The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-24 00:00:00

794 tate and too peremptory, and that they have not been sufficiently consulted. Those mem bers of the Ministry who are in the House of Commons intimate to Lord AuxinizEst that, if Lord Psi.strusTos does not return, the Treasury bench will not last a month after the meeting of Parliament. 'there arc two parties in the Cabinet ; there is a panic ; orders are given to the organs do longer to abuse Lord PaLwastoN: instead of " firelosind " he is a shining light ; and the underlings are bid to say that this distin guished statesman will give RR independent support to the Ministry. Negotiations are opened ; modifications are of ; some " ar " rangement" must be made. CWHOLANUS it obdurate. The Coalition Cabinet is in con vulsions. Lord ABERDEEN, who terminated his connection with Lord Rums:linos almost with impertinenee, is on his knees, and oilers carte blanche, and, for aught we know, Loyal Pat.mxiisToN at this present may again be Minister of the Crown, anti prepared to in troduce, or support, as IL member of the Coalition Government, a very safe measure of Parlinmentaiy Helena., entirely at variance with the pledges of Loral .lons lluaasi.t and Sir JAMES GRAHAM, with the original scheme projected by the Cabinet, and with the pro fessions of, at least, two thirds of the gentle men who sit on the Government side of the House of Commons. But is this the way to govern England ? Is this the natural action of a constitution which should secure that the predominant opinion of the country should influence our legislation and direct our policy ? If' this be our system of government, what is the use of Parliaments, and free elections, anti a free press ? Great functionaries might be recommended by a Camarillo, and affairs administered by a Coun et) of State. The scandal of the hour may be patched up; to use the delicate language of the Government, it may be " arranged ;" but it is in the conditions on which the present :Cabinet exists that these scandals should be continually reproduced and repeated, to the injury of the public service, the damage of public men, the dishonour of Parliament, and the peril of the Crown anti country. A eon •dition of things not unlike the present once prevailed in England, and there MAR some • similarity in the principal actors. Hear it Ileseribed. They are the words of a master:— " Whoever heroines a party to an Adminitt " tration composed of insulated individuals. without foith plighted, tie, or common prin " an Administration constitutionally inn " potent, because supported by no party in the " nation ; whoever contributes to destroy the " connections of men and their trust in one " another, or in any mat to throw the depen " dence of public eouneils upon private will "'anti favour, possibly may have nothing to do • " with the Earl of Derr. It matters little " whether he be the friend 0r the enemy of •" that particular person. lint, let him be who " or what he will, be abets a faction that is -" driving hard to the ruin of his country. He "is supping the 10undation of its liberty. disturbing the sources of its domestic tran " guiltily, weakening its government over its " dependencies, and degrading it foam all its ion " portance the itytaem Europe." This is a voice from beyond the tomb, but genins is immortal and prophetic ; and, amid the dangers that distract us, we may, at least. discover their main source, in pondering over these words of Mr. IiCHKE. THE BIRMINGHAM CONFERENCE. IT is satisfactory to see that the gravest Ministerial crisis cannot retard domestic im provement. While polities sleep philanthropy is vigilant ; While clouds darken over the political horizon the meetings of philanthro pists prosper, and their projects approach completeness. Perhaps, however, we do in justice to Sir .lotisr PAKiNolos and his coadju tors in styling them by that much-abused Hanle. Philanthropy is so often a fancy—a fashion—an affectation—the means or pur chasing cheap popularity, and indulging mor- Va sentiments—that w•e hesitate to apply it ILllllMEmsimilho THE PRESS. as a fitting designation for manful efforts in a sound cause. The Birmingham Conference for the Reformation of Young Criminals would twenty years ago have been sneered at as Visionary, or pitied as fanatical. It is now supported by a large body of ]►ublic men, — approved of by all, lauded by the press, anti presided over by one who, in his double capa city as a Minister having held high office, and as an active country gentleman, is well entitled to take the lead in a matter affecting; the ad ministration of justice. The old theory of dealing with crime was simple, consisting merely in the infliction of pain or punish ment, —useless us regarded the offender—ser viceable only by way of intimidation to others, and even in this respect very imperfectly ful filling its object, by reason of the uncertainty of deteetions. The new system endeavours to deal with the criminal as with a being capable of self-improvement—as with one who has offended indeed against the laws of society, and who is bound to make reparation, but who is not on that account necessarily irreclaimable unless made so by treating him as such. Prevention of offences—reclamation of oflenders—removal of the most ordinary in centives to crime—punishments mild, but cer tain—such are the outlines of the judicial administration which we arc now endeavour ing to perfect.. But the case of juvenile cri minals is peculiar. It may be true, as the more sceptical sort arc fond of repeating, that a num hardened in crime—an habitual inmate of gaols—has neither the will nor the power to alter his habits. He has been brought up to the life he leads, and he means to follow it, taking the bad with the good, weighing the chance of punishment against the certainty of plunder. Of such persons we admit we should be sorry to predicate reformation as a proba ble or credible event. Their penitence is usually by good conduct in gaol is only making the best of an unpleasant posi tion They have chosen their career, and rarely, very rarely, do they change it. But the case is precisely contrary