The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-10 00:00:00

[PRICE 4D. STAMPED SD,

tion more specifically to the ticket-of-leave men. By a
statute passed in the year 1853, a new pmalty was created
under the name of " penal servitude." This penalty only
differs from that of imprisonment with hard labour by the
provision for restoring the prisoner to liberty without
waiting for the expiration of his sentence—namely, by a
license from the Secretary of State, c-rtifying that such
indulgence has been granted; being called a ticket-of-leave.
Until, however, the expiration of the term of penal servi-
tude to which the convict has been adjudged by the sen-
tence of the Court, the licence is liable to be revoked at
the discretion of the Minister, and, when so revoked, the
prisoner is recommitted in execution of his original sen-
tence. This new penalty must now be substituted by the
courts in all cases formerly punished by transportation,
except whore his offence renders the convict liable totrans-
portation for a period not less than 11 years, while it may
be substituted even for the longest terms, It was also pro-
vided that convicts under sentence of transportation at the
passing of the act, or subsequently sentenced to that
punishment, should be made capable of benefiting by the
license of the Secretary of State on the same conditions as
to revocation with those sentenced to penal servitude.
Gentlemen, it is the provision for a conditional discharge
from prison which has attracted public attention and has
given to the system its name. That both provisions are
founded on sound principles is my firm belief, as I have
already stated. It is obvious, however, that it is the first
upon which the greatest stress ought to be laid, for this
plain reason, that, in proportion as the means of reforma-
tion are furnished to the prisoner and the tests of reforma-
tion are well chosen and faithfully applied, in exactly that
same proportion will the necessity for the second provision
the power of recalling the ticket of leave—be ditni-
nishel; so that if we could insure perfect tests and a per-
fect application of them, the enlargement of the prisoner
might be made absolute in the first instance, while, on the
other hand, a convict imperfectlyrefornaed will scarcely be
deterred, by reason of the power of revocation being hung
over him, from yielding eventually to the temptations to
which when at liberty he is certain to be exposed. As a
protection to society, it is also, as it now stands, imperfect
in this further particular, that the power of revocation ter-
minates with the period fixed by the original sentence,
which at the time the license is granted may he nearly ex-
pired. This defect, however, might readily be amended.
The power of recall might remain in force until a certain
fixed period after liberation, to be further extended if during
that same period the recall should be made. And this
brings me to what I consider the most serious defect in the
statute. The condition which is set forth on the ticket of
leave is as follows :

" The power of revoking or altering the license of a con-
vict will wost•certainly be exercised in case of his mis-con-
duct. If, therefore, he wishes to retain the privilege which
by his good behaviour under penal discipline he has ob-
tained, he must prove by his subsequent conduct that ho
is really worthy of her Majesty's clemency. To produce a
forfeiture of the license it is by no means necessary that
the holder should be convicted of any new offence. If he
associates with notoriously bad characters, leads an idle
and dissolute life, or has no visible means of obtaining an
honest livelihood, &c., it will be assumed that he is about
to relapse into crime, and he will be at on e apprehended
and recommitted to prison under his original sentence."
It is not, gentlemen, that I disapprove putting these men
again under restraint with Out evidence of their having
committed a, new crime. I must have greatly changed my
opinions before I could raise any objection of that kind.
Possibly it may be recollected by some of those whom I
have now the honour to address that, in the year 1850, and
again in the year 1851,1 ventured to advise that all persons
who had been convicted of acts of dishonesty should be
liable, when, in the belief of competent witnesses, they
were leading a life of crime, to be called on for proof that
they were in the enjoyment of the means of subsistence,
drawn from lawful sources ; that, in default of such proof,
they should be held to bail for a limited period, and, in
default of payment, should be committed to prison. The
principle on which my proposed measure was founded has
now been adopted by the Legislature, but with the safe-
guard of a trial. According to the net, the prisoner is
deprived of his liberty by the mere stroke of the Minister
pen. The Legislature probably proceeded upon the

ground that, as it is the confidence paced in his
reformation which gains him his liberty, so if that
confidence be lost his privilege ought to be withdrawn.
Nor am I, for one, much afraid that a power of
this kind, however arbitrary, will be often abused. On

the contrary, I believe the danger lies on the other side. It
is so repugnant to the other side—it is so repugnant to the
spirit of our laws to condemn without a trial—that an
English Minister is under a much stronger temptation to
withhold the exercise of such .a tower in cases where it is
justly demanded than to use it oppressively ; and, accord-
ingly, symptoms of such forbearance are not wanting. Mr.

