Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-25 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.-LIVERPOOL, SATURDAY, JULY 25. 1857.

which such reductions were charged." Lord
NAAS has founded his Bill on this particular
principle. He only seeks to repeal the objec-
tionable clause of the Act of 1834, and that is
all the Civil Service require.
What was the ground of opposition assumed
by Mr. Wilson? An attempt to prove that the
Civil Servants of the Crown were paid equal to
clerks in the Bank of England. But this the
member for Southampton, Mr. WEGUELIN,
proved was not the case. We are not among
that class of politicians who desire, or would in
the remotest degree countenance, extravagant
national expenditure ; nevertheless we wish to
see a proper system of remuneration provided
for all classes of public servants; such an
amount as will enable them to make the most
advantageous investment for themselves, and
those dependant upon them, in old age. And
there are many modes whereby this could be
done without authorising the Treasury to extract
from the Civil Servants of the Crown an annual
sum, without, in the great majority of installees,
granting any equivalent. The matter will be
discussed on Wednesday, when we shall have
an opportunity of again referring to the subject.

IT is melancholy to find that our criminal
statistics still continue to exhibit a steady or
rather a rapid increase in the number of those
who violate the law. The number of prisoners
on the calendar for trial at our present Sessions
is 226 and all these have been committed during
the brief interval of six weeks; true, it may be
some consolation to be informed by our worthy
Recorder that the offences charged against the
majority of these prisoners are not of a very
aggravated character, but it must be borne in
mind that grave criminals are tried before another
tribunal than that presided over by the Recorder ;
and we fear much that the calendar will prove,
when our Assizes commence, that there has been

a serious increase in the number of criminals
charged with the commission of cri,nes of the
most serious description against the persons and
property of the leiges. This is a state of things
deeply to be deplored by every one who desires
to witness the amelioration of his fellow crea-
tures ; but how is this state of things to be
remedied ? We have our churches, our chapels,
and our schools, of every denomination; we have
our benevolent institutions, our reformatories,
and a host of other agencies, for the purpose of
making men and women less criminal ; but, some-
how or other, their impressions are scarcely per-
ceptible in stemming the torrent of crime and
consequent wretchedness which sweeps over our
land.

Our gaols are full—crammed to suffocation ;
so are our workhouses ; yet they continue to
yawn for fresh victims, like the monster in
" Vothie ;" their rapacious maw is never satisfied—

the cry is still, more, more ; nor will it be other-
wise till society at large adopts a very different
method thin it hac ever done hitherto in
grappling with that giant monster which stalks
over and curses the earth. If we wish to cir-
cumscribe crime and diminish the number of our
criminals, we must begin at the right end of the
question ; we must hold out just inducements to
honest industry ; we must convince that class

from which our criminal population spring, that
virtue has something more than a mere ideal
reward in store for those who pursue it ; we may
sermonise and philosophise till dooms-day, but
we shall make no impression until such time as we
set to work in earnest and put ourt eachings into
practice. We have already said that poverty is
the curse of the human race, and to that senti-
ment we still adhere, and until such time as some
effectual effort is made to alleviate the material
condition of the masses we need expect no cessa-

tion of crime or criminals.
This doctrine may not be very consolatory for
those individuals who have some pet project of
their own—some patent nostrum for the re-
formation of criminals, but all experience has
shewn that it is the truth. We repeat it,
honesty must be shewn to be as profitable, nay,
more so than vice ; when we have done that, we
shall find that the masses who now encumber
our Goals and who spread a moral pestilence
over the face of the earth, will pursue the one
and eschew the other. But this is a social re-
volution which can only be accomplished by
unity of action and purpose on the part of all
possessed of influence, be that great or small,
throughout these realms. Elevate the characters

of our massss, drag them out of that slough of

despondency in which they have been hitherto

floundering, and you will soon have Goals and
Workhouses tenantless and to let. The sure and

speedy way to accomplish this, is for those who
employ labour, of whatever nature, or kind no
longer to grind its remuneration down to the
starving point.
All experience has proved that, as in the
case of several classes of artizans, who have

succeeded either by combination or some

other means, in obtaining "a fair day's wage

for a fair day's work, their social and

moral habits have improved in the most re-

markable manner. It would be invidious to
name particular trades, but it is notorious that
those classes who are the best remunerated

"or their labour are the soberest and best

conducted amongst us ; they are enabled to

live in a better class of houses, to clothe
themselves and families, not merely decently
but respectably, and to provide their children

with a good, often a liberal education, and
to place them in the way of earning an
honour and independent livelihood. Amongst