The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-22 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1856.

Reformation of young criminals is becoming
the practical topic of educationists, and they have
a just claim to all the support which the Press,
the public, and the Government can afford them.
Even the Voluntaries will not, and do not, deny
that all the aid Government can render to Refor-
matory Schools, by giving the requisite legal
powers, and by contributing as much as is safe
from the National Exchequer, is quite within the
province of the State. The account which ap-
peared in The Sun yesterday, of the Conference
of the National Reformatory Union, will, we
trust, be read by all intelligent and public-spirited
persons. The Chairman's (Lard STANLEY';,;)
speech will give to those who are yet unfamiliar
with the subject a fair idea of its state and pro-
gress ; and, as it is likely to be a practical one in
most localities, and the object will make some
pecuniary claims upon the benevolent around, all
ought to give it some attention. We feel, indeed,
an interest so much the deeper in Reformatory
Schools, because the Government at present sees
the danger of centralisation, and getting them
under its own control. It acknowledges that their
success must so entirely depend upon the exclu-
sion of jobbery, and the eliciting of individual ap-
titude, both moral and intellectual, in the teachers
or managers, that it is fain to throw the support
partially, and the management entirely, upon
those who originate the schools. So far as they
have yet succeeded, to a great extent even in
France, and altogether in this country, they are
so many attestations of the superiority of individual
contrivance and energy to that of the State.

For years some philanthropic individuals have
been labouring in the cause in this country ; but
now the cessation of transportation, and the ne-
cessity of retaining our criminal population at
home, has pressed on us the questions both of a
substitute for transportation and the diminution
of the number of our criminals. The most obvious
course is to turn criminals, if possible, into honest
and industrious men, and it is equally obvious
that the young are by far the most hopeful sub-
jects for reformation. Changes of habit after
middle life, and even after the period of mature
manhood—say from five-and-twenty and upwards
—are comparatively rare ; but we all know what
a steady man many a wild lad may eventually
become. What general observation or theory
would lead us to expect, experience, so far as we
have records of it, fully corroborates. We were
hardly prepared, however, for the fact of the very
large proportion of criminals who are or have
been juvenile offenders. Out of 98,654 criminals
in 1853, not less than eleven and a-half per
cent., or 11,453, Were under the ago of seven-
teen, while the little reformatory effect of convic-
tion, and imprisonment upon them is evident
enough from the fact that of eleven thousand con-
victed annually four thousand are recommitted.
It is a still more startling fact that the number
o not
committed between the ages f
seventeenless than
twenty-one is the largest of all, being
twenty-five per cent., or one-fourth of the total
convictions. Now the population between fifteen
and twenty-ono years of age being but 1-10th part
of thewhole population of the country, the staxtling

result follows, that more than one-fourth of the
crime of the kingdom is committed by one.
tenth of its inhabitants ! Nothing can more
conclusively show where our first efforts should
be directed. In no department of social ife is
the now almost proverbial line of WORDSWORTH'S
more fully verified, that—

"The child is father to the man."

Nothing also is better substantiated than the fact
of the inutility of the chief discipline now applied
to these juvenile delinquents, namely, short im-
prisonments. Not less than thirty years ago, the
Governor of Glasgow Bridewell made public the
following facts :—That of prisoners sentenced for
the first time to 14 days' imprisonment, seventy-
five per cent. returned to gaol for new offences ;
of those sentenced to 30 days, sixty per cent. ;
to 40 days, fifty per cent. ; to 60 days, forty per
cent. ; to 3 mouths, twenty-five per cent. ; to 6
months, ten per cent. ; to 9 months, seven and
a-half per cent. ; to 12 months, four per cent.;
to 18 months, one per cent. ; to 24 months,
none !—yet, during the ten years ever which the
calculation extended, the number sentenced to 24
mouths was ninety-three. It is added, that the
criminals who came back two or three times, went
on returning at intervals for years. Another re-
markable proof of the uselessness of short impri-
sonments is, that out of two hundred and nine
prisoners recommitted to Reading Gaol in 1852,
eighty-nine were under seventeen years of age
when first committed, and those 89 had been in
prison altogether 403 times, or nearly five times
a-piece. These facts, to which others of a similar
kind might be largely added, confirm Baron
ALDERSON'S inference that short imprisonments
are neither humane nor wise.

