The Press. — London, England, 1854-10-14 00:00:00

OCTOBER 14, 1854. superior to any other with which we are acquainted. Transportation was a punish ment which, on the one hand, inspired a most salutary dread among evildoers ; and, on the other, it afforded them the best possible chance of retrieving their character, and their fortune, in a sphere where they had every in ducement to industry and good conduct. These double advantages our present rulers have deliberately thrown away, in obedience to certain crotchets of colonial reform enter tained by the Peelite section of the Cabinet. The period that has elapsed is far too short to enable us to judge of all the consequences of this most rash proceeding, but some of the anticipations which we expressed at the time have been amply realised ; and we may add that they are already sufficiently serious to justify the intervention of the Legislature, as the following facts may testify. It cannot have escaped the memory of our readers that the common law judges, we believe without exception, were strongly opposed to the abolition of transportation. The present Chief Justice on various occasions warned the Government of the consequences that must arise from the detention of the whole of our criminal population within the narrow limits of the four seas, and he only expressed the general sentiments of his brethren upon the subject. Another judicial authority of less distinction, but of more ex tensive experience in the administration of criminal law, has now unhappily confirmed the worst anticipations of Lord CAMPBELL. In the columns of a daily contemporary there has appeared a letter from Mr. Sergeant ADAMS, detailing from personal observation the work ing of the present system. From it we learn that since the abolition of transportation crime has rapidly increased in the metropolitan dis tricts. so rapidly, indeed, that even our so called colonial reformers must be puzzled with the results. The whole number of committals to the Central Criminal Court, and the Mid dlesex Sessions, during the first eight months of 1853 amounted to 1,923 Corresponding period in 1854 Mr. Sergeant ADAMS has also obtained the returns for the town of Birmingham for the same periods, and they exhibit similar results, viz.:— _ _ In the first eight months of 1853 304 lt 19 1854 This sudden and alarming increase of crime in our great cities may be attributed, we be lieve, to two causes. In the first place, the abolition of transportation, except in cases of the most aggravated description, has removed the dread of a punishment of which our crimi nal population stood very much in awe. In the second, the number of prisoners who are continually issuing from our gaols, after having either undergone their prescribed punishments or obtained their liberty in con sequence of good conduct, must exercise a baneful influence upon the morals of our great towns. Upon this latter point an instance cited by Mr. Sergeant ADAMS is worthy of all attention, for, to the best of our belief, it is one of very frequent occurrence : Take for example (he says) a case tried about three weeks ago at the Middlesex Sessions. The prisoner had been from his childhood a notorious thief, and the asso elate of thieves; he had been imprisoned for theft for various periods before he had attained hi 3 sixteenth year, no less than seven times in the Westminster Bridewell alone, independent of imprisonment in other gaols. He was then sentenced to transportation, and sent to Park hurst, and at the age of eighteen, all his antecedents being known to the prison authorities, on the petition of his parents he is sent back, with a certificate of good conduct and 21. in his pocket, to his old haunts in the purlieus of St. Giles, so wholly unreformed that he forthwith Te atimes his old trade, and is actually captured, on the second day of his return , in the act of instructing a young lad in the science of theft. So much for certificates of good conduct, and so much for the working of our new plan of convict discipline ! Mr. Sergeant ADAMS asks, if our reformed thieves make such use of their experience immediately on their liberation, what is to be expected from those who remain deaf to the admonitions of our prison autho rities, both civil and spiritual, but who never theless must be turned loose upon society the moment their term of punishment has ex pired? It is a most grave and pertinent ques- THE PRESS. tion, and we are glad that it has been brought thus prominently before the public by so corn petent an authority. OUR DEFENDERS AND THEIR DETRACTORS. Nor many weeks have elapsed since, in the plainest words, the most cruel imputations were flung upon " the courage " of our officers who, at the battle of the Alma, have brilliantly confuted their defamers. Our readers must recollect as well as ourselves the harsh and galling taunts made on the characters of the officers in the expeditionary army. We shall not sully our columns with reproducing these unworthy imputations, yet, when we recollect how it was insinuated that such persons were fitted only fora life of ease at home, we cannot but be struck with the names of those who shed their blood so freely on the ensanguined field of the Alma. We have heard several persons remark on the great number of officers connected with either the nobility or higher gentry to be found amongst the killed and wounded. The men of birth and fortune did not flinch from the perils or fatigues of the day; and even the most wanton defamer could not now insinuate that the officers (slandered but a few weeks since) were inferior in soldierly chivalry to their predecessors in the Penin sula, or to their present gallant comrades of any rank or class? When bitter sneers and cruel taunts have been published against our "aristocratic" officers, it is worth observing some of the names amongst the " killed and wounded." Lord CHEwroN, of the Fusilier Guards (son and heir to the Earl WALDEGRAVE), was wounded so severely as to be returned as " killed." In the same'regiment Viscount ENNISMORE (son and heir to the Earl of LISTOWEL) was also severely wounded; and the brother of the Earl Of ANNESLEY, in the same regiment, was in the same list. The names of Colonels DALRYMPLE and BERKELEY, Captains ASTLEY and BULWER (cousin to Sir LITTON BULWER), amongst the wounded of the Scots' Fusiliers, belong to our higher social circles. So also in the staff of the Ist and 2nd divisions we find the names of Captain CUST (killed), and the Honourable Colonel HERBERT, severely hurt. In the Grena dier and Coldstream Guards