The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-20 00:00:00

e
,f-len'-741,1,AtivoE"rs"..t) 31131.

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1855.

Yesterday we took occasion to comment upon
the extraordinary contrast, visible at a glance,
between the prisons of the last and those of the
present century. A contrast, indeed, of squalor
and-splendour—of chaotic confusion and systema-
tie arTangement—of all that is pestilential and all
that is salubrious—of everything calculated to
vitiate still further those already sufficiently de-
graded and demoralised, and everything, on the
other hand, which might be reasonably expected
to be productive, sooner or later, even among the
more hardened class of criminals, of a gradual
and moderate, and in some instances, compara-
tively speaking, a rapid and thorough reformation.
The difference, in truth, between the two systems,
is the difference between light and darkness, be-
tween -wisdom and folly, or, rather let us say, be-
tween ignorance that will not be taught, and
knowledge perpetually extended . by expe-
rience. The judicious application of the results
of this experience is precisely what has effected
all these mirasulous changes for the better in the
national distribution of correctives, in the way of
expiatory and reformatory punishment. Through
its medium—through the medium of this whole-
some and absolutely essential experience—we
have been enabled to bring about those modifica-
tions of the Criminal Code which, while they have
tended, and that, moreover, very considerably, to
ameliorate the unhappy, and hitherto almost
hopeless, condition of our felons, affords us, at the
same time, a reasonable prospect of arriving be-
fore long at a yet more benign and efficacious
reorganisation of this most difficult and moment-
ous division of our vast and complicated system
of jurisprudence.

Already, we repeat, it is satisfactory to know
that while undoubtedly yet " more remains to
ao," much has even now been accomplished in the
way of reforms in our penal discipline—reforms
most of them as humane as they have been un-
doubtedly daring and comprehensive. It has not
inexpensively,
been, however, quite as already
intimated in our remarks of
yesterday,
haYe attained our present elev
ated a beneficent
pitch of improvement.
As may be readily enough Comprehended, we con-
calve, when two or three particulars of
consideration,
signi-
fie,auce are borne for au instant in
Wheu it is remembered, for example, that in the
management of our eight great penal establish_
meats in England—Brixton, Dartmoor, Hulks,
Milbank, Portland, Portsmouth, Parkhurst, and
Pentonville—nearly a thousand (960) officers,
namely, 156 principal officers, and 804 subordi-
nate officers, are required for the ordinary exigen-
cies of administration. Nor can this number be
regarded as in any respect disproportioned to the
number of convicts requiring to be guarded and
disciplined under their super vi sion—recol 1 ecting,
for instance, that these miserable beings ranged
during the last year to' a terrible total of from
9,000 to 10,000 collectively ! Viz., 9,227 in all
....1,467 of whom were disposed of during the
year 158 having been removed by death ;
4 having escaped ; 45 having been distri-
ted among lunatic asylums, county gaols,
and provincial reformatory establishments ; 700
having bin •
chipped off, 100 of these to Gib-

raltar, and the remaining 600 to Western Aug-

tralia : the rest of the formidable sum total

(9,227), that is no less than 560 being pardoned
—29 on medical grounds, 276 under Order of
License, 252 freely, and 3 conditionally. The

expenditure consequent upon all which during
the past twelvemonths, as recorded in the esti-

mates for 1854-5, reached the enormous total of
just 218,9591.-72,0121. for the officers, prin-

cipal and subordinate, under the head " Salaries,"
and 146,9471. for the prisoners, &c., under
that of " Maintenance." It is especially

worthy of remark, moreover, that a perceptible
increase is observable in the expense incurred in

