The Press. — London, England, 1855-10-13 00:00:00

OCTOBER 13, 1855. THE CHARGE OF MR. RECORDER HILL. THE " ticket-of-leave " system, which has attracted so much attention lately in all parts of the country, by the depredations of many " ticket-of-leave " men, was chosen on Monday last as the subject of his charge to the Grand Jury by Mr. Recorder Hill. The learned recorder commenced his charge by stating that he considered the system to have been much overrated both for good and evil, and that he should regret to see the system condemned, because, in his opinion, it embodied two leading principles to be considered in the treatment of criminals—viz., that the criminal should have the opportunity of working his way out of gaol, as well as that he should be liable to be deprived of that liberty, if ever in after-life he relapsed into criminal habits : Time was (remarked Mr. Hill), and the era is not so long past, when our penal code was the most sanguinary of the civilised world. The list of offences punishable with death presented a fearful catalogue, descending from wilful murder down to privately stealing in a shop to the amount of be. Nor were the terrors of the law permitted to sleep ; so that when the feelings of the people at last awoke to the cruelty of these inflictions they were out raged at every turn with appalling scenes of legal ven geance During the period while so many offences were punished with death, the commutation of the capital sentence to one of transpor tation being an act of mercy, the minor, though still heavy penalty, was not regarded as severe; but when capital punishment became applicable only to a small class of crimes, transportation began to be looked upon in a different light. And now that, by the refusal of all our colonies except one to admit convicts among them, trans portation has been in great part abolished, a similar feeling begins to prevail against long terms of imprisonment, which makes way all the more quickly because long impri sonments, not being imposed by sentence during the period that capital punishment and transportation were freely re sorted to, present a deceptive aspect of novelty, since a large proportion of convicts sentenced to transportation were at all times left in the hulks to be punished by im prisonment, which might extend through the whole period for which they were adjudged to be sent abroad, although it was, and is, usual to discharge them after a detention of much inferior length. How far this disposition gradually to lessen the amount of punishment will be carried it is impossible to predict. All I can say is, that its progress is very rapid, and that it shows no signs of having approached its termination. After referring to the difficulties and perplexities of the Government in providing for the surpins numbers of prisoners thrown upon their hands by the stoppage of transportation, and of the great question of the day of making the " duration of imprisonment depen dent on the conduct of the prisoner," the learned recorder observed : But if you desire, as I most earnestly do, to see this principle universally adopted, you must be prepared to strengthen the hands of Government by advocating such a change in the law as will enable those who administer the criminal justice of the country to retain in custody all such as are convicted of crime until they have by sure and un• equivocal tests demonstrated that they have the will and the power to gain an honest livelihood when at large. You must be content that they shall be retained until habits of industry are formed, until moderate skill in some useful occupation is acquired, until the hard lesson of self-control is mastered—in short, until the convict ceases to be a cri minal, resolves to fulfil his duties both to God and to man, and has surmounted all obstacles against carrying such re solutions into successful action. But Mr. Hill is by no means inclined to shirk the question of the hitherto unreformable criminals, and suggests a remedy worthy of attention : But as no training, however enlightened and vigilant, will produce its intended effects on every individual sub jected to its discipline, what are we to do with the incu rable? We must face this question. We must not flinch from answering that we propose to keep them in prison until they are released by death. You keep the maniac in a prison, which you call an asylum, under similar condi tions. You guard against his escape until he is taken from you, either because he is restored to sanity, or has departed to another world. If innocent misfortune may and must be so treated, why not thus deal with irreclaim able depravity? This is a question which I have asked times out of number without ever being so fortunate as to extract a reply. It is always tacitly assumed that impri sonment must not be perpetual. But whether that assump tion is founded on any reason supposed to arise out of the nature of things, or whether it only rests on the present state of public feeling, I know not. If the former ground is taken, I would give much to learn what the argument is. When disclosed, I must either answer it or yield to it. But while I am kept in the dark, each alternative is shut against me. If, however, this assumed inadmissibility of perpetual imprisonment is rested on the present state of public sentiment, I have seen too often the change from wrong to right in that great power to despair of it becom ing an ally instead of an opponent. It is my belief that if long terms of imprisonment, even to perpetuity, were placed before the public mind as indissolubly connected with the privilege to the convict of working out his own redemption from thraldom, by proving himself fit for liberty, it would require no great lapse of time to produce the change in opinion which I contemplate. Upon the more immediate question of tickets of leave, in a further portion of his charge he reiterated the necessity of