with those de linquent juveniles who may occasionally he seen struggling in the grasp of a huge police man, and asserting their innocence with astounding audacity in the face of the clearest proofs of guilt. They have never shown any predilection for their occupation ; they had no choice in the matter ; it is the only art they know—the only kind of industry of which they have ever learnt the rudiments. Criminal in act, they are innocent in intention. Flog them—confine them—treat them as deliberate law-breakers, and they accept their punish ment as a natural result of detection, not by ,my means as a process meant for their per sonal benefit or warning. To change their habits you must get them away from parents and friends—all thieves alike ; you must break through the associations of their former existence, place them in a new moral atmo sphere, and give them a chance to start fait in the life-rare. This cannot be done in gaols, nor through the medium of an ordinary prison discipline. Separate institutions, pecu liar treatment. are requisite ; and this neces sity has already been recognised both on the Continent and in the American States. To carry out a similar work in England is the de sign of Sir JoHN PAKINtITON and Mr. ADDERLEY and we trust that neither foreign war nor fac lion at home will divert Parliament from the consideration of so useful a project. THE LEADER " ON " YOUNG TORY PROTESTANT I SM." WE shall probably have ample occasion here after to indicate, with a view to practical results, the nature of the securities we may require against Rome; and neither on this head, nor on the broad constitutional grounds ant which such securities may be hereafter de manded. need we say anything further at pre sent. Our deliberate preference of Protestant truth over Romanist error is an independent, though not an indifferent, consideration, ou incidental allusion to which on Saturday week has attracted the notice of a talentoil Contem porary. We should have little difficulty, we SATURDAY, imagine, if we were open to such a discussion, in relieving ourselves from the imputation of inaintaining contradictory tenets on this subject; but the bearings of the Absolute and Relative are a little too transcendental for our theory of the purpose of a weekly leading article. We must refer our Contemporary to the experience of those who hold that the facts of nature as unfolded in science are the only sure revelation, and that the correct read ing of them is found in AtioesvE COMTE, and not in PALEY or others, for an illustration of the point at which " the infallibility of fact," his own absolute and eternal, "passes into the relative and transitory." While he is con sidering this, we may explain on another point—that we are not amenable to the charge of religious persecution if we apply to Roman ists the same measures that would be rightly applied by them to Protestants, if the latter asserted similar claims ; and measures which would also be applied to the Positivists if they interfered in the same manner, and which we believe the Positivists themselves would re sort to, if, on the other hand, their liberty was becoming gradually endangered. We can, in deed, conceive an unusual equanimity upon such matters in those who take " the world as a text " book, truth and human happiness as the " goal, and the Infinite as an aspiration and a " recompense." But even they must have their limits at which they would—we will not say persecute—but take securities against the ag gressions which may terminate in a persecu tion of themselves. We cannot suppose that they would carry beyond a certain point even their isolated indifference, or that; in the face of apprehended danger, Positivism would take its injured disciple by the hand, and say, " There is the Infinite, my young friend,—take " your change out of that." STRIKES AND PAROCHIAL RELIEF. THREE weeks since we called attention to the subject of the parochial relief which the opera tives on strike could claim as a right, and the conditions on which it should be granted. We pointed out how unjust it would be to permit men, who had failed to reduce the masters to their terms by abstaining from work, to live in voluntary idleness, in the workhouse, on those rates which are derived from the masters property. Since then the attention of the Poor Law authorities has been turned to the point, and last Friday, at Haslingden, in Lancashire, Mr. H. B. FARNALL, the Poor Law Inspector of the district, addressed a special meeting of the guardians on the propriety of applying a labour test before relief was granted to " turn-outs." In that union the number in receipt of parochial aid is nearly three times as many as nt the corresponding period of lust year, and it is believed that in the districts where strikes prevail the guardians will not only have the " turn-outs " to deal with, but also 120,000 others, who, though still at work, are on short time. Of 115 indoor and 2,069 outdoor recipients of relief at Haslingden, the average annual cost per head is 31. 2s. 4d., so that, viewed simply as a question of money, the crisis that has arisen is most serious. but it is more than a mere question of money ; other and higher considerations are involved in it — justice, the right of all men to a subsistence, and the relations that shall in future subsist between labour and capital. We warned the men on strike that with mid-winter the pit tance procured from their fellow-workers who were still employed would cease, and already there are indications that the verifica tion of our prediction is near. Not only are the applications for parochial relief numerous, but intimidation is extensively resorted to in the mills to extort weekly subscriptions for those on strike. These have, in many instances, been refused, not from any disinclination to give, but because others could say in the words of a poor widow at Bury, from whom one of " the ringleaders" with oaths and threats endeavoured to obtain money, " I cannot pay, I have nothing to pi y " with ;II will not borrow, and I have tut " enough for myself." Under these circum stances it is clear that very soon the only alter-