keeping of our convicts during the year last past as

compared with its immediate predecessor ! During
1853-4, the victualling charge per head, it must
be remembered, was Ti. is. 10d., while in 1854-5
it has reached 81. 19s. ; that of clothing, which,
in 1853-4, came to 21. 13s. 10d., has risen in
1854-5 to 2/. 19s. 5d.: that of additional ex-
penses of prisoners "on liberation" has suddenly
expanded from the petty item of 4s. 2d. per head,
as it was in 1853-4, to as much as 15s. 3d.
during the past twelve months. An increase, in
other words, in a single year of very nearly 11. per
head for the victualling of prisoners, of a quarter of
that sum for their clothing, and of more than 300
per cent. for the casual expenses of their travelling
when liberated ! Altogether, in short, the cost
of each felon which was, in 1853-4, estimated at
the average of 231. 145., has been enhanced in
amount during 1854-5 to a sum of no less than
261. 3s. I.od. Remembering the magnitude of
the disbursements previously required for the
maintenance upon an adequate scale of our vast
penal establishments in the United Kingdom, the
very appreciable increase of expenditure here
noticed, cannot, we conceive, but be in some mea-

sure deprecated. Nevertheless it should not on
any account be overlooked, that three among the
mere important of these same establishments have
been the scene of labours very far indeed from
being unremunerative. It has been reasonably
calculated, in fact, that the value of the convict
labour for the year 1854-5, in connection with
[ the Hulks alone, has been actually ac much as
19,6511.—that in connection with the Portland
breakwater, (gr,c., it has been not less than
28,2111.—that iu connection with the Portsmouth
dockyard, &c., it has absolutely exceeded the
amount of 31,0001. Altogether yielding an im-
portant total of just 78,9201. as the produce of
this judicious application upon public works of
the thews and sinews, the skill and in-
' dustry, the capacities and energies of
our adult eriminal population. While,
therefore, we cannot but regret the very
observable increase of expenditure above noticed,
we cannot in reason charge with anything like
undiscriminating extravagance those who have
been intrusted with the supervision of our convict
prisons with a view to the further regulation of
their discipline, and the more effectual organisa-
tion of their general management. It is impos-
sible for us not to lament the extension implied
by that increase of still further comforts than
those already vouchsafed to that dread army of
from 9,000 to 10,000 felons now annually
incarcerated in our penal establishments.
Contrasting, as it cannot fail to do,
somewhat invidiously, and, let us add,
somewhat unreasonably, with the parsimony
evinced towards pauperism as contradistin-
guialked from crime, although that same pau-
perism would seem in reality to be about the moat
heinous offence that could well be perpetrated

against the well-to-do masses of our vast and
flourishing comreunity. Nevertheless, despite all
this, it would be wholly unjustifiable, as already
intimated, to charge with a culpably negligent
prodigality those who have been empowered by
the Executive to regulate this important and
responsible department of the national admi-
nistration.

Happily for the country at large, they hare now

for some time past approved themselves men emi-
nently well qualified to conduct the delicate and
difficult affairs of the office entrusted to their
keeping, and by their continued evidence of adroit-
ness, judgment, and discrimination, have justified
to the full the confidence reposed in them by many
successive leaders of her MAJESTY'S Government.
If visible and tangible testimony of this were
needed, it would be discoverable on the instant in
the annual reports submitted to the Home Secre-
tary by the distinguished Surveyor-General of

Prisons, and presented in substantial blue-books,
session after session, by command of her MAJESTY,
to both Houses of the Imperial Legislature. The
latest of these masterly digests of all that has been
effected within the past twelve months under his
own immediate guidance and supervision (with a
view to the amelioration of the criminal system
generally, and tkrought that, ultimately, of course,
to the comprehensive reorganisation of the entire
Criminal Code of Great Britain), reflects upon
Colonel JEBB the honour due not only to a success-
ful and experienced administrator, but to an untir-
ing and practical philanthropist. It might be re-
garded as the honourable and sufficient crown
of his protracted labours, but that we are
fain to anticipate their continuance yet fur-
ther, until some of his more cherished projects of
improvement shall have been completely realised,
until the fabric his energy and application have
been chiefly instrumental in building up shall
hive become permanently and triumphantly con-
solidated. That fabric must necessarily be re-
garded as yet, so to speak, in sections, and in a
manner piecemeal. After this fashion We our-
selves propose to scrutinise it with a more than
ordinary degree of care and elaboration. But,
viewed from the height of experience already
attained, examined comprehensively by the
light of the Report here furnished to Par-
liament, and through Parliament to the entire
population—a Report as lucid; in arrangement as
it is earnest and luminous in exposition—we can-
not but recognise at once the symmetry of its
arrangement, and the amplitude of its dimensions,
no less than the solidity, depth, and breadth of
its stalwart foundations. Colonel JEBB has, for-
tunately, proved himself to be no favourer of pet
theories—of fantastic crotchets—of idle and in-
discriminate experiments. He has tempered, with
a rational amount of caution, no common degree
of daring as an innovator. In his capacity as
Surveyor-General of Prisons lie has displayed
hardly less courage as a reformer than skill as an
administrator, and benevolence as a philanthropist.
It is the 'need of
energetichis toil a
anddmtilni s tributetra tadministration.
due to
Lis laborious and
0

