The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-24 00:00:00

position as President of the Society of Arts grew will be a great relief to animal labour which
up those two memorable and magnificent exhibi- suffers so deplorably by the present steep and
tions, the Great International Exhibition of 1851 in slippery gradients. There are other points of a
Hyde-park, and its successor the Great International favourable character, such as a branch railway to
Exhibition of 1862 at South Kensington, exhibi- the New Market in Smithfield, and the eastern
tions which constituted two of the most remarkable street will serve to reduce the gradient in the street
achievements of H.R.H. the PRINCE
CONSORT, the now forming from Victoria•street by the Corpora-
one the living the other posthumous m'aste'rpiece tion, from 1 in 30 to lin 46, which would be a
wrought out mainly of his elevated and Qomprehen- desirable improvement. If the new streets are
sive intelligence, there is perhaps no office that formed before the viaduct is commenced the traffic
could be named, the acceptance of wbach by H.R.H. east and west will not be interrupted. The pro-
the Prince of IV ALES could be more welcome to the jeotor of the scheme claims for it another advantage
thoughts or more grateful to the feelings of the by its favouring the construction of a branch rail-
people of this vast Empire. way from the Metropolitan Railway to Farringdon

market, and facilitating the works of the Londc
Chatham, and Dover Railway. Now these are a.
promising advantages in their way. But this las
suggestion seems to provoke a suspicion or doubt
whether some interested promoter is not at the
bottom of the scheme. But how comes it that
there is no improved communication proposed on
the southern side of the viaduct as well as on the
northern, for an immense amount of traffic passes
over Blackfriars-bridge for the north-western parts
of London, which can have no better access to the
level of Holborn than by turning round and up the
western new street at some considerable incon-
venience. Possibly St. Andrew's Church may be
an obstacle, and a street on its southern side or
back would be too expensive. The total ultimate
cost of the present scheme is estimated at £226,988,
which includes the purchase of property and trade,
and all other compensations, the viaduct pavements
and sewerage complete. Its collateral advantages
are considerable, and commend it to the consideration
of the architect, the man of business, and the sani-
tary reformer. The architectural effect of the design
will be the attraction to the form, since Holborn
and Skinner-street will be left as one wide and
uniform i,horoughfare, while due regard is had to
the subsequent effect of the view, a consideration so
seldom occupying any place in oar modern plans, as
is convincingly testified by the awkward slant of
our Government buildings at Whitehall. In the
present design the whole line of viaduct is to be
seen from either end, so that beauty has not been
lost sight of in utility. In a business point of view
.
the scheme has much to recommend it, the chief
argument in its favour being the alteration of the
gradients, since the gradients of tae main roadway
and the new streets will be quite unobjectionable,
and those of the adjoining streets are to be consi-
derably improved. Direct access will also be af-
forded to the Now Market, but the sanitary advan-
tages of the design are perhaps as great or greater
than the commercial arguments in its favour. It
will raise a large portion of the valley of the Fleet,
thereby enabling the basements of all houses built
there to be effectually and completely drained,
which
it seems is not now possible, and it will also give
facilities for the formation of a good system of
sewerage, and the new houses to be erected in these
parts will thus derive considerable benefits from it.
A mass of wretched houses in the vicinity will be
pulled down, probably very much to the gain of the
health and morality of the neighbourhood. Such
are the principal features of the scheme for and
against which much remains to be said. That some
such plan will be adopted out of the
many to be
submitted to the Corporation is very desirable—in
fact indispensably necessary, and we can only hope
that the design best adapted to the requirements of
the public will be selected and approved. The
Corporation will do well to deliberate carefully and
impartially on the matter, bearing in mind that
their decision will effect not only the present gcne.
ration but the welfare and comfort of their posterity

