nations of the boys' schools are to take place at intervals, and, if possible, on days celebrated in the national history. Examinations of the girls' schools shall also be held, but only in the presence of the masters and parents. Parents may address complaints to the proper authorities, respecting the education of their children, but they must not present any obstacle to the conformation of the latter to the rules established in the schools.

Clergymen are to seize every opportunity, whether at church, or during their visits of inspection, of reminding teachers of their high and holy mission, and the people of their duty towards the public instructors. The people, in short, are to be brought, as much as possible, to regard education as one of the essential conditions of public life, and daily to take deeper interest in its progress.

In 1833, there were about fifty schools for teachers (or Normal Schools, as they are sometimes called) in Prussia, in which the course of study lasts three years. The demand for new teachers in the respective departments is regularly ascertained, and no more are educated than can find employment in the country. The same establishments train masters for the lower and higher schools; the expense of them is chiefly defrayed by government. The supply of teachers is not entirely furnished by these seminaries; but the standard of fitness which is set up in them, is applied by law to all other candidates for the office of teaching. Females have to go through a certain system of preparation for the tuition of their own sex.

The election and nomination of schoolmasters are decided by the committee and inspector of schools conjointly, who generally apply to the seminaries above mentioned for teachers, and never accept one unless he is recommended according to law. The appointment is ratified by the provincial board, and sometimes by the ministerial authorities. Incompetent teachers are sometimes returned to their seminary for additional preparation; and no inefficient teaching nor lax discipline overlooked or permitted in the schools. The directors of schools are expected to be the guides and friends of the teachers. They are bound, says the law, especially to attend to the young masters, to give them

advice, set them right, and excite them to aim at perfection, by attending to the plans of more experienced masters, by forming conferences, and by studying the best works on education.

Of the children in the Prussian monarchy, between the ages of seven and fourteen, it is calculated that are educated in the public schools.

It must not be supposed that these regulations are always carried into effect;-they are sometimes evaded, or inadequately carried into practice.

After this compact and pleasing picture of the Prussian system of public education, it is natural to inquire into the results which it has actually produced. On this subject I find it impossible to produce any satisfactory authority. It is in vain to seek for results in the works of those who have only studied the plan in its program, and in decrees, and who have not looked into the farmhouse, the barrack, the manufactory, and the cottage, for the measure of its realisation.

Let me not be understood to speak with disrespect of a noble attempt to advance humanity; I only maintain, that such measures are to be tested by their operation on the mass of society, and that, in appreciating political experiments, we are not merely to analyse them upon paper. An admirable feature of it is the reverence which it encourages for the Christian religion. I am the last person to attach much weight to my own observations, but, in default of the remarks of others, I have not succeeded in discovering that the Prussian peasant or artisan is better informed, or more moral than his neighbours; his manners are not superior, nor does he appear to solace his hours of leisure more than others, with study, or books. But the formation of character is so intimately blended in Prussia with the military system, which converts every man into a soldier, for a certain period of his life, that it is difficult to ascertain the respective share which is to be ascribed to the various elements which combine to mould the individual. The most intelligent and best informed peasant in Europe has appeared to me to be the Scotch, while the Austrian rustic is perhaps the happiest.

CHAPTER XIII.

PRISONS AND PRISONERS IN GERMANY.

Introductory Remarks on the Discipline of Prisons. An account of the Prisons of Germany before their later improvements. Criminal Legislation in Austria. Present Condition and Statistics of the principal Prisons of Germany. Their degree of Security. State of Health, Medical Police, Diet, and Mortality. Modes of Inspection, Classification, Labour. Education, Elementary Instruction, Religious Instruction, Worship. Punishments. The care taken of the Prisoner on his liberation. Concluding Reflections.

ONE of the most gratifying features in the clouded countenance of our age is the attention which is devoted, more or less, in all civilised countries, to the improvement of prisons, and to criminal legislation and statistics. I shall make no apology, then, for the pages which are here set apart for the German side of the topic; and a few cursory observations on the state of prisons in England, will form no unsuitable introduction.