~n Wednesday obedient subjects of her MA-
and
diliation and prayer.
for
thosasda nation, we may
JESTY will
e
t o the fanoaoti
assemble for h
No doubt, as individualsauenceautties in our own
. Without
always find ground
acts, and in their consequences
listening for a moment
elm which
interprets trying public events as a rebuke for
tncouragement to Popery, endowing maYnooth
and the like, we may generally perceive some d:
linquency of which the calamity that afflicts Ila is
the appointed rebuke. When, for instance,he
cholera was rife, the places and persons which
gave it origin in each locality plainly indicated
the will of PROVIDENCE that we should not only

maintain cleanliness in our own persons, but that 1
we should interest ourselves in securing that first
condition of a moral and civilised existence for
our fellow-creatures. We had reason to
be ashamed before our MAKER that we
had not attended more to the physical wants of
our poorer brethren. And we might reasonably
ask the Divine blessing on any considerate attempts
to better their condition, and to remove the cala-
mity through the means appointed by the CREATOR
himself. Prayer without such practical repent-
ance were mere impiety.

Apply this rule honestly next Wednesday; and
what will be our duty ? We must humble our-
selves for our political sins. They are the direct,
the evident cause of all the calamities which we
regard as a providential rebuke. They are strictly
providential in this sense, that:the Author of all
cause and effect has appointed an inevitable con-
nection between political jobbery and selfishness,
and national misfortunes. Soldiers die of fatigue,
of hunger, of wretched medical arrangements, of
pestilence, and sailors perish by hundreds in a
gale. But some persons who should have known
better overworked them, did not get proper food
to them, mismanaged the medical department,
took them where the pestilence was certain to visit
them, and obstinately kept vessels where a gale
must wreck them. But how came these persons
to be in charge of these things ? How was it that
fitting men were not found ? No answer can be
returned but one ; we have a system of appointing
to all places which are directly or indirectly in the
hands of the Government, designed to favour the
class who bring up all their children as gentlemen,
and then throw all but the eldest son upon the
public for a maintenance. This is emphatically the
cause why officials are too numerous for their work,
actually obstructing one another ; and also the
cause that favour, connexion, and wealth ex-
clude the competent and the industrious from the
public service. We have, therefore, to humble
ourselves that we have tolerated an aristocracy in
grasping exclusively the supreme management,
and, as a corollary, filling the army and
the civil service with officers and officials
who have almost sacrificed an army. If
we are not too courtly to the higher powers to
confess the real truth before our MAKER, this is
e sin which we have to confess.

Political sermons are hateful enough—political
prayers are worse—but worse still are prayers
which "dissemble and cloak" our real sins through
fear or favour of our fellow-mortals, however high
their rank. This is with us a grave reason for
objecting to the appointment of the day. It is
impossible to be truthful without appearing politi-
cal—impossible to appear political without marring
the character of a religious service. To us, in-
deed, the purely political delinquencies—such as
sacrificing Polish aid and justice to Poland to
seeking the alliance of unrighteous and cruel
Austria—and many other connected misdeeds
which we will n•t name, are equally appropriate
subjects of humiliation. In a word, the political
and administrative causes of all our calamities are
so clear, and so clearly due to the criminal selfish-
ness of our aristocracy, that unless we mock the
ALMIGHTY the national humiliation will be humi-
liation for the national tolerance of aristocratic
selfishness.

