then 
 recovered from the effects of her intoxication, it was restored to the prisoner, 
 who was then liberated upon her own recognisance to meet the charge on the 
 Monday. Between nine and ten o'clock that morning she surrendered herself 
 at the station in discharge of her recognisance, but without the child, for the 
 absence of which she accounted by stating, that upon awaking that morning at 
 her lodgings in Radnor-street, St. Luke's, she put out her hand to feel for the 
 
g AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 If we take up any of the Eeports of our Benevolent Institu- 
 tions we are startled by similar statements, to those given in 
 
 infant, which had been previously lying at her side, and finding that it was 
 quite still and cold, got up to procure a light, when, upon holding the candle over 
 it, she discovered that it was a corpse. Suspecting, from the state the prisoner 
 had been in, that it might not have come to its death by fair means, he sent for 
 Mr. MATHER, the divisional surgeon, with whom he proceeded to the prisoner's 
 lodging, and found that it consisted of a most wretched apartment at the end of 
 the passage, apparently intended for a sort of washhouse, upon a table in 
 which, the only piece of furniture in the place, the body of the dead child was 
 lying. Upon the floor in one corner of the room was an old piece of carpeting, 
 which was evidently used for a bed, and the only thing like covering to be 
 seen was a small cradle-blanket almost reduced to a web. On examining the 
 child the surgeon expressed an opinion, from the general appearance of its 
 body and great discolouration about the mouth, that it must have died in con- 
 vulsions, occasioned most probably by neglect and the severity of the cold to 
 which it had been exposed. Having subsequently ascertained that the prisoner, 
 after leaving the station-house on Sunday- morning, had been seen reeling about the 
 streets for some hours with the child in her arms, he felt it his duty, under such cir- 
 cumstances, to alter the original charge of simple drunkenness to the more serious 
 one above-mentioned. The mother did not betray the slightest emotion, and the 
 case was remanded to await the result of a, post-mortem examination. 
 
 (Times, December 30, 1847.) MANSION HOUSE. A boy of about twelve 
 years of age, named William Lipley, was brought before the LORD MAYOR, on 
 the charge of stealing a piece of beef. 
 
 From the statement of the officer, it appeared that the prisoner belonged 
 to a most dangerous gang of little boys, who were very much practised in 
 robbing women in Bishopsgate-street, and Leadenhall-market, and whose 
 diminutive size gave them facilities unknown to children of larger growth. 
 
 The charge was proved. 
 
 The LORD MAYOR. Do you say that this boy is an old hand at thieving ? 
 
 The officer. Certainly, my lord. He has been often in custody. When 
 I caught him, I asked him where he supposed he should at last go to ? " Go 
 to," said he, " why to the gallows, to be sure." 
 
 The LORD MAYOR. Did you say so, prisoner ? 
 
 The Boy. Yes ; the man's right enough. I did say so. 
 
 The prisoner was then committed for trial. 
 
 (Times, December 31, 1847.) MANSION HOUSE. William Frayland, a boy 
 of very small size, aged between ten and eleven, was brought before the LORD 
 MAYOR upon two charges of robbery. 
 
 After the case had been proved, the officer said : 
 
 Davis. I know the boy's face well, but I never expected to see him 
 engaged in this sort of work. I have now ascertained that he and fourteen 
 other boys, all of whom go about in gangs after ladies, live in a house in Cato- 
 street, Brick-lane, where there are seven or eight houses, the owners of which 
 encourage and foster children in this dreadful pursuit. I understand he has 
 been employed in passing bad money. These gangs of boys contrive to pick 
 the pockets of great numbers of persons, and very few suspect them, on 
 account of their size and age. 
 
 The LORD MAYOR. Do you go to school ? 
 
 Prisoner. Yes, to a Sunday school. 
 
 (Times, January 1,- 1848.) WORSHIP-STREET. A diminutive urchin, 
 named Henry Tackrell, stated to be only twelve years of age, was charged 
 by^his father, a glass-dealer in Shoreditch, with repeated acts of robbery. 
 
 The prosecutor, who appeared to be much affected, stated, that young as 
 

 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. gf) 
 
 the preceding extracts. In the First Keport of the Ragged- 
 School Union, the case is given of a healthy -looking girl of fif- 
 
 the prisoner was, he had for years past exhibited the most vicious propensities ; 
 and that, though every mf ans likely to work a reformation in him had been 
 adopted, kindness and severity had both the same result, and he remained 
 perfectly incorrigible. His habits of pilfering were so active and inveterate 
 that witness was compelled, when he retired to rest, to dispose of his clothes 
 about the bed in which he lay, to prevent their being stolen. 
 
 The police-constable Murrell proved that he was present at the Clerken- 
 well sessions in the month of September, 1846, and heard the prisoner convicted 
 upon a charge of felony, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment ; in addition 
 to which he was subsequently tried, with another boy, at the Croydon assizes, 
 for knocking down and robbing a child in August last, and having been also 
 found guilty upon that, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and to 
 be once privately whipped. 
 
 The prisoner heard this detail of his delinquencies with perfect apathy and 
 indifference, and, the previous convictions being established, he was fully com- 
 mitted to Newgate for trial. 
 
 {Times, January 6, 1848.) LAMBETH. Serjeant Hoskins, 1 L, reported to 
 the sitting magistrate, Mr. NORTON, that on the preceding evening, between 
 the hour of six and seven o'clock, two little boys, named Edward Hornblower 
 and John Tarrent, were found lying on the pavement in the Lower- Marsh in 
 a state of helpless intoxication. 
 
 The father of one of the boys here said he had been to the workhouse to 
 see the lads, and he had very considerable doubts whether they would recover. 
 The poor man, who seemed much affected, said, that from what could be 
 learned from the little fellows, who were but twelve years of age each, it ap- 
 peared that a person in the garb of a gentleman had prevailed upon them to 
 drink a whole bottle of gin. 
 
 Mr. NORTON observed, that the act was one of a most brutal description. 
 (Times, January 6, 1848.) WESTMINSTER. James Bunce, John Bailey, 
 and Robert Brain, three children of the tender ages of ten, eleven, and twelve 
 years, were finally examined, charged with stealing an immense number of 
 brass ornaments from street doors ; and Susan Hanworth, a woman fifty-seven 
 years old, who keeps a marine store, in North-street, Chelsea, with feloniously 
 receiving a portion of the property. 
 
 Mr. BRODERIP observed that the three children before him had been led 
 to the commission of the offence by the facilities afforded at vile houses kept 
 by persons of the female prisoner's description, of disposing of the property. 
 He considered that persons of the female prisoner's description were the very 
 nurses of crime. 
 
 (Times, January 20, 1848.) THAMES. John Jackson, a journeyman gun- 
 maker, was brought before Mr. YARDLEY, charged with violating the persons 
 of his own daughters, one nine years of age and the other twelve. The details 
 as given in the report do not admit of publication ; but the offence in each case 
 was proved to have been committed while the prisoner was " tipsy." The 
 children were taken to the workhouse. The father, a coarse and brutal man, 
 on being called on for his defence, said he had none to make. He would not 
 speak a word. He was sent to prison. 
 
 (Times, Jan. 25, 1848.) WORSHIP-STREET. A lad named Henry Walker 
 was placed at the bar before Mr. HAMMILL, charged with inciting James Hunt, 
 a boy fourteen years of age, to plunder his father, Mr. Ralph Hunt, a watch 
 instrument-maker in Helmet-row, St. Luke's, and two women of abandoned 
 character, named Sarah Hime and Susan Jones, were charged with feloniously 
 receiving the property, well knowing it had been stolen. 
 
 The boy Hunt, it appeared, had been acquainted with the prisoner Walker 
 for about two yeai's, and had been repeatedly urged by him to rob his parents, 
 and resisted the overtures for a long time, but was at last induced to yield to 
 
9Q AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 teen who had been deserted by her father, and had subsequently 
 obtained her living by selling water- cresses. She lived with 
 
 his importunities ; and having broken open a drawer in his mother's bed-room, 
 stole a pair of gold ear-rings, several finger-rings and brooches, and a gold 
 watch of the value of ten guineas, with which he clandestinely left the house, 
 and handed them over to Walker, who was in waiting for him at the end of the 
 street. Walker then took him to the prisoner Hime. who kept a house of an 
 infamous description in the Vinegar-ground, by a male confederate of whom 
 the watch was sold for about a fourth of its real value, and the remainder of 
 the jewellery having been " fairly" divided by the two women at the bar, and 
 a third, named Hawkins, amongst themselves, some gin was sent for and a glass 
 of it poured out for Hunt, which he drank and left the house, and after wan- 
 dering about the streets the whole of that night and the greater portion of the 
 following day, he at length resolved to return home to his parents and disclose 
 to them all that had taken place. 
 
 The evidence gone into was entirely conclusive, and Sergeant Brannan 
 having stated that he had used his best exertions to trace the two others im- 
 plicated in the robbery, but without success, as he had reason to believe that 
 they had fled over to France to escape from justice. 
 
 The prisoners, who declined offering any defence, were all fully committed 
 to Newgate for trial. 
 
 (Times, Jan. 28, 1848.) BOW-STREET. Two miserably clad and impo- 
 verished children, the eldest of whom was named Mary Ann Murray, aged 
 thirteen, and the other about two years younger, were brought before Mr. 
 HALL, in the custody of Dodgson, of the F division, upon the following hor- 
 rible charge: 
 
 They had been in the habit of singing and begging in the public streets for 
 the support of their worthless parents in idleness and debauchery. On -this 
 occasion they were found in Holborn. A male infant, about two years old, 
 was in the arms of the eldest girl, the pitiful cries and apparent sufferings of 
 which excited the sympathy of by-passers, and caused them to be surrounded 
 by a mob of persons. An elderly woman, perceiving that the child was 
 writhing in agony, and feeling satisfied that it was undergoing some torture, 
 mentioned her suspicions to the constable, who desired the two girls to accom- 
 pany him to the Police-station. The eldest girl dropped a large pin at her 
 feet, and it was instantly discovered upon examining the child, that his suffer- 
 ings had been caused by its continual incision in the lower part of the body, 
 while being carried in his sister's arms. The condition of the infant was 
 altogether so deplorable, independently of the punctures and lacerations caused 
 by the pin, that it was deemed advisable to take it to St. Giles's workhouse, 
 and put it under the care of the medical officer. 
 
 The constable, by direction of his WORSHIP, ascertained that the inhuman 
 parents lodged at 4, Tyndall's-buildings, Gray's-Inn-lane, and that the father, 
 who received one shilling and some bread per week from the parish, spent 
 nearly his whole time in a neighbouring beer-shop, waiting for the alms 
 brought to him daily by his wretched children. This man admitted to the 
 officer that he sent the girls out with the baby to sing ballads in the streets, 
 but denied that he either sanctioned or knew of the torture inflicted upon 
 the child. He said that he had no parish settlement himself, having been 
 born at Edinburgh Castle while his father was serving in the 92d regiment 
 of foot. 
 
 One of the beadles of the parish proved that the father, with his children, 
 had been repeatedly offered shelter in the workhouse, but that he had always 
 refused to go in preferring, in fact, to live on the produce of his children's 
 begging exertions in the streets of London. 
 
 (Times, February 16, 1848.) WORSHIP-STREET. Stephen Brown, Michael 
 Garmon, James Hughes, and Thomas Coyle, whose ages varied from ten to 
 fourteen years, were placed at the bar before Mr. ARNOLD, charged with 
 numerous acts of robbery, and Emma Galloway, a coarse-featured masculine- 
 

 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 9] 
 
 her step-mother, one of the most drunken women in St. Giles's. 
 Soon after she joined the school, she ran away from this 
 
 looking woman, was charged with inciting them to the commission of the 
 offence, and receiving the property, well knowing it to have been stolen. 
 
 About a week since the prisoner Brown suddenly absconded from the house 
 of his parents, who were described as honest hard-working people, and, after 
 an anxious and incessant search after him, they at length obtained information 
 that he was harboured, with several other boys, at the house of the woman 
 Galloway, in Flower and Dean-street, Spitalfields. Information of this 
 was given to a constable named Grady, who at one o'clock on the preceding 
 day abruptly entered an apartment on the first floor, and there discovered the 
 female prisoner presiding at the head of a table, round which the younger 
 prisoners were seated, and in the centre of which was placed a heterogeneous 
 collection of articles, consisting of new sugar-basins, saltcellars, a flower- 
 vase, and other property, all evidently the produce of recent robberies. A 
 piece of meat was cooking before the fire, and a piece corresponding to it was 
 deposited upon an adjoining shelf, and upon further search, a long brass- 
 mounted whip was discovered secreted beneath the bed. On calling upon them 
 to account for the possession of this property, one of the boys at once acknow- 
 ledged that the whole of it had been stolen within two days from various shops 
 by the juvenile members of the gang, and that the meat which was then being 
 dressed for their dinner, had been purloined that very morning from a 
 neighbouring butcher. This statement the woman Galloway positively denied, 
 and having declared that the property had been brought to her house by the 
 boys without her privity or sanction, and that they had only got there a 
 few minutes before the officer's appearance, the whole of them were taken 
 into custody. 
 
 (JFimes, February 17, 1848.) SOUTH WARK. Julia Hayne, a good-looking 
 girl, fifteen years of age, the daughter of a compositor, was brought before 
 Mr. Cottingham, charged with attempting to purchase poison for the purpose 
 of destroying herself. 
 
 Mr. Jones deposed to her having applied for arsenic, and his suspicions being 
 excited he gave her into custody. 
 
 The Magistrate asked her if she had heard what Mr. Jones said, and whether 
 it was true ? 
 
 She replied in the affirmative. She said that her mother was in the habit of 
 drinking to great excess when her father was engaged at his business. On those 
 occasions she ill-treated her, and, in order to avoid such treatment, she (the 
 daughter) left home and got a situation, where she was living in comparative 
 comfort. Her mother came there, about three months before last Christmas, 
 drunk, abused her employer, and made her leave her place. Since then her 
 mother continued her ill-treatment ; was in the habit of tearing up her clothes; 
 and on the previous day, when she expressed her intention of leaving home 
 and getting another situation, and put on her bonnet and shawl for the purpose, 
 her mother flew at her, tore the bonnet to pieces, struck her, and vowed 
 vengeance against her ; and it was owing entirely to her mother's harshness of 
 conduct towards her that induced her to go to the chemist's shop to purchase 
 arsenic to poison herself. 
 
 The accused's father next stood forward, and complained of the dissipated 
 habits of his wife, who for the last five years had indulged in liquor to such an 
 excess as to make his home a perfect misery to them. The present was not 
 the first occasion on which she had acted with cruelty towards the girl, for 
 which she (the mother) had been given into custody and taken to a Police- 
 court, where she was held to bail, and in default of finding the required 
 securities, was committed for three months. While she lay in gaol he paid 
 twelve shillings a week for her board, instead of permitting her to live upon 
 the prison allowance ; but he found when she was liberated and returned to 
 her home she broke out as bad as ever commenced drinking afresh, and 
 treated his daughter in the way represented. 
 
Qf> AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 wretched woman, in consequence of ill-treatment following her 
 refusal to lead a vicious life. The Second Eeport of the Ragged- 
 School Union gives the case of a girl who had excited the 
 attention of the teachers. Her father, who had one daughter 
 living an abandoned life, and assisting him hy her gains, 
 insisted upon the younger sister doing the same. In con- 
 sequence of her refusal she was severely beaten by father 
 and sister. 
 
 In the Eleventh Eeport of the London City Mission, there 
 is another case described at length of a young girl who 
 was met by one of the Missionaries, and had been told by 
 her mother to go on the streets and earn some money. The 
 Missionary went to expostulate with the mother, who coolly 
 replied, " You must keep the girl yourself she must get her 
 living how she can I don't care how she gets it." The girl 
 implored that care might be taken of her, for her mother 
 wanted money to spend in drink. 
 
 (Times, February 18, 1848 .) WORSHIP-STREET. Three little boys, James 
 Hughes, Michael Gannon, and Stephen Brown, were charged with having com- 
 mitted numerous robberies, and a middle-aged woman, named Emma Galloway, 
 was charged with inciting them to the commission of the offence and receiving 
 the produce of their depredations. 
 
 The case was remanded for the attendance of the owners of the property. 
 
 Mr. ARNOLD said, that with respect to the unfortunate children, they had 
 evidently been inveigled into their present position, and he should therefore 
 order them to be restored to their friends ; but with regard to the woman 
 Galloway, there could be no doubt whatever, that she had been in the regular 
 habit of decoying boys to her house for the purpose of converting them into 
 instruments of plunder, and so leading them on step by step to their destruction. 
 
 (Times, April 6, 1848.) MANSION- HOUSE. Yesterday two boys, neither of 
 whom was more than twelve years of age, were brought before the LORD 
 MAYOR, charged with having made several attempts to pick the pockets of 
 ladies who were passing through the street. 
 
 An officer who bad upon a former occasion apprehended one of the boys 
 said, " What ! is it you again ?" " Ay, ay, old fellow," replied the boy, " I 
 am in for ' a skin' " (a purse). The boy's father, one Spurrier, upon being 
 spoken to on the subject, said " There's not a greater thief in London than 
 my son, and I hope he'll be transported for life." 
 
 The mother of the boy said, that until within the last seven or eight months 
 her son was as good a child as ever lived, but he happened to get into bad 
 company and was charged with robbery, after which he was placed among the 
 most depraved thieves. From that moment he became quite careless, and 
 would only become worse by being sent for punishment amongst experienced 
 prisoners. 
 
 One of the policemen said, the boy certainly exhibited a total insensibility 
 to disgrace, for, when in the cage and questioned about his conduct, etc., he 
 began to dance, and gave what is called the " double shuffle." 
 
 The wretched boys were remanded, and both swaggered out of the justice- 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 93 
 
 Mr. Branch stated at a recent Missionary Meeting, that his 
 attention had been drawn to a woman in the streets, with an 
 .apparently dying infant in her arms. She seemed to be in 
 great distress, but after some questions she said, "What shall 
 I do if the child dies ? when she is gone I shall have to give 
 ninepence a day for another, while this one costs me nothing. 
 Unless I do so I'll earn nothing, it's the children that moves 
 compassion." In one place he visited in Westminster, there 
 were forty vagabonds, thieves, and beggars, old and young, 
 blind and lame ; and he describes one warehouse where the 
 professional rags of any kind of mendicant might be had on 
 hire or on sale. 
 
 We are engaged in the painful task of searching the moral 
 diseases of the community, and must probe them still further. 
 In a small work on the Grievances of the Working- classes, 
 relating to and published in Glasgow, the writer describes, at 
 length, a visit to one of the most wretched parts of that great 
 city, and finding one morning a woman and her daughter at a 
 scanty breakfast, both of them with the appearance of having 
 seen better days. In a conversation with them it was admitted 
 that they were living upon the reward of crime, and the guide 
 informed him that it was no unusual case for females reduced 
 in circumstances to resort to the low lodging-houses, and there 
 live upon the earnings of their daughters, " earnings that 
 may be called worse to them than the wages of unrighteous- 
 ness, and to the givers of them than the price of blood." In 
 other parts of the same work facts are given, proving that in 
 some instances grandmothers, mothers, and daughters are all 
 living together upon the wages of prostitution. Those unac- 
 customed to such inquiries will turn away with incredulity from 
 the description. They can have no adequate idea of the 
 degradation to which many of our population are reduced, and 
 the actions which are consequent upon the loss of shame and 
 self-respect. We have parents selling their own children, 
 mothers bargaining for the persons of their daughters, or 
 sharing with them the .sin and its reward. In an elaborate 
 work, (" De la Prostitution de la Ville de Paris,") Parent 
 Duchatelet, states that out of 5,183 registrations of prostitutes 
 
g^ AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 in that city, 164 cases occurred of two sisters presenting them- 
 selves at the same time, four instances of three sisters, three 
 instances of four, and the still more fearful spectacle of a 
 mother and her daughter presenting themselves has occurred 
 no less than sixteen times. In a paper on Prostitution, pub- 
 lished in Cork, it is stated that sisters very often resort to this 
 life together, and hy the money earned assist in supporting 
 their relatives ; and instances are by no means uncommon of 
 persons tendering their daughters to brothel-keepers. One 
 man is mentioned, who offered a child for <3. An affecting 
 incident is related in the Eighth Eeport of the City Mission. 
 One of the agents discovered two sisters residing together in 
 such a way as left no doubt they were living by prostitution. 
 On investigation it appeared that the father had been cashier 
 in a bank. On the failure of the bank he had commenced 
 business and did not succeed. He was taken ill, and from the 
 infirmary, his resources being exhausted, he was removed to 
 the workhouse. The poor girls reduced from one extremity to 
 another, at length were driven to the life in which they were 
 found by the agent. They were reluctant to accept the proffered 
 asylum, as they would have to be placed in separate wards. The 
 eldest sister said, " We have cleaved to each other in all our 
 guilt and misery !" Reverses like this often occur. It is not 
 in the power of human foresight to anticipate or prevent them : 
 but the responsibility of parents under them is very great. 
 These girls did not appear to have been prepared for a change 
 of circumstances by the acquisition of any knowledge of a 
 practical kind, nor were their minds fortified by any moral or 
 religious principle. How much misery is produced by parents 
 neglecting in their prosperity to provide against the possibility 
 of misfortune ! Little or no attention is paid in the education 
 of youth to those solid acquirements that give weight to 
 character ; and without which, under circumstances like the 
 one named,, accomplishments are useless if not positively mis- 
 chievous. Girls sink down to a state of dependence upon 
 relatives, or are driven to vicious courses to procure the means 
 of sustaining existence. 
 
 Another chapter of misery might be compiled from the 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 95 
 
 scenes exhibited every evening at the doors of the different 
 workhouses in the metropolis. At some of them a score or 
 two of shivering wretches may he seen huddled together, and 
 many of these with two or three small children, and there they 
 sleep throughout the night in all seasons. On inquiry it will 
 be found they have been applicants for admission to the casual 
 ward, but have been refused from insufficiency of accommoda- 
 tion. Begging is the occupation by day, and they crowd to 
 the houses of refuge or the workhouse for shelter in the evening. 
 Persons who have given themselves the trouble to investigate 
 the condition of the vagrants of this class, have become 
 thoroughly satisfied that the majority spend more every day 
 upon intoxicating liquors than would find comfortable lodgings 
 for themselves and families ; and yet the superficial observer 
 would think them the most destitute and miserable of the class 
 living upon charity. Mr. Logan, who has devoted some years 
 of his life to active missionary labours, informs us in his Reports, 
 that one of the officials of the Night Asylum in Edinburgh 
 stated to him that they had above 2,300 inmates in that asylum 
 in one month, and every day brought a number of drunken 
 applicants, who were invariably refused admittance. " It was 
 quite common for a mother to stagger up to the door, with 
 three or four children, in such a state of intoxication that she 
 was unable to give her name ; and in order that the poor inno- 
 cent children might not be further punished, the directors gave 
 the whole shelter for the night. In the Refuge there were above 
 400 inmates, a goodly number of whom were drunken women, 
 and who had been sent there by mo derate -drinking husbands. 
 In this house too, are many juvenile orphans, whose fathers 
 and mothers had been killed by drinking." 
 
 We see by these examples, the various ways in -which the 
 misconduct of parents falls upon the children. From those who 
 have been inured to it from infancy upwards, no other result 
 can be expected ; but many who have had a taste of better 
 things, are driven into evil courses as a desperate escape from 
 domestic misery and ill-usage. Sad, indeed, is the fate of 
 those upon whose birth no hope has ever risen, or who have 
 had it dashed in its very dawn ; and yet, thousands of the 
 
QQ AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 almost unpitied wanderers of the streets have been driven into 
 its temptations and dangers, as a resource from a home ren- 
 dered intolerable by the neglect and violence of those whom 
 they ought to love and reverence. The mass thus formed, of 
 parentless, ill-used, neglected, and abandoned children, becomes 
 a vortex of -vice, drawing into it many who have been more 
 tenderly cared for and better brought up. There is, moreover, 
 in this condition an absence of restraint by the proceeds of 
 their irregular pursuits, they are enabled to lead a life of 
 idleness and licentious freedom. Some are drawn into it 
 by a love of adventure, and others fall into it by some 
 accidental lapse of propriety or morality. In cases where 
 both parents have to follow employments which take them 
 away from home, there is great difficulty in keeping children 
 from the streets and its vile associations. In the Eleventh 
 Report of the London City Mission, it is stated by one of the 
 agents, that he has been sometimes called upon by parents, 
 more generally the mother, saying, " Sir, I hear that you get 
 thieves reclaimed. I have brought my poor boy to you, and if 
 you could but reclaim him, I should be so thankful to you." 
 Children have been placed in some of the Houses of Refuge, 
 and paid for by their parents, to secure them from the tempta- 
 tion of the streets. The Police authorities have been applied 
 to in some cases by fathers, who have stated that every 
 influence has been exerted in vain, and begging that the boy 
 might be imprisoned or sent to a penitentiary in order to 
 save him from a worse fate. Cases similar to the following, 
 extracted from the Daily News, August 5, 1846, very often 
 appear : * 
 
 WESTMINSTER. A YOUNG THIEF. Henry Cross, aged twelve years, \vho 
 was without any jacket or shoes, -was charged by his father, a cow-keeper and 
 corn-factor, living in Ox ford -street, Chelsea, with robbing him of upwards of 
 160/. The prisoner, it seems, took the money from under his mother's pillow, 
 a bed-ridden old woman. The prisoner's flight was detected by his younger 
 brother, and he was afterwards traced to Cremorne-gardens, where he was 
 refused admission, in consequence of his having no shoes or jacket on. From 
 thence he was traced to the Battersea-fields, whore he visited the Baloon 
 Tea-gardens and the Old House at Home, and at one or the other place 
 changed a sovereign. He wandered about the entire nighr, and being 
 seen within about half a mile of his home that morning by one of his 
 father's cow-boys, he gave him into custody. Fortunately, there was only 2/. 
 missing out of the mm he had stolen. Complainant said this was not the 
 first instance of robbery by the prisoner. Some time since he stole a sove- 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 97 
 
 reign and a half, and spent it in Battersea- fields He then, thinking to reform 
 htm, sent him to a boarding-school ; but here he broke opeu his school-mates' 
 boxes, and the master was compelled to send him home. He, complainant, 
 had done everything he could to bring the lad up respectably, but he seemed 
 determined upon b^ing a thief. The prisoner, in a flippant manner, said his 
 grandmother gave him . the bag, and told him they were buttons. Mr. Bond 
 committed the prisoner for trial. 
 