In the greater part of our county gaols a remarkable degree of cleanliness and neatness reigns throughout. This observation will not be considered trivial by those who appreciate the influence which these two qualities daily exercise over the health of the body, and the discipline of the mind. Among the borough and town gaols, and those placed under local jurisdiction, these characteristics are far less prominent, and sometimes, indeed, entirely disappear; but these blemishes, in the various shades in which they exist, seem to be derived rather from the narrow space and unsuitableness of the building, from the limited funds, the scanty salaries, and the insufficient service, than from wilful neglect on the part of the keepers, who, indeed, are often sensible of evils which they do not possess the power of remedying.

From the recent introduction of silence into some prisons, I have not yet been able to trace a single instance of mischievous

consequences. My conversations with prisoners, officers, surgeons, chaplains and magistrates, have not led to the discovery of any case in which disease, either of body or of mind, has been affirmed by any party to have grown out of this mode of discipline. The experiment, it is true, has not yet been practised for a long period; but the persons most conversant with the interior of prisons, who have favoured me with their conclusions on this head, pronounce decidedly in its favour, and entertain an expectation of its probable efficacy in increasing the repugnance to incarceration. But great vigilance is necessary in order to ensure a real, and not merely a nominal observance of it.

Solitary, or separate confinement, respecting the propriety and practicability of which opinions are divided, and experience has as yet been only short and limited, cannot be generally adopted in our present buildings. Nor ought solitary confinement to be adopted in any prison, without defining the mode, in which alone, consistently with humanity, and with just attention to mental and bodily health, it can be carried into operation. The details are not to be resigned to the caprice of individuals, to makeshifts, and to accident. Separate confinement for the convicted, should never be imposed, for any term exceeding a few days, unless accompanied by the following indispensable conditions, woich are the more necessary to be complied with in our gaols, because they have not been usually constructed, like the American penitentiaries, with this express object in view.

First. A cell moderately warmed in the winter.

Second. A cell light, well ventilated, and large enough to enable the prisoner to labour or to read with ease, and to move about in freely.

Third. A provision of suitable work or of books.

Fourth. Daily separate visits of the chaplain, the surgeon, and the gaoler, with a privilege of briefly conversing with them. Fifth. Daily exercise, of at least one hour, not taken all at one time.

Sixth. A discretionary power confided to the surgeon, of allowing still more exercise, when he thinks it advisable.

Seventh. A visit made at least once a month to each prisoner thus confined, by one of the visiting magistrates.

But in only a small number of prisons, as they are at present constituted, with their existing cells, officers, funds, and salaries, can such confinement be safely enforced. The conditions above proposed, would necessitate an entire remodelling in many instances: and the magistrates and the public will not easily consent to try a new, and as yet uncertain experiment, at a large cost, after having already incurred heavy disbursements on the former plan of classification; and least of all at a time when all are anxious to reduce the amount of rates.

I am led thus to the conclusion that it would be most inexpedient to employ any compulsory interference in favour of separate confinement, which would only conduct to an irregular, inadequate, and unfair trial of it in prisons not fully prepared. If any evil accidents should arise from partial and premature attempts, the public confidence would be shaken, and a sudden reaction and abandonment of the whole system might be the unexpected result.

I believe, however, that it will be utterly impracticable to carry this system into general operation in England, on account of the enormous expense attendant on it, if it is carried out in a humane spirit; but if it must be tried at all, it would probably answer best if confined to a few penitentiaries erected and arranged for this particular object. But, even in such places, I must express my earnest dissent from any plan which contemplates the continual confinement of the prisoner in his cell, without any portion of daily exercise in the open air.

Wherever this system is applied to untried prisoners, they ought to be permitted, in addition to the precautions above specified, to enjoy a double portion of exercise, as well as ample means of intercourse with their friends: but, rather than at once to level the ancient distinction between a house of detention and a house of correction, it would be preferable, in my opinion, to allow to the untried the free use of their yards, restricting them, at the same time, from conversation with each other, and from