The Press.
London, England, 1853-09-24 00:00:00

CONVICT PUNISHMENT.

WE are certainly not disposed to underrate the
difficulty of dealing with the transportation
question, and we have always admitted both
the indispensable uceessity of limiting the
amount of convict emigration to Australia,
and even the probability of its being found
necessary at :►o distant period to discontinue
it altogether. On these points not only all
political parties, but all rational men, are
agreed. But here unanimity ends. We are
cast adrift in an ocean of uncertainty and
doubt, with danger on every side, and neither
precedent nor ptineiple by which to shape our
course. Legislation must be experimental,
for a system of transportation, under one form
or another, has continued in force ever since
the foundation of our colonial empire. The
experiment must be tried at the risk of public
safety and public morality; tier does it seem
easy to fix upon any preferable alternative, in
the event of the present scheme of punish•
went turning out a failure.

We have written " the present scheme of
punishment." More correctly we should have
said "the present scheme of disposing of cri•

THE PRESS.

minals after the term of their punishment has

expired." For as regards the punishment it-
self, now that a scarcity of labour is not, and is

not likely to be, complained of, it may equally

well. and indeed more economieally, be ad-

ministered in England to, in a colony. Penal
labour on public w►•orks luny possibly be even
pro►titxl►lu--it oanuot be 41angerourt. To this

substitution, therefore, the more so as it has

already for some year" past been pinetieally in
(twee. though without parliamentary sanction,
no one ham been found to object. The real

question is, "riven a conviet whose sentenee
has expired, what shall be done with him ?"
This difficulty Lord Mimi:lucre:4 undertakes
to solve, or, failing to untie the knot, he cuts
it. He proposes to allow such eonviet to re
main in England, subject only to the necessity

31 making I►is appearanee at stated times I►L
fine IL magistrate, under penalty (we presume)

-- - „
If being again plaeed in ►onfincement. No
Aker provision is added ; nor do we know
tow far the examining magistrate is entitled

o inquire concerning his habits. mode of life.
uul nu•ans of obtaining mutport. On theme

all-important details Parliament was left
in ignorance. But the public is less in-
ettrious. The intmluetion nay, the very
mune—of a ticket-of-heave system is new
in England. We know it only by the practice
and precedent of Australia. Hut tho social
system of Australia► and that of England arc
so widely different that no analogy can fairly
be drawn front one to the other. In a colony,
especially in the least settled parts of a colony,
every individual is known, marked, his habits
easily ascertainable, his absence certain to be

commented upon. In such a community,
therefore, the degree of supervision which
ticket of leave implies may be exercised with•
out any inquisitorial research, and with a very
moderate amount of difficulty. It is otherwise
here. Large towns give a degree of privacy
which is not found even in the wilderness.
The backwoodsman—the Australian shepherd
—may have few neighbours to criticise or eon-
trol his actions ; but at least his comings-in
anti goings-out can be watched ; anti his very
tnu•k betrays him. In London—in Liverpool
- Manehester— in every city containing
many thousands of inhabitants—it is in the
power of any individual, without the exercise
of extraordinary ingenuity or skill, but from
the mere tact of its being impossible to follow
him in a crowd, to escape the Roane of the
most vigilant police. A mall may reside in
this metropolis under half a dozen aliases,
and yet be unsuspected. In a practical, as
well as a poetical, sense, there is no solitude
like the solitude of a densely-peopled city. Is
it certain that the residence—the pursuits—
the morality—of the reclaimed felon can be
inquired into by the magistrate ; that the an-
nual muster, the annual investigation, will not
decline into a matter of mere routine? And
if otherwise, how is a strict and constant
guard to be kept over these liberated prison-
ers, without exposinif honest men to the
annoyance of similar inquiries ? We are well
aware that a prartire like that recommended
for our adoption prevails in France. But it
prevails only through the agency of spies, in-
formers, gendarmes without number, and a
passport system vigorously enforced. These
things have never been tried, and %%sill never
be tolerated, among us.
It is idle to criticise a measure which
has become law ; but we cannot hesitate
to reiterate our conviction that a great legal
reform—inevitable in some respects, in others
co►nmendable—hats been inaugurated with a
degree of haste and carelessness inexcusable
in a matter of such magnitude, and which it
will be well if we have not cause to repent.

