The Press.
London, England, 1853-12-24 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

as a fitting designation for manful efforts in a
sound cause. The Birmingham Conference
for the Reformation of Young Criminals would
twenty years ago have been sneered at as
Visionary, or pitied as fanatical. It is now
supported by a large body of ]►ublic men,—
approved of by all, lauded by the press, anti
presided over by one who, in his double capa-
city as a Minister having held high office, and
as an active country gentleman, is well entitled
to take the lead in a matter affecting; the ad-
ministration of justice. The old theory of
dealing with crime was simple, consisting
merely in the infliction of pain or punish-
ment, —useless us regarded the offender—ser-
viceable only by way of intimidation to others,
and even in this respect very imperfectly ful-
filling its object, by reason of the uncertainty
of deteetions. The new system endeavours
to deal with the criminal as with a being
capable of self-improvement—as with one who
has offended indeed against the laws of
society, and who is bound to make reparation,
but who is not on that account necessarily
irreclaimable unless made so by treating him
as such. Prevention of offences—reclamation

of oflenders—removal of the most ordinary in
centives to crime—punishments mild, but cer-
tain—such are the outlines of the judicial
administration which we arc now endeavour-
ing to perfect.. But the case of juvenile cri-
minals is peculiar. It may be true, as the
more sceptical sort arc fond of repeating, that
a num hardened in crime—an habitual inmate
of gaols—has neither the will nor the power to
alter his habits. He has been brought up to
the life he leads, and he means to follow it,
taking the bad with the good, weighing the
chance of punishment against the certainty of
plunder. Of such persons we admit we should
be sorry to predicate reformation as a proba-
ble or credible event. Their penitence is
usually by good conduct in gaol
is only making the best of an unpleasant posi-
tion They have chosen their career, and
rarely, very rarely, do they change it. But
the case is precisely contrary with those de-
linquent juveniles who may occasionally he
seen struggling in the grasp of a huge police-
man, and asserting their innocence with
astounding audacity in the face of the clearest
proofs of guilt. They have never shown any
predilection for their occupation ; they had no
choice in the matter ; it is the only art they
know—the only kind of industry of which they
have ever learnt the rudiments. Criminal in
act, they are innocent in intention. Flog
them—confine them—treat them as deliberate
law-breakers, and they accept their punish-
ment as a natural result of detection, not by
,my means as a process meant for their per-
sonal benefit or warning. To change their
habits you must get them away from parents
and friends—all thieves alike ; you must
break through the associations of their former
existence, place them in a new moral atmo-
sphere, and give them a chance to start fait in
the life-rare. This cannot be done in gaols,
nor through the medium of an ordinary
prison discipline. Separate institutions, pecu-
liar treatment. are requisite ; and this neces-
sity has already been recognised both on the
Continent and in the American States. To
carry out a similar work in England is the de-
sign of Sir JoHN PAKINtITON and Mr. ADDERLEY
and we trust that neither foreign war nor fac
lion at home will divert Parliament from the
consideration of so useful a project.

THE LEADER " ON " YOUNG TORY
PROTESTANT I SM."
WE shall probably have ample occasion here-
after to indicate, with a view to practical
results, the nature of the securities we may
require against Rome; and neither on this
head, nor on the broad constitutional grounds
ant which such securities may be hereafter de-
manded. need we say anything further at pre-
sent. Our deliberate preference of Protestant
truth over Romanist error is an independent,
though not an indifferent, consideration, ou
incidental allusion to which on Saturday week
has attracted the notice of a talentoil Contem-
porary. We should have little difficulty, we

SATURDAY,

imagine, if we were open to such a discussion,
in relieving ourselves from the imputation of
inaintaining contradictory tenets on this
subject; but the bearings of the Absolute and
Relative are a little too transcendental for our
theory of the purpose of a weekly leading
article. We must refer our Contemporary to
the experience of those who hold that the
facts of nature as unfolded in science are the
only sure revelation, and that the correct read-
ing of them is found in AtioesvE COMTE, and
not in PALEY or others, for an illustration of
the point at which " the infallibility of fact,"
his own absolute and eternal, "passes into the
relative and transitory." While he is con-
sidering this, we may explain on another
point—that we are not amenable to the charge
of religious persecution if we apply to Roman-
ists the same measures that would be rightly
applied by them to Protestants, if the latter
asserted similar claims ; and measures which
would also be applied to the Positivists if they
interfered in the same manner, and which we
believe the Positivists themselves would re-
sort to, if, on the other hand, their liberty was
becoming gradually endangered. We can, in-
deed, conceive an unusual equanimity upon such
matters in those who take " the world as a text-
" book, truth and human happiness as the
" goal, and the Infinite as an aspiration and a
" recompense." But even they must have their
limits at which they would—we will not say
persecute—but take securities against the ag-
gressions which may terminate in a persecu-
tion of themselves. We cannot suppose that
they would carry beyond a certain point even
their isolated indifference, or that; in the face
of apprehended danger, Positivism would take
its injured disciple by the hand, and say,
" There is the Infinite, my young friend,—take
" your change out of that."