But while the vast proportion of offences com-
mitted by the youthful part of the population,
and the inutility of the ordinary brief imprison-
ments, is fully established, the efficiency of
longer periods of Reformatory discipline is, so far
as experiments have been tried, satisfactorily
proved also. At Mettray, under the management
of the now well-known M. DE METZ, one repre-
sents that 85, another that 89 per cent. have
been reclaimed ; and the Report rests upon the
conduct of upwards of 900 youths who had passed
through the institution ; and of those men who
had relapsed, one-quarter had been again re-
' claimed. In the Glasgow House of Refuge, out
of 400 lads, 85 per cent. had been reclaimed. At
Redhill, of 720 boys discharged, 70 per cent. have
been reclaimed, 228 being inmates at the present
time. Only contrast this with the recommittal, at
Reading, of 89 lads nearly five times each, and
the return to Glasgow Gaol of 75 per cent. of
those committed for 14 days, and the advantage
of longer and early discipline seems irresistibly
apparent. It is easy, indeed, for full satisfaction,
to wish for answers to some questions, which our
criminal statistics do not yet furnish ; but they
would probably only corroborate the evi-
dence we have ; and making every allowance,
and giving the largest margin to the well-known
illusiveness of statistics, there can be no doubt
that to deal effectually with the youthful criminal
is the most hopeful method yet proposed, and
that the Reformatory School is an admirable in-
strument for that purpose.
Could we seal up the fountain, indeed, that
would be the course to be taken, and at once ;
but that is hopeless. All accounts go to prove
that the greater part of youthful crime is due to
the habits of the parents, and it is impossible to
reach them ; they are irreclaimable as a class,
and if they were not you cannot bring them under
compulsory discipline. Mr. ADSWEAD, of Man-
chester, ascertained that of one hundred criminal
children at Manchester sixty were born of dis-
honest parents, thirty of profligate, though not
criminal, parents, and only ten of parents honest
and industrious. The experience of Mr. CLAY,
the chaplain of Preston gaol, is similar ; he found
that in seventy-five per cent. of the cases investi-
gated by him the fault lay unmistakeably at the
door of the parents ; in the case of fifty-seven
per cent. there had been habitual drunkenness,
often accompanied with brutality, on the part of
the father; in the remaining eighteen per cent.
habitual neglect. In three cases out of four inves-
tigated by him the lad had hardly a chance of be-
coming anything but what he was. It is impos•
sible to put the whole case of Reformatory Schools
for juvenile delinquents more strongly than in
this sentence. Three-fourths of the unfortunate
lads, besides the ordinary claims of youth, are
objects for pure commiseration ; we ourselves, in
their position, must have been what they are.
No man can resist this appeal.
There is, however, no mode of altering this
first education for crime ; at least none has been
devised at present. Nothing but the impossible
Maine Liquor Law could remove that most fertPe
cause of youthful crime, drunken fathers ; anti
no plan could deal with neglectful parents. We,
unfotunately, cannot begin with the lad till the
law can lay hold of him as a violater of it, and
we are then warranted in applying any process
which shall prove most effectual. The Reforma-
tory School system also, by the mid of Govern-
ment, furnishes almost the only means of reach-
ing the delinquent parent. He can now be
compelled to contribute to the support of his
child at the school, and is thus fined for years
for his own criminal neglect of his offspring.
This penalty must be rigidly enforced, less, in-
deed, for the direct saving to the State, than for
the purpose of deterring parents from making
thieves of their children. The mortification, and
among his own class, the disgrace of having to
pay to a Reformatory School, seems to us the most
likely means of making a deterring -example of
the bad parent. It will come to be understood
that it will not do to let children run wild or to
train them to crime. Unworthy parents, to save
their pockets, will take some thought for their
offspring. The favourite beer or gin itself will
be in danger when several shillings weekly must
go to his child's support. On the whole, nothing
better deserves the aid of the community than
these efforts ; they must, to be successful, be
chiefly voluntary and individual, but they ought
to be, and we trust will be, universal.

