The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-14 00:00:00

served, the condition of poor children is the most

urgent question of the day. However we may
thrust them aside in the busy pursuit of more
exciting objects, in the engrossing discussion of
the politics or novelties of the day, they
are growing up around us—the future citizens of the
State—in yearly increasing numbers, too often under
every disadvantage that nature and circumstance
can lay upon them. Mr. DISRAELI has finely said,
in one of his works, that " The youth of a nation
are the trustees of posterity!" And how will the
fortunes of the future stand if we do not teach those
guardians of its welfare how to perform their duties ?
Dr. MANNING reminded us that it has been asserted
that the majority of the children of the working
classes are neither at work nor at school. And
whether or no this be the case, it is certain that
there is a vast amount of that ignorance which is
the handmaid of crime still amongst us. The re-
formatories, of which the Archbishop principally
treated in his address, are intended for those un-
happy children who hare passed from mere idleness
and ignorance into the commission of actual crime—
who have become raw recruits, in fact, of that great
army of criminal offenders who are the terror of our
legislators and the problem of our philanthropists.
Entering upon the principles of State punishment,
Dr. MANNING quoted the words of Lord BROUGHAM,
who, discussing the question some years since, said
that it was an accepted doctrine that the only end of
punishment was to deter the criminal from repeat-
ing the offence, and to warn others by example, but
that he went further, and asked what right had we
to leave even a " prisoner for life " unreformed ?
Archbishop MANNING, as might have been expected,
supported this truly Christian theory, and said that
the first end of justice was to teach by example,
otherwise to let justice vindicate itself; the second, to
protect society; and the third, to reform the offender'
towards whom the State was bound to show all possible
compassion and mercy. This principle is admitted in
all criminal law, even to theprovision of all necessary
help for the man condemned to death, during the
short time left to him. The Archbishop observed
that all that was said about the reformation of
adults applied with tenfold force to the juvenile
criminal. He quoted the old maxim, Qui non habet
patrem populi est films, which is certainly never
more applicable than to those poor children whose
natural protectors alternately neglect them and lead
them astray. The influence of parental example
is always powerful, but when it is seconded to vice
by every association of childhood without one coun-
teracting agency, and points in that downward
direction to which human nature is always too
prone, it cannot be wondered at that the results are
what they are. To condemn such children, when
they are actually caught in the commission of a
felony, to a temporary imprisonment and enforced
association with hardened criminals, further pro-
ficients in the arts to which they have been initiated,
is so far an outward vindication of law and justice,
but it serves no better purpose. To suppose that
three or six months' incarceration in a gaol will
arrest a boy of 14 or 15 in his downward road, will
convert him from a professional pocketpicker into
a hardworking labourer, would certainly be the
height of credulity. It may, indeed, transform
the pickpocket into a thief, the thief into
a burglar, the vagrant into the crimi-
nal, but what else it is likely to do,
In rare cases, where sudden
,emptation has led a naturally honest and well-
brought-up boy into vicious courses, the shock may
arrest his progress, but this can but seldom hap-
pen. So unsatisfactory are the results of treat-
ing all ages and classes alike, that the attention of
our social reformers may well be turned to the
discovery of some better and more efficacious
method of dealing with juvenile offenders. The
hardship of punishing► children of tender years for
what are, in fact, their fathers' and mothers'

is uncertain.

sins, is so great that it impresses itself on every
observer, while it cannot be forgotten that not
only does the child suffer by the neglect, but that
the neglected juvenile offender grows up a curse to
society and a burden to the public. The cost of
maintaining a regular criminal, whether directly
or indirectly, is no slight matter. If he is at large
his depredations arc incessant, and he lives at the
expense of his more honest, if not more industrious,
neighbours. The amount of property annually lost
through fraud and violence in any of our great
cities is something startling. If the criminal be-
comes a convict he still costs us a good deal,
though in a more satisfactory manner, for it is
pleasanter to pay a certain sum for his mainte-

nance than to run the risk of his depredations,

as persons insure against fire, preferring to crisa-

fice a fixed sum than to chance the alternative of

total immunity or total loss. Still, the keep of a
criminal is not au inexpensive matter. Archbishop
MANNING quoted a few statistics on this point
furnished by different authorities, which estimated
the expenditure of justice in Dublin in one year to

be 3f millions; while many years since the Times
asserted that every pickpocket sent to Holloway cost

;he pay of a curate ! The amount of the annual de-

predations in Liverpool was estimated by the late Mr.
CLAY at £700,000. From the figures at his command

Archbishop MANNING drew an interesting parallel

between the amount of money spent in punishment

and reformation.

