The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-08-15 00:00:00

CRIME AND IGNORANCE.

THE Calendar of Prisoners now being tried at the
summer assizes here is one. of unprecedented
blackness, whether we regard the number or
character of the offences committed. The Hon.
Mr. Baron MARTIN, in delivering his charge to
the Grand Jury at the opening of the court,
solemnly declared that iu the course of his whole
experience he had never before seen a. calendar
containing the record 'of so great an amount of
crime. "It is now," continued the learned judge,
" only four' Months since-the last assizes were held
in this county, and during that short period no less
than seven prisoners have been committed for the
crime of wilful murder—seven murders had been
committed—and from the perusal of the deposi-
tions, borne of them are of such an atrocious
character as I never before heard of. In addition to
those seven murders, there are no less-than eleven
cases of manslaughter—some of them' nearly ap-
proaching the crime of murder itself. I, therefore,
find that there is this melancholy fact, that dur-
ing this very short period being only four
months—there have been sixteen cases of homi-
cide, committed in this division of the county.
In addition,to tbese cases of homicide there are

seventeen cases of burglary, these offences being
thus greatly on the-increase.. With respect to. the
other cases in the calendar, I beliete that, short
• of treason; it contains everj.•description Yitcrime
that is known. Such a calendar," he repeated, " I
never saw in the whole course ofiny experience."
4t the opening of the AuguSt session .'of the
Central Criminal Court, on Monday last, the
Recorder declared that, besides f a deplorably nu-
merous calendar, "several of the cases were of a
more serious character than he ever remembered,
during his 'experience in that court." We might,
if necessary, add Many more judicial testimonies
to the.lamentable,fact, that crimes of the; deepest
• dye hive been greatly on- the: ncrease--of late. in
all parts of the country; and
.itisonly recentV
that we had to refer in this part of our Colum'
!is
.to the dreadful truth, that all over the world the.
dismal catalogue of atrocious, crimes.. has been in
.
our- day continually" SWelling itself out to the
most hideous dimensions.
Facts, however painful, ought to be looked
straight in the face. Let us notattenipt to con-
ceal,to far less exeuse, or make light
of that which we, may, dislike to' contemplate
seriously, but dare nct deny.. Let us seck.to get
at the producing causes, and. 'see what can' be
itnyi,ninadcicssoemr ptaatiii
done to remove them.sia slkoVhl
over tne depraved ie ei
ied
•
by some . vigorous and adequate exertions to
remedy • the :evils that• afflict it, are worse than
u,eless. If 'the -mass be morally diStased and sick
we must ta o something iq weep and pine in
silent sorrow,---we must
seek cutthe scat of the
canker and purge it to a pristine health ;--we must
try at leak, to find the remedy and do 'our utmost to
apply it. There is a, miserable class of physicians
.•
whose wretched policy is, for the sake of fees, to
endeavour to make their patient's cure as slow and
incomplete as may at all consistent with the
appearance of truth and honesty. There are:
moral and spiritual coacks,;as..well.as:thOse. who
deal in more material medicines. There is a class

of traffickers in men's mental weaknesses, who
would live by maintaining superstitious beliefs
as to the real state of our ,moral- condition—
who depreciate every effort, not their own, to pre-
scribe for the case—and who urge the people to
place their reliance for a cure wholly upon some
vaunted specific of their own. Such men may
always; be discovered by their frequent, though
generally indirect and half-disguised attacks upon
the value of education, and by, their attempts to
sneer at the . progress and, of the
age. Such facts as we have just enumerated, as
to the statistics of the present assize, 'invariably
furnished those, unhappy people with a text for
an. eloquent denunciation of Science and Art, and,
the efforts of " Educationalists" and " Secularists,"
as they are called. Now, we know that educa-
tion
cannot, of itself change a man's moral nature.
We are perfectly orthodox on that point ; but we
undertake to say it has much, very much, to do
with' the prevention of crime; because we find
that our criminal population are all but ,wholly
uneducated.

That crime and even superior education are not
altogetherincbriipatible may at once be admitted,
without injuring our argument—for • the excep
tion only proves. the _rule.. .Take the present
calendar, to which we •have adverted, and see how
the facts stand with reference to this' point. In
a list which comprises ninety prisoners, ,charged
with almost every. species of known= crime, how
many do we find in it -pOSSessing a good educa-
tion ? ONLY ONE ! And the crime charged
against him is only that of forging
,and uttering.
certain receipts for money. Of the remainder
only' fourteen can road and write well. All the
others have had no eclucation, at all worthy
of the name. Nor is this calendar different in
these respects from• former 'calendars here or
elsewhere. They all tell one and the same
story, and point conclusively to the existence
of the same relation between -crime and want
of education, It is, therefore, useless to tell
us of all that has been done in the cause of educaT.
tion, so long as we
.have a large body of the
people unblessed by its humanising influences',
Neither must we content ourselves with aiming at
the low standard of educating the peOple merely
to read and write. These are but instruments
which may be • used for good or evil: We must
train the people to think and act intelligently,
according to their several capacities and the
sphere in which their lot has been..cast.. Could
such 'a
desirable consummation be attained, -who
will dare- to • deny that we might justifiably
calculate On a dhniOutioh of the moral malaria
'aid): at present deVaiilates" the ,masses? And
becau4e, there maybe many difficult-leg in the way
of attaining that end, are we' to he—thereby
deterred .from the attempt ; or shall we be dis-
heartened- in our. effbrts by craven fears of
ultimate failure ? While we necessarily devote
much,'•of Mir time and means in preparations to
resist the foreign invader, let us not, forget to
• -
arm ourselves against the, great internal foe of
ignorance. Let us all be volunteers in the cause
of education, and never relax our most energetic
endeavours on its behalf until we" have banilied
the denion of moral darkness. and , superstition
from the Mind of every Englishman.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE

