igation, and illustrated
them in capital style with diagrams drawn on a black-board. We cannot
but think that the beneficial tendency of these novel prison
recreations will be very great.

The Report of the comptroller-general himself is, on the whole,
decidedly cheering; and he says of the convicts, that, 'taken as a
body, I am inclined to believe they are anxious to do well, and by
honest and steady conduct, to regain here that position they have
forfeited in their native land.' When inquiring of government whether
the same scale is to be adopted at Fremantle as at Van Diemen's Land,
he says, that at the latter place the cost of officers--such as
magistrates, superintendents, overseers, storekeepers, religious
instructors, medical men, &c.--allowed for each 300 convicts, amounts
to L.1337, 3s. 6d. per annum, or L.4, 9s. 2d. for each convict. This
seems a large sum, and does not appear to include the heavy additional
cost of warders and other prison-officers.

The necessary brevity of this article precludes any allusion to a
great variety of curious and instructive details of the Fremantle
'establishment,' as it is called; but if what we have already said
interests the reader, and he requires to know more, we can confidently
refer him to the bulky Blue Book alluded to, with an assurance that he
will there find most ample and authentic information.

THE TRIAL OF ELIZABETH CANNING.

In the year 1753, London was so deeply convulsed with a great question
at issue in the criminal courts, that the peace of the city was
seriously threatened. From the highest to the lowest grades, society
was divided into two parties on this question; and it was impossible
to speak of it at a dinner-table or in a street assemblage without
exciting a dangerous quarrel. This dispute was an extravagant
illustration of English zeal for justice and fair play. The real
question lay between an old gipsy woman and a young servant-girl. The
question at issue was--Had the gipsy robbed and forcibly confined
Elizabeth Canning, or had Elizabeth Canning falsely accused the gipsy
of these outrages? By the force of incidental circumstances, the
question came to be a really important one, in which the statesmen and
jurists of the age took a lively interest. In fact, it connected
itself with the efficacy of the great judicial institutions of the
land, and their capacity to do justice and protect innocence. Hence
the several trials and inquiries occ