The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-03 00:00:00

rim SUN, LONDON, riTESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 3, 1863

Transportation and Penal Servitude.

The following epitome of the History of our Con-
vict System during the last 80 years is taken from
the Athenaeum :
Howard's crusade against prison abuses, and the closing
of the American ports by the War of Independence against
the English felon-trade, gave birth to various schemes of
penitentiary discipline. But at length, after some years of
languid discussion, when the congestion of criminals in the
country had become extremely dangerous, Pitt and Dun-
das "settled" the question, in spite of vehement remon-
strances from Howard and Bentham, by founding a penal
colony at Botany Bay. This settlement held good for about
25 years, and then the disgraceful state of the hulks, the
horrible things reported of convict transport-ships, the
middle passage of which was in some respects worse than that
of slavers, and the rank growth of crime in New South
Wales, compelled Parliament and the country to endure
fresh discussions of the Convict question. Under the aus •
pices of Mr. Holford, Howard's and Bentham's schemes for
a National Penitentiary were resuscitated, and the Mill-
bank Prison—one of the most unlucky, ill-considered, and
costly projects ever blundered into, was built.
During the building, which was protracted through a
series of disasters over ten years, the convict question was
in abeyance. To all grumblings, in and out of Parliament,
official prophecies of the great results to be achieved by the
Penitentiary were the invariable answer. But when the
Penitentiary was at length completed and peopled with a
choice selection of felons, convicts still increased and
multiplied. Mrs. Fry and the " British ladies" took
common gaols and bridewells under their amiable
patronage, and founded the "goody-good" school of prison-
reformers ; Romilly and his successors mitigated the barba-
rities of the penal code; and Sir Robert Peel consolidated
the criminal laws ; but none of these various movements at
all lessened the difficulty of the convict question. The
Penitentiary could not deal with a tithe of the convicts ; the
hulks were worse than ever, because more comfortable ; and
transportation, which, under the "assignment system"
then in force, was often the avenue to wealth, had almost
lost its terrors. Impressed with the growing difficulty of
the matter, Lord Melbourne, in 1833, sent Mr. Crawford to
inspect the much-lauded Penitentiaries in the United
States. He returned a monomaniac for the separate
system, for which, in a few years, he succeeded in ob-
taining the official patronage of Lord John Russell.
Under his influence and that of his colleague, the Rev.
Whitworth Russell, Lord John procured the necessary acts
for introducing encellulement into ordinary prisons, and
making it a part of a bran-new convict system. Some new
organisation was, in fact, imperatively required, for in the
midst of the discussion on Mr. Crawford's importation, the
opponents of transportation, headed by Archbishop
Whately and Sir William Molesworth, accomplished the
abolition of the assignment system. The elaboration of
Lord John's inchoate plans fell to the lot of Lord Stanley
and Sir James Graham, who once more " settled" the
Criminal question by establishing the Model Prison at
Pentonville for model convicts, and framing a'• probation
system" in Tasmania (which was henceforth to be the
sole cesspool for our moral sewage) for the less interesting
scoundrels. Within four years this scheme, too, collapsed.
The convict establishment in Tasmania, by dint of
wretched mismanagement, sank into utter chaos, while the
model convicts of Pentonville, though they made most
edifying prisoners, yet when they were turned loose in
Australia to practise their model virtues, soon roused the
indignation of the colonists by their " Pentonvillany." In
this dilemma the discipline of Pentonville was modified,
transportation to Tasmania was suspended for a
_time, and
Sir George Grey and Earl Grey, who were now in office,
prepared to " settle" the Convict question once more.
According to the new scheme propounded by them, the
convict's sentence was divided into three portions. The
first was to be passed in separation, the second in penal
servitude on public works, and the third in a colony with a
ticket of leave. The stages at home were placed under the
management of Sir Joshua Jebb, who, by the death of his
former colleagues, Messrs. Crawford and Russell, had
risen to be the government factotum in convict matters.
His scheme promised well, and to all appearance the Con-
vic t question was again "settled," till the time came for
the colonies to receive our purified felons ; and then the
wrathful refusal of all of them, except Western Australia,
to serve any longer as a receptacle for our criminality, dis-
arranged the entire plan.' To meet the emergency, the first
Penal Servitude Act was hastily passed, substituting penal
servitude for transportation.

