The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SAPURDAN EVENING, FEBRUARY 21, 1863.

disgraceful conscription. No wonder that the
cheers of the House supported that assertion, and
that the Opposition by the voice of the ex-
Foreign Secretary joined in expressing their
sorrow at such proceedings. Lord MALMES-
BURY asked, moreover, whether the con-
vention bound the Prussians to surrender
refugees, a question which Lola RUSSELL was
unable to answer, but which is unhappily an-
swered by some news which we give to-day. Three
Polish youths, students of St. Cyr, in Paris, who
abandoned their studies to share the fortunes of
their countrymen, were captured in passing through
Prussia and handed over to the Russians. Such an
act as this will stimulate still further the indignant
sympathies of the French ; and let us hope that the
warm and unanimous protest of the two foremnst
Governments of Europe may serve to influence the
decisions of St. Petersburg. Let us hope, too, that
the concluding words of Lord ELLENBOROUGH's
eloquent address may prove no empty phrase,
but a political prophecy ; that dark as is the night
that has long overshadowed Poland, the dawn is
now at hand ; and that dreadful as are the suffer-
ings, the bloodshed, the fire and sword which are
now desolating her provinces, the present struggle
may yet, under GOD, be the first step towards her
politieal regeneration.

When people have no desire to do what they
ought, according to promise, the next best thing is
to throw dust in the eyes of their dupes, by way of
a make-believe in their good intentions. Thus
Reform in Parliament has stood the brunt of public
expectation for some years. But it was far easier
to promise than to perform, and as performance was
a matter specially disagreeable, advantage was taken
of any delay that offered a plausible excuse. So
those most anxious for the good to be were chagrined
the more in proportion to their disappointment.
,‘ Man never is but always to be blessed " was the
only consolation in their case. Some shook
their heads at the confident assertions of
those prophets who made sure that all was right—
because it was solemnly promised on the faith of the
minister who came into power chiefly if not solely
on that ground. But events only proved that the
best of promises sometimes are sure to fail in spite
of everything. And so it has proved. The prophet
and the minister of promise found that circumstances
had somehow or other changed, and the times were
out of joint for the performance of what was never
really intended to " come off"—but what was well
considered to serve as an excellent sham, prepara-
tory to shelving the question for that session at
least, and trusting to providence for the future. So
it has fared with Reform—some coolly declaring
that nobody wanted it—while others laughed at the
credulity of the dupes.

But the matter was still thought too grave to be
trifled with altogether, and Ministers deemed it
necessary to do something. So a bill was brought
in to check the corrupt practices at elections, and to
amend the former Acts, which had resulted, as in-
tended, in leaving matters worse than before. As
there was little hope of making electors honest
against their will if it did not suit their interest—
the greater the profession of patriotic virtue,
the better for public show and ministerial sincerity
So clause followed clause, each more stringent than
its predecessor, till at length a goodly bill of pains
and penalties figured before the wondering eyes of
some admiring and many more unbelieving mem-
bers of long standing in the House.l might do
very well as a bone to pick a harmless quar-
rel about—but as for reforming an elector
determined to do what he had found to
answer so well before, it was all moonshine. And
so thought those old members who were in the
secret. All electors were good honest fellows
who had voted for the sitting member, and it
was only the unlucky candidate who found out
just too late that his rival got in by bribery and
corruption, as he would be sure to prove by
petition. Taus every unfortunate finds some
consolation in plucking his rival's laurels in vin-
dication of his own virtuous intentions.

Sir G. GREY, in bringing forward the bill for
abating the corrupt practices at elections, did not
hope to make converts of those who knew as
much as himself of the utter futility of the measure.
But it would serve as a show of doing something,
and might amuse if it did nothing else. Indeed,
the member for Bristol contended that the measure
was not one worthy of consideration. It professed
to meet an evil which its promoters knew could not
be effective. Its principle was to spare the candi-
date at the expense of the elector. The agent is to
be made the scapegoat of the candidate in all elec-
tion " doings ;" and the candidate will take his seat
whitewashed and pure, leaving all corruption to the
tender conscience of other " disinterested" parties.
For example, all that BROWN, the agent named by
the candidate, had to do was to keep his own hands
clean, and to take care that the candidate was not
draw❑ into any illegal proceeding. Meantime,
however, JONES and ROBINSON, not being agents
in the sense laid down in the bill, might do as they
pleased, and the candidate would not be responsible
for their acts. But, as Mr. BERKELEY justly
observed :

