MR. DAVITT'S PRISON DIARY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 45, 27 February 1885, Page 25

MR. DAVITT'S PRISON DIARY.

(From the Irishman.*) Mb. Davitt's ''Book of Prisons" is a deeply interesting one. It is not a narrative of personal experiences like Silvio Pellico's or of glorious outbursts, like John Mitchel's. Mr. Davitt's own sufferings are carefully kept out of view. He simply plays the part cf a keen observer, who utilizes his forced association with thousands of criminals of every human and inhuman variety to study sympathetically the great problem of why there are criminal classes, and to rouse society to some effort to pull up crime by the roots in place of merely lopping off its branches. He succeeds to a remarkable degree in interesting his readers in the wonderful world enclosed by the walla of the convict prisons,, and he does not do so by any pictorial art, but by conveying to the reader vividly the feeling of living among, conversing 1 with, and learning the life-history of the swarms of dingy unfortunates that cross these pages. Mr. Davitt does not indulge in the smallest degree in maudlin softness for the criminal classes. None of his criminals are heroes. They are coiners, pickpockets, swindlers, burglars — neither better nor worse than they are known to the police. He is not in the least imposed upon by their lying excuses for tteir misfortunes. He recognizes that they are men who have absolutely no other conception of *he difference between right and wrong than that which the dread of the policeman teaches them. Society is their prey, and, so long as human beings must be bred up amidst associates like those of " the Dials " or " the Chapel," society must lock them up, or they will pick the pockets and carry off the plate of society. Mr. Davitt takes them precisely as he finds them. He does not even paint the horrors of penal servitude too darkly. Men return to it again and again, conduct themselves blameiesgly during their term, and, for all that one can see, have quite as good a time of it, stone-breaking and " skintling," as many honest workmen who have their liberty and little else. Despair, Mr. Davitt tells us, is a feeling to which the professional convict is almost a stranger. One of the thousand curious facts he notes is that men who are the most irreclaimable reprobates outside have the good sense to earn all that is possible for exemplary conduct to earn in the way of grub or relaxations _ of discipline when "lagged." The callousness of the seasoned " lifer " gives all the more vivid an idea of the horrors which must torture minds of a more sensitive mould in penal servitude. Of religious feeling the vast bulk of the " magsmen," " hooks," " snide pitchers," bogus noblemen, and the rest of the criminal hierarchy, are absolutely destitute. The impression left by Mr. Davitt's book is one of hopelessness of the reclamation of the generation of professional criminals reared as their class have hither to been. Nevertheless Mr. Davitt invests them with a wondrous human interest, and disposes the reader to follow him all the more eagerly in bis speculations how future generations, at all events, of the necessitous poor are to be saved from such youthful associations and from the fate which follows as surely as the night the day. His classification of criminals — his intimate knowledge of their tricks, their language, their philosophy — his kindliness in recognizing whatever ray of softness shines through their hardened crust of habit — the amusing and characteristic anecdotes with which his pages are enlivened — constitute this as perhaps the most vivid and reliable account the public have ever had of the professional criminal in habit as he lives. When he comes to consider the remedies (of which, education, healthy recreation, and the abolition of land monopoly are the principal ones suggested) Mr. Davitt travels into a wider and vaguer field, into which we cannot always follow him with assent. The chapter which he devotes to lauding Nationalization of the Land as against Peasant Proprietary, is one to whose premises and deductions we might easily point out the objections, if, in relation to a Prison Diary, the topic were not one of rather remote bearing. In the chapters upon Castle Government in Ireland, and its dealings with political crime, Mr. Davitt writes with great force and breadth of thought. The special charm of the book, however, seems to us to be the picturesquenesß, f ulneßs and absolute truth with which, like another Dante gliding through just as horrible an Inferno, Mr. Davitt introduces the world to the unknown race of lost wretches who populate the convict prisons, aud awakens the world's conscience as to why should it for ever be that a whole class should be from their very birth marked out hopelessly for ruin. We give below a few specimens of the material with which this volume is enriched. To the class (says Mr. Davitt) which may be called the criminal " upper ten " belong both the higher and middle ranks of the aristocracy of crime— professional burglars. " honorable " thieves, professional swindlers, members of the "lone firm," and dealers in " snide " (base coin). Ninety per cent, of this class will have more or les3 acquaintance with minor imprisonment before entering penal servitude, while many " professors " will reckon from two or four ex« periences of convict life. This class looks with contempt upon all f" low " thieves, and repudiates the mean or " cadger " order of crime yks discreditable to the profession of thieving. They form the most singular and interesting study of all the criminal classes. It is to them that the phrase •♦ honour among theives " refers. Tbey never " round " upon each other, while they hold all " coppers " (prison informers) in detestation. I well recollect the excitement which the advent of one of these sham heroes to the exercise yard of Millbank caused among the pick-pocket fraternity, after he had announced himself as having got seven " stretch " (years) for clearing out a jeweller's shop in Manchester. He had " planted the swag " (hid the plunder) before being caught, where it would be safe until he was "chucked up" (released), when he would dispose of it in Belgium or Holland, buy a racehorse, and live the life of a swell in future. Lori Wolseley, recounting his exploits amid a company of volunteers or new recuits, would not excite half the envy which this young thief, who was known as " Flash Johnson," created in the convict circle into which his sentence introduced him. He preceded me to Dartmoor, where I found bis fame even more loudly trumpeted than ever, especially by Manchester "hookB" (pick-pockets), who