CRIMINAL COURT.----Yesterday.

Margaret Connell, 27, Sarah Francis, 19, John
Lovell, 21, and John Power, 27, were charged with
assay. t and robbery upon John Rose.
The prosecutor in this case is a fishmonger at the
east End of the town, and on the night of the 23d

of December he had been to his club, and had en-
joyec himself upon the occasion to such an extent
that se admitted he was the worse for the liquor he
had imbibed. On his way home, according to his
own statement, he was assailed by four persons, two
men and two women, who shoved or knocked him
down, and his pockets were then rifled, and he was
robbed of a portion of the money that was upon
him. The prosecutor was unable to speak to the
identity of any of the prisoners who were concerned
in the alleged robbery, and although by the evidence
of other witnesses it was established that the pri-
soners were near the prosecutor, the case for the
proEecution was not at all clearly made out.
The jury acquitted the whole of the prisoners.
(Before the Common Sergeant.)
Charles Baker, 20, pleaded guilty to a charge of
forgery.
The prisoner, it appeared, was in the service of
Messrs. Bell and Da!dy, the publishers in Fleet-
street, and he took the opportunity afforded to him
by his position to tear out a blank cheque from the
cheepe-book of one of the firm, which he filled up
for 120, but it was done in such a clumsy manner
that it was at once detected to be a forgery.
The Common Sergeant sentenced the prisoner to
12 months' hard labour.

George Vinpany, 48, a little humpbacked man,
described as t, jeweller, pleaded guilty to a charge
of feloniously having in his possession a mould cal-
culated to fabricate counterfeit sovereigns.
It appeared from a statement made by Mr. Bren-
nan, who was formerly an inspector of police, but
who is now specially attached to the Mint, and en-
gaged in the detection of offences against the coin,
that the prisoner has for a great many years been
mast actively employed in connexion with such
offences, and he was convicted in 1848 of an offence
of this description, and sentenced to 10 years' trans-
portation. He, however, obtained his liberty in
about five years and a half, and it appeared that he
immediately recommenced his old occupation, but
his proceedings were conducted with so much cau-
tion and ingenuity that it was not until very re-
cently that the police were enabled to get hold of
him, and as Brennan somewhat naively observed,
he had never had so much trouble with a man in
his life as he had had with the prisoner. When he
was taken into custody a great number of letters
were found in his possession that had been sent
from different parts of the country, applying for
counterfeit money, and there appeared to be no doubt
that the prisoner was an active agent in disseminat-
ing counterfeit coin throughout all parts of the
kingdom. In the room where the prisoner was taken
into custody there were found several moulds, made
of much better materials, and capable of fabricat-
ing counterfeit coin of a superior character, than
those ordinarily made use of by coiners, and other
articles which showed clearly that the prisoner was
an adept at his nefarious calling. It was also stated
that the prisoner had been charged, with one of the
men who was tried last session for being concerned
observed that it would be
in the robbery of the Bank of England note paper,
with uttering forged notes.
The Common Sergeant
mearly a waste of time to address any remarks to a
man like the prisoner. It was clear that he was
determined to break the laws, and although he had
evaded detection for some time, he had at last found,
as was always the case, that the law was too strong
for him. He then sentenced the prisoner to be kept
in penal servitude for twenty years.
Sarah Anne Barrett, 43, pleaded guilty to two
indictments charging her with stealing property
belonging to her employers.
The prisoner was convicted of an offence of the
same Class in 1860 at this court, but in consequence
of a very artful and piteous appeal made by her for
mercy
At this time, it appeared that she had a sum of about
only a slight sentence was passed upon her.
£3O in the savings bank, which, by her conviction,
was forfeited, but after her discharge, she made such
representations to the Home Secretary that he con-
sented to the money being restored to her,
and on her being taken into custody upon
the present charges it was discovered that she
had increased the amount to over £7O ; and as
her wages were only £lB a year, the natural
inference derived from this fact was that this money
must have been the produce of the various felo-
nies committed by the prisoner. It was inciden-
tally stated in the course of the narrative given by
the learned counsel that one of the officials in the
gaol where the prisoner had been confined after her
conviction had assisted her to make out a deed of
gift to her sister of all the property of which she was
possessed, by which means it escaped forfeiture, and
the rights of the Crown were defeated ; but as it did
not appear by what means the information had been
obtained, and the parties, of course, had no oppor-
tunity of giving any explanation, it is obvious that
it would be unfair to mention the name of the per-
son who was alleged to have acted in the manner
described.

