The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-04 00:00:00

OPERAS, THEATRES, AND AMUSEMENTS.

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA, Covent-garden.—Bellini's Norma. 8.30
p.m.
ITALIAN OPERA, Drury Lane.—Le Nozze di Figaro. 8.3) p.m.
HA.YMARRET—At Seven, No Song No Supper. Barwise's Book.
And A Kiss in the Dark.
ADELPHI—At Seven, No. 1 Round the Corner. Free Labour.
PRINCE OF WALES'S—At 7.30. Quite by Accident. M.P. Dearest
Mamma.

LYCEUM—At 7.30, His Own Rival, Breaking the Spell. At 8.3',
Little Faust.
OLYMPIC At Seven, Music hath Charms. At 8, Mary Warner.
the 'Varsity Boat Race.
GAIETY—At Seven, First Night. The Princess of Trebizonde.
QUEEN'S—At Seven, My Wite's Dentist. 'Twist Axe and Crown.
STRAND—At Seven, Loving Hearts. Kenilw rth.
VAUDEVILLE—Cupboard Love. Two Roses. lion Carlos.
ST. JAMES'S—At Seven, Fron Fron. La Belle Sauvage
WOODIN'S CARPET-BAG AND SKETCEI B K. Egyptian Hall, Pie
cadilly, every Nvening (except Saturday), at 8; Saturday Morn
ings at 3. Admission Is; 2s, 3s.
CHRISTY MINSTRELS, St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 8; Wed-
nesdays and Saturdays, at 3 and 8 ail the year round.
Zo LOGICAL GARDENS, Regent's-park Open daily 'except Sun-
days). Admission, Is.; on Mondays, 6d. Children under
,6d.
MADAME TuSSAUD'S EXHIBTTION, Baker-street, from II a.m. till'
3.0 11. m., and from 7 till 10 p.m. Admission, is.; extra
ad.

MORNING EDITION.

'LONDON, SA7URDAY, JUNE 4, 1870.

One of the greatest and noblest among our philo-
sophic jurists, Sir MATTHEW HALE, wrote two oen,
turies ago, in his Pleas of the Crown, 4‘ When
offences grow enormous, frequent, and dangerous to
a kingdom or state, destructive or highly pernicious
' to civil societies, and to the great insecurity and
danger of the kingdom or its inhabitants, severe
punbhmetak, and even death itself is necessary to be
annexed to Uwe. in Inany eases- by the prudence of
lawgivers,' A hundred years afterwards—a century
' from the present time—Sir WILLIAM BLACWONE
declared it to be a melancholy truth, " that among a
• variety of actions which men are daily liable to oom-
• mit no less than an hundred and sixty have been de-
clared by Act of Parliament to be felonies without
benefit of clergy, or, in other words, to be worthy of
instant death." An hundred and sixty !—then—in
the middle of the eighteenth century, when BLACK.
STONE was delivering at Oxford those famousVinerian
Lectures that afterwards grew into a classic authority
under the title of his " Commentaries." .Ivous aeons
change tout cela. In place of 160, read now, about six.
Capital punishment is only inflicted ,now, for a few
picked crimes of a more heinous, chiefly of a murder-
ous character—stabbing, cutting, wounding, poison-
ing. We have adopted long since what is called a
more humane code. Forgery is no longer dealt with
by the hangman, as in the case of the Rev. Dr. DODD
Or of the eminent banker, Mr. FAUNTLEROY. Rape
and certain crimes, foul and revolting, are no longer
so punishable. Remembering this, and reading from
day to day the atrocities recorded in the living histpry of
the newspapers, thoughtful observers are driven,nowa-
days, to the revision of conclusions logically arrived at
years ago, and conscientiously maintained during
the lifetime of a whole generation—as to whether
we have not been carrying this modern predilection,
for what is termed the humane code a little too far,
and certainly to the most disastrous consequences..
We revert to the opinion of Sir MATTHEW HALE—
that " when offences grow enormous, frequent and
dangerous . . . severe punishment and even death
itself is necessary to be annexed in many cases by
the prudence of lawgivers." In diversity, in enormity,
and in multiplicity, the crimes very recently brought
to light, here, in the very midst of us, could hardly
in the blackest epoch of man's history be surpassed.
Mote pitilessly brutal murders than those perpe-
trated at Denham—craftier murders than those com-
mitted just before then at Chelsea—are not
recorded among the inhuman annals of the
Newgate Calendar. And simultaneously Vith
these, and with other horrible revelatons,
t there have been investigations going far-
' ward very recently in our courts of justice era re-
volting in their character that they recall to mind
the condition of the cities destroyed by fire from
heaven—or those depravities, the evidences of which
have been preserved, to the horror of after times,
among the ruins of Pompeii, under the dust and
ashes from Vesuvius. For the administration of the
law in this country we have all of us, and with
reason, the profoundest admiration ; as fur., that
matter, also, we have for the wisdom and integrity
of our judges. There is one judge, however,
familiarly known on the other side of the Atlantic—
by name Judge LYNCH—that we often think of wist-
fully as inapplicable to our own state civilization. It
behoves the legislature, at any rate, seriously to re-
consider the whole state of our criminal code, to the
end, if possible, of devising some more effectual
means than we have certainly yet contrived tc hit
upon for clearing away from the very midst of us
these most revolting and horrible abominations.

