The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-20 00:00:00

Commence at '.

TREAT RE-R 0 Y Al„ HAY MARKET.
Lessee. Mr. J. B. Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, at Seven o'clock, wi►l be performed
CUR AMERICAN COUSIN. Asa Trenchard, Mr. Buck-
stone ; Lord Dundreary, Mr. Sothern.
After which, a new and original Extravaganza, entitled
PASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA ; or, The Happy
Valley. Rasselas, Miss Louise Ke,ley.
Concluding with OUR MARY ANNE.

THEATRE ROYAL LYCEUM OPEN, under
the Sole Management of Mr. nix:Tun:lL
THIS EVENING, Jan. 21. to commence with an OH !lira
Sketch, entitled A sui)DEN ATTACK. Messrs. Shore,
Garden, 11. Widdicomb, Miss Henrade, and Mrs. Lee.
After which, at a Quarter to Eight, a New Romantic
Drama, in Three Acts, and Pralogue, entitled THE
DUKE'S MOTTO, by Paul Eeval and John Brougham.
The principal character will be sustained by Mr. Feeliter,
supported by Messrs. G. Vining., J. Brougham, iddi-
combe, W. 111`Intyre, F. Charles, Garden, Raymond, fl.
Butler, Dawson • Misses Carlotta Leclereq, Kate Terry, E.
Lavenuc, and Elsworthy.
Mr. Phelps and Mr. W. Montgomery are engaged, and will
shortly appear.
Doors open at half-past Six, performance to COmmeancce:
at Seven. Private Boxes, £2 128. dd., and £2
4328:, Places
registered. Upper
registered. Stalls, 6s. 6(1. ; Dress Circle, 58.
Circle, 4s. 6d. Prices at doors —t-talls, 6s. ; Dress Circle, ss. ;
Upper Circle, 4s. ; Pit, 2s. • Gallery, la o
half-price.
ated Box-
office oven daily from 11 till a. The public are entre to
take notice that no charge is made to the occupants of loxes,
box places, or stalls, either tor play bills or for the sate keep-
ing of hats and cloaks = and that the attendants in
whatever all arts
of the house are forbidden to receive any gratuities
Stage-Manager, Mr. G. Vining. Acting-Manager, Mr. H.
Barnett.

ItOTAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Lessee and Manager. Mr Lindul.
THIS EVENING, LAW v. LOVE : Miss M. Oliver.
Followed by ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES AN-
OTHER. Mr. R. Roxby and Miss Amy Sedgwick.
After which, the New Grand CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME,
" RIQUET WITH THE TUFT ; or, Harlequin and Mother
Shipton." Mr. G. Belmore, Mr. C. Seyton, Misses Gray and
Hudspeth, Mr. Milano, Mr. R. Power, Miss A. Collinson, and
Mr. Haltord.

NEW THI ATRE-R0 YAL, ADELPHL—
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster.
THIS EVENING, THE LITTLE TREASURE. Mr
Billington, Mr. B. Phillips, and Miss Marie Wilton.
After which, A TICKET OF LEAVE : Messrs. J. L.Toole,
P. Bedford, and Mrs. Billington.
To conclude with " GEORGE DE BARNWELL :
or, Harlequin Folly in the Realms of Fancy." Miss Woolgar,
Miss K. helly, Miss Seaman ; Messrs. J. L. Toole, P. Bed-
ford, Stephenson, C. J. Smith. Harlequin, Mr. John Lauri;
Columbine, Miss Caroline Adams ; Ciown, Mr. W. Hildyard ;
l'a ntaloon, Mr. J. Paulo. The celebrated Arthur a4d
Bertrand.

Commence at 7.

The WEATHER.---Sun Office, Jan. 20, 1863.

THERMOMETER.
Highest since Noon yesterday
Lowest during the night
This day at N00n.....
Barometer-29.23.
Wind—West; blowing a gale. Weather fine, but cold.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
T HIS DAN.—Morning, lh. 24m.—Afternoon, lh. 54m.
To-monaow.-Morning, 2h. 20m.—Afternoon, 2h. 44m.

Wit

LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 18e3.

