The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-01 00:00:00

TICKE7-OE-LEAVE CONVICTS.

At a meeting held at Bristol a few days since on the sub-
ject of a charge in the treatment of criminals, Mr. Commis.
sioner Hill, who presided, read a paper contrasting the ad-
ministration of the convict system in Ireland with that of
England. He said—Not only is the law precisely the same
in both islands, but the order issued by the executive
Government for carrying the law into execution are also
identical up to a certain point. In Ireland, however, one
of the conditions enjoined on the discharged convict is
that he shall report himself to the police of his district on
the first day of each month; while in England it has been
deemed a policy essential to giving the ticket-holder
a chance for obtaining employment that his antecedents
should be carefully concealed ; therefore, so far from his
being enjoined to report himself to the police, they are kept
as far as can be in ignorance of his existence. The re-
maining differences in the conduct of the two experiments
result from the conflicting views of the Convict Board in
Ireland with those of the Convict Board in England. In
Ireland the directors, believing that the responsibility of
Government for the demeanour of the convict extends
up to the expiration of his sentence, whether he be in
or out of prison, so administer their powers as to make
every portion of that term as efficient as they
can towards perfecting his reformation and making it per-
manent. They act under the firm persuasion that unless
they can induce the prisoner to become the principal agent in
working out his own reformation they accomplish nothing.
In addition, therefore, that most powerful motive with
which the law furnishes him, when it enables him to
shorten his own imprisonment by his own effert, all other
motives within the compass of their powers to set before
him which may urge him to the fulfilment of his arduous
task are brought into play. And with this view they have
not shrunk from taking upon themselves the labour of
treating their prisoners separately, making themselves
acquainted with the springs of action likely to operate upon
each mind, which it will be readily admitted differ very
much in different individuals. This they call the principle
of individualisation—a principle which stands in striking
contrast with that adopted in England. Sir Joshua Jebb is
of opinion that prisoners are best dealt with in masses
and by routine; that is to say, by a system of training
which treats every man as if he were the exact duplicate of
his neighbour; so that whatever operated upon one would
operate in the same measure of force upon the other,
Another principle kept in view in Ireland (while very im-
perfectly applied, if at all, in England) is, that the power of
self-action there considered as essential to work reforma-
tion is gradually to be enlarged in proportion to the im-
provement made by the prisoner in his aspirations and in
his habits. The Irish directors believe that no person can
acquire self-government who has not the opportunity of
doing wrong as well as of doing right. For it is the exer-
cise of the faculty which enables us to abide by that which
is right, and steadily reject that which is wrong,which con•
stitutes self-government. It is obvious that at first the
limits within which the prisoner may act as he likes must
be narrow, because, while his old desires and habits are
strong upon him, he will find the temptation to evil too
potent for resistance. This gradual relaxation of his bends
is carried in Ireland to such an extent that while in his first
stage he is denied all comMunication with his fellow-pri-
soners, and is hemmed in by the strictest and most galling
restraints, the last stage differs but little from perfect li-
berty. The gates are open, and there are no physical bonds
to prevent his desertion. He is frequently despatched abroad
on errands, or sent to agricultural employment or other la-
bours out of doors. For in this last, which is called the in-
termediate stage, meaning thereby intermediate between
imprisonment and freedom, moral influences are alone ex-
erted to enforce the rules which, in addition to general
good conduct, enjoin industry, abstinence from drink, and
his return to the gaol at appointed hours. He knows,
however, that the slightest breach of these rules would
send him back to a lower stage, and he feels that in main-
taining his position he is earning a character. He knows
that the facts of his case will be laid before any employer
who may be minded to engage his services immediately on
his discharge, and also that a character so earned will
have far more weight than any general recommendation
which the authorities of the prison could alone give to
a man whose power of resisting the temptation which
the world outside the prison gates must assuredly have in
store for him has never been tested ; as it never can be
tested on any plan in which he passes at once from perpe-
tual restraint to perfect liberty—where he is one day master
of few or none of his actions, and the next day thrown on
the world utterly without guidance, control, or responsibi-
lity. It is most instructive to contrast the result of these
opposite courses of administering our convict system. The
creature of a "training in masses," and by "routine"
learns, it is true, a sort of moral drill, by which, under or-
dinary circumstances, he becomes obodient and conformable
to prison rules. He is thus carried onward, with little exer-
cise of his own volition, towards the gates of his prison, and
unless he act, as he sometimes does, with outrageous folly
and wickedness, he is considered to have a claim for his
ticket of leave at the earliest period when, in conformity
with the scale, it can be granted to him. And even in the
cases of gross misconduct to which I have adverted, the
ticket is withheld only for a short period. Now, the great
end and object of the ticket-of-leave system was, as might
be expected, and as we learn from the Ministers of the
Crown in their speeches on submitting the measure t 3 Par-
liament, to stimulate the convict to work out his own libe-
ration by energy and self-command. Yet the English ad-
ministration of the system deliberately destroys that stimu-
lus through a course of proceeding in which the prisoner
receives a discharge obtained through the working of a
sort of machinery. The English administration seems to
imitate in sober earnest the scheme imagined in one of our
nursery fables for transforming age into youth by grinding
the candidates for rejuvenescence in a mill, But, alas I
numerous and potent as the expedients of mechanical
science have become in our day, none of them have hitherto
been successfully applied to moral operations. In Ireland,
on the eve of discharge, whether by ticket of leave or on
the expiration of sentence, employers not seldom resort to
the gaol with the view of making choice of such mon as may
suit their purposes. Inquiries are also circulated among
employers of labour, by direction of the board, so that no
opportunity should be lost of consigning the discharged
convict to the care and superintendence of some trust-
worthy person. Nor is this task so difficult as our English
experience would lead us to suspect. The fact of the con-
vict having for a long period resisted all temptations to de-
sert is is itself encouraging, while the register of his con-
duct, which the prison books will supply, enables the em-
ployer to see that the man has evinced steadiness of charac •
ter during a far longer period. He also knows that the con-
ditions endorsed upon the ticket-of-leave will be treated not
as fictitious, but will be certainly enforced. Thus the em-
ployer feels that he has not only the experience of the con-
vict's behaviour during his prison life to rely upon, but that,
Iby the supervision of the police, the servant will be held to
a very strict responsibility for his future well-doing. The
exult of all this toil and forethought oh the part of the di-

