The Express.
London, England, 1849-01-03 00:00:00

Porthato Bishea- -
• Linsehi 11 19,406
Alleredeit et house ter inia
Purchase of setae sad been for the Bishop of
Beelesdoe
Ahlitillel of residesee of B' Worcester 24
7,000
Altered= et resiilenot of of thchrd 6,100
'Of this sem, is be aura, 27,0001. came out of
theopiness! fund,tiso halsice(being raised either from
tie silo of episcopal estates, or by leans on security
et them. But in every ease of sale the church has been
Idea* injured by the commission. For example,
at Rosheater they meld the old Palace for 1,000!.; and
Mr. 1102emsi peodused to the,eommittes a witting.
who staid he would gladly have given 2,0001. far it,
had the epplatinity hem sailed him. And in mg
ease of purism the commission bas bought an sod
dlisitheitagessis terms. For instance, the Mailbags
estate mmeimbed of about 1,600 acres; it was offered
wag simuniesion for 82,0004 who refused it at that
prise; ea their refusal, it was bought by the very
serenity they employed; and by those servants one-
third alit was re-sad to the commission fir 40,0001.
Nor was this wute of sadisey aIL The order in
esissil authorising the purchase by the commission
of ems-third of the estate at this ex'ravagant price,
stated that in the opinion of the commission the pur-
chase would be beneficial to the see, because there
were on the property house, dikes. and outbuildings,
which would afford aft and convenient residence for the
Bishop of Lincoln and his succeuors.' Yet no sooner
had the purchase money been paid, than the Eoclesi-
satirist Commission found out that " the house, offices,
and outbuildings" were unfit for a bishop ! Nay
more, they actually spent 13,3021. on them,
of which they pied 6,000!. out of the episcopal
land ! First, they paid 40,0001. for the estate, be-
cause it had a fit house on it ; then they spent
13.0001. because it bad sot a fit house!' And all this
selling and buying of rotates, pulling down and bedd-
ing up, was notwithstanding the fact that there was
in the city of Lincoln a bishop's palace, a Awning
lease of which might have been bad for 1,5001. aad that
a small expenditure on it would have made it an expel-
lent residence even for a bishop. But,according to the
new doctrine invented by 11r. CHALK for episcopal
use, bishops ought not tasesida in their episcopal
cities; they require (delicate creatures !) country arr.
So also at Stapleton ; they bought that property fee
thew of Gloucester and Bristol for 11,0001. because
it had a house on it, and all the expenditure which
even the episcopal occupant, Dr. Mors, asked to put
it into complete repair was 3,0001. Yet, what be-
tween the bishop's country architect and the commis-
@loners' town architect, and the Woods and Forests'
arbitrating architect v. ho was called in to reconcile
town and country differences. the Ecclesiastical Com-
mission by degrees spent 11,0001. on a new episcopal
residence for the see of Gloucester and Bristol.

At Danbury, it is true, the eommissioa bought an
estate for the nee of Rochester, which had a house
good enoufb even for a bishop, but then, again, to be
consistent in episcopal waste, they gave 26,0001. for a
property not worth more than 18,0001., or 18,0001. at
the very outside. First they injure the see of
IRochester by selling moth beneath its value property
Ito raise the 26,0001, and then they lay oat the
26,0001. in an estate not worth 18,0001.
At Ripon, in a fit of stern economy, they resolved
the episcopal residence should be built for .0,0004,
but in their weaker moments they went on exceeding
the estimates until they open" nearly 14,0001.
At this time the communion has to provide a
"pales" for the new Bishop of MANcHarru; and at
the rate at which they have been providing residences
elsewhere, it can hardly be supposed that at Man-
chester, where of course the value of property is high,
any swat under 20,0001. will be spent, unless, indeed,
parliament should arrest their extravagance before
the" palm, " is bought or built.
We again give the comae/NM n the benefit of the
fact that mach of this wasteful outlay has been pro-
iided for by the pmperty of the various sees, and not
paid out of the episso fund. But the effect of their
extravagant expenditure on the church is the same,
regardless of the Douro* whence it proceeded : for by
the waste that has been committed the means of the
church hays been lessened.

