The scenes which have occurred in the convict establishment at
Cliathain will,we may trust, open the eyes of the Government to the defects of the Jebb System of convict management as it prevails in England. For weeks the Chatham convicts have defied the Govern. merit. Beginning by small acts of insubordination, they have pro- ceeded to downright mutiny. In the early stages, ringleaders were seized and sent to Pentonville and Milbank ; and some were flogged. This did not cure the riotous spirit. The convicts on St. Mary's Island broke into open riot. At dinner they threw soup over the warders, and when confined yelled and screamed like maniacs in their cells. After the outbreak on St. Mary's Island twenty men were ironed and chained together in ow cell. On Saturday, after dinner, they refused to go to work, and rushing on the warders overpowered them, seized their keys, released the men confined, broke everything they could break, and set the prison on fire. Happily the warders were able to extinguish the flames by turning on water always ready. Captain Gambier and Captain Powell vainly tried to restore order. Then they sent for the soldiers, and the peril of the emergency may be estimated from a fact that a party of marines, who happened to be -engaged on ball practice hard by, were suddenly ordered to march on the prison. In addition, five hundred infantry of the line, each man having ten rounds in his pouch, arrived. For some reason, unex- plained, they did not at once enter the prison when they did the con- victs were soon brought to reason. Although they challenged the soldiers to "come on," the truncheons of the warders, backed by the bayonets of-the troops sufficed to drive them to their cells. Forty were seized, tied up to the halberds, and flogged, each man receiving three dozen lashes. On Tuesday ninety more were ordered to be flogged, and afterwards sent to Millbank'and PentonVille. Something more than logging will be required. The system is bad. In the height of their success the ruffians demanded that the chief warder, Kinth and con- net-keeper Goad, should be delivered up to them—to be hung ! Goad has been severely injured, and it is feared he will not recover. The system demands a Parliamentary investigation.
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