The Common Sergeant sentenced her to be kept
in penal servitude for six years.
William Ballard, 56, and Eliza Bollard, 36, man
and wife, were charged with being feloniously in
possession of a galvanic battery for the purpose of
making counterfeit coin.
The jury acquitted the woman on the ground that
she had acted under the influence of her husband,
and found the former guilty.
Brennan stated that he had known the prisoner
thirty years, and he had no doubt that during the
whole of that long period he had been engaged in
making counterfeit coin, but his proceedings were
conducted with so much art that he had been unable
to get a case against him until the present occasion.
The Common Sergeant sentenced the prisoner to
ten years' penal servitude.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—In any country but the France of Napo-
leon 111. the singular political event which has just

occurred would be looked upon as an omen of sinis-
ter import. A Prince of the Blood, the only mem-
ber of the Imperial family who has a name and a'po-
sition in Europe, has thought fit to stand alone in
opposition to the Address of the Senate, and to pro-
claim to the world in the most emphatic manner
that he and his cousin are at variance on the most
important question of French policy. The Senate,
in its Address, committed itself fully to the occupa-
tion of Rome. Going beyond the expressed opinions,

perhaps beyond the private wishes, of the Sovereign,
this august, but not very independent body, chose to
declare not only that France would maintain the
temporal power of the Pope, but that Italy had
given up all desire for what she had formerly
coveted. In the 7th paragraph of the Address it
was said that, " Italy, nearer to us, herself seconds
the allaying of fears after having caused them to
arise;" that "at Turin people no longer speak of

Rome ;" and that " the indepenaence of Italy is not
a compact made by France with the revolution."
By these expressions the Senate pledged itself to

support the Emperor in his more illiberal policy,
and affected to believe that the desire of the Italians
for Rome, and of the Romans for union with Italy,
was a revolutionary dream that had vanished before
the firm will o f the French Ruler. A debate of much
interest took place, and gave M. Thouvenel an
opportunity of declaring himself a friend of the
Italian cause, and condemning the policy which, by
bending to and humouring the Roman priesthood,
makes matters every day more difficult to settle.
But in all that large assemblage only one man
thought of voting against the Address which con-
tained the offensive paragraph. That one was
Prince Napoleon, and at the close of the debate the
numbers were announced to be—for the Address,
121 ; against it, 1. Scarcely less remarkable than
the vote of Prince Napoleon was the speech of M.
Thonvenel. In a review of his own policy, which
shows that he can command attention by the tongue
as well as by the pen, the late Minister of Foreign
Affairs justified himself, and in language bolder
than we have ever heard from an es-Minister,
denounced the French occupation of Rome. It
will give courage to the friends of the Italian
cause to find that although a part of French
society may affect indifference, though illustrious
persons may allow theological fannies to blind them
to the claims of human and rational right, yet the