IT is less than a hundred years since a few humane
and patriotic Englishmen banded themselves toge-
ther with a determination to extinguish the slave
trade. Like many others who enter upon untried
undertakings, they had formed but a very inade-
quate idea of the magnitude of the work upon which
they had entered, and the extent of the difficulties
they would be required to surmount. In their
enthusiasm they imagined that the horrors of the
slave trade had only to be made known, and their
countrymen would at once and unanimously deter-
mine that the trade in human flesh must cease to be
carried on. It was not, however, easy to make the
case known. Englishmen are so busy with their
own affairs that they have little time or thought to
give to any new complaint. And ignorance and in-
difference were not the only enemies with which they
had to contend. No sooner did their case begin to
make some impression on the public mind than the
advocates of suppression found their arguments
directly opposed by those who had a reputation for
wisdom and prudence. Not only was the object
they had in view denounced as being utterly
unattainable, but their proceedings were condemned
as calculated to increase the miseries of those they
were attempting to relieve. It was argued that the
thirst for gain was such, and the facilities for obtain-
ing slaves so great, that no sensible person could
expect to stop the traffic. The only course which
reasonable people could adopt was to endeavour to
regulate the traffic and to mitigate some of its evils.
It was contended—and with much truth—that the
attempts to suppress the traffic had greatly increased
the sufferings of the slaves. The horrors of the
middle passage were charged upon those who pro-
fessed to be actuated by special feelings of humanity,
and refused to recognise or maintain a trade which
they could not suppress, and which, but for their
misguided efforts, might be greatly mitigated. The
Pall Mall Gazettes of that period stigmatised the advo-
cates of suppression as " shriekers" and enthusiasts
who were destitute of common sense, and who in the
name of humanity committed the grosses 6118
against good taste. They were men and wnmen
who regarded the feelings of the blacks, but did not
',hesitate to outrage the more refined feelings of the
whites. It was not a pleasant position to be thus
held up to the world as mistaken enthusiasts, who
were creating the evils they sought to remedy. We
can now scarcely recognise the fact that such was for
many years the position occupied by the prominent
leaders of the anti-slavery movement. In the present
day we regard their names almost with veneration as
the men who have delivered the human race from
one of its greatest evils, as men who have establiished
their claim to wisdom and humanity, by the success-
ful results which have attended their efforts. But
the world goes on as before ; we build the sepul-
chres of the prophets of the past generation, and
stone the prophets of the present. The wise and
prudent of the present day, in defending existing
evils, use the same arguments, the same epithets, as
were used by the wise and prudent of former gene-
rations in defending evils which have now been j.
hapVily dxploded. It is not difficult to trace the .

operation cf the eauaes and principles which lead
to the same results generation after gene-
ration, and which cause men who are
justly distinguished for prudence to be always found
on the Conservative side whenever any serious evils
have to be attacked. They are anxious for peace
in their time, and however bad au evil may be they
know that for a while its stoppage will occasion
greater difficulties than its continuance. When the
bruised Irishman was found on the pavement he
declared it was not the fall which hurt him but
the stop which he got. So is it with social and
political evils, the effects are most felt when they are
checked, the evils are not noticed when they con-
tinue without interruption,
With respect to the social evil TAW' forms just
now such a prominent source of angry discussion it
is remarkable that this discussion has arisen not from
any movement on the part of any portion of the com-
munity to restrict 'the evil or• curtail the freedom of
its votaries, but• in reference to er proceoding
for the purpose of granting special altbsidies and
support to the vicious members of the community at
the expense of the whole. What would be thought
of the father of a numerous family who announced
to his children that if any of them became diseased
through indulgence in a particular vice he would set
apart for them one of the best rooms in his house
tend them with the greatest possible care, and stop
part of the allo rvance of the other children in order
that the vicious members might have every indul-
genee, be cured in the quickest possible time, and be
sent forth to the world with a certificate that he
or she was again qualified for pursuing a vicious
career. Whereas, if any of his children become ill
through the pursuit of legitimate or meritorious
labour they would be left to take care of them-
selves and would certainly have no assistance from
their parents. Such a course would be precisely
parallel to the plan which the Government has
adopted in reference to the Contagious Diseases' Act.
By this Act distinct notice is given to all young
women that if they adopt a life of vice they will
immediately be taken under the special patronage
of the State—splendid hospitals will be built for
their reception, and surgeons, chaplains, matrons,
and servants, all at the public expense, will be de-
voted to their service. But if they adopt a life of
honest industry they must take care of themselves,
and whatever ills may befal them they will have no
claim to State assistance. What would be thought
of a Government which gave notice to all publicans
that they would make good to them all losses which
might arise whether from broken glass or otherwise
from all drunken and disorderly persons whom .
they might maintain in their houses, and yet
this would not be a more direct encourage-
ment of vice than the notice which has
been given to brothel keepers that the Go-
vernment will undertake to maintain and cure
all their victims as soon as they become unfit for
their profitable use, thus relieving them from the
most difficult and costly part of their business. The
very name of the Act is a misleading misnomer. The
evil to be dealt with is not a " contagious " disease in ,
tho ordinary acceptation of the term ; it is contagious
only to those who indulge in vice ; beyond these ,
persons no danger arises ; god therefore
obvioee that it is for the benefit of ,
the vicious that the whole community is
to be heavily taxed, and special immunities and pri-
vileges are to be bestowed upon the traders in vice.

