sustenance from him if he refuses to earn it by labor, there can be no injustice in this, for he can have no positive claim to maintenance; it is true that he has been withdrawn from his trade or occupation, but that is a necessary part of the punishment of his crime, the forfeiture of the means of resorting to his former mode of earning a livelihood. But with a man committed only on suspicion, whom the law still presumes to be innocent, and deprives of liberty only because it sees no other mode of securing his appearance at the day of trial, all the reason is in favor of his immunity from every other privation or interference. Direct compulsion, we believe, has not been attempted; the only ground on which it could be put would be the enforcement of discipline; and undoubtedly that must be preserved, if necessary, over every prisoner. We are not, therefore, disposed to deny, that for riot or disorderly behaviour an unconvicted criminal may, from the necessity of the case, be treated as a convict; in whatever character he comes, he is bound so far to submit to the laws of the place, as not to interfere with the peace and good order of others. But this is an argument which will never justify the compulsory labor of a peaceable and orderly, but slothful or even obstinate pri

soner.

6

With respect to hard labor as a useful mode of punishment and correction there cannot well be much difference of opinion. When, however, this subject first attracted the public attention, the benevolent individuals in different counties who took the largest share in directing the measure, seldom ventured (as Sir George Paul says) to turn their eyes from income and profit to a county rate; every house of correction was to become a busy manufactory, and to maintain itself.' Much as we are advocates for industry in prisoners, and economy of public money, we think both may be purchased too dearly; and we are not sorry, we confess, that in almost every place in which the manufactory-system has been tried it has proved, if not a failing concern on the whole, yet certainly far less profitable than was expected. We do not, of course, mean to condemn all profitable labor of the prisoners, but we are anxious that it should never be the primary object; in truth the best economy is in that system which produces the fewest recommittals, and prevents the most crimes.

The tread-wheel is an invention which has certainly been exposed to most unfounded attacks, and perhaps been praised far beyond its real merits, but which we do not hesitate to pronounce an important instrument of prison discipline. The fifth Report of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline is before us, and it is in no part more sensible or instructive than in what it communicates on this subject; on which, as might be expected, a great deal of ignorance prevails and although almost every tread-wheel varies practically in the quantity of labor which it imposes, and consequently in a great measure in the effect which it is calculated to produce, the machine is praised or blamed as if it were one thing, the same in every prison. The labor of the wheel it should be remembered is by ascending steps, and the amount of ascent made must

depend on the number of hours employed, the velocity of the wheel (which, when there is no fly-regulator, will also vary with the number of men on it at the same time), the distance from step to step, and the proportion of those out of each gang who are on the wheel at one time, to those who are off. It is obvious, therefore, that what may be very true of one wheel may be entirely false of another. Thus, to select a few instances out of many, at Lewes each prisoner works at the rate of 6600 feet in ascent per day; at Ipswich, 7450; at St. Albans, 8000; at Bury, 8950; at Cambridge, 10,175; at Durham, 12,000; at Brixton, Guildford, and Reading the summer rate exceeds 13,000; while at Warwick the summer rate will be 17,000 feet in ten hours, if the present resolution be adhered to; which, upon reflection, we are quite sure it never will, as no strength could long endure such labor. In addition to these immense differences, those of the dietaries must also be taken into the account. Our remarks shall be confined to the principle of this machine considered generally.

Assuming then that it will be used with discretion and humanity, we will state what we conceive to be its disadvantages and advantages. In the first place, it is inapplicable to prisoners under long confinements; there is in it at once so much irksomeness, sameness, and real fatigue, that, after subduing a stubborn spirit, we should be afraid, with long continuance, it might go on almost to stupify the intellect; for, while the body labors, the mind is wholly unemployed. But, even if this be thought an extreme apprehension, it must be admitted that it not only teaches no trade or occupation by which a livelihood may afterwards be earned, but must in some measure render the parties less fit for manual labor by disuse of those parts and muscles of the body which are employed in handicraft trades. Making these deductions, of which the latter is capable of an answer when we limit the use of the tread-wheel to confinements of a short duration, in which a trade could not be learned, nor the body lose its aptness for one to which it had been accustomed, the advantages seem to be, that the tread-wheel is labor indeed, dreaded in the prospect, irksome in endurance, and remembered with disgust; that it has never failed to subdue the most turbulent spirit; that, requiring no instruction, every man who can walk may be set upon it from the moment that his sentence is pronounced; that he cannot avoid his portion of labor, the wheel turning by weight and not by exertion; that the occupation is so unceasing that conversation between the prisoners is much restrained; that it may without injury be employed for many hours in the day, and with a very little expense in the open air; that it affords great advantages for inspection, and thereby much facilitates the duties of the governor. Under these impressions, and with these restrictions, we cannot but say that we shall be glad to hear of the erection of a tread-wheel in every considerable prison in the country.

