means of obtaining this information, as it does not state the ages of the criminals; and I have not been able to obtain any reliable statistics from other sources. The only fact which I can state with confidence is, the number of juvenile offenders (aged sixteen years and under) committed summarily, or for trial.

g. Probable Number of Reformatories. We have a total of 13,000 children to be provided for in reformatories. This number would require 325 separate establishments, such as are now risimg all over the country, assuming them all to reach 40 inmates each, which appears to be almost universally the contemplated maximum. As each reformatory must have a superintendent and matron, a schoolmaster and assistant, the number of officers possessing peculiar and rare qualifications that society will be required to furnish will be 1,300. I am sensible that this calculation is a very rough one; but, making every reasonable abatement in it for possible over estimation, enough will remain to bear me out in saying that, how to procure a sufficient staff of competent officers constitutes the great difficulty which the reformatory movement, as at present directed, will have to encounter.

I will now suppose that these 325 small reformatories are consolidated, so that each should constitute a family, according to the organization adopted at the Mettray Reformatory, and become a part of a larger establishment. Ten of them would form an aggregate of 400 children, living in ten distinct cottages grouped round a chapel, and governed by a superintendent and matron, four head schoolmasters, and twelve assistant teachers. Thus it would require no more than thirty-two of these establishments to perform all the work of the 325, which would occasion a saving of 293 superintendents and the same number of matrons. The number of head schoolmasters would be 128 instead of 325, showing a saving of 197. Against these savings there is only to be set a slight excess in the number of assistant teachers, namely 384 against 325. I need only point out the importance of this organization in a financial point of view. It is obvious that, while the salaries of the officers might be increased, the reduction of their number would occasion a very considerable saving, both to the public purse and to subscribers.

h. Proposed reformatories considered as training institutions.-I now proceed to consider the reformatory as a training institution for furnishing reformatory teachers. The superiority, in this point of view, of a large establishment, organized as above described, over the present small reformatories of twenty-five, thirty, or forty inmates, is so evident that I hardly think it necessary to prove it. Instead of being cut off from all communication with their fellow students, and confined to the society of an ordinary superintendent, his wife, and a schoolmaster, with occasional visits from the visiting committee, he would be encouraged and strengthened by the society of his fellow students; and his character would be moulded and disciplined by the control and example of his teachers, the watchful care of the superintendent, collective lessons and discussions, the daily observation or exercise of the duties of his future calling, common prayer in the chapel, and the exhortations of the superintendent, if a clergyman, (which I would strongly recommend that he should be,) or of the chaplain. Thus, and thus alone, can he be fully armed for the high and holy mission he aspires to.

i. Right of State to control this Movement. I value as highly as any man the animation, the earnestness, and the manly tone of independence which

are developed by any popular movement for a good object; but these advantages are purchased by a considerable sacrifice of forethought, comprehensiveness, and combination. It must however be remembered that voluntary action, vigorous and sanguine as it is, has not been able to carry out its object without assistance from the State, and that, consequently, its feelings of independence from central control should be considerably qualified by the consciousness of this fact. Were, indeed, the State to withdraw that assistance, very few of the existing reformatories could be supported; and as the lapse of time, together with the rise of other social movements, will abate the interest now felt in the reformation of criminals, those institutions will inevitably become still more dependent on the public purse. It is difficult, therefore, even on purely financial grounds, to place any limit on the control which the State is bound to exercise over institutions thus sustained in order that the public money may not be unprofitably expended. But the claim of the State to exercise a higher influence over the work of reformation than that of a mere paymaster, rests upon far higher grounds than these. Crime is as truly a national as a local evil, and to repress it has been always considered the first duty of the supreme power. The enforced abandonment of transportation has so greatly increased the difficulty of effectually performing that duty, that the adoption of preventive means, formerly considered to belong to the domain of individual action, has become a public question of pressing urgency. As the stream of crime can no longer be diverted to the antipodes, public safety requires that measures should be taken to cut it off at its source. This operation is too important to the whole country to be delegated to private benevolence and local authority.

j. Evil of failure.-The consequences that would result to the whole community from its failure are too serious to justify its being undertaken without that comprehensive view of its extent, and mature deliberation as to its execution, which can alone inspire a well founded confidence of success. If, after a full trial of the present tentative and desultory efforts, it should be discovered that crime was as rife as ever, or even that it was only slightly and insufficiently abated, the evil of such a consummation would not be limited by the extent of the failure. The confidence of the public in the efficacy of moral agencies for the extirpation of social corruptions, which is the most hopeful characteristic of these times, would be rudely shaken, and a reaction would take place in favour of an increased severity of repression, as the only way of dealing with the dangerous classes. At the same time the face of the country would be so thickly studded with reformatory societies and reformatory institutions, fostered by the pecuniary assistance afforded to them by the State, that the introduction of a better organization would be attended with far greater difficulties than it will have to encounter at present, when the ground is comparatively clear, and the public in earnest on the subject.