Jardine, the London magistrate, lately complained that 40
ticket-of-leave men infested the neighbourhood of his

court; meaning, doubtless, to intimate by that statement
that he had in his vicinity 40 of such convicts who had in-

curred the forfeiture of their licence3 by disappointing the
expectations on which they were granted. If this be so,
it would seem but reasonable that in each of these in-

stances the ticket-of-leave should be recalled, unless, in-
deed, the sentences have expired, when it would be incor-
rect to denominate these convicts ticket-of-leave men, since

they stand only in the same position with :01 other prison-

ers who have received their absolute discharge. But, gen-

tlenieo, it appears by a return made at the end of March
last that the practice is not to withdraw the licence until

the convict stands charged with a new offence—a deviation

from the terms of the warning written upon the ticket-of-
leave, which I am unable to explain except by the conjec-
ture which I have offered to your notice. Gentlemen, 1

have paid that the working of the system has been, as I
think, exaggerated both by its opponents and its admirer,,
for evil auf fur good. Fur evil, because I feel certain that

convicts who have now tickets of leave would have been
released unconditionally after a detention not very much
greater than that to which they have been subjected undo•
the new system. And I giound this opinion on three i n,-
portant facts-Ist, on the growing impatience of sever:
punishments evinced by the public ; 2d, on the usage of
. .

_ .
liberating transports not sent abroad long before their terms
of transportation have expired. To these two facts I have
already adve.rted. The third is that the Legislature, when

it substituted peaLd servitude for transportation, vex.)

much abridged the duratiou of the punishment. Gentle-

men, the real evil with which we have to contend stands
thus :—So long as we could impose our criminals on other

communities we did not trouble ourselves to cultivate the

science of reformation, and now that this lazy and selfish
resourca has failed us, we, in the stress of our difficulties,
are c impelled soddenly to call upon the functionaries of
our gaols to perform a task demanding qualifications with

which, without a long previous training, it is unreasonable

to expect then to be endowed; or in such full measure as

to insure success. 'Having weighed these circumstances,

you may, perhaps, gentlemen, arrive at the conclusion that
no small portion of the unpopularity which has fallen upon
the new system is produced by its having come into exist-
ence just at the time when the country was te4inning to

suffer from the augmented number of convicts which the
stoppage of transportation had liberated at home, instead
of their being thrown into our colonial population as here-
tofore. The disease, if I may so illustrate my meaning,

results from the obstruction of the accustomed outlet—
namely, transportation ; but the remedy— the ticket-of-
leave system—failing to work a perfect cum has been cen-

sured as if it were the cause of the malady. Gentlemen,
the reason why I think the system has been over-estimated
for good as well as for evil is, because it applies only to a
comparatively small class, and because the evidence of re-
formation remains doubtful, although, I must admit, much
more cogent and applying to a larger proportion of the
licences than I had expected to find it. And I make this
admission without forgetting that large subtractions may
be required from the estimated results. The estimate?

that from 80 to 90 per cent. of convicts discharged with
tickets of leave are permanently reformed. Gentelten:aeyn:
there is, as you well know, an establishment at Met tray,
Met-
-15 years of enlight-
ened and
tray enjoys every possible advantage.
Its
sisit here last
chief director, M. De Metz, who by hiise
a man of unri•
isntaFndrasnacte ,t
hfeo rhtehaedr reformation raimia trieofno
reformatory
a tory juvenile offenders,
institutions. which
week may be personally known to yon, is
devo-
tion
er heess
walled ability, long experience, and
• institution has gradually
Um to his great enterprise.
height by
the opportunity of making could induce
sedulous care and
does not reclaim assiduity ; and yet even Mthe6attarl _en: afrelater
per cent.
attained
administration,t s
apnr es
per
rnt cent.conducted exalted
it ohe i
with
I\
my mind a result so wonder.gentlemen, -,,, r--
of the very searching investigations
which nothing short . investigations
. it as worthy of confidence; and, that being
me to accept
be permitted to receive the estimate of reforma-
tionsso, I must
ffected among the ticket-of-leave men with some
e
proportion of its inmates.
doubt and misgiving, though with implicit reliance on the
sincerity with which it is promulgated. The truth is that
permanent reformation demands years to test its reality,
fveuhlitchh I have had
and the system has not been in operation for a sufficient
length of time to furnish the required proof.. The proba-
bilities certainly look the other way. Mettray deals with
young and plastic minds and bodies. It retains its ward,
a long time—often for many years. None of them leave:
Mettray until employment-is procured for them. Each i,
placed under the superintendence of some benevolent per

son residing in the neighbourhood of his master, whi
watches over the youth with the care of a guardian. Met-
tray is looked upon by those who have been its inmates
a home. It is a high gratification to them to visit their
" colonic," as they are taught to call it. If they have not
failed in their duties they are always kindly welcomed
and, should they through misfortune be thrown .out of work,
they find hospitable reception at Mettray. Gentlemen, I
shall be most agreeably surprised if eipelience shall justify
L those who superintend our tieket-ofleave vital in planing