We conclude in the words of the Fifth Report: Of the progress of information and of public feeling, within these few years, on the subject of prison discipline, the former Reports

of this Society bear ample testimony. Parliamentary interference, the exertions of the magistracy, and diligence of enquiry, have combined to bring the subject prominently before the public mind. The principles on which punishments are enforced have undergone the deliberate investigation of the legislature. It is the general feeling that the unconvicted should be treated with as much lenity as is compatible with the safe custody of his person, and the good order of the prison; whilst, upon those on whom the law inflicts punishment, a salutary system, of discipline ought to be enforced; that, in the treatment of the convicted, no severity should be allowed that is not warranted by the laws, nor consistent with justice; that the prevention of crime is the ultimate object of imprisonment, and that to attain this end it is necessary to insure the reformation, as well as the punishment of the prisoner. Uniform severity, it is generally admitted, hardens the offender, and prepares him for the perpetration of further crimes. It is necessary not only to inspire terror, but to kindle hope-to impress upon the mind not only a sense of guilt, but the love of virtue; and to implant those principles, and cherish those feelings, which religion only can impart.'

The separate discipline of the common gaol, the House of Correction, and the Hulk or Penitentiary, might here be adverted to; but on this subject we can only refer to the Quarterly Review, No. LX., and the Reports of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline. PRISTINE, adj. Lat. pristinus. First; ancient; original.

PRISTIS, in ichthyology, the sawfish, is generally considered as a species of the squalus, or shark genus, comprehending under it several varieties. Mr. Latham, however, is of opinion that it ought to be considered as a distinct genus itself, and that the characteristics of the several varieties are sufficient to constitute them distinct species. He ranks it as a genus belonging to the order of amphibia nantes. Its characters are these: a plain long snout, with spines growing like teeth out of both edges; four or five spiracula, or breathing apertures, in the sides of the neck: the body is oblong and almost round, with a Dugh coriaceous skin; the mouth is situated in the lower part of the head; and the nostrils, before the mouth, are half covered with a membranaceous lobe; behind the eyes are two oval holes; the ventral fins approach one another, and in the male are placed about the organs of generation; there are no fins at the anus. Of this genus our author enumerates five species: 1. P. antiquorum. The head is rather flat at top; the eyes large, with yellow irides; behind each is a hole, which some have supposed may lead to an organ of hearing. The mouth is well

furnished with teeth, but they are blunt, serving rather to bruise its prey than to divide it by cutting. Before the mouth are two foramina, supposed to be the nostrils. The rostrum, beak, or snout, is in general about one-third of the total length of the fish, and contains in some eighteen, in others as far as twenty-three or twenty-four spines on each side; these are very stout, much thicker at the back part, and channelled, inclining to an edge forwards. The fins are seven in number-viz. two dorsal, placed at some distance from each other-two pectoral, taking rise just behind the breathing-holes, which are five in number-two ventral, situated almost underneath the first dorsal-and, lastly, the caudal, occupying the tail both above and beneath, but longest on the upper part. The general color of the body is a dull gray, or brownish, growing paler as it approaches the belly, where it is nearly white.

2. P. cirratus, of which, continues our author, we have only met with one specimen, which was brought from Port Jackson in New Holland. It is a male, and the total length about forty inches: the snout, from the tip of it to the eye, eleven: the spines widely different from any of the others; they are indeed placed, as usual, on the edge, but are continued on each side even beyond the eyes. The longer ones are slender, sharp, somewhat bent, and about twenty in number; and between these are others not half the length of the primal ones, between some three or four, between others as far as six ; and in general the middle one of these smaller series is the longest : besides these a series of minute ones may be perceived beneath, at the very edge. In the snout, likewise, another singularity occurs :-about the middle of it on each side, near the edge, arises a flexible ligamentous cord, about three inches long, like the beards at the mouth of some of the gadus or cod genus, and as pliant in the recent state. The color of the fish is a pale brown: the breathing apertures four: the mouth furnished with five rows of minute, but very sharp teeth.

3. P. cuspidatus. Of this our author has seen only two specimens, the one about a foot and a half in length, and the other more than two feet and a half. In both of these were twenty-eight spines on each side; but the distinguishing feature is the spines themselves, being particularly flat and broad, and shaped at the point more like the lancet used by surgeons in bleeding, than any other figure.

