The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-05 00:00:00

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. TEEET-OF-LEAVE SYSTEM'..;
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( From the Times.)
The public is indebted to Mr. Wilson Overend ;At: gte .;e_ttell
one of the chairmen of Quarter Sessions for the ,oe4eirlr-",;L'
West Riding of Yorkshire, for an official exposure'`"
eeeak.tr
of the evils which have been inflicted on his own e'e4Z-',Arik
district by the ticket-of-leave system. Not that ..ea
private experience or official testimony has been
hitherto silent on this subject ; the nuisance has
been too frequent, too palpable, too irritating, and
too absurd, to admit of long endurance or indif-
ferent connivance. Its fruits have been so early
and so prodigally developed that few could profess
either ignorance or indifference. But, inasmuch as
a large class of humanitarians, who have neither
been plundered nor garotted, still repel all cones
plaints against their pet penal system by imputa-
tions of ignorance or falsehoods on its opponents,
it is a gain to the cause of common sense and com-
mon honesty when we can adduce practical infor-
mation like that of Mr. Overend in opposition to
their obstinate incredulity. When, therefore, Mr.
Overend informs us that in the period which has
elapsed since the inauguration of the system there
have been, in one Riding alone, no less than 160
committals of ticket-of-leave men for fresh crimes,
and that this number is far from indicating all the
crimes in which they have been concerned, we have
one strong fact, which, combined with others
equally strong in other districts, speaks loudly
against the perpetuation of the scheme.
And how could it be otherwise ? Let us follow
the ordinary operation of the scheme. A man (on
conviction) is sentenced nominally to transportation
for seven years. Here the first blunder is made.
The law begins with a lie. The sentence of the
Judge is a nullity. The convict is not transported,
and be knows that he will not be the very moment
when the sentence is passed. He is sentenced to
transportation for seven years ; he is, in fact,
doomed to penal servitude for four years ; and,
finally he is liberated at the end of three. Some
portion of this time is devoted to solitary confine-
ment. During this period he is learning, or prac-
tising, some laborious occupation, and in daily
communication with the chaplain or some officer of
the gaol, whom ho endeavours to dupe by flattery,
simulation, or docility. After the lapse of some
time he is allowed to mix and talk with other pri-
soners. A gratuity of one penny is credited to his
account for every day of good conduct. When he
leaves the prison, which is generally before the
term of his original sentence, he receives the
half of this sum. Three months later he receives
the other half, if he has observed the conditions of
his discharge. These conditions are, that he neither
be convicted of committing crime nor detected in
associating with criminals, and that he receive a
certificate from some clergyman or magistrate. On
leaving prison he is accompauied by one of the offi-
cers to the train which is to take him to his future
residence. After the expiration of the term for
which his original sentence was commuted his
ticket-of-leave ceases to have any virtue, and before
that time it depends entirely on the convict him-
self whether he be known to possess one or not.
In strange districts, therefore, he can commit fresh
crimes without risk of suffering the penalty of a
second conviction.
There is much of excellent theory in this plan.
It is redolent of the deepest benevolence and the
strongest faith in the goodness of human nature ;
but its practical inutility is proved by the increase
of crime, as it might have been discerned by ordi-
nary apprehension of cause and effect. The scheme
makes no allowance for previous habits, confirmed
tastes, the excitement of prison "dodges," the
force of association, and the goadings of suspicion.
Lastly, it makes no allowance for that which all of
us are too often forgetting—the market wages and
remuneration of crime. It forgets that the man
who is sentenced to four or six years' penal servi-
tude has in many cases been associated with the
worst men and worst misdeeds since the age of 12
or 14 ; that he knows only two languages and two
crafts—the language and the craft of the habitual
criminal, and those of the habitual prisoner ; that
his good behaviour under sentence is a " dodge ;"
his conversation with prisoners a summary of past
or a sketch of future atrocities ; kis return to
honest courses simply impossible, because he never
male them the starting point of his oareer; and
his assumption of them nearly as impossible, in
face of the vigilance of the police, the suspicion of
neighbours, and the lengthening chain of habit.
They, more than this, forget that it is a matter of
calculation to a criminal whether it would " pay'
to reform or not. Crime is a vocation just as much
as law, commerce, shipowning, brokerage, or in-
surance.

[PRICE 4D. STAMPED SD•

Naval and Military Intelligence.

