The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-11 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 11,1858.

S. G. 0.," we must say without offence that
Mr. Osborne is more of a rhetorician than a phi-
losopher. On subjects where close and calm
thought is required, we distrust his testimony,
and his complimentary remarks on ignorance we
pass by.
Mr. Day has done good service by collecting
front various sources the proofs that there is a
strong connection between ignorance and crime :
The following table presents the degrees of instruction
Among the criminal offenders committed for trial in Eng-
land and Wales, from 18:18 to 1847, both inclusive, ac-
cording to the returns in the " Tables of Criminal
Offenders," published by the Home-office :

----------
;Bali' —o&--,...,
Degrees of Instruction. a 1 ; 0; 51 Dffroce.
:A t a., „t, :: per cent.
2 ,1-' it. 2 ^' 7:1
----------------- -- -- —.
Unable to read or write 33.36 30.68 2.64
Able to read or write imperfectly
Able to read or write well
Superior to reading and writing well
0.13
0 03
Could not be ascertained

But the proportion per cent. of those classes who are
described as being either " unable to read or write," or who
" read and write imperfectly," is by no means so low as the
above and similar tables indicate, " because," to quote the
words of the Rev. Henry Worsley, with reference to valuable
statistics collected by him on this subject, " those whose
attainments could not be ascertained are excluded from
them, though in all probability belonging to
.them, and
thrown in among those who could read and write well, or
possess superior knowledge. It is, however, even thus
sufficiently proved, that in almost all cases (at least in more
than nine cases out of ten) crime and ignorance are in
close alliance and go hand in hand together."
If we examine the police returns of various cities and
towns, similar results will be obtained. For example, of
the 111,745 persons taken into custody by the metropolitan
Police during the years 1855-6 (of which number 36,893
Were juveniles of various ages under twenty), 30,622 could
neither read nor write ; 102,334 could read only, or read
and write imperfectly ; 7,984 could read and write well ;
and but 805 possessed superior instruction. Of the 63,247
cases summarily disposed of, or held to bail, duting the
same period (including 17,341 juveniles), there were
11,613 who could neither read nor write ; 48,282 who could
read only, or read and write imperfectly ; 2,936 who could
read and write well ; and but 366 of superior instruction ;
whilst of the 5,756 criminals tried and convicted (including
1,00 juveniles), there were 1,362 who could neither read
nor write; 1,944 who could read only, or read and write
imperfectly; 1,224 who could read and write well; and
only 26 possessing superior instruction.
With reference to Liverpool, we find that during the year
15.54 (when for the first time statistics were collected as to
the degrees of instruction possessed by the criminals), of
the 25,111 persons taken into custody, the total number
570, or 2 per cent. of the whole, could only read and write
well; 11,031, or about 43 per cent., could read and write
imperfectly, 1,800, or about 7 per cent., could ',cad only;
whilst the number who could neither read nor write num-
bered 11,650. or about 48 per ;tent.; thus showing, as Major
Greig remarks, " the connection between ignorance and
crime." During the year 1835, of the 23,689 persons ap-
prehended in the same town (9,645 being juveniles under
ten and not ,exceeding twenty lea's), 11,322, or 44.0 per
cent., could neither read nor write; 1,688, or 6.6 per cent.,
could read only ; 12,(r20, or 46.8 per cent., could read and
wnte imperfectly ; and but 639, or 2.6 per cent., could read
and write well. Further, the chief-constable observes
respecting education in connection with particular classes
of crime, that " in offences by violence, education is almost
entirely wanting, there not being one person charged with
shooting, violent assaults, eke., who can read or write well ;
while of 1,131, the number charged with common assaults,
only one out of every 250 can read and write well. In the
commission of certain offences, each as embezzlement,
obtaining money by false pretences, and larcenies from
offices, the percentage of good education stands high ; of
the disorderlies only one in 1,000 can lead and write well ;
of the drunk and disorderlies one in 200, and of the drunk
and tempable 21 per cent. can read and write well."
The Liverpool police report for the first nine months of
1%56 (the latest return published) exhibits no improve-
ment whatever with respect to the degree of instruction
possessed by the persons taken into custody, although the
number of juvenile offenders has considerably decreased,
consequent, it is alleged, upon the recent law with respect
to reformatory institutions, which requires the payment of
a weekly sum not exceeding five shillings from those
parents whose children are sent thither during the time
of their detention; the same weekly amount being recover-
able before any magistrate by distress, or ten days' im-
prisonment, for each occasion on which it shall appear that
suflicirnt goods cannot be found. This legislative measure
has, it is said, acted in a most salutary and marked manner
during the short period of its operation. A powerful check,
it would seem, has hereby been placed on vicious or negli-
gent parents, who have subsequently either urged their
children to the commission of crime, or not pat a sufficient
!elitism upon such of them as are criminally disposed. In
Pverpool, then, during the first nine months of 1836, of the
19!a36 persons apprehended, 9,386. or 48'6 per cent., could
neither read nor write; 1,360, or DO per cent., could read
only; 8.009, or 41'4 per cent., could read and write im-
penectly ; while but 381, or 3-0 per cent., could read and
wnte well.

