The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-10 00:00:00

DON ii

-~~

(From Eliza Coo-Rt'; Journal.)
"Don't, toy love; don't 101 l about in Sour chair in
that way ! I never saw such and awkward girl t"
The child sat erect i❑ boarding-school tritn—back
straight and hands in her lap,—preciso and priat.
"Now, Charles, don't ! How you do fin your
mouth, and stuff it out in the most vulgar possible
way. Don't take such large bites, I beseech you.•
Charles was more moderate for the next few mouth.-
fuls; but Jane had by this time relapsed, and reclined
in her chair for a rest.
" Girl, you are lolling again ! Go out of the rooms
this minute."
And Jane vanished in tears, though relieved from
the restrrint of the perpetual "Don't."
The mother was not done yet. " Don't make such
a. noise, children ? Can't you sit down quietly, and
learn your lessons ? John, you'd never be aluthing
but a dunce, unless you get on."
Charles was slinking out of the room to enjoy the
liberty of the back-lane, but again the mother's
"Don't Charles," called him hack.
And so the round of useless annoyance went on,
till the children, sad and soured, were sent to bed.

This is an instance of " governing too much,"—
imposing prohibitions which are only felt to be such.
--a limitation of freedom which makes even little
children wince under it as a despotism.
These children, though they do not reason, are
quick to feel such little grievances. They work into
their temper, and make them querulous and bitter.
The .. don't"
ry interference with
soon finds a response in their own
hearts; and
"Don't bother me,' is what they think
if they do not sa
All unnecessay it.
is a positive evil.
corrected, and every action
Restraints there must be, and
guidance ; but when almost every movement is ac-
children's liberty
companied by prohibition—when every little word is
criticize interference is being reasonable
bounds, and they h ecome
pushed beyond
"stupid," irritated, of
positively rebellious.
y induce a h
Prohibitions that are imposed
• " • d—they feel that
disregarding authority.
garded are positive evils. The ?nly to be dill's*
habit of
The
A teach insubordination,
and tend only to disorder. '
only be educated in freedom; ebuseir.it of a child can
reiteration of " don't" 3,0 u have in
the constant
prohibition, repulsion. The childs only
bondige,
little faults
and great faults subject indiscriminately the same
condemnation, and learns to treat each •Litll)
same disregard. Thus the power of the e with the
educator is
lost, and in course of time becomes impotent to re•
press any real fault.
" Don't" teaches nothing : it reduces the child to a
machine, which is not the best way of qualifying it
for a recipient of knowledge. "Don't" makes him
timid and suspicious, and tired of a self-government
which has no certainty and no satisfaction in it. It
perplexes his moral sense, and incapacitates him from
doing right of his own accord. It habituates bins to
subjection to others' wills, and hinders the growth of
self-reliance and the capacity of self-government.
"Don't" implies badness : it is an imputation of
wrong-doing, else why the prohibition. It is a slur,
it is a restraint, and it may be an insult. It means
coercion, and all ceercion is blighting in its effect.
It begets resistance in streng characters, which may
ripen into a despotic and overbearing will, the fruit-
ful cause of unhappiness to itself as well as to others.
Thus bad training is propagated—harsh commands
issue in harsh consequences—the voice of coercion
and prohibition always finding an echo in its subject.
The obedience it produces is only temporary. "Don't'
prohibits the deed, but does not deal with the feeling
in which the impulse to it arose. The disposition and
state of mind which stimulated to the deed remain
the same, and unless the character be improved, it will
next time work by stealth and in secresy. " Don't,"
threats, and the stick will never humanize a child, no
more than they will a grown man. They clay forci-
bly mould the external into a coarse semblance of
order; but can never create that improved internal
state out of which alone better deeds can arise. Co-
ercion and restraint may make hypocrites, but they
can never develope nor educate true character. It is
a notorious fact that the most severely restrained chil-
dren almost invariably grow up the worst and wildest
men.