There is no more gratifying feature of the present
state of society Vann the universal w
e m attentioneet
it
hwcheireeh.
is being paid to art. All Hides
monies of various kinds, and many distinguished
persons lend their aid to do honour to the inaugu-
ration of institutions which are about to be founded
for Schools of Art, or to celebrate the successes they
have achieved and the benefits they have conferred.
The Duke of NEWCASTLE has come forward at
Nottingham for the purpose of laying the corner-
stone of the Government School of Art. In the
course of his remarks he gave practical illustration
of the vast extent to which these schools had
reached. It is true that the facts might have been
generally known before, but then people do not
always draw inferences as they might do from what
is taking place around them, and therefore they are
often under great obligations to those who think for
them, as it were, and point a moral from familiar
events and every-day occurrences. In the first
place, it is an encouraging circumstance to reflect
on, that whereas at the time of the Exhibition of
1851 there were only 19 of these schools, there are
now 90. This is certainly making progress, and
when we know that no less a number than 70,000
pupils are in some way or other obtaining instruc-
tion from them, it follows as a matter of course that
the spread of cultivation must be very great. It is
idle for prejudiced persons to cry up everything
'oreign, and persist in declaring that the English
have no genius in that line. The great secret has
laid in the fact that, taking for granted this incapa-
city or inefficiency, no pains were taken to cultivate
the faculties or improve the tastes of the great
body of the people. We should have re-
quired the quintessence of genius for design, indeed,
to have performed any great wonders without re-
ceiving instruction. It is at all events very agree-
able to be able nowadays to give an answer to
those who sneer at every home production. No
better reply could be given than that selected by
the Duke of NEWCASTLE. Surely if any opinion
can be said to be removed from partiality it must
be that of our rivals in most things, and our suc-
cessful competitors in all branches of art, as yet.
The most eminent and distinguished of our
continental neighbours who were selected
to visit and decide on the merits of the
Exhibition, have all borne testimony to the sur-
prising progress and striking improvement that
have been made among us of late years ; and they
attribute this advance to the efficacious working of
these establishments. These learned foreigners go
so far as to warn their countrymen to take heed to
their ways, and not to spare their efforts, for they
are afraid of English competition now, so much
have they improved of late years. With this en-
couraging circumstance to bear in mind, it is to be
trusted that fresh energy and renewed vigour will
be infused into these institutions throughout the
land, and that the students will be urged on to
emulate, and even in some cases to excel, those com-
petitors who once so far distanced them in the race.
The advantages derived from such culture are
almost incalculable, and there are attendant benefits
that accrue, which, of minor importance, are still of
no mean account in forming the training and giving
a tone to the character of the artisan. He must

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.

proceed in his course with more interest when he

understands somewhat of the principles which rule
and regulate his profession, and the refining influ-
ence which will be imparted to his mind must tend
to present good, and may ultimately conduce to
future distinction. There is no higher triumph and
no happier trophy which science can achieve in her
wide extent, or art produce in her boundless range,
than the improvement of the people's tastes and the
elevation of the mind in the nation at large. It was
said some time ago that " the march of armies now
stands still to wait the march of mind." That
happy picture was not, unfortunately, rea-
lised, but notwithstanding many drawbacks,
the philosopher, the philanthropist, and the
statesman may be thankful to Providence

that the efforts made by enlightened and high.
minded individuals have so signally prospered

and spread in such countless ramifications. The

satisfactory nature of such affairs, when once accoin

plished, is that the good must go on, and that every

cultivated member of society is ❑ot only an acquis,

tion in himself, but is sure to produce effects o❑
others. Altogether the promise now held out
as regards the prospects of art, in this country

are so far satisfactory that attention and care seem
to be bestowed upon it on ail sides, and in all direc-
tions, and the best hope of permanent and solid ad-
vantages accruing will depend on those energies

not being suffered to relax, and that enterprise
being sustained by well-grounded confidence.

Our busy metropolis is undergoing various trans-
LOrmations. In every quarter of it change, reform,
improvement, and invention are constantly at work.
The present generation has seen the novel sight of
railways traversing the midst of its highways, and
telegraph wires skimming over its roof tops. New
bridges are crossing the broad old river, new halls,
hotels, and railway stations are springing up on
every
Bide, until a traveller who left London some
five
years back would find the familiar city consi-
derably altered, as
well as extended, on his return
a year or two
well
ntehea.t
soAmmeoonfgthtehetisme
time
-worn vations it is
ances and, i„oovenie
nces which we all grumble at 1
day after day, but
come
in
for a
an
London
and
issued notices for plans
endured obstacle to traffic aor amending that long
natd
.danger to p
a winter—a paper
being a design for Holborn ersonal
Valle '
safety—evils especially
great
has been sent us with a heng
f
both
sides Tlest me well,"
The plan proposes to erect a via mprovement.
dac yt
ovr
—to take down the houses on the valley
streets between Hatton-garden and the
west of
the
end of
St. Sepulchre's Church, and form a high level road.
way upon arches between those points 70 u feet in
length and nearly level. The central headway of
the bridge over Farringdon-street will bo 21 feet or
way be 24. This road way is to be formed more on
the southern than the northern side of the existing
roadways, as the curve will be less, the vista
larger, and the architectural effect better,
while it will also be more economical. All
this promises well, no doubt. There are two
streets to be formed from Victoria-street, the level
of which is to be raised as well as a portion of
Farringdon-street ; one of these streets is to go
..bliquely up to Hatton-garden, and the eastern
0118 is to
Church, being in
join the upper level near SS. Sepulchre's
ichre's
These will
be
earotf ae
assuyb st
gradients,i tu t e
1. Sinno4ws:hainldl.

rim SUN, LOADON, SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 24, 1863,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE,

[REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

POLAND.

