The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TlMES.—Whether it be that the evenings are '
gradually becoming lighter, or that the masters of
the art have been seized and convicted, or, more
probably that the predatory classes have a whole-
some dread of Parliamentary interference, it is cer-
tain that we have heard less of garotting of late.
It is highly probable that this immunity from mur-
derous throttling will continue so long as the Com-
mission on Penal Servitude and Transportation
continues to sit, and that during that period the
interests of the public and those of highwaymen
will be felt to coincide. The knowledge the latter
possess of human nature, upon the weaknesses of
which they live, teaches them that, when once a
nuisance has begun to abate, the reports of it when
it was rampant may be made to appear " exag-
gerated." They have confidence in Sir Joshua
Jebb and the Home Office, and are conscious that
their own comparative impunity is bound up with
the existing system. Above all, they hope that no
one will go into the statistics of reconvictions, that
credit may be given to the loose official assertion
that they are, after all, rare, and that since garotting
has almost passed into a bugbear, the reports of
criminal trials will not be studied so closely. Such
we conceive to be the natural and almost venial
wish of those who prey on the lives and property
of their neighbours. Whether it be shared by
any who with the best intentions have the same
horror of vigorous remedies against crimes of
violence, we cannot say. If it be, we must pre-
pare ourselves for making two sets of enemies
at once, for our purpose is no less than to thrust
prominently forward exactly what the habitual
felons would like to have concealed. Nothing
can be simpler than the process by which we
propose to do this. We have before us a
record of the cases tried at the Central Cri-
minal Court, the Middlesex Sessions, and the
police courts during the last few days. From these
we propose to select a sufficient number of examples
to prove that the belief in the frequency of out-
rages by old offenders is no mere fancy, though
they may often be committed after the ticket of
leave has expired. To begin, then, with the 30th
of January, a chemist named Worthy was commit-
ted for trial by the Lord Mayor on a charge of far-
gery, after two former convictions, one for a similar
offence, another for larceny. On the same day a
hunchback named Vimpiny was committed for coin-
ing, after a previous sentence of ten years' penal
servitude, five of which had been remitted. Upon
his trial it appeared that he was connected with
Cummings, recently indicted for participation in the
Bank forgeries; that he had " a collection of the
most expensive instruments," and carried on his ope-
rations on a first-rate scale. On the following day
a man who was committed for a daring highway
robbery at Camden-town was proved to have been

" a thief from a child, several times convicted of
felony, and the companion of notorious thieves,"
and to be cohabiting with a well-known female
thief. On the 2d of February a woman was con-
victed before the Common-Sergeant for a second
larceny from her master, into whose service she
1-eemed to have entered " for the primal. object of
robbery ;" and a general dealer was committed for
trial by Mr. Barker for larceny from the person
after, at least, two previous convictions, (Jn the 3d
of February four burglars were tried and sentenced
by the Recorder of London and the Common-Ser-
geant. One had " again and again been summarily
convicted ;" another had " a numerous list of con-
victions" against him ; a third " had been convicted
only once before." Three boys were found guilty,
the same day, on various charges of stealing, all
of whom had been imprisoned before, and one
had been sent to a reformatory for three years. On
the 4th of February a female pickpocket, who was
convicted before Mr. Baron Channel!, was described
as " one of the oldest and most expert omnibus
thieves in the metropolis," and had been imprisoned
many times for this practice during the last seven
years. On the same day a coetermongee was com-
mitted for trial by Mr. Barker, who " had been a
thief from his childhood." Nine months' imprison-

ment in 1857, six months' in 1858, nine months' in
1859, three months' in 1860, three months' again in
1861, three months' more in 1862, besides narrow
escapes, were among the antecedents of this veteran
pilferer. A ferocious negro sailor pleaded "Guilty"
the next day to a charge of burglary after a former
conviction, and one of the most desperate members
of the "Field-lane gang" was brought to justice
after a long series of robberies. The present week
has been scarcely less fruitful in cases of equal

aggravation. At the Middlesex Sessions, on Tues-
day, two servants, who had robbed master after
master, but had managed to elude the police by
constant change of names, at last met with their
deserts. Another prisoner, who was found guilty
of stealing fowls, was proved to have suffered im-
prisonment for burglary and many other offences ;
and another prisoner, George Jones, had the follow-
ing list of sentences put in against him :—" Three
months in 1844; three months, 1847 ; two months,
1848; nine months, 1850; two months, 1854;
three months, 1855 ; 21 days in 1860; six months,
1861; and six months in 1862"—making nine con-
victions in all. As a pendant to this biography
we may give that of George Seymour, contained
in our impression of yesterday :—" March, 1850,
12 months' hard labour; June, 1852, six
months'; April, 1865, 18 months', for burglary ;
Jury, 1858, five years', for burglary, but before
this sentence was expired the prisoner was lib,.
rated on a ticket-of-leave. He was again con-
victed in September, 1862, at Bow-street, as a rogue
and a vagabond, and sentenced to be imprisoned for
three months." Four other cases of reconvictiou
are recorded on the same page as this, and in three
the prisoners bad undergone penal servitude. These
facts and figures tell their own story. All of them
came to light within less than a fortnight in London
alone. Doubtless, there were other prisoners whose
identity as returned convicts could not be proved,
or who had come into the hands of magistrates in
distant parts of the country. It is well known that
the police often fail to obtain evidence of previous
convictions, and that many acts which pass as first
offeeces are really the last fruits of a long training
in crime. There can be no "exaggeration" about
such a list as this; on the contrary, it represents
but a trifling percentage of the results which flow,
directly or indirectly, from the system of punish-
ment as it has too long been administered. Had
anything like a sound principle prevailed in award-
ing and carrying out sentences on old offenders, the
career of many of these scoundrels must have been
cut short. There are many theories of punishment,
but we never heard of any which did not recognise
the policy of punishing hardened criminals with
increasing severity. Yet here we have shorter terms
of imprisonment succeeding longer, and the judge
becoming more and more lenient as the culprit
becomes more and more incorrigible. It was high
time that the Home-office should step in with the
mild suggestion that cases of relapse should be
treated with somewhat less indulgence, and that the
penalties incurred and solemnly awarded should be
actually inflicted. This is something gained, but
it is not enough. Now that the public is made
aware that the majority of atrocious crimes proceed,
not from temptation, but from habit, a closer sur-
veillance of those who have once stood in the dock
will be dictated by common sense. It is a great
misfortune, no doubt, to be a marked man, but it
will be better for all when it is understood that the
only way to avoid being a marked man is to abstain
from felony.
POST.—The condition to which the Polish nation
have been reduced since the partition of their State
between Russia, Austria, and Prussia, affords per-
haps one of the most striking examples of the vicis-
situdes to which nations, like individuals, are
subject. With the decline and fall of the greatest
nations of antiquity history has made us familiar
but in all the annals of the past no case at all
analogous to that of Poland can anywhere. be
found. Poland possesses what might be fairly
termed a constitutional government at a time when
in every other State in Europe despotism was only
oyfie theirlded
thinly veiled under the form of monarchical govern-
ment. The law to which the polishonuateijoin
obedience were made by the great oi n
nobles ; and to such an extravagant degree was
their notion of political liberty carried that a single
dissentient voice was sufficient to prevent the pro.