AN ENGLISH JLAI►IAI.
A\ English lady, Miss CV:4111N011.04. has been
distributing Protestant tracts in some villages
in Tllheitlly, thus contravening conventions'
laws mot awaiting ineinivenience to diplomat

fists, in obedience tow high sense of thltY•
'Wing coinineneeil her proeeedings at the
of laigliano. and having been warned
id" that plaee, partly by well-disposed persona
and partly by the hostile manifestations of the.
priest-ridden lieitsantry, she eontiniosi
hilt ing tracts at another Lauri., called

Here, at the instigation or the priest, she "„s
arrested, ronveyeil by an °dicer of gendar-
merie to the priaon of Lures, mud only permit,
ted the company of one friend, on the express
stipulation that all conversation should pees
in Milian. A word of English, or of any
language not understood by the °nicer, and
they were to be separated, and Miss CUNNING-
HAM thereafter kept in solitary elintinement.
Anil this for attempting to make the benighteil
victims or Papal superstition acquainted %%ilk
setiptural truth
The Pram' Duke having been applied to by
some of the English residents, his soma el.
that the 1,1 11' Noma take its memo! That laa ,
muter a new code, inflicts IMPRISONMENT for
FITE or TNN TEARS, with HASH LABOUR pUll-
islllllClll., considering the change in manners,
seareely less severe than those awarded to the
martyrs of old, and yet bruised by a single and
defenceless woman in the cause of the Uospel
of CHRIST!

The person by whom this intelligence is
communieated to a contemporary sights him-
gulf "Au Englishman." He preaunieti to say.
that "no one can for one moment entertain a
doubt of the gross eulpability of WINS CUNNINii-
HAWS proceedings, or of her excessive folly in
offending the religious feelings of a nation
whose hospitality has been extended to her."
As to the first of these propositions. we venture
to say that few Christian men, natives of the
country claimed as his birthplace by this
Italianised " Englishman." will it with
any other feeling than scorn ; and as tOr the
imputation of " folly," it comets quite naturally
from one who, dating from the Baths of Lucca,
almost proclaim+ that his mond sense has
beeome -blunted by southern indulgenee, and
the futilities so freely offered to the religiously
lax by the institutions fostered by Rome for
her own enslaving purposes. On 01w point. we
apprehend, then, really 101 be "no doubt "
that is to say, that in this nineteeth venture,
and after all the maerilieem mankind hay" 11111110
to secure freedom of thought end speech. it
militia lung be tolerated that such laws shall
eontinue in force in any civilised state.
Nations owe reciprocal duties, and there is
a highest duty of all that overrides these
conventional rules. As a %%ninth.
Miss CUNNINfiIIAM Wits deilig lilt more than her
duty. Priesteraft awl 4 Obsenratitihni way for
a time pre% ail to, crush such persons, but the
stiligith• is 'me lo o'4' nit 1... Ma must lie
clearly seen loon the homy of its commence-
ment.