During yesterday the number of troops who received
their discharge from Chatham Garrison was upwards of
400, on account of wounds or general disability. They
were selected from the following regiments, viz.:-4th
Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, sth Dragoon Guards, 3d
Light Dragoons, 10th Hussars, Ist Royals, 2d Royals,
3d Buffs, 6th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th Royal Irish,
19th, 20th, 21st Royal Fusiliers, 22d, 23d Welsh Fusi-
liers, 24th, 25th, (King's Own Borderers), 26th (Caine
ronians), 27th (Enniskillens), 28th, 30th, 31st, 333,
34th, 37th, 38th, 41st (Welsh), 42d Highlanders (93 men),
52d Light Infantry, 53d, 63d, 64th, 67th, 68th Light
Infantry, 69 h, 70th, 71st Highlanders (Light Infantry),
73d, 75th. 80th, 83d, 85th, 86th, 87th Royal Irish
Fusiliers, 89th, 90th Light Infantry, and the Royal Ca-
nadian M• s.
The re ten e Acam gunboats at Plymouth got up steam
on Wednesday to try their engines - an operation which
will take place every three months.
The paddlewheel stearnvessel Lightning sailed from
Plymouth on Wednesday from Portsmouth.
The screw steamship James Watt, Captain Talavera
V. Anson, having had her engines and boilers repaired,
was taken out of Keyham Docks, Devonport, on Wednes-
day. The paddlewheel steamfrigate Leopard, 18, was
put in dock the same day to be fitted with new boilers.
Ord, rs were received at Devonport on Wednesday to
bring forward with all despatch the screw steam block-
ship Cornwallis, 60, and the sailing frigate Meander, 44.
Her Majesty's ship Shannon, 51, Capt. W. Peel, C. 8.,
was brought into P. rtsmouth harbour after her last trial
on Wednesday (which realised 111 knots) and is along
side the dockyard jetty receiving eome further alteration
to improve her efficiency.
Her Majesty's screw sloop Plumper, 11, Commander
Haswell, is alongside the dockyard jetty at Portsmouth,
dismantling, preparatory for being paid off.
The barque Abyssinian, Captain Fisher, arrived at
Portsmouth on Wednesday with commissariat stores
from Malta, and has proceeded to Deptford to unload
them.
Her Majesty's ship Agamemnon, 91, is in dock at
Portsmouth refitting, and the Victor Emmanuel, 91, is
fitting for the pendant.
The screw block•ship Pembroke, 60 guns, is commis-
sioned at Portsmouth by Captain Fraser for coastguard
service.
The Southampton, 50, at Chatham, is to be forthwith
fitted for the coastguard service, and will be stationed at
Harwich. Her marines will be selected from the Chat-
ham division, and two noncommissioned officers, one
drummer, and 12 privates of that division have already
bees selected for service on board.
The following appointments were made yesterday at
the Admiralty
Lieutenant J. Ward (b), to the Porcupine ; Lieu-
tenant C. H. Williams, to the Pembroke ; John C.
Barlow, Master (in command), to the Nereus ; W. W.
Dillon, Master (in command), to the Naiad ; C. J. Polk-
inghorne Master (in command), to the Cockatrice ;
Henry G. Raynes, Master, to the Formidable; John E
Knight, Second-Master, to the Locust; Samuel Libby,
Second-Master, to the Otter ; William J. R. Hall, Pay-
master, to the Indus ; Robert F. Easton, Surgeon, to
the Southampton ; Dr. John Stirling, Surgeon, to the
Meander; Dr. John Gallagher, Surgeon, to the Corn•
wallis ; Charles F. Williams, Assistant-Surgeon, to the
Cornwallis ; William H. Carter, Assistant-Surgeon, to
the Antelope ; Charles A. Chanter, Clerk, to the South-
ampton ; Herbert A. Roe, Assistant-Clerk, to the
Southampton.

THE RATE OF DISCOUNT.

The Bank of England yesterday lowered their
rate of discount from 7 per cent., at which it had
stood since the 13th of November, to 6 per cent.
This moderate step has given general satisfaction.
During the past week the course of circumstances
nu money-market,
tthh
ee
con disappointmentsecuent pros
p eient theo fa Mexican
has not been such as to improve the position of the
rme 2et
yt
continu-
ance of silver purchases on the continent, which will
require to be paid for in gold, having dispelled the
expectation that no further withdrawals from the
Bank would be necessary before the arrival of an-
other supply from Australia. Hence, although
there was not sufficient to render a relaxation alto-
gether undesirable, a reason existed for adopting a
more gradual process than might otherwise have
been anticipated.
The new rate will still be more than a half per
cent. above the current charge in Paris, and from.
one to one and a-half per cent. above the rates at
Hamburg, Vienna, Berlin, Frankfort, and Amster-
dam. There is, consequently, no danger of our
capital being attracted in the shape of temporary
loans to any part of the continent. Any drain of
specie that may yet be witnessed must for the mo-
ment be almost solely on Indian account, and in
this respect it may be expected that the reduction
of the rate of exchange announced yesterday by the
India-house will operate as a partial check, and
that the silver due from Mexico will be in hand
before the next monthly remittances are made to
China. Meanwhile, with regard to the home de-
mand for money, it must be repeated that that de-
mand is caused mainly by the large sums falling
due at the Bank at this period of the year. If the
Bank were now not to let out money freely, the
would lead to a
absopti
rr iooni a thusof t dailyhe
circulationngplwace
hlch would enable
taki
them, if they pleased, to exact even 9 or 10 per
cent. But it is not their place to take advantage
of this condition, and if the total they are called
upon to discount ,each day is, notwithstanding its
laigeness, below the sum falling due to them, they
are bound to pursue the course just adopted of
affording to the public a proportionate relief.
The reduction announced yesterday applies alike
to discounts and to loans upon securities. It has also
been decided to make advances at the same rate
until the payment of the dividend on bills h • aving
six months to run. Previously the limit
was three
mouths.—Times City Article.