It is gratifying to think that Mr Nash does not stand alone in his disinterested course.  There is a Mr Ellis, a shoemaker in Albany Street, Regent’s Park, who, under the impulse of religious feeling for the unfortunate, has taken a number of delinquents into his care, with a view to reforming them.  Four years ago, he began with two, to whom he assigned certain rations.  The first movement was an act of self-denial on their part.  In order to secure the admission of a companion, who could not otherwise have been provided for, they agreed that their rations should be divided with him; and on these terms he was admitted.  Soon after, the number was increased to fifteen; and with this number Mr Ellis has gone on most successfully.  The boys have been industrious, and only one has been guilty of any offence.  The prosperous man of the world, who thinks himself entitled to use all his own for his own sole gratification, will hear of these things with incredulity, and pity Ellis and Nash as enthusiasts, who foolishly sacrifice themselves for a whim; but we greatly doubt if the worldling’s proudest or most luxurious hour gives one-half the true satisfaction which these men enjoy in the midst of their ragged adherents, under the blessed hope of rescuing them from destruction in this world and the next.

The subject of juvenile delinquency is beginning to attract a good deal of attention, for it is now clearly seen that the root of most of the predatory crime by which the country is afflicted lies here, and till the root is struck at, the branches will continue to flourish.  It appears that for some years the number of juvenile criminals has been on the increase; auguring, of course, an ultimate increase in the number of adult offenders.  Some vigorous measure for the reduction of juvenile delinquency is felt to be now required.  Amidst all the alarms which it is exciting, and amidst the expressions of hopelessness which we often hear from those who give little attention to the subject, it is gratifying to find, that there are some glimpses of what appears to be the right course to be taken.  First, one great point is very clearly established—­that it really is possible to reclaim juvenile criminals.  It cannot, however, be done by punishments of any kind.  It is to be done by kindness, religious influence, and industrial occupation, along with the holding forth of a hope of transition into a better course of life.  Those who may be incredulous on this point, had better acquaint themselves with the facts of the case.  It is too little known, that there has been a society at work for the last sixty years in England, for the reform of juvenile offenders.  It has a farm at Red Hill, near Reigate, from which about forty youths go out every year to agricultural labour and humble trades, in which the great bulk of them do well.  The similar institution at Mettray, near Tours, produces similar results on a greater scale.  And the simple truth at the bottom of the whole affair is, that young thieves are, in general, deserted or orphan children, or children driven forth to destitution by vicious parents:  criminal through circumstances, and finding no true happiness in their wicked kind of life, a large proportion of them desire to reform, and will suffer not a little in order to obtain admission to respectable society.