We begin to entertain a better hope of the
labours of the grand inquest sitting at West-
minster having a practical termination. "The sys-
tem" has already been exhibited in its true aspect,
as negatively worthless and positively mischievous.
Further progress is being made ; individual
offenders and incompetents are having their cul-
pability and incompetency more and more clearly
demonstrated. The great incompetent himself is
being stripped of his borrowed plumes, and the
public begin to see how much of the horrible dis•
aster which have signalised the Crimean Campaign
is owing to the incapacity of the Commander-in-
Chief.

True to his instincts, our contemporary the
Morning Pest, who loves a Lord, flies to the rescue.
Nothing, he is of opinion, can be more useless
or in worse taste than the course pursued by the
Committee. They actually ask plain home ques-
tions, and these with a bias, more especially that
mauvais sujet of the aristocracy, the incorrigible
Mr. LAYARD. Will it be believed that this gen-
tleman asked General EVANS on the second day of
the examination the following question :—" You
don't think that, because these things (Mackin-
tosh cloaks) were not adopted in the Peninsula,
they should not have been used in this campaign ?
Suppose a man walked from here to Charing-
cross in the wet without a Mackintosh, when he
might have had one, would it be any excuse if he
said that he did so forty years ago I" (Laughter.)
Answer—" No, I don't exactly think it would."
(Increased merriment.) Really the Post must
not expect much sympathy in a complaint like
this. The only bias the public will trace in it is
one for eliciting what it wants from the inquiry,
viz.—truth. And certainly it is not without the
scope of the inquiry, but an important part of it, to
ascertain whether Lord RAGLAN and others are
behind the age. "What," our contemporary goes
on to inquire, " What must the question have been
which c3uld have brought answers like these :"
" I was six months in the camp, and two months
in the Crimea. I never saw Lord RAGLAN in my
life. I have seen the Quartermaster-General and
Adjutant-General, but never in camp. I never
saw any member of Lord RAGLAN'S staff in the
hospitals ?" What sort of questions ? Why,
plain, pertinent, common-sense questions, without
which the inquiry would be an impudent mockery.
A case that can be endangered by questions like
these must be an exceedingly bad one. And that
such is the nature of Lord RAGLAN'S case we are
more thoroughly convinced than ever. We doubted
his capacity while others were fastening, as it
now turns out, the blame belonging to him
on the shoulders of others ; and now we are

thoroughly convinced of his want of it.
A good Secretary to the DEUCE he may have been
in his day, but that no more made him a good
general than being brought up a groom would
make him a horse. The Post cannot successfully
defend him—the case is too strong ; hence its
subterfuges, which will prove unavailing. To
spare one man it cannot be longer permitted that
others should be blamed. Even with reference
to the unfortunate Light Cava=lry charge at Ba-
laklava, a perusal of the debate in the House of
Lords last night will show the noble client of the
Post was the party to blame.

Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston have issued
cards of invitation for a grand banquet to their Royal
Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge and Princess
Mary, on Saturday next.
The Earl of Aberdeen, it is understood, will shortly
leave England for Egypt, in order to see his son, Lord
Haddo.
The Earl of Hopetoun, Master of the Hunt, will en-
tertain a large party of sporting noblemen and gentle-
men at his seat in Northamptonshire, during the ap-
proaching- race meeting.
Lord Panmure has taken, for the season, the mansion,
No. 23, Belgrave-square, occupied until recently by Sir
Charles Wood.
The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone still occupies the
official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The Right Hon. Sir James Graham and family leave
the official residence at the Admiralty next week. The
Right Hon. Sir Charles Wood and Lady Mary Wood
will go to the Admiralty immediately after Easter.
Sir H. Bulwer has arrived in Paris.

Mr. LayarJ has fixed Thursday, sth April, as the day
for his installation as Lord Rector of Marischal College,
Aberdeen.

The Argo screw steamer, which arrived on Friday
from Australia, has already been taken up by the Eng-
lish Government for the conveyance of cavalry.
Brigadier Mayne has resigned Lb appointment in the
command of the Turkish contingent. The reason given
is that " an officer of the British service who has never
seen a battle, has never had to do with irregular horse,
or with any horse but a crack English regiment in bar-
racks, has been appointed to the senior command to that
of the gallant colonel."