The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-13 00:00:00

our readers think is the language in which they
wish Parliament to reply ? Why, then, in the
noble words of HENRY lll.'s Barons, when
the Pope, a foreign Prince and Bishop, wished
them to alter the laws of the realm to his taste—
" We are unwilling ho change the laws of Eng-
land." It will seem to the lover of our ancient
history almost profanity so to pervert the spirit of
these manly words, and to convert them from an
expression of English resistance to pontifical as-
sumptions, to the purposes of pettifogging, secta-
rian zeal. But the amusing thing is, that it is a
decided Anti-State-Church journal which thus
perverts them,—a journal, some of whose clerical
correspondents are continually demanding changes
in the lawful public worship of the Church of
England, and whose own leaders are continually
teaching that all the laws which bind Church to
State ought to be repealed ! It is a thorough-
going Dissenter, demanding that the laws of Eng-
land should not be changed ; therefore, that
Church-rates and Ecclesiastical Courts are to re-
main in full vigour, and that the Church (which
he wishes to see on a level with all other sects)
should retain its honours and emoluments—nay,
its MOORES and its CROFTS. How marvellous are
the inconsistencies of a blind theological zeal !
To Dissenters, on the contrary, we naturally turn
as religionists whose very existence depends on
the recognition of entire religious liberty, and de-
mand of them, in the name of common sense and
decency, to concede to others the full liberty they
claim for themselves. Those who deny the right
of the State to legislate in religious matters, are
convicted of the most selfish inconsistency if they
require the state to enforce their views of keeping
the Sunday ; and even those who allow of State
support of religious worship, if they advocate ze-
ligious liberty intelligently, cannot ask the State
to prevent a man's acting on his own views of
Sabbath obligations, however much laxer than
their own.

It appears that a petition is in circulation, and
is obtaining numerous signatures, stating the dis-
approval with which the petitioners have heard of
the attempts to close the Crystal Palace
,on Sun-
days, and the impossibility of great numbers of
operatives going thither on any other day, alleg-
ing that visiting it would be highly conducive to
their moral and intellectual improvement, and
praying the House of Commons to take steps for
its being opened on Sundays accordingly. The
British Museum and National Gallery are also in-
cluded in the allegations and prayer of the peti-
tion. We rather regret this latter circumstance,
because it mixes up together two very different
questions, namely, whether Government itself
should employ its own servants, and open its own
institutions on the Sunday, and whether any re-
spectable and orderly subjects should be hindered
in doing the same. The latter is simply the ques-
tion whether Government has any right to inter-
fere at all with its orderly and peaceful subjects
in their avocations and amusements. The former
many would think to be a direct slur by the Go-
vernment itself on the views of a very large sec-
tion indeed of the community. Certainly positive
action on the part of Government is one thing,
and non-interference with our reasonable liberties
is another ; the latter is the case, and by far of
course the stronger case, of the Palace at Syden-
ham. Mr. Humz has long had the other in hand.
We wish him a hearty support, but we think
even his object would have been better served
by contending for the rights of the operatives and
the Crystal Palace Company on their own merits.
We can hardly imagine, however, after the manly
declarations of the Earl of DERBY in the House of
Lords, that any legislative difficulties will long be
interposed. To allow the Act which has been so
annoyingly raked up from obscurity to hinder
the operations of so respectable a Company, can
only be compared to the conduct of the Lanca-
shire Magistrates, who, unable to prove a case
against some poachers, specially obnoxious to their
game-preserving worships, actually sent the men
to gaol, under an old, unrepealed Act of ELIZA-
BETH, for absence from the parish church. The
Crystal Palace must not be sacrificed to the acci-
dental terms of an Act intended only to prevent
offensive and disorderly assemblies.

Another convict has fallen a victim to the
stringency of the " separate system," as admi-
nistered at Milbank Prison. In the present in-
stance the unfortunate lad—only nineteen years
of age—laid violent hands on himself during the
temporary absence of a warder. It appeared
that in consequence of his docile character
and general good conduct, he was entrusted
with the " shaving tackle" in order to shave
himself. The moment, however, that the
i warder left the room he turned the instrument
against himself, and with too steady a hand
inflicted the fatal blow. Several other fatal cases
have recently occurred, varying in the manner of
death, but all arising from the same predisposina
cause—the stringency of the mind-destroying,
separate system the newly-invented capital
punishment, which, although slow, is very sure in
its operation.
On the present occasion, we find the chief
authorities of the prison—the Governor, the Phy-
sician, the resident Surgeon, and the Religious
1 Instructor of the establishment—all stating the
1 results of their experience, and concurring in the
opinion that the long-protracted solitary confinement
materially aggravated the diseases of prisoners, and
produced mental infirmity. Man is naturally a
gregarious animal—" It is not good that he should
be alone." But we endeavour to destroy or alter
nature—to produce a new state of affairs. Why
should we rail at capital punishments when
theorists are permitted to play their experi-
mental pranks upon their fellow-men—to destroy
their intellectual powers, and degrade them below
the brute creation. Far better the qui& and
sudden death-blow than the lingering and pro-
tracted agony that permits the mind to brood over
its sufferings till it bends and breaks under the
trial.
What is the object of secondary punishment ?
Is it vengeance ? Or is the reformation of the
criminal at all 'thought of ? The prison discipline
quacks will all scout with horror the notion of
vengeance. They will tell you that their sole
object is the reformation of the culprit. But
what will be the use of this reformation when the
man is no longer an accountable being—when he
has been reduced to helpless and disgusting idiotcy
by the slow, soul-consuming torture. We have no
morbid sympathies for criminals. We do not
desire that prisons should be made places of ease,
where the convicts are to enjoy every comfort.
Let them be punished according to their deserts ;
but let us not babble about the humanity of the
British laws, and the abolition of capital punish-
ment, when we subject persons to such lingering
agonies for mere acts of dishonesty, or trifling
offences against property. Seven, fifteen, or
twenty year may be but a slight term in the
mouth of a Judge anxious to make a striking
example ; but when we consider what a fearful
inroad it makes on any, even the strongest, man's
expectation of life—what a time it is to be
secluded from his kind—we cannot help think-
ing that we are arrogating a little too much when
we boast of the humanity (!) of our criminal code ;
and this feeling of doubt will be changed into cer-
tainty as to the groundlessness of the assumption
when we consider the regulations established
.by
Inspectors and Visiting Justices.
tain
In the present instance, Cap GRovEs, the
Governor, declared, on his examination, that he
had made two lengthy Reports on the injurious
effects of the system, which " seriously affected
the health of the prisoners." It was much better
for him, relieving him from considerable responsi-
bility ; but he still 'deemed it right to state his
objections to the practice. Dr. BALY, the Phy-
sician, was equally decided. He declared that,
" from his representations to the authorities on
the subject, the term of separate imprisonment in
instead of twelve
om_po:oenigehrsteeton
Millbank had been much mitigated,. and reduced
to six months,
the country..
tasry.a.t
Even
ut coonnavircetcepnrtisoocncass tihonro,uhgehoruet.
been Clone as
Portsmouth,commended thaned,reimt removal
hoafving
quickly as he wished, he ordered them all into
association, fearing for their minds."
After this decisive testin;Lony, what doubt or