THE lithographic news sheet ot• Berlin states that
oil the 17th the I'rls••ian tiovenunrnt sent to M.
Wiltlettlirtt,h, its nmbas►•ador at Conatentinopk,
tlcepatehes, etkiolnitig him to induce the Ottoman
Porte to accept without modification the note to
Vienita.
THE Madrid
.;otitiotl, of the 17th ci•ulain long
details of the entrant.► of the duet n, the king, and
Royal Family into the capital, nil their return from
1.1: (et anja.
'l•ntt: newspaper called the Joke of the People had
suispendell its publication.
IN tal.•ing leave of the lineen before his &paella°
from itlairitt, Mr. Porringer, the late United states
at that Court, is stated to have saitl
•. 1 UM Irectvil by the Pro.itlent to expires the we, lity'd
alo.urances of his *Wee►', desire to Mailitialti the
relation* of the two ►rmnni►te—to t.tt 'molten idol yttyhd
the friendly intYreourse how happily '.ulisipting briery!'
the two tioverinuenta, and to ►ream to the pebple of both
t►atioar a runtintiove of the I.okaiiiiips from that
iutt•rcottrae '•

1,(i1:1) .101 IN I:I'SSEI.I. AT GI:EV:NOCK.
(1% Monday fiord John Russell visited tareenock,
upon insaustiots of OW WWI antliontios and odier in-
Imbitatst" of the Oars., for the purposse of receiving a
complitnefitary address. Ili+ lordship way fteetnn-
ponied by hi% 'was, and travelled from itosieneatti uu
losard a pr-u) liuld did/venoms-tit screw-steamer
whirls the .Iclosiralty had played at his diarraal. The
nicetitiv wu% held in the Mid Clistreh in fireennek,
the l'own-Isall not Is!ing deemed large etirmgh for the
expeeted erowsk. l'rovorst Slartio, when the ar
settaLly e0tt%'4,114.41, pre..enb.sl the following ad-
it with a brief speech, exprese.ive
itse high nonosisleratinn with which hist brother
costneillors said fellow-unviegnett regarded the career
and character of the ,eande lord. 'The Town Clerk
read the astlre.,s, st., follows :
" My Lord —We. 11... 14.1stinratPs, and ermnrilkws of
the tows .4 ireroweh. a rouse 41 artelahled, alrall im/awlves of
the y 01..r.1.-.1 by poll/ 1,04141110•4 1.41111•41711ty r 0441416.10..•
iss sow nrseriabourosyst as es pr.'s, the J.ep es-sp... .A which we se.
',nails be' your losd,b.p Irlll■4lllLl 11111/ At Ler. awl AO your
as a atatemhals.
" It hfies hewn ;our lordship.' era rsent distiuction to contribute
b. Ow the pvesie•rity, Wel the happisoner of this empire
is • Itiatauer worthy .4 the libiAtrares. howl Imam whirls you are
4..0441.164, awl t.• which Euuland i• w, larggly
" lu the toklst of party aobtlirta, It Meat 're yratif)ing to yaw
losalwisq. to fret awsisstra 1144 the panty p.ur tu'.ucrs, slid the
Cities OA V it• m sod high, .I.lrit by whir+ "Ins sr. aftliated, too.
only fsUy appreesszed. but has.. securest to your lurdshir the
lasting, uratn.4.l.• of yollf country.
" ,hest your lorddJp f.w the great sorwlces you base r.n.
41.11W01 w the rause. of ...sal mud religsuus 1.1...rty; and ut. only
Isnioei to the litolvereStl prase Polio, when we posy
that p.us loott preserved by Insets, I'rovaltues
t.. Is. a lob' 10,411141 I.' 11114 11.41.1.."
- - .

bird iotIN ltrmsEt.t. etnnmetiet.4l him speech in
reply with a due to•ltitowledgment of the honour
done him. and a confession of hie inability to express
all the gratitude which it inspired. lle proceetled
- I tram, in a whin expressive utanner than by words--
by in, public ....wilful —I may multi 1111 l • to de.erve the ate
prandial' assl good opinion of cities and communities such
an thin. I 4 iiire n.l 1.1/11 hay t• &HIP the thee lumoor of
ing dial it has been my lot to contribute to the liberties,
the happiness, and the prosperity of this 4X/Illitry. 1 feel
deeply such a compliment. I cannot but look lau-k at the
time alien I first etin-redl Seotlatid, and had the ;phalange
of receiving pint of my education under distinguished men
in the metropolis of your country. (Chem,. ► At that
period there was uutliing like real repreiantation of the
people of thi% part of the l'tiiti%l Kinolom--thotte excep-
tion% of popular election which pre‘aileil elsewhere did nut
find their !awe in Seotlattil, and the freedom of the press
wax aulele 11141111. ; for I do not trwenulici tltst thole
tiny newspaper at that l • which really condneted public
discus...ion% with treeillaii and with openness. (('herra.)
I maws) hat ho.k at that tilts, to congratulate you, and to
congratulate toself, that times are so greatly altered.
ehrers.)