 The amusements of these youths are the low theatres, the 
 dancing saloons, and entertainments of a like description. 
 Many of the penny theatres are frequented only by boys and 
 girls who are already thieves and prostitutes. " Jack Shep- 
 pard," " Dick Turpin/' " Claude Duval," and other ex- 
 hibitions of dexterous and daring crime attract the atten- 
 tion and the ambition of these boys, and each one endea- 
 vours to emulate the conduct of his favourite hero. In 
 fact, what the stage representations of a former period have 
 done to excite the admiration of the vulgar for mili- 
 tary and naval glory, these wretched places effect for 
 the unhappy youths brought within the sphere of their in- 
 fluence. In a continual whirl of excitement and intoxication, 
 the boy learns the lessons which finish the candidate for the 
 Penal Settlements, if disease or death does not arrest his 
 career. Few who traverse the gay streets of the Metropolis, 
 have any conception of the number of pitfalls, showily and 
 artfully covered over, but full of misery and wickedness, " of 
 rottenness and dead men's bones." 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 PROSTITUTION ITS EXTENT AND CAUSES. 
 
 ONE of the greatest evils of our social system is prostitution. 
 To describe it in its extent and malignancy, to trace the 
 various sources from whence it is supplied, and the effects 
 produced upon the health and morality of the population, 
 would require a volume of much larger dimensions than the 
 one devoted to this inquiry. Notwithstanding its difficulty 
 and delicacy, it cannot he overlooked. No investigation into 
 the moral condition of society that did not comprehend it, 
 could possibly be complete. Hitherto it has been regarded as 
 an evil too inveterate to admit of hopeful treatment, and by its 
 very nature excluded from discussion. Those who would 
 feast upon some trashy and indecent novel, or look with eager 
 interest through the account of a fashionable elopement, or 
 crim-con. case, and luxuriate in all the disgusting details brought 
 before a court, would recoil with an air of offended dignity at 
 the bare mention of the actual sufferings of some poor street- 
 walker. It has, therefore, to accommodate a sickly senti- 
 mentalism, and morbid sensitiveness, been banished from our 
 pulpits, our platforms, and disquisitions on moral subjects. 
 This is not the way to deal with virulent maladies. We may 
 banish them from sight, and interdict them in our conversa- 
 tions, but we cannot so easily free ourselves from the conse- 
 quences. The evil grows in our midst, and by a terrible 
 reaction brings a condign punishment. The subject must 
 be treated the physiology of the frightful system must be 
 laid bare. The safety of our homes and families requires that 
 it should be considered with every possible earnestness. 
 
 It must be 
 
AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES, ETC. 99 
 
 grappled with seriously, and resolutely. Sermons, tracts, and 
 visitors, will form a very small part of an efficient machinery. 
 The efforts that we may hope to be successful will be some- 
 thing more practical and comprehensive even, than ill-sup- 
 ported and feebly-managed Penitentiaries and Magdalen 
 hospitals. 
 
 Another feeling prevails as irrational as the one referred 
 to, and infinitely more mischievous-] 
 
 
 instructed public-opinion. In cases of seduction the punishment 
 falls upon only one, and that the weaker of the guilty parties, 
 Incontinency in one sex is visited with a severe punishment. 
 It is the only sin for which woman herself has no forgiveness. 
 The poor girl who yields to a misplaced passion, no matter 
 how her ruin has been effected, or what plots, or what artifices 
 have been resorted to, is irremediably fallen. She has passed 
 the threshold over which there is no return, and she is cast 
 forth to beg, sin, -or starve. Surely there is gross cruelty a 
 barbarity unworthy of woman, in this usage it cannot Jae 
 required in order to protect our wives and daughters, that a 
 punishment like this should fall upon a weak and erring 
 woman. The partiality, the injustice of the sentence, is one 
 of its worst features. The dashing colonel, or handsome and 
 accomplished roue does not lose caste, nor forfeit position, 
 although he has committed a crime for which he ought to be 
 spumed from the path of every honest man. He has only 
 become more interesting by the event, and many a tender 
 maiden, who would shudder as one of the poor starving out- 
 casts of the street brushed her robe, does not hesitate to be 
 whirled in the giddy dance by the fascinating rake who has 
 reduced, it may be, many a poor girl, once innocent and joyous 
 as herself, to a life of prostitution. No one would wish to 
 lower the standard of chastity, or lessen the modesty of the 
 English wife and daughter ; but it may be maintained in all 
 its dignity and beauty, and yet show mercy to the erring. 
 While the priests of a cold, formal, conventional creed, de- 
 manded punishment, the Saviour, who knew and felt all the 
 weaknesses of our humanity, said to the weeping adulteress, 
 " Neither do I condemn thce go, and sin HO more ! " 
 
 H 2 
 
IO Q AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 The exposition already given of the condition of the factory- 
 workers, and women and girls employed in agriculture, will 
 prepare the reader to expect that many of these would annually 
 flow into the mass of degraded heings traversing the pave of 
 our large towns. The factory-girl is particularly liable, and 
 milliners and seamstresses contribute a very considerable por- 
 tion. We may take the lace-runner of Nottingham as an 
 example. There are some departments of the lace trade per- 
 formed by girls and women. The employment is light, clean, 
 and delicate ; girls go at a very early age, and before they have 
 had any opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of those domestic 
 duties, which would qualify them to go to service, or under- 
 take the management of a working man's home. There 
 is no tuition, no fixed moral principle, no religious senti- 
 ment to strengthen the mind for contact with the world 
 of folly and wickedness into which the girl is thrown at 
 an early age. Her constitution is probably feeble, and its 
 tendencies may have been aggravated in infancy by bad nurs- 
 ing, the administration of narcotic drugs, by scanty and 
 improper food, bad clothing, wretched lodging, and ill-usage. 
 To one of the lace-warehouses she is sent as soon as her 
 age will admit, she is placed among a number of children 
 like herself, a love of dress is cultivated, amusements are 
 sought, and gay companions encouraged. And there are many 
 occupying a position in society who systematically debauch 
 these poor girls, and unblushingly boast of their achievements. 
 Many go on the streets. Mr. Grainger collected some very 
 important evidence on this point. He quotes Mr. Felkin, 
 who says, " It must not be overlooked that the females con- 
 tinuously employed as described, are in a course of instruction ; 
 but it is one which produces vacuity of mind, love of finery, 
 and a desire of company." In another place the same gentle- 
 man deplores what he terms " the precocious depravity" of the 
 female children employed in many of the lace-rooms. Another 
 witness remarks, " Many of these girls at an early age become 
 pregnant, and some of them attempt to produce miscarriage, 
 and in this way their constitution is ruined." It is a matter of 
 notoriety that there are persons in many if not all our manu- 
 
en 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. ] Q J 
 
 facturing towns, who assist girls in procuring abortion. One 
 wretched woman was convicted a few years ago in Nottingham; 
 and the case of a party in London, brought before the magis- 
 trates on a serious charge of this nature, will be fresh in the 
 recollection of the reader. Emma Linfield had been well- 
 nown to many medical men in that part of the metropolis 
 here her infamous trade was carried on for several years. It 
 as generally supposed that her escape from conviction was 
 'ected by the influence she was enabled to secure in her 
 ,vour from persons of even a high rank, and who were afraid 
 of disclosures that would compromise their character. There 
 is proof that young women in a state of pregnancy have 
 actually been waited upon, and even accosted in the street?, 
 and overtures made to provide them the means of conceal- 
 ing at once the fruit and disgrace of misconduct. Dr. 
 Watts of Nottingham, says, " It is impossible for young 
 women to procure the necessaries of life, exclusive of dress, 
 by the present wages as lace-runners. The consequence is 
 that almost all become prostitutes, though not common street- 
 walkers." 
 
 The milliners and shop-girls of the metropolis are exposed 
 to extraordinary temptations. Like the lace girls of Notting- 
 am, the nature of their employment is such that they can 
 ultivate a taste for dress, and by its aid set off every personal 
 ttraction to the greatest advantage. They are worked long 
 ours in closely-confined apartments, and on miserable wages, 
 they turn out of their warehouses late in the evening when 
 the gaiety of the metropolis is awake, they see the busy crowds 
 shing along from the various amusements, while they are 
 oppressed by heavy toil, and that sickening of the heart 
 which long ill-usage has induced, they see that the girls in 
 e street appear to live in ease and pleasure, dress, and fare 
 well, and gather about them hosts of admirers. They do not 
 e the morning's sallow care-worn cheek, or mark its un- 
 bserved and silent misery. Look at the bare facts of the case, 
 and cease to wonder that many of these girls should prefer the 
 short giddy career of pleasure and sin, to the intolerable toil 
 d hopelessness of the work-room. There is no provision 
 
AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 made for their comforts, none whatever for their higher wants. 
 In many of the French houses they are expected to go out the 
 whole of Sunday. Those who have relatives may find a home, 
 those who have none wander in the fashionable tea-gardens, 
 and other haunts of dissipation. The end of such a beginning 
 is easily seen. A single fact, taken from the Police Keport of 
 the Metropolis for 1848, will speak powerfully the condition 
 of these girls. Out of 20, 702 females brought before the 
 different police-courts on various charges, 1,041 were milliners ; 
 and of these 294 were charges of drunkenness, and 243 drunk 
 and disorderly characters. There are poor needle-women in 
 London making shirts at five farthings a piece. Who can 
 wonder that they grasp at any desperate alternative the work- 
 house, the prison, suicide, or prostitution ? 
 
 When the state of society is -examined with care and fidelity, 
 the amount of prostitution will cease to surprise. It becomes 
 in its turn a terrific agent in the corruption of youth. It is 
 not strictly within the province of this inquiry to show the 
 various means employed by procuresses and others to entrap 
 unsuspecting youth. The purpose of this Essay will render 
 it necessary, however, to trace more especially the connection 
 between this horrible vice and the drinking habits. It may be 
 explained that a system of trading in seduction is regularly 
 kept up, and persons are employed to decoy young girls into 
 places of infamous accommodation. Immense sums are realized 
 by this nefarious traffic. These persons lay wait at the railway- 
 termini, at the steam-boats, at the theatres, and every place 
 of public resort. A case lately occupied the attention of the 
 magistrates in one of the London police-offices, proving the 
 fearful extent of the evil. A man keeping a carriage, a foot- 
 man, and livery- servants, was proved to be the owner of thirty 
 brothels, which he farmed out at one pound per day each, to 
 different miscreants of his own class. The Eev. Mr. Osborne, 
 the Chaplain of the Bath Gaol, informed the author some four 
 years ago, that he was aware that on the dismissal of female 
 prisoners of good personal appearance, that aged women would 
 be in waiting to entice and conduct them to dens of infamy. 
 Mr. Tait of Edinburgh, tells us that at the time of writing, he 
 

 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 had in his eye a small green-shop in a respectable street, kept 
 by an old cast-off mistress, who was put into that situation by 
 three or four gentlemen, and that eight decent servants of 
 families in the neighbourhood had been seduced during the 
 year. The mode of accomplishment was by inviting them to 
 tea, and treating them with wine until they were nearly intoxi- 
 cated, when the gallants were introduced and joined them in their 
 sports until their purpose was effected. Some few years ago 
 the Master of the Workhouse at Dorking, in Surrey, was 
 detected in the crime of supplying a house of ill-fame in Shoe- 
 lane, Fleet-street. He had long endeavoured to entice two 
 young females to go to this place. On their resolutely resist- 
 ing all temptations he made their lives so miserable that they 
 ran away. He apprehended them and charged them with 
 robbing the parish of the clothes they wore. They were com- 
 mitted for the offence and punished, and on being released 
 from prison he succeeded in gaining his ends. In the Twelfth 
 Eeport of the Inspectors of Prisons it is stated, " The ladies 
 who visit the Newcastle Prisons have for years been painfully 
 impressed with the want of a place of refuge for such poor 
 women as seem disposed to enter upon a better course of life 
 when released from their place of confinement. Wicked women 
 are waiting to lead them back to vice, and there are public- 
 houses of a low character near at hand. Many of the dis- 
 charged prisoners go to them immediately. Conscience is again 
 hardened, and sin and temptation resume the mastery over their 
 unhappy victims." An incident is related in one of the Reports 
 of the Associate Institution for the Protection of Women. It 
 appears that the daughter of a fruiterer, a widower, came up 
 to London, from her grandmother in the country, at the age of 
 seventeen. On her arrival she was met by two respectable 
 
 I looking women, who spoke to her and offered to give her 
 shelter, and conduct her to her father the next morning. 
 Thankful for their kindness the girl yielded to their solicitation. 
 Next morning she awoke and found her clothes and money 
 gone ; and soon after an old man was introduced to her, who 
 violated her. Others were introduced, until she was overtaken 
 by disease, and in three weeks from leaving her grandmother 
 
 
104 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 in the country, died in Bartholomew's Hospital. This incident 
 gave rise to the formation of " The London Society for the 
 Protection of Young Females." 
 
 This society had prosecuted in the same year to conviction, a 
 woman of the name of Stone, for decoying a child, eleven years 
 of age, from her parents to a hrothel. She was sentened to 
 twelve months' imprisonment. They were also engaged in 
 making inquiry how the houses at the West-end were supplied 
 with a constant succession of young females. Another case is 
 described of a woman who had become possessed of the person 
 of a young female. She immediately wrote to a gentleman, 
 making an appointment at a hrothel near Charing- cross. He 
 took steps to save the poor girl from destruction ; and it was 
 found that this woman was a systematic procuress. 
 
 They state also that they had discovered a woman who was 
 the proprietress of six infamous houses in various parts of the 
 metropolis. She had agencies on some of the lines of rail- 
 way. She had houses of various classes, the girls running 
 downward in their career, until they reached the lowest walks 
 of degradation. 
 
 It was necessary to give some idea of the means by which 
 the innocent and the thoughtless are betrayed into a life of 
 misery and crime. The most moderate calculation will show 
 that there are about ten thousand of these miserable women in 
 London, a large portion of them under the age of twenty- 
 one. The average duration of their career is variously esti- 
 mated; taking it however at six years, it shows that above 
 fifteen hundred poor girls have to be added every year to keep 
 up the prostitution of the metropolis. The average duration 
 of life among this class, so far as it can be ascertained, is only 
 twenty-seven years. When the life is once embraced, it is very 
 rarely abandoned ; they begin perhaps in great style, and are 
 furnished liberally with means, but they sink from one step of 
 degradation to another, until they are lost among the crowds 
 of the guilty and the broken-hearted. They are summed up 
 in the bills of mortality, and pass away without notice or 
 remark. They perish, no one caring for their souls ? They 
 generally begin to drink, not only to enable them to bear expo- 
 

 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. ]Q5 
 
 sure to the variations of weather, and to give them artificial 
 spirits, but it is necessary to meet the prejudices of those who 
 seek their favours. If a girl refuses, it is at once supposed that 
 she has other reasons than those which would arise from a 
 disinclination to the drink. In this country drinking is far 
 more general and excessive among females of this description 
 than in Paris, and there is every reason to believe that it is 
 more serious among those of the highest class; the consequences 
 being proportionately fearful to the height from which they have 
 fallen. The poor wretch is hemmed in by misery on all sides, no 
 door of escape opens, no friendly hand is stretched forth to save, 
 and when her brief course of guilty pleasure is run, there is 
 nothing left for her but to creep into some corner and die. 
 
 Whatever may be the great cause of prostitution, and that 
 like all other vices, will be found to spring from the low moral 
 feeling of the community, it is certain that it is encouraged 
 by the drinking habits, and that drinking houses are the great 
 auxiliaries of the brothel. They are the resorts of young 
 thieves and prostitutes, and each evil helps to sustain and 
 foster the other. Dr. Firth, of Hull, in some statistics, 
 intended to show that prostitution and strong drink were 
 ever associated, " drew attention to the nightly parade of 
 prostitutes on the streets, as furnishing frightful evidences of 
 the state of the borough." According to the criminal returns 
 of 1843, there were 144 houses in which prostitutes were kept, 
 and 49 houses of accommodation, and 549 prostitutes, 134 
 of whom were fifteen years old and under twenty. 
 
 The Kev. David Kuell stated in evidence, before the Parlia- 
 mentary Committee, in 1829, 
 
 age 
 sha 
 
 Undoubtedly abandoned females, who now, from the earliest 
 es, to a most alarming extent, walk the streets, have a very large 
 share in the corruption of youth of both sexes.' He adds, ' I do not 
 think that the mass of prostitution which exists, has arisen, at first, 
 from drunkenness in the females themselves, but from drunkenness 
 and other bad habits on the part of parents, who neglect to exercise 
 proper care in the education and training of their children, and who 
 consequently, exposed to the great temptations of this metropolis, 
 easily fall the victims of prostitution, and then by drunkenness and 
 hopelessness of recovery, are confirmed in the habit.' " 
 
J0 (} AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSE 
 
 Mr. Bentley, in his work on education and crime, says that 
 more than three fourths of the cases of those females examined, 
 from whom authentic answers could be elicited, were led into 
 the commission of their first transgression by the aid, or under 
 the influence of intoxicating drink. 
 
 It is well known that intoxicating liquor is one of the 
 agents employed in the seduction of women. The Editor of 
 the Refuge Magazine relates a case of a girl of nineteen, 
 who was brought under his care. It appears that while out of 
 place, she was induced to accept a service in the house of an 
 apparently respectable female, when only eleven years of age. 
 One day she was introduced to a sea captain, who persuaded 
 her to take a glass of brandy ; she awoke from the stupor it 
 produced, to find herself " a wretched ruined child." She ran 
 on a few years of misery and shame. The Editor exclaims, 
 " Disciples of the Eedeemer ! friends of your species ! do all 
 you can to banish from your country that most powerful instru- 
 ment of evil, ardent spirits. Let the rising generation be taught 
 to shun it, and associate with it the miseries it entails, and the 
 pangs it inflicts. Eeflect that but for these liquid fires, nine 
 out of ten perhaps of the cases of seduction could not be 
 effected. 
 
 Many of the inferior public houses and beer shops are 
 supported mainly by young thieves and their paramours, and 
 loose and profligate girls. Every artifice is used by those who 
 keep them to tempt the young of both sexes. The Christian 
 community have no conception of the vice and debauchery 
 generated at the larger houses of general resort on every Sab- 
 bath. Several of the large gin palaces in London are celebrated 
 for the enticements they offer to young men and women, and 
 even to boys and girls. The Keports of the City Mission give 
 many cases similar to that referred to in the Eighth Annual 
 Report. The Missionary of the City Road district says, " In 
 my Report for February last, I gave a full account of the case 
 of a wretched female whose ruin was effected in a great measure 
 by visiting the Eagle Tavern, City Road." This poor girl was 
 reclaimed through the agency of this Missionary who had first 
 Bought her out. Several instances are publicly reported of a 
 

 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 similar kind. The drinking houses must, before long, excite 
 attention, for every kind of crime is concocted in them. Youth 
 are brought there by various allurements, and incited to crime. 
 The Poor Law Commissioners have repeatedly complained of 
 them as particularly mischievous. In the Report for 1833, 
 they dwell upon the subject. " They allow," say they " of 
 secret meetings beyond any places previously existing ..... 
 They are kept by the lowest class of persons ..... They 
 are receiving-houses for stolen goods, and frequently brothels. 
 .... The most abandoned characters resort to them, poachers, 
 smugglers, and every kind of depredators, gaming, drinking, 
 and laying plans for crime. All the acts of incendiarism were 
 perpetrated by frequenters of beer-shops." Mr. Magendie states 
 in the same Report, "A gentleman in East Essex informed me, 
 that a small tenant of his converted his cottage into a beer- 
 shop ; he was asked how it succeeded ; he answered, ' If my 
 beer-shop will not answer, I don't know whose can, for I keep 
 them a girl and a fiddle.' They are little better in the towns, 
 where they are more especially under the surveillance of the 
 police. In the borough of Hull there were, in 1845, 296 
 licensed houses to a population of 80,000. Some of the houses 
 have large rooms for the special accommodation of the young, 
 and numbers resort there at the ages of 14 and even 12. It 
 is not uncommon to see twenty or thirty sitting together over 
 the glass. Everything about them is calculated to entice the 
 unsuspecting youth. Many of the publicans keep large music 
 saloons, and others are well known to be houses of infamous 
 accommodation. The nature of the enticements offered it is 
 impossible to describe. The statements of the Watch Com- 
 mittee show that nearly one-fourth, 300 or 400 public-houses 
 in the borough of Liverpool, were habitually kept open until 
 after twelve o'clock at night, and from " 900 to 1000 were 
 kept open on Sunday betwixt the hours, or remain open 
 during church hours. There are 60 or 70 taps, and several 
 hundred beer shops, entirely supported by the worst of charac- 
 ters. In Williamson- street and its vicinity, there are upwards 
 of 20 saloons and other places of public resort appropriated 
 to thieves and prostitutes, and independent of these there are 
 
AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 more than 300 brothels, in all of which spirits and wine can 
 be procured ; 180 of them are in the neighbourhood of Wil- 
 liamson-square, and in a circuit of less than fifteen minutes' 
 walk there are 22. In these places it was estimated there were 
 about 1200 thieves under 15 years of age." 
 
 The Eeport of the state of Leeds in 1838 was to the same 
 effect. The juvenile population furnish in that town a large 
 proportion of the criminal and police calendar. Lord Ashley 
 quoted the returns in a speech made in the House of Commons 
 in 1842. " Children of seven, eight, and nine years of age 
 are not unfrequently brought before the magistrates. James 
 Child, an inspector of police, says there is ' a great deal of 
 drunkenness, especially among the young people. I have seen 
 children very little higher than the table at these shops. There 
 are some beer-shops where there are rooms up-stairs, and the 
 boys and girls, old people and married, of both sexes, go up 
 
 two by two, as they can agree, to have connection I am 
 
 sure that sexual connection begins between boys and girls at 
 14 and 15 years old.' John Stubbs, of the police force, con- 
 firms the testimony ; ' We have,' he says, e a deal of girls on 
 the town under 15, and boys who live by thieving. There 
 are half-a-dozen beer-shops where none but young ones go 
 at all ; they support these houses.' Another authority states, 
 that in some of the beer-houses girls are kept, and their favours 
 disposed of by lottery." 
 
 His Lordship proceeds to quote from Mr. Rayner, Super- 
 intendent of Police at Sheffield. "Lads from 12 to 14 years 
 of age constantly frequent beer-houses, and have even at that 
 age their girls with them, who often incite them to commit 
 petty thefts." George Messon, a police-officer, adds, " There 
 are many beer- shops which are frequented by boys only, . . . 
 as early as 1 3 years of age. The girls are many of them loose 
 in their conduct, and accompany the boys." The Sub- Com- 
 missioner, in winding up a mass of similar evidence, says, 
 " There is an awful amount of vice and immorality among the 
 children of the working classes." While on this painful sub- 
 ject, the evidence of Mr. Clay, of Preston, must not be omitted. 
 He refers, in his twenty-fourth Report, to the practice of keep- 
 
Or JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 ing prostitutes in beer-houses. He speaks of 16 houses having 
 been named to him, harbouring 54 prostitutes. " But this is 
 not the full amount of the evil. The neighbourhood of these 
 houses is corrupted. Women, married women, occupied to all 
 appeararice with their own proper avocations at home, hold 
 themselves at the call of the beer-houses for the immoral pur- 
 poses to which I have referred." 
 
 These are mere selections, almost at random, from a mass of 
 facts that would in themselves fill a volume. They give the 
 character of the beer-houses. They are the resort of the 
 worst characters, and become centres of vicious attraction to 
 the thoughtless and neglected of the poorer population. The 
 traffic itself, under any circumstances, must have a baneful 
 effect upon the feelings. Daily familiarity with wretchedness 
 and guilt in their worst shapes deadens the heart, and clouds 
 the understanding. We might as well expect the slave-driver to 
 be humane, as the seller of drink to have lively sensibilities. 
 It was a strange blunder of legislation to increase the facilities 
 for intemperance among the people. It would have appeared 
 to a common- sense intellect, that the time had come for 
 restricting, or drawing reasonable limitations around a trade, 
 that tended by its very nature to demoralise the population ; 
 and yet, a lower class of houses were permitted to be opened. 
 Scarcely a Session passes, but it is found necessary to legislate 
 on the subject of drinking- houses, and Magistrates in all 
 directions are becoming alive to the enormous evil of their 
 existence. The cure, however, is without the pale of legisla- 
 tion. Much may be done by good laws and an active Police 
 to lessen or reduce the evil. The remedy is within the scope 
 of voluntary effort. It rests with the moral and the religious 
 public. They give sanction to the drinking customs, and 
 countenance the system of which beer-houses and gin-shops 
 are only the necessary and inevitable consequences. It re- 
 quires the moral power of a thoroughly enlightened public 
 opinion to cope with the giant evil. 
 