Howavas we may think Sir Pares LAURIN
wrong, and very wrong, even in some of the very
axioms and principal propositions of his theory of
prison dlaciphne, we still must admit that he has
mode oat a very good ease against the construction
of the new City prison oa the Pentonville system.
The extreme oath of the greater number of these
committed in London, and the trivial nature of their
offences, subjecting them to each short terms of im-
prisonment, alone rendes their consignment to sepa-
rate cells a waste of severity, care, and discipline.
Sash &detentes of the silent system as Sir Parson
LAMS have certainly tuoended in damaging much
of the joresCipe that hitherto surrounded its groat
rival—the separate plan Bet Sir Perna at the
Mae time *revocably damages and condemn, his
own favourite system, when ha establishes it as a
manias, "'flat no reasonable expectation of Mersa-
lion of prisoners geDerslly can be entertained from
any system of prison discipline."
We cannot but consider this as at once an Minim

and melancholy membeiss es the pad as ex-
perienced magistrate, the atogististe too eta dis•ziet
to which three-fourths of the sokamittals area youth
for trivial °Sans. If penal legielation has no ',sandy
or reform for each mobyects, truly it 'designee to be
keeled from the council boards. But all than
titreivels and oontrowersies, in which each ohampies so
essapietely extinguishes his rival without setting up
or exculpating -himself, only prove the utter de-
' Ilciency of every plan or pracuee, be it separate or be
it silent, and the consequent necessity of introducing
some new element, some new power, to effect that
which the presestmcde of more or lees breaking the,
spirit of the coaviot, and crashing his evil propeas
ties, without repining them by any. good. or ren-
ing motive., at, least of an active has by the
avowal of its. eery partisans utterly failed in pro-
ducieg.
We cannot. therefore, but recommend a mew fall
and fair trial at home of Capt. Mecottocates srsheine
of prison discipline and reform. Bari Oa* kicked
parliament of giving it a trial, but we do not see any
active step taken tar that purpose. We are not pre-
pared to asswer for its complete mons. But we do
think, that so phileathropin, or haw of a new social
idea, has such strong claims Ike being allowed a
trial as Catania Kacoaocula.
The great distinctive feature of his system
is this. It substitutes labour the time as a
punishment Instead of having • man arntesold
to ten or fourteen years' imprisonment, he would have
him sentenced to a certain quantity of work—which
marks again shall represent labour—to be worked a
by the Jouster Wore !moan vegan hie liberty. Nor
is this notion Captain Maoottoonth's own. It has
long been tamiliar to penal writers and philosophic
jurists. BECCARIA agreed with it.. PALLY advised
it in very altar terms. In the chapter on crimes and
punishments he says, "I would measure the confine•
meat, not by the duration of time, but by quantity of
work, in order beta to excite industi y and render it
mere volontar/.* The ides, in fact, bad become a
common axiosa in penal philosophy long being, any
one attempted to apply it. Man/ other
adopted it in turn. Archbishop Ill'aevaux eg•
pounded the notion at large, and from him Captain
Mecommenta conftsese that he acquired it.
But the gallant sailor btu mastered, oahvged, real-
ised, and made the idea his owo. Before he took it
up it was a mere theory—he posed in practiesighty.
With the publicists, it mu simply. A- Ingestion of
resson—the organisation of which mu at least doubt-
ful. lie made it a reality—gave it term, character
and system. Whatever boaour sad profit the inven-
tion of the mark system may briag to its author, Cap-
taro Meconocirta deserves them all. His Ina loses
the labour—Lis ought to be the reward—if thine be

amt.
fa those persona who are even slightly acquainted
with the working of the gaol system, the advan-
tages of labour over time sentences must be ob-
vious. The labour-punishment p ces the criminal's
fate in his own power to soma extent. It gives
him the feeling of personal responsibility—which the
ordinary punishment robs him of. The man reeving
out seven years has no object but to murder the time.
So far as his individual will and power is con:enied,
the interval is a dead waste which he wishes to pare
in a dream. He would be glad to sleep it ont—to
fuel hie eimlere existence suspended—and therefore
often courts the itfiletion which confines him to his

