The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-11 00:00:00

THE GEORGE GRISWOLD.

This vessel, the arrival of which in Liverpool on
Monday with a large supply of provisions for the
benefit of the Lancashire Relief Fund we announced
yesterday, was berthed in the Waterloo Dock by
yesterday morning's tide. She is a very handsome
and entirely new vessel of 1,180 tons American
register, but capable of carrying 1,500 tons. In gene-
ral aspect and mould the George Griswold is an
exceedingly fine clipper, her lines being fine, and
her rig well adapted to the proportions of her hull.
She is 200 ft in length, 25ft wide in the beam, and
24ft in depth of hold, and was built by Mr. Thomas,
at Quincey, in the State of Massachusetts. As the
vessel was being towed up the river she was saluted
by the firing of 18 guns from the North Fort, the
Rock Fort ensign also being "dipped" in courtesy.
It was expected, indeed, a sort of semi-authoritative
announcement having been made, that some public
demonstration would take place on the arrival of the
ship, but, beyond the courtesies above-mentioned,
nothing of a public nature occurred. The Chamber
of Commerce will, however, in a few days meet the
commander of the vessel and the officers of his crew
in St. George's-hall, the use of which has been
granted for the purpose, when the following ad-
dress will be presented :—" To the Commander of
the ship George Griswold, as the representative of
the American Contributors to the Relief of the Dis-
tress in the Cotton Manufacturing Districts.—Sir,
Sixteen years ago, when our countrymen in Ireland
were suffering the honors of famine, your nation,
then united and prosperous, sent across the Atlantic
offerings of grain and provisions to alleviate their
great distress. To-day, with your energies taxed to
the utmost by the gigantic struggle through which
you are
passing, you have not ceased to be mindful
of the misery which this sad contest is inflicting on
fully half a million of our industrious workers, and
you have a second time generously contributed of the
abundance with which God has blessed you to help
the necessities of those among us who, by no fault of
their own, are reduced to a state of compulsory idle-
ness and destitution. We call to mind that out of the
sufferings of that period there arose for us by this
emancipation of our industry an unspeakable good
—which has enriched our country, extended our
commerce, banished not a few of our social discon-
tents, and inaugurated a great moral revolution—
the blessings of which have not been confined to
ourselves, but are gradually working out in other
countries the like beneficial results. May we not
hope that the trial through which you and we are
passing will be the precursor of equally great social
ameliorations, and that out of the darkest hour of a
nation's existence—that of bloodshed between mem-
bers of the same family—there may issue for you
some signal national deliverance, the benefits of
which are to stretch beyond yourselves to the gain
of our common humanity ? Our country accepts
with gratitude this noble gift. We welcome to our
port the bearers of this brotherly bounty—freely
given, freely stowed, and freely freighted across the
seas by a commander who has given his free ser-
vices to this benevolent work. Our Government
and the local authorities have shown their appre-
ciation of the act, by removing every impost on the
free admission of the ship and her cargo. As repre-
senting the mercantile community of Liverpool,
this Chamber of Commerce asks you to convey to
the donors its sense of the liberal and friendly spirit
in which your merchants and agriculturists have
united to send forward to our distressed cotton ope-
ratives so acceptable a message of goodwill and
sympathy—and in many a home, darkened by the
shadow of this terrible calamity, the silent thanks
and prayers of thousands who are bearing their pri-
vations with a patience and a heroism beyond al
praise, will be your best reward. Addressing you
on behalf of a community among whom it is well-
known great differences of opinion prevail as to
the causes and objects of the contest now unhap-
pily raging among you, it would be evidently
unbecoming in us to put forward any statement
that would create dissension and mar the general
harmony of the occasion ; but we think we are
warranted in saying that men of all shades of
opinion would rejoice to see this war terminated
in any way that would not be inconsistent with
your honour as a people and with the great
and responsible position which you occupy among
the nations. We shall recognise the return of peace
and prosperity among you, the best securities for
our own continued prosperity. We trust that no-
thing will arise to interrupt for a moment the
friendly relations which have hitherto subsisted
between
us, and that no harsh judgments or mis-
representations of feeling and motives on either
side will lead us to forget that we are kinsmen,
sprung from a common stock, united by the bond of
a common language, and fellow-labourers in the
common
May the two great
b the Anglo-Saxon family always be
ch es
of cause of progress.

found generous rivals in the arts of peace and in
efforts to ameliorate the condition of mankind. And
at no distant period may the sword be sheathed
throughout your land, and the sounds of strife be
exchanged for the conquests of industry. Signed
on behalf of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce."

