The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-17 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

THE settlement of the Neufchatel Question will be received with
general satisfaction throughout Europe. The royalist prisoners have
been unconditionally liberated, and the independence of Neufchatel
will doubtless ultimately be secured. The amour propre of both
Prussia and Switzerland has been adroitly saved, and all measures of
hostile menace between the two countries may now be laid aside.
The liberation of the prisoners was the point Prussia contended for,
and it is gained ; the independence of Neufchatel is the object of the
Federal Assembly, and it will be attained. The settlement of
the question should be not the less satis factory to us that the sen-
timents of France and England upon the point were unanimous, and
the friendly relations of the two countries, ,which recent events had
temporarily cooled, have been cordially renewed. The views of the
Governments of Austria and Russia were also en plein tratvord with
France and England upon the question. A ridiculous suspicion of
Russia still haunts the Ministerial press of this country. It can
deceive no one. Every cause of real dispute between the two countries
is settled. Orders have been given for the withdrawal from the Isle
of Serpents of the few seamen landed, and the new frontier is now
definitively marked out. There is no longer any cause for this affecta-
tion of suspicion to be carried on, for there is not even a radical faction
to soothe.

The latest news from China brings us no intelligence of the settle-
ment of the question in dispute. No further operations upon our part,
with the exception of blowing up the Bogue Forts, had been carried out,
but an American boat having been fired upon by Chinese soldiers, the
Yankee commodore had taken the opportunity to exercise his crew in
an afternoon's shell. The practice against the Barrier Forts (which by
this would appear to have been remanned and armed by the Chinese),
and then, taking a leaf from Admiral SEYMOUR'S book, to have
written a despatch to Commissioner YEn demanding satis-
faction in twenty-four hours. The French squadron in
those seas is also collecting, as letters from Canton anticipate
extended operations against the Chinese. Admiral SEYMOUR it was
reported had sent to Calcutta for troops, which Lord CANNING had
declined to supply without instructions from home. From this it
would appear that Sir JonN BOWRING was determined to prosecute
hostilities upon an extended scale if he had the means, and so
inevitably involve us in a war unsatisfactory and unjust. The injury
done to trade by the continuance of hostilities in the Canton
River is enormous. The question at one time appeared
capable of easy and satisfactory solution. Incessant
shellings of the tr tops and people, the burning of their town, and the
blowing up of their river defences—an act of very wanton aggression
only justified in time of actual war—is not the best means to overcome
the national prejudices.
Nothing is known of the Persian dispute, which, it is to be hoped,
will be settled by mediation The arrival of Ferouk Khan at Paris, and
the departure of General Annekof from Teheran to St. Petersburg,
will probably bring about a friendly offer of mediation from our august
ally, the Emperor of the FRENCH.

Lord STANLEY, who presided at a meetin g of the Law Amendment
Society this week, delivered his views at some length, and with his
accustomed clearness, on the question of the best means of disposing
of our convicts. It is a proof of the difficulties attending the subject
that the Noble Lord was unable to suggest any plan which appeared
to him satisfactory. He reviewed the places which had been suggested
for transportation—North Australia, Hudson's Bay, and Vancouver's
Island, and stated what he thought were insuperable objections. He did
not allude to the Fa'kland Islands, which, so far as we know, are unobjec-
tionable in point of situation, and are not likely to receive any consi-
derable number of free settlers. To a mere prison abroad, or a rocky
island for the confinement of our convicts, we are as strongly opposed
as his Lordship can be ; we favour transportation, because, even under
harsh conditions of soil and climate, a hope of ultimate pardon and
independence may be held out to the transported felon which never
could with safety be offered to him in this country, and because we
think it presents the fairest chance of combining what should be the
two great ends of all punishment—the security of society and the
reformation of the criminal.

The candidates for the office of Common-Sergeant for the City of
London present such a variety of qualifications, that the electors may
well be puzzled on whom to confer the office. Mr. BODKIN has great
experience as a criminal lawyer, but he has now reached that period
of life in which retirement from active business is usually supposed
to be the most welcome prospect. Mr. THOMAS CHAMBERS represents
a large and influential body, but we fear he has scarcely the experience,
either as a criminal or municipal lawyer, which would render him an