These are very strong facts. Let us see what
the Rev. John Clay, a shrewd and experienced
observer, says:—
Let me present a short summary of three years' obser-
vations—hard, naked statistics, which I will clothe in but

little commentary. During the period I name, the per-
formance of my duty has brought me into contact with
1,733 men and boys, and 387 women and girls, altogether
unable to read ; with 1,301 men and boys, and 287 women
and girls, who knew not the name of the reigning sove-
reign ; with 1,290 men and boys, and 293 women and girls,
so incapable of receiving moral and religions instruction
that to speak to them of virtue, vier, iniquity, or holi-
ness, was to speak to them in an unknown tongue ; and
with 1,120 men and boys, and 257 women and girls, so
destitute of the merest rudiments of Christian knowledge
—so untaught in religions forms and practices—that they
knew not the name of Him who died for their sins, nor
could they utter a prayer to their Father in Heaven.
And thus Mr. Day continues his illustrations :
Farther, from Mr. Clay's report for 1850, it appears that
of the 1,636 male prisoners under sessions' and summary
committals, 671 were unable to read at all, 646 were igno.
rant of the Saviour's mime, 917 could not tell who was the
reigning sovereign, 1,111 were unable to repeat the months
of the year in proper order, and 479 were so uninstructed
as not to be able to count a hundred.
Again, of the 661 prisoners admitted into the Female
Convict Prison at Brixton, from November 24, 1853, to
December 31 of the following year, 104 could not read at
all, 53 could read only a few syllables, 192 could read but
imperfectly, 849 were imperfectly educated, 315 could read
tolerably, moat of whom had learned in prison; while not
one was what is termed moderately educated.
An examination of the various police and prison re•
turns for every town and gaol in England and Wales
would, I feel persuaded, yield similar results; thereby
proving, as logically as facts and figures can be made to
prove, that ignorance produces crime as surely as the
seething scum rises to the surface in boiling water.
By referring to the reports of the Inspectors-General of
Prisons for Ireland and Scotland, the same unvarying
fact is elicited, that the great mrjority of our criminals are
derived from the uneducated masses of the people. Thus,
from the Inspector-General's report of I"iah prisons, lately
issued, although it appears that education is progressing to
some extent among the criminal portion of the population,
nevertheless of the 48,446 culprits confined during the
year in the various gaols (14,236 of whom were juven►les
under ten and not exceeding twenty years old), the large
proportion of 22,115 were wholly illiterate, 2,347 merely
knew the alphabet, 3,173 only knew spelling, 9,530 could
read imperfectly, and but 11,156 could read and write.
In Scotland, likewise, where education! is said to be
more generally diffused tban in this country, not more
than 2 per cent. of the criminal class are well educated,
20 per cent. cannot read at all, 50 per cent. can read
imperfectly, and but 28 per cent. can read well. As re•
Bards writing, full 51 per cent. cannot even form a letter,
11 per cent. can merely write their names, 29 per cent. can
write indiffirently and with difficulty, while only 7 per cent.
can write well. This statement is confirmed by Mr. Fred.
Hill, late Inspector of Prisons, who observes :—" Of more
than 16,000 persons in Scotland received into the prisons
in one year, while I was inspector there, only 4,700, or less
than one in three, could read well; and less than 1,200, or
one in thirteen, could write well ; and of the whole number,
only 312, or one in fifty, had learnt more than mere reading
and writing ; 3,400 of these prisoners could not read at all,
and 8,500 could not write at all."
It is certainly, in presence of such facts, not
mere speculation to connect ignorance with
crime; and we need hardly say it is to the juve-
nile classes of the community that education
should be applied.
There are other portions of Mr. Day's work
upon which we may comment on another day ;
but there are some considerations in this little
volume which could not be canvassed in this
department of our journal, and which necessarily
assume a semi-political aspect. As reviewers we
abstain from noticing those portions of the
volume.