 The foregoing evidence and facts apply almost exclusively 
 to beer-shops. The gin-shops and larger houses are, if pos- 
 sible, more pernicious in their tendencies. The beer-houses 
 
AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 rarely entice any but the lowest classes; the others offer 
 temptations to those who occupy a higher and better posi- 
 tion, and who have been educated and brought up under 
 kindlier auspices. The class of houses having harmonic 
 meetings, select concerts, and, in wretched caricature of the 
 follies of the fashionable world, fancy balls and masquerades 
 at 3d. 6d. and Is. per head, are exceedingly mischievous. The 
 former can tempt none but those who have vitiated tastes ; the 
 latter invite those who have had better opportunities, and a 
 more gracious entrance into life. In the beer-shop, vice wears 
 a mien so coarse, that the youth enticed into it from a well- 
 conducted and comfortable home, would, in all probability, fly 
 away and return no more. But if he is led into a music 
 saloon in what is called a well-regulated tavern, the case is 
 altered. At first sight there is nothing to shock his taste or 
 alarm his conscience. A refinement is thrown over temptation. 
 He is dazzled by the music, the light, the decorations, and 
 the company. Every tiling is displayed in a manner calcu- 
 lated to intoxicate the senses, and stimulate the passions. Many 
 young men come up to London with generous and unsuspect- 
 ing hearts. They have the vivacity and freshness, the ardent, 
 frank, unsuspicious feelings of their age. Of inexperienced 
 judgment, and warm temperament, they seek pleasure and ex- 
 citement. They trust themselves to the first slippery steps of 
 dissipation, and find the danger when it is too late to fly. 
 The music saloons and public tea-gardens, where drink is 
 sold, entrap many such. The gardens are arranged so as 
 to afford accommodation for small parties. The admission is 
 usually by ticket, for which a small sum is paid, the purchaser 
 being entitled to have returned in refreshments the worth of 
 his ticket. Before Mr. Buckingham's Parliamentary Com- 
 mittee, it was stated that in many of the gardens in the 
 Metropolis, as many as five or six thousand persons have been 
 known to enter on a Sunday, and at one of them 500 persons 
 were found to be on the grounds in a state of drunkenness at 
 ten o'clock at night. These places are attended every day 
 during the week, but the Sunday is the grand day. They are 
 the resort of better- class servants, girls of all ages, young 
 

 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 shop-boys, and others drawn by the attractions of a crowd of 
 people in holiday trim. Besides these, there are practised 
 swindlers, prostitutes, procuresses, and thieves. Persons ill- 
 attired or of rude and vulgar conduct are excluded, so as to 
 keep the places " respectable." These houses, so well-known 
 as a part of the gay life of the Metropolis, are extending in the 
 provincial towns. 
 
 The music and dancing saloons, in a few cases, are con- 
 nected with tea-gardens, but many of them are independent of 
 any such additional attraction. Mr. Corbett, of Birmingham, 
 whose experience has been more than once referred to, gives 
 his opinion. " But of all the places of seduction and ruin, 
 the singing clubs, or free and easies, are the most effectual. I 
 could name many young men, who in moments of reflection 
 and penitence, have dated the commencement of their ruin to 
 these infamous sources and houses of amusement." Those 
 who, like Mr. Corbett, are acquainted with the amusements of 
 the working classes and the deplorable vices of the skilled 
 workman, will be able to furnish many instances of ruin 
 through singing clubs, harmonic societies, and what are called 
 free and easies. Many expert and industrious artisans, with 
 talents that would have fitted them for a high station of 
 usefulness, with kindliness of heart and sociality of feeling, 
 have found the threshold of one of these institutions the first 
 step in a drunkard's career. In many of these places pro- 
 fessional singers are regularly paid; in some, amateurs are 
 engaged and paid partly in money and partly in drink. 
 In many of these houses an organ or piano is kept, 
 and they reverence the Sabbath by the performance of sacred 
 music. In some instances, singers from different places of 
 worship are known to attend. In a Report elsewhere quoted 
 of the Rochdale Temperance Society, an account is given of a 
 man, the landlord of one of these houses, who was brought 
 before the Magistrates on a charge of irregularity, keeping his 
 house open late on a Sunday evening. He said with a sneer, 
 " that on the night in question, they were very appropriately 
 closing the day by singing the Doxology." 
 
 One of the Sub -Commissioners for inquiring into the condi- 
 
112 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 tion of children employed in manufactures gives an account of 
 a visit he paid, in company with the Superintendent of Police, 
 to some of the beer-shops in Sheffield. The hour chosen was 
 after nine in the evening. In the first house they found two 
 rows of visitors along each side of the room, amounting to 
 forty or fifty. They were almost entirely hoys and girls under 
 seventeen years of age. A few girls were of a more advanced 
 age. They were mixed together, each boy having his com- 
 panion by his side. They were served with liquor, and in a 
 corner of the room were four men, playing upon wind-instru- 
 ments. Some had occupations, and some refused to name 
 them to the police. Several other places were visited the same 
 evening, in which there was singing, dancing, and drinking. 
 In three, the company were playing at cards. In one, there 
 was a long and brilliantly-lighted room ; the ceiling was 
 painted like a bower. Benches and tables were arranged 
 on each side. This house was situated up a dark, narrow 
 lane, and was crowded with men and women ; several of the 
 latter professed prostitutes. There must have been a hundred 
 persons present. 
 
 To glance at some unpublished facts in possession of the 
 author. An aged friend, some few years ago, on a visit to 
 London, resolved to visit, on a Sunday evening, during the 
 hours of divine worship, one or two of the most attractive of 
 the public resorts. He had taken for many years a deep in- 
 terest in Sabbath-schools, and he was anxious to ascertain 
 whether the statements in relation to these places of amusement 
 were not exaggerated. Many persons object to such inquiries, 
 as being dangerous or improper. If those, however, who are 
 preaching against the sins of the age could see the actual 
 amount of profligacy exhibited on a Sabbath-evening in one of 
 these places, it would impart a salutary lesson. One hour's 
 familiarity with a scene like this would do more to show the 
 educationist the nature of the obstacles he had to remove than 
 all the Reports or Blue Books that were ever compiled. He 
 would find that it was necessary to use other agencies than 
 schools and teachers, and that his efforts must be directed 
 towards a removal of those seminaries of vice, the saloon, the 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. |jg 
 
 beer-house, and the gin-shop. Having procured the company 
 of an intelligent friend, he visited the Eagle Tavern, City- 
 road, and his description is heart-sickening. Amongst many 
 other painful things, he said, they numbered about 120 
 youth of both sexes, many of them almost children, who were 
 laughing, drinking, and talking, apparently quite at their ease. 
 In the Twelfth Report of the Inspectors of Prisons, there is a 
 description given, at considerable length, of one of the dancing 
 schools in Edinburgh. It was a large room, and attended 
 nightly by a number of young persons of both sexes. They 
 assembled at about eight in the evening. There were generally 
 from fifty to eighty persons, and dancing continued until 
 midnight. Twopence was paid for admission, and they after- 
 wards paid for what liquors they chose to order. The convict, 
 from whom these particulars were gathered, declared that the 
 great majority of males were boys from fourteen upwards, and 
 some of an earlier age. The females, for the most part, were 
 fully grown. Nearly all the females were known prostitutes ; 
 sometimes girls who followed weekly employments were pre- 
 sent. The owner was a receiver of stolen property, and had 
 lately partially given up the dancing school, but most of the 
 girls and boys who were his customers in his new pursuit had 
 been regular attenders at the dancing school. 
 
 It is in these places that the practised procuress plies her 
 horrid calling, and the seducer looks out for easy victims. 
 Strong drink is a potent agent, and it is used most successfully. 
 Many attend there in a thoughtless hour, and form acquaint- 
 ance that leads them to ruin. A lady who had been in the 
 habit of visiting a provincial penitentiary furnished some 
 valuable testimonies. Many girls, she says, in an affecting 
 narrative, ascribe their first step in sin to having gone out for 
 a holiday. They meet with companions, and accompany them 
 to the saloons. In some instances they are misled as to the 
 hour, and detained until they dare not return ; in others they 
 are kept in a whirl of passion and excitement, and plied with 
 drink until they know not what they do. An instance is 
 given of a girl of nineteen, who was brought to the asylum in 
 the first stage of consumption. Her course had been a brief 
 
 I 
 
1J4 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 one, two years only having elapsed from her first fall to the 
 time of her being admitted under its friendly shelter. For a 
 long time she was silent and morose, and obviously over- 
 powered by a weight of grief. They tried to awaken religious 
 impressions, but if any light was thrown over her troubled 
 spirit it was a momentary gleam. At length she imbibed an 
 impression, and this before her case was considered hopeless 
 by others, that she must die. It became a fixed and settled 
 conviction ; and then she spoke with the greatest distress of her 
 home, and of her anguish of mind, in feeling that her mother 
 did not know what had become of her. She became more 
 communicative, and her melancholy history was detailed. It 
 appears that she had been indulgently and well brought up, 
 that she had obtained at a very early age an excellent situation as 
 nurserymaid in a family which had been known to her widowed 
 mother in more prosperous days. All went on smoothly until, 
 in one of her holidays, she fell in with some female companions 
 and went with them to the tea-gardens. At this place she met 
 with a gentleman who paid her polite and particular attention. 
 The acquaintanceship was continued for some time. She was 
 flattered by his addresses, she was frequently invited to 
 accompany him to amusements for which she had every in- 
 clination ; but as she could not accept them on account of the 
 rules of the family in which she lived, she began to feel her 
 situation irksome. One evening she obtained leave of absence 
 on some pretence until a later hour, and went with her admirer 
 to a ball, from which she was hurried away, after having in a 
 moment of excessive fatigue swallowed a small glass of wine- 
 negus. She scarcely recollected what took place afterwards, 
 but found herself in the morning away from her kind friends 
 in a strange place, and at the mercy of him who had wronged 
 her. For awhile he supported her in a lodging, and his atten- 
 tions succeeded in inducing a belief that one day he would 
 restore her to her position by making her his wife. In a 
 few months he relaxed in his kindness, sometimes upbraided, 
 and eventually left her. She was attractive, and rendered 
 desperate she yielded to the suggestions of her new female 
 companions and became one of them. Drink and disease, 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 nightly exposure to cold and insult, with a remorse that could 
 only be temporarily silenced and never subdued, wore upon a 
 delicate frame, and she was reduced to a sick bed. A humane 
 medical man introduced her to the penitentiary. Her mother 
 was found, and flew to her erring and beloved child in time to 
 administer to her last necessities and close her eyes in peace. 
 Instances like this need not be multiplied. Many of those who 
 pace the cold, damp street, young in years, but old in shame, 
 have been thus cruelly abused. Many of them have been 
 tenderly cared for, and over their infant slumbers the watcher's 
 eye that is now dim with weeping, has glistened with mingled 
 hope and pride. Mothers of England, the outcast of the 
 street is your sister. The babe you nurse with so much ten- 
 derness may become a blighted wreck like her. While the 
 drinking system lasts it will furnish snares for the young, and 
 no hearth will be safe. This is a chivalry worthy of a woman's 
 prowess. Dash down the cup, and declare that its contents 
 which turns men into fiends, and beguiles women into wantons, 
 shall never be sanctioned in your presence. 
 
 We shall find, as we look closely into the subject, that it is 
 not only the neglected classes of our country which furnish 
 victims to supply this dreadful traffic, but many of a higher 
 rank. Could we look into every family circle from which in 
 temperance has snatched a beloved son or daughter, an argu- 
 ment would be carried to the hearts of the most cold and 
 selfish. And there is nothing to mitigate the sorrows under 
 such a loss. We have seen a household stricken with grief 
 when death has torn away some fair member of a family. The 
 gloom is not soon dispersed, the blank remains, the grief 
 lingers there day by day, the heart feels a void as she is 
 missed from the accustomed place, at the morning's meal,, or 
 from the circle drawn round the evening fire. A thousand 
 things revive the memory of the departed ; here is the book 
 she treasured, she watched the growth of that flower, and 
 caressed that favourite, all these things keep the sorrow 
 green, and make affection inconsolable. And yet, perhaps, 
 that beloved child expired in the midst of affectionate kindred, 
 on a peaceful and triumphant death-bed : there is small cause 
 
AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES, ETC. 
 
 for sorrow here. Look again at a bereaved family a few 
 months ago a fair-haired and happy girl was in its midst and 
 now where is she ! The prodigal wanders in guilt and shame, 
 and every prayer is for mercy on her head. It is here that grief 
 should hang its banner, it is here that the mourner should 
 reject the comforter. Women of England ! shall the appeal 
 be made in vain ? When you meet in the street the wreck of 
 womanhood oh ! think upon the cause. How many homes 
 have been made wretched how many hearths have been 
 rendered desolate how many mothers' hearts have been broken 
 through the agency of the drinking customs ? Remember 
 that the painted harlot, who becomes the seducer in her 
 turn, who spreads her lures for your sons, is but the avenger 
 of merciless wrongs done to your own sex. Reflect that there 
 is a young generation springing up about us, subject to 
 the influences by which these objects of your loathing or 
 compassion have been degraded. Resolve, then, upon the 
 attempt to rescue from a similar doom this youthful and un- 
 tainted race. Banish from your tables the social glass, which 
 has made more havoc among the sons of nren, than was 
 ever achieved by the stroke of pestilence or the sword of war. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 VICE AND PROFLIGACY AMONG THE MORE EDUCATED CLASSES THE DRINKING 
 HABITS A CAUSE OF INDIVIDUAL DEGRADATION SABBATH SCHOOLS. 
 
 THE facts given in the preceding chapters will admit of no 
 other conclusion than that, if ignorance be the parent of 
 crime and immorality, intemperance is to some extent the 
 parent of ignorance. If the twenty-six millions of pounds, 
 expended annually by the working classes of this country in 
 intoxicating liquors, were turned into legitimate channels, in 
 purchasing home comforts, in means of self-improvement, and 
 in the education of their children, a change in their condition 
 would be effected greater than can be anticipated by any other 
 means. It has been clearly shown, and the fact scarcely re- 
 quires reiteration, that although many might be found who 
 could fairly plead poverty as a reason for their children not 
 being sent to school, disinclination would be the cause in a far 
 greater number of cases ; and the still larger bulk would be 
 found lavishing upon matters of mere personal indulgence, 
 sums sufficient to release their children from the necessity of 
 labour, and give them the advantages of a good education. 
 In some instances the parents are totally ignorant, and do not 
 value education. In others they lament the deficiency in 
 themselves, and would not be unwilling that their children 
 should be educated, but there is not a sufficiently powerful 
 motive to induce the least sacrifice on their parts ; they will 
 not relinquish a pint of ale per day, or the indulgence of the 
 filthy pipe to accomplish it. In the case of the block-printers, 
 who earn from 20s. to 30s. per week, it is known that no 
 parent will hesitate a moment whether he should send his 
 child to work if he can obtain by it 2s. 6d. or 3s. per week. 
 
AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 They trust almost exclusively to the Sunday-school, and it is 
 not an uncommon thing to hear a parent say to the child, 
 " Thou must work and go to the Sunday-school, same as 
 I did."* 
 
 But there is a large amount of vice and profligacy which 
 does not helong to the uneducated classes, and which never 
 appears in the statistics of crime. Much of this is asso- 
 ciated with drinking habits. From the neglected homes of 
 an intemperate population vicious children will spring. The 
 education of the streets will produce candidates for the prison, 
 and we must expect such seeds as are there sown, to grow and 
 ripen into crime with as much certainty as we expect the 
 harvest to succeed the seed-time. But the ranks of the 
 intemperate are not filled from these alone. There are others 
 dragged in upon whom has been lavished care, and labour, 
 and means enough. Many who can look back to the kindly 
 care of a mother, to an exemplary father, to the admonition of 
 the pastor, and the tuition of the preceptor, have fallen into the 
 ranks of the intemperate. Picture such a youth. He has 
 bowed at the family altar, and like the infant Timothy been 
 taught to search the Scriptures. His launch upon the sea of 
 life has been hopeful the first part of the voyage bright and 
 full of promise: the clouds have darkened, and he has been 
 cast upon the strand a mere wreck. How many of those who 
 have had the advantages of a superior education have thus 
 been cast away, and in how many instances from excessive 
 conviviality ! Would some one member of each of the learned 
 professions compile a history of those who, on the very 
 threshold of success, have forfeited all through this insatiable 
 appetite, it would startle the world. The pulpit would 
 furnish one of the most melancholy chapters in the history of 
 human ruin. What a theme to dwell upon a class of edu- 
 cated drunkards ! The case of R T , given in a small 
 volume, by J. B. Walker, of Leeds, is selected, because the 
 whole history is known to the author of this Essay. R. T. 
 was one of the earliest fruits of the Mechanics' Institu- 
 
 * The Physical and Moral Condition of Children and Young Persons 
 employed in Mines and Manufactures. 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. Jjg 
 
 tions. He was an artisan, a zealous student, sober, indus- 
 trious, and respected. He had unquestionably powerful 
 talents, and this obtained him access to men of a higher 
 station in life. He was proud of the distinction, and became 
 somewhat supercilious to his early and humble friends. His 
 progress in mathematics and other sciences was brilliant and 
 rapid. He became a victim soon after to a love of company, 
 launched into public life, and took a leading part in the 
 agitation conducted by Mr. Sadler on the subject of the 
 factory children. His habits, unsettled before, were rendered 
 much worse by the temptations into which he was thrown, and 
 he became a confirmed drunkard. He fell rapidly, until he 
 was reduced to a state of destitution, sometimes begging or 
 borrowing a few pence from any one he chanced to meet who 
 had known him in better days, and which he invariably spent 
 in drink. He died ultimately in a workhouse, where he had 
 sought shelter in a fit of delirium trernens, and when admitted 
 was covered with filth and vermin. The history of the 
 Airedale Poet, the unfortunate John Nicholson, from the same 
 neighbourhood, is equally deplorable. There were a few 
 associates of K. T. meeting periodically in a small tavern 
 room about twenty years ago. The members of that small 
 company, dispersed now far and wide, and some in an early 
 grave, would furnish many examples of honourable ambition 
 destroyed, and bright prospects blasted, through intemperance. 
 Some of the more generous and high-souled fell victims the 
 more cold, calculating, and selfish escaped. 
 
 Amongst the institutions which are the glory and the pride 
 of our times, we place Sabbath-schools. They have been of 
 inestimable value to the great bulk of the people. There are 
 persons occupying a respectable and even commanding position 
 in society, who have never had any school education but that 
 furnished by them, and who in all probability would have had 
 none, if these institutions had not existed. The inquiries re- 
 cently made present facts that will help us to a better under- 
 standing of the subject before us. They will serve to tell how 
 the temptations which have been so fully described thwart the 
 designs of these excellent institutions. Investigations have 
 
AN INQUIRY. INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 been made as to the character and" future conduct of many 
 teachers and scholars educated in Sabbath-schools. An old 
 Sabbath-school teacher said that he had been induced to 
 undertake the inquiry, from observing, during his connection 
 with Sunday-schools for a period of thirty years, that a great 
 many of his favourite pupils had become intemperate. He 
 gave a recent instance of a boy who had been transported from 
 the Old Bailey, and whose ruin he ascribed to drink. Such a 
 statement will prepare the way for that of the Governor of the 
 Edinburgh Prison, " That of 170 juvenile prisoners who were 
 examined on admission, it was ascertained that 121 had been 
 connected with Sabbath-schools/' The Kev. W. Wight, in his 
 tract, " Common Sense," says, " A respectable teacher of a 
 Sabbath-school near London made inquiry relative to the first 
 100 children admitted into the school. The character of 65 
 only could be ascertained, but of these 38 had become con- 
 firmed drunkards ;" and he adds to this, " There was a few 
 weeks back placed in my hands a document drawn up by an 
 individual who is not an abstainer, being an account of eight 
 Sunday- school teachers, and seven out of eight had been 
 ruined through this cause." Mr. T. B. Smithies, of York, a 
 zealous Sabbath-school teacher, informs us, that he recently 
 visited one of the prisons in York Castle, in which were 
 14 convicts, principally youths under 14 years of age. On 
 conversing with them, he found that 13 of them had been 
 Sunday-scholars, and 10 out of the 13 acknowledged that 
 drink had brought them there. A medical gentleman con- 
 nected with a public institution had been curious enough to 
 inquire into the moral condition of a number of unfortunate 
 women who had been brought under his care. His inquiries 
 were made in relation to their previous modes of life, edu- 
 cation, cause of fall, &c. Out of 30 cases, where he felt 
 he might rely upon the statements, he found that 24 were 
 under twenty years of age, and 18 had commenced a vicious 
 course of life before they were seventeen ; 14 had been 
 educated in Sunday-schools, the remainder had received no 
 education of any kind. One had been a governess, and another 
 a publican's daughter. A warm friend of Sunday-schools and 
 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 121 
 
 the temperance cause states, that in a town in Lancashire no 
 less than four unfortunate females were seen together in the 
 street, every one of whom had been a teacher in a Sabbath- 
 school. In a large proportion of the cases, drink or drinking 
 establishments was the first cause of their fall. The Com- 
 mittee of the Rochdale Temperance Society commenced, a 
 short time back, a most important inquiry in relation to 
 Sabbath-school children. " A few months ago a member of 
 the Committee visited one of the singing saloons in Rochdale, 
 and on a Saturday evening, about eleven o'clock, he observed 
 sixteen boys and girls seated at a table in front of the stage ; 
 several of the lads had long pipes each, with a glass or jug 
 containing intoxicating liquor, and no less than fourteen of 
 the number were members of the Bible classes in different 
 Sunday-schools. There they sat, listening to the most ob- 
 scene songs, witnessing scenes of the most immoral kind, and 
 swallowing liquid fire." It is added, " These sinks of iniquity 
 are thronged with old Sunday scholars, especially on Sunday 
 evenings, and not unfrequently until twelve o'clock." Still 
 further, " The appalling results of the drinking system are not 
 wholly confined to the scholars ; many a promising teacher 
 has fallen a victim." 
 
 To see this subject in its full importance, we must look at the 
 number of our Sabbath- school teachers, which cannot be less 
 than 200,000. It is a noble band, and comprises many of the 
 flower of our youth. Nearly 2,000,000 of children are in- 
 fluenced by their labours and their example. How painful to 
 reflect that many disgrace the opportunities they have enjoyed, 
 and become lost to the cause which once they loved and 
 honoured. Venerable ministers have sometimes asked with 
 amazement, what becomes of all the children educated in our 
 Sunday- schools ? It is clear, a very small portion of them 
 become united with the churches in whose bosom they have 
 been cherished. Mr. Michael Young, in a valuable essay on 
 the subject of Sabbath-schools, has calculated that more than 
 one-third of those who receive instruction fall into habits of 
 drunkenness. The letter from which the following are extracts, 
 is from a Sabbath-school teacher of Birmingham to the 
 
AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 author. It is in strict accordance with many received from 
 other persons, long connected with such institutions. He 
 says : " I know that in the Sunday-school of which I was a 
 pupil, that a great numher turned out drunkards, myself 
 amongst them. The class I was in consisted of about seventeen 
 or eighteen scholars, and I am sure that twelve of them became 
 sots. Some remain so to this day, a pest to the neighbour- 
 hood, a disgrace to the borough, and a trouble to their 
 families. It has been unfortunately my lot to sit, at one time 
 or another, in the tap -room, with eight or nine of my former 
 fellow-scholars." He adds, " My own intemperate habits were 
 formed during the time I was a teacher in the school." And 
 still further, " Oh, sir, if Sunday-school superintendents and 
 teachers could only see a small portion of the immense amount 
 of their labours which are utterly, and I fear for ever, frus- 
 trated by this foe to human improvement, (strong drink,) I 
 feel satisfied that the same love that induces them to teach the 
 scholar would induce them to bid an eternal farewell to that 
 article which has so long and still continues to lay waste so 
 much of their labour." This is given in his own language, and 
 no rhetorical embellishment could possibly add weight to the 
 arguments suggested by such facts. 
 
 The question will be asked, Are these things so, and how is 
 it that the fruits of education are thus blighted ?* Imperfect as 
 our Sabbath-school instruction may be, it has laid in many 
 instances the foundation of character, respectability, and use- 
 fulness. It has enabled the boy to take the first step in a life 
 of honour. It has awakened a lofty ambition. Is it not, then, 
 a matter of grave moment to ascertain what influences are at 
 work to thwart the labours of so admirable an institution, and 
 cast so much of its promise upon the winds ? We look abroad, 
 and we find, among other evil agencies, a popular delusion 
 with regard to one article. The English people have always 
 been a drinking people ; stimulating drinks have been regarded 
 by them at all times with great respect. It has been con- 
 sidered an indispensable medicine in almost all cases of disease, 
 a representative of hospitality, the inseparable and essential 
 symbol of friendship and conviviality, and, in addition to all 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 this, it has been established as an article of diet, as necessary 
 to the Englishman as his beef or bread. We might marvel at 
 this infatuation did we not know how time and custom can 
 sanction the most extravagant follies, and the most ridiculous 
 errors. It requires no great powers of ratiocination to prove 
 that the opinion in favour of this drink is a mistaken and a 
 mischievous one. It might be trusted to the unsophisticated 
 judgment of a babe. There are consequences flowing from it, 
 which do not arise from any other article of food. In a vast 
 number of cases, the appetite grows by what it feeds on, and, 
 becoming insatiable, induces every kind of vice; and sacrifices 
 everything to purchase gratification. Could we lose our 
 familiarity with the scenes of misery it produces, and after a 
 temporary forgetfulness awaken up to a sight of what one 
 single gin-shop could disclose, would it not be banished from 
 our tables, and renounced by all good men ? Mr. Erie says 
 that the New Zealanders (and they are perhaps the only 
 savage tribe who have refused to be degraded by liquor,) very 
 often ask the Europeans, " Why will you make yourselves 
 mad ? " The Prince Lee Boo, on seeing a sailor drunk, 
 thought he was poisoned, and refused to touch liquor after- 
 wards. Is it not somewhat degrading to our intelligence that 
 we have thus to be lectured by a savage ? Let the reader look 
 upon the facts given in the preceding pages, and apply the 
 same reasoning that he would adopt in any other case. A few 
 years ago, in a large manufacturing town, a poor woman, in a 
 hot summer's day, was bit by a dog, and her own and her 
 neighbours' fears denounced it as mad. The magistrates did 
 not wait to see the result, but immediately issued an order that 
 all dogs should be kept up, and that those found at large 
 would be destroyed. This showed a laudable care for the 
 health and life of the public. But very few persons die from 
 this cause. In 1839, the total number was fifteen. Sufficient, 
 truly, to justify every reasonable precaution. But in this very 
 fact we have an instance of the lively alarm which compara- 
 tively rare evils produce, while those ever present scarcely excite 
 remark. In the same year, the Registrar- General informs us 
 that 206 persons died of delirium tremens, a disease as horrible 
 
124 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 as hydrophobia, and that 210 perished of intemperance, that 
 is, died from the immediate effects of drink, and this loss of 
 life did not arouse any effort on the part of magistrates or 
 others. By the same rule men are stirred into extraordinary 
 exertion by the occasional visitation of the cholera, while they 
 sit down in a supineness, worthy of the dark fatalism of the 
 Mahomedan, under typhus fever, which never leaves the 
 miserable haunts of the poor and the destitute, and annually 
 destroys its thousands. An occasional attack of disease, or 
 accident through shipwreck, or any other casualty, will arouse 
 men's sympathies, at the very time that they neglect far more 
 frightful mischiefs continuously, and unremittingly labouring 
 in the work of destruction. Many who would not hesitate 
 to brave the dangers of fire or flood to save the life or property 
 of a neighbour, cannot see that they are called upon to make 
 the trifling sacrifice of a glass of wine in order to cry down 
 those pernicious and insidious customs which ensnare youth to 
 their ruin, and bring down the gray hairs of many a doting 
 parent in sorrow to the grave. 
 
