The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

not mean to deny that there is much in 1(r. PEARSON'S pro
posal that is worthy of consideration. That our criminals should
be made self-supporting is obviously a reasonable proposition. The
only question is, whether while we make them profitable to the (com-
munity we do not also make their period of incarceration lucrative
to themselves. Whether we can punish a man without at the
same time rendering him unproductive is the first question to
be solved ; and the second whether his productiveness to the
community will not always turn out to be profitable to himself.
Whatever a man learns in prison is so much deducted from the
penalty of his crime. We may turn and twist the point as much as
we like, but the broad conclusion still stares us in the face. If the man
who commits an offence against the laws is to be taught a trade for
nothing, while the honest man has to pay an apprentice's premium ,
how can we wonder at the increase of crime among us ?

The Learned Gentleman who returned thanks for the Literature
of the Colonies, at the dinner of the Royal Literary Fund on Tuesday
last, expressed himself on the subject of American society in a manner
that deserves attention. He drew a broad line between freedom and
equality ; and, though this is a distinction which various Conservative
organs have already felt it their duty to point out, yet, coming from
one of Judge HALIBURTON'S experience and abilities, it assumes an
almost original value. The fact is that liberty is natural to man, but
equality is not. As fast as factitious equality is created, the old natural
distinctions begin to reassert themselves, and happy is the country
where those distinctions are of sufficient antiquity to be based on
something else than riches. Mr. Justice HALIBURTON tells us there is
no freedom of opinion in the United States ; that no man is at liberty
to give expression to thoughts contrary to those of the majority, and
that if he did so he would be lynched. What subject of an Eastern
despotism could be a more thorough slave to brute force? On the
effect of the American system upon literature and the refinements of
life, the speaker dwells forcibly. In truth, we can have no poetry and
no romance where there is not love and reverence from man to man ;
and these sentiments can never be entertained either towards an equal
or towards a tyrant. They are the offspring in all countries of what is
called the Heroic Age, and in Europe are traceable to feudalism, chi-
valry, and royalty. Here is at least one reason for being grateful to
our ancestors which the fiercest Radical would find it difficult to
gainsay.

The mutinous disposition of the native regiments in India, is a
much more serious fact than the Government or the press of this
country are disposed to admit. Our position in India at this moment
is one of considerable difficulty if not danger. The native troops are
undoubtedly disaffected towards the Government, and disaffection is
contagious. One regiment, the 19th, has been disbanded, and by the
latest accounts it was believed that it would be necessary to subject
another to a similar punishment. But what is the origin of all these
disturbances, is asked on every side? We do not believe that the
cartridge question is the sole cause of complaint. It is only one item
among many, but the one which by arousing religious prejudices
produces that unanimity necessary to resistance. And the Sepoya
have just cause of complaint against the Government. They are now
subjected to far longer marches, to more extended foreign service,
and by consequence to greater expense, and—a more important fact to
Sepoys—a more unusually long separation from their families than
formerly. Add to this their dread of having again to enter Affghanis
tan (a point much mooted of late in India, and a destination of which
the Sepoy has a childish fear), while their whole system of treatment has
been gradually assimilated much to that adopted towards European
troops (a system to which they are especially averse), and it will he
admitted that the Sepoy has some grounds of complaint, and that his
disaffection is not a mere whim of the moment which a
little more tact on the part of the authorities might have overcome.
Undoubtedly great carelessness and greater indifference to the pecu-
liar prejudices of the race have attended this cartridge question, and
the difficulty of the dilemma in which the authorities now find them-
selves, is to act with firmness, and to restore tranquillity without blood-
shed; for if blood be shed upon a question involving religious prejudices,
and anything like the cruelty recommended by the Times correspon-
dent be carried out, the most disastrous results may ensue. Much may
be done with the Sepoy by mild but fitm moasures ; but if, when
exasperated by fancied wrongs and breaches of faith on the part of his
employers, he is subjected to a brutal policy, his Asiatic blood takes
time, and. like a Malay, he " run a muck," no matter what be the
result. The necessary measures to be adopted now would seem to be
an immediate and secret inquiry on the part of the Government into
the causes of complaint, to remove such as are inconsistent with the
principle of fair dealing with the troops, and to provide for any diffi-
culties that may occur by despatching to India a large reinforcement of
British troops It is useless to deny the fact that our vast annexations
of late years require a proportionate increase of British troops to
maintain our ascendancy against all emergencies.