rectors is answerable to the excellence of the means. Gra-
dually public confidence has been created in the perecver•
ance in good conduct of ticket of-leave men, and ouch con-
fidence is justified and strengthened by the experience of
every succeeding year. While even as to convicts who
have been unable to work themselves out of prison before
the termination of their sentence, and who therefore have
never enjoyed the privilege of a ticket-of-leave, they, with
a few exceptions, are in a much better state as regards
their desire to lead an honest life and their capacity for
acting up to their resolutions than they would have been
if their training had been confined to the mechanical pro-
cess which I have described. Let me add, that in Eng-
land patient submission to such a process would have
gained them their license. And hence the risk incurred
by benevolent persons in giving them shelter and setting
them to work is far from being so great as it would be in
England. With regard to the inefficient training of the
English ticket-of-leave men, I have the authority of Sir
G. G! ey in stating that the illusion should be dispelled
that the holder of a ticket-of-leave is ascertained to be less
likely to relapse into crime than any other discharged cri-
minal. But, although the Executive Government justly
withheld its confidence in the reformation of discharged
criminals, it was benevolently desirous that they should ob-
tain employment. Hence the determination to conceal their
antecedents. But this policy was equally injurious to mas-
ters and servants. That a seeker for employment has been
in prison is a fact pretty sure to be found out. Thus all
criminals, whether reformed or unreformed, are of necessity
placed by the public in the same category, and trust is in-
discriminately refused to earl; the inevitable consequence
being that the greater pa) t have no alternative between re-
currence to crime on the one hand and starvation on the
other. It is des; -able that such among us, if any large
number there be, who object to supervision by police as
being over-harsh, should remember that it is only the ill-
doer who provokes hostility, and while supervision is
inimical to him, it is at the same time a shield of safety over
his former co-mate who perseveres in his new life of honest
industry. The relapses in Ireland are, including both from
January, 1856, to January, 1862, ticket-of-leave men and
convicts otherwise discharged, 10 per cent. And Sir W.
Crofton has challenged, without response, the disclosure of
the name of any convict under ticket-of-leave who has
broken his conditions, and who has been suffered to remain
at large. In England the conditions are a dead letter; the
practice, notwithstanding the warning " that it is not neces-
sary that the convict should commit a new offence," being
to refuse to take cognisance of any misconduct short of a
new offence, while even, were that practice reformed, and
were it now attempted to enforce the conditions, the Exe-
cutive Government has left itself but very inadequate means
of identifying the ticket-of-leave men who are spread abroad
through the land, and whose names and descriptions have
been kept back from the police. Tables of English relapses
are no doubt given, and in some of their aspects Ido not
inpugn their accuracy. The numbers in these tables,
amounting to 16 per cent., show that at least so many as
are found there have relapsed, but they do not show that
the list is complete. From observation, and inquiry con-
tinued for years, I have arrived at the conclusion that the
number of English relapses must exceed 50 per cent.