Not the bed MOW& snub of our Itiesitiline
spleen is the almoines diiregud for the value of time
which it engweille. Time brumes associated only
with the idea olf siMbrinp_and sensttsint. The man
learns to regard it as a ke, end not as a friend.
• Time was made for slaves —aye, and for prisoners
too, he thinks. Its flight—eo swift to such as know
bow to us it well—is to him intolerably slow ; he
hates it, and this hatred becomes a dhutrons habil.
And how can time be murdered ? Can it be mar-
doted innocently f This is a fearful gateau. Let
=think of his own expedients. Let any one
bow he limner killed a day, an hour, whisk
Warmed between one sat and another. Captein
Ktoonocsis mays truly that an aimless, d
life, is a corrupt one in slaw any eireurastaneesrerl
a useless, worthlem, and enfeebling one to boot. AM
yet weakness is the great came of crime. To do any-
thing to weaken the criminal still more, by way of
strengthening his virtues resolutions, is irredeem-
ably abated. One might es reasonably lower the
Met of the poor, and heap op filth in their dwelling,
by way of security against dialers.
The labour-sentence would call out the more manly
and hardy virtues. There would be, under its dispel:-
adios, so skulking—no miserable subterfuges to get
pit et days and weeks. Time needs only to be OW
dnred—work mud be done. The one appeals only to
the passive &cultist of the mind and body—tbe Ater
to the active. One inevitably breeds idleness, sloth,
NM apathy—the other u certainly calls forth at
dent e@ the habit of industry, self-confidence, and he
Asenhas no:power over the progress of time, but he has
swarths progress of wort. Ile reek as he puts forthbis
that he is wagoning his own freedos--esd
the time is developing the virtues whisk will
deseretr ft If the hope of gain sweeten labour, the
desire of freedom will be Wind to sanctify it. The
end wig hollow the means. The continuity of the so-
cial life will remain unbroken—the work which won
the mane liberty will afterward@ preserve it. The
state of probetion will become an integral part of
life—a brrph4 and sot a dark spot upon it, as it is
now.

Such a disdpiine must be he an eminent
degree
healthy and invigorating. The Individual is:
measure cut upon his own resources. He is required
under it to sot fie himself; and, if he ham not yet ac-
quired, will soon liners, the art of controlling himself.
Under the present system everything is done fur the
criminal. All responsibility is taken from him. He
is unmanned, put ittes swaddling bands again, and
ordered for, like an infield. He is rendered incapable
of taking care of himself—with what results our
gaol returns sad tablerof re-commitments only prove
too fatally.
This system merely demands a fair and fall trial.
It is consonant to reamen,- end is authorised by the
greatest writers on penal edam. It has been already
tried—under obvious and fatal disadvantages—but
with nth an amount of mesas as juetifirs a more
careful experiment. The amoral sphere for such
a trial is the deckyardla The hulks, ae sow
administered, are a national esgrace- Any change
almost must be for the better. These are the
fitting elements for a fair trial—the dregs of cri•nina-
lity, plenty of bard labour, and vicinity to the head-
quarters of authority. We should certainly be skid
to see Sir (konot GREY undertake to melte an ex-
periment at Woolwich, and allow Capt. MACONOCHIZ
to conduct it under proper, and not improper, regula-
tions and restrictioas. Even•if it leafed, which we dr
not believe, it would do no harm ; sad the trial would
be burs to yield results and suggestions of value.

" ROME, Dee. 24
1. The utmost tranquillity continue► to prevali The
supreme junta is in full exercise of the executive
authority, and parliament carries on the business of
the eeantrp. The Wane of Count Teremzo Mamiani
isa slight impediment to the working of the ministry,
but the scansion of Armellini and others to the
cabinet compensate► fee this accident. The War
Minister Coimbra°• is eery active in eeganising an
efficient force, and his circular of to-day offers- a
premium of ten dollars I. whoever shall enroll ten
soldiers; the lucky fellow who can bring in twenty is
epee forte corposel, thirty constitute the enlister a
sergeant, and • sub-lieutenancy bethe reward of the
youth who can muster 1.400 followers.
" Primes Canino is furious at hie conga, the Presi-
dent of France, having disavowed for election pur-
poses "all connexion with the fins next door." The
said President'. letter to-the Paris Nuncio is rather a
droll document, when weveeollsot that Louis Napo-
leon Bred his first shot against the temporal power of
the Pope in the insurrection which oast the life of his
brother, both lade having run away from the house of
their father, the old Kisg of Holland, Utake pert in
a foray spinet Gregory.
"The convocation of a Constituent Assembly le de-
termine the ultimate destiny of this territory, VW in a
state of mature deliberation. The men at the helm
here are not in. any particular hurry to precipitate
matters ; neither does the Pontiff exhibit any very
urgent anzlistp to bring things to a crisis. Ilk still
exercises, in its full plenitude, the spiritual power
which no one in Rome ever dreamt of infringing. Hs
has ordered the midnight mess, usually performed at
Christmas, hi be celebrated: at day-break; and it will
be so held accordingly.
"Thereis not the slightest symptom of a reaction.
in rublioieging. Those who speculated it. that eon-
tiagencybnow little of Rome or of the Romans. A vast
deal of valuable indignation is vented in the Spanish
newspapers and the Midi press. but the Romans beg
to be allowed to govern their temporal affairs aftee
dm& even faehion. They have found, ly the expel•
ease of °Fishwife, that the sacerdotal kings, far hem
detiving independesse in the exercise el their spirt-teal
parer ftem the admixture of temporal sovereigalp,
einettatty compelled to make that spirituel b-
erme nanidiary to the preservation of their crows,
and te regulate the oracles of the Tatican according u
it best suited the maintenance ef the fatal gift of
Charlemagne, or Constantine, or whoever else is sup-
posed to have given them "the patrimon; of St.
Peter."

