be aware of the political constitutions of different countries; that they should have learnt the history of the most important religions of the world, and should have been instructed in the general rules which govern trade; all these important subjects, which most men will not study, and consequently will not be acquainted with, require to be rendered familiar to young man, in order that they may know that society in which they are about w take their place, that they may understand its mechanism and the conditions of its working, and that their judgment, established solid bases, may not be carried away by the sophisms of Utopian innovators. In conclusion, M. Barbier mentioned that he had placi at the disposal of the French committee of the International Exhib tion a sum of 5000 francs, to be given in prizes for the best essays on the subject; and, as a proof that the idea of international education is already advancing to maturity in the public mind, he stated that the subject had been brought forward in France by M. Rendu, and that a commission has already reported on it.

Mr. J. G. FITCH described in detail the organization of the educ tional collection in the International Exhibition.

Mr. A. F. MAYO read a paper on "Public and Private Education" in which he remarked that, in private education, it was the indivi working alone; whilst, in public education, the same mind developed under the influence of the emulation of others. He thoug that, under a healthy system, public education had the marked superiority" of introducing youth into something akin to the con tious emulation of maturity." Mr. Mayo also pointed out, thải "public education gives what private cannot, a commanding in into the rudimental conditions of the intellect and emotions is restrains the strong, and it elevates and inspires the weak." At th same time there was a danger in public schools of neglecting the special attributes of individual youths.

M. HEINRICH HOFFMAN read a paper on "Infant Training the System of F. Froebel, commonly called the Kindergarten." Afte insisting on the immense importance of very early training up to seventh year, he said that he opposed large infant schools, as the required a closer connexion between children and adults than the can secure. The "Kindergarten" is a place where children enjoy healthy and instructive play. "Playing is the child's dry The games of the "Kindergarten" combine all the healt elements of gymnastic exercises with the humanizing influence appropriate songs. These games are so arranged as to teach # child by self-experience what is right and true with regard to numbe weight, size, &c., of various materials; to develope an artistic t steady the hand, and generally to make the mind quick and though M. Hoffman concluded by stating, that to woman belonged this important and ennobling work.

The Rev. C. DASENT read a paper on "Some of the Drawbacks! the Education of Boys in London." He gave reasons for thinking necessary to develope more the healthy spirit of self-government am

boys, by cricket-clubs and societies for encouraging athletic sports, and so to counteract the injurious tendency of the overtasking of mental power, which was so common in elementary schools.

Miss BOUCHERETT brought under the notice of the department the remarkable fact of the almost entire absence of Girls' Endowed Schools in England, and proposed the partial application of the income arising from useless or mischievous charities, which amounted to £101,113, to the establishment and support of girls' schools.

Mrs. SHAW proposed a scheme for the formation of Industrial Schools in connexion with National and Parochial Schools. The eldest and best-conducted girls to receive one shilling a-week from an additional subscription fund, to remain at school and be trained to cut out and make articles of clothing. The fund might otherwise be employed to establish an industrial department. Mrs. Shaw recommended the formation of industrial homes in connexion with the National Schools, where the eldest and best-conducted children could be boarded and lodged for a short period, in order to receive a thorough industrial training.

Mr. BELL gave an account of the Bradford Ragged School, established in 1856. The average attendance was 160 daily during the first year. At present it was 180. The year it was opened the public records of Bradford showed 111 prisoners under fifteen years of age. This number had fallen to twenty-six in the past year.

The Rev. JOHN CURWEN gave an account of the Tonic Sol Fa method of teaching to sing. It was invented fifty years ago by Miss Glover of Norfolk. Eleven years ago there were not fifty teachers of this method, and not more than half a dozen publications; last year the publications were nearly 300, and the teachers more than 1000. Four hundred concerts of vocal music had been held by the supporters of the system. The pupils under it were more than 150,000, and there had been purchased during the past year 450,000 penny sheets of music. Mr. Curwen pointed out the moral and educational advantages of this simple and thorough method of teaching to sing.

PUNISHMENT AND REFORMATION.

THE CONVICT SYSTEM.

The Convict System of England. By MAJOR-GENERAL SIR JOSHUA JEBB, K.C.B.

HAVING, in another paper, given some information on the subject of Prison Discipline, I would here submit a few explanations concerning Transportation, Penal Servitude, and the Convict system established in this country. In doing so, it would appear desirable distinctly to notice the measures which have bea proposed for its improvement, and endeavour to obtain a clear view of their merits. This course will raise separate questions concerning an Intermediate system of discipline, the Supervision of the police over discharged prisoners, and other minor points, in which it is asserted, on the one hand, that the Convict system of England is deficient, and on the other, that their introduction would be prėjųdicial. These several points are also treated of in a separate paper.

