The Press. — London, England, 1856-08-23 00:00:00

804 THE WEEK. Dix accounts from St. Petersburg lead us to believe that there has been a marked difference in the reception given to the Special Am bassador from France, and that accorded to the representative of this country. This was to be expected. From some motive not easy to be accounted for on any rational principle it has been the object of Lord PAL MERSTON'S Administration to keep up a sense of irritation in the mind of the Russian Government and to prevent a restoration of cordial feel ing between the two countries. We are assured by the Morning Post, that the step of sending a British squadron into the Black Sea was taken without any previous concert with our Allies. The Post admits that the Isle of Serpents is a most " unimportant place," and that the force sent by Russia to occupy it did not exceed a dozen men. The organ of Lord PALMERSTON proceeds : After such conduct it was competent to the allied Powers to make such a represen tation to Russia as should have brought her to reason and submission. This, to have been effective, should have been consented to by France and Austria. But these two Powers not having resolved upon prompt active measures, our own Government—while other Powers were thinking about it—at once took steps to show, not to Russia only, but to the nations of the East, their firm determination to see the treaty carried out to the letter. By Lord Palmerston's directions a strong squadron from the Mediterranean fleet at once proceeded to the Black Sea, and, cruising off Odessa, sufficiently intimated the opinion of the British Government as to the good faith of Russia, and the propriety of her conduct. If this representation be correct, Lord PALMERSTON has needlessly in curred a serious responsibility. No emergency existed to justify the appearance of a British squadron in the Euxine, and it is evident that no such measure should have been adopted without the perfect con currence of France at least. Lord PALMERSTON'S foreign policy is a policy of antipathies, of all kinds of policy that most unworthy of a great country, and most injurious to its real interests. We hope his idle bravado may not be accepted as indicative of the feeling of the nation. The conduct of Miss NIGHTINGALE on her return to this country stands in marked contrast with that of many other individuals whose ovations have lately filled so many columns of the daily press. The heroine of the late war has declined the honour of a public triumph, and thereby, if possible, has added to the fame she has already acquired by her self-devotion and courage. None of our readers can fail to make the application of these remarks to that particular General who has lately figured before the public to a somewhat disproportionate extent, and, if report speaks true, has arrogated to himself inure than his due share of military glory. Inquisitive people ask why the gallant General KMETY'S letter remains so long unanswered ? Is it that he to whom it was addressed feels the justice of the rebuke conveyed in it, and is conscious that his own reputation must be supported by ignoring the merits of others ? The opening of the National Reformatory Union at Bristol on Wed nesday last, is the formal recognition of a principle long adopted in practice, and supported by both public and private benevolence, but not hitherto established on a scale commensurate with its importance. We regard it as a fitting inauguration of that reign of social ameliora tion on which let us hope we have now entered, and of which, here as elsewhere, a leading member of the Conservative party has shown himself a conspicuous advocate. According to the Prison Returns of 1852-3, quoted by Lord STANLEY, the amount of clime committed by persons under seventeen years of age, which is usually designated as " juvenile crime," amounted to eleven and ahalf per cent. of the whole ; while of crimes committed by youths between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one, the proportion was as much as twenty-five per cent. The number of recommittals among the former class amounts to neat ly one half of the number convicted, showing thereby the very slight reformatory effect of the punishment employed. His Lord ship also went through a variety of other statistics calculated to show the cost to the country of its criminal population, with a view to disabuse the public mind of any prejudice against reformatory institutions on the score of their expense. The questions discussed by the different sections on Thursday are all of the deepest interest, — the nature of the punishment to be employed in reformatory institu tions—whether it should pal-take of a retrospective penal character, or be limited to the correction of faults committed on the spot—in what way the employment of criminals can be managed so as not to depreciate the value of honest labour—how far it may be possible to guard against the evil of leading our population to snppose that crime is the avenue to a good education and a permanent provision for life—the great disadvantage attending the present uncertainty of punishment, and its effect both in creating, maintaining, and propa gating criminality.—These were some of the questions which received attention at the hands of various able and experienced persons, and the public discussion of which cannot fail to elicit many valuable suggestions destined to contribute to the future formation of a complete system. There is one point however which we have not enumerated in the above list, which was only casually glanced at by one speaker, hut which is, in our opinion, of the very highest importance, and calculated to supply a clue towards the solution of many of the aforesaid difficulties. Miss CARPENTER stated that " she thought that " previous punishment ought not to be absolutely required before admittance "into reformatori es " I n t hi s express i on o f op i n i on we cor di a ll y co i n• cide. In THE PRESS, of August the 9th, we wrote as follows : The very ildlimity which is foreseen by the Time. in dealing with a society of hop criminals should constitute a strong additional motive for arresting the hay's career before he has become criminal. Prowling about the streets of London are hundreds o THE. PRESS. SATURDAY, miserable children without home or parents, just hovering on the brink of crime, but not