In a drizzly afternoon at the close of January, we met by appointment at
a house in Westminster with a gentleman, who had kindly undertaken to
introduce us to a very remarkable institution in that part of the
metropolis. A walk of a few minutes through the plashy streets brought
us to a wide gateway, like the entrance to a brassfounder's yard. We
soon found ourselves in a narrow court, encumbered with building
materials and surrounded with plain brick structures, which appeared to
have either been recently erected, or to be undergoing some changes
designed to adapt them to new purposes. Everything looked plain and
homely, even to rudeness; but we, nevertheless, knew well that a heart
of humanity and noble intention beat under the rough exterior of the
place.
Rather less than four years ago, the teacher of a ragged school in
Westminster encountered, in the course of his professional exertions,
three or four boys who had hitherto been thieves, but now expressed a
desire to leave their evil courses. Having some reason to repose faith
in their professions, and being humbly anxious to assist them in so good
a purpose, he received them into a poor garret-lodging, hired and paid
for out of his own resources. He supported them there, taught and
trained them, making himself their friend as well as their mentor, and
in time he succeeded in getting them passages to America, where they
have since prospered. Mr Nash--for such is the name of this
philanthropist of humble life--continued his benevolent exertions and
sacrifices, till various gentlemen, hearing of what he was doing, came
to his assistance. A little money being then collected, it was found
possible to take in a greater number of boys. In short, Mr Nash became
the head of a little institution for the reclaiming of criminal and
vagrant youths, which has finally become located in the yard we have
described, under the name of the London Colonial Training Institution
and Ragged Dormitory. It is still a kind of family arrangement of Mr
Nash's own, taking its character mainly from his benevolent and
self-sacrificing efforts, although drawing pecuniary support from the
public, and ostensibly graced with a list of honorary officebearers,
with the Earl of Shaftesbury at their head.
There is a prepossessing simplicity in the whole affair. We found the
ground-floor of the new building used as a school and public room, and
the two upper floors as dormitories--nothing but brick walls whitened,
brick and deal floors--no luxury, but cleanliness and good ventilation.
The beds were mere bags of straw laid on the floor. Three plain meals
per day are given. The strictest regulations are maintained; but there
is no restraint. The inmates can leave the institution if they please.
Their coming is entirely voluntary; and, to make sure of their being
thoroughly in earnest, they are not admitted to the humble privileges of
the place, till they have lived a fortnight upon a pound of bread a day,
sleeping all the time upon bare boards. In the outer buildings, the boys
are trained to carpentry, tailoring, and shoemaking. A few are
instructed in printing: in their little office, we found one ordinary
press, besides a small one for taking proofs. They can execute
shop-bills and placards for the tradesmen in the neighbourhood, and we
received a copy of an annual report which had been printed very neatly
by them. In work, schooling, religious exercises, and walks out of doors
on the ordinary days of the week, the time passes usefully and not
disagreeably. At the end of a year, they are, if not provided with
employment at home, sent to some of the colonies with a small outfit,
generally at the expense of some benevolent individual. Lord Shaftesbury
has been particularly liberal in furnishing means for their shipment.
The inmates feel that they may now have a hope in the world. They hear
of companions who are prospering in America, and they work cheerfully on
in the faith of getting there also. Very few fail in their course, or
act dishonestly towards the institution. When one or two lately left it,
taking away things not belonging to them, the others set out in search
of them, caught them, and handed them over to the police. This shews how
their hearts are interested in the institution. They feel that Mr Nash
acts towards them in pure kindness, and they are anxious to make a
suitable return. And kindness really is the sole principle at work in
the place. One good man rules these sixty outcasts of society without
guard or assistance; without the use of punishment, beyond a temporary
restriction of meals; without, it may be said, any force whatever, but
that of his benevolent intentions.
At the time of our visit, the establishment contained about sixty
inmates. We felt a peculiar interest in visiting the room of probation.