THE REV. DR. TEMPLE ON THE LAN-

CASHIRE Din RMS.

The Rev. Dr. Temple, of Rugby, in company with two
other friends, lately visited Lancashire, and the former rev.
gentleman publishes the impression produced on his mind.
The friends visited, either jointly or separately, Man-
chester, Stockport, Preston, Blackburn, and Burnley, and
made careful inquiries into the system of relief adopted
over the whole county.
"My first impression," says Dr. Temple, "was certainly
surprise to find the distress much less than I had expected.
I visited many of those who are now receiving relief—some
accompanied by a relief committee's visitor; some quite
alone. I only found one house without a tolerable fire. I
saw signs of hunger, but none of starvation ; I saw no bare
feet ; I saw nothing at all approaching to the misery of the
Irish famine nor to that which was to be seen in Coventry
two years age. A very little inquiry, however, revealed
that this appearance was due, not to the smallness, of the
distress, but to the thorough efficiency
.of the system of
relief. The people parted with everything that could be
parted with of any value. Almost all their bedding, all
extra clothing, all spare furniture, all past savings—all
have been gradually absorbed. They are now standing
on the edge of a precipice from which they are only held
back by the strong arm of a more complete organisation
to aid them than I believe any other county in
England could have produced. The centre of this organi-
sation is the Executive Committee at Manchester; This
committee meets every Monday, and obtains as full reports
as it is possible to get, not only of the needs of each of the
distressed towns, but of the supplies provided, either from
local or other sources, to meet those needs, Upon these re-
ports the committee makes its grants, often accompanying
them with suggestions or requirements. The grants are
made in every instance to local committees who have under-
taken the duty of relieving the distressed in their own loca-
lity." To the county organisation, and, above all to the
Executive Committee, it is due that the administration
of relis is at once efficient and just, and that no one from
one end of the county to the other is in real dr.nger of
dying for lack of food. t‘ Most certainly anyone who
wishes to give, and wishes that his money should be
wisely and efficiently used, should send it to the Central
Committee at Manchester."

The poor people seemed to feel that all was being done
for them that could be done. " Many of them were do-
jected, indeed almost prostrate. Many showed in their faces
the terrible s' ruggle through which they had passed before
consenting to accept relief. One, a decent shopkeeper,
showed me his books to prove that his whole profits for a
week had only been 6d., and asked if I thought he had
done very wrong to come on the committee. Another spoke
cheerfully, as he hoped that an Englishman might feel
justified in accepting charity to save his family from star-
ving ; but while he spoke he turned pale, a spasm crossed
his face, and he rose suddenly and left the room, while his
wife burst into tears. Everywhere I met the marks of ter-
rible mental suffering. But nowhere did I find any com-
plaint against the upper classes, any sense of injustice, or of
having been hardly used. Never was there seen a nobler
simplicity of endurance. We cannot allow these people to
starve. We must continue to send them help. Though the
money now subscribed is well in front of the immediate need
it must not be forgotten that it flows rapidly out ; as to leave
the relief committees without money for a week would in-
evitably starve hundreds. To leave them without money for
a month would renew the horrors of the Irish famine."
Dr. Temple believes it would be ruin to the smaller
ratepayers to strain the rates much farther. The mill-
owners, as a body, are doing as much as ever
could be expected of them, but the landowners have
not appreciated the greatness of the need. "If the
riches of the millowner are liable to the demand of the
operatives, much more are those of the landowner ; and this
terrible crisis has seriously damaged the former; while it
had left the latter almost unscathed. If every landowner
in Lancashire would calculate what he would have to pay
if a rate of 2s. 6d. were levied, not on occupiers, but on
owners throughout the county, and make that sum his con-
tribution, Lancashire would have no need to talk of a grant
from the consolidated fund. That the property of the
county is well able to bear the burden. there cannot be the
slightest doubt. If Parliament is to interfere, the interfe-
rence should consist in putting the burden on the right
shoulders, not in transferring it to the shoulders of the na
tion: But I feel tolerably confident that the meeting next
week will render interference needless. A county which has
shown such admirable skill in administering funds entrusted
to its management is not likely to be unwilling to make the
needful sacrifices towards raising its share of such funds ;
and more than its share England will not ask to it do."