giving absolute powers to the magistracy to recal the tickets of offenders THE PRESS. Nor am 1, for one, much afraid that a power of this kind, however arbitrary, will be often abused. On the contrary, I believe the danger lies on the other side. It is so repug nant to the spirit of our laws to condemn without a trial, that an English Minister is under a much stronger tempta tion to withhold the exercise of such a power in cases where it is justly demanded than to use it oppressively. I have said that the working of the system has been, as I think, exaggerated, both by its opponents and its admirers, for evil and for good. For evil, because 1 feel certain that con victs who have now tickets of leave would have been released unconditionally, after a detention not very much greater than that to which they have been subjected under the new system. And I ground this opinion on three im• portant facts. Ist. On the growing impatience of revere punishments evinced by the public. 2nd. On the usage of liberating transports not sent abroad, long before their terms of transportation have expired. To these two facts have already adverted ; the third is, that the Legislature, when it substituted penal servitude for transportation, very much abridged the duration of the punishment. The real evil with which we have to contend stands thus. So long as we could impose our criminals on other communities, we did not trouble ourselves to cultivate the science of reformation, and now that this lazy and selfish resource has failed us, we, in the stress of our difficulties, are com pelled suddenly to call upon the functionaries of our gaols to perform a task demanding qualifications with which, without a long previous training, it is unreasonable to ex• pest them to be endowed, or at least in such full measure as to insure success. Having weighed these circumstances, you may perhaps arrive at the conclusion that no small portion of the unpopularity which has fallen upon the new system is produced by it having come into existence just at the time when the country was beginning to suffer from the augmented number of convicts, which the stoppage of transportation had liberated at home, instead of their being thrown into our colonial population as heretofore. The disease, if I may so illustrate my meaning, results from the obstruction of the accustomed outlet, namely, transporta tion ; but the remedy, the ticket-of-leave system, failing to work a perfect cure, has been censured, as if it were the cause of the malady. The reason why 1 think the system has been over-estimated for good as well as for evil is, because it applies only to a comparatively small class, and because the evidence of reformation remains doubtful, although I must admit much more cogent and applying to a larger proportion of the licences than I had expected to find it. And I make this admission without forgetting that large subtractions may be required from the estimated results. The estimate is that from eighty to ninety per cent. of convicts discharged with tickets of leave are per manently reformed. To the reformatory establishment at Mettray the learned recorder bore the highest testimony : There is, as you well know, an establishment, at Mettray, in France, for the reformation of juvenile offenders, which stands at the head of all reformatory in stitutions. Mettray enjoys every possible advantage. Its founder and chief director, M. de Metz (who, by his visit here last week, may be personally known to you), is a man of unrivalled ability, long experience, and unexampled devotion to his great enterprise; his institution has gra dually attained its present exalted height, by fifteen years of enlightened administration, conducted with sedulous care and assiduity. And yet even Mettray does not reclaim a greater proportion of its inmates than ninety per cent. Nevertheless ninety per cent. is to my mind a result so wonderful that nothing short of the very searching investi gations which I have had the opportunity of making could induce me to accept it as worthy of confidence ; and that being so I must be permitted to receive the estimate of re formations effected among the ticket-of-leave men with some doubt and misgiving, though with implicit reliance on the sincerity with which it is promulgated. The truth is, that permanent reformation demands years to test its reality, and the system has not been in operation for a suffi cient length of time to furnish the required proof. The probabilities certainly look the other way. Mettray deals with young and plastic minds and bodies. It retains its wards a long time, often for many years. None of them leave Mettray until employment is procured for them. Each is placed under the superintendence of some bene volent person residing in the neighbourhood of his master, who watches over the youth with the care of a guardian. Mettray is looked upon by those who have been its in mates as a home. It is a high gratification to them to visit their colonee, as they are taught to call it. If they have not failed in their duties they are always kindly wel comed, and should they through misfortune be thrown out of work, they find hospitable reception at Mettray. And in a few concluding sentences stated briefly but clearly his admirable views upon the leading princi ples of the right system to be adopted for the re formation of criminals. With Mr. Recorder Hill the lever of reformation is " industry." Nothing but bard work and poor diet—he attacks the moral through the physical—the weak point of criminals : That quality which, of all others, it is most essential should be acquired by the prisoner to insure him against relapse is industry. We can measure the quantity of labour and estimate its value, especially if it be of the simpler kinds, with some approach to accuracy. Let, then, an account be opened with each prisoner, placing to his credit the value of his labour ; the real value, if