yet guilty of it ; others, who have fallen, but not yet detected, and untainted there- fore by the corruption of prison associates. These it is to whom it should be the aim of the philanthropist to extend a helping hand, and by benefiting whom he will do the greatest benefit to society. It is obvious that, the less boys are corrupted, the easier it is to teach them habits of virtue and industry, and that, the more we can so reform previous to their entry upon a criminal career, the fewer we shall have to reform afterwards ; by which means the evil spectacle of criminals being placed in a better position than honest people will be very sen sibly mitigated. Institutions devoted to the reclamation of vagrant and destitute boys are now in existence. The reformatory in Belvi dere-crescent, Lambeth, was last week brought under public notice by the admirable address of Mr. DRIVER, the superintendent, to some boys who were emigrating to Canada And let the public he assured that the more such gentlemen as Mr. DRIVER, and such establishments as that which he superintends, are supported, the less will the prevalence of juvenile crime continue to embarrass and to shame us. The position taken up by Mr. MARCY on the question of the aboli tion of privateers, is neither illogical nor unpractical. Privateers stand in the same relation, he says, to a regular navy, as volunteers to a regular army ; and it cannot be expected that a Government which maintains a very small standing force should consent to denude itself of all such extraordinary aid as may be afforded by the voluntary efforts of its citizens. But, furthermore, where is the consistency of relieving au enemy's goods from the assaults of privateers, if they are still liable to capture by regular vessels of war? If we are to adopt that method of annoying an enemy, let us by all means do it with the utmost possible vigour. If we object to the system, let us be equally decisive in condemning and removing it. Such are the arguments of Mr. MARCY, and we cannot deny that from the lips of an American they sound well. On the other hand, there is unquestionably much truth in the observation of the Times, that there is a broad practical difference between the conduct of privateers and regular vessels of war, which would render the abolition of the former a decided service to humanity. Whether probable, or not, it is certainly quite possible that the captain and crew of a privateer might practise with impunity barbarities and outrages which no officer in her Majesty's service, or the service of the United States, would ever dream of perpetrating, or venture to execute. We cannot, however, agree with the Times that it is particularly the interest of this country that such a measure should be adopted. War, no doubt, inflicts some injury on our commerce; bat not a quarter so much as we could inflict upon our enemies. If " our commerce " covers every sea," so also could our cannon. And the comparatively small loss to which we could ever be subjected would be less than the profit we should derive by becoming, as in the last great war, the carriers of the world's merchandise. But the strongest objection to such a complete revolution in the practice of war, lies in the danger we should thereby incur of protracting its duration. At present a nation's resources are crippled by the injuries inflicted on its com merce, and after a certain time it is sure to be inclined to wards peace. But if these means of moderating a war fever were abolished, nobody knows how long belligerents might persevere. A further obstacle, as it seems, to the adoption of this principle, is the difficulty of enforcing blockades which it would inevitably entail. Indeed, we hardly see what, under those circumstances, would be the utility of a blockade at all. Would vessels freighted with private property be permitted to leave or to enter a blockaded port? If so, what injury would the blockade inflict? If not, we should be merely destroy ing private property in a different fashion. For goods shut up in pert for a year or so together are pretty sure either to spoil, or to outstand their market; while, at all events, the owner is certain to be injured by the delay in realising his profits. The arguments are ably stated on both sides, but the conclusion is still in suspense. Journalism in these latter days seems likely to become a ticklish profession. The Times has been mulcted for asserting the flagellation of a tailor. We ourselves have been hauled over the coals by a broad-brimmed contemporary for doubting the immaculate politeness of the Americans ; and now our worthy friend the Scotsman has got himself into trouble, by telling us a bit of his mind about the famous Mr DUNCAN MACLAREN. That gentleman originally, and even now on general questions, a strong Liberal, happened to split off from his brother Liberals in Edinburgh on the question of Maynooth and the Scottish Public-house Act. The consequence was that, at the last Edinburgh election, the bulk of the Liberal party, with their organ, the Scotsman, and Mr. MACLAREN, found themselves on opposite sides. Straightway Mr. DUNCAN MACLAREN became the vilest of the vile. He had deserted his principles, traduced his friends, and de ceived his enemies—there was " venom in every word, and a dagger in every sentence"—with a vast deal more to the same effect. Now, without attempting to sift the wheat from the chaff in the field of Scottish journalism, we must nevertheless call attention to the fact that the Scotsman stood perfectly alone. Every other respectable news paper in Edinburgh was arrayed against it ; and though it is all very well for the friends of this journal, and the party which it represents, to rave about a vile conspiracy and an interested combination of factions, yet the public will draw their own conclusions, and will not readily believe that a journal condemned by the public opinion of a great city like Edinburgh, can be so exclusively in the right. Mr. JAMES AyrOUN, whom the Times, laughably enough, mistook for Pro fessor ArrouN, has done good service to truth by exposing the in trigues which underlie this affair, and bringing to light the backstair intelligence by which a particular section of the Liberal party wero enabled to organise their movements and defeat their ancient coad jutors by a dexterous electoral coup-cretat. This species of Theban .