 When fairly examined, it is a strange infatuation. Parents, 
 with the evidence before them of its multitudinous evils, still 
 continue to sanction its use. The most cursory glance upon 
 what is going on around them will bring to view many a 
 household wreck, even if their own has escaped. 
 
 The admonition, however, is lost, and wine and strong drink 
 still find their place upon their table. The boy sees it from 
 his earliest days. Those whom he most loves take it as they 
 would take ordinary meat and drink, and pronounce it good. 
 It is brought out to welcome the stranger, to refresh the weary, 
 to medicine the sick. And in this is found the strength and 
 potency of the temptation, the greatness of the danger. If it 
 were only the idle, the worthless, and the profligate, who 
 countenanced the drink, the youth would be safe, for he would 
 not think of following an example set by such. But he finds 
 the pious, the intellectual, the benevolent and the wise, take it 
 and give it freely to others Early impressions are the most 
 lasting, and the youth, surrounded by such associations, feels 
 it right, (how should he do otherwise ?) to use the drink. How 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 125 
 
 many a fond father, while dandling a beloved boy, has taught 
 him to drink mamma's health, while he could barely lisp her 
 name. That is one step in the child's education, and it may 
 be the first in a drunkard's career. This subject must be well 
 considered by all interested in the education of youth. Gin- 
 shops and public -houses, fruitful as they are, are not produc- 
 tive of so much evil as our system of home drinking. They 
 are but the effects of a great and deplorable delusion. Let the 
 youth be taught that " wine is a mocker, strong drink is 
 raging, and he who is deceived thereby is not wise." To make 
 the triumph complete, the wine and beer must be banished 
 from our homes. If the minister thinks wine necessary, it is 
 in vain to expect the labourer to relinquish his beer. All 
 classes must unite in the struggle. 
 
 But we have to do with the influence upon the young boy, 
 who, seeing it daily, believes that it is highly useful, and at 
 the least, innocent. He draws nice distinctions betwixt use 
 and abuse, betwixt moderation and excess, and while reposing 
 under these common place and general sophisms, contracts 
 habits which cling to, and embitter his after life. In this way 
 our youth, the fathers and mothers of the next generation, are 
 educated. This is, in fact, part of our home discipline. How 
 serious a mistake to suppose that education is the work of the 
 schoolmaster it is the business of the home. He may teach 
 the parents educate. On the mother's knee and by the 
 father's chair the lessons are received, which are never for- 
 gotten. Not a word escapes the intelligent and apparently 
 unconscious pupil. Time may obliterate the instruction of the 
 schoolmaster, the chace from school may have erased all 
 recollection of the morning's task, or he may only remember it 
 as one of the tedious passages of his school-boy days. In after 
 years he remembers nothing of the unprofitable lesson, or 
 sighs to think how little it has served him in his battle with the 
 world. But the tale whispered by his mother, the encou- 
 ragement offered in his difficulty the kiss that rewarded his 
 struggle and his triumph are never forgotten. Toil and dis- 
 appointment may write wrinkles upon the brow, and destroy the 
 elasticity of the frame ; care may throw its dark shadows on 
 
126 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 the heart, but the household recollections with which a mother's 
 image are identified,, are never banished. Would that our 
 parents understood this it would do more to train up a race 
 of virtuous men and women, than all the efforts of the loftiest 
 minds of our age. In all times the great truth has been felt 
 and taught by the discerning few, but little known and appre- 
 ciated by the multitude at large. We speak now of the influ- 
 ence of the mother. It is all powerful for good or evil. Na- 
 poleon, in the days of the Empire in one of those memories 
 of home, 
 
 " When the lust of power 
 Had left his heart an uncorrupted hour," 
 
 said, " I owe all my greatness to my mother." Who does not 
 see that if that mother had been trained in a higher .school, 
 she might have trained his superhuman ambition to a holier 
 purpose, and in a better direction, and have done much to make 
 him the benefactor instead of the scourge of his species. She 
 might have stimulated a more useful if a less brilliant career. 
 There is an affecting story told of one of our painters. When 
 a mere child, he ran to his mother with the first drawing he 
 had executed. She looked upon it with hope and pride, and 
 from it to the young enthusiast, and clasping him in her arms, 
 stamped a kiss upon his glowing cheek. After many years of 
 toil, when public fame had confirmed the expectations of that 
 mother's heart, he told it with tears, and exclaimed, " That 
 kiss made me a painter ! " Glorious incentive to honourable 
 ambition ! Oh ! would that none had to recall a mother's 
 memory with less hallowed feelings than those of that proud 
 man ! 
 
 When the youth leaves home and mingles with the world, a 
 variety of snares are strewn in his way; he is assailed by 
 numerous temptations. "Taught at home to look upon strong 
 liquors as a refreshment, a solace, and even as an article of diet, 
 he is not shocked or surprised to find them mixed up with all 
 the customs of the age. The English people are declared to be 
 the most intemperate in the world, and this is at once explained 
 by the number and peculiar character of the drinking usages. 
 

 OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. ]27 
 
 Wherever the youth goes, he finds the customs of society 
 mixed up with drink. Whether in pursuit of pleasure or in the 
 paths of trade, he finds strong drink blended with every cere- 
 mony and celebration, with every public or domestic enter- 
 tainment. He leaves his native roof, believing it to be a good 
 and familiar creature, and unhesitatingly pays homage to the 
 customs of the society into which he may be thrown. These 
 usages are more arbitrary and imperious than law. A catalogue 
 of them would occupy a chapter. For the purposes of illus- 
 tration, it may serve to look into the practices of our artisans, 
 very many of whom have fallen victims to these tyrannical 
 and absurd usages. A large proportion of the drunkards of 
 that class date the commencement of irregular habits to some 
 part of their education in a trade or occupation. Mr. John 
 Dunlop has contributed a most useful and valuable work to 
 the literature of the country, giving a statistical detail of a 
 class of customs, scarcely ever taken into account in our social 
 inquiries, but exerting an influence more powerful than 
 perhaps any other single cause. By consulting this work, 
 ("The Philosophy of the Artificial and Compulsory Drinking 
 Usages") it will be found that from no department of life are 
 strong drinks excluded. We have shown their connection 
 with the frivolous pleasures of the age ; we must now look at 
 them as associated with the more serious business of life, and 
 we give a veritable history, showing some of its evils as con- 
 nected with workshops. 
 
 B , at the age of fourteen, entered a workshop as an 
 
 apprentice } and within six months, three other boys, about the 
 
 same age, became apprenticed for the like purpose. B 
 
 was a steady and studious boy, although possessing advantages 
 of parentage and education far inferior to those of the others 
 associated with him. All of them were attenders of Sabbath- 
 schools, and promising boys. The shop into which they were 
 initiated was remarkable for its strict adherence to the rules 
 and regulations of the Trade Society. And here it may be 
 remarked, that no despot, however heartless, no government, 
 however wicked, could inflict more wrongs upon a people 
 than the working- classes inflict upon each other through 
 
]2 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 trade associations and trade regulations. In this shop the 
 boys novitiate, and every after step had to be celebrated in 
 drink. It began by paying five shillings as an apprentice- 
 fee, to which one shilling each was subscribed by the men, and 
 sixpence each by the boys. This was spent at the public-house 
 in beef-steaks and ale. This was not sufficient; every new 
 department of the business to which the boy was advanced was 
 made an excuse for getting from him half-a-crown, or a shilling, 
 just as the advancement was estimated in point of importance. 
 In addition to this, a registration of birth- days was kept, for 
 which, as well as for every new coat, vexatious exactions were 
 made. No indulgence was ever allowed. The rules were as 
 peremptory and merciless as the laws of the Medes and Per- 
 sians, and as fixed and unalterable. No allowance for poverty, 
 sickness, privation, distress, was ever made. It is true a boy 
 might refuse ; but he was outlawed at once. No one would 
 teach him. His tools would be hidden, damaged, or destroyed ; 
 his clothes dirtied, and sometimes pawned. His life would be 
 rendered miserable, and his efforts to extricate himself would 
 result in increased torture. He was coerced into silence, and 
 forced by insult and ill-usage into compliance. Instances 
 were known of the men who had been drinking the night 
 before, under a raging appetite for the morning's glass, with 
 money and credit exhausted, placing a boy to some new branch 
 of his business, not at all justified by his former acquirements, 
 in order that he might pay a footing for its performance. 
 When the purpose is secured, and the drink exhausted, an 
 excuse is made to restore him to his original position. Work 
 is often spoiled by this procedure, and the displeasure of the 
 employer visited upon the boy in consequence. It must not 
 be supposed that this is a solitary case. It was the common 
 practice among trades some fifteen or twenty years ago, and 
 retains a very strong hold even now, about three-fourths of the 
 usages and penalties still remaining. Nor were the men more 
 harsh, unfeeling, or unkind than others of their class. They 
 were the slaves of appetite, each man helping to rivet his own 
 chains and that of his fellows, and no one daring to strike for 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. J ojj 
 
 freedom. They were, like other men in workshops, great 
 sticklers for rights and privileges. 
 
 The youths brought up under such influences soon fell 
 into irregular habits. They had to drink, and to administer 
 to the drinking propensities of others to obtain anything like 
 peace, or to secure a knowledge of their business. The morality 
 of a workshop is usually very low. A man is regarded as 
 honourable who rigidly adheres to the rules, pays into his 
 trade society, and is clamorous in the assertion of its power and 
 infallibility. These boys from drinking in the shop began to 
 attend the public-house with the men, and all were more or 
 less drunkards at an early age. A remarkable fatality befel 
 those boys. One of them broke time through drink, and, 
 ashamed of his repeated transgressions in this way, enlisted 
 for a soldier, and was considered too worthless by his master 
 to merit any attempt to buy him off or reclaim him. Another, 
 whose habits were still more sottish, was detected robbing the 
 till, and narrowly escaped transportation. The third, in his 
 twentieth year, met a drunkard's death. He had gone to the 
 public-house with his shopmates, and was very soon afterwards 
 found dead in the cellar. He had retired for some purpose 
 and on his return opened the door of a beer-cellar, which lie 
 had mistaken for that of the room in which he had been drink- 
 ing, and was precipitated down the steps. He was found cold 
 and dead some few hours afterwards. His aged and widowed 
 mother, a pious woman who had struggled and prayed for her 
 profligate son, was brought to find him stiff and lifeless. The 
 fourth, after eight years of a drunkard's life, signed the Tem- 
 perance pledge, and is now moving in a position of usefulness 
 and honour, the only survivor of many who entered life will) 
 him under fairer auspices, and some with higher talents. If all 
 the circumstances which operate favourably or otherwise upon 
 workmen are considered, none will be found more mischievous 
 in their effects than these drinking usages. This testimony, 
 given by one who has passed through all gradations, errand- 
 boy, apprentice, journeyman, foreman and employer, is borne 
 out by that of Mr. Joseph Corbett, of Birmingham, who 1ms been 
 above fifty years in one manufactory "If the frightful drink- 
 
 K 
 
J3Q AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 ing habits in manufactories were known, the demoralising ten- 
 dencies they have upon the great hulk of the common people 
 in large towns, surely masters would make an effort to effect 
 a change. Their example combined with precept, would give 
 them immense power." 
 
 These usages operate very injuriously upon the habits of 
 young men of every class who have to enter manufactories, 
 workrooms, and shops. They are necessarily anxious to be 
 on good terms with those about them, and to conciliate their 
 superiors from whom they expect to obtain the knowledge to 
 give proficiency. Evil as the temptations are, connected with 
 public entertainments, they are not so mischievous as the cus- 
 toms now faintly delineated. On leaving the workshop and 
 commencing the active duties of life, the workman is again 
 assailed on all sides. In domestic retirement all those occa- 
 sions of solicitude and anxiety, which ought to awaken serious 
 reflections as increasing the responsibilities of the head of a 
 family, are made excuses for drinking. The seasons usually 
 appropriated to festivity bring with them excuses for drinking. 
 Under feelings of joy or sorrow the potent agent is introduced. 
 If a young man contracts marriage, has a child, born to him, or 
 one deceased, if he builds a house or sells one, if he joins a 
 friendly society or a funeral club, in all he meets with drinking 
 usages. They levy a tax upon his time and his means, they 
 tempt him to idleness and improvidence, and have led the 
 way to ruin in innumerable instances. They will alone account 
 for a considerable amount of juvenile depravity. Parents in 
 sending children from their own hearth should be particularly 
 careful in their inquiries before they place them where such 
 influences are powerful, and they would do well to reflect whe- 
 ther additional protection would not be secured by the adoption 
 of the Temperance principle, strengthened and enforced by 
 parental example 
 
 In the face of these usages little can be done to improve 
 the condition of the working classes. Our remedial agencies 
 will have very doubtful success while these practical evils are 
 neglected. It is in vain to combat with intemperance so long 
 as we neglect the causes. It is well to ascend to the source 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 and see from whence the streams of pollution proceed. The 
 fountains must be purged of its impurities. The best men in 
 sowing seed will let some fall upon dry and stony ground, but 
 it is only the perverse, the blind, or the ignorant that will 
 plant where all is barren and unfruitful. In preparing for the 
 work of improvement, the important subject here suggested 
 must not be overlooked. 
 
 Dr. Guy has shown, by a carefully drawn comparison of the 
 classes of workmen who are most exposed to the temptations 
 of drinking, with those who possess less facilities, that the 
 health and mortality is most unfavourable in the former :* 
 
 * Dr. Guy has favoured the author with the following summary of the re- 
 sults at which he has arrived: 
 
 On comparing the ages at death of licensed victuallers with those of other 
 tradesmen, the former are found to attain an average age of 46^, the latter of 
 nearly 49 years. The greatest age at death of the first class, as recorded by the 
 Registrar- General, in the Metropolis, during the year 1839, is 94 years, while 
 the greatest age of other tradesmen is 97 years. Between 30 and 40 years of age 
 the deaths among the first class are 20 in the hundred ; among the second class, 
 16 in the hundred. A similar result is obtained if we compare potboys with 
 footmen. The first class attained on an average about 41 years of age ; the 
 second class about 44 years of age. The greatest age attained by the first class 
 is less than 80 years ; by the second class less than 90 years. The mortality 
 among the first class between 30 and 40 years of age, is 29 in the hundred ; 
 among the second class, 19 in the hundred. 
 
 The comparison of brewers' draymen with labourers is still more conclusive. 
 The average age at death of draymen is 43 years, while that of labourers is 47 
 years. The greatest age attained by any drayman is 90 years : the greatest 
 age reached by any labourer is 98 years. The mortality of draymen between 
 30 and 40 is 39 in the hundred, while that of labourers is 18 in the hundred, 
 or less than half as great. 
 
 The following Table embodies these results with the exact figures : 
 
 
 Licensed 
 Victuallers. 
 
 Tradesmen. 
 
 Potboys. 
 
 Footmen. 
 
 Draymen. 
 
 Labourers. 
 
 Average age 
 at death 
 
 46 years 
 3 months 
 
 48 years 
 4 months 
 
 41 years 44 years 
 4 months 6 months 
 
 43 years 
 
 47 years 
 6 months 
 
 Greatest age 
 
 94 years 
 
 97 years 
 
 under 80 , under 90 
 
 under 90 
 
 98 years 
 
 at death 
 Mortality per 
 
 20-25 
 
 16-47 
 
 years years. 
 29-51 1894 
 
 years 
 39-22 
 
 18-53 
 
 cent, from 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 30 to 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 years of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 age. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 An inference highly unfavourable to the intemperate classes may also be drawn 
 
132 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES, ETC. 
 
 It appears to us a matter of grave and weighty import, more 
 especially for the consideration of Temperance Societies. 
 Many of those who have once signed the pledge, have been 
 drawn hack by some one of the various drinking usages. An 
 effort to clear workshops of these abominable and disgraceful 
 customs would be welcomed by all, and by none more than the 
 men themselves. The majority would gladly strike off fetters 
 which have become intolerable by their severity, and odious 
 from the petty tyranny they induce. Employers who appre- 
 ciate the value of sober workmen, would second such an 
 attempt with right good will, and a sensible effect would soon 
 be produced upon the general habits of the artisan. A stum- 
 bling-block would be removed from his path, and he would be 
 placed fairly in the race of social, intellectual, and moral im- 
 provement. Is there no philosophic spirit among the active 
 leaders of that useful and important movement in favour 
 of temperance, that will undertake to point the labours of 
 societies to an object more worthy of their efforts than the 
 employment of a few agents and missionaries? Surely it is 
 not wise to expend time and means in elucidating established 
 facts or enforcing truths, that none are ignorant or hardy 
 enough to dispute. Would it not be more in accordance with 
 the spirit of the age, to direct the inquiry to the causes of 
 intemperance, and the working out of practical means for their 
 suppression or removal? Temperance reformers have been 
 the pioneers of a great and glorious work; and it is their 
 province to lead public opinion to still greater triumphs. If 
 they neglect the duties of the position so honourably acquired, 
 they must not complain of weakness and want of support, nor 
 feel surprise that their progress is feeble and slow. These are 
 the necessary consequences of allowing the intelligence which 
 they have been instrumental in creating to outrun them in the 
 race. 
 
 from a comparison of the males of all England with English pugilists. The 
 latter class are originally men of fine constitution and athletic frame, notoriously 
 intemperate, and in most cases keepers of public-houses. The age at death 
 of all who have passed their 50th year among the population of England is 
 about 75^ years; that of pugilists 65 years, being a difference in favour of 
 the mixed population of England of 10 years. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 CONSIDERATION OF REMEDIES. 
 
 SOMETHING has been "done in this volume to show the extent, 
 and to trace the more influential causes of Juvenile Depravity. 
 We pass on to a consideration of remedies, in the course of 
 which we may suggest the inquiry, how far the moral ma- 
 chinery at present in operation is calculated to prevent or 
 lessen crime. There is reason to believe that the amount of 
 delinquency is diminishing, but the decrease is not at all 
 commensurate to the expense and labour incurred in the 
 various corrective means. It is therefore fair to ask, whether 
 these means are wisely planned and judiciously administered. 
 It argues little for our arrangements, that with an unprece- 
 dented activity and zeal in various works of benevolence, 
 such mighty social evils can be barely kept in check. We 
 have societies for circulating the Scriptures in every language 
 and clime, for sending Missionaries into heathen lands, and 
 among the benighted population of our own, for distributing 
 tracts and reclaiming the vicious and abandoned Churches 
 and Chapels have multiplied beyond all precedent, and yet 
 there is scarcely a perceptible diminution of offences against 
 the law. Every religious sect is complaining if not of abso- 
 lute declension, of want of progress. How is this ? Hath 
 God forgotten his promises. If his people have planted and 
 watered, has he withheld the increase ? Are the powers of 
 evil stronger, or the powers of good weaker ? Human nature 
 is the same, and the ordinations of Divine Providence have 
 undergone no change. The cause will be found in the mis- 
 takes, follies, or perverseness of man. 
 
 If ever there was a subject transcending all others in im- 
 
134 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES. 
 
 portance, this is that one. It requires calm, earnest, thought- 
 ful deliberation. Its urgency is equal to its interest. To the 
 young we must look for the regeneration of our country. 
 They are the depositaries of our hopes and expectations. 
 None would dissent from this ; and yet how little the idea of 
 raising up a noble race of men and women, by devoting 
 due care to the young, has entered into the contemplations 
 of those who are styled the reformers of the age. In 
 the ancient states, an opinion prevailed that the security and 
 strength of a community lay in its members. Modern philo- 
 sophy has taught a different doctrine, and a large population 
 has been looked upon as a source of weakness. It can only 
 be so when a great part are paupers, idlers, or criminals. 
 Among the nations of antiquity the increase of numbers was 
 welcomed as a measure of protection, or as a source of 
 strength. The progenitors of a numerous family had accorded 
 to them the highest honours. We can understand the feeling 
 very imperfectly in this age, which animated the orator when 
 he said, " The young among the people are like the spring 
 among the seasons ;" but it was one that produced great care 
 in the education of youth, and elevated the profession of the 
 teacher. In the sacred volume God blesses the seed of his 
 servants, and has told them to " increase and multiply and 
 replenish the earth." A new political creed has been formed 
 and promulgated in the present century. We do not intend to 
 discuss its postulates in this place, we will content ourselves 
 with protesting against the principles which have been 
 deduced from them. It may not be, and we believe is not, a 
 legitimate inference from the new theory of population, that 
 pain and suffering are the results of a law of Providence with 
 which it is unavailing to contend ; but men have acted as if that 
 was the conclusion to be drawn from it. It would no doubt 
 be consolatory to the conscience of the indolent or selfish 
 statesman to believe, that the population were oppressed by 
 evils, that human laws or arrangements could do very little 
 to affect. The belief that these evils were irremediable would 
 do much to soothe and compose him under their continuance. 
 Such a belief is doubtless convenient, and may reconcile the 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 capitalist to the employment of women and children, regarding 
 them as so many machines for the production of wealth, 
 without exercising any more care than that of supplying 
 others when the first are worn out. If this principle be 
 admitted, the rich and the powerful are at once absolved from 
 the responsibilities of their station. It tells them in effect, 
 that it is immaterial how they spend upon hounds and horses 
 and costly entertainments, and waste in splendid profusion the 
 means, that, if rightly diffused, would purchase food and 
 happiness for thousands, it pleads, that the destiny of man 
 is pain and suffering, that the interest of the individual is 
 lost in that of the mass, and that it is necessary for the 
 good of the whole that a large portion should eat their bread 
 in bitterness, and feed upon the crumbs thrown from the rich 
 man's table. Are these views consistent with the principles of 
 the New Testament ? 
 
 These remarks have been made from a settled conviction 
 that the false deductions from modern theories of population 
 now referred to, have extensively obtained and have improperly 
 influenced the age. The practical effect of their acceptance 
 among a large class has been that of neutralising, if not 
 actually opposing, the moral and spiritual agencies for the 
 improvement of the people. Teachers and legislators have 
 been reconciled to the existence of evils that a more enlight- 
 ened faith would have enabled them to remove. A spurious 
 charity has been encouraged rather than an enlightened philan- 
 thropy. Attempts have been made to console the people under 
 what were considered unavoidable evils, instead of stimulating 
 them to resolute effort. They have been taught a servile con- 
 tentment instead of the high ambition that would enable them 
 to struggle with, and overcome the difficulties of their position. 
 Little has been done to create feelings of self-reliance, or to 
 give weight and strength to character. They have been led to 
 expect that every exigency would be met by extraneous assist- 
 ance, until the power of exertion is almost lost. 
 
 It must not be supposed that there is any wish to contend, 
 that the law of increase ought to go on unchecked by pruden- 
 tial considerations, or that men should be left, like the beasts 
 
|36 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 that perish, to gratify every instinct, rush into marriage, or anti- 
 cipate its consequences. The author of the new views on 
 population strongly enforced the employment of the moral 
 checks, in order that the checks of disease, want, destitution, 
 etc., might not be called into action. It may he repeated here, 
 that the principle itself is not necessarily involved in this con- 
 demnation, the deductions made from it are complained of. 
 
 The true corrective to a false and presuming philosophy, and 
 to an unhealthy sentiment on this subject, can only be supplied 
 by the application of Christian principles. Not the religion of 
 creeds or sects, the formalism of church and chapel-going., the 
 stern observance of ceremonials, but the active spirit of Chris- 
 tianity influencing the heart, directing the judgment, and 
 governing the conduct. It is not the strict rule, and grave 
 demeanour, the length and loudness of prayers, the rigid dis- 
 cipline, nor yet by the amount of almsgiving that Christian 
 duty is discharged. The Pharisees did all this : " Except 
 your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and 
 Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of Heaven." 
 The animating and life-giving principles so beautifully exempli- 
 fied in the teachings as well as in the character of Christ, must 
 be diffused abroad. The Christian must feel it to be his duty 
 to penetrate into the darkened homes of our land, and remove 
 the physical misery brooding there, as a preparative for the high 
 and holy lessons he wishes to impart. The Saviour, who could 
 do more, did not neglect this. By administering to the neces- 
 sities of the poor, he softened the mind and induced a dis- 
 position to listen to the instruction he offered. His modern 
 disciples preach and pray and lift up their voices in high- 
 places, but too often neglect the practical charity, without 
 which the former is but as " sounding brass or as a tinkling 
 cymbal." Our novelists are descending into the very depths 
 of society, and gathering their material from the distresses and 
 wretchedness that is found there, while those who occupy our 
 pulpits unfortunately remain inactive and apparently uninter- 
 ested spectators of the great moral movements which are 
 gradually altering the face of society. The Scriptures say, 
 " If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. j^y 
 
 and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed 
 and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which 
 are needful for the body, what doth it profit ?" There is a most 
 profound meaning in this, which, if properly understood, would 
 stimulate a higher benevolence than that which has obtained, 
 and suggest means of elevating those whose vices and indo- 
 lence have reduced them to want, and who are kept in a state 
 of mendicant slavery by the charity that relieves the hunger of 
 the moment, but in doing so tends to destroy the incentives to 
 industry, and the sparks of honest pride and independence. In 
 a word, if we are to grapple successfully with the evils of the 
 age, those who adopt the profession of Christianity, must be- 
 come the pioneers in every enterprise that seeks to improve 
 the homes, health, fortunes, character and intelligence of the 
 people. If the sentinel slumber upon the towers, no wonder 
 that the people perish ! When this spirit animates the reformer, 
 what then, it may be asked, are the practical means to be 
 employed ? Some of them have already been intimated, and 
 others will have occurred to the reader as the various points of 
 this Essay have been brought under his consideration. Time 
 need not be occupied in arguing the importance of education, 
 as it is one of the means of correcting juvenile depravity, to 
 which the public mind is already alive. Schools of every kind 
 are multiplying, and offering opportunities for all, even the rag- 
 ged, the dirty, and the forlorn. We may hope, from what has 
 already been done, that a few years will supply ample accom- 
 modation for the entire population. What we pre-eminently 
 want are more enlarged views on the subject of education. 
 The discipline which is all-powerful in forming character, the 
 discipline of the home, is not yet sufficiently appreciated. That, 
 however, will follow the improvement of the people in condi- 
 tion, and attend their elevation in character and intelligence. 
 
