The Press. — London, England, 1856-04-05 00:00:00

THE WEEK. For once the Government has had tho start of the journals in conveying an important item of intelligence to the public. It was generally rumoured, on Sunday last, that the Treaty of Peace would most likely be signed at Paris that day , but nothing like assurance was felt on the subject till the guns of the Park and the Tower began to boom. At ten o'clock the roar of the first gun was heard, and the exclamation was on every lip, before the second explosion burst, " Peace has been signed !" The bells of some of the metropolitan churches soon after rang in " The reign of Pence," and continued their peals until past midnight The announcement has been received in France with an enthusiasm easily understood. The Conscription presse , z heavily on the French people—the loss of the French army has been immense—and all classes are glad at the termination of a •.car which bore heavily on home and industry, and promised no immediate advantage. Paris has been brilliantly illumi nated. In compliance with French sentiment, the Treaty has been signed with the plume of an eagle in the Jardin des Plantes, and the pen, after its work was done, was mounted on a gold stand, covered with a crystal dome, and placed under guardianship of the Empress. We manage these matters differently in England. Our Queen was intent on the much homelier duty of providing artificial arms and legs for her maimed soldiers. Her Majesty's letters to FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, her visits to the military hospitals, her distribution of medals to the Crimean invalids, might be regarded as public displays, and so far be depreciated ; but her care to replace—so far as art can replace nature —the limbs which the noble soldiers of England have lost in England's cause, shows a homely, tender, maternal care and sympathy which must and will for ever endear the name of VICTORIA to the hearts of the English people. But though the Treaty has been signed, and the Baltic squadron has been recalled, and the mightiest fleet that ever old ocean bore on its bosom exists only for show, the work of the diplomatists is far from being ended. The Conference assembled again last Wednesday, and the details of the arrangement to be made respecting the Chris tian subjects of the Porte, and the administration of the Principali• ties, will probably take some time to settle. It would seem most politic to erect the Danubian provinces into an independent State, and on this point the nominal suzerainty claimed by the Porte ought not, one would think, to be dealt with too scrupuloasly. By the appointment of Mr. KEOGH to the Irish Bench, the Go• vernment has. of two evils, chosen that which it esteemed to be the least. If Mr. KEOGH had been passed over, it would have been received as an acknowledgment that he was not fit for the Bench, and if not fit for the Bench, how fit to be her Majesty's Attorney-General in Ireland ? What a fine field is now open for the Administrative Re formers ! What will Mr. TITE say ? Will he declare that Mr. KEOGH on the Bench is the right man in the right place ? Sir JOHN SHELLEY'S motion, though it. missed its aim, gained its object by a chance shot. The excitement caused by the motion, and by the receipt of so many addresses by the grand juries of Ireland, hastened, it is supposed, the end of the venerable judge, though his intellect to the last was as clear as it had ever been, and he died in harness. By Mr. KEOGH'S eleva tion, there are two more vacancies in the Irish representi.tion for Athlone and Ennis, and we trust that the constituencies will follow the good example of Sligo and New Ross, and return independent members. No institution could possibly serve Ireland more than raising the status of her representatives. The fatal. habit of choosing adventurers has depressed her position in the United Empire. The influence of her name would he great if her political self-respect was increased, and if she would elect some of the real gentry, who would do honour to her name. We trust that at Athlone public spirit will be shown, and that the borough will free itself from the rule of the clique which has too long been allowed an ascendancy. The gentry of Clare ought to supply an independent candidate for Ennis in place of Mr. FITZGERALD, who uses the borough merely as a stepping-stone to the Bench. The report of the Peace Banquet at Paris, this week, has excited — as chroniclers of fact we must speak the truth—it feeling of great sur prise, not unmixed with indignation, in this country. The phrase of Count WALEwsm, that the peace was humiliating to no one, that it was humbling to no one, and honourable to all, has excited much and angry comment. If the Count merely intended to be complimentary to the Russian Plenipotentiaries, his phrase was yet not happily chosen. He should have remembered the proverb of his country, Qui s'excuse s'accuse, and should rather have dwelt on the bright future than have excited reminiscences of the dark past. On this subject some contributions have reached us, which, to speak frankly, we must not insert. Their tenor may be judged by two of the mildest verses we can find in a poetic piece addressed to Lord CLARENDON : Not humbled, say they ; then in God's name say What have we fought for so fierce and long? Is blood and agony toasted away, And no one humbled, and no one wrong? N.tv, if the foe is not humbled sore, It itinlpled sorely is England's word ; Aml the traitors who shamed the hommrs they bore, Shall answer an angry land, my lord. We notice that the Del►ntr, which bas been forward in declaring that the peaco is eminently and entirely I•'renc•h, warmly eulogises ti►e docility of 1, , ml CLAnccnoN, and declares that he has acted in the SATURDAY, spirit of his declaration to the House of Lords, when th e R uss i an acceptance of the peace propositions was first announced:— And for my own part (said Lord Clarendon) I think that the Emperor of Russia has shown great moral courage in at once accepting terms which he has reason to believe are displeasing to .he war party in Russia. I hope he will continue to exhibit the same moral courage, and