The question of what is to be done with our con-
victs, will undoubtedly be one of the first subjects
to be brought under the consideration of the Legis-
lature. The urgency of the case was felt to be such
that the customary delays of red-tapeism were set
aside, and a commission of inquiry appointed, with-
out waiting for the coming session. The publica-
tion of the views of an authority like Sir WALTER
CROFT ON is therefore at this moment particularly
opportune, and we are glad that before further dis-
cussion on this important question the public should
have an opportunity of learning his views in his
own words. A lecture recently delivered by him
at the Philosophical Institution of Bristol, and
since reprinted by desire, sums up very clearly
and ably the difference between the English and
Irish convict systems, and points out the indispen-
sable reforms that the former requires. lle
disposes of the whole question in little more
than twenty pages, but those pages are eminently
suggestive. "In Ireland," says Sir WALTER CROF-
TON, " the Ticket of Leave System has been carried
out so as to protect the public, and act es leading
strings to the criminal." The general public are, in
that country, very ready to co-operate in his refor-
mation, while among us society is directly hostile to
even the well-intentioned convict. In Ireland the
system adopted meets with universal approval. It
results in the protection of the public, the refor-
mation of the offender, and the decrease of the
criminal classes. With us crime increases, life and
property are notoriously insecure, punishment is
ridiculed by the convicts, whom it only renders
more hardened, and the whole system is
truly styled by Sir WALTER CROFTON as "no
system at all," and this with an annual outlay of
four millions for the repression of crime. It is,
therefore, high time to examine into the method
which we are pursuing. Let us see in what the
great difference between the English and Irish
systems consists. In England the plan practically,
if not theoretically, followed at present is to sen-
tence the offenders for a lengthened term, with the
understanding that if they conduct themselves well
in prison they will have a certain term of their
sentence remitted. This is done, and twelve years'
penal servitude is considered a substitute for a sen-
tence of penal servitude for life ; at the expira-
tion of the time fixed, a ticket of leave
is given with certain conditions annexed as
to its revocation through misconduct. Not one
of these conditions is ever fulfilled ; on the con•
trary, an offender renewing his old course is often
resentenced for a short period within the unexpired
term of his first sentence. One of cur learned
judges alluded to this in a charge the other day as
a fact that bad often come under his own observa-
tion. No supervision is kept over the ticket-of-
lease man, no means to procure him honest employ-
ment are taken ; he is cast loose upon society with
his old habits and feelings unchanged and undis-
ciplined, to live as he can, with the ter-
rible obstacle to his improvement that the
very name of " ticket-of-lease man.' offers in
this country. There is some foundation for this
prejudice, for no steps are taken to ensure his
amendment, and the Government can give no gua-
rantee for the honesty of a man of whom all the
pulAtc knows is that he has been a convicted felon.
The colonies murmur at having large bodies of
such men sent to their shores, and such has been
the character of the men we have sent there that
only at one colony an outlet is at this moment
open to us—that of Western Australia. In Ireland
the directors set before them two ends to be attained.
The co-operation of the public must be secured by
rendering them willing to facilitate the absorption
of the criminel into the classes of honest labour.
Secondly, the training of the convict must be such as
to give confidence to the public and secure his em-
-131°3',1' front injury. The success of the system is
sufficiently proved by two beta stated by S'r
WALTER C ROE TON. ISt. The large majority of
discharged convicts employed in Dublin have been
professed burglars and robbers. 2d. Many of their
employers, after several years' experience of them,
are stili willing to employ the same class of persons
at the ordinary wages of the labour market. In
Leland the guiding principles are fees and simple.
They are that the conyiets are better trained in

small numbers, and by being made to feel their ad-
vance depends on themselves; that the employ-

