The Press. — London, England, 1858-10-16 00:00:00

T 11E PRESS, OCTOBER 16, 185 g. 998 to be the only offences for which capital execution is in fature to take place, those crimes alone should have capital punishment affixed on them by law. The sentence of death ought no longer to be a vain form. The punishment of death being nearly discontinued, and trans portation virtually abolished, it is a problem of the deepest interest to us to ascertain in what manner the thousands of criminals can be most effectually punished, and most effectually reformed. It is sufficient for our purpose to record the following net product of our experiments in England and Ireland:—l. When a person charged with a criminal offence is sent to prison before conviction for safe custody, it is essential that he should be kept separate, and not turned loose into a company of notorious offenders to corrupt and be corrupted. :I. That after conviction the cnminal should be confined separately for a limited time i❑ such a manner that solitude, enforced sobriety, and the exercise of industry as his sole resource against weariness, may prepare him for a better course of life. It would be unwise to transfer him at once in his subdued state to a condition of freedom, when his very want of energy would ' probably lead him back to crime. 3. After separate im prisonment the convicts in England and Ireland have witb the best effect been removed to prisons where each has a separate cell for sleeping, but where the work is in common. 4. The Board of !directors in Ireland have introduced a plan of intermediate prisons, where the best conducted prisoners are relieved from military or police guards. The convicts have, however, their appointed work, their rations, and their gratuities. At this period they are allowed to obtain by inquiry promises of employment on their discharge. When these promises have been ascer tained to be trustworthy the prisoner is set free, but for the unexpired period of his sentence he remains under the supervision of the police. S. The passage from one class to another and the distribution of gratuities is regulated by the number of marks obtained for good behaviour. The principle of this plan was, I believe, originally suggested by Captain Maconochie. The general results of these systems of discipline are spoken of with much satisfaction by those who have put them in force, Colonel Jebb estimating that seventy-five per cent., and Captain Crofton that a great majority may be reformed. The noble lord then referred to the bearing of the system on the convicts who are the subject of the discipline, particularizing the several classes into which they may be divided, and c9mparing prison discipline to the hospital treatment of a patient attacked by fever, urging that the former should supply its subject with energy to enter on a better course of life. With regard to those who remained irreclaimable, would it be too much to say that their lives should be spent in public labour, and that no period should be assigned for the remission of their punishment? This portion would, of course, consist of only the irreclaimable few ; but while the nunish rnent would reach few, the fear would extend to all. He next dwelt on the question of juvenile delin quency, referring to the objects, operations, and success of the Reformatory Acts and of the Reforma tory Institutions. In the course of his remarks on the influences to be brought to bear on the reforma tion of criminals he said : Every one must have observed the new influence which is not being asserted or sought, but is falling to the lot of woman in swaying the destinies of the world. It is not a share in directing the patronage of Ministers, or guiding the councils of kings, as in former kinds, but a portion in the formation and the moulding of public opinion. For a great part of our periodical literature, for much of that world of fiction in which many live and nearly all take delight, we are indebted to the ethereal fancy, the delicate perception, and the grace of expression possessed by woman. It seems to me, and I am confirmed in this opinion by the bright examples of heroic benevolence we have seen of late years, that if the young generation are to be an improve. ment upon their fathers,—if sin is to have less dominion and religion more power,—if vice is to be abashed and virtue to be honoured, it is to woman that we must look for such a regeneration. our chief examiners. Even in awarding a degree much discrimination is required, anti a failure in one branch of knowledge may bo balanced by excellence in another. Some severity at the commencement of such a system is both to be expected and desired ; but I repeat the system itself must be carefully watched, and the experiment must be often repeated before it can be said that this strength of our new machinery has been fully test d. meets again we shall be quite as warm as ever with regard to our political differences. After some further remarks on the necessity of a patient investigation of the subject before them, the noble lord resumed his seat amid loud cheering, and the evening's proceeding were brought to a close. LORD BROUGHAM ON POPULAR LITERATURE. On Tuesday, the second day, the elegant concert room of St. George's•hall was crowded long before the hour appointed, and, as on the previous evening, the ladies formed a large proportion of the audience. ' Lord BROUGHAM proceeded to deli ver hi s l ecture on popular literature, tracing its progress from the foundation of the Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge to the present time. That periodical was established at th e s uggest i on of that eminent philanthropist Jr.! Hill, Recorder of Birmingham, and at one time 220,000 copies were sold weekly. It was addressed to that class who have but little spare time fur reading, with a view to prevent a less profitable employment of their leisure. Amongst those who had taken an active part i n pro moting this kind of literature be mentioned Mr. J. Cassell, as