" Your l'nsvont Ines alluslisl to institutions in other come
tries a Welt have failed—to lihertieis which have nourished
for a tuns- and bate ilesliyed, or without bringing their
fruitmi to nottstaity. Hut the difference Is-meets those
ruuuUier. and this is, that there is here suet a temperate
enjoyment freedom—sneh a Issrlseartifire in pushing
rights to et lEl,l,6ly—tomb a welhisonsidered appreciatisat
of Ilse %Moe of liberty, that the institutions derit e all their
force and all tistir grandeur from the character of the peo-
ple 111111.011 g w 114,111 they are introduced. L'+u Arens. ) It
is thus that, it' I ali ally time have been enabled to add to
the privileges us. the psswer the people, I have felt lit the
111.01114.111. and I have been essittirmesl by experience since.
that I was additsg sit the same t' to the strength and
security of the throne. ( Liort.l cheers.) I sin sure that
such will elillillllll. 111 Ile the while you value
and 4,,duciaa those privileges %hid' yon sisjoy, and Ow*.
Olivia you may hereafter tolitain, you will at the
same time is stisisler that it is by the temperate use of li-
Iserty *lett mil these privileges can be beat maintained to a
remote p 1 sterity. ti lorera.)
"lour l'Euvomt has alluded to measures which have liven
moles. slim-motion with regard to the extension of the prin.
gilds. of 1+ prs•St'llillt* awl 1114.10.111,1.4 %ilk regard to the
extension of the freedom of con 1111 l Tee. 1 ant happy, at
lo.tost, to say, wit Inuit entering inns slaty argument upon
these subjects. that your address confesses this inesease,
I should not say essidestatxs, but rather loudly proelitims the
increase of the prosperity and happiness of the is.ople—
fehrer4.--anil the reloy at the same time pit selttints [that
those measures were not ill devised, and have not heels we
1411.1.4•SSIIII. (I lorrrg.) With ivgnnl In the 'limns, although
I may take lint for a short time any farther part in the sie-
liberatisats of Parliament, I trust that much that excited
ploy slis.emsiois n1441114'11114 hat ing passed away ,
that nitwit a HMS 1111111tT 511 ilmtlot having been twilled,
thole will Is.. a lib regard to flIII111• if not an ab-
%ono.. aro% • And I dim.t tiny thine when there
shall Is' an R.11,4•11t.e of party in this country. or when an
lissitest difference of opinion should not be expmstostsl—yet
I trust there will la• that agreement that the eourite of le-
gislation may Ise still further einulucive to the happiness of
tll+'people'ltthunge. ( I
" And let Ills' say, owever import/nit the quest ions t hat we
hmr lisru. rd in 1,3•4 aisl it would he ilittieidt, per-
haps, to lied a tittle in the lii.tory of any country %Owl'
many measures of importance have Isbustiswal
hate 1,11.11
nitsl established in this c 1111 l dry sinee I s:1:1--t 1,41,1 , 11.s1—
I sny, this is the ease, there still it tttt ins toilets
the consideration not only of all state-torn lent ~f men
who nrs' levers of humanity. of justice, and alio 113‘.e a
regard to the a elfare of ths it essuntr‘ men. It is thus with
regard to legislatures, its the poet describes it with regard
to the Wavily): in a mountain country. Although you