 There are remedies, however, which it becomes our duty to 
 point out. We have seen that great evil results from the im- 
 proper employment of women and children. Some mischief 
 will always arise from taking women from the sphere of 
 domestic life, and children from home and school, to labour 
 in workshops and manufactories, but much of that mischief 
 
}gg AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 arises from the recklessness and carelessness of those who 
 employ them. The only arrangements insisted on being that 
 a certain amount of work be done for a certain wage. There 
 is however a higher duty devolving upon a master than that 
 of strictly fulfilling the pecuniary engagement he may have 
 entered into. Under any circumstances crowding a number 
 of young persons together, and frequently of opposite sexes, 
 must be pernicious. It is morally required of the employer 
 that he enforces such regulations as will give every possible 
 protection against evil consequences. It is the worst of all 
 pride, the weakest of punctiliousness, that separates a man from 
 his servants when occasional communication can be made use- 
 ful to them and profitable to himself. To lessen the distance 
 between the condition of master and servant, to sympathise 
 with and provide for their reasonable wants, to smooth the way 
 and to harass them as little as possible in the discharge of their 
 duties, are merely matters of ordinary benevolence : in house- 
 holds it is equally necessary. Ladies who have given much 
 attention to the subject, have complained that the want of due 
 care on the part of masters and mistresses, leads to many 
 derelictions of duty on the part of servants. The treatment 
 to which the latter are subjected, and the example of their 
 superiors, exercises a very pernicious influence over mind and 
 morals. No pains are taken to furnish reasonable comforts, 
 impatience and fretfulness are often manifested towards them, 
 and the voice of kindly counsel is rarely heard. Nothing is 
 more common than to have charges of lax morality preferreH 
 against servants. How much of the cause of complaint might 
 be removed by a little gentle and considerate attention a kind 
 word, a look, will often be successful when more substan- 
 tial rewards would fail. This is particularly applicable to 
 large manufactories. It is at present a defect in our social 
 system that children have to labour. Individual employers 
 are no more to blame for this, than the intelligent tradesman 
 is chargeable with the evils of the late-hour system. He may 
 see that the twelve hours a day toil in a sale shop is destructive 
 to health and comfort, and he would escape if he could, but is 
 bound down by the usages of his trade. But if the individual 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. J.JQ 
 
 employer cannot meet the competition of his trade without 
 availing himself of the same kind of labour as others, he can 
 lessen its severity and make provision for the education and 
 moral culture of those he employs. Many employers have 
 already established schools in connection with their manufac- 
 tories. From many instances before us, we may take that of 
 Mr. Moms, of Manchester, who has risen himself from the 
 condition of a factory operative, and who has felt in his own 
 person the disadvantages under which that class of workmen 
 labour. He has introduced many judicious improvements. 
 He has spent about 150 in ventilating the mills; and has 
 established a library, coffee-room, class-room, weekly lectures, 
 and a system of industrial training. The latter has been 
 established almost entirely for females, of whom he employs a 
 great many. This class of girls generally go to the mills with- 
 out any knowledge of household duties : they are taught in the 
 school to sew, knit, etc. During the winter of 1847-8 several 
 thousands were out of work in Manchester, and his mills were 
 almost wholly closed. Several girls, who had previously learnt 
 to sew in his schools, were enabled to earn as much as kept 
 them from the workhouse. On showing the schools and describ- 
 ing his arrangements he complained of want of suitable assist- 
 ance, and observed that he had learnt crochet work in 
 order to be enabled to teach the girls. He spoke well of the 
 docility and of the growing desire for instruction amongst 
 young persons in that rank of life. There were several who 
 had recently got married and found the acquisition of such 
 knowledge of great value in the management of a household. 
 Out of 500 hands in his employment, 300 were members of 
 a Temperance Society. These had been made so by the 
 inculcation of temperance principles, and by lessening the 
 facilities to drinking. In the Keport on the Education of 
 Pauper Children, published by the Poor-Law Commissioners, 
 much valuable evidence of a similar kind is given ; and in all 
 cases the interests of the employers have been promoted by 
 such measures as well as those of the work-people. 
 
 It is obvious that such arrangements, generally carried out, 
 would incalculably improve the condition of the factory-worker, 
 
140 AN 1NQ UI RY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 and, in fact, give an advantage to this class of operatives, 
 greatly superior to that enjoyed by those who are brought up 
 in ill- conducted and neglected homes. It would enable them 
 to struggle through difficulties and to conquer temptations. 
 Schools connected with every manufactory would be a blessing 
 to those employed, and to the surrounding population. In- 
 stead of the vacuity of mind and restlessness of disposition 
 continually craving for the most trashy indulgences and im- 
 pure gratifications, an appetite for higher pleasures would be 
 induced. A girl would be more likely to get married well, to 
 make a husband happy, and to train up children in orderly 
 and industrious habits. Such arrangements within the reach 
 of every employer, would in the course of a single gene- 
 ration have a very sensible effect upon the habits and general 
 character of the people. It is not more the duty than the 
 interest of the richer classes to carry out these improvements. 
 If steadiness of conduct and attention to work are desirable 
 in a manufactory, they are very much under the command of 
 the employer. If he chooses to take the trouble of enforcing 
 wholesome regulations, and providing recreations and means 
 of instruction, he may command a cheerful performance of 
 duty. 
 
 The establishment of places for agreeable amusements, 
 gymnasia, public walks, etc., besides popular lectures on the 
 sciences, and more particularly on subjects of interest to the 
 working classes, would do much to counteract the influence 
 of the public-house. In the former part of this Essay 
 the dangerous character of Tavern entertainments has been 
 insisted upon. The substitution of others of an innocent 
 and attractive kind is absolutely required. In the Prison 
 Reports we find this strongly recommended ; and many who 
 have given close and earnest attention to the condition of the 
 people, have not hesitated to ascribe much of our national 
 intemperance to the want of healthful and exciting recreations 
 dissociated from drinking-houses. There is not space, nor is 
 it necessary to enter upon the character of the required amuse- 
 ments : they should be such as will give exercise to mind 
 and body, and afford gratification to the various faculties. 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. J4| 
 
 But besides the institution of recreations of a harmless 
 character, the moral reformer must try to put down those 
 that are decidedly pernicious and seductive. Legislation must 
 be brought to bear upon the monstrous evil. We have not to 
 be instructed as to the utter hopelessness of correcting the 
 habits of drinking by penal enactments ; sanctioned as they 
 are by public opinion and upheld by powerful interests, they 
 resist all ordinary appliances. But surely if the evil cannot 
 be entirely removed, it can be lessened. The truly noble 
 course for a paternal Government to pursue would be that of 
 refusing to derive revenue, and a determination to remove 
 all protection from, a traffic that debases the people. But 
 if this cannot be done, judicious limitations might be imposed. 
 We find that licensed houses, where in addition to the attrac- 
 tions of the drink there are theatrical exhibitions, dancing 
 and musical entertainments, are hotbeds of vice. They 
 lift up their gaudy fronts in every highway to lure thought- 
 less and unprotected youth. Is it to be endured that these 
 seminaries of wickedness should continue under the sanction 
 of law, creating candidates for the workhouse and the prison, 
 and sowing broadcast the seeds of disease and vice ? It might 
 be too much to say that there shall be no public-houses, or no 
 cheap concerts or dancing saloons ; but it would be a great 
 public benefit to deny licenses to any house for both purposes. 
 Cheap entertainments and drinking-houses will doubtless re- 
 main until public opinion cries them down, but they ought not to 
 exist together. It is also a grave question for our legislators, 
 as well as for the community, whether restrictions ought not 
 to be imposed upon the houses for the sale of drink. They 
 are allowed to keep open on the Sabbath and to late hours in 
 the evening. There is neither decency, propriety, nor justice 
 in extending privileges to the keepers of these houses, which 
 are not given to the venders of useful articles. It is a mon- 
 strous cruelty that the poorer classes, emerging from reeking 
 workshops, and fetid hovels, surrounded on all sides by 
 poverty, and met in every path by temptation, should be 
 exposed to the additional one held out by the retailers of 
 intoxicating drinks: and that youth, who are confined undue 
 
J42 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 hours in shops and warehouses, until the mental and physical 
 energies are exhausted, should have exhibited to them in every 
 thoroughfare the meretricious attractions of our large taverns. 
 Who can wonder that the wretchedly poor make an effort to 
 escape from the realities of their position in the reveries or 
 insensibility of intoxication, or that giddy youth should fall 
 into the snares? Surely if anything can justify the inter- 
 vention of Government, it is a case like this ; it is a matter 
 of ordinary protection to the youth who are thrown upon our 
 large cities without home or guardianship. The agitation on 
 the late-hour system will "bring great direct as well as indirect 
 advantage ; but it will do only a partial good, unless accom- 
 panied by efforts to find elevating employment for the leisure 
 hours of those it seeks to emancipate from a galling and 
 oppressive bondage. It would be well if all our public insti- 
 tutions would imitate the example of King's College, the 
 authorities of which have determined upon giving through 
 the winter months several courses of Lectures, specially adapted 
 to those whose occupations during the day preclude the possi- 
 bility of their devoting themselves to the pursuit of science. 
 The subjects have been well chosen, and the most eminent 
 professors selected to illustrate them. 
 
 These suggestions, it is obvious, can only apply to a class 
 who have had some care bestowed upon their training in child- 
 hood and youth. We must now look to those who are thrown 
 upon the world without protection, whose natural guardians 
 neglect them or doom them to early labour and trial. We turn 
 from those who have had opportunities to those who have had 
 none, and this introduces us to a most solemn social question. 
 We live in an age when old institutions and ancient preju- 
 dices are undergoing severe revision. Men are debating ques- 
 tions of law and polity, and prescribing limits to the powers 
 of government. There is a great sensitiveness on the part of 
 many as to the interference of the State with education, morals, 
 and religion. Without entering upon controversial ground, 
 we may inquire whether, some arrangement beyond that of 
 police and schools is not necessary to meet the case of Juvenile 
 Depravity. It is n, subject surrounded by difficulty its 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 delicacy being only equalled by its importance. Any sugges- 
 tion here offered is made with diffidence and humility. It is 
 not, presumed that any remedy can be set forth worthy of 
 acceptance, when the greatest minds have failed, we only 
 throw the result of our reflections and inquiries into the 
 common stock. A large portion of the destitute children of 
 our large towns are orphans, deserted by or belonging to 
 intemperate or otherwise vicious parents. With the orphans 
 there can be no difficulty. It is strictly the duty of the State 
 to provide them food, clothing, and education, and train them 
 up to earn an honest living. This should be done in a 
 different asylum to the poor-house, where they are in danger 
 of acquiring pauper habits and feelings. Political society owes 
 protection to all its members, and the child deprived of its 
 natural protectors is in every sense the child of the State. 
 Besides, the community are called upon by a sense of justice 
 and economy to take such steps as will prevent the neglected 
 boy from becoming a pauper or criminal. A sum much less 
 than that employed under ordinary circumstances to treat 
 the vagrant or the delinquent, would suffice to educate the 
 artisan or mechanic. At present a number of orphan children 
 pass through the prisons, and when the penalty for their offence 
 is paid, they are thrown back upon the society in whose bosom 
 they have been nurtured. In the great majority of instances 
 they return in due course to the prison from which they have 
 been cast out. Under a thoroughly humane system these 
 wretched beings would be sent to school. It is true there are 
 Keformatory Institutions, but these can do little to meet the 
 evil of Juvenile Depravity. The language they virtually 
 employ is this : You are poor, neglected, homeless, you 
 wander forth under the temptation of hunger, and in rags, 
 you are growing in years, shut out from the most ordinary 
 means of instruction, you are familiar with images of vice, 
 you have no parents, or you are deserted by them, but we can- 
 not help you, our care is reserved for others who have violated 
 the law. The objects of our solicitude are not those who may 
 in spite of all the evil influences of penury, neglect, and harsh 
 treatment still struggle to respect the law but those who 
 
144 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 have already broken it. We do not seek objects for our 
 charity in the streets, but in the prisons. Go ! we have no 
 shelter for you. Is not this saying to the child, broken in 
 spirit and shivering under cold and starvation, that before he 
 can honestly obtain food, clothing, shelter, or education, he 
 must steal or cheat ; then, perchance in the prison, some one 
 may visit him ; he may with a number of others be put in a 
 lottery, and if he should draw a prize, he may then find a 
 comfortable home ? An asylum is open, but the door is 
 through the police-office, and not until the comparatively 
 innocent child has become acquainted with sin, and has in- 
 curred the stigma that will cling to him through life. 
 
 Another class is equally worthy of our sympathy the 
 children of vicious and intemperate parents. The difficulty is 
 here greatly increased ; but it may be asked, whether protection 
 in this case is not due to society and to the child so educated ? 
 The question is a startling one and must not be trifled with, 
 will you interfere betwixt parent and child? But there is 
 another, of great if not of equal weight has not the parent 
 abdicated his authority by the use he makes of it ? From 
 whence is derived the right to train up children as vagrants, 
 criminals, or cripples, and to inflict untold misery upon those 
 so trained ? If a man illuse a horse, he is amenable to law, 
 he may inflict a life of torture upon a child, destroy its present 
 and endanger its future happiness without any legal responsi- 
 bility. If a man was proved to deprive a child of an eye or 
 crush its limbs the law would interfere, but to distort the mind 
 and to warp or corrupt the moral sense escapes all punishment. 
 Would it not be wise and practicable to arrest every child 
 caught begging, and take it to a friendly shelter until its cir- 
 cumstances were fully inquired into ? If parentless there can 
 be no difficulty. It should at once be sent to an industrial 
 school, and taught some useful occupation many would thus 
 be rescued from the contagion of the streets. Those who have 
 parents wholly incorrigible it would be more difficult to treat. 
 In Paris, where unfortunate women are registered, pains are 
 taken with those who present themselves. The inscription it 
 must be remarked declares the fact of prostitution, but does 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. j^g 
 
 not, as is commonly supposed, give authority to the woman to 
 prostitute herself. If a girl present herself for inscription, 
 and her age or other circumstances induce the belief that she 
 is not hardened in vice, every effort is made to restore her to 
 the bosom of her family, nor is her name inscribed until there 
 is no hope of effecting such restoration. Could not some 
 system of investigation be adopted in relation to the neglected 
 children of the streets, and a course of conduct pursued in 
 accordance with the results ? This is not the place to discuss 
 in detail a general scheme, and therefore it will be dismissed 
 with these few hints. The Ragged- School will do something, 
 but it is almost hopeless to reclaim that class of children, 
 unless they can be withdrawn from the evil influences of their 
 miserable homes. 
 
 We have now several instances of highly successful expe- 
 riments in juvenile training. The arrangements of "La 
 Colonie Agricole," at Mettray, and the Rhau Haus, at Ham- 
 burgh, have been the most remarkable. The former Insti- 
 tution, for the moral and industrial education of juvenile 
 offenders, was founded through the benevolent exertions of 
 two French gentlemen, Monsieur Demetz, and the Viscomte 
 de Bretigneres de Courteilles. The origination of the plan was 
 by the former of these gentlemen, who was led to interest 
 himself in the condition of a large class of young offenders, 
 whom the French law acquits of the offence with which they 
 are charged, on the ground of their not knowing right from 
 wrong. The tribunals, however, are empowered to sentence 
 them to detention for long periods in a house of correction. 
 The latter gentleman gave land for the purpose, and resides 
 upon it, superintending the whole establishment. The children 
 received into it are boys, defined by the 66th Article of the 
 Penal Code, which is as follows: " When the accused party 
 shall be under sixteen years of age, if it be decided that he has 
 acted ' sans discernement' he shall be acquitted, but accord- 
 ing to circumstances, shall be returned to his parents or sent to 
 a house of correction, to be there educated, and detained for as 
 many years as his sentence shall appoint, provided, always, 
 that the sentence shall not extend beyond the period when the 
 
 L 
 
146 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 boy shall be twenty-one years of age." The boys are received 
 on the recommendation of the Conseils Generaux of the 
 different departments of France, bodies of Magistrates some- 
 what similar to the Quarter Session of this country. They 
 are brought to the establishment by one of the officers of the 
 colony the object being to gain a knowledge of the boy's 
 character and disposition while travelling. The boys are then 
 taught some useful branch of industry the trade of a car- 
 penter, wheelwright, blacksmith, tailor, and shoemaker. The 
 majority are brought up to gardening and agriculture. The 
 principal feature of the arrangement is, that the boys are 
 divided into families of about forty each, under the care of a 
 master and two assistant masters of each family. This is 
 intended to supply a home, and provide a substitute for family 
 relationship. By it the responsibility of the head of the 
 family is made far more personal and individual. The boys 
 and master are much more closely connected by this means. 
 An effort is made to interest the boys in the maintenance of 
 order and discipline in the establishment. M. Demetz is a 
 strict disciplinarian. He lays it down as a principle, that 
 self-denial in yourself is the essential condition of usefulness 
 to others. He teaches this by his own example, living as he 
 expects the boys to do. The religious sentiment is carefully 
 cultivated. The Institution is sustained partly by voluntary 
 contributions, and partly by the departments from which the 
 boys are sent. The results may be gathered from the follow- 
 ing items taken from the returns. Since the establishment in 
 1839, there have been received 521 boys. The number of 
 inmates in 1846, was 348; leaving a remainder of 173 to be 
 accounted for. Of these 173, 17 have died, 12 have been 
 sent back to their prisons for misconduct, 144 have been 
 placed out in various situations in the world. Of the 144 
 thus placed out, seven have relapsed into crime, 9 are of 
 doubtful character, and 128 are conducting themselves to the 
 full satisfaction of the Directors. 
 
 The Philanthropic Society for the Reformation of Juvenile 
 Offenders in London, of which the Eev. Sydney Turner is , 
 chaplain, is established on similar principles, but governed more 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. |47 
 
 in accordance with the spirit of English Institutions. It is sus- 
 tained entirely by voluntary contributions. Similar results to 
 those attained at Mettray have followed. By an inquiry into the 
 character and circumstances of the lads who left the Institution 
 between May 1, 1847, and May 1, 1848; it appears, 91 lads 
 were apprenticed, placed in situations, sent to sea, or taken 
 under care of their friends, in the twelvemonth ending May 1, 
 1848. Of these, 53 are still in the situations obtained for 
 them, and are doing well ; 6 are known to be doing well with 
 their friends ; 18 have not been lately heard of, but are under- 
 stood to be doing fairly, and maintaining good characters ; 2 
 are complained of by their masters and friends ; 1 has died ; 
 1 has been received again into the Institution ; 10 are known 
 to have relapsed into their former faults, and to have been 
 convicted of theft. Total 91. 
 
 This Institution is now enlarging its operations, by the 
 establishment of a farm school at Eed Hill, near Keigate, 
 which when completed, will enable them to entertain about 
 500 boys. 
 
 In the Warwick County Asylum it has been shown by expe- 
 rience, that no less than 60 criminals in every hundred have 
 been permanently reformed and restored to society. 
 
 It would be well to contrast these results with that of our 
 prison treatment, where it is extremely doubtful whether any 
 material proportion gain an honest position in society. How is it 
 possible after short periods of imprisonment ? If a resolution 
 of amendment is formed, what chance is there of sustaining it 
 when turned loose upon the world ? The testimony of many 
 enlightened governors and chaplains of prisons goes to 
 favour the notion that the majority of those who leave our well- 
 conducted prisons, do so with a wish, and even determination, 
 to earn an honest livelihood. But it is always difficult for 
 persons of this class to obtain employment, even without the 
 disadvantage of walking immediately out of prison to seek it. 
 They struggle awhile with temptation and poverty, fall among 
 evil companions, and are brought back to prison. It is in vain 
 that whipping, or varieties of punishment are introduced, the 
 number and circumstances of the re-committals show how little 
 
 L 2 
 
 ' 
 
J48 AN iNQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 these things are estimated by the criminals when pressed 
 by want, or deprived of the gratification to which they have 
 been accustomed they calculate the chances of detection, and 
 run the risk. Very often they learn in prison the lessons 
 which render them more expert and dexterous in the commis- 
 sion of crime. Strange infatuation, to waste exertion upon 
 plans of prison discipline to the neglect of preventive measures ! 
 Is not our whole jurisprudence a blunder ? It is a cruel mockery 
 to see a child of ten or twelve years of age brought a prisoner 
 into a court of justice, one of those unfortunates of whom men- 
 tion has so repeatedly been made. The child is bewildered by 
 the appearance of the Judge, the pleading of counsel, and the 
 charge from the Bench. The only part of it he understands is, 
 that which condemns him to a certain term of imprisonment. 
 He feels, too, that there are parties without, in the little world 
 of which he is a denizen, who will inquire whether he bravely 
 bore his part. He has a reputation to sustain among his own 
 class. He may be the hero of a circle. No brief period of 
 seclusion from his usual associates can correct the confirmed 
 habits of his life, nor can he throw them off as easily as the 
 rags he exchanges for his prison dress. Society has a duty to 
 perform, and one of the most gratifying signs of the times is 
 the effort made to establish schools, and reformatory asylums. 
 There is ample scope, however, for greater breadth of design 
 and more enlarged operations. It is unwise to wait until 
 the offender is made ; our intervention must begin before the 
 children are convicted of crime. These Institutions, though 
 liable to the objection that they only provide for those who 
 have already committed crime, are of inestimable advantage 
 in pointing out the importance of industrial training. An 
 immense proportion of the juvenile criminals it will be seen, 
 from the facts contained in this Essay, are without occupations 
 or any creditable means of obtaining a livelihood. Idleness is 
 the parent of innumerable vices. The Reports of our Indus- 
 trial Schools are therefore highly interesting and gratifying, 
 and are directing the way to successful modes of instruction. 
 
 All the agencies here hinted at, and others, are needed to 
 cope with the evil exhibited ; but something more is wanted 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 which we must now hasten to consider. In the various aspects 
 in which the subject has been viewed, it has been shown that 
 habits of drinking have a close connexion with every condition 
 of wretchedness, and every form of depravity. Intemperance 
 may not be the parent of all our social ills, but it originates 
 many, and aggravates the malignancy of those it does not 
 actually produce. We find it associated with a low order of 
 intelligence and debased morals and undermining the social 
 and domestic character of the people. Judges have repeatedly 
 given expression to their feelings, that if it were not for intem- 
 perance their office would be a sinecure. Magistrates have 
 borne testimony to the same thing. Those who have gone 
 carefully over this work will not doubt that a great portion of 
 our juvenile delinquency may be ascribed to intemperance. 
 Facts and statistics have shown the habits of those whose 
 children are sent to early toil, or exposed to all the dangers 
 and temptations of the streets. On a closer examination it 
 will be seen that the drinking system creates and encourages 
 habits, pursuits and amusements, unfavourable to education, 
 industry, or the cultivation of religious principle. It robs the 
 Sabbath School of some of its most promising blossoms the 
 Christian Church of much of the ripening fruit. It wastes 
 individual means and national wealth, and is the most influen- 
 tial cause of that pauperism and vice which press like an 
 incubus upon the energies of the people. 
 
 If this be so, what is the duty of the philanthropist and the 
 Christian ? Clearly to give a fair and candid examination 
 to the inquiries suggested. We must not only war against 
 intemperance, but against strong drink. There is not a ques- 
 tion of law, government, trade, or policy, so far as they affect 
 the social and moral condition of the people, but what involves 
 in its consideration some feature of the drinking system. There 
 is no public effort, no institution of preventive or palliative 
 charity, but what is concerned in the discussion. Every move- 
 ment of the times is materially affected by it. The religious 
 teacher may offer the invitations of the gospel, and point to 
 the happiness of an improved life and regenerated heart : he 
 may as well preach to stocks or stones, as to a population 
 
150 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 wallowing in the debasements of drunkenness. These are not 
 opinions hastily taken up, nor the result of an enthusiasm run 
 wild upon a favourite subject : they are given after a long 
 and intimate acquaintance with the condition of the operative 
 classes. So long ^is strong drink remains the ordinary beve- 
 rage of the population, there can be no substantial or abiding 
 improvement in that condition. The spread of temperance 
 principles is essential to the success of every other cause 
 seeking to elevate the people in knowledge, virtue, and hap- 
 piness. 
 
 The appeal is made to the moral and religious, because 
 their influence is all-powerful. They are asked to apply the 
 same rule of judgment to the habit of drinking as they apply 
 to other usages of the world. Many of the fashionable follies 
 of the time they do not hesitate to condemn : they do not 
 pause to inquire whether the things are good or bad in them- 
 selves ; they see that the tendencies are evil, and they abjure 
 them. They judge of the tree by its fruits. It is not too 
 much to say, that all the follies and vices of the age have 
 inflicted less evil upon the bodies and the souls of men than 
 the vice of drinking. It is important that the Church should 
 come out, and declare against the evil. As a watchman upon 
 the walls of a citadel, the minister of religion ought to cry out, 
 and warn the sleepers within. 
 
 It will be felt that the facts and figures contained in this 
 Essay form an overwhelming argument, but they cannot be left 
 without some consideration of the way in which they may be 
 the most powerfully applied to practical purposes. The remedy 
 is already prescribed. The claims of the Temperance Society 
 might be urged, but we prefer arguing the question as if no 
 such society existed. It is, after all, a subject which may be 
 brought within a very narrow compass. It is demonstrated 
 beyond the possibility of dispute, that drink, and usages con- 
 nected with it, have in this country interwoven themselves 
 with all the customs of society. The nature and properties 
 of the liquors, and the general habits of society, constitute 
 temptations which, so far as the uneducated classes of our 
 countrymen are concerned, are practically uncontrollable : the 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. Jg} 
 
 abuse is inseparable from the use. Discussions on the abstract 
 lawfulness of using the drink can do little to strengthen or 
 oppose the evidence of common sense, which shows the 
 national beverage to be a national curse. Let it be viewed 
 in every relation, and some frightful feature is presented in 
 all. It is in vain that we look for a redeeming trait : in 
 every aspect it is evil. The case cannot be met by warring 
 against the gin-shop or the beer-house, these are the neces- 
 sary consequences of a public opinion in favour of strong 
 drink. The abuses of our drinking system could not sustain 
 themselves ; the system rests for support on something firmer 
 than itself. The dram-shop or beer-shop is a part of the traffic 
 from which the respectable wine-merchant derives his profit ; 
 and both are sustained, not by the drunken, the vicious, the 
 disorderly, but by the wise and the good. It is the more 
 intelligent of our countrymen who give respectability to the 
 drinking system, and this is the only portion that has the 
 power to change it. This constitutes a serious moral respon- 
 sibility. The customs of society, most pernicious to health, 
 prosperity, virtue, and good order, are kept up by the example 
 of the religious, the orderly, and the humane. In urging 
 this, there is no intention of setting forth the claims of any 
 sect or party; it must rest on its own merits. The great 
 fact has been fully developed, that drinking and crime are 
 invariably associated, that the drinking customs promote 
 every kind of evil, and interfere with the progress of Educa- 
 tion, Sanitary reform, and every measure of good. There 
 are but two classes those who drink, and those who do not. 
 Those who do, it is respectfully but earnestly submitted, give 
 the influence of their example to the perpetuation of practices 
 from which flow much of the depravity, irreligion, and wicked- 
 ness of our age. This volume would not have been written, 
 except as an appeal to them for help ; and the consideration 
 of this solemn subject is affectionately urged upon all who 
 are labouring for the good, or whose example may direct the 
 steps of others. 
 