There had been four youths in it in the morning; but one had withdrawn,
not being able to stand the severity of the test. The three remaining
youths stood up in their wretched attire, and we questioned them in
succession. They had all been thieves, and all of them had passed
through several convictions--one through no less than twenty-two. We
asked this last youth how he had come to think of retreating to the
Colonial Training-School. He said, that he knew he could not go on much
longer without being transported: he dreaded this fate. Some companions
who had been in the school, but deserted it, told him of it. They
praised the institution, as one where every kindness was shewn to
unfortunate youths, notwithstanding that they had themselves proved
unworthy of its benefits. He therefore came, determined to suffer
whatever might be inflicted upon him, rather than go back to his wicked
courses. We learned that he had been for several years a pickpocket,
residing in a low lodging-house at 1s. 9d. a week; sometimes well off,
sometimes otherwise, but always harassed by the terrors of punishment.
According to his account of the boys who live in this manner, there are
some who enjoy its freedom, and would not abandon it; but there are many
who would much rather turn from it, if an opportunity were afforded
them. We afterwards spent some time in the school-room amongst the boys;
heard them sing a hymn, and, at the request of the governor, addressed a
few words to them, chiefly suggestive of hope respecting their future
career. During the whole time, their behaviour was marked by perfect
propriety; we did not observe even an indecorous look in the whole
company.
We bade adieu to Mr Nash, with a deep sense of his heroic philanthropy,
and of the value of the lesson which he is giving as to the means of
reclaiming the desert places of society. As far as the funds supplied to
him permit, he is transforming the juvenile delinquents of the London
streets into respectable citizens, having already redeemed a hundred and
fifty-six, and either provided for them in England, or despatched them
to the colonies. One may well suppose, that in the process of
reformation much must depend upon the special character of the person
who exercises the reforming discipline. A mere routine of school
exercises, of scripture readings, of hymn singings, would go little way
with minds so vitiated by bad habits, if there were not a particular
effort made by the disciplinarian to make all work thoroughly into the
moral nature of the pupils, so as to produce a real renewal of feeling
and spirit. Even to rouse the unfortunate being from the idea with which
he is apt to start, that he is only called upon to enter on a new career
which will be better for him in a worldly point of view, and to elevate
him to the superior and only vitally serviceable idea, that he must love
goodness for its own sake, and for the love of the Author of all
goodness, is no light task. We can, therefore, imagine scarcely any
position calling for a more peculiar combination of qualities than that
of the conductor of this extraordinary seminary. It is a strong
testimony to the suitableness of Mr Nash for his functions, that they
were entered upon under the impulse of his own mind. We have further
proof of it in the good effects of his teaching, for the histories of
many young men who have passed through his hands can be traced from
authentic documents. One who emigrated to the United States so lately as
March 1850, already reports that he is earning there L.3, 12s. per week,
and has just married a young woman who had saved 300 dollars; another of
his pupils is now acting as a missionary in Australia. They write to
their former governor in the most grateful terms, and with strong
expressions of hope regarding their own future. It is interesting to
think of all this good being done by individual exertion and
self-devotion. No government interferes: there is no certain fund to be
depended on. A simple MAN, sensible of humane obligations towards the
unfortunate, comes forward and puts himself in direct intercourse with
them. They might mistake the views of a government, or of a set of
parish authorities; they might lean unduly upon any formally-appointed
fund. They cannot mistake the designs of a mere human being like
themselves, or become spoiled by indulgence in so poor a retreat. The
gratitude due by society to such a man is incalculable.
It is gratifying to think that Mr Nash does not stand alone in his
disinterested course. There is a Mr Ellis, a shoemaker in Albany Street,
Regent's Park, who, under the impulse of religious feeling for the
unfortunate, has taken a number of delinquents into his care, with a
view to reforming them. Four years ago, he began with two, to whom he
assigned certain rations. The first movement was an act of self-denial
on their part. In order to secure the admission of a companion, who
could not otherwise have been provided for, they agreed that their
rations should be divided with him; and on these terms he was admitted.