The public has, however, been chiefly misled in
reference to this matter through the expectation which
has been held out that by a rigid administration of
this Act the disease arising from vice may be entirely
removed. There is not the slightest ground for ex-
pecting anything of the kind. It is well known that
for many years past the principle of these Acts has
been applied in other countries with fat- more rigour
than would ever be possible in England, and it has
been found impossible to eradicate the disease. In
garrisons which have been completely under
the control of our own Government both
men and women have been subjected to
, periodical inspection, and yet under these excep-
tionally favourable circumstances, the disease has
not been eradicated or even materially checked.
The adoption of the Act, has been chiefly advocated
by professional persons, who appear to take a partial
and limited view of its operation. Officers re-
commend its adoption on the ground that vicioub
indulgence must be provided for the soldier or he
cannot be induced to enter the army. Surgeons
declare that a natural desire ought to be gratified,
and bishops advocate the Act on the ground that
moral and physical considerations have nothing to do
with each other. One and the same error underlies
each of these arguments, and it is simply this,
regarding expediency before principle, or looking for
that which is apparently expedient before that
which is certainly right. A similar error has led to
all our great moral and political mistakes. The
horrors of the slave trade might have been
palliated long before they were removed, if the
leaders of the anti-slavery movement had
sought to palliate the evil instead of removing it.
The evils of the Corn Laws might have been lessened
at a much earlier date, if COBDEN would have con-
sented to a moderate fixed duty. It may be possible
to lessen for a time the evils resulting from an indul-
gence in vice by taking the trade in vice under the
patronage and control of the Government, and if this
course is persevered in the evils of the system will be
felt more in the next generation than in our own.
It will be our own fault if we repeat in this country
the mistakes which have produced disastrous results
elsewhere. We are dealing with a vice to the spread
of which there is scarcely any limit. All we krum
about it is that, like the letting out of water, the
sooner it is checked the easier it is stopped. At the
present moment there is in this country a strong
feeling against the sin of unchastity. It will be im-
possible to maintain this feeling if the traders in vice
are to be directly patronised and maintained by the
Government. There never was a case presented for
the consideration of the public in which it was more
important to regard that which is right, rather than to
look to what is expedient. There never was a case in
which the language of the late Lord DERBY could be
more appropriately applied when he said; " Let us
never consent to oppose a temporary and apparent
expediency to those eternal obligations which reli-
gion fouads upon the laws of GOD', and vhich •
morality derives from an expediency whi4 :PS poems,-
nent end universal,'

THE Fenians are determined we shall hear enough
of them one way or another. Scarcely has the report
of their attack on one place died away before a ru-
mour is heard of their approach in another direction.
Clerkenwell and Woolwich have been honoured in
being the objects of their selection, and the last
news is, that special precautions have been taken at
Devonport and Keyham Dockyards against a Feuian
attack or the effects of Greek fire. It was believed
at Portsmouth that the Admiralty had received in-
mation of some dash on the Royal Establishments
being contemplated, and therefore they have orga-
nised repressive measures at all alike. It has at all
times been difficult to follow the policy of the
Fenians; but the present moment seems an extra-
ordinary one to select for making a movement in
England, when their cause has suffered so igno-
minious a defeat in America. There is nothing so
damaging to success as ridicule, and that has been
heaped upon the Fenidn expedition line Dominion, 1,
It No Iteialded bar the not of pteptirationt and