" Such was the way in which the bill dealt with the ques-
tion of agency, but how did it provide against corruption
generally and intimidation? Everybody knew that one of
the most effectual modes of corruption was treating, and that
the most successful mode of treating was the giving break-
fasts to the electors on the morning of the day on which
the poll was to take place. A stranger, for example, in
sompany with some person well known in the locality, went
into the house of a licensed victualler—he was speaking on '
the evidence of facts which had come within his own know-
ledge—in the town in which the election was to be held, and
said to I want 40 breakfasts at 7 o'clock on the elec-
tion morning: The innkeeper, pulling off his hat re-
plied, ' Certainly, sir; the breakfasts shall be provided.'
The breakfasts were provided; they were duly eaten by a
corresponding number of electors at the appointed hour,
who went to the poll early, and thus opened the proceed-
ings with an eclat which had its effect throughout the day,
while if those breakfasts were not given to them they
would get breakfast at their own homes, would probably
continue at work during the first half of the day, and then
go to the poll after dinner. This bill attempted to dea 1
with bribery and treating of that sort, but it entirely
failed to accomplish its object. The Government
threw out a tub to the whale ; they satisfied them-
selves and thought that all the world went with them.
Intimidation was perhaps the greatest evil of all, and how
was it dealt with under this measure ? There was a clause
in the bill inflicting a penalty upon any individual who
should affect with loss any person for giving his vote. If,
therefore, you took away your custom from a butcher or
baker, or turned a man out of his home or his employment,
and you did so because he declined to vote as you desired,
you might be punished ; but how easily this provision could
be evaded was shown by what occurred after the late elec-
tion for East Kent, when a landlord gave a tenant notice to
quit, but added, `Take notice that it is not because you
voted against my wishes at the election." The bill was so
rotten and so bad that he felt it to be his duty to call at-
tention to it, but he did not intend to ask for a division.
All he would say was that if this bill were in force at the
next election the richest party must win."
Other members spoke against the bill, and Mr.
BENTINCK considered the annual discussion of such
a subject as an annual farce—for neither in nor out
Of the house was there any feeling that the act of
bribery involved any moral culpability. One mem-
ber complained that his voters could not be bribed
without being found out ; while another thought
that in a contested election, where matters w ere
run hard, everything
was fair ; and as this was said
1- by Liberal members, it only provoked the laughter

of tie house ! And all right—they may laugh
that win. Mr. POWELL, the member for Gloucester,
said that as the present was only a continuation
bill he would vote for it ; but any elector who
wished to know the law as it now stood,
would have to wade through some sixty or
seventy Acts of Parliament, beginning with the
reign of EDWARD 1., and continue his examinations
down to the act of last year, which was more than
human patience could bear. A consolidation act
was wanted to make election knowledge intelli-
gible—and the true correction for bribery was to
disfranchise every one who took and every one
who gave a bribe. To this Sir G. GREY replied
that in their endeavours to consolidate, so many
amendments were made and debated that it was
almost hopeless to attempt passing such a measure
through the House by the end of the Session. And
thus goes the game of amendment—never ending—
still beginning. But no one seemed to remember
that the true corrective for bribery is the Ballot
—and nothing but the Ballot.

Great credit is due to Lord CARNARVON for the
pains be has taken in bringing the subject of
prison discipline before the House of Lords. Too
much time and attention can hardly be bestowed on
this question. The noble lord showed from various
statistics the extraordinary laxity that has of late
years prevailed in the gaols of England. He stated
that he did not refer on that occasion to the con-
victs, but confined his remarks to those criminals
who were imprisoned in the county and borough
gaols. The latest returns showed a very startling
increase in crime. "In offences against property
with violence, there had been an increase of 11
per cent. ; various larcenies, nine per cent. ;
malicious offences against property, 18 per
cent. ; forgery and coining, 16 per cent. ;
and in miscellaneous offences 19 per cent," He then
said that there were two points to which he wished
to call their lordships' attention—the first was the
insufficiency of prison discipline that prevailed ;
and the second, the subject of diet. Judges gene-
rally coupled their sentences with hard labour, but
in some of the prisons the arrangements were so
defective that the visiting justices had resolved not
to give hard labour at all with their sentences.
Then with regard to diet, there was much fault to
find. In many of the prisons, meat was given to
the prisoners every day in the week, and also many
luxuries and comforts besides. His lordship truly
observed that the best way to form a correct notion
of this system was to compare it with the plan of
diet in other classes.
" In the workhouses the inmates did not get meat more
than three or four times a week. He was not alluding to
the able-bodied paupers, who ought not to have it, but to
the aged and infirm. Then, the diet in the prisons was
very much in excess of that of the operatives in Lancashire.
He doubted whether during the past winter many of the
Lancashire operatives had been able to obtain meat six or
seven days in the week. Again, compare the diet with that
of the class from which the prisoners were principally
drawn. Forty-four per cent. of them were drawn from the
labouring classes, and the Government gave to the person
who had committed the most frightful outrages a diet six
or seven times in excess of that of the working man; and
this was so well known that it was a very common thing
for prisoners to thank the judges for sentencing them to a
lengthened term of imprisonment. The chaplain of the
Northampton gaol in his report stated that he considered
that the system of discipline as carried out in that prison
was not calculated to deter persons from the commission of
crime."