productive labour can be found ; an assumed value, or rather a value upon an assumed scale, if his labour be not of a produc tive kind. Let him clearly understand that each day's labour will tell upon his liberation. If large in quantity and good in quality, it will materially advance him on his way. On the other hand, if deficient in either of these at tributes, his progress will be retarded. But a distant future, however bright—and no brighter prospect can open to the eyes of a prisoner than that of liberty—will not suffice with out some hope of benefit nearer at band. Let the prisoner, then, be allowed to expend a kart of his earnings in the 975 improvement of his diet. By acting on these principles we shall have provided fur training hint in habits ut industry. But although industry will, when he leaves his prison, furnish hint with the means of honest maintenance, yet, unless he has learnt the art of seltgovernineut, he will nut be effectually protected against the temptations to fall back into evil courses by, which he will be assailed. Let him, then, be informed that every subtraction from the fund created by his labour for the indulgent)* of his palate will, like indolence, retard the hour of freedom. Thus he will be taught economy. Other habits are very desirable, but these are essential; and having explained how they may be induced, I must not dwell on the means of reformation at greater length. The principle that the convict should be detained until by industry and good conduct be has earned his right to be free was first enunciated by Archbishop Wbateley ; but it was developed into a system, and thus rendered capable of practical application, by Capt. Alaconochie. May his services even yet, late though it be, obtain for him some recognition from his country before the day shall arrive when earthly recompense will avail hint nothing. THE ROEBUCK TESTIMONIAL promises to receive extensive support in Bath. According to the Bath Journal, a meeting of gentlemen had been held to consider the best means of promoting the subscrip tions, and a resolution was unanimously adopted, acknowledging the ability, zeal, and fidelity with which Mr. Roebucks parliamentary career during twenty-three years has been so eminently distin guished ; the great value of his independent services to the country; and anticipating the pleasure with which the electors and others of Bath will embrace the opportunity of " contributing to a public testimo nial to be presented to him in recognition of his great national services, and in commemoration of his worth as a liberal, patriotic, and disinterested states man." . _ _ THE Inns, we see, not content with claiming Pelissier, the projector of the attack on the Malakoff, have claimed also M'Mahon, the actual captor of the Russian fort. A Moriat Mac Mahon, it is avowed, forfeited his estates on account of his fidelity to his king and his religion during the revolution. His grandson was naturalised in France in 1750, and settled in Burgundy, where the family are possessed of considerable property. The father of the present general was born at Autun, served in the French army, attained the raid( of lieut. general, and was made Grand Cross of the Order of St. Louis. STAG HOUNDS are to be introduced in Kent, in consequence of there being too few foxes. Mr. Waldo has been compelled to put down his pack of fox hounds, and proposes to hunt the county with stag hounds in lieu. The meets of these hounds will extend from Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells to the kennel at Kuockholt. The Cheltenham Stag Hounds commenced their hunting season yesterday, when the first stag was uncarted about seven miles from the old meet. THE RUNNER GENARO, who backed himself to outrun any number of horses for a given time, and who was defeated at a match a few days since in Paris, obtained a return match last Sunday at Long champs. The conditions of the race were, however, changed, and very much in favour cf the man. Instead of running equal distances, Genaro was only required to make three turns round the course for every four made by the horses, and he was allowed to walk when he pleased, whereas any horse ceasing for an instant to trot or gallop was to be deemed distanced. Instead of the duration of the match being indefinite, it was agreed that it should be limited to seven hours. The start took place at ten o'clock, eight horses starting, including Loto and Old Ireland, the conquerors on the former occasion. The l'aris papers characterise the whole affair as exceedingly stupid, and express no surprise at Genaro this time beating the horses. The value of the stakes was 2,000 f. A NEW ORGAN about to be erectedlat the Found ling, was tested on Monday at the factory of Messrs. Bevington's, the builders. The organ is a very fine one, and reflects credit upon the skill of the builders, each manual extending from CC to C, with a set of pedals of 21 octaves. The organ contains forty-fonr sups in all, exclusive of five on the pedal, and five on the pedal octave. The organ hitherto in use at the Foundling was the one presented to the institu tion by Handel. The inside has been removed, and the new organ, by the Messrs. Bevington, will be placed in the original case. A TOTAL. ECLIPSE of the moon is to take place on the 25th of October. It will commence at tifty.three minutes past five in the morning, will be totally imr mersed at thirty-three minutes past six, and at its height at thirty-eight minutes past seven. The moon will begin to emerge at twenty-eight minutes past eight, and the eclipse will terminate at twenty three minutes past nine. We shall only see it par tially, as on that day the moon sets at thirty-three minutes past six. The astronomers of Australia will alone be able to watch its phases. AN Enormous Vassar., bearing the name of Mala koff, and having the same proportions as the Napo leon, has Just been launched at Toulon.