ment of convicts in a more natural form before

.heir liberation is a course obviously calculated to

reassure the pub.ie ; and lastly, that the institution

of appliances to render the criminal calling more
hazardous will tend greatly to the diminution of
crime. The former of these principles is carried
out by a strict classification of prisoners, and the
first stage in the treatment is severely penal.
A system of marks is adopted, by which
the convict is made to see that his ad-
vance to a higher class depends upon him-
self. By the attainment of a certain number of
these marks he reaches the intermediate stage in
which the principle of natural labour is carried
out. The great secret of these establishments is
individualisation, and the number of inmates
should not therefore, says the late chairman, exceed
100. No more restraint is exercised than would be
necessary in any well-regulated establishment. At
Lusk Common, within 15 miles of Dublin, an esta-
blishment of this kind has been at work with great
success for the last six years. The convicts are
employed in the reclamation of land, the officers,
of whom there are only six, work with
them, and the whole tone of this esta-
blishment appears to be most satisfactory.
When the ticket of leave is finally granted
the conditions endorsed on it are rigidly
enforced. The convict is bound to report himself
to the constabulary station of his locality on the Ist
of every month, and to give due notice of his re-
moval to another district. He is duly registered,
and any neglect of these rules entails a revocation
of his license. By the aid of a careful system of
registration, police supervision, photography, &c.
lengthened sentences are entailed on old offenders,
thus increasing the hazard of a criminal life, for,
such convictions are not there, as with us, merely no-
minal. With regarl toiransportation Sir WALTER'S
views differ from those of the majority. Instead
of regarding it as a means of getting rid of the
worst offenders, he looks to it as a means of reward
to the most deserving. He points out the unfair-
ness to our colonists of sending them only hardened
ruffians with whom we cannot deal, and tie short-
sightedness of cutting off our only outlet. With
regard to the establishment of new settlements, he
observes that it would be hopeless to expect
respectable emigrants to follow our garot-
ters to a new penal colony, and com-
ments upon the expense of guarding such
a band of dangerous felons. Among the methods by
which he proposes to transform our effete and un-
satisfactory system into one competent to deal with
this grave question without legislative changes, Sir
WALTER proposes a minute classification of con-
victs, so as to retain the worst class of offenders and
those under life sentences in special prisons under
more rigid discipline. In case of remission of a
sentence, the public should have the safeguard
which is offered by the enforcement of the condi-
tions of the licence.
The difficulties to which the Irish system was
exposed were great, one of the greatest being the
laxity on this side of the Channel. This, indeed,
offered and still offers such formidable obstacles, that
Sir WALTER CROFTON is doubtful if his method can be
maintained there without some salutary change
among us. Yet with this great drawback, and with
all the inherent difficulties of the question, the system
has been as signal a success as our method has been
a complete failure. Sir W. CROFTON steps forward in
midst of the present panic to show us how to temper
mercy with justice ; to combine a due regard for the
welfare of the offender with the safety of the honest
citizen, who has the first claim on his Government.
He shows, indeed, how the interests of both are
identical, by opening out the means of honest liveli-
, hood to the worst offender, while he insures the
public, as far as human caution can insure, against
a repetition of his offences. The system proposed
certainly offers a clue to the labyrinth, in which a
mistaken system of indulgence and reprehensible
laxity on the part of our authorities has led us, and
we heartly commend its careful consideration to
our Home-office.

Another great battle has been fought at Mur-
freesborough, in Tennessee. Nashville, the capital
of the State, in advance of which Murfreesborough
lies, was the prize, held by the Federals, which
the Confederates were desirous to seize. ROSEN-
CRANZ, who held it, determined not to await the
attack, but, on the 26th, marched forth to meet the
enemy. There was everything to stimulate both
sides to do their best, and they did it bravely.
JEFFERSON DAVIS had expressed himself as deter-
mined to recover all Tennessee, and had recently
visited the Confederate camp there, and cheered on
his troops. The Federal Government had also
felt its importance, and had placed their able
general, ROSENCRANZ, having taken him from the
Mississippi, and given him a large force, while
BRAGG, with a Confederate force about as large, so
far as we can learn, was opposed to him. For once,
too, the Federals seem to have sent us honest re-
ports. We conclude that they are so, from those of
the North and the South, so far as both have yet
been received, agreeing. If experience has taught
Mr. STANTON that, in the long run, veracity is best,
European editors, commenting on Northern mili-
tary news, will indeed be great gainers, and be
saved a world of guessing and of correcting their
guesses.

ROSENCRANZ came up with the Confederates on
the 29th of December. He had met with merely
iuconsideruble interruptions from skirmishers, but
at length found the enemy strongly posted on the
Stone River, one of their flanks resting on Mur-
freesborough. The ground was difficult, and, on
the 30th—which he chiefly spent in reconnaissances
—the Pennsylvanian cavalry were decoyed into
an ambuscade, and suffered severely. On the 31st,
the last day of the year, the attack began, and the
battle, with considerable alternations, lasted five
dap, but with ultimate success on the part of the
Federals, as the
Confederates had to retreat and i
leave Murfreesborough in the possession of ROSEN-
CRANZ.
Ho seems, however, to have hardly been,
in a condition, at the date of the last despatches, to
follow them to Skeibyville, the next post on the
Chattanooga Railway, where they intended to make
a stand. The battle of the 31st was one of the nu-
merous ones of which history tells, in which a suc-
cess on one flank was counterbalanced by a defeat
on the other. On the left and centre ROSENCRANZ
had the entire advantage; but the Confederates had
massed their forces ou the right, and by
an over-
whelming attack completely turned General COOK
back on the Federal left, created of course not
a little confusion, and captured three batteries, and
a large number of prisoners. ROSENCRANZ, how-
ever, substantially retrieved the day by charging
in person at the head of his centre, and more than
recovered the lost ground. Again the Confederates
rallied and attacked the centre with great vigour,
and again the Federals repulsed them. The last day
of 1862 closed, however, with the Confederates in
possession of ground which the Federals had held
in the morning.
On the first day of the New Year the Confede-
rates were in a position to be the attacking party ;
ithey were, however, again repulsed. On the 2d,
I Rosuczan began AdYanCing his army, and pent