A few words as to the County Prisons of Texas. The only opportunity which offered for visiting a county jail was at Brenham, Washington County. The jail building stands near the court house, a little off from the public square, in the centre of the town, and is without enclosure of any kind. It is a plain, two story building, about twenty-five feet square, built of a double thickness of hewed logs. A narrow corridor runs around the inside of the lower story, and surrounds the dungeon, which is the only room upon this story, and has walls of a triple thickness of logs. The entrance to the dungeon is through a heavy iron trap-door in the floor of the second story. The single door of the jail itself opens directly from the street into the corridor. The second story has but two apartments, which occupy its entire extent; and one of these is appropriated for female prisoners, when there are any. There was but one occupant, a man, at the time of our visit. A short time previous, a prisoner had been confined in the dungeon, awaiting his trial on a charge of murder, but had succeeded in making his escape, in which he must have had assistance from the outside. No jailer or other officer lives at the jail, nor is any special watch kept. The only furniture was a rude stool or two, and a few bed-clothes, laid upon the bare floor. There are no windows in the building, and a few narrow, horizontal openings in the log-walls, secured with iron bars, afford the only supplies of light and air; no shutters, sashes, or other means of closing these openings are provided. There is no provision made for warming the prison, and the cold must sometimes be severe, especially during the prevalence of the Northers. The jail is in charge of the Sheriff, and the food of the prisoners depends altogether upon his discretion. It is possible, that in Galveston, and perhaps in one or two other places, the County Prisons may be upon a better plan, but in none of them is the separate system in force. The prisoners, untried as well as convicts, have an almost unrestrained intercourse. From all that we could learn, it is to be feared that the jails of many of the Counties are even less comfortable than the one at Brenham. But very many things combine to render it peculiarly difficult to awaken the public mind of Texas to the necessity and importance of a careful consideration of the subject of Prison Discipline. ART. III.—CRIMINAL STATISTICS OF ENGLAND AND WALES FOR 1858.