The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-25 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 25, 1858.

he is a member of the House of Commons, re-
markable for his assiduous attention to public
business, for his knowledge of commerce, and for
the consistency of his political life. We should
be extremely sorry to see such a political man
out of Parliament, or estranged from the
great party to which he has given general
support during his career. We do not see any
reason to apprehend either the one or the other
event. Mr. NEWDEGATE opposed the admission
of the Jews to Parliament on religious grounds.
He has opposed, and will we doubt not continue
to oppose, the attempts of the Papal Church to
regain ascendancy in any part of the British
Empire on grounds political and social as well as
religious, and because he is opposed, as we
understand his political career, to everything
that can obstruct the real progress of the people,
to every kind of Despotism, whether it be the
Despotism of a Monarchy, the Despotism of a
Jesuitical Oligarchy, the Despotism of a Demo-
cracy, or the Despotism of an overweening
Press ; but we expect that he, and the Conserva-
tive party with him, will support every measure
calculated to remove whatever obstacles may
exist to the advancement in due order of all
classes in the country, not only preserving, but
increasing, when practicable, that transfer by
merit from one class to another in favour of in-
dividuals which has ever existed in this country.
We have said on this portion of the subject as
much as our space will permit, but before leaving
it it may be worth while to point out to our
readers that the expression " Down the rails,"
upon which so much of the article to which we
have referred was founded, was not used by Mr.
NEWDEGATE. Our readers will find on reference
to our report that the expression was " Along
the rails." The difference between " Down"
and Along" is great. It is the difference be-
tween Anarchy and Progress.
One word more and we have done with the
Leading Journal and its misrepresentations.
Surely it is the Times which is arrier6, not the
Conservative party. It is singular, but surely
the Journal of Progress must have gone into a
sleep, like RIP VAN WINKLE. The remarks
which it makes now in September, 1858, would
have done well in the days of the Anti-Corn-Law
League and of the Game-Law Agitation ; but
are now singularly out of place, address them-
selves to no sensitive ear, and touch no raw place
in the social system. Land now has many
duties and many burdens, as the moneyed men
who are daily acquiring find out, but few or no
privileges. The sports of Great Britain, once
aristocratic, are now national. The shooting,
the hunting, and the racing of the kingdom are
accessible to all who have means. The moors
for grouse, the forests for deer, and the rivers for
salmon, are possessed in at least an equal degree
by the manufacturers of Manchester as by the
ancient Peerage or the old Squirearchy. The
two keenest sportsmen and largest holders of
moors in Scotland are manufacturers in Lanca-
shire; and the winner of the heaviest stakes and
greatest prizes on the turf this year is a manu-
facturer; yet the aristocracy of the country
alone are perpetually held up as occupying for
grouse and deer acres of land that it is said
(falsely said) would support a large population,
and Lord DERBY, we are told, is responsible for
the career of every man who disgraces or ruins
himself upon the turf. It would be as reasonable
to require Messrs. BARING to abandon commer-
cial and moneyed transactions because penniless
adventurers gamble in railways or foreign loans.

VOLUNTARY versus INVOLUNTARY

INCARCERATION.

PUBLIC attention has of late years been so often
directed to the treatment of criminals in this
country, and so many various theories have been
broached on the subject by politicians of every
shade, that we may almost consider the final
solution of the gigantic difficulties which have
hitherto blocked up the way as at hand. A con-
viction is rapidly forcing itself on the minds of
all, at least all who view the movements in this
direction in a practical as well as a philosophical
light, that humanizing influences are, after all,
the most effectual in dealing with human beings,