The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

TIMES.—In the House of Lords last night the
measure entitled the " Security from Violence Bill"
was read a second time. The technical heading-is
not so familiar to the public eye as the offence the
Act deals with undoubtedly is to the recollection of
all classes in this metropo is. It does not require
continual repetition of a new variety of crime to fix
all its circumstances in the public memory which
retains a vivid impression of the process of " Garot-
ting." It was invented and introduced by the har-
dened ruffianism of London euring the dark nights
of last autumn and winter. More daylight, the in-
creased vigilance of the police, some exceptional
severity in the application of the existing law, and
a strongly manifested determination on the part of
the public to protect themselves, all combined to
repress this modern peril of the streets. But the
number of cases did not decrease till they had created
something like a reign of terror. Whole sections of
a peaceable city community were on the verge of
arming themselves against sudden attack,—an ex-
pedient which had dangers of its own, and was
quite out of keeping with modern civilisation. The
first alarm abated. but the feeling excited, and the
cause of it, had too many unpleasant features not
to produce a decided opinion that if legislation
afforded any possible means of preventing such
outrages, the experiment ought to be made. The
present bill, sent up to the House of Lords in
June, gives effect to what was the general public
conclusion in December, that a crime so singularly
atrocious deserved some special, signal, and deter-
ring penalty. The bill, therefore, awards to those
who perpetrate this kind of outrage the punish-
ment of flogging, in addition to a term of impri-
sonment, or in lieu of it, at the discretion of the
Court. Of a practised " Garotter" the most san-
guine philanthropist must despair, and even a
" very promising subject" of discipline may not be
the less tractable when he has something to fear.
The proposal runs counter to a favourite theory as
to the treatment of criminals, which might still
have been popular if the class subjected to it had
not turned on society with such extreme ferocity.
The combinatian of cunning and brute force which
distinguishes this modern form of highway robbery
has made public forbearance impossible. The doc-
trinaires of the system which has had such a long
trial must admit some cases of failure ; and it is
against these hardened characters or natures we are
driven to adopt some measures of protection. The
truth is we are now beginning to perceive practi-
cally an evil from which the system of transporta-
tion gave us half a century of exemption. The
" Garotter" is the type of criminal who a genera-
tion ago would have been heard of as the " bush.
ranger" of Australia, with a price set upon his head,
like a wolf, or as the doubly-condemned convict of
Norfolk Island, who had forfeited the privileges
offered to ordinary offenders. The increase of crimes
" accompanied with violence" is exactly the danger
we have to expect from the return of men of this
class to mix with the community on which they
prey The type is exceptional, we trust, even among
the criminal population ; but we must reconcile our.
selves to the necessity of dealing with the peril by
means adequate to the protection of the public.
There are two measures that would relieve society
from the worst description of criminals—transpor-
tation and imprisonment for life really enforced.
But the enlightenment or philanthropy of tt e age,
we are told, forbids both. To find or establish
another penal colony is said to be impossible.
A sentence of lifelong seclusion is practically
changed into confinement for a term of years.
The passibility of shortening the period of punish-
ment is held out as the reward of "good
conduct in prison." The prospective remission, no
doubt, makes the administration of the internal
government easier; but the bribe that buys the
" good prisoner" often lets loose on the public a very
b-td man, This is the root of the evil. Crimes of
violence like garotting are the natural result of
the system, and measures of " security" from them
are only indications that the mischief is making
itself perceptibly felt. The bill was read a second
time by the Lords without opposition, and with as
little criticism as could be anticipated. Lord Car-
narvon stated the case of the public and clearly,
while Lord Cranworth made some objections of de-
tail, which may be removed, and a few on broader
grounds of principle. To these the reply must be the
necessity that overrides them. The possibility of a
recurrence of such a panic as that of last autumn is
not to be endured without an effort of prevention.