 Were it our object to prefer the claims of the Temper- 
 ance Society, we might say much in its favour. Its advo- 
 
AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES 
 
 cate can now point to its achievements. Amongst what- 
 ever population it has taken root it has brought forth 
 comely fruit. In America it has been successful in arresting 
 the progress of intemperance. In Ireland, although social 
 disorganisation, agrarian tumult, and frightful crime have 
 lately disfigured its history, much has been done towards 
 improvement of individual and national character. In this 
 country we have Temperance Societies, and a Temperance 
 literature, instructing the people, and showing the importance 
 of improved habits, directing them to personal exertion, 
 as the safest, best, and surest means of improving their 
 circumstances. In the Appendix will be found letters ad- 
 dressed to Mr. Joseph Eaton, of Bristol, describing the good 
 results of some of our Temperance labours. Attention is 
 earnestly invited to them, as they have an intimate relation to 
 the subject in hand. There is also given an extract from 
 the Eeport of the Visiting Justices of the House of Correction, 
 Cold Bath Fields, referring to the labours of Mr. Rotch, who 
 has been long known for his attachment to the cause of tem- 
 perance. This gentleman, feeling how great was the intimacy 
 between intemperance and crime, marked out for himself a 
 department of usefulness entirely new, and apparently un- 
 promising. He commenced among the prisoners of Cold Bath 
 Fields, and he has been eminently successful in implanting 
 better motives, and inducing a determination to lead an amended 
 life. The testimony given to the value of his exertions is 
 highly gratifying. 
 
 This is a time favourable for effort. Unless we are un- 
 mindful of the admonition given by the convulsions of 1848, 
 we shall seek to improve the opportunities afforded to us. 
 Safety can only rest on the morality of the people, and the 
 wisdom of their rulers. England has remained safe amid the 
 shock, and this may be attributed in some degree to the inte- 
 rest which has been recently awakened to the condition of the 
 poorer classes, and the practical measures which have followed. 
 Amongst the auspicious peculiarities of the age, it is gratify- 
 ing to notice that we live under the rule of a female Sovereign 
 who has established a claim to the esteem of her subjects, by 
 
OF JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 exhibiting the high virtues of the English wife and mother. 
 That illustrious lady sways an empire on which the sun never 
 sets, and yet the sympathy manifested for the lowliest of her 
 people, will give a higher dignity and reflect a brighter lustre 
 on her reign than would the conquest of new worlds. What 
 will posterity say to this day of activity and change ? It may 
 be that the sun under which this nation warmed into life, and 
 has risen to glory has attained its meridian, and is now hasten- 
 ing to its setting, that her power will ere long pass away, and 
 the trident she has so tenaciously held be wrested from her 
 grasp. Could we look through the vista of coming time, we 
 might see from one of the distant provinces which Great 
 Britain is now peopling with her children, and where she is 
 planting her language, her institutions, and her religion, some 
 powerful empire spring up to lead the w r orld in commerce 
 and arts, when she, the mother of nations, has performed her 
 mission, fulfilled her destiny, and sunk down into age and 
 decrepitude. Perchance in some hall of learning, or in some 
 lonely and secluded study in that new state, the pale and 
 thoughtful student may exhaust the midnight oil in contem- 
 plating the deeds of the nation that has played so conspicuous 
 a part in the world's business. His award cannot be a matter 
 of indifference to us. We may entertain the assurance that 
 after he has followed the achievements of the Anglo-Saxon 
 race through eight centuries of existence, and traced the annals 
 which record its triumphs, its glory, and its shame, he will be 
 at no difficulty to point out the age of Victoria as distinguished 
 from, and having a prouder title to admiration and gratitude 
 than all that preceded it. He will date from it the inaugu- 
 ration of a new era in the history of civilisation. It was 
 then, he will say, that those in power began to stoop down 
 to study social wants, and to legislate for social necessities. 
 It was then that the people began to manifest a new spirit to 
 turn from the pomp and glitter of military glory, to conquests 
 of a more peaceful and substantial kind. It w r as then that 
 Philanthropy, animated by the genius of Christianity, went out 
 to explore the wretched homes of poverty, and to attack the 
 ignorance, vice, and disease which, like a thick midnight, hung 
 
154 AN INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND CAUSES, ETC. 
 
 over them. This is a solemn consideration. Posterity will be 
 affected by the uses we may make of our high trust, and has to 
 weigh and judge us. If patriotism is not a mere name, that 
 consideration will form one element in the motive to exertion. 
 But there is a stronger the sense of duty. Thousands are 
 perishing around us, that it is in our power to save. No arm 
 is too feeble no influence too small. Every man is the centre 
 of a circle, and operates for good or evil among his fellows. 
 Let all then in the spirit of hope and of truthfulness embark 
 their energies in the cause of the dark and beclouded. All 
 may labour in such a cause and it comes home to every man's 
 interest. All men may do something towards ushering in the 
 day when the deserts shall be glad, and the barren wilderness 
 of humanity made to blossom like the rose. It is in the 
 power of all to hasten the realisation of that time when all 
 nations and languages shall be able to join in the prophetic 
 song of the angels, " Glory to God in the highest, peace on 
 earth, good will toward men." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLE No. 1. 
 
 Showing the Number of Depredators, Offenders, and Suspected Per- 
 sons, who were brought within the cognizance of the Police of the 
 following Districts, or Places, in the Year 1837, comprehending 
 /. Persons who have no visible means of subsistence, and who are 
 believed to live wholly by violation of the law, as, by habitual 
 depredation, by fraud, by prostitution, etc. 
 
 II. Persons following some ostensible and legal occupation, but 
 who are known to have committed an offence, and are believed to 
 augment their gains by habitual or occasional violation of the law. 
 
 III. Persons not known to have committed any offences, but 
 known as associates of the above Classes, and otherwise deemed to 
 be suspicious characters : 
 
 District, or Place. 
 
 Number of Depredators, Offenders, 
 and Suspected Persons. 
 
 Number 
 in these 
 Classes 
 Migrant. 
 
 Average 
 Length 
 Of 
 Career. 
 
 Proportion 
 of known 
 bad cha- 
 racters to 
 Population 
 
 IstClass. 
 
 2d Class. 
 
 3d Class. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Metropolitan Police District... 
 Borough of Liverpool 
 City and County of Bristol ... 
 City of Bath ... 
 
 10,444 
 3,580 
 1,935 
 284 
 
 487 
 1,730 
 
 4,353 
 916 
 1,190 
 470 
 
 137 
 
 222 
 
 2,104 
 215 
 356 
 847 
 
 313 
 62 
 
 16,901 
 4,71 1 
 3,481 
 1,601 
 
 937 
 2.0J4 
 
 2,712 
 *605 
 
 303 
 
 454 
 
 4 years. 
 it 
 
 2J years. 
 
 1 in 89. 
 1 in 45. 
 1 in 31. 
 1 in 37. 
 
 1 in 64. 
 1 in 27. 
 
 Town and County of Kingston- 
 on-Hull 
 
 Town and County of New- 
 castle-on-Tyne 
 
 
150 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLE No. 2. 
 
 Showing the Characters of the Persons in the above three classes, 
 or the mode of Depredation, or means by which they obtain 
 a livelihood. 
 
 Character and de- 
 scription of 
 Offenders. 
 
 Metropolitan 
 Police district. 
 
 City of 
 Bristol. 
 
 City of 
 Bath. 
 
 Town of 
 Kingston-on- 
 Hull. 
 
 Town of 
 Newcastle- 
 on-Tyne. 
 
 G 
 
 2nd Class. 
 
 c 
 
 "S 
 
 | 
 
 1 
 c 
 
 13 ' 
 
 c 
 
 M 
 
 3rd Class. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 1o 
 
 C 
 
 1 
 
 % 
 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 OT 
 
 B 
 
 1 
 
 u 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 "H 
 
 C-3 
 
 1 
 
 "to 
 
 I I 
 S 6 
 
 "o .rt 
 
 c - 
 
 W so 
 
 Burglars 
 Housebreakers ... 
 Highway Robbers 
 Pickpockets 
 Common Thieves 
 
 77 
 59 
 1M 
 
 544 
 1667 
 
 22 
 
 17 
 8 
 75 
 
 1338 
 3 
 
 108 
 
 118 
 
 158 
 4 
 
 8 
 34 
 11 
 154 
 
 652 
 
 46 
 45 
 23 
 88 
 297 
 2 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 13 
 35 
 465 
 
 I 
 
 18 
 4 
 65 
 188 
 10 
 
 4 
 7 
 5 
 20 
 
 70 
 
 5 
 8 
 3 
 26 
 120 
 
 7 
 20 
 
 2 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 ... 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 40 
 138 
 
 37 
 43 
 
 5 
 5 
 
 7 
 3 
 
 114 
 
 3 08 
 
 1 
 
 31 
 
 90 
 
 7 
 1 
 
 20 ... 
 
 85 ... 
 2 ... 
 
 Obtainersof goods 
 by False Pre- 
 
 33 
 
 23 
 
 51 
 7 
 
 41 
 134 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 19 
 2 
 5 
 13 
 
 45 
 
 55 
 263 
 
 8 
 11 
 
 85 
 188 
 713 
 
 1935 
 
 57 
 
 38 
 
 90 
 10 
 11 
 
 33 
 141 
 
 69 
 212 
 
 mo 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 19 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 5 
 
 Persons Commit- 
 ting Frauds of 
 any other de- 
 scription 
 Receivers of 
 Stolen Goods... 
 Horse Stealers ... 
 Cattle Stealers 
 
 **24 
 1 
 35 
 
 3 
 356 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 "*1 
 2 
 
 20 
 2 
 
 1 
 9 
 
 1 
 130 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 215 
 45 
 
 '"l 
 3 
 
 31i> 
 42 
 
 '"3 
 
 '"l 
 
 1 
 3 
 
 1 
 5 
 
 "2 '.'.'. 
 
 Dog Stealers 
 Coiners 
 Utterers of Base 
 Coin . 
 
 45 
 25 
 
 202 
 723 
 
 1089 
 
 12 
 
 22 
 
 813 
 1460 
 
 3533 
 40 
 
 48 
 1 
 
 54 
 
 1866 
 186 
 
 17 
 40 
 
 G2 
 79 
 
 147 
 2 
 
 48 
 2 
 
 61 
 
 179 
 20 
 
 21 
 24 
 
 20 
 73 
 
 184 
 438 
 
 S 
 
 11 
 27 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 15 
 261 
 
 313 
 
 C 
 
 52,5 
 192 
 
 4 
 
 45 
 43 
 353 
 
 1730 
 
 2 2 
 
 "92 '.". 
 2 ... 
 
 10 ... 
 
 7 CO 
 22262 
 
 Habitual Disturb- 
 ers of the Peace 
 
 Begging Letter 
 Writers 
 Bearers of Beg- 
 ging Letters ... 
 Prostitutes, well 
 dressed, living 
 in Brothels ... 
 Prostitutes well- 
 dressed, walk- 
 ing the Streets 
 Prostitutes low, 
 infesting low 
 neighbourhoods 
 Classes not be- 
 fore mentioned 
 
 Total 
 
 22 
 2 
 
 IS 
 
 260 
 
 2 
 95 
 105 
 131 
 
 487 
 
 1 
 
 31 
 24 
 32 
 
 137 
 
 10,444 
 
 4353 
 
 2104 
 
 284 
 
 470 
 
 847 
 
 In the Return for the Borough of Liverpool, the Character and Description 
 of the Offenders was not stated. 
 
 These Tables were drawn up eleven years ago. Mr. Logan gives the follow- 
 ing particulars of Leeds applying to a more recent period. 
 
 Number of houses of ill-fame, 175; number of prostitutes (4 to each house,) 
 700 ; number of bullies or " fancy men," 350 ; mistresses of said houses, 17,5 ; 
 making a total living on prostitution of 1225. He estimates an annual expen- 
 diture on this vice of 218,400. He stat s that 120 of these wretched girls die 
 yearly. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLE No. 3. 
 
 157 
 
 Showing the Number of Houses for the purposes of Delinquency or 
 Vice, kept in the year 1837, in the following places : 
 
 
 Metropoli- 
 tan Police 
 District. 
 
 Borough 
 of 
 Liverpool 
 
 City of 
 Bristol. 
 
 City of 
 Bath. 
 
 Town of 
 Kingston- 
 on-Hull. 
 
 Town of 
 Newcastle 
 on-Tyne. 
 
 Population . 
 
 1,515,592 
 
 213,000 
 
 110,000 
 
 59,000 
 
 60,000 
 
 55,000 
 
 Houses for the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 reception of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 stolen goods . 
 
 227 
 
 102 
 
 72 
 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 17 
 
 Ditto suppressed 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 since the esta- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 blishment of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 the Police . . 
 
 131 
 
 unknown 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 Houses for the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 resort of thieves 
 
 276 
 
 *2071 
 
 109 
 
 38 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 Ditto suppressed 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 since the esta- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 blishment of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 the Police . . 
 
 159 
 
 inknown 
 
 13 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 Average num- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ber of thieves 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 daily resorting 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 to each . . . 
 
 17 
 
 unknown 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 31 
 
 Number of bro- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 thels where 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 prostitutes are 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 kept .... 
 
 933 
 
 520 
 
 150 
 
 24 
 
 88 
 
 71 
 
 Average num- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ber of prosti- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tutes kept in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 each .... 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 Number of houses 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of ill-fame where 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 prostitutes re- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 sort .... 
 
 848 
 
 625 
 
 174 
 
 44 
 
 40 
 
 46 
 
 Number of houses 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 where prosti- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tutes lodge 
 
 1554 
 
 136 
 
 232 
 
 71 
 
 47 
 
 31 
 
 Number of gam- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 bling houses . 
 
 32 
 
 none 
 
 31 
 
 8 
 
 none 
 
 none 
 
 Average num- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ber of persons 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 resorting to each 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 daily . . . 
 
 20 
 
 none 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 none 
 
 none 
 
 Mendicants' lodg- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ing houses . . 
 
 221 
 
 176 
 
 69 
 
 14 
 
 11 
 
 78 
 
 Average daily 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 number of lodg- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ers at each house 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 * Liverpool. In this number are contained 520 brothels, and 55 public- 
 houses. In addition to these there are 1,469 houses where thieves reside. 
 
158 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLE No. 4. 
 
 Total Number of Prisoners committed for Trial or tried at Assizes and 
 Sessions, or Bailed in England and Wales, during the year 1846. 
 
 Adult Offenders, i.e., 
 Prisoners of 17 years 
 of age and upwards. 
 Juvenile Offenders, 
 i.e., Prisoners under 
 17 years of age. 
 
 Prisoners 
 for trial at 
 the com- 
 mencement 
 of the year. 
 
 Committed 
 for trial in 
 the course 
 of the year. 
 
 Received 
 from the cus- 
 tody of other 
 Governors 
 for trial in 
 the course of 
 the year. 
 
 Rendered in 
 Court for 
 trial in the 
 course of 
 the year. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Grand 
 Total 
 of both 
 Sexes. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 
 Total Adult 
 
 1,252 
 152 
 
 393 
 4fi 
 
 13,198 
 2,305 
 
 3,828 
 457 
 
 2,015 
 275 
 
 560 
 43 
 
 1,747 
 151 
 
 393 
 36 
 
 18,212 
 2,883 
 
 5,174 
 582 
 
 23,386 
 3,465 
 
 Total Juvenile 
 
 Total Adult and Ju-^> 
 venile / 
 
 1,404 
 
 439 
 
 15,503 
 
 4,285 
 
 2,290 
 
 603 
 
 1,898 
 2,' 
 
 429 
 27 
 
 21,095 
 
 5,756 
 
 26,851 
 
 Total both Sexes 
 
 1,843 
 
 19,788 
 
 2,893 
 
 26,851 
 
 
 TABLE No. 5. 
 
 Total number of Prisoners under Summary Convictions in Enjland 
 and Wales during the year 1846. 
 
 Total Adult 
 Total Juvenile . 
 
 Total Adult and Juvenile . 
 Total both Sexes 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 Total both Sexes. 
 
 42,828 
 6,526 
 
 15,574 
 1,064 
 
 58,402 
 7,590 
 
 49,354 
 
 16,638 
 
 65,992 
 
 65,992 
 
 
 These Tables refer to England and Wales only. The proportion of offences 
 according to Porter's Tables was one in 573, and in Scotland one in 724, a dif- 
 ference in favour of the latter, which he thinks it fair to attribute to the more 
 general spread of instruction, as compared with that of England. In Ireland 
 Mr. Porter remarks, there are " some violent alternations. The committals 
 which were 23,891 in 1836, fell in the following year to 14,804, or 38 per cent. 
 In 1838 it was nearly as moderate, but in 1839 it jumped to 26,392, an advance 
 of 67 per cent., and which exhibited the proportion of accusations to the 
 population as 1 in 307, while in England during the same year it was as 1 in 
 634. Between 1836 and 1837 the convictions were lessened in a greater degree 
 than the committals, viz., from 18,110 to 9,536, or 47 per cent.; while the in- 
 crease of committals in 1839 from 1838 was only 25| per cent. The greatest 
 fluctuations, it appears, " occur under the heads of assaults, illicit distillation, 
 riot and rescue, and misdemeanours not otherwise described." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 159 
 
 TABLE No. 6. 
 
 Dividing the ten years betwixt 1838 and 1847 into two quinquennial 
 periods, the commitments are nearly equal. 
 
 
 
 Total of the 
 
 Five Years. 
 
 
 
 1843-7 
 
 1838-42 
 
 1st Class 
 2nd ditto 
 
 3rd ditto 
 4th ditto 
 5th ditto 
 
 6th ditto 
 
 Offences against the Person 
 Offences against Property, committed 
 with violence .... 
 Ditto ditto, without violence 
 Malicious Offences against Property . 
 Forgery, and other Offences against the 
 Currency 
 Other Offences 
 
 10,975 
 
 8,999 
 105,835 
 1,170 
 
 2,585 
 4,812 
 
 10,016 
 
 8,955 
 105,017 
 634 
 
 2,551 
 6 620 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 134,376 
 
 133,793 
 
 Since this work was put to press, an article has been published in the 
 Eclectic Review, fully substantiating the views taken in this Essay, as to the 
 decrease of crime. Towards the conclusion the reviewer adverting to an im- 
 portant statistical table, observes, that it " establishes a GREAT FACT. It proves 
 that crime has seen its climax ; it proves, to use a railway phrase, that some 
 powerful cause has 'put the break' on its onward and desolating progress, and 
 first bringing its speed into coincidence with the ratio of progress in the popu- 
 lation, will ere long leave it far in the rear. If there be any trutd in the theory 
 that the growth of a city population greatly increases the tendency to crime, 
 then it is evident, that since 1820, the condition of England has been yearly 
 becoming more unfavourable to the national morals. Supposing then, that no 
 counteracting force was in operation, subsequent to 1821 we ought to see in 
 the ratio of crime an acceleration, comparing 1821 to 1831, with 1805 to 1821. 
 But what says the table ? 
 
 Excess of crime, 1805 to 1821, 147'8 
 
 1821 to 1831, 33! 
 
 Nay more, from 1831 to 1845, the excess is only 8'4 for all England ; and 
 there is an actual deficiency in the manufacturing districts of 5 per cent., and 
 in the metropolitan of 1'3." 
 
 TABLE No. 7. 
 
 Showing the number of Criminals, the estimated Population, and the 
 proportions of Criminals to the Population. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Total number 
 of Criminals, 
 including 
 summary 
 Convictions. 
 
 Estimated 
 Population in 
 each year. 
 
 Number of Popu- 
 lation to one 
 Prisoner. 
 
 1839 
 1840 
 1841 
 1842 
 1843 
 1844 
 1845 
 1846 
 
 94,063 
 107,714 
 106,236 
 114,448 
 113,871 
 108,317 
 99,984 
 100,077 
 
 15,492,867 
 15,698,044 
 15,906,741 
 16,118,589 
 16,333,659 
 16,551,713 
 16,772,678 
 16,996,593 
 
 One in 165 
 Ditto 146 
 Ditto 149 
 Ditto 141 
 Ditto 144 
 Ditto 153 
 Ditto 168 
 Ditto 169 
 
 Annual 
 mean . 
 
 105,589 
 
 16,233,861 
 
 One in 154 
 
100 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
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OP JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. Q 
 
 Showing the Age, Sex, and degree of Instruction of the persons taken into Custody, summarily disposed of or held to 
 Bail by the Magistrates, and Tried and Convicted in the Metropolitan Districts. 
 
 AGES. 
 
 it 
 
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 APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLES No. 10. 
 
 Summary of Returns from 603 Unions and Places under Local Acts in England 
 and Wales of the Number of Vagrants and Tramps relieved in Workhouses 
 on each night of the Week ending 20th December, 1845, and also on each 
 night of the corresponding Week ended the 19 th December, 1846. 
 
 WEEK ENDING 20TH DECEMBER, 1845. 
 
 
 MALES. 
 
 FEMALES. 
 
 
 
 Under 
 
 From 
 
 Above 
 
 
 Under 
 
 From 
 
 Above 
 
 
 Total 
 
 DAYS. 
 
 16 
 Years 
 
 16 to 60 
 Years 
 
 60 
 Years 
 
 Total. 
 
 16 
 
 Years 
 
 16 to 60 
 Years 
 
 60 
 Years 
 
 Total. 
 
 Males 
 and Fe- 
 
 
 of Age. 
 
 of Age. 
 
 of Age. 
 
 
 of Age. 
 
 of Age. 
 
 of Age. 
 
 
 males. 
 
 1845. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sunday, 14 Dec. . 
 
 121 
 
 1,128 
 
 37 
 
 1,309 
 
 77 
 
 242 
 
 13 
 
 343 
 
 1,721 
 
 Monday, 15 Dec. . 
 
 122 
 
 1,163 
 
 26 
 
 1,327 
 
 86 
 
 290 
 
 12 
 
 397 
 
 1,796 
 
 Tuesday, 16 Dec. . 
 
 100 
 
 1,178 
 
 41 
 
 1,363 
 
 85 
 
 300 
 
 13 
 
 419 
 
 1,910 
 
 Wednesday, 17 Dec.! 124 
 
 1,161 
 
 36 
 
 1,419 
 
 83 
 
 286 
 
 10 
 
 386 
 
 1,897 
 
 Thursday, 18 Dec. 
 
 122 
 
 1,201 
 
 36 
 
 1,384 
 
 90 
 
 306 
 
 11 
 
 414 
 
 1,859 
 
 Friday, 19 Dec. . 
 
 125 
 
 1,192 
 
 37 
 
 1,371 
 
 80 
 
 267 
 
 13 
 
 366 
 
 1,788 
 
 Saturday, 20 Dec. . 
 
 99 
 
 1,017 
 
 26 
 
 1,189 
 
 61 
 
 188 
 
 13 
 
 270 
 
 1,563 
 
 WEEK ENDING 19TH DECEMBER, 1846. 
 
 1846. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sunday, 13 Dec. . 
 
 194 
 
 1,314 
 
 40 
 
 1,548 
 
 141 
 
 355 
 
 21 
 
 517 
 
 2,096 
 
 Monday, 14 Dec. . 
 
 234 
 
 1,364 
 
 38 
 
 1,636 
 
 154 
 
 393 
 
 24 
 
 571 
 
 2,240 
 
 Tuesday, 15 Dec. . 
 
 223 
 
 1,361 
 
 42 
 
 1,626 
 
 161 
 
 381 
 
 24 
 
 566 
 
 2,224 
 
 Wednesday, 16 Dec. 
 
 220 
 
 1,436 
 
 46 
 
 1,702 
 
 166 
 
 379 
 
 22 
 
 567 
 
 2,304 
 
 Thursday, 17 Dec. 
 
 216 
 
 1,368 
 
 29 
 
 1,613 
 
 153 
 
 373 
 
 20 
 
 547 
 
 2,198 
 
 Friday, 18 Dec. 
 
 271 
 
 1,454 
 
 49 
 
 1,774 
 
 163 
 
 405 
 
 26 
 
 594 
 
 2,397 
 
 Saturday, 19 Dec. . 
 
 211 
 
 1,325 
 
 49 
 
 1,585 
 
 136 
 
 311 
 
 25 
 
 473 
 
 2,106 
 
 Average number relieved on each night of the week ended 20th 
 
 December, 1845 1,791 
 
 19th December, 1846 . 2,224 
 
 TABLES RELATING TO VAGRANCY. 
 
 1 . Summary of the Number of Vagrants in Unions and Places under 
 Local Acts, in England and Wales, at different Periods, as appears 
 from the Returns which follow : 
 
 Average Number relieved in one night in 603 Unions, &c., in the 
 
 week ending 20th December, 1845 1,791 
 
 Average Number relieved in one night in 603 Unions, &c., in the 
 
 week ending 19th December, 1846 2,224 
 
 Average Number relieved in one night in 596 Unions, &c., in the 
 
 week ending 18th December, 1847 4,508 
 
 Total Number relieved, whether in or out of the Workhouse, in 626 
 
 Unions, &c., on the 25th March, 1848 16,086 
 
 July 19, 1848. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 103 
 
 RETURNS REFERRED TO IN THE FOREGOING SUMMARY. 
 Return to an Order of the House of Lords of 18th February, 1848. 
 
