The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-05 00:00:00

ment altogether, for, as Mr. NEWDEGATE very
forcibly remarked, we are now convinced of the
inefficiency of our present system of secondary
punishments, and also we are compelled to keep
among us the most evil-disposed of our criminals.
Certainly it seems holding out a premium to crime
to hand over the murdered to the tender treatment
of our modern gaolers, and to permiterst
of theerimmaens
fresh from the perpetration of the worst
to become an inmate of the establishments
to
offenderswhere
far more comforts are permitted
against the law,thanpeasrseibelvyerbaecceon
jrdeyedeatobystahrevniensgt
supplicants, or can
poverty at home. To do this would be to deprive
hundreds of the last check that seems to protect
their lives from the attacks of savage brutality, or
the deigns of deliberate ruffianism. It is quite
idle to say that the fear of death does not exercise
a deterrent influence over the minds of these law-
less characters. It is well known that the notion
of convict prisons can hold out no debarring
agency, for the men have been known to laugh
at the very mention of these so-called peni-
tentiaries, but which are really more akin
to the refuges that give opportunities to the
felon to recruit his strength, and when the brief
time of his probation is over to go on his way re-
joicing to undertake fresh exploits. Lord H.
LENNOX'S amendment was much more reasonable.
He proposed to inquire into the justice of inflicting
the same penalty in all eases, and also into the
present system of commuting the sentences. This
latter feature of the case is most deserving of notice.
It is quite defeating the ends of justice to pursue
the practice that has been lately in vogue, of acting
without any fixed plan ur purpose in s, important
an act as that of reprieving one under sentence of
death. On the whole the suggestion of Mr. NEATE
appears to be the most expedient cne that can be
devised under existing circumstances. It seems to
meet the requirements of the case in the most com-
prehensive style, and to give an opportunity for
rectifying the blunders and remedying the defici-
encies that now exist. Sir GEORGE GREY spoke
at some length on the question, and on this occasion
displayed more savor faire regarding his subject
than he often does. There was much force in the
arguments he adduced against the demands of Mr.
EWART, and, altogether, he seemed very fit to deal
with the question. It was wise on his part to
defer so much to popular opinion on this topic as to
agree to the appointment of a Commission. Nothing
can be more short-sighted than to persist in putting
off the evil day of inquiry until a more fitting op-
portunity, and such a course of policy always
results is failure of the most complete character.
It is high time that the svhcne system of our penal
servitude be thoroughly revised, and it cannot much
longer be put off. It is also very desirable that
more consistency be observed with regard to the
infliction of capital punishment, so that there may
net be the same disquiet and discussions concerning
their infliction as was apparent in two or three
cases last autumn and winter. It must in a great
measure detract from the salutary effect that should
be produced, if the disaffected think they have got
hold of a grand oase of injustice against the
authorities, and where such unequal exercise of
justice is displayed as was apparent last year, it
will be impossible to prevent the feeling gaining
ground. One of the chief points to which the
Commission ought to direct their attention is the
new notions that have gained ground respecting
insanity. This subject should be vigorously dealt
with and the most arbitrary rules laid down, so
that it may be quite impossible for any mistakes
and misrepresentations to occur. If once the idea
becomes prevalent that the rich criminal enjoys a
compar4ti.. ~,w,Auicy, aria can at 4-:j. ~. ,4 k.,..,,,,
be bought off by the dexterous devices of relations
who prove lunacy to be existing in the family,
there will be an end of all the majesty of justice
and the solemn effects which its exercise should
produce. Because the principle of capital punish-
ment is upheld, there is no reason why the advo-
cacy of that theory should shield the errors that
have crept into its practice, and which materially
detract from the efficacy of its working. To con-
found the uses and abuses of a system is a fatal
error, and has caused the ruin of many a cherished
scheme and the downfall of many a goodly social
structure. Mr. ROEBUCK very properly exposed
the fallacy of Mr. GILPIN'S argument, that innocent
persons were likely to be convicted. This is never
now the case, and all the mistakes are made on

the other side. There are hundreds who are alvr„ys
on the alert if a criminal is sentenced to tyLidergo
the extreme penalty of the law, bat very faw trouble
themselves to consider the claims of those who are
the victims of these barbarians. Surely their case
t
is the most deserving of the wo, and they have a
more righteous cause to ae,vocate. It is satisfactory
to reflect upon the solution of the difficnity that
has been arrived at in the present instance, and it
now remains for those interested in the matter to
watch the progress of the Commission, and to trust
that they will exercise due care and v;srilance in
the exercise of their arduous endeavour.

It is never very difficult to make the worse ap-
pear the better cause so long as you have all the
argument yourself, and accordingly Professor
GOLDWIN SMITH, in setting fortb, his views upon
the American question,* finds it easy enough tolde-
monstrate to his own satisfac•:lon the immense supe-
riority of the Nortb, to 'exhibit their patriotism,
morality, humanity, sP:if-devotion, and high prin.
ciple of the Federal ej, individually and collectively,
and to paint in e.arksome colours the tyranny, the
cruelty, the 1-,:eachery, violence, and insolence of
the S'suth. He is arguing on paper, and it is very
easy to take assumption for evidence, and opinion
for fact, under such circumstances. Indeed, it is to
be questioned how far either fact or evidencelwould
influence, the opinions of a gentleman who gravely
informs us, while recapitulating the virtues of the
Norte, that humanity has a foremost place among
them. He confidently assert that this civil war has
co far been, on the part of the North, without
exception, the moat humane in history. Such a
theory has, at least, the merit of originality, the
doctrine not having been hitherto propounded, and
the submerged wastes round Vicksburg, the bomb
shells thrown on the hospitals of Charleston, and
the dictatorship of General BUTLER are to most
persons convincing arguments to the contrary. The
famous proclamation of the latter, Professor GOLD-
WIN SMITH cites as evidence in support of his case.
Had there been great actual cruelty, he says, there
would never have been such a fuss about mere
words. What can be said when we have to deal
with so able a special pleader that he makes his
support his own. Our author is
adversary's case "pp
not, however, above the common resource of per-
plexed advocates, and is very ready to point his
moral with wholesale abuse of his own country and
her dominant classes. He would have us believe
that we hold Ireland as a conquered State kept
under by the sword. lie would have us think that
our upper classes are in favour of Southern inde-
pendence, because of their dark and secret hatred
to freedom in all its forms. Ife says that
the Arne-
rican crisis a has kindled among the reactionary
party in this country a passionate and almost fran-
tic excitement of feeling such as has not

• "Letter to a Whig Member of tho Southern ludepen•
deuce clancigtion,': By Ooldwia Smith, Macmillan,