" Mr. RUSHTON, of Liverpool,

stated to a committee of the louse of Lords, in 1847,
that 14 boys were arrested and tried for certain
offences ; 10 were transported, and cost Liverpool

£1,400 ; whereas 77 boys placed in the asylum at
'Warwick cost £1,200, and 40 were reclaimed." It
may well be asked what chance of reformation

would these 40 boys have had under the old system,

which sent them out into the world after an enforced

association with older criminals, hardened rather

than reformed. The Archbishop went on to say that
" The reformatory schools of this country were now
costing the country £66,000 annually ; towards this
the parents paid £2,000, and £lO,OOO was contri-
buted by charitable people. The money which had
been spent on the children in reformatories, to which
the £66,000 related, was disproportionately small
compared with that which had been lavished on our
prison system. We had, he hoped, passed from
inflicting penalties without seeking for the refor-
mation of criminals, and had entered into what
he might call a penitential system tempered by
mercy." The Archbishop expressed a natural satis-
faction at finding so many of the reformatory
establishments had been undertaken by members
of his own faith. It is, indeed, a good work, in

which all denominations of Christians must heartily

agree, while its practical and social utility corn-
mend it even to those who are indifferent to the

welfare of the individual, and regard only the in-
teiests of the State. Its success as yet has been

most satisfactory ; aud, were it even less so, we

should still know that we were performing our
duty to wards these unfortunate children by at least
giving them their chance. The employment of

manual labour has been found a valuable assistance

in training and steadying the boys, to whom idle-
ness is a terrible incentive to discontent and rebel-
lion against authority. After a long day's work in
the open air the criminal, who after all is but a boy,
is much more inclined to go to sleep than to devise
means of escape or recite the triumphs of pocket-
picking or shop-lifting. The busy man, says good
Old JEREMY TAYLOR, is in far less (longer than the

idle man, because to the latter temptations present
themselves on every side, while to the former they
can only creep up through his business. It is on
this principle that the managers of our reforma-
tories very wisely act, and children who have only
learned to use and to abuse their mental powers,
are taught how to employ their physical capacities
in a manner conducive to the health of both body
and soul. The effects may not always be so cheering
as Lord BROUGHAM believed when he said that " the
first offence wisely treated became the last offence,"
though Archbishop MANNING states that his experi-
ence as avisitor to the reformatory at Hammersmith
had confirmed it; but it is morally certain to produce
some good effects. Were there but a remote chance
of reclaiming 1 per cent., instead of the almost cer-
tainty of a much larger proportion, it would be a
public duty to give these children every chance ; and
when we find that the cost of the reformatory is so
much less than that of the prison, it silences the ob-
jection which might otherwise be raised to taxing the
honest for the benefit of the guilty. The degrees
of guilt and of temptation we cannot measure, but
we can at least see that the juvenile offenders of
our criminal classes have much to plead in answer
to our charges against them ; and when wise and
good men have succeeded after much labour in
getting a practical and successful reformatory
system into good working order, let it not be said
of England that she suffered the work to languish
for want of means.

Austria and Prussia certainly monopolise the
attention of Europe at this time, and something
new and startling seems always on the tapir with
respect to their affairs. Hungary has been most
completely mismanaged and greatly ill-treated by
the Government of the E3IPEROR, and, notwith-
standing all that we have heard of more liberal
politics prevailing, there is no proof as yet furnished
of their being put into practice. The Croatian
Diet was opened yesterday. The Government
Commissioner made various announcements, but
none were of a very reassuring character. He
communicated to the Diet the October Diploma and
the February Patent, and advised the assembly to take
into consideration the question of a "Parliamentary
union between Austria and Croatia." The matter has
been decided upon with the consent of the Diet to all
intents and purposes, for the Emperor of AUSTRIA
will shortly be crowned King of Hungary and
Croatia, and the Diet are requested to send repre-
sentatives to the ceremony. When the " constitu-
tional relations" of Croatia to the Central Austrian
Government have been definitively settled, the
future regulation of the Dalmatian Administration
will be discussed, but not before. All this seems
but a continuation of the arbitrary arrangements
and mysterious machinations by which for a long
time the Government of Austria have contrived
to put all things under their rule and
management, but we seek in vain for any
certain indication of an independent system
being inaugurated. All is pretension and promise,
but we may be sure that the result will show that
they are sham and not substance, and that expec-
tations of a change for the better will not be

