The Press.
London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

I waa 111141tYcl% ed. like thousand:4—but too late. I had
raised my bubbles gaily, and they burst while 1 tt as gazing
at them. I was now in my simple home %min, but help'.
Ilegb was DO more. My early amusements had no chasm
now. AU was too.. I could only feel 1 was unhappy,
without a lope to Cheer in. it. to the noun.% Snowdon
looked frowning at me—the hills became gloomy ONeelpi.
Wftrl I really set apart to endure a peculiar destiny!' Oh,
no--1 was only one in the MAI% of sufferers, who east their
all upon a worldly die, mid draw a blank.
It is in the utteratiee of such ladylike
moralising that this writer excels. Her pen
easily runs into this %Ail' of writing ; and her
emotional passages have great sweetness, if
they have but little strength. Here is a short
rithhage highly eharaeteristie of her Milli-
ner:—

1 have often been surpriaed at novele. They pnifess to
display charaeter and exemplify life. Alas ! they end
where they should beautiful young woman, con-
fused among a shoal of ailittin.ni, choosing one whose
ample brow or ending hair has horns away the' rise from
all ettlitiwiitons, sparkles awhile, creates envy and leasing,
and leaves us in a wreath of 'nano flowers; while we twit
from the altar to gaze after the meteor, behold her entering
a chariot mid four, 011141 " peep an end." Thee flutter hi over,
the el • eis made, hat we are not allowed to see tau
queue.% of that choke; yet the bride is but then
commeneing life. and her sorrows and joys are to eo .
It would surely excite many a youthful naiad to ponder if
they were put in possession of the knowledge how many
prides exchange the orange•flower wreath for Imam
of the deadly nightshade, and dolt the splendid lace dress
to wrap themselves in the garment of heaviness. others,
again, walk with uncertain slept+ anal slow to whisper vow■
in plain white muslin, sod retire unheeded ; yet their lite
has been pleasant, and their pleasures past the telling.
It is not how lift. is begun, but how it wears anti is brought
to nn Call, that we require practieal lessons.

Our extracts give upon the whole, perhaps,
a ►tttt re favourable impression of " Tho Roses"
than wo would %Vital tAI convey. Thu novel ia
one of those which, without finding admirers.
will " rend very well " at circulating libraries.
Its authoress eannot graduate with Mrs. Trol-
lope, Mrs. (lore, or Mra. Marsh. iler plaeo
11111011gHt female tieti •sts, who are now Jost
ling eseh other in eompetition for public
favour, is something not so high am Mrs. limy,
but superior to Mrs. Mackenzie Daniel and
Mrs. Crawfioll. She eannot invent character:
Mid Lev illeheripilloW4 of society are feeble.
Yet the sweetness of her tone, a certain soft,
ladylike utterance, and the variety, if not the
power, of her delineations, combine with du;
total absence of aught that is olfensivo or
disagreeable to make " Thu Roses" a novel
worthy of perusal.

Charye to the Graaf! Miry of Birminyhant.
By M. D. Hill, Esq., Recorder.
Hsi:outwit Mu's charge to the Birmingham
jury will be read with interest, as referring to
subject which has hardly ceased to occupy our
columns, and which placed the administration
of renal justice in this country in no flattering
point of view. The learned gentleman has, in
the plinimeology of certain sects, "improved
the occasion." Ile has not dwelt on the pain,

ful minutiac of the ease, to 110 could
have answered 110 good purpose ; 111141 he has
clearly indicated as operating causes of win
management the defects of our existing
prison system. Under that system, as en-
forced in the Birmingham gaol, " pain was the
" great, if not the sole, agent relied upon." A
strictly and exclusively penal discipline Was
established, and carried out with no deviation
from consistency, though at the cost of much
cruelty. What resulted? Punishments were
not diminished in number, nay, were largely
increased. Offences bred offences. Despair
led some weaker sufferers to attempted sui-
cide : a sense of injury hardened those of
more callous tempenunent. Out of doors the
effect was yet worse. A deep impression has
been produced abroad by these exposures, and
the moral power of England to trotest against
acts of oppression in m 44 other la is thus weak-
ened. Throughout the country " the criminal
haw become an object of sympathy 1114 against
" the ministers of the law." Publie opinion,
which usually shows a tendency to become
morbid on such subjects, is extensively de-
moralised :

Magiotritleo ari, lowered in popular ehtithatilat, rudely
thrust from the twitch to lm• played at the Ipar ; cri 11l i l tabs
leme the wk laid tire rtti%e4lo the witneint-b..x, their evi
ilenre, in the exeite.l «tide ..f the pokily mind, taping re•
eeived without donne doubts and thiagivithga which, in a
calmer butte of (rulings, Mould noc.iobruily and properly
attach tlstAaarylves to tobtuAturry titairu fruit) %Whit iloiluttal
fitflLret:

Thus, as regards the two principal objects
of I►w►ishinent—efteet on lite l►ul►li►• mind,
and impression on the criminal himself—the
►cnal or disciplinarian system has failed.
What. then, is the alternative? A return,
says Mr. llill, to the opposite praetiee, as re
runuuendu►l and followed by Captain MaColle-
chits :--

The captain proposes to prisoner who has fallen
into crime as a penion is treated by soritay whir Isy his in-
dolence, his pnidigality, and his imprudence. has Men
into ailremity. Such a lIIVIII4III IS left lu Wt Isis way out
of the unhappy position in %%Welt lie has plowed himself,
and the unh difference which the captain would make tee
stilts front two one is, that as the
thloctinilitet of the criminal is graver, so must his silver
slay Iw more profound, and Ins sultvrings, for lass own
sake as well as for that of ilociety,iuon•syvere thins those tf
his brother in affliction; such seierny essential to
his reformation. The remaining cireutustatice is, that the
criminal bring in rsptia ity. his actions are more e,narte,t,iy,
cooler COIKII.I 1111111 is the east• with the indiitintal to whom
ryti.reisoe has Iteeu made sallying in a pinition attmswhs
amilog„us, 'tyre, attain, the ismer tact the criminal, IN.
milting toast his tothicetion to the gm ernor, is is' Id' used
for pnatioting Ida re onnation, and for that 01,',.ct atone,
- -

llut it may be objeeted, do you truNt indivi-
dual reformation am the bolo
_remtit to be lit

tainvil ?

Is in'

terror of tho

law upon the unconvieted—to go far nothing ?
Mr. Hill. quoting from his brother's treatise,
replies that the worst of reformation, under
any circumstances, must contain a large in•
fusion of the penal element ; in a word, that
no comparative mildness of dieeipline ran
make a prison other than a glare of pain and
suffering— confinement, loss of independent
action, compelled labour, and restricted fare,
loving severely felt. lint to these inflietions
nothing should be added : a prisoner ought
to be suffered to see his friends, not indiscri-
minately, but more freely than is at ]in-meta
the ease. llis labour should be such as to
produce a useful result, and 50111 e portion at
least of the profit derived should be returned
to the labourer. So far we concur thoroughly
with the lieeorder, but he goes a step Anther
than we can follow. Ile proposes to gnu a
diseretionary power of shortening or length-
ening the term of imprisonment, Recording as
more Or hiss work has been got through. To
this project we content ourselves with indi-
cating two great objeetiona. First, the gaoler
or governor must be invested with this discre-
tion, mince no one else is qualified to exercise
it ; and thus the privilege of judge and jury
would praetieally be trenched upon, and the
erime differently punished in different
gaols. Seeondly, since It is clear that all men
cannot do an equal amount of bodily labour,
it is imposible to remedy this want of uni
formity by with-ming a prisoner to break so
many kit or perform any
other measured task. I f this Wore attempted
a man Of weak frame would twelve double the
punishment of his stronger neighbour, which
is not reasonable. If thin be but attempted,
then the power with which the primal officials
are invested becomes purely arbitrary.— a new
and dangerous rineiple to introduce. Our
suggestion is, to yore the terms of imprison-
ment fixed as at present, but to allow the pri-
soner to profit by his labour whenever it ex-
eeeds has in the rase of MI althorn it easily
may) the expenses of his maintenance. Hut
this topic is a wide one, and needs careful
handling.
Mr. 11111's speech rontains tame admirable
remarkm on tin duties of governors—on the
magistracy—and on the state of our law as re.
garde.; convicted eriminala. 11is concluding
remarks are more impressive than agreeable :

The evil results of s istreian of 'ithrrformed criminals
Mailing from the Natoli of our pillions are sorb as I for
oily eautiot votitetnplaU: with a steadfast min& The
'retell tr
tweet of prey, in comparison with which the most fermatas
of the menagerie are gentle aril lustwiless. It is alumni
impossible to take up a tiesspaprr ut flue po aiod of the
y. nr a ilb..nt the eye renting on ft 'unmake 0.? some 14111•
ruigu whirl., if it had twcurreil in Spain or Italy, and if the
pensirationi had been called loisoulairo, air by was,. such
Ilftlllw of tnysiterious terror, oar countrymen wasoW here
been rourteil and ahirmesl from mai esueuiity of our
ixbuld le the ot/ier. And let it be remarked that these
atrocities are not the offspring of pnblie isiveralty. Never,
in any period of our tumid*, weie the tiereasariea and PW•qt
the luxuries of life so evenly attainable by honest labour seat
ttielweecni moment. Consider then what intwinerynu,whew
the uuaa oflawl..a. men sale nanutus the muntry libel' have
beim reinbarcisl by the 0414116 mi of all the Alums who for.
to,rly pound into Now Smith Wales and Vase Newell's
11141 RA pi:maven whetheithinw 'Aware labuttrtas
to awaken the public mind to the aseessity Oar muds.

reformation before the prisoner is restored to his liberty
deserve to be stigmatised as mere sentimentalists, whi,se
feelings are so absorbed in sympathy fur the guilty that
they have no care for the security and welfare of the inns
cent ?