China. Being the Times Special Correspondence
from China in the Years 1857-8. By George
Wingrove Cooke. London : Routledge.
NOTWMISTANDING the proverb on the subject of
comparisons, it is not easy to avoid one in a re-
view of the volume before us. The appearance of
Mr. Russell's letters from the Crimea constituted
an epoch in literature, and it was their success of
course that led to the analogous mission of Mr.
Cooke. While the system, therefore, is still
young, it will be necessary to scrutinize
rival performances with considerable vigilance—
noticing what objectionable features are omitted
by one writer—what new points of attraction are
introduced by another—and generally endeavour-
ing to find out who approximates nearest to the
maximum of interest with the minimum of injury
to the public service. That injury may be in-
flicted on the public st rvice by these revelations
from the seat of war we hold to be beyond a
doubt. As long as tl:e correspondent is content
to transcribe only what he sees himself, or such
criticisms only as he is himself fully competent to
appreciate, no great harm can be done. The
moment he steps beyond these limits his pen
becomes a public nuisance. His letters become
the regular channel through which all the
private jealousies of the camp or the fleet are venti-

PB3

lated. Long-tried reputations are destroyed at a
stroke, and hardworking meritorious officers
gibbetted ibr impossible delinquencies. For, like
the Church of Rome, the press must never be
mistaken—every error must be stoutly main-
tained to the last, or its prestige would crumble
to the dust. No doubt the system is the right
one. In spite of the Staff Officer's letters and Sir
Richard Airey's addresses, the Times correspon-
dent is still omniscient, as the Pope is still in-
fallible, though he has more than once pro-
nounced against the laws of nature. It is, then,
we repeat, necessary to exercise a jealous super-
vision over all publications of this nature, and if
any one such writer seems more sensible of the
delicacy of his position than another to give him
our emphatic approbation upon that score. Mr.
Cooke, we are happy to say, seems to have
adopted throughout a more becoming estimate of
his duties than his celebrated predecessor. He
was sent out as an artist, and not like one of the

Spartan magistrates, to watch and report upon the
strategy and tactics of the expedition. As lite-
rary workmen the two gentlemen, thoLgh un-
like, are not unequal. Mr. Cooke is the more
simple, the more humorous, and the more en-
gaging of the two—perhaps the more gentleman-
like; Mr. Russell is decidedly more graphic,
more rich, and more striking. The letters of the
latter are the more attractive in the shape in
which they originally appeared ; the former are
more agreeable in a collected volume than in
periodical instalments. The one were more
effective at the moment ; the other, if we mis-
take not, will be received as a more trustworthy
authority hereafter.
These letters may be roughly divided into
those which treat of warlike operations, those
which describe manners, and those which relate
to commerce. It is difficult to say under which
head Mr. Cooke deserves the most commenda-
tion. his account of the affair at Fatshan Creek
is brilliant and sparkling. his exposition of the
commercial wants and capabilities of the Celes-
tial empire is clear and sensible ; and his pictures
of the inhabitants and their customs quietly and
unaffectedly piquant. It may be worth while to
recall to our readers minds the following re-
markable account of the interior of China, even
though they may have previously perused it in
the Times:—
But the chief and ell-sufficient reason why we are not
doing what we ought to do in China is, that China is nut
open to our mercliandize.
Of course, there is a Spitalfields.ball sort of feeling in
China, as elsewhere ' • and official persons, being all in
China of the good old Tory school, set their faces against
foreign goods. 1 have been told of Chinamen stating they
were ready to take shiploads of Manchester goods if they
could only be protected from the interference of their own

mandarins. -
But this is a very minor consideration. The authorities
in China are strong against an individual, but utterly
powerless against a popular feeling. China in this respect
is the most democratic country in the world ; witness the
growth of the poppy, the difficulty of raising new taxes, the
immediate downfall of an unpopular officer, and the utter
failure of the Emperor and all his power at Pekin to force
into circulation his debased 10-cash piece. The evil is
that British goods are not brought ander the eyes of the
Chinamen of the interior cities. A Chinamen is the in•
carnation of what some people in England would call
common sense. He has no prejudices of any kind,
patriotic, religious, or sentimental. He has a strong clan-
nish family selfishness, and that is all. You have nothing,
therefore, to do but to convince him that you have that to
sell which it would suit him to have, sod that you can sell
it at a lower price than he can get it at elsewhere.
Convince the people of this, and all the mandarins in
China will not stop your sales.
At present, however, you are only upon the outer fringe
of the great Chinese empire. Yon might have made more
of your sphere of action than you have made, but you are
not trading with China.
All our ports, except Shanghai, are separated from the
inland waters of China by a chain of mountains. A con-
tinuation of the Himalayas, at a much lower altitude,
tracks the whole coastline of China at some distance from
the sea, and passes out at toe archipelago of Chusan.
Inside those mountains lies the bulk of the empire of
China--outside lie our trading-porta.
•
• •• ••
•

There is a way of getting behind these bills and into the
central districts of the empire—a way wherein the mer-
chant may travel without toil or danger; where no robbers
can assail him at a vantage ; where secret imposts cannot
spoil his markets—a way which extends up to the furthest
limits of the empire, and whence convenient and innu-
merable ways branch forth, reaching to every hamlet of
this great central region. The gate at which we must enter
China is the mouth of the Yang-tse•Kiang. Give us
entrance there, in our own ships, in our own steamers, and
we can deposit our goods in every great city of the interior
of China.
Let us start from Shanghai, and make an imaginary
voyage up this river. With the exception of DI. Hue, no