The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-08 00:00:00

4, JANUARY 9, 1863.

exertions almost superhuman, when without
such encouragement they must sink down
in despair, and abandon a contest so hope
less of success, and fraught with mischiefs and
miseries so dreadful to the masses of the people.
This is no war of the people, and has not been from
the beginning, but of ambitious and disappointed
politicians. These see clearly that the result of the
contest to them is a matter of life, or of exile, or of
death. All they have and are is staked on the issue,
and the people having no power or influence in the
Government, are compelled to serve and suffer at
the will of their rulers. The Southern armies are
at this moment recruited by a conscription of all
males able to bear arms, between the ages of 16 and
60. And small parties of mounted men scour the
country and seize all such; carrying them off to the
war, precisely in the mode practised by the Pacha
of Egypt in recruiting his army. The people fly
to the woods and conceal themselves there for weeks,
as the poor Scots used to hide themselves from the
fury of Claverhouse and the troopers in the dark
days, when in England and Scotland religion waa
taught by the bullet and bayonet, and its precepts
illustrated and enforced by the faggot. Arrange-
ments are now in progress to capture Vicksburg,
and thus open the Mississippi river, the only ob-
struction being at that point. A considerable num-
ber of powerful iron-clad ships of war will soon be
completed, 'Alen we hope and believe that Charles-
ton, Savannah, and Mobile will be captured. During
the past season the quantity of cotton produced at
the South has been so very small that I may well
say there was none. Much of the crop of 1861 re-
mains, though some of it has been sold and shipped,
and some of it destroyed by the rebels. When the
war ceases the quantity of cotton in the country
will afford a very insufficient supply for the needs
of those markets that have depended upon the
American article for their stock. There is a neces-
sity that European consumers should be active and
earnest in their efforts to obtain a large share of the
cotton they require from other countries. It is in-
evitable that this rebellion must interrupt and de-
range the business of the world for some years
after the war shall cease. The effects of it will
not be worse, nor so bad, for us of the free
States of America as for you in England; be-
cause we have such vast amounts of the most
fertile land in the world that any man may have,
without any payment whatever, if he will only
cultivate it. Our labourers, if out of employment,
can easily be sent to agriculture, by which they can
readily support themselves in comfort. The per-
sons in this country are not few who believe that
this war is a punishment inflicted upon us by a just
Providence for our great natiomal sin, in connecticn
with the enslavement of 4,000,000 of our fellow-
men. So strong and entire is this conviction, that
such persons, have no desire that any peace should
come---that there shall be any settlement of the
strife, that shall not provide for the effectual over-
throw of this system, which is so utterly at variance
with every sentiment of humanity, every rule of
right, and every precept of our holy religion. Give
my love to all our circle who remember me, and say
that not a day passes over that I do not live over
again pleasant hours with them.—Ever affection-
ately and faithfully your friend,

" NEAL Dow."

Sir W. Miles, 31. P., on Tickets-of-Leave.

-- -
At the Somerset Epiphany Sessions at Taunton,
on Tuesday, Sir Wm, Miles, chairman, in charging
the grand jury, called attention to the ticket-of-
leave system, which he said had been perfectly in-
tolerable to the people of this country. It signified
not of what nature the crime was of which the pri-
soner was convicted, if, after he was sentenced to
penal servitude, he acted according to the prison
rules, so much of his time was remitted, and he was
again started upon the country with what was called
a ticket-of-leave. Now, there could be no difficulty
in obliging these convicts to report themselves
periodically to the police until their tickets-of-leave
expired. But, according to Sir Joshua Jebb, since
1856, there had been on an average 1,400 ticket-of-
leave men discharged every year, and of 400 of these
every year he had considerable doubt as to whether
they did not return to their former habits. It was
admitted, therefore, that no less than 2,400 of these
sleek, pampered, well-fed, ticket-of-leave men had
been thrown again upon society without any check
whatever upon them. He (Sir William) need
scarcely say, after the press had been teeming for
months with the atrocious crimes which had been
committed against life and property by these men,
that there was a loud call for some alteration which
would meet the evil. He was happy to say that a
commission had been issued to take the whole sub-
ject into consideration. There was no doubt that
an improvement could be made in the present sys-
tem, for in Ireland where there had been a constant
supervision of ticket-of-leave men, the plan had suc-
ceeded very well. In compliance with his request,
Mr. V. Goold, the chief constable, who was a good
authority on the subject, having been for many years
connected with the police force in Ireland, had pre-
pared a special report, in which he said, " A retur❑
to transportation would ba the most effectual method
of ridding the country of its hardened criminals;
but, as it has been virtually abolished, and as it
appears doubtful whether it will be again resorted
to, the necessity arises of considering what
changes can be introduced with a view of improving
the present system. I am of opinion that the whole-
sale discharge of convicts, before their sentences
have expired, is attended with very evil conse-
quences, and I consider that tickets-of-leave should
only be granted to those who could obtain an offer
of employment for the remaining term of their sen-
tences, from some persons certified to be of good
character. A notification should also be sent by
the convict authorities to the chief officer of police,
stating where the convict was to be located, thereby
placing him under the surveillance of the police,
who would see that the conditions upon which he
had been liberated were properly fulfilled, and that
any infringement of his license would lead to his
being recommitted to prison. This course could be
carried out without exposing the former character
of the convict, and would probably be the means of
keeping him in the path of honesty, where other-
wise he might have relapsed into crime. I also
think that no ticket of leave should be granted to
any convict who hid previously undergone a sen-
tence of transportation or penal servitude, as it has
been my experience, and doubtless that of the police
generally, that it is quite impossible to reclaim the
professional thief, who has never been accus-
tomed to honest labour. While treating of this
matter I cannot refrain from urging that when-
ever an offender shall have been convicted of rob-
bery, accompanied with violence amounting to
cruelty, he should, in addition to his term of impri-
sonment, undergo corporal punishment, which, I
am thoroughly satisfied, would very soon check that
class of crime which has been so prevalent
lately." At a subsequent tart of the proceedings
a commentary on the present system was supplied
by a report from the visiting justices of the Somer-
set county gaol, which stated that there had been
serious misconduct on the part of some of the priso-
ners who had been received at the gaol pursuant to
an agreement with the county of Middlesex. The
report stated that these prisoners were fed too well

and had not sufficient employment found them,

w'iile some of them had simulated illness for the

purpose of being placed in the hospital. On the
motion of Mr. F. H. Dickinson, the visiting jus-

,ices were instructed to consider the question o

dietary and punishment, and if necessary to take
the directions of the Home Secretary on the subject.

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sent being packed up for removal, having been presented by
the Emperor to various museums in the departments.
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