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<p n="209"> THE<lb></lb>
CASE<lb></lb>
OF<lb></lb>
The <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo228">County of MIDDLESEX</rs>
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,<lb></lb>
WITH RESPECT TO<lb></lb>
The GAOL of NEWGATE.</p>
<p n="210">THE Gaol of <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo229">Newgate</rs>
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is, and for upwards of 600 Years hath been, a Common Prison, and<lb></lb>
Place of Security, for Felons, and other Offenders; and, so far as it tends to secure, and<lb></lb>
bring to Punishment, those who by Acts of Rapine and Violence, endanger the Persons<lb></lb>
and Properties of Mankind, it seems to be of public Use and Benefit: Notwithstanding<lb></lb>
which the Citizens of <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo230">London</rs>
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, and several Tradesmen, inhabiting near the said Gaol, have<lb></lb>
of late laboured to represent it as a most dangerous Nusance.</p>
<p n="211">In Ordered to induce a general Acquiescence in this Opinion, they suggest that the said Gaol is ill-<lb></lb>
constructed, close, and incommodious, and unfit for the Reception of Prisoners.-Tha a great<lb></lb>
Number of Prisoners have been usually crowded into the said Gaol at the Opening of every Sessions.<lb></lb>
That the Prisoners haver frequently been visited with a malignant Disease, called the Gaol Distem-<lb></lb>
per, whereby the Health of all persons resorting to the Sessions-House must be endangered.The<lb></lb>
the said Gaol cannot be rendered healthy and commodious, without being taken down and rebuilt on<lb></lb>
a more extended Plan.</p>
<p n="212">They suggest further, That of the Number of 1000 Prisoners yearly committed to <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo231">Newgate</rs>
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, Two<lb></lb>
Thirds ar the Prisoners of the County, and from thence would seem to insinuate that the Expence<lb></lb>
of rebuilding the said Gaol (which, according to their own Estimates, will amount 40,000l.)<lb></lb>
should be borne by the County and City in the Proportion of Two to One.</p>
<p n="213">In Order to avert so heavy a Charge, and to prevent the entailing on themselves and Posterity the<lb></lb>
Burthen now attempted to be laid on them, the Inhabitants of the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo232">County of Middlesex</rs>
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think<lb></lb>
in incumbent on them to state the Following Facts, submitting the Arguments deduced therefrom to<lb></lb>
the Judgment of can did and impartial Men.</p>
<p n="214">They say, that the Gaol of <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo233">Newgate</rs>
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is supposed to have been originally built in the Reign of King<lb></lb>
HEN. I. or of K. STEPHEN, that is to say, between the Years 1100 and 1154, and that the same hath<lb></lb>
been under the sole Government of, and hath from Time to Time, sometimes by experss Mandate<lb></lb>
from the King, as in the 6th Year of, EDW. II. been rebuilt, repaired, altered and enlarged, by the<lb></lb>
Citizens of <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo234">London</rs>
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; the Consequence whereof is, that they are bound perpetually to repair it, and<lb></lb>
would be punishable at Law if they did not.</p>
<p n="215">They further say, that, supposing the number of Prisoners yearly committed to the said Gaol to<lb></lb>
be as great as is alledged, the Number is not greater now than it hath been for a Series of Years<lb></lb>
past, during which no Application to charge the County with any Expence attending Newgate hath<lb></lb>
ever been made: That County Prisoners are secured in that Prison is admitted, but that more than<lb></lb>
a few, compared with those who are confined in the Prisons of the County, and tried at the Hicks-<lb></lb>
Hall Sessions, are sent thither by the Justices, is absolutely denied. And how fallacious that Method<lb></lb>
of Estimation must be, which represents the Prisoners sent to Newgate by the County, as Two to<lb></lb>
One of the London Prisoners, will appear by the following State of Facts. The County have several<lb></lb>
Gaols, to which those charged with Petty Larcenies and Misdemeanors of all kinds are committed.<lb></lb>
as are also Prisoners for Felonies and other Offences Properly triable at the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo235">Old Bailey</rs>
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. That this is<lb></lb>
the general Practice is notorious, and if perhaps once in Fifty Times, the County Magistrates find<lb></lb>
it necessary do deviate from it, by committing Offenders of the latter Class originally and immedi-<lb></lb>
ately to <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo236">Newgate</rs>
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, rather than to the other Goals, the Exceptions are hardly worth opposing to the<lb></lb>
general Rule; thus far with respect to Commitments. As to Goal-Deliveries, it is to be noted, that<lb></lb>
the County hold Sessions at <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo237">Hicks's Hall</rs>
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, eight Times in the Year, at which Sessions the Prisoners of<lb></lb>
the first Class are tried, and take any one Session in the Year, it seldom happens that the Prisoners so<lb></lb>
tried are not double the Number of those tried the same Session at the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo238">Old Baily</rs>
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. As to these latter, it<lb></lb>
has been said, that they are at first committed to the County Prisoners, there they are maintained at the<lb></lb>
County Expence, and would remain till the Instant of their respective Trials, but that in Obedience to<lb></lb>
an Order of the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo239">Old Bailey</rs>
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Session, made in May 1726, doubtless for the Ease of the Court. they are re-<lb></lb>
moved to Newgate Six Days before every Session, which at the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo240">Old Bailey</rs>
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are also held eight Times in<lb></lb>
the Year, and, after Trial, that Goal, agreeable to the Words of the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo241">Old Bailey</rs>
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Commission, is delivered<lb></lb>
of such Prisoners: Hence it appears that the City have the Custody of such only of the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo242">Middlesex</rs>
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Pri-<lb></lb>
soners as are triable at the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo243">Old Bailey</rs>
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, for six Days before, and during every Session, and these<lb></lb>
very seldom hold a Week each; Suppose then we estimate their Time of keeping such Prisoners<lb></lb>
at a Fortnight for each Session, it will follow that Four Months in the Year is the utmost<lb></lb>
Time for which, with Truth, the City may be said to have the Custody of County Prisoners, unless<lb></lb>
sometimes, by Accident, a few may wait for Transportation. The Allegation of a Proportion of<lb></lb>
Two to One against the City, would lead a Stranger to the Belief that the County had bo Gaols of<lb></lb>
their own, and that, all the Year through, and without any Intermission, the Justices were sending<lb></lb>
in Prisoners to <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo244">Newgate</rs>
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in the Proportion above mentioned. and that the City keep them as long<lb></lb>
as they do their own Prisoners: The Facts above stated are the Truth of the Case, and the Fallacy<lb></lb>
of the Charge is apparent.</p>
<p n="216">Here</p>
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