boast of being the rivals of the " Cocks," or Londoners, in the art of obtaining other people's property without paying for it. Unfortunately for fame that does not reat upon actual deeds, and for reputation not genuinely acquired, one oE Flash Johnson's " pals >: arrived in Dartmoor one day, in company with a fresh batch of prisoners from Millbank, and brought down the renowu of the hitherto worshippad hero to the very dust, by relating that there was not a word of truth in Johnson's yarn; as he bad been " lagged " for having " sneaked " a costennouger's barrow and contents. Johnson never lifted his diminished head again during his stay in Dirtmoor ; and doubtless his ambition npou regaining liberty will be to perform some " great act " which will entitle him to the envy and admiration of his companions in crime. The less skilled section of this class generally have a woman as an accomplice, who is often the direct agent in obtaining the " swag," and is generally " Miss Courtney, of Belgravia," or " Miss Florence Beaumont, of Kensington." " During the two last years of my detention in Dartmoor," says Mr. Davitt, " I was in daily labor companionship with one of the 'long firm' swell, and I have listened to many an account of his exploits upon what we atyled the ' ignorance and cupidity of the public' One day he deliberately walked into the Home Office, and requested an interview with the Secretary of State, who at that time was Mr. B , now Lord A . On this being accorded, ' Jerry ' represented himself as a waiter from Willis's and as having been sent by a gentleman staying there, who was one of Mr. B 's constituents from A shire. He (the gentleman) had come up to London on business a few days previously, and had unconsciously emptied himself of all his cash in the business transaction referred to, and found himself, when on point of departure home, without what would either pay his hotel bill or purchase a railway ticket. To borrow money from those with whom he had dealt might injure his credit, and acquaintances he bad none in London. It occurred to him in this dilemma that be was a constituent of Mr. B 's, and* as he had voted for him at the last election, he might venture to apply to him for the loan of what would extricate him from this little difficulty, which, of course, would be returned immediately on his arrival home. A card with a name and address was then handed to the Home Secretary by the reputed waiter, which, together with the story told by ' Jerry ' seemed so satisfactory to Mr. a that he expressed his gladness to be able to serve a constituent thus situated. On looking into his purse, Mr. B exclaimed, •By Jove, I have not enough change about me. Would a cheque for £10 answer, think you ? ' • The gentleman only bid me ask for £B,' replied the astute 'Jerry' and I think he would prefer having it in change.' Whereupon the Home Secretary called a clerk from a desk, borrowed the requisite amount, and handed it to * Jerry.' ' I felt quite proud of this exploit,' remarked • Jerry,' when relating it to me, 'to think of the second important individual in the Government being done by me, and in the Home Office, too ? ' " Mr. Davitt has much that is humorous to say of the " snide pitchers " — utterers of the base coin — and of the tfass of magsmen which comprise card-sharpers, " confidence-trick" workers, begging letter- writers, bogus ministers of religion, professional.noblemen, " helpless victims of the cruel world," medical quacks, etc., etc. Taking the pickpocket class in the older in which I have arranged its several sections, the " man of the world " comes up for first description. He is the professional or skilled rifler of other people's pockets, and differs in many respects from his less experienced and, of course, less exalted brethren, the common " snatcher " and the " cadger." Of the latter he holds the smallest possible opinion, and, like the " honourable thief " of the burglar class, looks upon him as a disgrace to the accomplished order of theft, and seldom associates with him when out of prison. I one. day received some abusive language from one of this most despised class of criminals, and I excited the curiosity of a " hook " in the party as to why I did not " hit the blooming cadger a punch on the nose? " My reply being that I could take no offence at anything a thief might say, the hook promptly corrected me by exclaiming, " You think him a thief? He never was anything of the sort in Ms blooming life. He isa blooming cadger !" Had Icalled a)Dublin policeman a Senior Fellow of Trinity College within the hearing of one of its students, my statement could not have been more emphatically or indignantly repudiated. " Chucking a Dummy," that is feigning falling sickness, being one of the fine arts of rascaldom, is dwelt upon at some length by our author, and the instance he gives is the most extraordinary we ever heard of . Their origin, and indeed the origin of all the thieves, Mr. Davitt traces directly or indirectly to such literature as " Blueskin," " Three-fingered Jack," " Jack Sheppard," " Clauds Duval," " Dick Turpin," and the other pestiferous criminal trash. ■