Soon after, the number was increased to fifteen; and with this number Mr
Ellis has gone on most successfully. The boys have been industrious, and
only one has been guilty of any offence. The prosperous man of the
world, who thinks himself entitled to use all his own for his own sole
gratification, will hear of these things with incredulity, and pity
Ellis and Nash as enthusiasts, who foolishly sacrifice themselves for a
whim; but we greatly doubt if the worldling's proudest or most luxurious
hour gives one-half the true satisfaction which these men enjoy in the
midst of their ragged adherents, under the blessed hope of rescuing them
from destruction in this world and the next.
The subject of juvenile delinquency is beginning to attract a good deal
of attention, for it is now clearly seen that the root of most of the
predatory crime by which the country is afflicted lies here, and till
the root is struck at, the branches will continue to flourish. It
appears that for some years the number of juvenile criminals has been
on the increase; auguring, of course, an ultimate increase in the number
of adult offenders. Some vigorous measure for the reduction of juvenile
delinquency is felt to be now required. Amidst all the alarms which it
is exciting, and amidst the expressions of hopelessness which we often
hear from those who give little attention to the subject, it is
gratifying to find, that there are some glimpses of what appears to be
the right course to be taken. First, one great point is very clearly
established--that it really is possible to reclaim juvenile criminals.
It cannot, however, be done by punishments of any kind. It is to be done
by kindness, religious influence, and industrial occupation, along with
the holding forth of a hope of transition into a better course of life.
Those who may be incredulous on this point, had better acquaint
themselves with the facts of the case. It is too little known, that
there has been a society at work for the last sixty years in England,
for the reform of juvenile offenders. It has a farm at Red Hill, near
Reigate, from which about forty youths go out every year to agricultural
labour and humble trades, in which the great bulk of them do well. The
similar institution at Mettray, near Tours, produces similar results on
a greater scale. And the simple truth at the bottom of the whole affair
is, that young thieves are, in general, deserted or orphan children, or
children driven forth to destitution by vicious parents: criminal
through circumstances, and finding no true happiness in their wicked
kind of life, a large proportion of them _desire to reform_, and will
suffer not a little in order to obtain admission to respectable society.
It has lately been shewn, that society has a strong interest of a
pecuniary nature in the reformation of juvenile delinquents. A boy or
youth continually going about as a pickpocket or petty larcenist, is a
destructive animal of somewhat formidable character. To get quit of him
at last by transportation, costs at the least calculation L.150. Now, he
can be put through the twelvemonth's course of reformation in such a
school as that which we have described, and deported as a free emigrant
to Australia (where he is welcomed), for L.25. Thus, even in an
economical light, the reforming of the youth is a great gain.
Magistrates are everywhere impressed with the hopelessness of a mere
judicial treatment of these hapless children. They come back to the dock
at almost regular intervals; severity is of no avail with a poor wretch
who, on being discharged from jail, finds all honest employment denied
to him. It is by reform alone that we can rid ourselves of this moral
pest, by which our country is disgraced.
There is but one difficulty in the case, and that is one involving
profound social questions. Shall we see criminal children taken care of,
and treated kindly, while many of the children of the honest poor are so
ill off? Shall we not, by taking these children under our care, and so
relieving parents and others of their responsibility towards them, sap
the principles of the industrious poor, leading them to desert or cast
off their children, whom they will now be sure of seeing cared for by
others? We must admit that there is much force in these queries; but it
would be wrong to allow them altogether to deter us, where the reasons
on the other side are so urgent. It may be possible, by keeping to such
individual efforts as those of Mr Nash, or to those of little
unobtrusive societies, to prevent much of the evil apprehended. And it
may also be practicable, as we find is proposed, to arrange that there
shall be a legal claim upon parents for the expenses incurred in
reforming their criminal offspring. Thus none who are not themselves
destitute, could safely leave their children to the chances of a
criminal life. It is also most desirable, that the state should limit
its interference to grants of money in proportion to the sums advanced
by private or local effort, and to the enforcing of a law for the
detention of vagrant and criminal children where it may be necessary.
Under such precautions, we think most of the advantages might be
obtained, with a much less admixture of evil than many would now be
disposed to expect.[1]