k. Example offered by Poor Law administration.-There is, fortunately, nothing novel in the combination of local action and central supervision for the attainment of important social reforms. The present administration of the Poor Law offers us, probably, the most perfect example of the way in which those two essential elements of well-ordered liberty can be blended together, without either being absorbed in the other, and brought to bear, with compound force and entire success, upon one of the most menacing evils with which a nation can be afflicted.

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7. Power to be given to Government to form unions for reformatory P

-A similar power is equally essential to the execution of the plan which I venture to propose. I do not expect that many counties will voluntarily enter into combinations for the purpose of erecting a reformatory on the Mettray plan. Each county will set its ambition upon having a reformatory of its own, and will be predisposed to reject any proposals of union which may come from neighbouring counties. But the authority of the legislature will bear down all opposition: and I cannot but believe that the full discussion which the whole question of the reformation of criminals must receive in Parliament before such a power is granted to the executive, will establish so conclusively the necessity of that power, that its exercise will meet with very general acceptance. The unions of counties, or parts of counties being thus formed, powers of investigation and inspection analagous to those exercised by the Poor Law Inspectors might be conferred on the inspectors of reformatories; but I do not think that these powers need be as extensive as in the former case.

FROM MR. BROWNE'S REPORT, INSPECTOR OF THE NORTHERN DISTRICT.

a. Question of justice to society.—These institutions might bear different names according to the different points of view whence they are regarded. With reference to the individuals who enter them, they might be justly called reformatories, but with reference to society rather boarding-schools. The boys are better off, I think, than in any pauper school, and subject to no greater restraint than ordinary school-boys, most of whom would probably not go to school if they were allowed a choice in the matter. The children in reformatories are treated with the greatest kindness, real in every case, whether uniformly felt to be such or not; ample opportunities of instruction and improvement are offered them, such as no others of their class can command from twelve or thirteen to seventeen or eighteen years of age, the period when the mind advances most rapidly and can profit most by education.

I conceive that an education is practicable, really excellent, but not convertible into money as mechanical skill is. If reformatories should be generally established, the treatment of children in them will soon be known to the criminal classes, and if great caution is not exercised, it is possible that young persons may commit crime in order to render themselves eligible for admission. It is thus conceivable that crime may increase, although the number of individuals reformed may regularly increase, and, under such circumstances, society would not be a gainer but a loser by its own benevolence. The difficulties of the question are serious, but it seems to me that it should be considered, not on the ground of what it may be for the interest of society to do, but on the broad principle of justice to all classes, as the one least likely to mislead. If reformatories are expected to be efficient, and to deserve their name, fear cannot be made the ruling motive of action; if they are to have an influence on crime generally, they ought to be penal, and to deter by example.

b. Difficulties in Management of Reformatories.-There are two difficulties inherent in the management of reformatories as at present constituted; in the first place, there is little or nothing about them to deter from crime; and secondly the condition of young offenders admitted into them is most materially improved, as a direct consequence of the commission of crime. It is possible that reformatories might have a deterring effect if they were

limited exclusively to the Scotch islands, or the Isle of Man, as I conceive that young criminals would generally feel a repugnance to quit their own neighbourhood, and to go to a considerable distance, apart from all their old associates. The total disruption of all such ties, however, would render their reformation more probable. It is well that they should have nothing to remind them of their previous career, and in producing this result distance exercises a natural influence. But I do not see at present how their treatment in reformatories can be materially altered.

c. Should condition of any persons be improved in consequence of their crimes?-To the question, Is it just that the condition of any persons should be improved as a direct consequence of the commission of crime? it might be answered that it is the duty of the State to make the people better; but this principle has never been distinctly recognised, as far as I know; and if it were acknowledged it would involve most extensive obligations, because prevention is better than cure, and the claim on society of those who are on the verge of crime, but have not committed it, is naturally prior to that of felons. The case of criminal children is essentially distinct from that of pauper children, who are seldom, if ever, personally responsible for their pauperism, as ragged children are seldom responsible for their rags; but it cannot be denied that the criminal child, notwithstanding all that may be said as to extenuating circumstances, has incurred some personal guilt; many, in fact, have been repeatedly convicted, and after their first conviction must have known that they were doing wrong.

d. Those who have not violated the law have the first claim on society. Therefore, as it seems to me, children equally destitute, equally miserable, but who have not violated the law, have a better claim on society than the thieves, although I would not for a moment maintain that the claims of any ought to be disregarded. It may be said that young thieves prey upon society, and that those who cost most must be attended to first; but such remarks, however accurate as to facts, are irrelevant when the question is one of justice.