BRESLAU, OCT, 24.
The Breslau Zeitung publishes advices from
arsaw, stating that the fire at the Hotel de Ville
destroyed all the archives of the secret police since
1831,

JEBB v. CROFTON.

At Palawz (on the Vistula) the insurgents have
captured a Russian convoy,
A new insurgent corps has made its appearance,
commanded by Baron Pletz.

We were informed by Lord Brougham at the
Social Science meeting in Dublin, that " Sir Walter
Crofton had annihilated crime in Ireland." How
dries it happen if this be really the case, that we are
reopening our convict prisons notwithstanding our
rapidly decreasing population ? For Carlisle, in
Cork Harbour, will, we fear, be very soon reopened
as a convict prison, for Spike Island is full, and the
new male and female prisons of Mountjoy are full.
It requires no small amount of ignorance or teme-
rity in the face of such facts, to laud the Irish inter-
mediate system, and to attempt to press its adoption
on England. The public, however, by such a repe-
tition of laudations, are as often imposed on as they
are by quack doctors. Plenty of puffery, will.ghet
mankind to swallow all things, with implicit
from intermediate convict discipline to the lastat
uni-
versal medicine, or the last substitute for medicine
of all sorts.

COURT-MARTIAL ON COLONEL CRAWLEY.—
Some of the troopers of the Inniskilling- Drageens—ra-
cently returned from India to give evidence on the trial of
Colonel Crawley—wero in attendance at the Horae Guards
during a considerable part of yesterday, under the coin-
n3and of a non•comraiesioned officer.

Although not coinciding in the argument put
forth in the following article from the Cork Daily
Reporter, we frankly transfer it to our columns
from those of our Irish contemporary, out of a wish
for fair play in the discussion of the rival systems
of the dead Sir Joshua Jebb, and the living Sir
Walter Crofton :
" Sir Joshua Jebb had all but finished his Fri.
son Report for 1862-3, when his sudden death on
his way to town, from his residence at Fulham, de-
prived England of its ablest prison administrator.
Sir George Grey, being unable, under these circum-
stances, to receive the report as an official
document, was kind enough to place the manuscript
in the hands of the Earl of Chichester, " the
brother-in-law and intimate friend" of Sir Joshua
Jebb, by whom it has been edited, with no small
ability. The report itself has a somewhat contro-
versial aspect, in treating of the respective merits
of the English and Irish convict system. This re-
sulted from Sir Joshua Jebb's having been instructed
by the Secretary of State to give his opinion on the
operation of intermediate prisons and police
espionage, which had lately been introduced into
Irish management. It is addressed to Sir George
Grey, and commences thus :
" Sir,--In compliance with your wish that I should,
without further delay, submit to you, more in detail, the
reasons which have led me to conclude that it would be in-
expedient to introduce into the convict management of this
country, either an intermediate stage of discipline, or the
supervision of the police, which have been the subject of
experiment in Ireland, I will endeavour to lay before you
such particulars as will enable you to form an opinion on
the question."
Sir Joshua Jebb, when drawing up his report,
was in a position to produce evidence of the failure
of Irish intermediate discipline, to which its most
strenuous advocates could not object—namely, that
of the Chairman of Directors of Irish Convict
Prisons. The proper test of the good or bad
working of any convict system is the number of re-
gonvictions or relapses into crime. To this test Sir
Joshua Jebb brought the Irish intermediate system,
which prevails in the prisons of Smithfield and
Lusk, comparing it with the ordinary English dis-
cipline adopted at Spike Island and Philipstown.
We cite the returns hero:
FIRST, INTERMEDIATE PRISONS —lt appears from
return No. 1, embracing the period from 1856 to 1861, that
there were released on licence from the intermediate prisons
of Smithfield and Lusk, 788 prisoners, of whom there went
abroad 302—Remained in Ireland, 486 prisoners. Re-
convictions, revocations during the short time the licence
had to run, 80 prisoners—Add from Supplementary Re.
turn to 1862, 9 prisoners—Total, 89. Giving a percentage
of reconvictions, &c., up to 1861 of 16.46, and up to 1862
of 18*3.
As, however, the Irish system was not in full operation
until 1857, and convict discipline is now carried out under
the Act of that year, I would propose to consider the five
years from 1857 to 1861 as follows :—Deducting 1856: re-
leased on licence, 674 prisoners—gone abroad, 293—re-
mained, 331—rec!onvictions, &c., as before, 63--add from
supplementary returns to 1562, 9—Total, 72. Per centage
up to 1861 of 16.5, and up to 1862 of 18'8.
SECOND.—Ordinary prison of Spike Island and Phillips-
town in which about 25 per cent., deemed ineligible for the
special training given in the intermediate prisons, are left.
From 1856 to 1861, there were released on licence, 431—0 f
whom went abroad, 40—remaining in Ireland, 291—re-
lapses, including 1862, 23—per centage, 5 88. Deducting
1856, as before,—released on licence in five years, 249
gone abroad, 40—remaining in Ireland, 209—relapses, in-
cluding 1862, 17—per centage 8.
It will thus be seen by the Irish Director's own tables,
after a trial of six years, that while the ordinary English
discipline gives but 8 per cent, of relapses, or intermediate
discipline, they give over 18 per cent. of relapses.
Let us now take tha returns of Irish Intermediate and
Ordinary Prisons for the last year, and cempare them with
those of England.
IRELAND.—Released on licence from Smithfield and
Lusk, 142—gono abroad, 95—remained in Ireland, 47
reconvictions, s—revocations, s—per centage, 21.28. Re-
leased from ordinary prison at Spike, 18—gone abroad, 2
remained in Ireland, 16—reconvictions, &c., 2—per
centage, 12.5,
These returns, taken in connection with those extending
back to 1856, contrast strongly with the following for Eng-
land :