only four names are returned, of which three belong to the Honourable H. PERCY, and to the eminent families of BARING and BURGOYNE. To the casualties of the 30th the families of Lord LONGFORD and CONOLLY Of CaStletoWil cOntrl bute their names In the 55th Regiment, Major ROSE, an officer of fortune, of Kilravock Castle, Nairnshire, was killed, In the 95th two of the BRAYBROOKE family were wounded, and the familiesof POLHILL, G ERARD (of Gerard hall), and BOOTHBY swelled the list. The two EDDINOTONS killed in this brave regiment were sons of the late Captain GEORGE EDDING TON, formerly of the Royals. In the 7th Regiment Lord Mimic's brother was killed after signalising himself by deeds of valour. Even after getting his death-wound we read that " he drove his sword through the " heart of the first advancing foeman, while a " blow from his strong arm levelled another to " the ground." And of those of his brother officers wounded were Lord LISTOWEL'S brother, the Honourable Captain HARE (severely) ; Captain FITZGERALD, son of Lord WILLIAM FITZGERALD; Captain DUDLEY PERSSE, heir to the PERssEs of Roxborough, and a son of Lord CaovroN. In the names of the killed in the glorious 23rd we read those of WATKINS WYNN, DELME RADCLIFFE, Sir WILLIAM YOUNG, Bart. (shot while giving a cup of water to a wounded Russian), ANSTRUTHER, BUTLER, EVANS (of Dean-house, Oxon). Out of the eight officers killed of that regiment five be longed to titled families; and of the 33rd, the only officer killed was son to Lord WILLIAM MONIAou. In the 2nd Rifle Brigade the Earl of ERROL was the only officer wounded ; and of the two artillery officers returned as killed, one was son of Sir JOHN WALSHAM, Bart. Amongst the coolest acts of courage shown in 963 the field we observe that the reconnoitring of the Honourable JAMES MACDONALD (so popular in our fashionable circles) was specially recorded. And are these the men against whom bitter calumnies were published a few weeks ago, and who were taunted as " fainthearted " ? Even so. But they have washed out in their blood the calumnies circulated against them, and have established for themselves a lasting claim to the gratitude of their country, and to honour able mention in the illustrious records of British heroism. THE DEARTH OF DOCTORS. WE cannot but accept the lamentably ineffectual pro visions against the horrors of our first great military engagement as adding to the collateral evidence in support of our reiterated assertion that the Govern. went originally were not in earnest in their prose cution of the war. The insufficiency of the com- missariat, so pathetically discussed by the corre spondents of certain journals, might merely raise a smile or a shrug : whether the porter had arriNed, or that the troops ate their bread unbuttered, that the beef was tough, and that there was no mustard or cayenne pepper in the camp, was not a matter of much consequence; but that any number of the dying and wounded should be destitute of aids or means which might have solaced the last dread hours of their agony, or have sustained and restored their fainting stren3th, amounts to an official crime deserving the severest condemnation and public exposure. We have been assured that it is owing entirely to Mr. GUTHRIE that certain additions to the medical staff attending the expedition were applied by Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT. What the condition of the suf ferers would have been without Mr. GUTHRIE'S interference it is impossible to conceive. The scene occurring on board the Colombo, which transported some of the wounded men from the battle of the Alma to Constantinople, discloses a neglect which it would be vain to attempt to excuse or palliate. Out of 553 souls, only half of the wounded had re ceived surgical assistance before they were put on board. Four medical men, one of whom was the surgeon of the ship, who at such a place and season has sufficient employment in looking after the crew, alone attempted to meet the wants of this MIMS of misery. The ship was literally covered with prostrate forms. The officers could not get below to find their sextants, and the run was made at hazard, and was lengthened twelve hours by this circumstance. On the upper deck the worst cases became in a day or two putrid. The neglected gun-shut wounds bred maggots, which crawled in every direction, infecting the very food. Thirty men died during the voyage. The surgeons worked as hard as possible, but could do little among so many ; and many an unfortunate fellow first came under a medical man's hand on his arrival at Scutari, six days after the battle ! Such grave and shameful errors can only be ac counted for in one way. We take the very words used by a Ministerial advocate when we say that it was thought the Czar might take fright at the first display of vigour on the part of England and France, and that possibly the expedition might never pass beyond Malta, its first stage towards Turkey. The Royal Commission organising the Patriotic Fund for the relief of the widows and orphans of soldiers, sailors, and marines who may lose their lives from casualties of war was published in last night's Gazette. The commissioners appointed are :—Prince Albert, the Dukes of Newcastle and Wellington, Lord Seymour ; the Earls of Derby, Shaftesbury, Aberdeen, Hardwicke, Chichester, Nel son, and Grey ; Viscounts Palmerston, Combermere, and Hardinge ; Lords Rokeby, Colchester, Panmure, Seaton, St. Leonard's, and Raglan; Mr. Sidney Her bert, Mr. J. Lindsay, Sir J. Graham ; Messrs. H. T. L. Corry, E. Ellice, R. V. Smith, Sir J. S. Pakington, Sir IL Throckmorton, Sir W. I'arker, Sir T. B. Mar tin, Sir J. F. Burgoyne, Sir H. D. Ross, the Lord Mayor of London, Mr. Joseph Hume, Mr. T. Baring, Mr. J. G. Hubbard, Mr. J. W. Patten, Mr. S. M. Peto, Mr. E. B. Roche, and Mr J. Ball. They are "to make full and diligent inquiry into the best mode of aiding the loyalty and benevolence of our loving subjects, and ascertaining the best means by which the gifts, subscriptions, and contributions of our loving subjects can be best applied, according to the generous intentions of the donors thereof, and from time to time to apply the same as you, our commis sioners, or any three or more of you, shall think fit or direct, either for the immediate relief of such special objects of destitution as may come within the meaning and purpose of such benevolence, or to in crease, extend, or make additions to any of oar royal or other charitable institutions already founded for similar purposes within our United Kingdom." I i