A Lolly's Visit to the Gold Plyyings qf 'Natrona

is 1m52-3. By Mrs. Charles Claey.
IN April, 1851, Mrs. Claey, who was then Miss
—she does not mention her maiden name—
embarked with her brother at Gravesend On a
voyage to the land of gold. The usual inci-
dents—" intense misery on losing sight of
" England," phosphoric light on the water, ex-
citement produced by meeting a homeward-
bound ship, a sailor's funeral, and a calm
within the tropics—break the monotony of the
voyage. On the 2-Ith of dune Vic* .or.a.s reached.
Three and sixpence a head for a party of
twelve was eherged by the water men for taking
them on shore, and at Liardet's hotel sherry—
" vile trash"—was served in a well-furnished
room at eight shillings the bottle. Front
Liardet's to Melbourne is between two and
three miles, and thither they proceeded in a
" tunable-down" omnibus, for which the fare
was half-a-crown each person and one shilling
each package. Their first object was to pro-
cure lodgings, and of course all the hotels, &e.,
are full, and—equally as a matter of course—
just when they arc about to pass the night in
the open air, they succeed in procuring board
and lodging, certainly of an indifferent kind,
at thirty shillings a week each. The first
night in Melbourne " dogs (it is full of them)
I. kept up an incessant barking, revolvers were
"clucking in all directions until daybreak,
" anal " within the bed there was an " annoy-
" mace which would alone have sufficed" to de-
prive Mrs. Claey of sleep. The first few days
she was confined to the house, bemuse in June
the weather is so variable that the sky may be
blue and the earth dry one hour, and the street
be impassable the next. Mrs. Claey's brother,
who had before chiefly directed has attention
to Homer and Euclid, now energetically com-
menced a commercial life by a successful
stroke of business : he sold a revolver, which
cost him 31., for 161., " and the parting with it
" at that price was looked upon us a great
" favour." Melbourne

is very well laid out ; the streets (which are all straight,
running parallel with and across one another) are very
wide, hut are incomplete, not lighted, and many are
unpaved. Owing to the want of lamps, few, except
when full moon, dare stir out after dark. Some of the
short are very fair; lint the good% all partake too largely of
the dash order, fin the purpose of stating the tastes of Nue-
cesitftd digger, their waves and f 'lire ;It IS IttlllienODl to
*et, them in the shops—men who, before the gold-mines
were discovered, toiled hard fir their tinily bread, taking
off lialfwillizen thick gold rings from their fingers, and
trying to pull tin to their rough, well-hardened hands the
best white kids, to he worn at some wedding party ; whilst
the wiGi, prowl of the novel ornament, descents on the
folly of hiding thou beneath such useless solely% as
gloves.
Churches and chapels are numerous, " but
" the Established Church hits of all the worst
" provision for its members ;" numbers are
obliged, Sunday after Sunday, to return from
the two small churches which alone are yet
completed, because they are unable to find
room. " The weather was still very cold and
" wet," coals could not be procured, and wood
was " fifty shillings for a good-sized barrow-
fill." The colonists " forget everything in the
'• glitter of their own mines, and all comfort
" ies laid aside ; money is the idol, mud making
" it is the mania which absorbs every other
" thought." Sometimes Men half mad are seen
flinging sovereigns about the streets. Once Mrs.
Clary saw a digger examine a roll of bank
notes and deliberately take out and destroy
every tune that was torn or soiled, swearing
that " he wouldn't carry dirt in his pocket."
There are many Jews and only two pawn-
brokers in Melbourne.
On the tart September Mrs. (lacy and her
brother, with about ten others, accompanied
by two dray., each drawn by a pair of stout
horses, and three packhorses. started for the
diggings, From Melbourne to litundigo is
100 miles, and the mice of carriage per ton
varied from 701. to 1:)0/. Mrs. (lacy, however,
was allowed to travel on a dray—her seat was
a sack of flour, her footstool a cheese ; her
attire a dress of "common dark blue serge, a
" felt wide-awake, and a waterproof coat."
Thus seated at her case, with her feet on the