IV. FROM MR. SYMONS'S SPECIAL REPORT, INSPECTOR IN THE WEST MIDLAND COUNTIES AND WALES.

a. Sketch of the Reformatory Movement.-When public attention was a few years ago thoroughly attracted to the subject, meetings, conferences, and discussions ensued; but, as usually happens, general principles formed the staple of speeches, pamphlets, and denunciations. Tedious details of admitted evils occupied time and diverted attention, which would have been more profitably applied to the consideration of the best practical means of perfecting a better system. It was far too readily assumed that to rescue the juvenile offender from the gaol, and to encircle him with the appliances of personal kindness in private asylums was sufficient for his reformation; and that thus to supersede penal jurisprudence was to fulfil the requirements of society for the prevention of crime. The captivating facility of enlarging on experienced evils and the prospective fruits of benevolence, thrust the actual difficulties of the new enterprise out of sight; and encouraged some excellent people to embark in the work with a very inadequate notion of the essential conditions of success. This resulted in shortcomings and disappointments, which a juster appreciation of the nature of the work, and more attention to the details of its organization, might easily have prevented. The peril of these premature attempts was soon increased by their number, and the consequent impossi

bility of obtaining a due supply of masters and managers possessed of the peculiar qualifications requisite for their difficult office. In some few cases this want was met by the singular devotion and exceptional aptness of the promoters of the new reformatories, who threw their earnest energies and warm hearts personally into the work, and became themselves the teachers and trainers of the little outcasts they collected in their schools; enlightening them by their own high attainments, and reclaiming them by sympathy and enthusiasm. In such cases the effects were prompt and perfectly successful; but they were necessarily rare; and are already diminished. * * * *The existing reformatories may be looked upon simply as experiments, and nowise dealing with the whole of that section of children who have committed crimes punishable by law; whilst they scarcely touch that far larger group who belong to the vagabond class: and, however slight the moral distinction between them, are demarcated by the broad line drawn by the fact of conviction.

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b. Legislation for Cases of Crimimal and Quasi-Criminal Children.Beginning ab imo, there are few more important labours for philanthropy, both public and private, than the reformation of the seed-class of future crime.

It may be divided into two grand sections, which, I venture to submit, ought never to be blended in theory, or fused in practical treatment::CLASS A.-Those who have been convicted of crimes.

CLASS B.-Those who, not having been convicted, are vagrant, not properly cared for by parent or guardian, or otherwise liable to become criminal.

It is needful to define this distinction. There is a class of offences which the law regards as crimes, and which are of a deeper dye than mere vagrancy or other petty offences; thus, in legal terminology, the distinction is always made between felonies and misdemeanors. They form separate categories; and whereas nearly all of the latter class of offences were punishable by summary conviction, none of the former were until very recently; when statutes were at length passed giving magistrates the power of summarily convicting for all larcenies committed by children, and also by adults where the property stolen is under the value of five shillings. Nevertheless, these are still felonies, and regarded strictly as crimes. * * * * I would not classify or treat children committed under such statutes as these, or for any mere acts of vagrancy, as children convicted of crimes. They would fall within Class B. Whether such children should be dealt with by being sent to certified industrial feeding schools, as Sir Stafford Northcote's recent bill proposed, or to district union schools, I regard as a matter of minor moment; provided that schools be organized for the purpose, which is not yet the case. There may be little distinction between the vagrant or illcared for child and the present inmates of our workhouses, who are, in fact, greatly composed of that class already. But there is the strongest distinction between such children-to whom no moral culpability necessarily attaches,— and those who malo animo have committed crimes, no matter under what palliating circumstances. THE ONE HAS ACTUALLY BECOME CRIMINAL, THE OTHER HAS NOT. The law has, from time immemorial, established, and the moral sense of society sanctions, such demarcation; and I trust it may never be effaced. I would treat the children in Class B. as unfortunates who had erred without discernment, and those in Class A. as criminals, no matter with what extenuation, and as having broken the law by which