The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-10 00:00:00

INCREASE•

Bills discounted not yet due.... 94'4 millions
Bank notes ..................
Current accounts ............ 24 1-5 ~
BOURSE, July
9.—The market continues (bill, and
prices have slightly receded, Threes, for the Ac-
count, being now at 68f. 55c. Little doing in
Railway Shares, but up to the present time the
prices of yesterday have been pretty well main.
tained. The market closed as follows :

it per Cents 97
Do. end month --
3 per Cents
Do. end month..., 68 60
Credit Mobilier 1191 25
no. end m0nth...,1192, 50
Bank Shares 3400
Credit k oneier 1325
BA IL'

Italian Loan 7l 90
Do. end month 72 A 5
New ditto
Do. end month.... 72 45
Russian
Austrian
Spanish Threes.,, 53 50
Home Debt

'AltB.

Cash. Account.
Orleans ............... lOl5 .. 1016 50
Northern 995 -- —.. 993 75Neve ditto ............ -.•-- .. --
Lyons and Mediterranean 1028 75 .. 1030
Geneva 472 50 .. 472 50
Southern ,62 50 .. 662 50
..
Western 072 50 .. 527 50
Eastern . .......... , 5OO ..
Sardinian. ............ 4lO .. 412 50
Austrian 452 50 .. 453 75
Lombard ........ - .. 671 25
North of Spain
_.
700 .. 700
Saragossa.
Ditto to Barcelona

A Tribute to the late Sir Joshua Jebb and
his System of Convict Discipline.

Referring to the recently completed Report of the Royal
Commission of Inquiry into the System of Convict Treat-
ment—an abstract of which has already appeared in the
columns of The Sus—the Cork Reporter observes, in its
issue of Monday, that " the Report" sets at rest at once and
.
completely the controversy as to the Rev. Charles Gibson's
statistics
in
his popular book on Convict Discipline. Our
Irish contemrorary goes on to remark—" It shows that
A single point, of some importance cer-
tainly, it goes to confirm his views as to the discipline of
And, gentleman
ex eevt to m have understated not overstated his case
our convict prisons, and our treatment, generally, of the

proves deserving of the remission by
convict class.
One important principle which the Commissioners agree
should be left untouched, in our existing system, is that of
he proves
undergoingremitting portions of the punishment to which the convict
hisisligaoboled,
his sentence. They
think the length of the sentence should not be "unalter-
ably fixed,,, and they declare that no other advantages
produce an equally good effect on the convict, as the hope
of diminishing the term of his incarceration by his own
propriety of demeanour..
.We are very glad to find the
Commissioners of this opinion, as we have no doubt of the
benefit of properly regulates relaxations and remissions of
punishment, both to the convict and to society.
icnonedeusectli,
The Commissioners think transportation to Western
Australia should be substituted, in cases of heavy sentences,
for penal servitude. They also suggest that greater en-
couragement should be given to the emigration of English
prisoners, on discharge. The extent to which Irish pri-
soners have emigrated they consider has been very useful.
So far, as regards the general question, there remain to
be considered the much controverted differences between
the English and Irish systems—the former established by
the late Sir Joshua Jebb, whose recent lamented death has
deprived the country of a most able and zealous public
functionary—the latter a modification of it, by Sir Walter
Crofton, for which his friends and admirers have claimed
an amount of credit that, if deserved, would show him to be
one of our highest social benefactors. The two " improve-
ments" of Sir Walter may be described as " inter-
mediate prisons"—to gradually accustom the convict
to self-control--and " police aurvaillance,,_after his
discharge, on " ticket-of-leave." Mr. Gibson—adopt-
ing Sir Joshua Jebb's views--was opposed to
both. And, in our notice of his work, we stated that, in
our opinion, he quite established the worthlessness of the
"intermediate" stage of the Irish discipline. Lusk-farm,
as Mr. Gibson described it, could only
regarded as a
thorough delusion, and the Commissioners report abso-
lutely against this part of the Crofton system.
And here, the Cork Reporter goes on to remark, let us do
justice to the reverend author of " Life Among g Convicts,"
by showing how much within the truth he was, in the
figures which he was charged with exaggerating. Mr.
Gibson alleged that the per tentage of relapses in the inter-
mediate prisons was far greater than in the ordinary work-
ing convict prisons, being in the former 13 per cent., in
the latter only 81 per cent. From the Commissioners' Re-
port it appears that the ordinary prisons from 1857 to 1863
give 7.l:per cent. of relapses, while Smithfield and Lusk,
the "intermediates," give 18 3 per cent. Nor is this all.
In 1862 these establishments showed over 21 per cent.
of relapses, while the English prisons, on Sir Joshua Jebb's
system, gave only 6•5 per cent. After this, the less said
about the intermediate system the better.
As to the question of police surveillance, the one part
of the Irish plan approved of, only time perhaps can decide
as to its real utility. The per eentage of relapses as above
recorded, is not calculated to show its great advantage, And
the general decrease in Irish crime, as the Com
Cmroftonianissioners
show, has bad no connexion with it or with the
arrangements, in any
Way. That decrease began before
Sir Walter had at all appeared on the scene. Still we
surveillance
not ready absolutely to contend that the surveil
should not be tried in England, as well as here,
and its results considered. We cannot conclude
without observing that the port
re seems fully to justify
the high encomiums passed on Sir Joshua Jebb, and
should somewhat confound those who have sought to de-
tract from his Merits, in the hope of thereby adding to Sir
Walter Crofton's fame. The former is now no mora, and
praise or blame can affect him nothing. But those who
respect his memory will, in the report of the Commissioners,
find the system which he introduced and ably administered
vindicated satisfactorily from the reproaches hastily or reck-
lessly cast on it.