The Express.
London, England, 1857-06-26 00:00:00

innermost
loath-
's fit

diacretios
literature
' por-
t9l.
Su-

ordinary
' difficult
.4
only

speech,
. drawing
arbitrary ;
judgments
which
liters-
• WAS

A expense,
public, the

importunity or
psasers-by,
perhaps •
• be re-

not diM-

- sentiment,
thoughtlessly sup-
,nee, follow some
- through the
; &heroine-
humanity
al charac-
. He has
beggar, and
debauches

Imo.
_
i .
2.
, Ting HAIL? Nr.WS t LONDON MORNING end
._ ,,s es e l. esuresis.. earri re eats
Tse 1504.1-ore smelt sie ewer el us eremeeee rsA el
gamseill .rs, her
le ise um' eLI while el Rs asswel eines-ia taserweee et Rs
I les; worts. Awl ha the cartel minutia rod sweaniebsi Meennalees abta
wataeal le the sag, raw, end moragarylol.lo-4141. eseerle ow it.
intrinaltlaN Raw, IR IMLIARLI AND I AAA A IAL
Art sure..!- .aer,rlll;
‘,14.0.4,,ALM Wars raw Is suveAs4 erg
I " it ."
"%Tilt's LT DAILY ;III:4a smear. me
sin
."IVIAVet7iII3 ALL 0:7)11441,/1 ADTRTISIMNITTS.
It ts one* :edereftbrer. IPa. kh .4:4 7 946111 W b e..1100:t ULika, :Illy the
toes ~,,t4 ,g,,,u,,,,,,,•, .....ts prltrt . , t mat 4WY
k.ler laksweale.rwhaeot Le lOW • shameter PA4 10.1114.1 WA th,
4.1,1174
i • bill•l://144141=14.101,....21013 it 002432; es st of
11.14WITtirrt ry'be ,^7ZeTwl I, nth.- gmer 4 ••••,,- n
•.•••• • robust woo, tee p. 11.441... ..li. .4 ..'Ol `VA... N.W. M.
=air^ "`"^""'4""vzos XWIT• SI it Yager, W./ la VS
iID
,1,11111 DAILY NEWS delivered to all parts of at
I • us wor
.erst r 11,111.4 -....A ,t,r. . ~.m. 1.•.., ••=.4 a
..... emus
t Olrl.r;;Og he on-sal lbfw'r j 4 ni., ;ad seat ey
POW W. LAT =Lt. Roos MAW SAL 0004 asset. al
es
II et? eXofregso* ei
as
TO CORRIMPONDINTS. b
eivertserses tenser re "The e. ono" Leaks amass paw, C.
I
it , • Wirt be el the Oflre, 111,11019611.11:101. by Tee seClori ea tka '
day sT easesesse. , •
t
tr. terres. TRR riVentrwA. 1101111.-MY lON.
MAMA. and LTAI.A.NTA,--03••=10 al T. t
. I
PRINOL•RP.
Pars Imams, 1117310 OATH. CHARM& Mr. Mar; now a 1
tire:am firc.,,ttopicelfs. Ma 1000)10. Mr. sae 1
t
season.
0 Ten amine. LI SONE AbIUCLA. Moors. R. laGel, C. ,
Darsol; SW. lawn .1 Part.—awl TRa I(OOlaw orW. 1
. Mama Leann sat A. Corte; Miss Dyer.-Osonsare MT.
RION WATS& AT LONDON DRIDON.
mos or. -Monster. IL WA. ...---- eitaerms. Nt. Us.
toweesaew-M•reles. AL 411 a. ........ Allerwas. Gh. lew.
i LONDON', FRIDAY, JUNE 26.
-w---
A DOUBLE NUMBER of the EXPRESS will
)1 i be published as usual TO-MORROW.
le is very diriicalt to convince the doctors either
of the body politic or the body natural, that there
Is such a thing u a remedy worse than the disease.
The administrators of the criminal law are rape.
k rally liable to fall into the error that every social
evil may be put down by sufficient severity of
penal treatment. That accomplished and valuable
i Chief Nlegistrate, my Lord CAMPBELL, appears to
be at the present moment a victim to this very
R common and very venial form of delusion. Every one
will sympathise with the CutE, JUSTICE of ENG-
LAND in his desire for the abolition of that &herniae.
I ble traffic in obv.ene books and prints which infects
with the taint of leprous pollution the innermost
well-springs of the moral life. The thing is loath-
some and abominable in the last degree. So far
every one is entirely with JORN Lord CAMPBELL;
, \ but is any rational person prepared to go
with him in the legislative remedy which
he proposes far this miserable social dirs.. ?
Can the proposition be seriously entertained for a
moment of vesting in the police a plenary discretiee
of judging of what is or is not obscene in literature
or art, pictorial or plastic—of making a general per-
quisition after nudities, with summary powers of vial.
tenon, search, and seizure? Is Mr. Inspector A or Su-
perintendent X to be constituted for the notice a censor
mores. for the British metropolis? Is the ordinary