Councils of the Emperor do not want for men
pledged to a more just policy. M. Thouvenel has
been Minister, and he may be again ; indeed, it is
almost certain that he would be recalled if any
grave political questions were to arise in Europe.
Whenever that time shall come we know that there
will be a man at the French Foreign-office who
thinks as Englishmen think on the affairs of
Southern Europe, and who is convinced that France
loses more in reputation and influence than she
gains in actual military power by persisting in the
repression of the Roman people. Nothing can be
more bold and severe than M. Thouvenel's rebuke to
the busy courtiers who accused him of falsifying the
Emperor's policy. " Do you wish," he says, " to
know who falsifies the Emperor's policy. Those who
pretend to be the depositaries of secrets which have
not been confided to them ; those who forget that
the Emperor has declared that every country has
the right of freely regulating the conditions of its
existence; those who do not understand that Victor
Emmanuel alone can represent the principle of
order in Italy." Then, with something like scorn,
the dismissed Minister alludes to the " reforms" so
often promised for the Roman States. A journal has
published a programme of these petty changes.
" I seriously ask," says M. Thouvenel, " does it
contain any appearance of the concessions in-
dispensable to the reconciliation of the power
of the Pope with his subjects ?" In his opinion
the question is no nearer its solution than before.
"The situation has undergone no change; the
obstacle is still at Rome." Then he speaks of
the mortal disorder which the present state of Italy
and of the Papal territory causes. " There is a
black spot on the horizon ; that black spot is the
Roman question, and it is time to meet it boldly."
There is only one principle which can be legiti-
mately and safely applied—the principle by which
' the French Empire and the Senate themselves exist
—the principle of respecting the popular will. It
may not be right of the Italians to claim Rome as
their capital; but it is certainly the right of the
Romans that they should be governed in conformity
with their own wishes. " Well, it is the unanimous
wish of the Romans that the temporal authority of
the Pope should be transformed, and I regret that
the Committee has not thought proper to say so in
the Address." Then, courageously adverting to the
military occupation itself, M. Thouvenel declared
that it could never be recognised. France had had
to endure such an occupation herself. Austria might
practise it, but it could never be admitted into the
law of nations. Such were the remarkable utterances
of the statesman who a few months ago was at the
head of the Foreign Affairs of France. A Prince
stands out alone against the Sovereign and the
Senate, a Minister uses the language of a popular
tribune, and the Emperor, whose policy is thus
attacked by his own relative and his own Councillor,
makes no response. Conjectures in plenty will be
formed, but there is only one thing certain, that
sooner or later the Emperor will have to adopt the
policy advocated by his more liberal advisers. We,
who look on the affairs of Rome with the calm-
ness of a nation that has determined on
taking no part in the matter, see this
more clearly than the Ruler and the politicians
who live among Royalist and priestly and
military intrigues, and who, moreover, are full of
traditions about the influence of France which we
cannot appreciate, or even understand. The time
will surely come when the Emperor, ashamed of
oppressing a gifted people, and weary of priestly
obstinacy and ingratitude, will own the justice of
his cousin's protest and the force of his Minister's
arguments.
POST.—If there were a Government in the world
which we should have supposed to have its hands
perfectly full it is that of the United States of
America. It has been engaged for two years in a
war which, though it has burdened it with a colossal
debt, has been utterly barren of practical results.
It has been straining all its energies during two
long and bloody campaigns to push its armies a
hundred and thirty miles in a straight line from its
own capital, and has failed. It has brought itself
to the verge of ruin in amassing armies which have
nevertheless, proved impotent to effect the purpose
for which they were created. At the commence-
ment of a third year it has braved the contempt of
every civilised State by adopting a scheme which
offere a faint hope of realising the object it has in
view through the medium of a servile insurrection.
Baffled at every point, but atill sanguine of ultimate
success, the Federal Government might fairly be
considered to have quite as much work as it could
conveniently dispose of in attempting afresh the sub-
jugation of the South. It so happens, however, that
those who ought to know best—that is to say, Mr.
Lincoln and his Legislature—think otherwise.
They, as one would expect, are well acquainted with
the resources of the American nation, and can form
a more accurate estimate than strangers of the
powers and the capabilities of the great Republic).
Those who fancy that the North is so fully engaged
in the work of crushing the rebellion in the South,
that it must rest a passive spectator of everything
that takes place beyond the pale of the Union, are
very much mistaken. Those who suppose that, with
a national debt which already equals half of that
which Great Britain has accumulated in a century
and a half, the North is not in a position to take up
the cudgels in any other quarrel than that in which
it is at present engaged, are grievously in error. It
may be the duty of the Federal Government to
suppress a rebellion within its own dominions, but
it has a mission to perform in the cause of dis-
tressed nationalities. The fulfilment of both these
obligations is, of course, perfectly practicable by a
Government which, according to the new system
of finance, possesses, so long as a sheet of paper re-
mains in the country, ,a limitless command of wealth.
Congress has accordingly, in an interval between
the passing of Mr. Chase's money bills, turned its
attention from domestic to foreign politics. Seeing

