The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-24 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, FEB. 24, 1870.

TIIAT the repetition of Lord Derby's refusal to
accept the leadership of the Conservative Peers has
placed the party in a serious difficulty is amply
proven by the quality of the candidates who
are now thought of. First the Duke of
Marlborough, and then the Duke of Richmond gains
"the call" in public estimation of chances. But
whoever may be chosen, there is only one opinion as
to the fittest statesman in the list of eligible peers.
Neither the Duke of Richmond nor the Duke of
Marlborough could adequately fill a post for which
the Earl of Malmesbury was found incompetent.
It is quite possible that the abilities of the two former
may surpass those of the latter, and still fall below
the standard requisite to guide the party in the
House where its strength is greatest and its
opportunities, at present, most numerous.
Neither peer has attained the recognised position
and influence, and either as leader of the Conserva-
tive Lords, must be the most limited of monarchs
controlled by the most independent of Cabinets.
Now that Lord Derby is out of the reckoning,
there is no rival to the Marquis of Salisbury.
The voice of the public is unanimous in his
favour, and the nation at large can surely claim at
least an interest in the selection of a peer whose
position gives him the power to veto the most im-
portant measures. The rank of the Marquis, his in-
fluence, his abilities, are alike on his side. It is
true that there are reasons why he should not accept
the post, and also reasons why the party should desire
another guide. But important as these
considerations are, they are not of the first
moment. Under the present system of
Government, the prime necessity for a party is to
present an unbroken front to the enemy. Personal
differences must give way before the common good.
If it be inconsistent for Lord Salisbury to serve under
Mr. Disraeli, it would be far more inconsistent to
allow the opposite camp an unbroken course of
victory through dissension. The party system
of warfare exists, cannot be changed, and the first
consideration for every politician is to promote the
general welfare of his cause. Whether this will be
better secured in the present instance by selecting
the Marquie or one of the Dukes is a question
which cannot be difficult to decide.

A DISCUSSION by the Middlesex magistrates on
that familiar question, the propriety of erecting a
new gaol, has led Mr. Croll, one of the most expe-
rienced of the body, to consider the larger subject of
prison discipline. Some very noticeable suggestions
are contained in a pamphlet letter addressed by him
to the chairman cf the Middlesex Bench. It is not
a little strange that this subject should have any
claim to rank as one of the "questions of the day ;"
for whilst other things are new and open to
experiment, the gaol is a glorious institution of great
antiquity, and it would seem that we ought by this
time to have exhausted every possible resource in
the way of prison management. The truth is that,
notwithstanding so much experience, our system of
dealing with criminals, in gaol and out of gaol, has
yat to be developed. Both in the matter
of appropriate sentences, and the most beneficial
m)de of executing them, there is still much to be
learned. After trying indiscriminate hanging as the
staple punishment, excessive lenity had its day, and
the criminal tribunals are now groping for the happy
mean with the aid of an Habitual Criminals
Act. So with treatment after sentence :
the horrible dons wherein guilt became more
guilty still have been reformed ; but the proper
system of combining reformation with punishment
has yet to find its way into general practice. The
existing prison discipline properly answers none of
the ends of justice. To the " habitual " the gaol is
only a sort of haven in bad weather. As a casual
ward it is better than the regular workhouse;
and if prison life has its disadvantages, it is at least
preferable to honest industry. To the inexperienced
iu crime, on the other hand, imprisonment means
final depravity and ruin. The least guilty meet with
the hardest fate, whilst society is inadequately pro-
tected. Cases of reformation are rare. Mr. Croll
sacks for the root of the evil, and finds it in the fact
that the system is altogether unnatural, unlike the
prisoner's life out of doors, out of gear with the rest
of his existence. The training, in short, is in no way
adapted to fit the offender for the circumstances
which await him when he regains his liberty. If he
is hardened, the treatment in gaol does nothing to
prevent him remaining hardened still ; and if his
crime be his first, no special endeavour is made to en-
sure its being his last.
Mr. Croll's plan of reform, though he lays no claim
to originality, is well developed. He would have,
in the first place, a far more complete adoption of
the principle of employing persons at their own
trades. In the case of skilled artisans there could
be little difficulty ; in fact, the system has
been tried already, found to work well, and now
needs only more extensive organisation. The small
percentage of educated prisoners might be engaged
as taskmasters, time-keepers, and superinten-
dents. But the vast majority of our
gaol population are neither skilled arti-
sans nor educated men. For lie residuum,
the hewers of wood and drawers of water, the proper
and natural resource seems to be the cultivation of
land. A. farm should be taken, the size being regu-
lated by requirements. It should be tilled by spade
husbandry, and fertilised by prison sewage. Crops
of grain and vegetables might be raised, and cattle
fed, in sufficient quantity to supply the prisons,
asylums, and other county establishments.
In some cases even a surplus would be left for sale.
Such a scheme as this is simple and unartificial, as,
indeed, it must be in order to prove successful. Its
prime advantage is that it gives offenders the employ-
ment for which they are fitted, in which their labour
will be productive, and to which they must
return after leaving prison, if they desire to lead
an honest life. Thus even incarceration in gaol need
not necessarily prove a final interruption and break-
up of a man's career. The habit of work being de-
veloped in him by the rational practice of a suitable
business, he might naturally, and without special
effort, continue his labour out of doors. Mr.
Croll, however, would attempt something more
than this. Prison labour should be strictly
conducted on the principle that if a man will not
work neither shall he eat. The ordinary prison fare
should be fixed on the lowest possible scale, and all
aiditions must be earned by the prisoner himself.
No criminal, however lazy, could be starved ; but Mr.
Croll would keep him only just above starvation point
at the public expense. Work might be set, and paid for
on a fixed scale. Let each man's wages be divided
into three parts, one portion being applied to the
support of his family, a second towards his mainten-
ance, and the third in providing him with good food.
Or, instead of the family fund, the instalments might be
saved up, so that the culprit would find himself iu
possession of a sum of money on starting life afresh.
There is little to be said in the way of amplifying
or improving this plan. Any elaborate details would
destroy its value, for it is impossible in prison to carry
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