that be will, without any attempt at evasion, abide by the letter and spirit of these terms. Should he do so, I think we have a prospect of speedily obtaining that which has throughout been the object of the war—a safe and honourable peace. Hy an honourable peace, I mean a peace which will be honourable to both parties; for a peace which would degrade Russia would not be a safe peace. The Dublin Nation has printed an ingenious paper to show that JouN SADLEIR forged himself, and that he has played the trick of a pretended death and a suppositious corpse. The notion that SADLEIR is still alive has made some converts, and we could name shrewd per sons who are of opinion that he has escaped with his plunder. There are some prima-facie evidences to support the proposition. The body was not carefully identified at the inquest; the reports of the press testified to a change in the face of the deceased, and his looking older than he really was. Again, if he had committed suicide at midnight (or thereabouts), it is argued in medical quarters that the rigor mortis would not so soon have set in, and the retired spot at which the body was found is adduced as an additional cause far suspecting that a body had been conveyed there. ELWYN, the butler, fancied that his master wanted the poison for a hair-wash, such as might hare been used for dying the hair of a corpse taken for the purpose of imposture. According to this supposition, then, JOHN SADLICIR is not dead, but comfortably enjoying himself in some spot more comfortable than he would be likely to find the Elysian Fields, or even the purgatory of his faith. The body of a man bearing some general resemblance to that of SADLEIR being found, the whole fraud would be easy enough. "Death is a great disguiser," says the great observer SHAKESPEARE, when making the Duke, in Measure for Measure, contemplate a similar deception. There is a likelihood in the unlikelihood of the notion favorable at first sight to its truth. Who cannot recal numerous instances of like shams, perpetrated by Irish ingenuity, of coffins filled with brick-bats being interred in family vaults, and of dead men assisting with infinite jollity at their own " wake "? Necessity is the mother of invention. We not long since heard of a gentlemen, who, being seized on by bailiffs, at Cremorne, slipped a couple of sovereigns into their hands, desiring them to wait for him at the doors, as he did not wish to break up his party, and then going up with Mr. GREEN in his balloon, and landing somewhere in Essex, while the officers were scrutinising the company as they left the gardens. The suspected fraud would he more in character with SADLEIR'S whole proceedings than his suicide, and would form a fitter termination to the Tipperary swindle. What JouN SADLEIR did with the two hundred thousand pounds he is acknowledged to have drawn from the bank is a mys tery ; and what has become of the other two hundred thousand pounds of deficiency is a greater mystery still. I t is, however, unnecessary to state the arguments on the other side, as Mr Coroner WAKLEY has, with a few words, put the ingenious supposition to flight. He knew JOHN SADLEIR well—examined his features attentively at the inquest —and, with professional accuracy, turned the hair off the forehead, remarking how free the deceased was from baldness. His evidence sets a matter at rest which otherwise might have remained in dispute, to the great profit of some Dickens of the next generation. The debate on Thursday night is a sign that Parliament is awakening to the extreme urgency of the convict difficulty. In deal ing with penal servitude as a substitute for transportation, several points have to be considered. First, its comparative deterring in fluence. Secondly, the wishes of the Colonies on the subject. Thirdly, the ultimate reformation of the criminal himself. Fourthly, the effect upon society in this country. Now, as Sir JOHN PARINOTON very justly observes, there is no comparison between the severity of seven years' transportation and four years' penal servitude, which has been fixed as its equivalent. And this is the scale on which all the periods are framed. Expatriation possesses great terror, and we doubt if any method of imprisonment at home will be found equal to it. In regard to the ultimate reformation of the criminal, the argu ments are still more in favour of the old system, while as it affects the security of society in England, the question admits of not one moment's doubt. But there remains the reluctance of the colonists, and we cannot see how this is to be overcome Some little while ago, however, there was a great deal said about the capabilities of the Falkland Islands as penal settlements. Why should this point not be looked into? We next come to the ticket-of-leave system. Sir Jons PAKINOTON does not consider the result of this as at present dis couraging "Of the tickets of leave granted since the system came " into operation, not more than five and a half per cent. had_ been " recalled for misconduct." This is, of course, gratifying; but what we wish to see carried out is some scheme for the assistance of the ticket-of-leave man himself. If the public will not employ him, we think the Government ought. Great care will, however, be neces sary to prevent imprisonment becoming anything like a passport to a permanent or superior provision. If ticket-of-leave men are employed, for instance, upon Government works, their wages and food must not be made superior to those of the free labourer. All that is wanted is to give them a start; to find some sort of intermediate station between the prison and the world, which may smooth the reentrance to the latter, and by which the transition from confinement to liberty nr-ty be rendered a little less sudden. Let the convict be stamped with the approbation of a Government inspector, as well as of a gaol chaplain, and he will rind his way much easier in the world than it is a: present. All accounts from Ireland tell us, that THE PRESS articles on the Sadleir case have created an " immense sensation " throughout the island. It is not only in Conservative circles that they are read and THE PRESS. 324