in the south-west corner of the American continent
a State whose rights are in danger of being tam-
pered with by a European Power, it proposes, with
that instinctive love of freedom and independence
of foreign control which is so characteristic of the
Federal Legislature, to throw its protecting wgis
over the threatened State. Mexico is in danger of
being subjugated by France, and the North, the
vindicator of freedom and independence, imme-
diately rushes to the rescue. It is scsrcely possible,
and it is certainly not worth while, to consider se-
riously the resolutions which have been introduced
in the Federal Congress respecting the French in-
tervention in Mexico. If in the expedition de-
spached to Mexico, the Federal Government de-
tects any threatened hostility to the American
Union, it might, notwithstanding its present unen-
viable position, find it expedient to take part in the
quarrel against the European Power: but when
the ground alleged for interference is the attack
directed by the French Emperor against "free in-
stitutions," it is impossible to believe that this pre-
text can seriously be advanced by those who are
sparing no efforts to crush " free institutions" within
their own territories. The Federal Congress will
not, however, content itself with expressing its
disapproval of the course taken by France in re-
gard to Mexico; it is suggested that the Govern-
ment should be called upon to require the with-
drawal of the French troops, and, in the event
of refusal on the part of France, to enter into a
treaty with Mexico to enforce its demand. The
debate on these resolutions had not taken place
when the mail left, but it is by no means improba-
ble that they may meet with the approval of the
Legislature. The opportunity for indulging in brag
will not be lightly thrown away by those senators
who passed a vote of thanks in favour of Com-
modore Wilkes. The American press approves of
the resolutions, but doubts if the moment selected
for their introduction is opportune; and, with an
unusual amount of candour, admits that it would be
found impossible to give them effect. It is not easy
to understand how the French intervention in
Mexico can endanger a Republic which is already
in progress of dissolution ; but, on the other hand,
if the cause of liberty and of " free institutions" is
the motive agent in the proposed interference, some
candid friends may possibly be found to tell the
Federal Congress that the cause of " free institu-
tions" would derive more support by the withdrawal
of its armies from the Potomac and the Mississippi
than by the establishment of an additional force in
the State of Mexico. The general news brought by
this mail possesses but little interest. Respecting
the movements of Burnside's army, though sta-
tioned only 60 miles from Washington, nothing
certain is known. One telegram informs us that
he has crossed the Rappahannock and fought a
bloody battle, in which one of his best generals
was mortally wounded. Another says he is still
at Acquia Creek. An advance of the Federal army
has been daily expected, so that it is not improbable
that Burnside has onoe more ventured to make a
forward movement. The Federal Government do
,
not yet despair of forcing their way into the Con-
federate capital. It was supposed at Washington
that the Southern Commander-in-Chief, confident
that his adversary would not again attempt to
advance on Richmond, had despatched a consider-
able portion of his troops into Tennessee. Tnis,
however, turns out to be another of the many
errors into which the Federal Government has
fallen regarding the movements of its foes. General
Lee's army remain intact blocking up the route
from Fredericksburg to Richmond. If Burnside
has in truth crossed the Rappahannock, he must
be careful not again to encounter a defeat like
that of the 13th of December. It is awkward to
have a deep and rapid river crossing the line of
retreat, and he might not be so lucky as a second
time to transport his army across it under cover
of night. Military men will be astonished to
hear that Gen. Fitzjohn Porter has been found
guilty of the charges preferred against him by Gen,
Pope, and dismissed the service. We may assume
that the charges were satisfactorily proved; but,
nevertheless, his punishment at this late period is
contrary to the fundamental principles not only of
military but of civil law. It will be in the recol-
lection of our readers that, notwithstanding the
charges advanced by Gen. Pope after his signal de-
feat at Bull Run, in the month of August, Porter
still continued on active service, and commanded
the reserves at the battle of Antietam Creek on
Sept. 17. However guilty he may have been, his
offence had been condoned by his subsequent em-
ployment. The Federal Government has done many
strange things since the commencement of the war;
but amongst them the dismission with disgrace of
a general officer for an offence which had been con-
doned by retaining him in an important command,
will occupy a conspicuous place. Civilians have been
made to suffer no little hardship through the dis-
regard of the authorities for the laws they were
pledged to administer; perhaps it is only equitable
that soldiers should equally experience some of the
consequences of a purely despotic rule.