realised.
In Hungary no reliance whatever seems placed
upon the future course of the powers that be, and
in many quarters instances of distress and suspi-
cion are manifested. A circular has been for-
warded to the Lords-Lieutenant of the diffe-
rent counties, to the effect that " electioneer-
ing tricks" have been played in Hungary. The
Bohemian Assembly will, it is expected, be the scene
of a fierce dispute between the rival parties. In
fact, in all quarters doubts and uncertainties pre-
vail to a great extent, and the peace and prosperity
which Germany has so long enjoyed, and which we
had thought likely to increase as freedom flourished,
and general progress was made, are languishing
and drooping in the unwholesome atmosphere of a
tyrannical rule. As yet the two great Powers have
done nothing new in respect to the Frankfort affair,
'for they cannot agree as to the measures that
should be adopted. The point in question appears
to be to free the legal representatives of the city
from the restraints which are imposed upon them
by the German democrats. How much better it
would be to hale these parties to settle their own
affairs needs not to be dwelt upon ; but it is use-
less to expect reason from those who argue in a
circle, and have predetermed beforehand what course
they shall pursue. The National Verein does not
in reality interfere with the rights and privileges
of the Senators of Frankfort; and if they were only
left in statu quo no change worthy of the name
would take place, and no solecism be committed
that might shock the feelings or offend
the prejudices of the most scrupulous up-
holders of the ancient regime in the Father-
land. It would almost seem as if the mighty
makers of mischief and fomentors of dis-
cord at Berlin and Vienna had reckoned with-
out their host, or not fully estimated the
consequences of the affair in this last encroach-
ment at Frankfort. Doubtless the Austrians are
wiser than their allies, and comprehend a little
more clearly the dangers and difficulties that will

environ them if they carry out their measures in
the spirit as well as the letter, and enforce compli-

ante to their commands without scruple or conside-
ration. Be this as it may, nothing justifies us in
forming the belief that moderate counsels will rule
the day, for in all directions untoward symptoms
prevail, and the " era of reaction," so often mean-

inglessly alluded to, seems likely to become un
fait accompli. The only Liberal member of the
Bavarian Government is about to quit office, while

M. VON 'ROGGENBERG7 the protector of the Liberal

party in Baden, is dismissed.

The great German Powers are making enemies
and provoking people everywhere, and a complete

misunderstanding will soon prevail from one ex-

tremity of Germany to the other. Baron Vox

BEUST, the Saxon Minister for Foreign Affairs, has

forwarded a despatch to the representatives of

Saxony at Berlin and Vienna, in which a recogni-

tion is made of the announcements by the two

Powers of the steps taken relative to Frankfort, and
also a notice of the complaints made by the Minis-

ters of Austria and Prussia respecting the Saxon

press. Baron VON BEUST seems to be quite equal to
the occasion, for he reserves to the Federal Diet the

rightref to
erenc
esettle theeF r ankf legitimateFrankfort
coursesenat
Senate.
Ato be t
supplementary
a ke n in
vote has been since sent, which retorts upon those
who complain of the Saxon press, by declaring that
it only held the language to which exception was
taken because of the tone adopted by the Prussian
and Austrian Governments. The conclusion of this
Note is as spirited as any one could desire, for the
Baron affirms that he agrees with the wish expressed
that the Saxon press should be less inimical to
Prussia ; but before he will answer the reproaches
made to him, that the Saxon Government does not
check such tendencies, "he must first wait to
see if Prussia will forbid the Prussian

press advocating the destruction of the Saxon

Monarchy." This is a very fair reply, and no

doubt it will incense the Government of Berlin to a

great extent. It will not be quite so easy a thing

as Herr Von BIS4ARCK supposes to coerce all Ger-

many, and bring all the minor States and lesser

.
Prmeipalities under the sway of the Sovereigns of