 Number of Paupers relieved on the 25th March, 1848, in 626 Unions 
 and single Parishes under the Poor Law Amendment Act, and 
 Local Acts, under the following heads, comprising a Population 
 0/15,559,676. 
 
 CLASSES OF PAUPERS. 
 
 Totals as re- 
 turned by 626 
 Unions, &c. 
 
 Totals for England 
 and Wales, estimated 
 in proportion to 
 Population on the 
 basis of the preceding 
 Returns. 
 
 Number of Paupers chargeable to, or inl 
 receipt of Relief at the Cost of some( 
 Parish in the Union, either resident or f 
 non-resident, on the 25th March, 1848 ) 
 
 Number of Paupers charged to, or inl 
 receipt of Relief at the charge of thef 
 Common Fund of the Union, on thef 
 25th March, 1848 . . . .} 
 
 Number of Persons relieved, either inl 
 or out of the Workhouse, as Vagrants, f 
 Tramps, or Wayfarers, on the 25th f 
 March, 1848 3 
 
 933,407 
 122,968 
 16,086 
 
 954,227 
 125,711 
 16,445 
 
 Population of England and Wales in 1841 . . . 15,906,741 
 Population of Unions, &c., from which Returns have 
 
 been received to the Order of the House of Lords 15,559,676 
 
 Population of Places not included in the Return . 347,065 
 
 July 14, 1848. 
 
 Mr. Clay gives in TABLE No. 14 of his last Report the proximate 
 or direct cause of the offences for which the prisoners were com- 
 mitted. 
 
 1. Drunkenness of offender . . 
 
 2. of party injured . 3 
 
 3. Temptation . . . .38 
 
 4. Profligacy ..... 161 
 
 5. Other causes .... 1 
 
 SESSIONS. 
 M. F. 
 
 67 9 
 
 6 
 12 
 46 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 270 
 
 73 
 
 M. 
 
 276 
 7 
 
 241 
 170 
 217 
 
 911 
 
 F. 
 
 37 
 3 
 
 40 
 97 
 43 
 
 220 
 
 Drunkenness, as a cause of offence, has diminished considerably, in regard 
 to sessions cases, 27 per cent. The summary convictions arising out of drunken- 
 ness are only 15 more than those of last year. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
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 APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLE No. 12. 
 
 165 
 
 Intended to show the Weekly Expenditure in Drink, as proportioned 
 to the Weekly Wages of the whole (131) of the Artisans arid 
 Labourers employed by the same Master : distinguishing between 
 the Married and the Single Men. 
 
 PER CENTAGE OP 
 EARNINGS 
 SPENT IN DRINK. 
 
 MARRIED 
 OR 
 SINGLE. 
 
 WEEKLY EARNINGS. 
 
 TOTAL 
 PERSONS. 
 
 11 and 
 under 
 15s. 
 
 15 and 
 under 
 20s. 
 
 20 and 
 under 
 30s. 
 
 30 and 
 under 
 40s. 
 
 40s. 
 
 M. 
 
 S. 
 
 Nothing . . j 
 
 Married 
 
 Single . 
 
 3 
 2 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 } 8 
 
 4 
 
 Under 5 per ct. < 
 
 Married 
 Single . 
 
 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 I 2 
 
 3 
 
 5 per cent, and) 
 under 10 . 3 
 
 Married 
 Single . 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 
 u 
 
 4 
 
 10 per cent, and ) 
 under 15 3 
 
 Married 
 Single . 
 
 1 
 
 ' 8 
 
 5 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 \u 
 
 3 
 
 15 per cent, and) 
 under 20 . 3 
 
 Married 
 Single . 
 
 ' i 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 4 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 
 h 
 
 7 
 
 20 per cent, and ) 
 
 Married 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 under 25 . } 
 
 Single . 
 
 . . 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 . 
 
 
 c ^ 
 
 2 
 
 25 per cent, and ) 
 
 Married 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 under 30 . \ 
 
 Single . 
 
 1 
 
 , 
 
 1 
 
 . 
 
 
 y ^ 
 
 2 
 
 30 per cent, and ) 
 
 Married 
 
 . . 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 under 35 . 
 
 Single . 
 
 . . 
 
 1 
 
 , 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 4 
 
 35 per cent, and ) 
 
 Married 
 
 . . 
 
 m 
 
 2 
 
 > 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 under 40 . 3 
 
 Single . 
 
 . 
 
 t 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 40 per cent, and) 
 
 Married 
 
 . . 
 
 2 
 
 , 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 under 45 . 3 
 
 Single . 
 
 t . 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 
 i 
 
 8 
 
 45 per cent, and ) 
 
 Married 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 
 I ^ 
 
 
 under 50 . 3 
 
 Single . 
 
 . . 
 
 1 
 
 , m 
 
 , 
 
 
 5 3 
 
 * 
 
 50 per cent, and ) 
 
 Married 
 
 . . 
 
 , 
 
 _ 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 under 55 . 3 
 
 Single . 
 
 . 
 
 t 
 
 t 
 
 t 
 
 
 r * 
 
 
 
 55 per cent, and ) 
 
 Married 
 
 . . 
 
 1 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 I , 
 
 
 under 60 . 3 
 
 Single . 
 
 . . 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 t 
 
 
 I l 
 
 
 60 per cent, and ) 
 
 Married 
 
 . . 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 under 65 . | 
 
 Single . 
 
 
 
 ( 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 75 per cent. . j 
 
 Married 
 Single . 
 
 . . 
 
 
 
 . . 
 
 i 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 TOTAL . . j 
 
 Married 
 Single . 
 
 6 
 4 
 
 27 
 6 
 
 33 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 J86 
 
 45 
 
 The gross weekly earnings of the 131 men, amount to 154 16s., 
 and the aggregate of the sum weekly spent by them in liquor is 
 5634 15s., or 22*4 per cent, of their wages. On the supposition 
 that these wages and this expenditure continue nine months in the 
 year, 39 weeks x 34 15s. = \,355. But as the 131 include 
 12 who entirely abstain from liquor, each of the 119 drinkers 
 expends annually ^811 7s. 9d. in the indulgence of his propensity. 
 
 It is necessary to state that I have the fullest reliance on the 
 
Jgg APPENDIX. 
 
 general accuracy of the data which have been supplied to me. My 
 informant adds to the particulars furnished by him, " To arrive at 
 the amount spent in drink by each individual, I had the statement 
 for the greatest number in the list from the individuals themselves ; 
 and the rest I made as near a calculation as I could according to 
 the diiferent circumstances : but in no case I consider I have over- 
 rated. Out of the foregoing list there are not more than twelve 
 attend a place of worship." 
 
 Mr. Wood, of Dundee, in the Sanitary Report, gives the following 
 evidence, which is too important to be omitted in this place. 
 
 " There are many families among the working classes who are in 
 the receipt of from 15*. to 22s. per week, who are insufficiently 
 clothed and irregularly and poorly fed, and whose houses as well as 
 their persons appear filthy, disorderly, and uncomfortable. There 
 are other families among them, containing the same number of per- 
 sons, whose incomes average from 10*. to 14s. a week, who are 
 neatly, cleanly, and sufficiently clothed, regularly and suitably fed, 
 and whose houses appear orderly and comfortable. The former class 
 care little for the physical comfort, and far less for the intellectual, 
 moral, and religious education of their children. In many cases, 
 they neglect the education of their offspring when it is offered to 
 them gratuitously ; and in place of sending them to school, where 
 they might be fitted for the duties and disappointments of life, they 
 send them at a very early age to some employment." 
 
 CAUSES OF CRIME. 
 
 The following statements from Mr. Clay's last Report, with the 
 accompanying Tables, will throw considerable light upon the causes of 
 crime : 
 
 " With such excessive numbers unoccupied and suffering, it must 
 result, not that the unemployed as such, are driven to the perpetra- 
 tion of crime, but that crime being committed to a certain constant 
 amount the offences are frequently the acts of the unemployed ; 
 though it is worthy of remark that while, during many months of 
 last year, a majority of the working class was entirely out of 
 employ, or partially so, the majority of prisoners had been in work 
 when their alleged offences took place. The 19th Table in the 
 Appendix shows, as to males, about 59 per cent, employed; the 
 constabulary returns for North Lancashire, show that, in November 
 last, out of a total of mill hands amounting to 56,324, only 13,492 
 were in full work, 12,570 being entirely out of work, and 30,262 
 being on ' short time !' And as an additional fact to be noted to 
 the credit of the * factory hands/ it appears, that they, from their 
 unoccupied and distressed thousands, have supplied fewer men and 
 boys to prison than the railway labourers have done. 
 
 " The following summary shows the gradually increasing propor- 
 tion of unemployed offenders since 1845, and also the comparatively 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 slight variation in the yearly amount of offences ; the absence of 
 all connection between the two, in the relation of cause and effect, 
 is sufficiently obvious : 
 
 Years. 
 
 1845 
 
 1846 
 
 1847 
 1848 
 
 Com. to Ses. 
 301 
 289 
 366 
 343 
 
 Offends, unempld. 
 
 17 
 
 21 
 
 57 
 
 108 
 
 Cent. prop. unem. 
 
 5'6 
 
 9-3 
 19-8 
 40-8 
 
 " It is thus again manifest that full employ, or want of employ, 
 has very little to do with the slight ebb and flow of criminality here. 
 There is a certain portion of the great mass predisposed to dis- 
 honesty, which drink brings into prison, in good times, and idleness, 
 in bad times/* 
 
 TABLE No. 18. 
 General Habits and Manner of Life. 
 
 M. F. 
 
 4 l 
 
 22 10 
 
 25 4 
 
 178 22 
 
 12 
 
 7 5 
 
 7. Uncertain ..." 29 19 
 
 265 73 
 
 1. Trained thieves and pickpockets 
 
 2. Tramps : beggars, or pilferers 
 
 3. Resident bad characters . . . 
 
 4. Disorderly characters . . . 
 
 5. Prostitutes 
 
 6. Comparatively respectable 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 M. 
 
 
 
 177 
 
 27 
 
 571 
 
 
 
 64 
 
 20 
 
 859 
 
 F. 
 
 1 
 49 
 
 6 
 
 62 
 50 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 186 
 
 TABLE No. 19. 
 
 Earnings of Prisoners at the time of Committing their alleged 
 
 Offences. 
 
 SESSIONS. 
 
 M. 
 
 Under 5s 29 
 
 5s. to 8s 36 
 
 9s. to 11s 26 
 
 12s. to 15s 25 
 
 16s. to 20s 30 
 
 21s. to 25s ? 
 
 26s. to 30s 1 
 
 31s. and upwards 3 
 
 Unemployed 108 
 
 265 
 
 F. 
 
 8 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 6* 
 
 1* 
 
 1* 
 
 
 35 
 
 73 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 M. I 
 
 35 t 
 
 107 
 
 61 
 
 95 
 
 64 
 
 22 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 453 
 
 859 
 
 27 
 4 
 7 
 
 6* 
 3* 
 3* 
 2* 
 129 
 
 186 
 
 * The earnings assigned to these females are rather those of their husbands 
 and families. 
 
J68 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
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 What do you think would \,e 
 the effect if the number of 
 Public Houses were reduced f 
 
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 Did you when young attend 
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APPENDIX. 
 
 160 
 
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 lills 111 13 ? 11 Sl : -IV-.I ,. 
 
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 school about 10 years 
 d reads and writes wel 
 
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 APPENDIX. 
 
 STATE OF CRIME IN THE THREE KINGDOMS. 
 
 There seems to be some difficulty, from imperfections in the 
 returns, and from want of care in ascertaining the ages, to calculate 
 the amount of Juvenile Delinquency in the sister kingdom. In 
 the years 1838-9 we find above 40'20 per cent, of the ages have 
 not been ascertained. The same neglect has been evinced in 
 collecting information concerning the degrees of instruction. Mr. 
 Porter gives the following Table : 
 
 Comparing the three divisions of the Kingdom with each other in 
 respect of Juvenile Delinquency, we find that the centesimal pro- 
 portions of persons charged with offences who were under 16 years 
 of age were as follows : 
 
 
 1835 
 
 1836 
 
 .. 
 
 1837 
 
 1838 
 
 1839 
 
 1840 
 
 1841 
 
 Mean. 
 
 
 11-37 
 
 11 55 
 
 11 '24 
 
 11-50 
 
 11-82 
 
 11'59 
 
 11-57 
 
 11-52 
 
 Scotland 
 
 5-42 
 
 15-00 
 6-00 
 
 1670 
 7-09 
 
 14-85 
 6-73 
 
 18-10 
 9-61 
 
 1780 
 8-46 
 
 17-49 
 9-16 
 
 16-65 
 7-49 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The comparatively small proportion of offending children in 
 Ireland, is owing probably to the preponderance in number of 
 crimes of violence, for which children are physically disqualified. 
 If calculated according to the population, and not in relation to the 
 aggregate number of offenders, it will be found the proportions are 
 much more in agreement with each other. They are as follows : 
 In England, it was one in 5*564 of the population; in Scotland, 
 one in 4-495 ; and in Ireland, one in 6'244. This is calculated on 
 the years given in the Table above. 
 
 In a paper read before the Dublin Statistical Society by James 
 Haughton, Esq., " On the Connection between Intemperance and 
 Crime," we find the following facts in relation to Dublin : 
 
 "Poverty, intemperance, and ignorance being the most fruitful 
 sources of crime, are of course the evils which all rational beings 
 should be most anxious to remove altogether. 
 
 " On an investigation into the amount of crime in Dublin, coming 
 within the jurisdiction of legal punishment, I find, from ' Statistical 
 returns of the Dublin Metropolitan Police for 1847,' that 38,354 
 persons of both sexes and various ages were taken into custody 
 during that year. It should be remembered, however, that this 
 amount includes all the recommittals, and as these were doubtless 
 numerous, the actual number of delinquents is considerably less than 
 the figures indicate. The committals (or rather persons taken into 
 custody) are classified under six different heads, viz : 
 
 1. Offences against the person . . 
 
 2. Offenees against property committed with violence 
 
 3. Offences against property committed without violence 
 
 4. Malicious offences against property 
 
 5. Forgery and offences against the currency . 
 
 6. Other offences not included in the above 
 
 3,753 
 
 115 
 
 6,792 
 
 940 
 
 73 
 
 26,681 
 
APPENDIX. J7J 
 
 These are again subdivided into seventy different species of crime. 
 Those against which the largest numbers appear, are : 
 
 Common assaults 2,679 
 
 Larceny from the person by prostitutes . 1,001 
 
 Unlawful possession of goods . . . 2,043 
 
 Disorderly characters .... 6,939 
 
 Disorderly prostitutes .... 3,819 
 
 Drunkenness 10,926 
 
 Suspicious characters, vagrants, &c. . . 2,559 
 
 Tippling in unlicensed houses ... 1,312 
 
 These classes include almost the entire number of the victims of vice 
 taken up in Dublin during the year 1847; all other crimes against 
 the law are committed by a comparatively small number of offenders. 
 
 Of the number of persons taken into custody, 12,509 were dis- 
 charged by the magistrates ; 23,808 were summarily convicted or held 
 to bail, and 2,037 were committed for trial. 
 
 Of those committed for trial, 1,211 were convicted, and sentenced 
 to various punishments ; 682 of them could neither read nor write ; 
 505 could only read and write imperfectly ; 22 could read and write 
 well; and 2 had received a superior education; 129 of the cases 
 were between 10 and 15 years of age; 366, between 15 and 20; 
 220 between 20 and 25 ; and the remainder were over those ages. 
 
 It is an obvious conclusion from these facts, that crime abounds 
 to a considerable extent in this metropolis. Yet I am happy to say 
 that, out of 2,037 committals, the number charged with heinous 
 offences is small, and that whilst there was not one conviction for 
 murder, 1103 convictions are under the head of "Offences against 
 property committed without violence." 
 
 LICENSING DAY AT BOLTON. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, Coroner for Bolton, on last licensing day, said, there 
 was a drinking-place to every 25 houses, or one for every 200 souls, 
 including men, women, and children. Of 12 of the inns of which 
 he had spoken, the occupiers had this year been fined or reprimanded 
 for offences committed on the Sabbath; eight were notorious as 
 places at which gaming was permitted; at twelve (not to speak of the 
 vaults) prostitutes were permitted to assemble. There were five beer- 
 houses at which gaming was permitted, and eight beer-houses where 
 prostitutes were permitted to assemble, some of them being no better 
 than brothels. The total number of prisoners apprehended for the 
 last year (ending August) was 2,541. He arrived at this aggregate 
 by taking from the police accounts the number apprehended during 
 the first eleven months, and adding the average for another month. 
 2,541 had been apprehended for all offences, civil and criminal ; but 
 he would analyse them. 367 of the number were males, who were 
 found by the police drunk and incapable of taking care of themselves ; 
 62 females were found under similar circumstances ; for being drunk 
 and disorderly, 317 males and 60 females ; and the disorderly cha- 
 racters resorting to low ale-houses and beer-houses who were taken 
 
J72 APPENDIX. 
 
 into custody, amounted to 244. The disorderly prostitutes appre- 
 hended were 117: making a total of 1,167. Now, let them see how 
 many were apprehended for being disorderly whilst sober, for by that 
 means, the cause of disorder, crime, and prostitution may be ascer- 
 tained. 93 men, and 28 women in all, 121 were the number thus 
 taken into custody ; or in other words, one- tenth of the number that 
 were apprehended, for being drunk or under the influence of drink : 
 so that this, at all events, bore out the impression of judges, magi- 
 strates, keepers of prisons and others, that nine-tenths of the crime of 
 the country was chargeable upon drinking usages and customs. 
 
 Next, Mr. Taylor begged to give an account of the inquests held 
 in the borough during the past year. There had been 68 inquests in 
 the year ending August. Of the persons on whom these were held, 
 21 were infants, or under 21 years of age ; and it therefore could not 
 be expected that they were influenced by drinking, though inciden- 
 tally they might have died through the misconduct of their parents 
 in that respect. That number deducted from the whole, 4 7 remained; 
 the end of 23 of which he could give them. He went through the 
 23 cases, leaving out names, but briefly stating the circumstances of 
 death, proving that there were 23, or half of the grown-up persons 
 on whom inquests had been held, whose deaths were directly attribut- 
 able to, or connected with, the " use," or " abuse," as people might 
 think fit to call it, of drink. This was his experience as coroner for 
 one year. What, therefore, might they consider had been the expe- 
 rience of all the coroners in England for the last twenty years ? It 
 must be shocking to think of the disease, suifering, cruelty, madness, 
 murder, and suicides that must have taken place from drink. 
 
 NEGLECT OF PARENTS A GREAT CAUSE OF 
 JUVENILE DEPRAVITY. 
 
 In addition to the facts already given in the Essay, it may be 
 stated, that almost every writer on the treatment of crime dwells 
 upon the misconduct of parents as a cause of juvenile delinquency. 
 As one proof of extraordinary neglect, Captain Willis, in his Report 
 for 1846 to the Watch Committee of Manchester, states that in that 
 year 4,255 children were reported by their parents or guardians to 
 be lost in the streets ; of whom 2,099 were found by the police. 
 The following extract is from a pamphlet published in 1840, in 
 relation to the same town, by William Beaver Neale, Esq. : 
 
 " In an inquiry which was recently instituted into the cases of 
 one hundred poor children, who had committed offences in Man- 
 chester, the causes for delinquency were found to be various ; but 
 three distinct classes were observable in the character of the parents 
 of the young criminals, and these classes were nearly in the fol- 
 lowing proportion : 
 
 1st, of dishonest parents . . . . .60 
 2nd, of profligate, but not dishonest parents . . 30 
 3rd, of honest and industrious parents . . .10 
 
 Total . 100 
 
APPENDIX. 173 
 
 "Hitherto, in treating of the causes of juvenile delinquency, we 
 have confined our attention to the two first of these classes of 
 offenders, where the delinquency had originated either in the 
 guilty connivance, or negligence and immoral example of the 
 parents. Of these two classes, the first bore by far the greater 
 proportion, where the children were the hereditary offspring of the 
 criminal portion of society, and where, in many instances, the 
 parents had a direct interest in the delinquency, and lived upon the 
 plunder and prostitution of their children. These parents, them- 
 selves criminals, were for the most part receivers of stolen property, 
 keepers of brothels, low beer-houses, and lodging-houses ; and one 
 instance occurred, where a man of the name of Buckley, who is now 
 imprisoned for two years in Lancaster Castle, had, besides his own 
 son, fourteen young lads, whom he was training up to the profession 
 of thieving. While, therefore, the rising generation of criminals 
 were in most instances the children of ^honest parents, or young 
 persons employed by adult criminals, another class of offenders were 
 the children of those who, though not directly indulging in public 
 plunder, were low, ignorant, idle, drunken and immoral characters ; 
 and, in most instances, either both, or one of the parents, were of 
 licentious or drunken habits, and consequently disqualified both by 
 precept and example from forming the minds of their children to 
 the practice of piety and virtue, and hence abandoned to themselves ; 
 and with no other education than the example of the vicious and 
 profane, they had followed but too closely in their footsteps. In 
 these young persons the germs of vice had early, and to a surprising 
 extent developed themselves, so that lying, thieving, drunkenness, 
 gambling, prostitution, and profligacy, were familiar to mere 
 children; but while this was unhappily the case, in no instance 
 did these unfortunate children display a lack of acuteness, but, on 
 the contrary, they showed a precocity and discernment above their 
 years on every subject but that of religion, of which they could give 
 no intelligible account." 
 
 The following Extracts are from an excellent Pamphlet, entitled, 
 "A Plea for Ragged Schools" by the Rev. THOMAS GUTHRIE, of 
 Edinburgh. They give some of the results of his personal ex- 
 perience. 
 
 " I was returning from a meeting one night, about twelve o'clock : 
 it was a fierce blast of wind and rain. In Prince' s-street, a piteous 
 voice and a shivering boy pressed me to buy a tract. I asked the 
 child why he was out in such a night and at such an hour. He 
 had not got his money ; he dared not go home without it ; he would 
 rather sleep on a stair all night. I thought, as we passed a lamp, 
 that I had seen him before. I asked him if he went to church. 
 'Sometimes to Mr. Guthrie's,' was his reply. On looking again, 
 I now recognised him as one I had occasionally seen in the Cowgate 
 Chapel. Muffled up to meet the weather, he did not recognise me. 
 I asked him what his father was. ' I have no father, Sir ; he is 
 
174 
 
 dead.' His mother? 'She is very poor.' 'But why keep you 
 out here?' and then reluctantly the truth came out. I knew 'her 
 well, and had visited her wretched dwelling. She was a tall, dark, 
 gaunt, gipsy-looking woman, who, notwithstanding a cap of which 
 it could be but premised that it had once been white, and a gown 
 that it had once been black, had still some traces of one who had 
 seen better days ; but now she was a drunkard, sin had turned her 
 into a monster ; and she would have beaten that poor child within 
 an inch of death, if he had been short of the money, by her waste 
 of which she starved him, and fed her own accursed vices. Now, 
 by this anecdote illustrating to my stranger friend the situation of 
 these unhappy children, I added that, nevertheless, they might get 
 education, and secure some measure both of common and Christian 
 knowledge. But mark how, and where. Not as in the days of our 
 blessed Saviour, when the tender mother brought her child for His 
 blessing. The jailor brings them now." 
 
 *' We get hold of one of these boys. Poor fellow I it is a bitter 
 day ; he has neither shoes nor stockings ; his naked feet are red, 
 swollen, cracked, ulcerated with the cold; a thin, thread- worn 
 jacket, with its gaping rents, is all that protects his breast; be- 
 neath his shaggy bush of hair he shows a face sharp with want, 
 yet sharp also with intelligence beyond his years. That poor little 
 fellow has learned to be already self-supporting. He has studied the 
 arts, he is a master of imposture, lying, begging, stealing ; and, 
 small blame to him, but much to those who neglected him, he had 
 otherwise pined and perished. So soon as you have satisfied him 
 that you are not connected with the police, you ask him, ' Where is 
 your father ? ' Now hear his story, and there are hundreds could 
 tell a similar tale. 'Where is your father?' 'He is dead, Sir.' 
 ' Where is your mother ? ' ' Dead too.' ' Where do you stay ? ' 
 ' Sister and I, and my little brother, live with granny.' ' What is 
 she ? ' ' She is a widow woman.' ' What does she do ? ' ' Sells 
 sticks, Sir.' ' And can she keep you all ? ' ' No.' ' Then, how do 
 you live?' 'Go about and get bits of meat, sell matches, and 
 sometimes get a trifle from the carriers for running an errand.* 
 ' Do you go to school ? ' ' No, never was at school ; attended some- 
 times a Sabbath-school, but have not been there for a long time.' 
 ' Do you go to church ? ' ' Never was hi a church.' ' Do you 
 know who made you ? ' ' Yes, God made me.' ' Do you say your 
 prayers ? ' ' Yes, mother taught me a prayer before she died ; and 
 I say it to granny afore I lie down.' * Have you a bed ? ' ' Some 
 straw, Sir.' " 
 
 " How easily and successfully the child is trained to the vices of 
 the man, we have had abundant evidence. It was only the other 
 day that we heard a little child of some eight years of age confess 
 that he had been lately carried home intoxicated; and when he 
 gaily and glibly told this story of early dissipation, it only called 
 forth the merriment of the ragged urchins around. The sucking 
 babe is drugged with opium : and spirits are administered to allay 
 the cravings of hunger. When examined on the state of her school, 
 
APPENDIX. 175 
 
 a very excellent female teacher in this town acknowledged to us, 
 that she had often been obliged from her own small salary to supply 
 the wants of her hungry scholars. She had not the heart to offer 
 the letters to a poor child who had got no breakfast ; and some 
 days ago, smelling spirits from a fine little child, she drew from her 
 this miserable confession, that her only dinner had been the half of 
 a biscuit and a little whisky. How early this hapless class are 
 initiated in the use of spirits came out the other day, to the 
 astonishment of a friend of ours, who, on walking along the streets, 
 observed some boys and girls clustered like bees on and around a 
 barrel. She asked them if it was a sugar barrel ; and on learning 
 that it was a spirit one, she said, f You surely don't like whisky?' 
 'For my pairt, Mem,' says one, a little girl, thinking, perhaps, 
 thereby to recommend herself, "deed, Mem, for my pairt, I prefer 
 the strong ale.' In sober sadness we ask, is it not worth running 
 some risk to cure such evils, such a moral gangrene, as facts like 
 these disclose?" 
 
