118 SERVICE OF THE SOCIETY. "Let anyone attempt to realize their position, without friends, and without the means of employment. What are they to do? It is a vital question, and you have given a sound and practical answer to it. "I do not hesitate to say that hundreds have been rescued from a life of crime through the instrumentality of your and other benevolent Societies, at an expense that the conviction of onetenth of the number would have more than covered. "This however is to take the very low view of financial expediency, you may safely claim to have achieved a great moral result, as well. "To show you how highly your labours are appreciated, I forward a few extracts from the Annual Reports of the Governors and Chaplains of the Convict Prisons. "I am, &c., "J. JEBB." The testimonials are from the Superintendent EARL RUSSELL'S REMARKS. 119 and Chaplain of Brixton, the Superintendent and Chaplain of Fulham, and the Governors and Chaplains of Dartmoor, Chatham, and Portsmouth. The following wise, humane, and Christian remarks were made by Earl Russell at a meeting of the "Surrey Society for the Reformation of Discharged Prisoners": "I have had some experience-having filled the office of Home Secretary, and also acted as a Commissioner of Pentonville-of the difficulties which beset such persons as these, when, on leaving the prison, they endeavour to act honestly. I have found that when a man of this class is disposed to work for his bread, it often happens that he is watched and dodged by his former associates, who look upon him as a prey they will not allow to escape, and who even go to tradesmen and others, who may be disposed to give him employment, to warn them that he has been convicted, and suffered the punishment of the criminal law; and then the, man, finding it 120 FRENCH AID SOCIETIES. impossible to return to honest courses, is driven, against his will, to resort again to crime, and to yield to the force of the temptation, by which he is upset. "It is for such that institutions of this kind are useful; and if I were told that in nine cases out of ten, benevolence had failed of its object, that the relief you had given was thrown away, if in the tenth you redeemed a man from the course of crime, which he otherwise would have been forced to pursue, and enabled him to gain an honest livelihood, and prepare his soul for its high destiny, if, I say, you redeemed one out of ten, you would be amply rewarded for your efforts." Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies, or Sociétés de Patronage, with their Asiles Momentanés pour les Détenus Acquittés have been, for some time, established in France and Belgium. M. de Metz was the first to conceive the happy thought of establishing such a society in Paris, and as Bérenger says, not only to have formed the ASSISTANCE RENDERED. 121 thought, but to have realized the design. "Cette bonne œuvre, ," he goes on to say, "s'est continuée; dirigée par un comité composé exclusivement de magistrats, elle pourvoit aux besoins les plus pressants. Les malheureux, si toutefois ils paraissent dignes d'intérêt, sont recus à l'asile sur une simple lettre à eux remise au moment de l'acquittement, par les juges d' instruction, les présidents des chambres correctionnelles d'assises, ou par les officiers du parquet. ou "S'ils sont étrangers á Paris, ou s'ils ne peuvent y trouver des moyens d'existence, le comité facilite leur retour dans leur pays, ou leur passage en Algérie; s'ils sont malades ou infirmes, il les aide à entrer dans les hôpitaux. Il leur fournit des vêtements s'ils en ont besoin; il veille enfin sur eux avec la plus active sollicitude, et, tout en soulageant de pénibles misères, il en prévient peutêtre les conséquences fatales. "Nous avons eu sous les yeux le tableau des individus entrés dans la maison d'asile depuis 1836 jusqu'en 1852; leur nombre s'est élevé à 122 FEMALE PRISONERS' AID. 5,632. Peut-on dire ce que tous ces infortunés seraient devenus s'ils n'avaient trouvé la bienfaisante assistance qui leur était offerte ? "Cette œuvre se soutient par la contribution que ses membres s'imposent, par les offrandes de la charite privée, par les collectes du jury, et par les secours que donne l'autorité intéressée à ce que le séjour dans la capitale d' individus tout au moins suspects, ne devienne pas pour elle un sujet de sérieuses alarmes." The importance of Patronage Societies for discharged female prisoners cannot be overrated. M. de Metz established such a society in connexion with the great prison, St. Lazare, in 1837, of which Madame de Lamartine became principal patroness. It has assisted about a thousand females to redeem their characters, and become useful members of society. The relapses have been very few. Bérenger, writing in 1855, says: "Près de 200 jeunes libérées sont aujourd'hui réunies dans une maison, située rue de Vaugirard, |