Peeler to be entrusted with the delicate and &Mesh
task of drawing the lino between that which is only
act obscene became it is seethetie, and that which is
bestial beyond the defence of art? As Lord LYND
MERIT pointed out in has admirably clever speech
there so a difficulty, and a very great one, in drawini
this line. To a scram degree it must be arbitrary
and various minds will arrive at various judgment
so to the aide of the dividing line on whit.:
1 ; many celebrated works, whether of art or liter
tore, should be placed. The holy CHRYSOATOM WM
a 00a•taltt reader of the libidinous Moron:tem
Bishop HALL talks complacently of tho wilt
' epigrams of the shameless MARTIAL. DRYDEN, I
Lord Lex otter.: r pointed out, though ono of on
accepted English clerics, would certainly be •
obscene book ender the proposed provisions of Law
if CAMPBELL'S Act. Mr. MOSON would unque
tionably come to grief for his reprints of " Beal
moat and Fletther "—" Wycherly and Vanbrugh
COLNACIII might appear to some barberry of Soo
lead-yard no less an object of suppression du
DCODALE. In fact, BB Lord LYNDHURST clear;
I
I pointed out, the matter would be endless if the rig)
of police interference were once carried to the cite
' proposed by the CUIEF It:write& We should ha
,
the Crystal Palace and the National Gallery broug
up before Mr. BINGHAM and Mr. YARDLEY. ID
I MYR and Menu+ Pocwate laid under the seven.
, interdict. The thing, in short, would never i
I
'4l Ovevlegialation invariably defeats its own object
I
does not repress the evil at which it aims, and
engenders worse oils in the very process of ;
tempting a cure. The existing law is amply at
qiutte for all purposes of repression. The true aim
statesmen should be to elevate and improve I
vitiated taste, not to rage vainly against the vitiati
indulgence.
• t " I RAVE committed," said a celebrated Evil
Prelate, " many sins in my life ; but ono I ne
• did commit—give a farthing to a beggar in t
street..." Of course, the eminent man who T 4
turgid on such an erection is considered by m
I people as rather an extraordinary person ; and ;
. more sentimental sex would feel infinitely horrifiei
i
' hearing what they are in the habit of calling
wicked a confession. Bat the Archbishop of De BI
1 is quite right. There is nothing so miseliievous
Iki : promiscuous charity. I; demoralises the person v
indulges in it—it demoralises the person who recei
it Every man, woman, and child has the passim
I 1 pity; it is gratifying to indulge a passion, am
. many people if it can be indulged at a small expe
with little trouble, and in the face of the public,
gratification is rather increased than diminished.
is pleasant, too, for the spectators as well as for
actors. It is to nice to think that people arc good
charitable. It is so comfortable to think that it is,
to acquire a character for benevolence, and to p
tine in public the precepts of religion. Like ra
other things, it looks well at a distance. But t
is another side to the picture, which we may jar
well investigate.
That lean, cringing, sallow-faced, filthy, 1
clothed Chinaman, who crones crawling along n
the magnificent club-portico: of PalLmall, it
wretched enough. Ins chattering importunil
silent eloqucuce irresistibly appeal to the parer
for he is a stranger in a foreign land, perils
4 shipwrecked mariner. Why should he not b
lieved ? Why are charitable men and wome
deny themselves this luxury ? The answer is not
cult. Let those who like truth better than sentil
and shrink from the notion of thoughtlessly
pl. ing vice with the means of indulgence, follow
of these apparent children of misery throng)
1 heart of the City, to the filth and seething shelf
Lion of Shmiwell. In that horrid den of hum
they will find their Chinese friend in his real eh
ter, amid the companions of his choice. HI
put off the cringing subservience of the beggas
has 'mourned the abandoned ease of the deba