While in the " waiting-for-sentence cell " ia Newgate, Mr. Davitt's attention was attracted to the walls of the compartment which were covered with inscriptions by previous prisoners. These recorded the names of the various writers, where he belonged to, the crime with which he was charged, words as to the dread certainty of conviction, the palpitating hopes of acquittal, or the language of indifference or despair. Carried away by the jcommon impulse, Mr. Davitt scored upoa a yet uncovered portion of the sloping roof : —

"M. D. expects ten years for the crime of being an Irish Nationalist, and the victim of an informer's perjury."

There was less of gravity or seriousness in the following which Mr. Davitt found inter alia :—

" A burst in the city. Copped while boning the swag.7 stretch, 1869. Koll on 1876. Cheer up pals. Another — Hook. 7 ys. Roll on time. £> nother— Bob White from the Dials. 6 stretch for slugging a copper. Little Dickey from the New Cut. 10 and a ticket. Pat away by a moll (sold by an unfortunate)."

" A letter, of which the following is an exact copy, wajslefb by a prisoner in one of the cells which I occupied after receiving sentence in Newgate. It afforded much amusement to the officers of that prison, who kept it in that particular cell, and who called my attention to it upon my removal thereto, in order, I believe, to dißtrabt

my mind from the sentence that had been passed upon me a couple of days previously. ' Shor ditch— lß7o. ' deere Jim • i was in quod, doin 14 days when i heerd you was lagged i blakked Polly S— 's peepers who called me names she was fuddled and bit me fust, when i kolered her nut and give her a fine slugging and her mug was all over blud the spiteful thing bit me she did, and funked fight, when we were both taken by the Kopper, and the beck only giv me 14 days, and her got 21 for bitten me fust aud been fuddled, cheer up Jim i am sorry wot you are lagged, and I wont pal with nobody wile your in quod, good by Jim from your trn luv. • Sally.' " Whether this is the fair one whom the soDg of the period described — ' Her fighting weight was thirteen stone, And her maiden named was Sarah. 1 1 know not ; but her love-letter to poor Jim was the means of eliciting from me the first laugh in which I felt inclined to indulge in in that early stage of penal servitude. " A pickpocket told me the history of his arrest one day in the following language :— 'l was jogging down a blooming slum in the Chapel whea 1 butted a reeler who was sporting a red slang. I broke Off his jerry and boned the clock, which was a red one, but I was spotted by a copper who claimed me. I was lugged before the beak, who gave me six doss in tbe Steel. The week after I was cbuckad up I did a snatch near St. Paul's, was collered, lagged, and got this bit of seven stretch. 1

" On the second evening in my new lodgings (Mill bank;, I went to the spy hole, after hearing the turnkey lock the ward gate and descend the 6tairs to his tea. Skilly had just been served out to the thirty inhabitants of that particular ward,' and a curious application of wooden spoons to the bottom of empty cans spoke eloquently of the appetites of my new associates. After the noise had subsided, " A voice exclaimed—' I say, Bill, were you ever choked ofc with such blooming thin skilly in all your lagging V " Bill, from cell higber up the ward — ' The blooming guvnor fattens bis pigs with the meal and only allows ons ounce for a pint.' "Another voice — ' I say, pals, who is the new chum in No. 7 ' (my cell) ' who went mag ?' (talk.)"

" First voice—' He has done a tenner in Gib for a burst in the city, and is sent back on his ticket.'

" A i ourth voice—' (Jet along, you duffer I He has only one duke ' (arm), ' and the orderly told me to-day that he has got fifteen stretch for being a Fenian.'

