E.D.

THE
CASE
OF
The County of MIDDLESEX ,
WITH RESPECT TO
THE GAOL of NEWGATE.

THE Gaol of Newgate is, and for upwards of 600 Years hath been, a Common Prison, and
Place of Security, for Felons, and other Offenders; and, so far as it tends to secure, and
bring to Punishment, those who by Acts of Rapine and Violence, endanger the Persons
the Properties of Mankind, it seems to be of public Use and Benefit: Notwithstanding
which, the Citizens of London , and several Tradesmen, inhabiting near the said Gaol, have
of late laboured to represent it as a most dangerous Nusance.

In Order of induce a general Acquiescence in this Opinion, they suggest that the said Gaol is ill-
constructed, close, and incommodious, and unfit for the Reception o Prisoners.That a great
Number of Prisoners have been usually crowded into the said Gaol at the Opening of every Sessions.
That the Prisoners have frequently been visited with a malignant Disease, called the Gaol Distem-
per, wereby the Health of all persons resorting to the Sessions-House must be endangered.That
the said Gaol cannot be rendered healthy and commodious, without being built on a more extended
Plan.

They suggest further, That the Proportion of Middlesex Prisoners, to London Prisoners, is as Two
is to One, and from thence contend that the Expence of rebuilding the said Gaol (which, according
to their own Estimates, will amount to 40,000l.) should be borne by the City ad County in those
Proportions.

In Order to avert so heavy a Charge, and to prevent the entailing on themselves and Posterity, the
heavy Burthen now attempted to be laid on them, the Inhabitants of the County of Midlesex think
it incumbent on them to state the following Facts, submitting the Arguments deduced therefrom to
the Judgment of candid and impartial Men.

They say, that the Gaol of Newgate is supposed to have been originally built in the Reign of King
HEN.I. or of K. STEPHEN, that is to say, between the Years 1100 and 1154, and that the same hath
been under the sole Government of, and hath from Time to Time, sometimes by express Mandate
from the King, as in the 6th Year of EDW. II. been rebuilt, repaired, altered and enlarged, by the
Citizens of London ; the Consequence whereof is, that they are bound Perpetually to repair it, and
would be punishable at Law if they did not.

That, supposing the Number of Prisoner yearly committed to the Gaol to be as great as is
alledged, the County say, the Number is not greater now than it hath been for a Series of Years
past, during which no Application to charge the County with any Expence attending Newgate hath
ever been made: That County Prisoners are secured in that Prison is admitted, but that more than
a few, compared with those who are confined in the Prisons of the County, and tried at the Hicks-
Hall Sessions, are sent thither by the Justices, is absolutely denied. And how fallacious that Method
of Estimation must be, which represents the Prisoners sent to Newgate by the County, as Two to
One of the London Prisoners, will appear by the following State of Facts. The County have several
Gaols, for the Delivery where of they hold, eight Times a Year Sessions, of their own; at those Ses-
sions Petty Larcenies and Misdemeanors of all Kinds are tried, but the more atrocious Offences are
tried at the Old Bailey ; sometimes indeed Offenders of this latter Kind are committed, in the first
Instance, to Newgate , where they remain till the Old Bailey Sessions begin, which likewise are held
eight Times a Year; but these are not One in Fifty, and much oftener are they sent to New Prison ,
Bridewell , and the other Prisons of the County, and there they remain, till, in Pursuance of an Or-
der of the Old Bailey Session, made in May 1726, doubtless for the Ease of the Court, they are from
Time to Time removed Six Days before the Session begins, to be ready for Trial; and, after Trial,
very few remain for any Length of Time in Newgate; Hence it appears that the City have the
Custody of Middlesex prisoners, triable at the Old Bailey , for Six Days before, and during every
Sessions, which very seldom hold a Week: Suppose then we estimate their Time of keeping County
Prisoners at a Fortnight for each Sessions, it will follow that Four Months in the Year is the utmost
Time for which, with Truth, the City may be said to have the Custody of County Prisoners, unless
sometimes, by Accident, a few may wait for Transportation. The Allegation of a Proportion of
Two to One against the City, would lead a Stranger to the Belief that the County had no Gaols of
their own, and that, all the Year through, and without any Intermission, the Justices were sending
in Prisoners to Newgate , in the Proportion above-mentioned, and that the City keep them as long
as they do their own Prisoners: The Facts above stated are the Truth of the Case, and the Fallacy
of the City's Allegation is apparent.

Here

(Lee ne 2nd. side person [..] Note
wh: is to be put here)