THE LANCASHIRE DISTRESS MEDICAL
FUND.

(From the Lancet.)

The dire and widespread distress in Lancashire has called
forth a living stream of sympathy and aid from pvpry corner
of the land. Such a demonstration of fellow-feeling has
proved, in the most convincing manner, not only how active
is the principle of charity in England, but still more how
strong is the tie that binds all Englishmen together as
members of one family. Firstly, every individual looks
upon the cry from the cotton districts as a direct appeal to
himself. In the nest place, every c unty, every town,
every village, every congregation, every public body, links
together its constituents, and in its corporate capacity helps
again.

In one way or another, we are too well assured that our
medical brethren, the never-failing friends of the poor, have
added their contributions, in money and in labour, towards
the alleviation of the appalling sufferings that wring the
heart of the nation. But the winter advances, and the
American strife still rages in insensate fury, withholding
the material of industry. For some months to come the
effort must be sustained. The occasion calls for medical men
row to act in a body as a profession. We invite them,
knowing their liberality, and the depth of the distress wait-
ing for relief, to institute a " Medical Fund." Every medical
practitioner knows how sadly want of the necessaries of life
causes and aggravates disease, and augments the difficul-
ties of treatment. None so well as the medical practi-
tioners in the distressed districts know how the distress is
to be met most effectually. It would afford most material
aid if the medical practitioners throughout the country
would strengthen the hands of their colleagues in Lanca,
shire, by supplying them with means of affording medical
comforts and food to the patients. First of all rtmodies for
diseases that spring from starvation are food, fit ing, and
clothing. We should eernestly desire to organise a
system of mutual aid of this kind—medical men
way
re_
mains Irahyi hlightening the burden that falla with such Over-
whelming pressure upon the medical profession in Stock-
mport, s
open.
onde e
before l s
te h w
ahnne rei ex n any h
. t
wle
ne
k o
to receive such we
ye think
more hi
more goodcould be donep
in-
formation from our brethren in Lancashire as •
will give a
determinate direction to the funds We
my be enabled from
time to time to collect. As a beginnin
tion of the Medical Fund--- b. •
e subjoin g—as an inaugura-
w
subscriptions : Pia the following list of

The Proprietors of The Lanet .. . .
Ernest Hart, Esq.
.. £lOO 0 0
..
Dr. Barnes ..
.. 20 0 0
.. .. .
.. 0
J. F. Clarke Esq.. . ..
.. 2
..
..
.. 2 2 0
0
J., ZT. 4t4dcliffei Esi, ~ •
~, I, .• 1 1 0

LAW IN7ELLIG'ENCE, Nov. 29.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.

(Sittings at Nisi Prius after Term, at Westmincterf
before Mr- Baren Martin and a Common Jury.)

