The present Superintendent is Col. J. H. Murray, who has been in office some eighteen months. He is a gentleman of liberal and intelligent views, and feels the responsibilities of his office. To his courtesy and attention we were indebted for the opportunity of obtaining much of the foregoing information. The present Chaplain is a Presbyterian; but ministers of other denominations occasionally supply his place. Any convict who may wish is allowed to see a clergyman of his own particular denomination. The Directors are required to visit the Penitentiary at least twice in each month, and to report to the Legislature biennially.

A few words as to the County Prisons of Texas. The only opportunity which offered for visiting a county jail was at Brenham, Washington County. The jail building stands near the court house, a little off from the public square, in the centre of the town, and is without enclosure of any kind. It is a plain, two story building, about twenty-five feet square, built of a double thickness of hewed logs. A narrow corridor runs around the inside of the lower story, and surrounds the dungeon, which is the only room upon this story, and has walls of a triple thickness of logs. The entrance to the dungeon is through a heavy iron trap-door in the floor of the second story. The single door of the jail itself opens directly from the street into the corridor. The second story has but two apartments, which occupy its entire extent; and one of these is appropriated for female prisoners, when there are any. There was but one occupant, a man, at the time of our visit. A short time previous, a prisoner had been confined in the dungeon, awaiting his trial on a charge of murder, but had succeeded in making his escape, in which he must have had assistance from the outside. No jailer or other officer lives at the jail, nor is any special watch kept. The only furniture was a rude stool or two, and a few bed-clothes, laid upon the bare floor. There are no windows in the building, and a few narrow, horizontal openings in the log-walls, secured with iron bars, afford the only supplies of light and air; no shutters, sashes, or other means of closing these openings are provided. There is no provision made for warming the prison, and the cold must sometimes be severe, especially during the prevalence of the Northers. The jail is in charge of the Sheriff, and the food of the prisoners depends altogether upon his discretion. It is possible, that in Galveston, and perhaps in one or two other places, the County Prisons may be upon a better plan, but in none of them is the separate system in force. The prisoners, untried as well as convicts, have an almost unrestrained intercourse. From all that we could learn, it is to be feared that the jails of many of the Counties are even less comfortable than the one at Brenham. But very many things combine to render it peculiarly difficult to awaken the public mind of Texas to the necessity and importance of a careful consideration of the subject of Prison Discipline.

Art. III.—CRIMINAL STATISTICS OF ENGLAND AND WALES FOR 1858.

To the statesman and political economist, not less than to the Christian philanthropist, an inquiry into the sources and extent of crime, and the number, condition and previous history of criminals cannot be without interest. Scarcely a day passes in our chief cities, without the occurrence of some startling outrage upon the public peace, or on the person or property of the citizen. Scarcely a newspaper can be taken up, which does not contain a record more or less in detail of acts of violence and fraud. Why are they not prevented? What provokes their perpetration? How are the guilty parties punished, and what is the effect of their punishment on themselves or others?

In the absence (to our shame be it said) of reliable statistics on such subjects in our own country, we are compelled to resort to the elaborate and authentic reports made to the British government. And as the vicious dispositions and passions of men are the same there as here, and the temptations to crime, as well as crimes themselves and the methods of perpetrating them, do not materially differ in the two countries, we find great satisfaction and instruction in the information they furnish.

In our last number we gave an abstract of the criminal statistics of England and Wales for 1857. Since that time we have received the more full and complete returns for 1858. We do not propose to notice the same class of items to which our former article adverted, but to cull a few facts and results of general and universal interest, which were not then ascertained. The following table exhibits a significant class of facts.

CITIES AND TOWNS.Population.Criminal Classes, including Prostitutes.Per Cent. of Population.Prostitutes separately.Per Cent. of Population.
1. Metropolis of London and fifteen miles round,2,545,00014,2941 in 1787,1041 in 354
2. Pleasure towns, as Bath, Brighton, Ramsgate, &c.198,0002,0851 in 958391 in 236
3. Eight towns depending on agricultural districts,160,5572,0561 in 786901 in 232
4. Ten commercial ports, including Liverpool,905,8209,6741 in 935,3461 in 169
5. Ten cotton and linen manufacturing towns, including Manchester and Stockport,758,1634,9101 in 1641,4291 in 530
6. Six woolen and worsted manufacturing towns,380,8602,1681 in 1754901 in 777
7. Small and mixed textile manufacturing towns,263,9842,3291 in 1136111 in 432
8. Three hardware manufacturing towns, including Birmingham and Sheffield,418,1308,7201 in 478601 in 486

The reader cannot fail to be impressed by the singular disproportion in the number belonging to the criminal ranks, observed on comparing these different groups of towns, classed according to the predominant occupation or business of the inhabitants. There is no doubt that the incentives to a lawless life are much more numerous and powerful at certain times and places than at others. It would be easy to indicate probable causes for such discrepancies, and to trace their connection with particular phases of crime, but that is not relevant to our present purpose.

From the tabular view, it would seem that the criminal class is highest in the great seats of hardware manufacture; next in towns in rural districts; then in commercial ports; next in pleasure towns; then in towns employed in small textile manufactures; then in cotton manufacturing towns; next in woolen manufacturing towns; and last in the metropolis. But in the number of prostitutes the order is materially changed, the largest proportion being in the commercial ports, and the smallest in the woolen and worsted manufacturing towns,—the metropolis being considerably below the average.

There is a remarkable variation both in the general criminal classes, and in the specific crime of prostitution in different agricultural districts.