4. P. microdon. Of this species the total length is twenty-eight inches, the snout occupying ten; from the base of this to that of the pectoral fins four inches; between the pectoral and ventral fins six. The two dorsal fins occupy nearly the same proportions in respect to each other; but the hinder one is the smallest, and all of them are greatly hollowed out at the back part, much more so than in the two first species. The snout differs from that of every other in several particulars; it is longer in proportion, being more than one-third of the whole fish. The spines do not stand out from the sides more than a quarter of an inch, and from this circumstance seem far less capable of doing injury than any other species yet known.

may be punished with death. In case we are at war with more potentates than one, privateers must have commissions for acting against each of them; otherwise, if a captain, carrying only one against the Danes, should in his course meet with and take a Frenchman, this prize is not good, but would be taken from him by any man of war he met, and could not be condemned (for him) in the admiralty. Ships taken by privateers were to be divided into five parts; four parts whereof go to the persons interested in the privateer, and the fifth to his majesty. By statute the lord admiral, or commissioners of the admiralty, may grant commissions to commanders of privateers for taking ships, &c., which being adjudged prizes, and the tenth part paid to the admiral, &c., wholly belong to the owners of the privateers and the captors, in proportions agreed on between themselves.

PRIVATION, n. s. Fr. privation; Lat. PRIVATIVE, adj. & n.s.privatio. Removal or PRIVATIVELY, adv. destruction of any thing or quality; removal from office: privative is causing removal, obstruction, or absence of something; that of which the absence of some other thing forms the chief idea: privatively is negatively.

If part of the people or estate be somewhat in the election, you cannot make them nulls or cyphers in the privation or translation. Bacon.

Harmonical sounds and discordant sounds are both active and positive, but blackness and darkness are indeed but privatives, and therefore have little or no activity; somewhat they do contristate, but very little. Id. Natural History.

For, what is this contagious sin of kind, Davies. But a privation of that grace within? The duty of the new covenant is set down, first privatively, not like that of Mosaical observances external, but positively, laws given into the minds and hearts.

Hammond.

So bounded are our natural desires, That wanting all, and setting pain aside, With bare privation sense is satisfied. Dryden. After some account of good, evil will be known by consequence, as being only a privation or absence of good.

South.

A privation is the absence of what does naturally belong to the thing, or which ought to be present with it; as when a man or horse is deaf or dead, or a physician or divine unlearned; these are privations. Watts's Logick.

PRIVERNUM, a town of the Volsci, in Latium, east of Setia. Having revolted from the Romans, their ambassadors were asked, what punishment they themselves thought they deserved? They answered what those deserve who deem themselves worthy of liberty. Being asked, should the punishment be remitted, what peace was to be expected with them? they replied, If you grant a favorable peace, you may hope to have it sincere and lasting; but, if a bad one, you may expect it of short continuance. The Romans were so far from being displeased, that by a vote of the people they had the freedom of the city granted them. The town is now called PIPERNO. See that article.

He claims his privilege, and says 'tis fit, Nothing should be the judge of wit, but wit. He went

Invisible, yet stayed, such privilege

Denham.

Milton.

Hath omnipresence. Many things are by our laws privileged from tythes, Hale. which by the canon law are chargeable.

When the chief captain ordered him to be scourged uncondemned, he pleads the legal privilege of a Roman, who ought not to be treated so. Kettlewell. Smiles, not allowed to beasts, from reason move, And are the privilege of human love. Dryden.

The great are privileged alone, To punish all injustice but their own. Id. The privilege of birth-right was a double portion." Locke.

He happier yet, who privileged by fate To shorter labour, and a lighter weight, Received but yesterday the gift of breath, Ordained to-morrow to return to death. Prior. As infallibility is no privilege of the human nature, it is no diminution to a man's good sense or judgment to be found in an error, provided he is willing to retract it.

PRIVY, adj. & n. s. PRIV'ILY, adv PRIV'ITY, n. s.

Mason.

Private;

Fr. privé. assigned to secret uses; admitted to secrets; made

conscious of: place of retirement, or for secret use: privily is, secretly; privately: privity, private communication; consciousness; joint knowledge; a secret part.

The sword of the great men that are slain entereth Ezekiel xxi. 14. into their privy chamber. They have the profits of their lands by pretence of conveyances thereof unto their privy friends, who privily send them the revenues.

Spenser's State of Ireland. I will unto you in privity discover the drift of my purpose; I mean thereby to settle an eternal peace in that country, and also to make it very profitable to Spenser. her majesty.

The authority of higher powers hath force even in these things which are done without their privity, and are of mean reckoning.

Hooker.

Upon this French going out, took he upon him, Without the privity o' the' king, t' appoint Who should attend him. Shakspeare. Henry VIII.

The party, 'gainst the which he doth contrive, Shall seize on half his goods; the other half Comes to the privy coffer of the state. Shakspeare. Sir Valentine This night intends to steal away your daughter; Myself am one made privy to the plot.

Id.

Few of them have any thing to cover their privities. Abbot. Many being privy to the fact,

How hard is it to keep it unbetrayed?

Daniel. One, having let his beard grow from the martyrdom of king Charles I. till the Restoration, desired to be made a privy counsellor. Spectator.

