The Press.
London, England, 1858-10-30 00:00:00

E PRESS, OCTOBER 30,1858.

inexperience. Those who know what University
life is are perfectly aware that the kind of free-
hold that is acquired with a Fellowship is one of
its most powerful recommendations. We do not
mean to say that some Fellows are not idle, or quite
passe as far as aqy usefulness is concerned. But
these were not always so, and where a case occurs
of an octogenariaq Fellow—a very rare case, by
the way—the college begs with it for the past's
sake. hook at that veteran philosopher, Pro-
fessor SILRGWICK. In his old age he is going to
resign his Professorship, in which he has so
greatly distinguished hunselg and to retire upon
his Fellowship, we presume, for life. This is a
case in point. Had the Learned Professor been
compelled to vacate his Fellowship thirty years
aoo, as he would have had to do had the o Com-
missioners' recommendations been then in force,
how desirable a man would have been lost to the
University ! But this is only one of many pos-
sible and highly probable results of limiting the
duration of Fellowships in the way proposed. On
this point the Master of St. John's, in his able
summary of objections, spoke with great force and
fairness.

But these two, though in our humble judg-
ment the most important, are not the only objec-
tionable recommendations. Two others were
complained of at the meeting—one a scheme for
enriching the University and remunerating
Professors,tby a tax upon the distributable in-
comes of the colleges; the other, a proposal to
dispense with the attendance at college chapel of
persons not members of the Church of England.
The former of these we strongly protest against,
as subversive of the tutorial system of University
teaching, and injurious to the prosperity of the
colleges. The latter is more reasonable, since
if—as is already settled—persons not members of
the Church of England may become members of
a college, it is only fair not to force upon them a
worship they decline to attend. The mistake is
in such persons being at the University at all.
In conclusion, we earnestly press upon the
Commissioners the duty of giving every attention
to the expression of opinion so powerfully made
on Tuesday, and to desist from urging modifica-
tions utterly subversive of the very principle of
collegiate life, and calculated only to promote
confusion, awaken jealousies, and retard a satis-
factory winding up of the great business with
which they are intrusted.

THE CRIMINAL LAW AND ITS
APPLICATION.

IT is a cheering indication of an awakened public
conscience that the duty of society towards its
offending members is more and more fully recog-
nized, and the methods by which that duty may
best be discharged are made the subject of fre-
quent and very general discussion. In some
degree, no doubt, we arc indebted for this im-
portant stride in the development of our social
life to the difficulties entailed by the reflux upon
us of the crime generated amongst us, consequent
upon the refusal of our colonies to serve any
longer as cesspools for the reception of our
criminal drainage. But, although this circum-
stance may have given a strong impetus to the
spirit of inquiry as to the mode in which our
criminal population should be dealt with, there is
abundant evidence to show that a general im-
provement in the tone of public feeling, together
with a more accurate perception of the principles
of law and justice, and a more enlightened view
of the mutual obligations between society and its
individual members, has had a principal share in
producing what, for brevity's sake, we may call
the reformatory movement.
But whilst it is impossible to observe with
feelings other than those of sincere gratification
the symptoms of widespreading interest in that
movement, there appears to be some danger of
that interest evaporating amidst a multiplicity of
suggestions, many of them necessarily crude,
neither based upon well-defined principles, nor
supported by ascertained facts and the test of
experience. Without going the length of sug •
gesting that the task of collecting facts, verifying
the results of experience, and defining principles
for our guidance in this matter, should be
handed over to Associations like that recently
assembled under the name of a " Social

I-

Science Congress," we conceive that this is
one of the most proper and legitimate fields in
which the good intentions of the founders of that
Association may be made to fructify for the com-
mon benefit of all. But while philosophers not
charged with any responsibility beyond that
which their own philanthropy has imposed upon
them may be thus usefully employed, care should
be taken that none of the legitimate sources of
information, as to the facts with which society
has to deal, be stopped up, or the supply which
they may yield in any way obstructed. This is
so obvious, that we own we were not a little sur-
prised at the course pursued by a body of gentle-
men who from their position in the country might
be expected to take a totally different line, at the
late Michaelmas Sessions for the county of
Surrey. When, in the regular order of pro-
ceedings, the Chaplain's report came to be read,
that document turned out to be somewhat more
extended in the range of its topics than was alto-
gether usual, or consonant with the ideas of some
of the gentlemen on the bench, and an attempt
was made to bring the reading of it to an abrupt
conclusion. Had the length of the report, which
was the first and ostensible ground of objection—
on the plea of " waste of the public time "—been
the result of a tedious diffuseness on the part of
the Chaplain, the interruption would have been
intelligible. But we have the testimony of the
able Chairman of the Sessions, that, "although
" the report was certainly a very long one, it was
" very interesting"—an observation confirmed by
several of the magistrates present, one of whom
remarked that it " contained some very valuable
" suggestions calculated to tend to the diminution
" of crime," and that in his opinion " the Chap-
" lain was entitled to the thanks of the Bench for
" the pains he had taken, and for the manner in
" which he had discharged his duty." The dis-
cussion ended by the report being read through;
but the objectors afterwards succeeded in obtain-
ing an expression of opinion from the majority of
the Bench, which the Clerk of the Peace was
directed to intimate to the Chaplain, that for the
future he had better confine his report within the
strict limits of his official duty—namely, to fur-
nish " a statement of the religious and moral
" instruction of the prisoners, with his observa-
" tions thereon."

`~7

As the document thus impugned has not as
yet—though we trust it will be—given to the
public, there is some degree of mystery hanging
over the affair, as to the nature of the obnoxious
matter contained in the report. Enough, how-
ever, oozed out in the course of the discussion to
show that the objecting magistrates felt their
amour propre wounded by some of the Chaplain's
suggestions. It was not for the Chaplain, one of
them observed, to " deal with Acts of Parliament,
" and aim at teaching the magistrates their
" duty." The truth appears to be, that the
Chaplain in the course of his ministrations among
the prisoners had become aware of a practice
that has grown up, of exercising the summary
powers conferred on magistrates by a recent Act,
and intended to apply to persons charipd with a
first offence, without proper discrimination, the
result being that old offenders, ticket-of-leave
men, and prisoners repeatedly convicted, were
relieved from their punishment, and turned loose
upon society. Ills observation of the effect pro-
duced upon the minds of the prisoners by this
practice having led him to conclude, which it is
not difficult to understand, that its tendency was
most pernicious, calculated to encourage rather
than to check crime, he felt it his duty to call the
attention of the magistrates to the mistake which
had been committed. Whether or not he did this
in a tone sufficiently deferential, with a whole-
some fear of the dignity of the magisterial bench
before his eyes, we have no means of ascertaining.
But as regards the point on which issue was
joined, and the decision of the Bench pronounced
—the relevancy of the Chaplain's observations to
the peculiar sphere of his duty—it would appear
no more than reasonable that if in the course
of his "moral and religious instruction of the
prisoners" he discovered that a certain mode of
administering the law acted upon their minds
in a way directly opposite to that which is the
legitimate object of prison discipline, it was his
duty to bring his discovery under the notice of
the magistrates ; and what method could he
adopt for that purpose more proper than to
troduce the subject into his report?
have thought that upon such grounds of
Wepereo shouuiad-