NAPLES,. Diu. 24.
A few days aims there appeared to be every proba-
bility of • speedy expedition to Sicily. Such at.least was the
general opinion. But the num received haft within the
East i 4 hours Is of so startling • character, to menacing to.
those who are wedded to the old state of things. and so tall
ilzati, those who are panning after the new, that it is W-
M say what turn mums may take—Louis Hardiest,
elisebsd Purdah la Fun" and Globoid has sueasedul
is Amin a ministry. Pupae are here mad excited by the
intellgpme, and the libeled& are indulge' hopes of ltadaa
nefem sad liberty. It A highly probe lle that the kite&
page hem without rep modity cemaiderably the tamale
of the Heapelitaa mellow for conecat tee as they may. **het
lnimmilenbeed that theepeeition of the Ling of He lea A mock
lam than it wee unto few weeks slue. I
dinehtlia=ttini affairs here one in a state of oscillation
meestaferty Mite can only be determined by some
ex-
~lerodimgnise. liidnwhile, as. if constitutions were no
better then they should be, end. sot worth • thought, our
struts to day au mowed with eager faces looking at all
I the wooden of confection, ry ; military patrols are parading
in ell directiona to keep order here and there you see a
1^11411:*14,•, Wen with chains and attended by a metier,
@dishing dm he himself sad his companions in misery ;
hundreds sad thousands oi beggars entreat you, by all the
suits in paradise, for sq. rano ;" whilst hundreds are
plunging, themselves into beggary in order to enjoy the
hung eating " capitate" on Chriatinai-d ay. The ling
I not hue ; he, with la the royal family, are at Outs, where
he remakes foe the !Militia of Christmas week. Dazing
his absence from eseta the Prises Hereditary, the
Could of Aquila, cad Prince Sebastian were amnia-
deiced to perform the honours which would have been ren
doted by his Majesty to his Holiness, and to follow hie, in
all his walks. 'Phan is some talk here of the probability of
mother forced han being required, but how it can be
enforced, or where the money A to come from, it is difficult
te know. If a few months sti ce such immense difficulty
was experienced in procuring any portion of the loan, how
an it be expected to enforce it with any chance of MCC. as,
now that commerce is at a lower ebb .han ever, and that the
vales of property of el kinds has so mach deteriorated ?
On Friday eight a serious accident betel Cardinal Ostiai.
He had been on board the Hibernia to pay • visit to cur
admiral, when on leaving he fell down the hatchway, and
Atli," upon his temple received most serious and alarming
Injury. His Beninoace has been insensible ever sines.
On the night of the 20th other ammunitions of war left
Naples' for Memelaa on board ships of war. The fort dei
Cavalieri at Messina has been destroyed. An Engielt family,
on returning to their house within the last few days, found
the upper pert ruined, and 41 bombs and shells awaiting
them. On lighting a fire in one of the rooms the smoke
•weeld not mend, and on having the chimney examined, a
shell was found in it which had not exploded. Amongst
I other instances of general detestation to tho royal tro,,p,, I
m g mention that some little time sine-, on some soldiers
having gone into • eel,, the proprietor went to Fil ugh ri,
snit rated that if i, were to amain.* he would be either
resaseinated or Obliged to shut up his as* Weis the Grunt

•
THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING UNITA-WI '3 " 1849.
dilL. glWat mislay,* slow.,
's 4141 . i f.-: ' , ' la bilarh. aa'Wo lava aft am. who
11•1‘4,:. :.if.4.__. .4;. !Le'ilejdlSAlNO.
ingeons:towithbac:ll;ttbresda. t 40ataya riffordaro Tz
,inradarkthar"
P It taorasil balsa tie iflosiot mak
tr
out
Abrades of Mar for kin
. llo° than go to school, or mind their work, or minis from
"
Poolas. 4 walls a" Neul°' Sill"! 44 •
• talking.
___ ...._ ' I I .l f_ 1
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