The Press.
London, England, 1853-05-21 00:00:00

MAY 21, 1853.

if nut the necessity, of the ultimate reutoval of convicts

from oar shores.
Such has been the judgment hitherto pronounced by
Parliament on this subject ; and I am persuaded that there
is not a magistrate who has any emwrience of thee adminis-
tration of the criminal law, especially in the ruml districts,
who will not express a strong opinion as to the great advan-
tage of not allowing 1111•11 who lime isen vunnictett of
serious crimes to return to their former homes. In come
try villages the occasional return of sueh men is almost
invariably attended with bad effects. They cannot, for the
reasons which have been 80 often explained, find the means of
maintaining themselves honestly. They are dtiven to re.
same their former bad habits; and,.ll the spirit of _slava&
which is so general among criminals, they make light of
the punishment they have undergone, mid thus destroy the
wholesome terror of the law in thee minds of the least
steady of the young men of their neighbourhood, whom
they instruct in all the arts and practices of ciimiuids.
If this happens now, when only a small per ventage of
criminals sentenced to transportation ever return to their
homes, what will be the consequence when sons! two or
time thousand men, who under the existing system would
lost •Tranently renewed from the l'uitell kingdom, are to
be annually turned loose ou society?
Lord Campbell has expressed the same
opinion ; and we concur with Lord Grey in
thinking that the opinion of magistrates and
judges will generally be found on the same
side. It remains to be seen whether these
high authorities will be disregarded, on the
plea that they are " behind the age." It re-
mains also to be seen what punishment the
Duke of Newcastle has substituted for that
which he proposes to abolish by a stroke of
his pen. Hitherto his work hits been the easy
one of criticism and destruction.
Of New Zealand, the brief notice which
Lord Grey gives us is full of interest. He has
been less successful in dealing with South
African affairs ; the reserve of the ex-minister
interfering with the licence of the historian.
It is clear that he does not tell us all he knows,
much less all he thinks ; and this reticence
throws an air of obscurity over the narrative.
It remains only to observe on the style and
tone of this work. The former is remarkably
characteristic of the writer—plain, perspicuous,
totally devoid of ornament and even of verbal
point, diffuse rather than eompressed, but
everywhere clear and intelligible. Lord Grey
evidently cares little for the verdict of literary
critics, and is satisfied if he can make his
meaning understood. He is, from first to last,
the minister and parliamentary debater ad-
dressing an imaginary audience, or vindicating
his policy in an elaborate minute. But, though
the whole tenor of the work is argumentative,
there is a striking absence of controversial
acerbity. Questions on which Lord Grey has
been assailed with a personal virulence rarely
witnessed in these days are discussed by him
in a temper not only calm but passionless, and
with a dignity the more impressive beetutse
evidently unstudied. In the thousand octavo
pages of which these volumes consist, frequent
reference is made to individuals whose sole
claim to notice lies in the frantic invectives
which they lutve at various times heaped on
the writer. In no instance are these persons
mentioned with censure, fitr less with any
appearance of prejudice or personal dislike.
So complete a separation of general and private
interests—so utter an abstraction front self—
is proof of no common organisation. In this
respect, if in no other, Lord Grey has set an
example which few public men can follow, but
which tends to raise the character, not only of
the individual, but of the class.

Journal of a Cruise (many the Islands of tke
Western Pacific. By John Elpl►inrstone Ers•
kine, Captain R.N. London : Mu►tiny.
UPON the permanent appointment of it co►n-
mnanding naval officer to the Australian station,
►unler Sir George Orey's government, it plan
was formed for a periodical inspection of all
the islands of consequenee w►thin the limits
of his command, and the first cruise with this
object, of which the work before ns contains
the notes, was made in H.M.S. Havannah in
1849. -

The later Freneh geographers, and the
writers on the ethnography and geology of
oeenniea attached to the United States Ex.
ploring Squadron under Lieut. Wilkes, divide
the eighty thousand square miles of islands
which dot the ten millions of like measure-
ment comprising the Pacific Oceans into five
parts—Australia, Malaisia, Micronesia, Poly
UMW., and Melanesia. With the latter Captain