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

They suggest further, That of the Number of 1000 Prisoners yearly committed to Newgate , Two
Thirds ar the Prisoners of the County, and from thence would seem to insinuate that the Expence
of rebuilding the said Gaol (which, according to their own Estimates, will amount 40,000l.)
should be borne by the County and City in the Proportion of Two to One.

In Order to avert so heavy a Charge, and to prevent the entailing on themselves and Posterity the
Burthen now attempted to be laid on them, the Inhabitants of the County of Middlesex think
in incumbent on them to state the Following Facts, submitting the Arguments deduced therefrom to
the Judgment of can did 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 experss 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.

They further say, that, supposing the number of Prisoners yearly committed to the said Gaol to
be as great as is alledged, 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, to which those charged with Petty Larcenies and Misdemeanors of all kinds are committed.
as are also Prisoners for Felonies and other Offences Properly triable at the Old Bailey . That this is
the general Practice is notorious, and if perhaps once in Fifty Times, the County Magistrates find
it necessary do deviate from it, by committing Offenders of the latter Class originally and immedi-
ately to Newgate , rather than to the other Goals, the Exceptions are hardly worth opposing to the
general Rule; thus far with respect to Commitments. As to Goal-Deliveries, it is to be noted, that
the County hold Sessions at Hicks's Hall , eight Times in the Year, at which Sessions the Prisoners of
the first Class are tried, and take any one Session in the Year, it seldom happens that the Prisoners so
tried are not double the Number of those tried the same Session at the Old Baily . As to these latter, it
has been said, that they are at first committed to the County Prisoners, there they are maintained at the
County Expence, and would remain till the Instant of their respective Trials, but that in Obedience to
an Order of the Old Bailey Session, made in May 1726, doubtless for the Ease of the Court. they are re-
moved to Newgate Six Days before every Session, which at the Old Bailey are also held eight Times in
the Year, and, after Trial, that Goal, agreeable to the Words of the Old Bailey Commission, is delivered
of such Prisoners: Hence it appears that the City have the Custody of such only of the Middlesex Pri-
soners as are triable at the Old Bailey , for six Days before, and during every Session, and these
very seldom hold a Week each; Suppose then we estimate their Time of keeping such Prisoners
at a Fortnight for each Session, 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 bo 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 Charge is apparent.

Here