The Express.
London, England, 1849-06-29 00:00:00

ben. Neither are we inclined to quarrel with indul-
=or luxuries, if conducive to health. They have
introduced at certain prisons—we means
/sr example, the hixeries of clearable*,
read warmth, which, however they unfortu-
sately ought not to be, lexuries to the
poor. We do not see why tie facilities for these
idled in prisms might not be extended to the
abuse of the free and the saes, by making them to
be desirable end attainable, and not beyond the
rook of the bumbled ketones. It would be better,
so denbt, to begin by applying them to the free, and
thee extend them to the wane'. But unfortunately
the freeman, above all the Englishman, dose not lend
himself to such experiments. And hilanthropy is
often reduced to expend its efforts on those whom
misfortune or guilt have deprived of their fret dos, fur
the sake of testing a system, and leaving its applica-
bility to the more deserving mass of the community.
It may int unjust to bestow the care and tutelage
of a model prison upon crime, however penitent,
when the more jealous discipline of the workhouse
it'll accorded to the hapless and industrious. But these
, are the inevitable accompaniments of transitive sod
half-informed states, where the wisest do bat feel their
way towards knowledge, and ere too happy to gain
at no greater injustice than that of misplaced
humanity.
As to the opposite fault of over-severity, it must
surely spring from the mode of application, not from
the system itself. At the present moment when
death punishment is becoming more rare, in
order, we trust, ere long to be discontinued
altogether, there is needed a mode of
punishment, little inferior in its terrors to a
guilty population end in its subduing effee's on the cri-
minal himself, to death. The 'emirate cell, with some
relaxation after a period of probation, cannot, what-
ever be its consequences, be coosiderrd too rigid for
those who have spilled the blood of their fellows, or
who follow the trade of the nightly burglar, or who
deliberately and designedly compass the ruin of the
innocent.
What has done wrong to the ',para.. system is the
attemputo apply it universally,. even to lesser criminals.
on the ground that it is eminently curative. We
believe its first characteristic is that of being a very
severe punishment, especially to criminals of certain
habits and certain calling*. And in many instances
we do think it should be looked to almost solely as a
punishment, leaving reform of the criminal's mind to
come as a corollary or a possibility. Had we a
penal settlement like Norfolk Island, out of which
there was no redemption, from which no tidings
could ever reach the world—did such a power exist,
presenting to the apprehension of the criminal clam
at home all the character of • living tom", then we
might abolish the punishment of death, and still
maintain that security to society and terror to
offenders, to which many veterans of the judicial pro-
fession cling, fancying they can only find it in the
gallows.
Bat if the separate system be too harsh for lesser
crimes, for young, or for sensitive criminals, the worst
of the silent and associated system is the
immense powers of tyranny which it gives
to gaol officers. The power of inflicting grave
punishments such as deprivation of food, closer ine.r-
°nation, and on, entrusted to the underlings of a
prison, carries with it all the evils attributed to the
assignment system, which, according to the master's
character, might turn oat either a purgatory or a
paradise. In certain of our prisons, if a prisoner
happens to torn his eyes to the right, when he should
keep them to the left, he is put on bread and water
far two days. And the gaol officer is the only judge
of how or why the eyes were wrongly turned. Put such
a man RS ERNE/4T JONES under such a regime, and it
may be made ten times more severe to him than
Pentonville, or even than Norfolk Island. This is at
least one privilege of the separate system, that it
delivers the prisoner from the tyranny of spiteful and
capricious subwditiates. We should like to have the
opinion of the inmates of Pentonville fir d of certain
Ci'y prisms polled, as to the comparative severity
of the separate and silent system, ere parliament
finally decides between them.

ITALY.

