The Press. — London, England, 1855-10-20 00:00:00

OCTOBER 20,1855. to excite the wonder which it appears to think conducive to its popularity. If there has been no quarrel between "S. G. 0." and the journal, and if that gentleman has been cri ticised as any ether person would have been under similar circumstances, nothing more can be said of it than that it is not usual in the press to select collaborateurs for ridicule ; but if there has been some quarrel on private grounds between the gentleman and the journal, or any question of expense, then what is to he thought of the taste of this scur rilous tirade ? _ _ _ The occasion for it is unseemly. Mr. Os- BORNE made a speech at Wilton full of manly, generous feeling. We have read no composi tion of his the tone of which we could so unre servedly admire. He spoke of the Russian soldiers as one son of ADAM should speak of another. He even termed them his "fellow men,"—thought it probable that they believed, as we did, that they were fighting for the right; and that hence they met death with so much fortitude. These are the sentiments which appear to have roused the wrath of his critic, who comments on them in this style : The Wizard of the Crimea has not done with his won derful conversions. Here is another of his curious tricks. He takes you an unkempt savage, whose back is scored with his master's blows—whose religion is adoration of the Czar Nicholas—whose sore object is to butcher the coun trymen of " S. G. O."—a human bloodhound, who is the blind instrument of the moat brutal despotism of modern times, which, if successful, would throw Europe five cen turies back ; and, Hey ! presto, the Wizard waves his wand. The Tartar cheek-bones are depressed ; the dishevelled locks are nicely " small-tooth combed ;" the breast of our savage acquaintance pants with none but loyal, patriotic, and religious emotions. Again : We will not suffer that our countrymen shall be likened to the savage militia of a sanguinary despot who would have enslaved the world. Quite apart from the attack on " S. G. 0.," what is to be thought of the spirit which could dictate such passages as these? Can we not war with an enemy without reviling him in a style which would degrade Billings gate ? What end can be answered by such abuse, except to deepen the animosity of the two nations and banish every spark of humanity from their breasts ? It is such lan guage as this that really degrades the press ; it has rarely been used in any respectable journal, and if persisted in must infallibly lower the character of our journalism. The Russian peasant does not deserve these hard terms. He is by nature kind-hearted, industrious, and tractable. He has no love of strife, but he is dutiful and obeys ; and though he wants the active heroism conspicu ous in other races, it is impossible to deny to him that heroism of fortitude of which the en durance of the garrison of Sebastopol during the latter days of the siege presents one of the most conspicuous instances on record. RETRIBUTIVE POLICY. WE are gravely asked why the measure which was dealt to France forty years ago, when that nation was stripped of the conquests she made in the wars of the Republic and the Empire, should not now be dealt out to Russia 9 Frankly, we are aware of no reason. If Russia has made any conquests during this war, let her be made to give them up, by all means, when peace is restored. But if our contemporary means that Russia should be made to restore all her conquests since PETER or CATHERINE, We must remind him that the cases are by no means parallel. The wars of France were continuous, and it was only natural, and in accordance with precedent, that when they were finally wound up, France should find herself in nearly the same position as when her career of aggression began. Should the present war last twenty years, a similar result will pro bably be attained by our children. It is nothing new for Europe, after being long desolated by wars, and undergoing many vicissitudes, to sottle again into its old forms. Our contemporary tells us that utter barba rianism must needs prevail where the people are slaves. He forgets, when exalting the civilisation of Poland, that the peasantry of that country have always been kept in the THE PRESS. lowest state of serfdom, and that to this cause it must be attributed that the nationality of Poland was so easily extinguished. CONVICT " LICENCES." AFTER a brief and imperfect trial, premature condemnation has been passed upon what is known as the " ticket-of-leave system." In its application at home this practice of releasing convicts upon " licence " before the full term of their sentence has expired is barely two years old. The Act which extended to England the system that had prevailed for generations in the old penal colonies took effect only in the autumn of 1853. Its results could not be fairly estimated except by. a collocation of facts extending over a considerable period of time, and tracing the subsequent conduct and career of a large number of individuals. By the very nature of things, moreover, it was chiefly the instances of failure which came into public view. Fifty ticket-of leave meu might betake themselves to honest industry without exciting notice, but if one culprit released upon a " licence " relapsed into evil ways, and fell once more into the hands of the police, his history was sure to be narrated in open court, and furnished matter for an indig nant apostrophe from the presiding magis trate. Thus it has happened that impetuous judges like Sergeant ADAMS have pronounced the system " false in principle and mischievous "in practice ; " while the public have been scared from their propriety by a phrase of portentous significance, in which the ticket of leave is described as an engine for " turning " felons loose to prey on society." Colonel JEBB, Chairman of the Directors of Convict Prisons, has published some state ments from which we can form a juster esti mate of the grounds that exist for alarm or censure in the ticket-of-leave system. Since the Act came into operation, he informs us that out of 3,629 prisoners released with licences only 130 have, up to the beginning of the present month, either had their tickets can celled or been recommitted on fresh charges. This, he admits, is but a negative sign, since no one can tell haw many more may be "prey " ing upon society," although they have had the good luck to escape detection. He adds, however, another