All the doors were laid open for his departure, not without the privity of the prince of Orange, concluding that the kingdom might better be settled in Swift. He would rather lose half of his kingdom, than be privy to such a secret, which he commanded me never

his absence.

to mention.

Your fancy

Id.

Id.

Would still the same ideas give ye, As when you spied her on the privy. PRIVY COUNCIL. See COUNCIL. The king's will is the sole constituent of a privy counsellor; and it also regulates their number, which in ancient times was about twelve. Afterwards it was increased to so large a number that it was found inconvenient for secresy and despatch; and therefore Charles II. in 1679 limited it to thirty, whereof fifteen were principal officers of state, and to be counsellors ex officio; and the other fifteen were composed of ten lords, and five commoners of the king's choosing. Since that time, however, the number has been much augmented, and now continues indefinite. At the same time also the ancient office of lord president of the council was revived, in the person of Anthony earl of Shaftesbury. Privy counsellors are made by the king's nomination, without either patent or grant. Any natural born subject of Great Britain is capable of being a member of the privy council, taking the proper oaths for security of the government. By the act of settlement, 12 and 13 W. III. c. 2, it is enacted that no person born out of the dominions of the crown of England, unless born of English parents, even though naturalised by parliament, shall be capable of being of the privy council. The duty of a privy counsellor appears from the oath of office, which consists of seven articles. 1. To advise the king according to the best of his cunning and discretion. 2. To advise for the king's honor and good of the public, without partiality, through affection, love, meed, doubt, or dread. 3. To keep the king's council secret. 4. To avoid corruption. 5. To help and strengthen the execution of what shall be there resolved. 6. To withstand all persons who would attempt the contrary. And, lastly, in general, 7. To observe, keep, and do all that a good and true counsellor ought to do to his sovereign lord. The privy council is the primum mobile of the state, and that which gives the motion and direction to all the inferior parts. It is likewise a court of justice of great antiquity: the primitive and ordinary way of government in England being by the king and privy council. It has been frequently used by all our kings for determining controversies of great importance; the ordinary judges have sometimes declined giving judgment, till they had consulted the king and privy council; and the parliament have frequently referred matters of high moment to the same, as being, by long experience, better able to judge of, and by their

secresy and expedition to transact some state affairs, than the lords and commons. At present the privy council takes cognizance of few or no matters except such as cannot be well determined by the known laws and ordinary courts; such as matters of complaint and sudden emergencies: their constant business being to consult for the public good in affairs of state. This power of the privy council is to enquire into all offences against the government, and to commit the offenders to safe custody, in order to take their trial in some of the courts of law. But their jurisdiction herein is only to enquire, and not to punish; and the persons committed by them are entitled to their habeas corpus by stat. 16 Car. I. c. 10, as much as if committed by an ordinary justice of the peace. In plantation or admiralty causes, which arise out of the jurisdiction of this kingdom, and in matters of lunacy and idiocy, the privy council has cognizance, even in questions of extensive property, being the court of appeal in such cases; or rather the appeal lies to the king's majesty himself in council. From all the dominions of the crown, excepting Great Britain and Ireland, an appellate jurisdiction (in the last resort) is vested in this tribunal; which usually exercises its judicial authority in a committee of the whole privy council, who hear the allegations and proofs, and make their report to his majesty in council, by whom the judgment is finally given. Anciently, to strike in the house of a privy counsellor, or elsewhere in his presence, was grievously punished: by 3 Hen. VII. c. 14, if any of the king's servants of his household conspire or imagine to take away the life of a privy counsellor, it is felony, though nothing shall be done upon it; and by 9 Ann. c. 16, it is enacted that any person who shall unlawfully attempt to kill, or shall unlawfully assault, and strike or wound any privy counsellor in the execution of his office, shall be felons, and suffer death as such. With advice of this council, the king issues proclamations that bind the subject, provided they be not contrary to law. In debates, the lowest delivers his opinion first, the king last, and thereby determines the matter. A council is never held without the presence of a minister of state. The dissolution of the privy council depends upon the king's pleasure; and he may, whenever he thinks proper, discharge any particular member, or the whole of it, and appoint another. By the common law also it was dissolved ipso facto by the king's demise, as deriving all its authority from him. But now, to prevent the inconveniences of having no council in being at the accession of a new prince, it is enacted by 6 Ann. c. 7, that the privy council shall continue for six months after the demise of the crown, unless sooner determined by the successor. Blackstone's Commentaries, book. i. p. 220, &c. The officers of the privy council are four clerks of the council in ordinary, three clerks extraordinary, a keeper of the records, and two keepers of the council chamber. See PRESIDENT.

PRIVY COUNSELLOR, a member of the privy council.

PRIVY SEAL, a seal which the king uses previously to such grants, &c., as are afterwards to pass the great seal. The privy seal is also some