There was perhaps no vexed- question on which
so large a majority would, a few years since, have
been obtained as that of the necessity of an
equitable modification of the Income Tax. Men
of all parties had recognised the absurdity of
treating all sources cf revenue, whether temporary
or permanent, precarious or certain, as of equal
value, and subjecting them to an equal charge.
It was just as ridiculous to say that one of the
long annuities which would expire in some six or
seven years was in every respect equal to a per-
petual charge, as that personal earnings, depend-
ing on health, fashion, and a variety of circum-
stances over which the recipient has no control,
are equivalent to a similar amount of dividends,
which the proprietor is sure of receiving during
his life, and of bequeathing to his children and
their issue throughout all future generations.
The moneyocracy can appreciate the justice of the
argument respecting the annuity, although per-
fectly insensible to the wrongs of the industrious
middle classes. They saw that the charge on long

annuities was to a great extent a tax on capital,
for fi.v+ e-sixths of the amount should be re-invested
in or& 3r to prevent ultimate loss, and the balance,
after providing for the restoration of the capital-
ised value, was virtually the only sum fairly liable
to th t impost Thus, all parties concurred in the
prop r. iety of a revision, with scarcely an exception.
Mr. DISRAELI had in his budget proposed a dif-
ferenai; assessment on different classes. This,
althoq igh by no means going sufficiently far, or
meetil rg the real justice of the case, was hailed
with. .delight by fiscal reformers as being " the
admission of the sharp end of the wedge," an
offi-ii a 1 recognition of the great distinctions that
exist kd in taxable value, which must speedily be
productive of important results. The Derbyites
were, therefore thus made safe ; while the leaders
of b oth Houses—the Earl of ABERDEEN and Lord
Jour RUSSELL—had sought opportunities to pub-
lish ti left opinions as to the propriety of a change.

Burt Mr. GLADSTONE had not been consulted.
Single, handed he opposed the leading men on all
sides Of the House, and, strange to say, •btained
a victory. When the question first came on for
discussion, after the ejection of the Derbyite
Gov,ernment, the veteran JOSEPH HUME pro-
poF,ed a renewal for a single year, in order to
aroid embarrassing the new Ministry, who had
just succeeded to office. This was agreed to, but on
the understanding that an equitable adjustment
was to be made the next session. It is notorious
how this implied pledge was violated. Mr.
GLADSTONE declared that a change was impossible,
but as he cajoled the House and the country into
the belief that the impost might be entirely re-
moved within seven years, and that a gradual
reduction should take place some years previously,
his budget was accepted, and loud praises were
lavished on the financier who promised a result
so auspicious. We pointed out the folly of the
anticipation, explaining that no Chancellor of the
Exchequer would surrender a source of revenue
so profitable, convenient, and easily collected.
But the nation was intoxicated at the time. Large
profits were to be realised by the conversion of
the Three per Cents. There was, in fact, a GLAD-
STONE mania, and anything which he put for-
ward, however extravagant, was received with
unquestioning credulity.

A single year, however, verified our gloomy
.
vatimmations. In place of realising immense
savings there was a loss of some 800,0001. on
the GLADSTONE abortion ; and, still worse, the
Exchequer was denuded of its balances by the
payment of more than eight millions sterling to
the dissentients. This compelled the Exchequer
to borrow largely from the Bank, and prevented
the latter from affording adequate accommodation
to its customers. The Money Market was thus
deranged, and serious consequences followed.
Mr. GLADSTONE, however, was not abashed.
After expatiating on the advantages of direct im-
posts, and the propriety of meeting the whole of
the extra expenditure occasioned by the War out
of current revenue, he persuaded the House to con-
sent to double the Income Tax just for a single
half-year. The eyes of the deluded representa-
tives were not, however, yet opened. His propo-
sitions were again sanctioned, and it is needless
to say that the warnings we uttered were again
verified, and that the doubled impost was con-
tinued until the April, twelve months after the
ratification of the Treaty of Peace.
Fortunately, Mr. GLADSTONE did not meet Par-
liament with another budget, but his successor in
office followed suit by adding 2d. in the £1 ; thus
raising the amount from 7d. to 16d., and en-
hancing the injuotico under which bCP many
of the industrious middle classes were
labouring. This War-Tax will be continued until
April, 1858, if nothing be done in the interval,
and it is ridiculous to expect that the Financial
Minister of the day will assent to its reduction—
to the one-fourth of the amount for that year,
a surrender of a revenue of Twelve Millions.
That an attempt will be made to continue it
when the question can no longer be shelved '
or evaded, is certain. It will, therefore, be
just as well to be prepared to submit to
inevitable necessity, and to endeavour to
improve and render equitable the charge that
cannot possibly be got rid of.