------~

FRANCE.-
(FROM. OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
TUESDAY, August 14.
The Emperor, not satisfied with the eulogistic
Way 'in whieh "'the Moniteur, by his iMperial
command, haS expatiated on the services rendered
to the State bY.the Corps Legishitif, the Council.
of State, and the Senate, is about to confer upon.
A great many of the members of these various
bodies the decoration of the Legion of Honour.
It is fair, how ever, to say that, among the
decores, there are to be included several dis-
tinguished men of letters. MM. My. Lafou
and Victor Sejour, M. Leon Laya, the successful
author of Due J:ub, and M. Cormon, who at this
moment discharges the functions of director of
la. scone at the Grand Opera, will all deservedly
figure in the list of new appointments. The
last of the Imperial becrees was, signed on.
Stind4; and they will all bear that the, nomina-
tions have heen made at the instance of one or
other of the members of the Cabinet..
You are aware that the, Emperor, on the death
of Prince Jerome, continued to Prince Napoleon
the use of the Palace Royal as a residence, to-
. gether with the allowance of 300,000 francs per
annum. But it turns out that the Castle of Meu-.
don was also included in the allowance.' All the
arrangements relative to the attendants of the
palace have been in consequence upset, and there
is 'no longer. a military commandant of the palace.
I hear that all the employes who are effected by
this change havelnet, and have addressed a peti-
tion: to the Erriperor.. The petition was taken by
'one of them to the camp at Chalons; who placed it
in The hands of his Majesty at the very moment;
when he was in the act of reviewing the troops.
It is said that,their request that the establishment
at the Palais Royal be kept up, will be granted by
his Majesty.
In the absence of the Ernpress, the distribution
of the prizes to .the pupils of the various Imperial
charities at St. Denis, atEconeu, and at Loges,
took place under' the auspices of the Princess
Clotilde, who is not wont to appear much in
publiO.

The feeling here on the subject of Syria, for
the moment, is, that affairs
.are mending, if they
have not been already considerablyimproved; but
one vessel after another continues to leave either
Marseilles or Toulon with troops. From Athens
letters have been received containing, among
other things, most severe comments on the con-
duct of the representatives of. the Great Powers
in Syria for allowing themselves to be duped
with the farce of 'a treaty of peace between,
the Marmiites and the Druses. It was all a piece
of humbug, according to these writers. It is also
stated that I. Le Normant, whose long and
interesting-i-though somewhat partial—Jetter was
recently published in the Paris journals,-isto fol-:
low up that communication by the publication of
a pamphlet, in which-he• will addrees himself to
the task of detailing, with the most scrupulotts
exactitude, all the facts connected with the
events' in Syria. The opinion still prevailS,
and is acted upon, at Athens, that these:
events are manifestly the fruits of a vast
conspiracy, organised by secret societies and
and their ramifications, extending into Algeria on
the one side, and embracing the whole of the
provinces of the Ottoman Empire on the other;
and_also, that ,the ignorance .and fanaticism of
Turks is, so excessive, as to render every:kind of
present reform. and improvement impossible, and;
every hope for the future, desperate. By the last
accounts from• Alexandria, Colonel Osmont,-chief
of the 'staff of • General- Beaufort -d'Hantpiitil,"
arrived at'Bbyront'bff the 3M by the EuphiateS,
and' commissary-General Molly :iiriis!,ed on tin)
stli'by.. the Her On. M. --de' Is. Ronelere le,Naery,
who has been sent by the Government to Candle,
has had his slestivation altered. He has . been
charged by the. Emperor with, n,mission -to -Jeru-
salem, and is 'already as far Jaffa on his-way to
the Holy City. The object of this mission has not
yet transpired. „
The transport 'YOnne has arrived. at Algiers,
and taken onboard the urtil4ry destined for
SyCia.., It is also, mentioned that the Algerines
in 'the French' service have subscribed a con-
siderable sum
,for tho.,l7.ePcf of the sufferers by
the massacre. The .Nord says that.- a„.large
amoUut,of money is being collected for the same
object among the .principal members of the Turk-
ish persuasion in Russia.
The movements 'of Garibaldi are in • the course
of being gradually relieved of their mystery,• and
probably in my .letter of to-morrow I shall be
able to give you some interesting details of them.
Yesterday the BourSe; which has' been of late
in -a state of almost -complete repose,. suddenly
.showed signs of an animation which was not antici-
pated. There was a tendency
to a_conOderable
owing), -it -is understood, to, certain , political
rumours of
.an uneasy nature which. -it was im-
possible, to control. The Threes werp done at
67f: 90c., and- at one time threatened' to go still
lower. There was also a depreciation in most
other securities; '; • '

FRANCE.
PARIS, August 14.
The Emperor will return to Paris to-morrow

THE FRENCH FUNDS.
PARIS, August 14.

3 30 p.m.—The Bourse has been very dull, but
quotations have improved. Rentes closed at 68f.,
being a rise of I- on yesterday's prices.

MOLDAVIA.

CATTARO, Aug. 13.

Prince Daniel, of Montenegro, expired here
to-day from the effects of the wound received on
Sunday last.. . , •