"Bill's chum, sympathetically— ' Poor fellow, I knew a lot o' Fenians when I was a-doin' my last bit in Woking. They were rare chums for slinging a«ay toke ' (giving away bread). " After which, the same voice, by way "of encouragement — ' It's time there was a bloming revolution in England when a bloke like n?e gets seven stretch for boning a coat and gets skilly like this to live npon I'

"I immediately collapsed." A number of chapters are devoted to the social question, the contrasts of wealth and poverty, the extreme poverty of the poor, and population in relation to wages. The consideration, of couise, invariably aiises out of a work dealing with the criminal classes, and where the questioas of labour, of wealth and poverty, of wages and population are present the evei urgent evil of laud monopoly must enter. Mr. Davitt repeats here the words whicb have become associated with his name, and the abolition of land mouoply is advocated with renewed vigor and power. He also refuted the objections raised by Professor JevoDS to tilt purchase of railways by the State, a purchase with which he allies many advantages. The transition from this to Government by piivilege and wealth, and thenca to the Government of Ireland, is an easy one.

Mr. Davitt's powerful impeachment of the Irish Government is followed by what he offers as a substitute. There are two parties to be considered— the Extremists and Separatists and Home Balers and Federalists. He says :— «

f< No Irish leader can afford to ignore either of these two principal phases of liish National sentiment. Were such a man to commit himself to^a definite scheme at the mere invitation of an English Minister, he would run the risk of alienating that section of his supporters whose views were not represented in his proposals It is an obvious remark that such a contingency would not be unwelcome to English statesmen. From what" I have just said it will be readily perceived how difficult is the task to which Irish popnlar leaders are asked lo address themselves.

Nevertheless, I shall venture to outline a scheme of • local and National self-government, which, I believe, would command the support of the majority of the Irish people afc home and abroad, and which would probably receive a fair trial at the hands of the Extremists ; though its operation would undoubtedly be watched ftyth a jealous eye. * In the first place, there should be established in Ireland a system of county government, by means of elective boards, to take the place of the existing fnrepresentative and practically irresponsible grand jury system. The functions of such boards should be more comprehensive than those exercised by the grand juries. For example, in addition to the duty of administering purely county business, these boards should be permitted to initiate measures of general application — such as schemes of arterial drainage, tramways, railways, canals, docks, barbors, and similar enterprises, which would be of more than local importance and character. Such schemes, after being fully discussed by these elective bodies, would be submitted to the National Assembly to be subsequently described. Then the count}' boards should control the police within the cDunty, and appoint the magistrates, and be entirely responsible for the preservation of law and order.

"Farther, should the land problemj be justly and satisfactorily solved on the lines of national proprietary, the duty of assessing and

collecting the land-lax would naturally devolve upon the county boards, which, deducting what was necessary for the expenses of county government, would remit the balance to the National Exchequer. In fact, the object of such a system should be to constitute each county, as far as practicable, a self-governing community.

Manifestly any system of local self-government for Ireland, involves a corresponding one of 'National self-government as its natural and inevitable complement. To extend the principle of local selfgovernment at all m Ireland, without radically changing the system of Castle rule, would only have the effect of increasing the friction already existing between the people and their rulers. Hence, it is absolutely necessary that legislation for National self-government should go hand iv hand with any scheme for tbe creation of elective county boards. lam well aware that the hope is indulged in. in some quarters, that the inclusion of Ireland in a general measure of county government, with the sop of an Irish Parliamentary Grand Committee thrown in, will suffice to choke off the demand for Irish legislative independence, but English statesmen need not delude themselves with the idea that any such Westminster expedient will satisfy the genius of Irish Nationality.

"There could be established in Dublin a National Assembly, composed of elected members from the constituencies of Ireland, who should proceed to the administration of all Irish affairs in the manner which obtains in colonial parliaments, excepting the substitution of one for two chambers, here proposed. That is to say, the representative of the Crown in Ireland would call upon some member of tbe National Assembly to form a government the different members of which should be constituted the beads of the various boards, which at present are practically irresponsible bureaucracies; but which, under the system here proposed, would become departments of a popular Government, and open to the supervision of the people through the National Assembly. Such a Government, subject to the oontrol of the governed through their elected representatives, would be tbe practical solution of the Anglo-Irish difficulty. It would be but the common definition of constitutional rule carried into practice. It would, as already remarked, be the application to misgoverned * and unfortunate Ireland of a constitution kindred to that which British, statesmanship has long since granted, wisely and well, to a consequently peaceful and contented Canada. " Certainly if a similar act of political justice and sound policy does not solve the Irish difficulty, nothing less will. What possible danger could England run from such an application of constitutional rule to a country much nearer to the centre of Imperial Power than Canada ? But what a beneficent change for Irelaud — nay, what a relief to England herself — would be involved in such an act of simple political justice V <