STRIKES AND PAROCHIAL RELIEF.
THREE weeks since we called attention to the
subject of the parochial relief which the opera-
tives on strike could claim as a right, and the
conditions on which it should be granted. We
pointed out how unjust it would be to permit
men, who had failed to reduce the masters to
their terms by abstaining from work, to live in
voluntary idleness, in the workhouse, on those
rates which are derived from the masters
property. Since then the attention of the
Poor Law authorities has been turned to the
point, and last Friday, at Haslingden, in
Lancashire, Mr. H. B. FARNALL, the Poor Law
Inspector of the district, addressed a special
meeting of the guardians on the propriety of
applying a labour test before relief was granted
to " turn-outs." In that union the number in
receipt of parochial aid is nearly three times
as many as nt the corresponding period of lust
year, and it is believed that in the districts
where strikes prevail the guardians will not
only have the " turn-outs " to deal with, but also
120,000 others, who, though still at work, are on
short time. Of 115 indoor and 2,069 outdoor
recipients of relief at Haslingden, the average
annual cost per head is 31. 2s. 4d., so that,
viewed simply as a question of money, the
crisis that has arisen is most serious. but it
is more than a mere question of money ; other
and higher considerations are involved in it—
justice, the right of all men to a subsistence,
and the relations that shall in future subsist
between labour and capital. We warned the
men on strike that with mid-winter the pit-
tance procured from their fellow-workers
who were still employed would cease, and
already there are indications that the verifica-
tion of our prediction is near. Not only are
the applications for parochial relief numerous,
but intimidation is extensively resorted to
in the mills to extort weekly subscriptions for
those on strike. These have, in many instances,
been refused, not from any disinclination to
give, but because others could say in
the words of a poor widow at Bury,
from whom one of " the ringleaders" with
oaths and threats endeavoured to obtain
money, " I cannot pay, I have nothing to pi y
" with ;II will not borrow, and I have tut
" enough for myself." Under these circum-
stances it is clear that very soon the only alter-

DECEMBER 24, 1853.

native the men will have will be submission
to the masters or the workhouse. As the law
stands every one is entitled to relief, but the
guardians cm insist on the performance of
labour in return. For some time after the in-
troduction of the present Poor Law this labour.
which operat.'d as a test of the necessities of
the applicant. was rigorously enforced, but when
that wholesome rigour had broken the de-
grading habit, which was once almost universal
amongst the labouring classes, of applying to
the parish on all occasions, the labour test fell
into practical desuetude. Mr. FAnsvm., the
inspector, in the face of existing and impend-
ing events, strenuously recommends a revival of
this test, and at Wigan, Preston, and Burnley
his advice was taken ; whilst at Rochdale the
zeal of the guardians seems to have antici-
pated and exceeded his wishes. There
`• committee had been appointed to negotiate
` for the purehame of lands upon which to cm-
• ploy all able-bodied paupers, no matter from
• .shat eawie they were efonpelltd to apply file
• relief." We think we have heard of one Joux
Banner in connection with Rochdale ; we be-
lieve he is a very considerable ratepayer of
that town ; did his gentle and dove-like spirit
animate the words we have put in italics ?
Mr. FARNALL recommends vigorous but not
ineonsiderate measures. To those able-bodied
men who apply for relief, either because they
are idle or dissolute, or in consequence of the
strikes, he would apply a test ; whilst in favour
of others who are suffering because
,the mills
are working short time he recommends,
" without pretending in the slightest degree
" to pledge the Poor Law Board," a recon-
sideration, with a view to their relaxation, of
those orders which relate to " giving relief to
" persons while employed for wages." This
advice seems reasonable ; but the great diffi-
culty is, what kind of labour shall the test con-
sist of? It may be compiled that though no
wan can be allowed to starve, yet that, before
he receives relief, labour can be demanded
from him for it in return ; but. it is not so clear
that
,justice will warrant the application of a
uniform test to all kinds of men. Digging is
the simplest and the most remunerative,
therefore it is generally adopted. To an
able-bodied agricultural Jubourer this would
be rather an amusement than a toil, and
would in leis ease be consluene 1., health ,
but what would it lee to the rile welt% yr,
accustomed to the sitmosphere of the lost
facto y, enfeebled and attenuated hy the
sufferings of the long strike, by the gnaw ings
of hunger borne under the bitter cold of the
early winter? It would be torture to all,
disease to many, death to sonic. Therefore,
though we think it absolutely just and neces-
sary to have seine test, and that, too, so severe
that no man would prefer it to labour for
wages, yet we think a uniform test would
operate unequally and therefore unjustly. To
one man it would be play, to another torture.
But the guardians of Haslingden, differing
from their brethren of Wigan, Preston,
Burnley, and Rochdale, without troubling
themselves with distinctions, rejected the
advice of the Poor Law Inspector in auto.
They refused to apply any test.
We should like to know to what grade of
society these guardians Meng. They are
certainly not manufacturers, otherwise their
own interests would have induced them to
adopt some test. Neither should we suppose,
from the choice and chaste diction of their
final resolution, that they belong to those
" unproductive" classes who have time to
think of other things than money. These are
the words:—" That we carry on as we are, and
`• relieve them as we have relieved them.'
Perhaps they are some of Lord Jon N 111.78/4ELL's
new ten-pounders, who, being neither menu-
hie turers nor landowners, would not per-
-onally be materially affected by any increase
in the poor rates. while they reflect that popu-
larity is always pleasant and sometimes pro
fitable. But. whatever they are. Mr. FAIINALL
warned them that they were
law in refusing to adopt a test. and that the
remedy was in the hands of the auditor It is
three weeks since We vaned attention to this
subject, and warned the men that if they re
sorted to the workhouse a test would be ap
plied to them. We did not then, nor do we
now, express any opinion on the merits of