 ILLEGITIMATE BIRTHS. 
 
 The number of illegitimate births have been referred to as well as 
 the number of cases of concubinage discovered by those who are 
 engaged in visiting the dwellings of the poorer classes. It is but 
 just to place England in contrast with the continental states. The 
 sixth Report of the Registrar-general shows the following result : 
 
 Sardinia . ... 2*091 per cent. 
 
 Sweden 6'562 
 
 Norway 6'678 
 
 England ...... 6721 
 
 Belgium 6772 
 
 France 7'114 
 
 Prussia 7-122 
 
 Denmark 9351 
 
 Hanover ...... 9'876 
 
 Austria 11-380 
 
 Wurtemburg 11-740 
 
 Saxony 14-997 
 
 Bavaria 20-598 
 
 The proportions of English districts are as follows : 
 
 Illegitimate births. 
 
 North-Western 609 to every 100,000 Western 
 
 North-Midland 494 Welsh . . 
 
 York .... 484 South-Eastern 
 
 Northern . . 481 South- Western 
 
 Eastern ... 477 Metropolis . 
 
 South- Midland . 436 
 
 Or in centesimal proportions, as follows : 
 
 Illegitimate births. 
 
 432 to every 100,000 
 
 403 
 
 369 
 
 329 
 
 190 
 
 North- Western . . . 8-8 per cent. 
 
 Eastern 7'9 
 
 North-Midland . . . 77 
 
 Northern 7*4 
 
 York 7-2 
 
 Welsh 6-8 
 
 Western 6-8 per cent. 
 
 South- Midland . . . 67 
 
 South-Eastern . . . 6'4 
 
 South- Western ... 5-7 
 
 Metropolis 3-2 
 
176 APPENDIX. 
 
 This result may disappoint expectation if it is believed that the 
 concentration of population in large towns is unfavourable to morality 
 but it must be borne in mind that cases of illegitimacy are less 
 easy of detection in a densely- peopled district, and that systematic 
 prostitution will doubtless affect and render these cases more rare. In 
 the York district we have 7*2 per cent. ; in the metropolis, 3*2 per 
 cent. The average of the whole of England was 6*7 per cent. ; and 
 that of Wales 6'8 per cent. 
 
 DRINK USAGES. 
 
 The following Declaration has been made lately by nearly 2000 of 
 the principal Employers in London. 
 
 ARTIFICIAL AND COMPULSORY DRINKING USAGES. 
 
 "We Subscribers, believe that the drinking usages of the factories 
 and workshops, such as compulsory drink-fines and footings, lead to 
 extensive evil. 
 
 That their imperious character is contrary to all true liberty. 
 
 That such an extensive system of cruelty and injustice is not kept 
 up, so far as we know, in the social customs of any other nation. 
 
 That by means of this compulsory or artificial system, young men 
 are often, in a manner, forced to become drunkards. 
 
 That drunkards who would wish to reform, are by these domi- 
 neering and arbitrary customs prevented from putting their good 
 resolutions in force. 
 
 That hereby a dangerous and mischievous tax of many millions 
 a year is imposed by workmen on one another, without consent of 
 the parties paying. 
 
 We consider the following penalties, instituted to keep up the 
 drinking and paying of fines and footings, to be of the most re- 
 volting and oppressive description, viz. : sending men to Coventry, 
 putting them out of the pale of good-will and friendship, and kind 
 assistance of brother workmen ; inhumanly refusing to teach appren- 
 tices work, their drink footings being unpaid ; constraining starving 
 men, who from sickness or otherwise have been out of work, or 
 indeed any parties whatever, to pay journeyman's drink footings, by 
 threats and other means ; secreting men's clothes, and dirtying, 
 tarring, cutting, and destroying them ; gapping, notching, and other- 
 wise injuring tools, or sending both to the pawnbroker's shop, and 
 in a felonious manner pledging them for the regulation drink-fines ; 
 forming conspiracies to force out of workshops and factories men 
 who decline to pay footings ; maltreating respectable individuals on 
 this account, by taunts, mockings, a variety of insults, blows and 
 blood, and other injuries. 
 
 We further express our disapprobation of any pecuniary connec- 
 tion between the foremen of factories and workshops and individuals 
 who keep public-houses, or foremen keeping public-houses them- 
 selves ; and all bribing of foremen and others by drink, to bestow 
 work. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 We object to payment of wages in public-houses, as of the most 
 extensively ruinous tendency ; and also to linking or grouping men 
 together with large bank-notes or gold, leaving them to procure 
 change where they can. Arid, in conclusion, we bear testimony 
 from our constant and painful experience, to the injurious conse- 
 quences of the ceaseless and unmeaning connection that has been 
 constituted in this country between business and strong drink, in a 
 variety of ways far too multifarious to be here enumerated. 
 
 BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE. 
 
 THE following testimony was given by the Superintendent of a 
 Wesleyan Sabbath School in Cornwall, in a letter addressed to Mr. 
 Joseph Eaton : 
 
 " In reply to your inquiries respecting our Sabbath Schools, I may 
 inform you, there was but one connected with the Wesleyan Society 
 in this little town (containing a population of about 4,000 inhabit- 
 ants), when the Total Abstinence cause was introduced amongst us. 
 The number of scholars at that time was about 380, but in the course 
 of one year and a half, they increased so rapidly as to render it 
 necessary to build an additional room. We have since erected 
 another chapel, connected with which we have a school, and the 
 number of scholars in both is now about 780 ; this success I ascribe 
 to the aid of our good cause. There are two other Sabbath Schools 
 in the town, but they have not increased to the same extent ; a 
 goodly number has, however, been added to them also. I should 
 think that there are in this Methodist circuit which does not 
 embrace all the parish more than 700 children now attending the 
 schools belonging to the different chapels, than there were before the 
 total abstinence was introduced. Had I time, I could relate to you 
 many instances in which good has been done, but the following must 
 now suffice. 
 
 " The first is that of a miner with seven children, who formerly 
 were all permitted to run wild on the Sabbath, doing all kinds of 
 mischief, and were in great want of all the necessaries of life, the 
 father at the same time enjoying himself at the alehouse. He is now, 
 however, a teetotaler, having been one of the first to join us. After 
 a short time the children were sent to our school, properly clothed ; 
 the father and mother attended the chapel, and both are now 
 members of the Wesleyan Society, and regularly maintain family 
 worship. 
 
 " The second case is that of a smith, with a large family of nine 
 children ; although an excellent workman, yet his family were in 
 rags, and scarcely a book to be seen in the house. His poor wife 
 was also dejected and miserable. Now, however, the children are 
 all well dressed and sent to school, with their hymn books and Bibles 
 carried by one of the daughters in a little bag. The parents also 
 attend the house of God regularly. In both these cases the parties 
 
 N 
 
178 APPENDIX. 
 
 have now houses of their own one of them was built and the other 
 purchased. 
 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 " To Joseph Eaton, Bristol. " H. A. VIVIAN.'' 
 
 "Camborne, 25th January, 1844." 
 
 Similar gratifying results are almost uniformly experienced when 
 the use of strong drink is abandoned. 
 
 We were some time ago informed by an intelligent individual from 
 the North of England, that in the course of one year, the increase in 
 the number of Sabbath school children in the extensive and popu- 
 lous parish of Halifax, was at least three thousand ; a circumstance 
 that was wholly attributable to the operations of the Total Abstinence 
 Society, which had been remarkably successful during that year. 
 
 The following is an extract from another letter : 
 
 " It may be generally stated, as the result of our experience in 
 Scarborough, that great numbers have been deprived almost entirely 
 of education, in consequence of the drinking habits of their parents, 
 and that many also are now attending day and sabbath Schools, 
 entirely in consequence of their parents having become teetotalers. 
 
 " We have one striking case of the son of a formerly abandoned 
 drunkard, who in consequence of the father having been some years 
 a steady teetotaler, has applied himself most diligently to study, 
 both at school and at home; has acquainted himself with several 
 languages, particularly Hebrew ; has given attention to the drawing 
 of maps, and to general land surveying ; and is now under training 
 for a teacher in a public School. The whole family, previous to 
 the father becoming a teetotaler, were in rags and destitution, and 
 growing up in vice and ignorance. 
 
 "I do not remember any other very striking instance just now ; 
 but as Secretary to our Lancasterian School here, I can say with 
 confidence, that if ever we find children strolling about the streets, 
 and growing up in vice and ignorance, it may almost invariably be 
 traced to the drunken character of the parents. 
 
 " I am thy sincere friend, 
 
 "WM. ROWNTREE." 
 
 "Scarborough, 3rd mo. 4th, 1846. 
 
 COLD BATH FIELDS PRISON. 
 
 Extract from the Report of the Visiting Justices, 1847. 
 " The Visiting Justices remind the Court, that in a former Report 
 allusion was made to an attempt, in which the Chaplains co-operated, 
 and which was aided by a liberal donation of tracts from * the Church 
 of England Temperance Society' to promote the principles and 
 practice of temperance among prisoners, multitudes of whom were 
 hapless victims to inebriety and excess. Now, they thankfully ap- 
 prise the Court, that Mr. Rotch has very kindly dedicated much of 
 his valuable time and eminent talents to the delivery of addresses on 
 this important matter to various classes of the prisoners, and, as the 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 179 
 
 Visiting Justices believe, with the happiest effects.* From the per- 
 sonal declarations to them by prisoners whose terms of imprison- 
 ment have expired, they find that they have been deeply impressed, 
 and from other sources they learn, that many prisoners observe care- 
 fully the pledge they had taken obtain, in consequence of that 
 reformation, favour and employment are better enabled to avoid 
 temptation and to husband their earnings ; and, rescued from inevi- 
 table ruin, may become useful members of society, which they would 
 else have continued to injure and offend." 
 
 APPROPRIATION OF EARNINGS. 
 
 The following is one Case out of many which might be given. It is 
 taken from the Report on the Employment of Women and Children 
 in Agriculture. It shows what may be accomplished by the right 
 appropriation of even scanty earnings. 
 "George Small, of Othery, Somersetshire, farm-labourer, examined: 
 
 * The following extract is made from a communication to the Author by 
 Mr. Rotch : 
 
 " One of the most striking instances of my success has been a young sailor, 
 who I found in Cold Bath Fields Prison, committed for a serious offence which 
 he was guilty of in a drunken spree, as he called it. He signed the pledge 
 while in prison, and heard many of my temperance lectures there ; from a 
 wild drunken -sailor, he became a steady, sober man. On his leaving prison, a 
 brother magistrate gave him a recommendation to a large ship-owner in the 
 City of London, who sent him out on a foreign voyage. A singular oppor- 
 tunity was afforded this sailor, by the gross misconduct and drunkenness of 
 the crew, of proving his temperance and his altered character ; and only three 
 weeks ago he presented himself to me with a letter from his captain highly 
 recommending him to the owner, and another letter from the owner informing 
 me that he had promoted him to be second officer of the ship, and that he was 
 going to sea again in the same ship, and under the same captain, as mate, 
 enjoying the respect and esteem of her owners. 
 
 " Another man who I found in the same prison expiating a two years' sentence, 
 for a brutal assault committed when in a state of intoxication, took the pledge. 
 On his leaving prison his clothes and tools were all in pawn, but he has con- 
 tinued sober, has quitted all his drunken associates with his drunken habits ; he 
 has established himself in a new neighbourhood, and a few weeks since showed 
 me his accounts, by which it appeared he had done more than 300 worth of 
 work in the course of the first year after his leaving prison. I always hear of 
 him at church on Sunday; he is one of the most respectably conducted trades- 
 men of the town in which he lives, and has scrupulously kept his pledge. The 
 fact is, I do not value letters much, I have often been deceived by the writers of 
 the most gratefully expressed compositions ; and as I endeavour to keep the run 
 of my reclaimed prisoners after they leave the prison, I have an opportunity of 
 judging from, facts of the reality of the conversion, and thus get but few letters. 
 
 "So true is what you say, (that while the more respectable of our countrymen 
 alone have the power to change this drinking system, it is they who give re- 
 spectability to it) that the moment my term of office as a Visiting Justice of 
 Cold Bath Fields expired, and I went out of the Committee by rotation, a wicked 
 crusade was immediately commenced against all the warders and sub-warders 
 who had signed the temperance pledge. The governor insulted them ; the 
 subordinates designated them as ' Botch's Saints ;' a petition was signed for an 
 increased allowance of beer to be brought into the prison, and accorded by the 
 Visiting Justices, my successors in office ; while the petition is kept as a test 
 offered by certain of the warders to all new-comers, and if they refuse to sign 
 it, they are set down as Teetotallers, and soon hunted out of the prison. It is 
 time indeed that something should be done." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 <{ I am a farm-labourer, am married, and have six children. I 
 am thirty-nine years old. I work for Mr. Somers. I left off 
 drinking cider, beer, and all other strong drinks about five years 
 ago. At the end of twelve months I took to drinking again. I 
 soon left it off again, and have never touched anything of the kind 
 since, now more than four years. 
 
 " I have always done all sorts of farm- work. I have laboured 
 hard, but I find my health now just as good as when I used to have 
 cider. I don't find any difference ; I can work just as well as those 
 that drink. Last summer I mowed with two men from four in the 
 morning till eight at night ; it was job-work. They drank ; I did 
 not. They drank a gallon and a half each, but I did my share of 
 the work the same as theirs, quite as well as they did. We were 
 paid in money, 3s. 4d. each a day during the mowing. They drank 
 their cider, and I had my potato-ground at home. I have gone on 
 in this way for four years. They call me all kinds of names, and 
 laugh at me for not going to the cider- shop ; but I laugh at them, 
 and ask if they have paid their rent, as I have. 
 
 "Mr. Somers pays me as much as other labourers get, only, 
 instead of cider, he lets me have half an acre of potato ground. He 
 dresses the ground, and I put in the seed and dig up the potatoes ; 
 my wife and family help. Mr. Somers draws them. I wish all 
 masters did as Mr. Somers does ; for I think if the labourers 
 didn't drink so much, they and their families would get more to 
 eat. I generally get lib. of bacon a week : sometimes a little bit of 
 meat, but seldom. We drink tea and coffee, and at dinner treacle 
 and water. I keep two pigs now ; sometimes when I kill a pig, I 
 keep a piece for myself. 
 
 " It is eight years since I had any relief from the parish ; if I 
 had been in the habit of drinking, my family would have been in 
 rags. I am sure the liquor would have been doing me no good ; 
 but without the potato-ground we could not have gone on. I think 
 the liquor is a matter of form. 
 
 " I went to work when I was nine years old ; I had Is. a week, 
 and three cups of cider a day. If I had a boy out at work, I had 
 rather the cider was turned into cheese. It is a bad thing for the 
 young boys to learn to drink as they do ; it is as bad with girls, 
 nearly. My eldest daughter is eighteen years old. The summer 
 before last she went out to harvest, and had half a gallon of cider 
 a day. The farmer* think people work harder with so much cider : 
 I don't think they do. Women are often intoxicated at the end of 
 the day, and young men and women, in drinking all this cider, get 
 together in a very improper way." 
 
 INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 
 
 In the foregoing Essay total abstinence from intoxicating liquors 
 has been strongly enforced as the remedy for the evils arising from 
 intemperance. The universal adoption of that principle, however, 
 will depend not only upon enlightening the public mind on the 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 181 
 
 nature and properties of strong drink, but upon practical measures to 
 lessen the facilities for drinking. Some systematic attack upon the 
 drinking usages which still maintain a strong hold upon the people, 
 and which affect in a material degree all their habits, is peremptorily 
 called for. The Legislature must also be urged to lessen the 
 number of houses for the sale of drink, and draw reasonable limita- 
 tions around those that may be suffered to exist. The public-house 
 interest is in every way injurious to the morals and welfare of the 
 community. Those engaged in the traffic exercise a political in- 
 fluence that is very little considered, but which is most mischievous. 
 They have it in their power to defeat any candidate in a parlia- 
 mentary or municipal election who might make himself obnoxious to 
 the publicans. The good effects of closing public-houses from 
 twelve o'clock on Saturday night to one o'clock on Sunday, are so 
 apparent in London, but more especially in Liverpool and Man- 
 chester, as to give the greatest encouragement to effort in this 
 direction. The closing of the beer-shops would be a great boon. 
 The Earl of Harrowby is at this time about proposing some measure 
 to the House of Lords in relation to them, which ought to command 
 the support of the country. 
 
 The great practical means, however, of checking the growth of 
 Juvenile Depravity, will be that of supplying to the outcasts of the 
 street, a good moral and industrial training. The public mind is 
 now turned in that direction. The following questions given by 
 Mr. Guthrie in the Appendix to " A Plea for Ragged Schools," are 
 placed here, as they enforce the reasoning and the facts of this 
 Essay. Mr. Guthrie is proposing the establishment of an Indus- 
 trial School at Edinburgh. 
 
 The reader is requested to answer the following questions : 
 
 Is it right to maintain and educate, as in our Hospitals, the 
 children of the better-conditioned classes, and refuse the same and 
 far more needed kindness, to poverty and destitution ? 
 
 Is it right that at our Universities there should be provision made 
 for maintaining and educating the children of the rich, who don't 
 need it, and none for the poor who do ? 
 
 Is it right to give twenty millions to set free our West India 
 slaves, and do nothing to save the population here, whom we have 
 abandoned to a state worse than slavery ? 
 
 Is it right that the poor, in consideration of their poverty, should 
 be exempt from the police-tax and prison-tax, that they should get 
 the means of punishment free, and be hanged for nothing, but not 
 the means of prevention free ? 
 
 Is it right that the poor and destitute should be provided in 
 crowded spirit-shops with so many temptations to crime, and be left 
 with so few inducements to virtue ? 
 
 Which is best to build a light-house, that shall save many from 
 being wrecked, or a life-boat, which may save some who are so ? 
 
 Which is best, to pay for the policeman or the schoolmaster, 
 the prison or the school ? 
 
 Which is best, to prevent crime, or to punish it ? 
 
182 APPENDIX. 
 
 Which is best, to educate the boy, or punish the man ? 
 
 Which is best, to feed and educate before crime can be, or after 
 crime has been, committed ? 
 
 Is it not the worst political economy to pay for punishing rather 
 than preventing? a truth embalmed in the good old saying, " an 
 ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure." 
 
 Is it right to do so much to reclaim the heathen abroad, and 
 refuse the only means of reclaiming our heathen children at home ? 
 
 Is it right that Christians should spend in one year as much 
 money in sumptuous entertainments as would supply the wants, and 
 cultivate and Christianise the mind of many a poor forlorn child 
 among us ? 
 
 Is it right that many who are unworthy should be allowed to beg, 
 and that these worthy objects of charity should be driven to beg ? 
 
 If each child at this school will not cost more than some 3 or 
 4 per year, are there not thousands in Edinburgh who could each 
 maintain a child, and never miss the cost ? 
 
 Would not the thought of the good you did be the purest 
 pleasure ? 
 
 Since all other means have failed to reach the very lowest class, to 
 lessen or arrest the deepening stream of evil, is not this scheme well 
 worth the trial ? 
 
 If so, would it be right for us to stand idly by, and give no help, 
 lend no hand ? 
 
 If not, is there any right reason why you should wait till others 
 move? 
 
 BOYS\ SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY AT ABERDEEN. 
 
 THE following extracts are taken from the same source : 
 
 No. 1. Extract from a Report by the County Prison Board of 
 Aberdeen, on Juvenile Delinquency. 
 
 These children are the very outcasts of society, and objects of the 
 deepest commiseration to every well -constituted mind. In most 
 cases, from the criminality of their parents, but in some from their 
 extreme poverty, these children do not receive from them even the 
 first elements of education ; poorly clothed and poorly fed, they are 
 rarely placed at school, and many perhaps are never led to a place of 
 worship ; and thus they are never put in the way of doing well, and 
 are left, without any fault of their own, to follow every evil inclination 
 from their earliest infancy. They commence by idling about the 
 streets when they ought to be at home or at school. They soon 
 learn to beg to supply their pressing wants ; and from this the 
 transition is easy to the commission of petty thefts for the same 
 purpose, and so from step to step, till the little boy or girl who some 
 years ago only excited sympathy from the apparently artless tale of 
 distress which procured an alms, soon becomes a frequent inmate 
 of our prison cells. 
 
APPENDIX. J3 
 
 No. 2. Extract from same Report, showing the Effects of Schools 
 of Industry. 
 
 It appears, both from the police and prison returns, that since the 
 opening of these schools a marked diminution has taken place in the 
 number of juvenile delinquents, although very many still remain. 
 
 The boys' school was opened in October 1841, and from that date 
 up to 1st April, 1844 (two and a half years), 281 were admitted; of 
 these a considerable number have been placed in situations where 
 they can maintain themselves ; some are still in attendance ; some 
 have been removed by their parents, in consequence of the latter 
 having got into employment, and thus become able to maintain them ; 
 and others have deserted, either because their parents preferred 
 having their earnings as beggars, or because they themselves dislike 
 the discipline of the school. 
 
 The peculiar feature of the Industrial Schools is the combination 
 of instruction in useful employment, with education and food. The 
 children have three substantial meals a-day ; three hours of lessons, 
 and five hours of work suited to their ages. All the boys (and girls) 
 return to their homes every evening. On Sundays they receive 
 their food as on other days, and attend public worship, and they 
 have also religious instruction in school. 
 
 No. 3. Extract of a letter from Mr. Watson, Sheriff- Substitute, 
 Aberdeen, to Mr. Hill, Inspector of Prisons. 
 
 We have now no begging children either in town or county. I 
 was rather surprised at the effects produced in the county districts. 
 During the three months preceding 6th July, 1843, upwards of a 
 hundred children were found wandering in the county, and reported 
 by the rural police. During the corresponding period of 1844, fifty 
 were found. In the corresponding period of 1845, only eight ; and 
 from the 8th of June to the 5th of July none were found. 
 
 No. 4. General Routine at the Boys' School of Industry, Aber- 
 deen, 1846. 
 
 The children assemble at seven in the morning (in summer), and 
 are occupied in school, reading and writing, till half-past eight ; from 
 half-past eight to nine, recreation ; breakfast, of oatmeal pottage and 
 milk, at nine ; followed by morning worship, singing, reading the 
 Scriptures, and prayer. 
 
 The children are out of doors after worship till the work-bell ring 
 at ten ; from ten to a quarter to twelve employed in work ; and after 
 a quarter of an hour's interval, again occupied in work to half-past 
 one. During the forenoon, each class recites a lesson in rotation ; 
 being thus occupied about twenty minutes. During the regular 
 school hours they are taught in classes by monitors. During the 
 half-hour till dinner time, play either out of doors or under shelter, 
 according to the state of the weather. Dinner, of barley broth and 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 bread, at two, varied occasionally by pease soup, &c. Recreation 
 after dinner till three ; from three till five at work. Wednesday 
 and Saturday afternoons, however, are half holidays. Tuesday and 
 Friday afternoons the children receive instruction in vocal music for 
 an hour, so that the afternoon work hours amount only to two on 
 Monday and Thursday, and one on Tuesday and Friday. At five 
 the boys receive a piece of bread, eat and play till half-past five. 
 When the school assembles, are then occupied in school till seven, 
 reading, spelling, and arithmetic. Supper of pottage and milk, or 
 treacle at a quarter past seven, followed by evening worship ; and at 
 a quarter to eight they are dismissed to return to their homes. 
 
 On Sabbath, the hour of meeting is half-past eight, breakfast, &c., 
 as on week days ; public worship conducted after, in the catechetical 
 form, for the sake of the children, at eleven. After dinner, they are 
 allowed to go home, in order that the parents may take them to 
 church, if they choose. Meet again at five, and are occupied in 
 Sabbath- school exercises during the regular school hours, and are 
 then dismissed as usual. 
 
 Days are occasionally set apart for taking short journeys, by way 
 of recreation, in the neighbourhood, and parts of the forenoons for 
 attending the sea-bathing at the usual season. 
 
 In winter the children do not assemble in the mornings till eight ; 
 and some variations in time are introduced to meet varying circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The average expense of each child is about 6 per annum ; 3 12s. 
 per annum, or about 2 Jd. a-day, being the cost of victuals for each ; 
 and the other expenses, such as rent, salaries, &c., being met by the 
 additional 2. 8s. 
 
 From the above sum, 6 for each boy, there must be deducted 
 the average earnings of each, which for last year amounted to 1 10s., 
 thus making the actual cost about 4 10s. for each. The earnings 
 of some of the children are very small ; others, according to the 
 nature of the work, will make 3d. or 4d. a-day, and, in a few cases, 
 even 6d. ; but such cases are rare, and the work uncertain. 
 
 Female Industrial School. 
 
 The children assemble at seven in the morning in summer, and at 
 eight in winter. From the time of assembling till breakfast, they 
 have Scripture lesson, writing, and arithmetic, every alternate morn- 
 ing. Breakfast at nine on pottage and milk ; from ten to two 
 reading and work ; dinner at two, generally on soup ; from three 
 till half-past five reading and work ; Bible lesson between six and 
 seven. When they are dismissed each evening, a roll for supper. 
 Average for food about Is. Id. a-week for each. Eleven months' 
 work, 5617 15s. 3d. Most of the children seven and eight years 
 of age. 
 
 Tyler and 'Raid, Priuters, bolt-court, Fket-stlect, 
 
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 EXTRACTS from the LETTERS of JONATHAN 
 
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 On the HISTORY and MYSTERY of (those 
 
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 SARAH GRUBB (formerly SARAH LYNES). 8vo., cloth. Price 8s. 
 
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 IRELAND'S WELCOME to the STRANGER, or 
 
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 NARRATIVE of a RECENT JOURNEY of SIX 
 
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 " A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land ; the pro- 
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C. Gilpiris List of Books, 5, Bishopsgate Street. 
 
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 upon the discussion in the liberal spirit of an enlightened Christian. He 
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 PORTRAITS in MINIATURE ; or, SKETCHES 
 
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 ELECTORAL DISTRICTS; or, the APPOR- 
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 " 
 
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 WBH35SKS, unite"/* 
 
 LD 2lA40m-ll,'6 
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 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 

 
 
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