We fear that the great" take" of ruffians who were
sentenced in a batch by Baron Bramwell has not
exhausted the number of the kind of criminals we
have to dread. London is vast, like the ocean, and
the worst of its dangerous classes are not to be se-
cured in one sweep of the legal net. The capture is
a partial riddance, and may have some effect for a
time, but the public requires something that pro-
mises more permanent security. The legislation
which deals with crime as it varies in degree or form
may not be scientific or logical, but the instinct of
; self-defence is apt to disregard such considerations-
A great deal of our criminal law has been enacted,
precisely as this bill will be passed, on proof of the
existence of an evil, and a fair calculation that the
statute would prevent it. If this is empiricism,it is
more successful in law than medicine, for we have
had repeated experience that in special cases special
enactments have been effective,. The instances are
familiar, and were very reasonably referred to in
the discussion as a justification of another experi-
ment in our customary " bit by bit" system of pro -
ceeding. Lord Cranworth's assertion that we are
" recurring to the evils of the last century" is more
correct in reference to the crime of " Garotting"
than to the punishment proposed for the outrage.
It brings back Old London, unlighted and without
a police. The penalty only applies as a deterring
expedient a punishment we have retained as a means
of enforcing discipline. The punishment for a slight
offence, or for what under ordinary circumstances
would be no offence at all, is now awarded to an
atrocious crime. This is no great increase of
severity, but merely an extension of what protects
an officer inside a prison to the defence of the public
against any attempt "to choke, suffocate, or
strangle" individuals in order to plunder them with
impunity. The defect of our old criminal code was
that it gave undue protection to property with too
little regard to life. But there is no danger of en-
listing sympathy on the side of the criminal by
awarding four dozen lashes to a" Garotter."
POST.—The debate in the House of Lords on
Poland, on Monday night, furnished us with an
sat
ti doe dna i
dt ol
inspiresyn al evidence, i
increasing
cre a sing were
among
interesta all
classes a ny stillo whichf
the
thewanting,peoa lmismhoncifnuitethyse:
iWnslutirlre theec
tion publicwi
with
a sympathygenerally watch h
andt
favour
vf fortunes nt
he sa
to f the
a ug.
miwmissenuosehisnuerit
esretnsh inh
sproportionevokeds o
a ss
ga
nsatlr uagdgileep
aiys
ofp r onl
Eto tni go
ne da
l
heroism, statesmen and politicans looking on from a
a
eeeioenxmtf tappi mear srceneseodetenai
dsflalbl
iwvymkepetinotat
ahihnywncenttthitethiororcenfe;h
eahivaetnhei
inneeatdvwsshi
involvedt awthbir
meaeee
ntea,nhbt tateehevevraoecminnEtsi
sustainednwhi
European
tonee
not t
committedsome
dother interests at stake which should compel us to
do so. However much Lord Grey may deprecate
what, without the responsibilities of office, it is
easy for him to term "unmeaning diplomacy," the
circumstances of the case are such that it would be
impossible for the Government of this country to
stand idly by while other European Powers, feeling
the egravity of the crisis, were endeavouring to solve
a question which affects the peace of Europe no less
than the happiness and well-being of many millions
fellow-creatures. We cannot, then, wonder that
the Government has shown its readiness upon all
orrchenarseioinssacooerrdtioailloye to co-operate in so laudable a
cause, nor can we blame them if their (floes fail.
which every x
resorting to extremmeheas
tificataipopnaoref
apparently
yose st
measures,i ve rnoacte sr
merely
diplomacy
jus-
tification
Governmentunfortunately,
baroned, to pursue before
hopeless u rtehse, should
ottnhfe
anecessitycompro-
mise
for them ever unfortu
muse may be, it is impossiblep t
foresee,o b t because,w what
a t how-
evern e wompro-
combinations may not be suggested by proposals
impracticable in themselves. Some such .sentiments
seemed to pervade Lord Russell's speechewhen he
described the point at which negotiations had at