one peculiarly qualified, from havin g himself belonged to the working classes, to provide the reading best suited for the improvement of their education and the cultivation of their taste, and referred to the large circulation of the London Journal (350,000), Cassell's Paper (285,000), and the Popular History of England (100,0001, as showing the readi ness of the working classes to avail themselves of the combination of amusement and instruction which these publications afford. He then entered into a lengthened refutation of the misapplied maxim, " A little learning is a dangerous thing," displaying in this part of his address a quiet humour which drew peals of laughter from the audience. He proceeded:— The benefits are beyond all price which the bulk of the community derive from the assistance of popular liters tare ; nor can anything be more unreflecting than the doubts which have been raised of its beneficial tendency. We may begin with the broad fact of the harmless character, to say the very least, of the amusement which it affords. While we admit it to be certain that a considerable portion of these works is devoted chiefly to entertainment, this is certainly of an altogether innocent kind. But it has come in the place of a different class of publications. When Mr. Hill proposed the Penny Magazine, C. Knight brought him a list of no less than nine weekly papers devoted to the circulation of the most abominable matter, morally scan dalous and obscene, religiously not simply infidel, but scoffing and ribald ; politically preaching anarchy, hardly even confined to the crazy dreams of Socialism, but as if the editor were that boy become a man, who, when the Sovereign went to meet his Parliament, had been arested for bawling out, "No King! no Church! no Lords! no Commons ! no nothing !" The Penny Magazine drove the vile publications absolutely out of existence. A most feeble progeny alone was left to emceed them; it skulked in corners, and ever since has scarcely been heard of. II was like the effect of the Society's Almanack. which put an end to the disreputable fortune-telling tracts before pub• lished by the Stationers' Company. But it is not only ir. religious, immoral, and fraudulent publications that have been supplanted ; the far less hurtful, yet by no means commendable works, which study to give the mere excite ment of horror by dealing in accounts of brutal murder and cruel seductions, and in romances abounding in such de scriptions, together with ghost stories. These, once so greedily pored over, now find but little acceptation, and have ceased to be in demand. The works of Carlile and Paine have long ceased to attract readers, the people falling back upon papers which combine harmless recreation with some instruction. But it would be a great mistake to sup pose that the benefits of the popular press are negative orly. The tales composed for the working men's hours of relaxation are of a kind that address themselves both to the understanding and the heart—at once giving lessons . of instruction and fostering the kindly affections. Nor can anything be more groundless than the charges that have been brougnt against it. Two of these may be at once stated and disposed of. First, we are told that the stories given relate to persons and scenes in high life, and that none other interest the working classes. This is certainly contrary to the fact. That these classes wish occasionally to know what passes among their superiors is quite true, yet not more true than that their superiors desire to dwell upon the actions and the sufferings of each other; but what most powerfully excites the humbler classes, and . moat deeply imprints itself on their memory, is the s tor y ol the actions arid the sufferings, the goon and evil fortunes of their brethren and equals. And wherefore this? Because the case may be their own. The fiction of to-day may to morrow be the sad or the happy reality of their own lot. Some of Sir W. Scott's romances have been given in these publications, and it is only to be wished that they had been accompanied with warnings against the perversion of, history, as well as the false and indeed obsolete politica_ opinions in which some of that great writer's tales abound. But next it is alleged that what is termed the new—it should rather be called the improved—literature of the people, supplants more solid and more use f u l works, and the multitude of the readers is given as a proof of this. It is assumed—most falsely assumed—that these are withdrawn from the perusal of other publications. On the very contrary, they are added to the body of former readers, and their numbers prove it to demonstration. Take h t l r l e . e instances,—Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper beg . t year with a sale of 30,000, and the amity Herald issu es • ad a 200,000. The London Journal is asserted to hale . h from circulation of 500,000, but its present actual sale is 320,000 to 350,000. What papers and oth er periodical an EDUCATION. Lord John passed on to the question of education, offering a glowing eulogium on its value, and having expressed his confidence in the results of the Royal Commission obtained on the motion of Sir John Pakington, and nominated by the present Govern ment, proceeded : For my own part, I confess, that, anxious as I am for the progress of education, I am quite willing to renounce any desire to establish in this country the system of France, Austria, or Prussia. The freedom of choice in our modes of popular instruction, the noble fountains of literature, sacred and secular, which are open to the youth thirsting for knowledge, the power to range over the writings of Bacon and Shakespeare, and Milton and Addison, seem to me to make our national education, imperfect and incomplete as it is, still far superior to those continental models. I must not omit to mention the great efforts which have been re cently made to improve the education of the middle classes. The examinations instituted by