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<p n="181">E.D.</p>
<p n="182"> THE<lb></lb>
CASE<lb></lb>
OF<lb></lb>
The <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo184">County of MIDDLESEX</rs>
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,<lb></lb>
WITH RESPECT TO<lb></lb>
THE GAOL of NEWGATE.</p>
<p n="183">THE Gaol of <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo185">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>
the Properties of Mankind, it seems to be of public Use and Benefit: Notwithstanding<lb></lb>
which, the Citizens of <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo186">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="184">In Order of 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 o Prisoners.That 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 have frequently been visited with a malignant Disease, called the Gaol Distem-<lb></lb>
per, wereby the Health of all persons resorting to the Sessions-House must be endangered.That<lb></lb>
the said Gaol cannot be rendered healthy and commodious, without being built on a more extended<lb></lb>
Plan.</p>
<p n="185">They suggest further, That the Proportion of <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo187">Middlesex</rs>
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Prisoners, to London Prisoners, is as Two<lb></lb>
is to One, and from thence contend that the Expence of rebuilding the said Gaol (which, according<lb></lb>
to their own Estimates, will amount to 40,000l.) should be borne by the City ad County in those<lb></lb>
Proportions.</p>
<p n="186">In Order to avert so heavy a Charge, and to prevent the entailing on themselves and Posterity, the<lb></lb>
heavy Burthen now attempted to be laid on them, the Inhabitants of the County of Midlesex think<lb></lb>
it incumbent on them to state the following Facts, submitting the Arguments deduced therefrom to<lb></lb>
the Judgment of candid and impartial Men.</p>
<p n="187">They say, that the Gaol of <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo188">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 express 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_geo189">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="188">That, supposing the Number of Prisoner yearly committed to the Gaol to be as great as is<lb></lb>
alledged, the County say, 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, for the Delivery where of they hold, eight Times a Year Sessions, of their own; at those Ses-<lb></lb>
sions Petty Larcenies and Misdemeanors of all Kinds are tried, but the more atrocious Offences are<lb></lb>
tried at the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo190">Old Bailey</rs>
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; sometimes indeed Offenders of this latter Kind are committed, in the first<lb></lb>
Instance, to <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo191">Newgate</rs>
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, where they remain till the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo192">Old Bailey</rs>
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Sessions begin, which likewise are held<lb></lb>
eight Times a Year; but these are not One in Fifty, and much oftener are they sent to <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo193">New Prison</rs>
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,<lb></lb>
<rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo194">Bridewell</rs>
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, and the other Prisons of the County, and there they remain, till, in Pursuance of an Or-<lb></lb>
der of the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo195">Old Bailey</rs>
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Session, made in May 1726, doubtless for the Ease of the Court, they are from <lb></lb>
Time to Time removed Six Days before the Session begins, to be ready for Trial; and, after Trial,<lb></lb>
very few remain for any Length of Time in Newgate; Hence it appears that the City have the<lb></lb>
Custody of <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo196">Middlesex</rs>
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prisoners, triable at the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50547_geo197">Old Bailey</rs>
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, for Six Days before, and during every<lb></lb>
Sessions, which very seldom hold a Week: Suppose then we estimate their Time of keeping County<lb></lb>
Prisoners at a Fortnight for each Sessions, 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 no 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_geo198">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 City's Allegation is apparent.</p>
<p n="189">Here</p>
<p n="190">(Lee ne 2nd. side person <obscured></obscured>
Note<lb></lb>
wh: is to be put here)</p>
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