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The short discussion is the House of
Lords last night on the practice of granting tickets
of leave to criminals under sentence was a mild ex-
pression of the very general and very uneasy feel-
ing of discontent on the subject. Were these partial
remissions of punishment, or ha f pardons, only
exceptional, their consequences would not excite so
much attention. But time has developed a practice
into a system, and the system into an abuse ; and
only those who have fought against an evil can form
any estimate of how strong and formidable it may
become when it has struck root. Give the most
mischievous abuse time to create a few " interests "
to support it, and it will long evade, and often defy,
even the power of Parliament. The " interest" will
get itself strongly represented in that body itself,
and do battle against the public as stoutly as if it
defended the best of principles. Criminality has
acquired its privileges, some of them at variance
with the law of the land ; and there are stiff doctri-
naires who uphold their own theories as to the treat-
ment of criminals at the evident expense of the
honest portion of the community. There are philan-
thropists who contend for the comfort of rogues as if
it were one of the rights of man. Their theory of the
perfectibility of scoundrels has been rather rudely
shaken lately by the conduct of their clients ; but it
will require something stronger than the gentle cen-
sure of a few points of the " system," pronounced in
the Peers last night, to give practical effect to the
public condemnation. Something, however, has
been done. It is not much, but as it places some
check on a lenity that was growing dangerous the
advance is in a salutary direction. From Lord
Granville's answer to the question of Lord Stan-
hope, it appears that a circular has been sent to the
Chairman of Quarter Sessions in reference to cri-
minals who are re-committed after having been
convicted of former offences. To this class of cri-
minals, for the future, no expectation of a remission
of any part of their sentence is to be held out. For
such an offender—the hardened and " relapsed"—a
prior ticket of leave is not to become a complete con-
donation of previous crimes. His old score is to be
remembered against him, and he is not to open a
new account with the consideration that may pos-
sibly be extended to those who are young in crime.
For his new offence he is actually to undergo the
punishment the law awards. Intelligence of any-
thing that affects the professional prospects of the
criminal class spreads very rapidly among the mem-
bers of it, and a general knowledge of this regula-
tion or instruction wi;l probably have a deterring
influence. Small as this may be, it is a public gain.
It tightens the grasp of the law and takes some-
thing from the discretion and indiscretion of the
authorities, by whom the sentences of the Courts
have so often been modified. With a twice or thrice
convicted prisoner before him a judge will now
know what punishment he is awarding, and if he
thinks five years' imprisonment the just penalty for
the crime he will not be compelled to inflict ten, to
ensure half the number. The " old hands" among
the criminal class will not come as inexperienced
beginners before governors and chaplains, and their
power of loosing whero the law has bound will be
restricted in such cases as one we report this morn-
ing of a thief who was sentenced to ten years' im-
prisonment, having had nine former convictions.
With his great experience, no doubt, this " person"
would have made a very good " prisoner." He
would have given the authorities no trouble and
obtained honourable mention as a promising sub-
ject. But on a tenth conviction society is not un-
reasonable in demanding the measure of protection
secured by putting such a confirmed offender under
restraint for the full term of his last sentence.
These strong cases have lately turned up very op-
portunely, for such facts prove most convincing ar-
guments. Another statement elicited by last
night's discussion is also satisfactory. It appears
that the ticket-of-leave men now at large are not so
entirely exempted from supervision as they formerly
were. Recently these rovers, who prey on the
community under the 'gaol "letters of marque,',
have been made " amenable for leading disorderly
lives, keeping company with thieves, or committing
offences of which the general law of the country is
not exactly cognisant." This, we presume, means
that their indulgence has been forfeited, and they
have been placed under lock and key again, on their
uncompleted sentence, without the intervention of
a trial and a jury. The supervision is not so com-
plete as it has been made in Ireland, where extra-
mural vigilance is a part of the system. But some
control has been found possible, and the ticket of
leave is not a wholly unrestricted licence. But,
considering the magnitude of the evil and the pub-
lic alarm, the Government might have done more
in the same direction without turning the question
over to a Royal Commission. It looks too like re-
sorting to an old expedient, which is certain to post-
pone, and very likely to evade action, where some
immediate course is needed. The Commission will
probably open a hundred topics, some of which will
call up feelings almost sectarian. Scores of wit-
nesses will fight out their several theories, and the
inevitable Blue-book will embody much fierce phi-
lanthropy. The most probable result will be the
throwing over the subject to another session. A
satirist might without much injustice represent the
our Government as in a perpetual state of interroga-
tion. The Executive does not act, but " inquires,"
through commissions and committees ; and these
bodies which make the inquiry cannot act, they can
only recommend. But the public derives no benefit
from a mass of " recommendations." Paying well
for the machinery of the law that catches and locks
up criminals, it wants to be assured that a " higher
law," called Prison Discipline, shall not make their
punishment a farce. This the Home-office has full
power to do without shifting its responsibility upon
a Royal Commission.

HERALD.—The American war is more tedious
than a five•act tragedy. It is still dragging its
slow length along, and the end appears to be further
off than ever. The Hibernian, true to its name,
brings us a farrago of news in which nothing new
can be discovered. The account of the army of the
Potomac is just what might have been expected.
Gen. Burnside, as we know, has resigned the chief
command. Gen. Hooker, one of the most active and
efficient of the innumerable soldiers of the North,
has been appointed in his place. Burnside is about
to be examined before a committee of the Senate at
Washington concerning the interference of subordi-
nate officers with his plans. Should this interfe-
rence be proved it is Gen. Burnside who should be
blamed first of all for it. In permitting it be must
have been forgetful of his duties as commander-in
chief; in suffering himself to be led against his
judgment he was sacrificing the lives of those en-
trusted to his care. We have no high opinion of
Gen. Burnside's abilities as a soldier, and if it be
proved that he consented to abdicate his functions
as commander there will seem to be nothing left
that any one can urge in his excuse. The unfortu-
nate man has been entrusted with responsibilities
that were far beyond his capacity, and he has done
his best to make shipwreck of the Federal cause.
Now that the barometer of public feeling is at zero
as regards him, the star of the discarded M'Clellan
is once more in its zenith. He is being feted at
Boston, where it is proposed to give him a public
reception, after the manner of Americans. As Air.
Martin Chuzzlewit received an ovation as soon as it
was known that he was going to settle among the
rattlesnakes, this public tribute to M'Clellan is in-
tended as a prelude to a fresh expedition of this
general against the Southern armies. The idea is
not peculiar to Boston, It extends to the capital.
We hear that a proposition made in Congress to
place M'Clellan once more at the head of the army
was welcomed with loud applause by the people in
the galleries. It is natural that the only commander
who has not yet been disgracefully beaten should
still remain the most popular of the Northern gene-
rals. The telegraph favours us with an account of
the dispositions of the army on the Rappahannock,
the head-quarters of which are still at Falmouth.
We cannot say that we find them very interesting..

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