"Don't" runs through all our systems of legisla.
Lion. It builds prisons, hires policemen, and freights
convict-ships. We do not educate men ; but we
punish them. We do not prepare them for self-go-
vernment, but make laws by which they are governed
and punished. Society leaves its children to pick
their morality from the gutters ; but when they grow
up to be men it draws strict lines around them which
they are too blind to see, and then calls out " Don't
cross there ; if you do so it is at your peril 1 " Society
allows about half its members to grow up to man.
hood unable to read, but nevertheless expects of them
the self-command of well-cultured beings. It matters
not that they cannot read the laws ; they must obey
them. If they listen not to the harsh " Don't " which
" Don't" which is cried out to them from all sides,
the policeman has at once his hand upon their collar.
"Don't " sets man-traps and spring-guns for
poachers, and trains gamekeepers and bloodhounds
for their apprehension ; it places custom-house
officers at our ports, and sets the coastguard on the
look-out for smugglers. "Don't" employs armies of
soldiers and policemen, and keeps a host of tax-
gatherers in its service. " Don't" aims at repression
always. It is constantly " putting down." It is
always at work with new projects, not for improving
men's character or instructing their minds, but for
coercing them by punishment or penalty into obe-
dience and external conformity to the law. If not
" Don't," then it is, " Thou must not," or " Thou
shalt not." And if any disobey, it calls forward a
policeman, and gives the offender in charge.
" Don't " pervades society in all ways—it is con •
stantly standing in the path, turn where you will.
It prescribes the boundaries of fashion, and hedges in
custom and habit. It is the favourite phrase of
Mrs. Grundy. It is even the religicn of many.
" Don't" laugh—" Don't " believe such a thing—
" Don't profess so-and-so. You must profess and
believe what is set down for you by your betters.
But you say you are free, and desire to think freely.
Nothing of the kind. There is the law which says
" Don't ;" which imposes disabilities because of your
thinking differently from those who administer it;
and makes you pay for your departure from the
ways of thinking and believing which wiser men than
you have established.

- Repression and hindrance there must be where
freedom leads to crime and infringmenta on the well-
being of others. That must be admitted. But let us
be careful, lest by our own arrangements we origi-
nate the cause of those very crimes and infringe-
ments. Make men criminals, or place them in cir-
cumstances where a criminal tendency becomes their
normal state, and prohibitory laws avail nothing. They
will be broken through like cobwebs, and then you
have a criminal class. Refuse education to the
poor, or attach to it certain conditions which are to
them irksome and odious, and be not surprised if you
have an ignorant adult population, who regard your
laws, which they cannot read or understand, as so
many regulations devised, not so. much for the pre-
servationuponthemo.f
m order,
eesearse fors
stnhaek infliction flint ce. on
gne
good
df punishment
intelli-
gentreprescitizensand punishment.
righteouslyTo begin with the
laws of
en-
forcement of the latter is beginning at the wrong end.
It savours less of justice than of revenge.
Prohibition and punishment are evils indicative of
other, and, it may be, greater evils. For, where
conduct is as it should be, there is no need to pro-
hibit or to coerce. Well then, the true course
is—to
begin by removing the cause of the evil—to deal with
the formation of the character and the habits—to
make these good in the first place—to aim at a care-
ful development and culture of the whole nature—in
short, to thoroughly well educate the individuals, be
they rich or be they poor, of which society consists.
Uhenteihl
noxious
done,iiesuste h
the
eohibition and punishment must
imputation of either folly or
cruelty—perhaps both.

TO THEFErT
A
SIR,--You are makingre aogßoodoFuserliefEthSITIV
the
Arctic
Blue-
book, Which the Admiralty have sent you and others of
the public press. Your articles on this subject have been
much noticed, and will materially serve the cause of
humanity and justice. It is too true that Captain Penny
is sacrificed to profession jealousy, and yet to him alone
we owe all that has been or that will be done. Nearly
connected myself with the navy, and having friends on
board the missing ships, I feel bound to tender you my
thanks, which will not be the less acceptable bcoause
my name may not happen to be known to you.
I am, Sir, you obedient servant,
___

, •
A CONSTANT READER.
London, Dec. 8, 1851.

HURRICANE IN THE BAY OP BENGAL.---By the
arrival of the extra Calcutta steamer to Suez, and thence to
Southampton, we have received intelligence of a terrific and
most disastrous hurricane which swept over the Bay of
Bengal on the 26th of October. The gale commenced from
the south-eastward, and blew in tremendous gusts for 12
hours, extending along the whole of the coast from Madras
to the mouth of the Hooghly. At the latter place several
light ships were driven on shore, as also the Precursor
steamer, although riding with two heavy anchors. A
French and one or two English ships of some size were
driven from their anchors, and but little hope was
enter-
tained for their safety. The coast in that portion of the
dead
bodies, literally strewed with the wreck of the ships and
er
bodies, many of whom were Europeans. The gale,
force to the
lulling for half an hour, veered round with equal 1 hours. The
north-west, and continued to blow for severwa
Eoff with the loss of
Precursor being
on
a mud
bank
was
got
ere eventually put
her rudder. Her passengers and crew
they were
on to Suez.
on board the Erin, in w hich vesselal
ed there can be little
From the perfect calm which prevailed
the bay.
m COMMITTED FOR FOE-
ca LITERPOOL J.RADESMwANas
remanded on Friday last
doubt that the centre of the cycloid passed over the head of
Gitny.—Mr. John Dean, q
before Mr. Mansfield and Mr. Booth, in
t
yesterday morning
ate roorni and was committed for trial a
the magistrates' Priv
the present assizes.
On a charge of forgery,who
a second examination