ROMAN STATES.—Though no later news has
been received from Rome than that already pub-
lished, the following particulars will be found in.
tereeting. It is already known that when M. de
Coreenee arrived at the head-quarters of the French
army, he wrote to the chancellor of the French
embassy to state that the treaty into which
M. Leeseps bad entered was disavowed by the
French government; and, besides this, that the
treaty could not be valid, Inasmuch as M. Lesseps
had been recalled on the 29th of May, and had not
signed the treaty till the 31st, when he no longer bad
the power of doing so. To this quibble in dipiomaey
M. Martini replied in a letter addressed to the CU-s-
-eeder of the French embassy saying, that the recall
at a plenipotentiary on this or that date had no ban-
jos on the matter. The feet was, that the Roma
Assembly had learnt nothi, g, and was mids
leegnisantl of any official despatches. Theaters, the
diplomatic question stood thus between the contend-
ing parties "M. de Weeps was plenipotentiary es
the 31st of May as before. Nothis.g canto to inform
us that he was not. We were therefore tree:lug with
him in all good faith, as if we were treating with
Frame; and this very good faith cost us the occupa-
tion al Monte Mario on the night of the 28th." The
Boman government, continues M. Mazziii, did not
oppose this occupation, nor many others, which tended
M diminish the enceinte of defence. M. Lessepe had
aged them not to commence hostilities by molesting
the French. They (the Romans) had kept hack, and
row they repented of it. On the 31st of May the
convention between the Roman government and M.
L-sseps was signed, but General Oudinot refined to
add his name, and a despatch shortly after came from
the general, saying that the French government had
informed him by letters, dated the 28th and 29th,
that M. Lesseps had been recalled : 24 hours were
given to accept the condition, of the 29. h of May.
On that very day (the Ist of June), M. Lesseps bed
said that be remained firm to his arrangement con-
cluded on 31st May, And that he was starting to get it
ratified. That very day also saw Gen. Oudinot de-
clare that hostilities would commence, and on the
Sunday following an attack took place. the conve-
queuee of which was the occupation of the Villa
Pamfili and the loss of two companies cut off.
And, leaving apart these considerations, what
had the despatches mentioned by M. de Cic-
cone. and General Oudinot to do in the
matter. The Roman government had not seen them.
The facts to plea, in juxtaposition were the words of
Gen. Oudinot red those of M. Lesser!, and the
Roman Assembly had conceived it better to trust to
the plenipotentiary than to the general. Europe, in
examining the question on both sides, will be led to
say that the French government intended to deer ice
(finer) the Roman government, and that Geo. Oudi-
I not had dishonestly taken advantage of the good faith
of the Romans to attack them unprepared.
Glacial communication of Gen. Von Wimpffen, from
Collo Ammo, before Anomie, June 19.
The battering and bombarding of Ancona from all aides on
the evening of the 16th and morning of the 17th, while from
time to time shells were thrown into the eity by night, was
followed by the admission of the proposal of Gee. Wimpffte,
inconsequence of which a capitulation was concluded on the
evening of the 18th, the sulutance of which u as folows:
"Animated by the common wish of sparing the city from
farther damage through the operations of the besiegers, the
communal representation, and the plenipotentiariee of the
sky and forts, tweeted in the heal-quarter. of General
Wimpffan, where the following conditions was settled: 1.
The garrison of the city and forts, composed of various corps,
to withdraw with military honours. General Winspffen en-
gages to obtain a full amnesty for these Austrian soldiers
who have deserted their colours, and enlisted in the service
of the besieged, as well as teethe Pope's wahines!, and sol-
diers of the line. The former will, according to the order*
of the commander in chief in the Lombard-Venetian king-
dom, return to their regiments, the latter wail
take the oath of allegiance to their legitimate
sovereign, or, if they should prefer it, retire by
say reed which they choose provided wit t • safe-
guard to their own hosese. Those Austrian and Papal
soldiers who did not before belong to the military will be
allowed to depart free and unmolested to their homes. 2.
Toole officers of the Ps* troops who wish to remain ;a
service will be allowed to keep the same rank which
theyenjoyed before the late political sweets. 3.
Se-
entity of peron ant property is guaranteed to the
inhabitants of Ancona, and no one will be made re-
span-ibis for the pest resistance to the imperial troop*
As far as repro. previous °Deuces, Cianeral C .ant
Wirnpffen Nimes to intercede with his holiness for
the pardon ce each as are not of a cornaon criminal ala-
rmist 4. Until the occupation of tee city sad forts on the
ride of the Aunrion army, the civic guard will maintain
trier, sad undertake the delivering up of the gates awl
chi, f plats of the city on the day fad hour, and tn the
mann t r,.hereafter to be &termini d. 6. All w.a stores a.. d
property One elate to be delivered up to the imperial troops,