Surely no terms of reprobation can be too strong
to denounce such a system of management. It
would seem as if those in authority were deter.
mined to reverse the object of their office, and
encourage the evil cloci. at th,

upright. Such persistency of favouritism towards
the guilty members of the community reminds
one of a smart sketch that satirised the misplaced
kindness shown to prisoners, and compared it
with the stadied neglect of the virtuous poor.
" Strange age that thus offers a premium to
crime," exclaims a wise old gentleman, who sur-
veys the scene. It is lamentable to dwell on the
details furnished by Lord CARNARVON in his
skilful summary of tha life within the prison
walls. The noble lord concluded by stating that
he, for his part, " accepted the view which was
taken by the judges, and by a great portion of
her MAJESTY'S subjects, who had heads to be
broken, lives to be lost, or property to
be stolen." His lordship then quoted the opinion
of some eminent Judges on the question ; and, cer-
tainly, the arguments of such men should take
effect, as they must speak what they know, and
testify as they have seen, when they dwell on such
cases, to the study of which they have devoted their
lives, and to whose workings and general effects
they have directed the utmost efforts of their skilled
intelligence :
" When Lord DENMAN was examined in 1850 he stated
that he held that the only legitimate end of punishment
was to deter criminals from the commission of crime,
though he doubted whether the mode in which it was car-
ried out did not tend to sometimes encourage it. Mr.
Baron PARSE and Mr. Justice PATTESON said the principal
object of punishment was the protection of property by de-
terring persons from crime, and others from following their
example, by the pain and inconvenience the criminal suf-
fered. Mr. Baron ALDERSON expressed a similar opinion.
For his own part he was content to accept the definition of
those learned and distinguished judges, and to found his
opinion upon it, taking the view that punishments should
have a deterring effect."

Lord MALMESBURY also made some very sensible
remarks on this subject, and endorsed the opinion
of Lord CARNARTON in regard to the contrast of
the treatment in prisons and in workhouses. While
an out-door pauper received 2s. 6d. or 3s. 6d. a
week, a prisoner was not kept for less than 10s. or
12s. a week. His lordship then said, with great
truth, that the effect of all this upon the lower
classes was most deplorable. He had heard them
say that it was better to be in Winchester Gaol
than to have an allowance from Winchester Union.
It was often said that soldiers and sailors received
very inferior diet to that which was provided
in the common gaols. This was most,
unfortunate, added his lordship, for the classes
referred to made comparisons, and arrived
at the conclusion that those who worked honestly
for their living were not so well provided for as
those who were adepts in crime. They should be
convinced of two things—that " punishment was
certain, and that the sentence of the judge was im-
mutable." It would have been much more satisfac-
tory, and would have given us more hope of the
amelioration of this pernicious system, if Lord
GRANVILLE had adopted the same forcible tone
in regard to this question. He seemed, however,
to hesitate, and sometimes gave one the impres-
sion that he was afraid to agree with the
noblo speakers who had preceded him, an.l done so
much service to an important cause. The noble earl
said that, in regard to diet in the prisons, " the
effect of prison life was of so depr, ssing a character
that the prisoner required more animal food to pre-
vent him falling into such a state of health, as they
were not justified in inflicting on him." With all
due deference to Lord GRANVILLE it is not very
likely that the atmosphere of a workhouse can pro-
duce very exhilarating effects on mind and body,
but never do we see or hear of eminent surgeons
being consulted as to the desirability of any par-
ticular plan or rule for its unhappy
inmates. It
appears sufficient charity tc let them live, the pauper
is not Of tiny consequence, but the criminal

must have every care and attention bestowed upon

him. Doubtless, if the Poor Law guardians took
learned physicians to study the details of work-
houses, that they would find great fault with
many arrangements. When we read in the details
of the Workhouse Visiting Society, how the
bedridden poor are left without pillows, how they
have no proper attendance by night or day, and
then turn to the reports of the different treatment
of the prison inmate:4, we naturally inquire, with
surprise and indignation, why is there so great a
distinction between the heirs of poverty and the
children of crime ? It is high time that some-
thing should be done, and that effectually. It
is all very well to dilate upon the wonders that will
be effected by the Royal Commission, but we have
more faith, and we believe the public generally
have more confidence in a select committee of
either house. It is, therefore, very satisfactory
to notice that Lord CARNARVON last night obtained
permission for the appointment of one to consider
and report on the present state of discipline in gaols
and houses of correction. With so many efforts as
have recently been made we may have some sure
foundation to hope that this year may see the end
of such cruel kindness as that which has been
lavished with so prodigal a measure on the felons
and outcasts of society. It has sown broadcast the
seeds of crime from which we have just been reap-
ing a dreadful harvest, and the best protected city
in the world has been at the mercy of a ruffianly
crew who walked the streets, combining the terrors
of the pestilence that destioyeth at noonday and the
thief who suddenly appears in the dead of night.
If Ministers can do nothing themselves, at all events
they should notimpede the progress of others, and in-
stead of appointing a commission they should have left
the question for Parliament to decide. That would
have ensured despatch and promptness, and most
probably before the Commission will have given
their report, the law of the land as regards crimi-
nals would have been settled in such an improved
form and on such wise principles, that for this
generation at all events it need not have again
disturbed our equanimity. As it is, our wise Go
vernment have left this important social question,
with other matters of weighty import, both foreign
and domestic, for the care and consideration of
more energetic and able, if not more well-mean-
ing successors.

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