committed murders of the foulest description-there were no "extenuating circumstances which could be admitted as a ground. for mercy."

The punishment in eight of the remaining cases of murder was commuted to penal servitude for life, and in the ninth case a free pardon was granted. This we believe was in Smethurst's case; but we must remark in passing, that there is no return of this pardon, which is mentioned only incidentally in Mr. Redgrave's introductory report, without any notice of an omission in the return. Probably the pardon was granted after the making up of the return, but some intimation of the fact should have been included in the report. In the arson case, the capital punishment was commuted to detention in a Reformatory institution for five years, and in the rest of the cases the punishment was commuted to penal servitude for various terms, ranging from three years and under to the whole term of natural life.

Mr. Redgrave arrives at some rather curious results, from a comparison of the commitments during the last thirty years. He says, "There are distinctly two classes of offences, one of which springs from the state of the general community, and is of singularly uniform recurrence; the other, from a separate criminal class, from time to time increased or diminished in number by external circumstances, as the price of food, the state of employment, and again, more directly, by changes in the police and the criminal laws by which the class is repressed. It has also been found, that in those years when the tendency to petty thefts and frauds is lessened by abundant employment for labour and cheap food, assaults and other minor offences against the person are stimulated, probably by the increased means of obtaining intoxicating liquors which such periods afford," (Rep., p. xv.) He then gives the following table with regard to the first class of crimes-those "which may be held largely to mark the character of the community."

There is another discrepancy between the report and the return, which we may here mention, Mr. Redgrave (p. 1), in enumerating the sentences passed during the year, includes one of imprisonment for a term above three years. There is no such item in the return of sentences, p. 47.

COMMITMENTS IN EACH GROUP OF 1859-55. 1854-50. 1849-45. 1841-40. 1839-35. 1834-30. FIVE YEARS.

The population of the country (we still follow the Report,) during these thirty years, may be estimated as having increased 40 per cent. (which would account for an increase in crime), and property has increased in a still greater ratio. The commitments for murder, however, have not increased, but in attempts to murder there has been a steady increase; indeed, a rapid one since 1837, when capital punishments were very extensively abolished. So, also, commitments for rape have increased since the year 1841, when the capital punishment for that crime was abolished. The increase in manslaughter does not amount to one-half the rate of increase of the population. In bigamy there is a large progressive increase. Mr. Redgrave remarks, that these crimes are chiefly those in which the detective agency of the increased police force is brought to bear, rather than its powers of prevention, and thinks there can be no doubt that the increase in the commitments may, in a considerable degree, be attributed to the greater ratio of detection.

As to the second class of crimes, namely, those which may be ascribed to the existence of a criminal class, the following comparisons are made :—

COMMITMENTS IN EACH GROUP OF 1859-55. 1854-50. 1 49-45. 1844-40. 1839-35. 1834-30. FIVE YEARS.

Thus, it appears that as to the worst offences-burglary and robbery on the person-which are usually committed by old offenders, there has been no sensible variation during the last fifteen years in the number of commitments for the former crime, and, comparing the first with the last fifteen years, the increase of commitments for the latter offence does not exceed 13.7 per cent. For cattle, horse, and sheep stealing, there has been an actual decrease in the commitments. "These," continues Mr. Redgrave, "are all crimes in which the agency of the police would be immediately felt, and particularly in the repression of horse, sheep, and cattle stealing. The whole tendency of crime has been for some years to the diminution of offences of violence, and the increase of offences of planned theft and fraud-skill in crime has succeeded violence. This is apparent in the above commitments; the increase of all of the latter class is most marked. It is gratifying, again, to notice the entire absence of all offences of a seditious or treasonable character for above ten years," (Rep., p. xvi.)

There is no return of the number and nature of the cases reserved for the court of Criminal Appeal; but the Report (p. xix.) contains a table, from which it appears that, "in the year 1859," fifteen cases only were referred to that court on points of law, and that judgment was affirmed in nine, and reversed in six of those cases. We must here, however, again remind Mr. Redgrave, that the returns should be complete in themselves, and that the Report should be but a commentary founded on them, and should not, without explanation or notice, contain fresh matter which is not to be found in the statistics themselves. We do not know what period is included by Mr. Redgrave in the term "the year 1859," nor do we regard the figures in this table with implicit confidence.

The returns of the costs of prosecutions and of summary proceedings under the Juvenile Offenders Act and Criminal Justice Act, which are borne by the public revenue, are made up to the 30th June, 1858 only, but could not be prepared in time for publication in the returns for 1858. The following is a summary of these costs

These costs have been diminishing yearly. In 1857, the costs on indictments averaged £9: 2: 3, and on summary proceedings £1: 11:5 each case. In 1856, the corresponding average costs were £9: 14: 7, and £1: 12: 6. And as the scale of allowances to witnesses has been much reduced since February 1858, we may expect a still farther reduction in expenditure in succeeding years. But if this reduction tend to interfere with the due course of justice, in the manner pointed out by the Grand Jury at Liverpool, it will before long be proved to be a false economy.

There are certain other expenses reported to have been incurred in "mint cases," and prosecutions by indictment ordered by the Secretary of State. We say We say "reported," because there is no return of the expenses of these government prosecutions. But Mr. Redgrave reports that, "in the year 1859," there were four hundred and eighty-four prosecutions in mint cases, the expenses of which amounted to £6830: 9:5; and twenty-two other government prosecutions, the total cost of which were £919: 19:5.

3. PRISONS.-The returns included in the third division of Part I.—namely, those relating to the prisons of England and Wales-are for the year ended on the 30th September, 1859. There are in England and Wales eighty-six county and four liberty prisons, sixty-five borough prisons, and ten convict prisons and establishments. Subject to a general statutory code of regulations, and to the control of the secretary of state,

and the inspection of officers appointed by the Crown, the county and liberty prisons, are under the management of the courts of quarter-sessions and the borough prisons under the management of the councils of boroughs and borough justices. The convict establishments are under the control of the secretary of state, and are managed by officers appointed by him, but those establishments are likewise regulated by statute.

The following table shows the number of persons committed to prison in each of the five years, from 1855 to 1859; together with the total number committed in those five years :

This table proves-so far at least as a comparison of the number of commitments to prison can prove that even without making any allowance for increase of population, crime has considerably decreased in the last five years; and this is still more apparent if debtors, who must necessarily increase with the increase in population, and military prisoners, the number of whom depends on the strength and employment of the forces, be left out of the calculation. We then find that the numbers committed in each of the five years, from 1859 to 1855, were respectively, 107,072; 118,162; 124,823; 113,736; and 113,706.

We believe that the effect of the present treatment of prisoners, and of Reformatories and Ragged Schools, in diminishing crime, is now being felt. In the first place, the number of persons committed last year, who had been previously committed, was considerably less than in the year 1858. In 1859 the re-commitments numbered 38,428 (excluding debtors and military prisoners), or 27.5 per cent. of the total number of commitments, while in