the University of Oxford do honour to that venerable body. Nor ought we to pro nounce hastily on the result of these examinations. It seems to me apparent that at a time when not only degrees and honours are attached to successful competition, but the very entrance to the civil service, and the scientific part of the military service in India is gaarded by exa miners, it is of the utmost importance to understand rightly what the nature of the prescribed inquiry is to be. I hope that while all honour is paid to attainments; while quickness and self-possession on the day of trial have their due reward, the qualities of diligence and fidelity and steadiness in a clerk, of a . ready perception and a prompt judgment in a soldier, will not escape the judging eye of THE PUBLIC HEALTH. In dealing with this question the noble lord quoted at some length the reports and calculations of the Registrar-General in reference to the comparative mortality of town and country populations, and added . But this is only a part, and not the strongest part, of the case. Feebleness, chronic disease, want of energy, mental and physical, reduce the tone, and, I may say, deprave the moral character of our town population. The excitement of drams, the stupor of intoxication, are sought as a relief from the low spirits engendered in an unhealthy atmosphere. Hence quarrelling, strife, assaults, poverty, and neglect of education for the offspring of this degene• rate race. Instead of healthy parents and robust children, fitted to continue from generation to generation a mighty governing people, we may see what Milton has so well described : All maladies Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms Of heart•sick agony, all feverous kinds, Convulsions, epilepsies, tierce catarrhs. And we may end with his sublime words : Despair Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch, And over them triumphant Death hie dart shook, but delayed to strike, tho' oft invoked With vows, as their chief god and final hope. THE GENERAL OBJECTS OF THE ASSOCIATION. Having touched on the subject of emigration, the introduction of the Poor Law and of the Encumbered Estates Act into Ireland, and expressed his opinion " that in natural talents of all kinds, whether for poetry, eloquence, and the arts of peace, or for the eventful vicissitudes of war, no people exceed the natives of Ireland," Lord John Russell thus adverted to the general objects of the Association : Our first meeting took place under the presidency of Lord Brougham. I wish that we may be able to imitate this spirit, if not attain to this ability. We are not like some philosophers of the last century, enamoured of an age of reason which will never come to pass. Nor do we share in the dreams of the philanthropists who ten years ago imagined that if property, and capital, and competition were put down by authority, the human race might sit down in happiness and cmitentment. Our task is more humble, but, as we conceive, more in accordance with the decrees of our Divine Creator. To mankind is allotted labour as its portion and perpetual inheritance. If any think that he has nothing to do but to eat, drink, and be merry, in that very night as fearful a doom may fall upon him as upon the tyrant of old. If any suppose, like the masters of the Roman empire, that the sword has done its work, and that nothing remains for them but luxurious en joyment, that very luxury may revenge the conquered world. if any imagine that to them belongs dominion, and that they may indulge in contempt of the unlettered and ill.fed multitude, that very multitude may overwhelm them in Woody and merciless retribution. It is for us to work as truly as the man who forges the iron bar, or the woman who works at the factory loom. It is for us to en deavour to improve the laws by which the community is governed. It is for us to show how education may be ex tended and diffused. It is for us to examine and record what has been done for the reformation and punishment of offenders. It is for us to confirm and animate the efforts which are being made to sustain the public health, and thereby preserve for this country her eminence as the home of a vigorous and independent race. It is for us to investigate the conditions of the great problems of political economy, which may often admit of exceptions, but never of refutations. In so doing we shall but consult the welfare of the present and future generations ; iu so doing we shall follow the path traced out for us by Almighty Benevolence and Almighty Wisdom. A vote of thanks was then passed, on the motion of the Earl of SHLFTESBURY, seconded by Sir JOHN PAKINOTON, to Lord Brougham for his services as founder and first president of the Association, for which the noble and learned lord returned thanks. A similar compliment was paid to Lord John Russell, on the motion of the Earl of CARLISLE, seconded by Sir JOHN KAY SHUTILEWORTH. Lord JOHN, in responding, adverted to the benefit which members of the Legislature might derive from the study of such subjects as came within the scope of the Association . The fear was needless (said the noble lord) that so much attention to social science would prevent attention to politics. Much as we like these subjects, there is so much excitement in a good parliamentary political debate —a great deal of sarcasm and indignation and eloquence is thrown from one side to the other,—and these matters are so mncli more interesting and so notch more easy to investigate — Lord BROUGHAM : Besides, it is so much more pleasant to be abused than be praised. Lord J. RUSSELL: My noble friend adds that it is so much more pleasant to be abused than to be praised, and that reminds me of an observation of a man who certainly was no excessive lover of his kind—Dean Swift,—who said that panegyric had always a good deal of poppy in it. That certainly is very apt to be the case. Therefore I think we may rely upon it, whatever attention we may pay to these subjects, that when the House of Commons II