As we have repeatedly stated, a Property Tax,
fairly levied, would be one of the best for tLe
community. It is one that would cheerfully be
paid, if it did not carry with it a bitter sense of
wrong and injustice.' Why, then, should
the great point which, but for the un-
founded promises of Mr. GLADSTONE, would
have been achieved three years since,
not be carried into practical execution The
nation wants its modification, not its repeal ; a
fair and equitable adjustment, not its abolition.
Lc :t Sir G. C. I,l:lv's act judiciously and promptly
in this important matter, and he will receive the
blessings of thousands and tens of thousands of
those who now utter curses, both loud
and deep, at the barefaced robbery to which
they are subjected. He will not, however,
110 so unless urged by the pressure from without ;
and, therefore, we would once more emphatically
impress on fiscal reformers the necessity of not
losing a single day in organising a strenuous
opposition to the impost in its present obnoxious
form.

SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday.—His Royal Highness the
Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief, embarked
from the docks to-day on board her Majesty's yacht
Fairy for Osborne, on a visit to her Majesty.
The King of the Belgians, with the royal family, re-
turned to Laeken from Antwerp on Wednesday morning
at 11 o'clock.

Prince Frederick of the Netherlands arrived at Berlin
on the 18th, on his way to the fetes of the coronation at
Moscow.

The King of Prussia granted an audience on the 13th
to Count de Launay, the Sardinian Minister, who pre•
rented his new credentials raising him to the rank of
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.
The Earl and Countess of Jersey are on a visit at
Cadland, the seat of Mr. and Lady Elizabeth Drum-
mond.

The Marchioness of Bute, the youthful Marquis of
Bute, and Lady D'Oyley, have arrived at Mounstuart-
house, Island of Bute.
The Earl and Countess of Derby and Lady Emma
Stanley have left St. Jansea's-square for Knowsley,
Lancashire. _

The Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford arrived at
Cronstadt early in the month, in his lordship's yacht,
and have since repaired to St. Petersburg.
Marshal Duke de Saldanha, commander-in-chief of
the Portuguese army and ex-president of the council of
ministers, has arrived in Paris. He is travelling incoq.,
under the name. of General Oliviera.

The arrivals in the Thames on Wednesday comprised
43 vessels from foreign ports and 26 colliers.

The Carlsrulie Gazette denies the truth of a rumour
which has been circulated to the effect that a marriage
was contemplated between the hereditary Prince of
Saxe Meiningen and the sister of the Prince Regent of
Balen.

A meeting convened by a number of respectable
tradesmen was arranged to be held last evening (says
the Kent Herald) for the purpose of adopting measures
to secure to Canterbury the advantages of the annual
cricket week.

A letter of the 15th from Dresden says, " The cele•
brated geologist, Sir Charles Lyell, has been staying
here for some time, for the purpose of investigating the
coal and trap formations in the neighbourhood to which
he has already made some scientific excursions."
The Cologne Gazette states that Baron William Charles
von Rotschild has been appointed honorary Consul-
General of Austria at Frankfort-on-the• Maine, in the
place of Baron Anselm von Rothschild, who has re-
moved to Vienna, where he intends residing for the
future.

PAYMENT OF CHURCH RATES.— According to a pro
vision in the new act to amend the Local Management
Act of last year the paymenb of Church rates •is declared
not to be a necessary qualification to enable a ratepayer
to vote at pariah elections.