The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-09 00:00:00

of the movement were in earnest, and the public
were excited by their enthusiasm and zeal.
As yet the managers of the Administrative
Reform Association have not displayed much
vigour or energy. They have certainly had some
excellent meetings, in which they had the oppor-
tunity of explaining their own views, and were
fortunate enough to bring forward some brilliant
stars. But with the meetings the work
was done, and very considerable recrea-
tion followed the brief exertions. Perhaps
this was partially owing to the easiness of the
task. They found the greater part of the work
already performed. The people were in the fitting
state of mind. Great excitement prevailed
throughout the length and breadth of the land,
in consequence of official incompetence, stupidity,
and arrogance. But in place of striking while
the , iron was hot—in place of following up
their advantage, they yielded to the soporific
tendencies of the warm weather, and
exhibited a profound indifference to the
business on hand. We do not administer this
reproof in any unfriendly disposition. It is given
more in sorrow than in anger ; and if, as already
stated, they show any disposition to profit by the
lesson, they will find no more zealous collabora-
teurs than ourselves. They must remember that
they are in the vanguard—that the post of honour
has, at their own solicitation, been conferred on
them, and they must prove themselves worthy of
the distinction, or surrender the positions for which
they are not fully qualified to more worthy volun-
teers.

The most energetic efforts must now be made,
if we desire to avert the possibility of any slip
before the goblet has been drained to its dregs,
and all the obstructions to the fair promotion and
legitimate rewards of unpatronised merit be fully
and completely received.

As the best and most efficient test of their sin-
cerity and fidelity to the good cause the people
must reform themselves. No person entrusted
with the elective franchise must make its posses-
sion the pretext for requiring the patronage of
his Representative, or of seeking employ-
ment in the public service for any friend or
relatives, however deserving. If the party for whom
he seeks assistance be really meritorious he
can get on by his own exertions in a straightfor-
ward and legitimate manner. He will not require
any undue efforts, any " backstairs' influence" on
his behalf ; and the application will let in similar
demands for less meritorious candidates. " Pa-
tronage" is " the accursed thing," the mere
touch whereof is contamination. The man who
seeks a favour in return for his vote is a traitor
to the cause the wilful and deliberate
violator of the sacred trust reposed in him
by his country. Every consistent Administrative
Reformer must make sacrifices for the general
good. If he eschew " nepotism" in high places,
he must not practise it himself in any degree,
however trivial. He must practise what he
preaches—remove " the mote from his own eye"
before he ventures to pluck forth, or even rail at
" the beam" which obstructs the aristocratic

vision!

Let him do this so far as he is individually
concerned, and devote his labours and pecuniary
resources to the good cause. Let Lim thus con-
vince Ministers of the sincerity of his professions,
and he will compel them, for very shame sake, to
maintain their own. Ministers have promised
fairly, but it will depend on the people and the
reawakened Administrative Reform Association
whether their pledges be fully and faithfully re-
deemed or scandalously violated.

The reformation of criminals is one of those ob-
jects which will ever attract the attention and
enlist the sympathies of the humane and enlight-
ened ; and it is right that this should be the case,
for not only does such reformation involve acts of
charity to individuals whose case is pitiable, but
also the interests of society, both of a moral and
pecuniary nature, it being notorious that the ex-
ample of hardened vice has the most pernicious
effect on the weak and ignorant exposed to its
influence, and that society has thus not only to in-
cur the expenditure necessary to protect itself from
confirmed criminals, but also that required for the

repression of incipient crime.
Praiseworthy, however, though the object be,
and deeply interested as society is in the reforma-
tion of criminals, experience shows that but little
good can be effected among adult offenders. Not
that they are wholly impervious to compunctious
visitings, or that under favourable circumstances
even their reformation should be despaired of, but
that surrounding circumstances, instead of having
a tendency to wean them from their evil courses,
actually propel them forward in the career of crime
with increased velocity. The ticket-of-leave men,
in general, as the public have found to their cost,
instead of becoming honest and humble members
of society, stalk abroad in the noon of day, as in
the darknesss of night, the most brutal, the most
villanous, and desperate in the ranks of crime.
And the reason in all probability is this—not that
their apparent amendment, which brought them
liberty, was the fruit of hypocrisy, but that their
nascent virtue was unable to stem the current of
opinion opposed to them, and that those with
whom they had previously come in contact, and
who were at all acquainted with their history, were
so many evil genii, armed with so many " flaming
swords," to repel them from the path of honesty,
a path from which habit had but too much influ-
ence to withdraw them already.

With the juvenile offender the case is vastly
more hopeful. The force of habit and the influ-
ence of opinion are not near so great with him,
and consequently much less prejudicial ; and,
what is more, not only has he fewer impedi-
ments of the above descriptions in the past, and
therefore so much less to contend against, but
there is less to uproot in him, and he possesses
greater facilities to acquire and to retain good
impressions. Hence the philanthropic efforts of
those who have directed their attention to the re-
formation of this class of offenders have, unlike
the not less benevolent efforts of those who have
endeavoured to promote the reformation of adult
criminals, been crowned with considerable success.
The youthful criminal, unhardened by crime,
though unused to kindness, has listened with
curious ears to teachings strange, yet not wholly
unknown to him ; and, while melted by the
accents of benevolence, has seen but the more
clearly through his tears the beauty of honesty
and virtue. To these humanising influences, this
kindness, instruction, and awakened
perception,
have been added the practice as well as the
inculcation of habits of industry and order.
The wild Arab of the streets even has been re-
claimed from predatory habits, and taught to
prefer the restrictions of civilised life, insuring
and fencing in the blessings of civilisation, to
prowling about the streets, " lord of himself," but
with no settled home, no oue to expend his wealth
of affection upon, and no one to care for him as a
friend. No wonder that, with a more promising
task, in fact with the inducement of great and
all but assured success, so large a portion, com-
paratively speaking, of benevolent effort has been
directed to the reformation of youthful offenders,
and that here, as in France, we have Reformatory