THE COLLIERY ACCIDENT AT BILSTON.

Yesterday the inquest was opened upon the bodies
of the three men who were killed on Friday morn-
ing in a pit-shaft, 75 yards deep, at the Pagett's
Croft Colliery, Bradley, near Bilston, by the wind-
ing rope of the pit having been cut, before Mr. T. M
Phillips, coroner for the Wolverhampton district.
Mr. Arthur Wright, the proprietor of the pit,
was represented by a solicitor, who put questions
to the witnesses with a view to the tracing home
of the crime to the party who is suspected of hav-
ing cut the rope.
A portion of the rope, about two yards in length,
was produced at the inquest. It was in two por-
tions, and showed the breakage. The circumference
and it was constructed of
of the rope was 41- inches,
three strands. Two of the strands had been cut
through apparently with either a chisel or an axe,
and the damage having been occasioned where the
rope was spliced, and at the most vulnerable part of
the splicing, the third strand had, by the severance
of the other two, been liberated, and the men
and the skip were suspended only by two or
three threads of the otherwise completely
severed strands. These threads had been of
strength sufficient to bear the weight of the skip s
when it was sent down to test the soundness of the
machinery and the rope, but it broke when the
weight of the three deceased was added. The rope
was perfectly sound on Thursday evening, when the
pit was ceased to be worked ; and during Thursday
night the point at which the severance took place
hung about a foot from the pulley over the pit's.
mouth. To reach it in that position, some steps
which were upon the frame which was surmounted
by the pulley would have to be climbed. The per-
son suspected usually descended with the first de-
tachment of miners, but upon this occasion he ab-
stained from going down so early, and going to
some of the boys, he said that " they would be fools
if they went down, for the rope was not safe."
Previously no complaints had been made of the un-
soundness of the rope, and every witness expressed
his satisfaction with its condition.

The Jury were unanimously of opinion that the
rope had been cut ; but the Coroner thought that
the matter ought to be further investigated before
they came to a decision.

The inquiry, which had lasted five hours, was
then adjourned for a fortnight.

As we near Blackburn, and look out upon some
60 slender chimneys, with no pennons of smoke
floating over the battle of life in the streets beneath, the too
clear atmosphere, and the absence of the din and hum of
machinery, give an aspect of Sabbath leisure, without the
Sabbath cheerfulness : while groups of compelled idlers,
who have had no blessed refuge of labour to fly to from
their gloomy thoughts for these months past, loiter about
the station and the streets. It is market day in Blackburn,
but we do not discover it for ourselves until we are told that
it is se—there are a few stalls and booths erected in the mar-
ket square, but there is no profuse display of produce, no
busy crowd of chaffering housewives. The streets are free
from the throng of business and the rattling of many
wheels; and there is hush enough for us to hear every
where the sharp click and clatter of the Lancashire wooden
clogs upon the pavement—a sound which will ever be as-
sociated in my memory with our day's melancholy wander-
ings through the famine stricken streets of Blackburn.—
Temple Bar.