proof, of more tangible and positive character. Prisoners who follow cer tain industrious occupations while incarcerated are allowed to receive a small portion of the money so earned when their time has expired. In the case of the ticket-of-leave holder this accumulated hoard cannot be claimed until after he has been for three months " loose "upon society," nor unless he is able to pro duce certificates of good behaviour and honest employment during that time. This opening interval is justly accounted by Colonel JEBB as the most critical period for the emancipated convict; and he cites a table announcing the following satisfactory result:—Of 980 men who left balances in the hands of the prison gover nors, 890 have applied for payment, and in only six instances were the claims rejected as unsatisfactory. Respecting the 270 whose claims are still unurged, he states that the greater portion have not been discharged for the allotted period. This result cannot be said to indicate failure. Many hundred persons who had lapsed into crime have, at all events, been found to resist temptation, and maintain their footing in honest society, for some months after their rehabilitation in the rights and responsibilities of free action. The chief stumbling-block to the practical working of the system is said to be the diffi culty of finding a test and selecting a judge to decide as to the fitness of each individual prisoner for the privilege of a ticket of leave. At present, the gaol chaplains furnish reports touching the conduct and demeanour of the prisoners under their care, whereon the Home Secretary bases his decision on each particular case. Now, these reports, we are assured, are delusive and unsatisfactory for the purpose in view. The process offers a premium to hypo crisy. The chaplain may be misled by a well acted penitence—is likely to look with favour upon the signs of a reformation which he thinks his own work—and by his holy pro fession is rather imbued with a spirit of charity 991 than qualified to act as a severe and impartial judge. This may be true, and yet no reason for abolishing the system, or even changing the mode of working it. The question in volves nothing more than the term during which certain culprits should be retained in prison. In every event they must, sooner or later, be " turned loose on society." without reference to the tickets of leave, how is this matter regulated—who appoints the period of detention, and how is his decision formed on that point ? The award is left, without control or appeal, to the presi ding judge. When a culprit has been found guilty upon his trial by the jury, it is the judge alone who fixes the degree of his punishment. According to the nature of the offence it is then decided whether his imprisonment shall be for three months or two years—whether he shall be transported (which also means imprisoned) for five, seven, ten, or some longer period of years. The;• range of time thus left to the unfettered dia-, cretion of the judge is far larger than that ' which the prison chaplain, or the Secretary of State, can influence; and yet the means of arriving at a just allotment are much more scanty. A judge is obliged to sentence prisoners in batches, and must form his decisions on the spot, with brief time for con• sideration, and from such impression as he may gather during the trial by the culprit's beha viour, or the evidence offered regarding his bygone character. Whatever may be the difference in talent or acumen of the two men, we should be inclined to rely upon the judg ment of the chaplain, who is able to scrutinise the prisoner's conduct, and decipher his character in daily interviews during months and years of incarceration. We have mentioned the chief and almost the sole disadvantage attending the system. Its benefits, if successful, need no comment. Tho doctrine that punishment for crime should be merely retributive finds at the present day hardly a single advocate, while none will deny the blessings, or despise the merely temporal gain to society, attending the restoration of any criminal to the paths of virtue. If the tickets of leave were abrogated, one great in strument of reformation would be altogether withdrawn from the administrators of our prison discipline. They would then lose the most powerful incitement which they now possess to good conduct and moral reformation among the culprits committed to their charge, and find themsel% es left comparatively powerless for the accomplishment of one great object of all penal legislation. In certain details no doubt the ticket-of leave system is susceptible of improvement. The suggestion of Mr. HILL, founded on Cap tain MACONOCHIE . B old idea of" marks,"—that a licence of liberation should ho valued at a cer tain price, to be earned by the prisoner through a course of industry—deserves, we think, the consideration of Government. But we should, on every account, regret to see the abandon ment of a system which has, on the whole, worked so well. Still we hope the prospect will be afforded to prisoners of certain classes that, by perseverance and good conduct, it is in their own power to abbreviate their term of punishment; while, to the society which they rejoin, the readiest proof is offered that, although once fallen from rectitude, they have done all that in them lies to redeem their forfeited position, and redress the wrongs they perpetrated upon the community. THE MIDDLESEX MAGISTRATES met on Thursday at Clerkenwell, on which occasion a report from the visit ing justices was read upon the conduct of the Governor of the House of Detention towards Messrs. Paul, Bates and Strahan, when prisoners under his charge. It appeared from the evidence read that the Governor.; Mr. Frederic Hill, had been guilty of a violation of the rules and regulations of the prison in permitting the three prisoners to associate freely with one an other, and without any supervision being exercised, to be visited at all times, and to maintain a constant correspondence with their friends. A discussion took place between the magistrates, and a mo tion proposed by Mr. Woodward, that the gover nor be severely reprimanded, was negatived, and an amendment carried by a majo&ity of 10 in favour of his temporary suspension from office, in order that the matter might be taken into further consideration. Mr. Hill was therefore suspended from duty, and the deputy-governor appointed to act in his room. •P• ~' r JO • A,. I