On looking into the early history of transportation, we find that the practice of sending convicts out of the country, as a convenient way of getting rid of them, was resorted to so far back as the time of Elizabeth. Without going into all the particulars, one striking instance may be cited to show the difference between past and presen times. At what was termed the Bloody Assizes of 1685, Judge Jeffries, of infamous memory, sentenced no less than 841 persons t transportation. Macaulay tells us, that "these men, more wretched than their associates who suffered death, were distributed into gangs, and bestowed on persons who enjoyed favour at court. The codition of the gift was, that they should be carried to the West Indies as slaves. It would have been happy for them if they had gone w New England or New Jersey, but this was expressly forbidden. It was estimated by Jeffries that on an average each of them, after al charges were paid, would be worth from £10 to £15. There wa therefore, much angry competition for grants among the sycophants of Whitehall." These unhappy wretches were embarked in mali vessels, similar to slavers of the present day, and the dungeons in which they were confined during the passage are described by the same author as "being all darkness, stench, lamentation, disease, and

death," and it is added "that those who reached their house of bondage were mere skeletons, requiring to be fattened before they were sold." It is almost incredible that we have lived within 200 years of a time when such an outrage on the name of justice and humanity could have been committed. The recollection should increase our thankfulness, but we may not boast, for within the memory of some here present, ay, and close up to the present time, moral evils of equal intensity and far greater consequence have been tolerated in the herding together of criminals.

It may be sufficient for our purpose to trace the rise and progress of transportation in the Australian colonies up to its final development in the present system of convict discipline. The name of "Botany Bay" will be as familiar to many as that of "Jack Ketch," for between that place and the gallows most of the convicts in the early part of this century were disposed of in a manner which ensured their giving no further trouble to the mother-country.

In 1788, soon after the discoveries of Captain Cook had laid open that notable colony, (which now bids fair to be a bright jewel in the crown of England,) the transportation of offenders was regularly organised and extensively acted upon up to 1840. Sir William Molesworth's Committee of 1837-8, after a laborious investigation, concluded their report by condemning the punishment of transportation, as being unequal, without terrors to the criminal class, corrupting to both convicts and colonists, and extravagant in point of expense. This committee recommended the institution of penitentiaries at home and abroad in place of it. These resolutions, together with the report of the Duke of Richmond's Committee in the preceding year, produced a great influence on public opinion, and the whole subject came seriously under the consideration of the Government. Lord John Russell, who was at that time Secretary of State for the Home Department, directed me (and it was one of my first duties) to consider the measures necessary for giving effect to the recommendations of the Committee. Large district prisons on the plan of Pentonville were suggested for ordinary criminals, and for the incorrigible offenders an establishment of a more deterring character, to be situated at Dartmoor, or on Lundy Island, in the Bristol Channel. Circumstances interfered with any further step being taken in the prosecution of these plans, and the subsequent changes will be sufficiently in the recollection of any who have given attention to the subject to render unnecessary more than a cursory notice of them.

Transportation to New South Wales was abolished by an Order in Council dated 20th May, 1840, and in Van Diemen's Land some very important principles and changes were introduced into the system. These will be found fully detailed in Lord Stanley's despatch of the 25th November, 1842.

The following were the leading features:

1st. Norfolk Island for all prisoners convicted of the heaviest offences.

2nd. Probation gangs in Van Diemen's Land as the second stage of the above, and the first stage for all other convicts.

3rd. Probation passes divided into three classes, conferring dif ferent degrees of privileges.

4th. Tickets of leave in the colony.

5th. Pardons conditional or absolute.

It will be observed that the whole system was one of progressive amelioration. The object was that "a course of meritorious or blameless conduct in any one stage should entitle the convict in any future stage of punishment to such relaxation of the severity of his condition as might be compatible with his continuance in it."

It is difficult to prove anything to be theoretically wrong that is practically right. The converse of this, however, may be said of the foregoing carefully devised system. Two adverse causes which rendered success doubtful, if not impossible, soon became apparent. The former plan of assignment had the effect of dispersing the mea; the one which had been substituted for it had the effect of congre gating them in masses. Vice was therefore rendered far more intense. This was the first effect. The second was, that the supply of convicts was greater than the demand by which their services could be absorbed. The consequence was that the intermediate stage of discipline in which a convict was to become a pass-holder could not be held out as a reward or referred to as a test of character. There were no employers, and instead of his being provided with everything in that stage, he would have starved, had not the Government undertaken to afford him subsistence and work. This necessary measure therefore created the twofold evil of striking at the very principle of the new plan of discipline, which was intended to hold out to the men the benefit of a gradually improving condition, and entailing on the mother-country an enormous expense. Before the `middle of 1846, the accounts which had been received of the moral degradation of the convicts, crowded together in depôts, were of 90 alarming and deplorable a nature that some decisive steps were indispensable.

Mr. Gladstone, on the 7th of May, acting on a plan which had previously been suggested by Lord Stanley, gave instructions to the Governor of New South Wales for providing a new colony for con victs, and urged the importance of diverting as many as possible of the male convicts from Van Diemen's Land. Such were the circumstances when Lord Grey entered on the duties of Colonial Minister in 1846, with Sir George Grey as his colleague at the Home Office. The Parliamentary papers of the time will show the great attention bestowed on the subject, and the very important measures that were determined on.

Not only was transportation stopped for two years, but the conclusion was unavoidable that it could not, from circumstances, be resumed on the former system. It was proposed instead, that all convicts should undergo, first, a limited period of separate corfinement, the advantages of which, as a basis of discipline, had