ENGLAND, 1862.—Released on license, I,B2s—gone
abroad, say 7 per cent., 125—remained in England, 1,700
reconvictions, 78—revocations, 32—per centage of recon-
victions, 4•s—per centage of revocations, I.9—total per
centage on revocations and reconvictions, 6 5.
The reader may ask how is it that the public
could have been deceived on this subject so long ?
The pubiic is deceived more easily than people gene-
rally imagine. But the way in which the matter
was managed in the present instance was, by taking
the relapses on the whole number discharged,
although, in some years, more than two-thirds of
them went abroad, at once, and therefore could
give no relapses. For example, in the year 1859,
there were enlarged two classes of intermediate pri-
soners, who were under the care of Mr. Organ.
One class consisted of 114 men. Of these 101 went
abroad. The other class consisted of 83 men. Of
these 71 went abroad. Out of the two classes, con-
taining 197 men, 172 went abrcad, leaving only 25
at home, on which relapses could be honestly taken.
To count the relapses on the whole number is
something like taking the rations of dead men.
The public owes a debt of gratitude to the Earl
of Chichester for bringing the report to light, and
for the ability which he has shown in the editing
department. His esteemed brother-in-law, Sir
Joshua Jebb, fell in the thick of the battle, and
near its close, and he has taken up his sword and
used it with good effect.
It would appear from the efforts now being
made, by the advocates of the Irish system, at
the Social Science meetings in Edinburgh, that the
time has not yet come for laying down the sword.
The Irish party will die hard. As old leaders are
knocked on the head and silenced, by an array of
facts which they can no longer withstand, new ones
spring up in their place. Lord Neaves, a Scotch
judge, in a paper read before the congress, on last
Saturday, convoys the impression that the English
and Irish convict systems are quite distinct, though
every one acquainted with the matter knows, that
with the exception of a police espionage, and a farm
at Lusk (where Irish prisoners are in clover, and
where they are fed and clothed and lodged better
than any Irish or English labourer), that
the Irish and English convict systems are
identical. But we need not wonder at the igno-
rance of this judge, when we see the accomplished
Mr. O'Hagan, our own Attorney-General, falling
into the error that he did at the Social Science Con-
gress held in Dublin. What is still more surprising
is that no one had the honesty to correct him, or
his figures. Here again, at this meetitig in Edin-
burgh, Lord Neaves says the 11)ya1 Commissioners
have recommended the adoption of the Irish inter-
mediate system for England, and no one has the
manliness to get up and say, " My Lord, you make
a great mistake : the Royal Commissioners have
altogether ignored the Irish system. The two Irish
members who were on that commission did all they
could to press it on the consideration of the rest of
commissioners, but they were out voted." This
would be stating the simple truth. Lord Brougham
was in in error when he stated " Upon one subject
the commissioners were equally divided, the pur-
gatory division of the system, or the intermediate
prisons," for the Irish party were out-voted as he
will see by the report. But even Lord Brougham's
statement, who stood up to compliment LordNeaves,
is opposed to that of the Scotch judge. Still both
speeches were equa'ly applauded by the Irish party,
that always muster strong et these meetings of the
Social Science Congress.