ROBERTS V. ORCHARD-FALSE IMPRISONMENT.
This action was brought by a salesman formerly
in the employ of the defendant, a draper in Regent"
street, to recover compensation in damages for
having been given by him into custody on a charge
of steaing a florin, the property of his master. The
defendant pleaded not guilty, and that when he gave
the plaintiff into custody he bona fide believed that
he had taken the money.
Mr. Sergeant Parry and Mr. Loxton were NO'
eel for the plaintiff, and Mr. Sergeant Ballantine
sad Mr. D. Keane for the defendant.
It appeared that on the Bth of February
last the
plaintiff had received change from ono of the
cashiers, and finding afterwards that it was short
went back and received the additional sum required.
Mr. Orchard, the defendant, then called him int°
the counting-house, and having made him take out
all the money from his pocket, denlared that he had
a florin which he had previously marked, and gave
him into custody for embezzlement. lie was taken
before Mr. Yardley, the magistrate, at Marlborough"
street, who upon hearing the evidence dismissed th!
case. The plaintiff was a silk salesman, and had
been 20 years in the trade, and he alleged that
in
consequence of this occurrence he had been unable
to obtain any employment.
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine, on the part of the de'
fendant, submitted that the action could not he,
maintained, as a month's notice of bringing it had
not been given to the defendant under 24th and 25th
Vict., c. 96, the object of which, he said, was, that
in cases of this kind the person who had given the,
party into custody should have an opportunity
offering a fair compensation.
Mr. Baron Martin held that the notice was net
required.
The defendant, Mr. Orchard, was called for the
defence, and he said that in consequence of CO
plaints having been made to him by his cashier;
as to the plaintiff having said he received alle,r:
change, he marked some silver money on t""
Bth February, and afterwards he found one of the,
marked florins, which he identified, in possession 01'
the plaintiff.
Mr. Sergeant Parry said the object of this evidence
was to prove a felony, and objected to it on the
ground of there being no plea of justification. ,„
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine said his object vv3e ,`"„,
prove the bona fides of the defendant in giving tw"
plaintiff into custody.
Mr. Baron Martin said the bona fides of the dei;
fendant had nothing to do with the verdict, thong
it might affect the damages.
A lad named Mills, a cashier in the defendant
employ, was next examined. He said he vitae,:
the defendant's service in November, 1861, and fn.
that time up to the Bth of February the plaintiff bile,
50 times complained of short change. In the Pr
sence of Giffard, another cashier, he gave the chae.ga,
containing the florin in question, to the plaintwe
(It should be stated that the plaintiff in his evidece
said he had only once complained of short change)*
Giffard corroborated Mills's evidence.
meet
Mr. Baron Martin asked if the defendant !nee
to prove a felony, because that was the tendon°
of this evidence.
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine said he did not. 1!:
relied entirely upon the perfect bona fides of t"
defendant in giving the plaintiff into custody. t
Mr. Sergeant Parry said he must then (Mee
to the evidence.
Mr. Baron Martin then summed up. He told ti!
jury they must assume that the plaintiff was 100'4
cent, and the only question would be the amount"
damages.
The Jury returned a verdict for the plaintift
Damages £2OO. ed
A bill of exceptions was tendered to the lear
nd
judge's ruling as to the reception of evidence ll-
summing up.

COUNTRY 11141iii.t41

, ,4.,

Wheat
generaNnyOßmWadelClHate—pSrAieTeurtetirda. gonie
instances is per qr more money was demanded. For bale
also more money was demanded. There was a slow e
for oats, beans, and peas.
to 47:
White wheat. 49s to 50i 1 Red wheat ........43s 35
Malting barley 34s to 37s 1 Chevalier barley.. •°"8
Distilling do . 28s to 30s I Oats.. . .
Flour, 30s 6d to —s Od per sack from the miller'
to

LEICE STER—SATURDAY. 36
Old white wheat, 59s to GOs ; new, 48s to 52s per
stone. Old red, 54s to 578 per 36 stone. Barley,
new, 34s to 38s per qr.; grinding, 29s to 31s; old ea%
28s to 325; new oats, 21s to 25s per 24 stone. Beams
new, —s to —s ; old, 40s to 43s per 38 stone. new,

NORTHAMPTON —•SA.TURDAT•
290
New wheat, 42s to 525:; old, 508 to 665. Barley, ,80
to 38s per qr. New oats quoted at 24s to 28s ; 016,,,,b't0
to 328 per 24 stone. Beans, old, 39s to 425; new, 3-b
38s. Peas, 36s to 44s per qr.

NOTTINGHAM—SATURDAY.
90.
White wheat, from 45s to 63s ; red wheat, 42s to A-oto
Barley—malting, 34s to 44s ; grinding, 28s to 30s. vqo
old, at 25s to 31s Od ; new, 23s to 275. Beans sold at
to 45s per qr. Flour, 41s to 445.

YORK— SATURDAY. to 24°
Wheat, red 44s to 48s Oats.... 229 ~,, 42a
White do .50s to 56s Beans 40e 1",...0
.___... to
Barley .30s to 36s Peas ......._. 406
Malt, 64§ to 66s per qr.; rye, 398 per qr. ; gem'
to 42s per sack.

DUBLIN—FRIDAY.
s.d. s.d.
Wheat, white 30 0 to 34 0
Do., red 27 0 to 32 0
Do., new - 0
Barley
Oats
Do., black l4 6 to 16 6

13
s. d. ;i;
Beans..
Bere
Rapeseed 0 to 16 6
Oatmeal l5 0 to ,7). 6
Bakers' flour 16 6to 0
Indian corn

CORK•

ov. 28. Red
The following were the quotations this morning', 100
wheat, 17s' Od to 24s 9d ; white, 22s Od to 27s Od, barielod' to
Od to 18s Od ; oats, 8s 6d to 138 6d. ; new bere,
—s Od.