The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-18 00:00:00

PENAL REFORMATION.

We have recently endeavoured to bespeak an impar-
tial hearing for the advocates and an impartial trial for
the experiment of the system of penal reformation now
in vogue. We have done this because we have felt that
the force of circumstances left us no alternative. Every-
thing else has been tried, and has been abandoned in its
turn ; and if we did not make the best of what we have
got already we should only be putting ourselves in the
condition of the Irishman who postponed his journey
until he could begin it in the middle. Our present state
of penal discipline is one of transition, and we must get
through it how we best can, until we arrive at another
stage More hopeful and more definite. To throw the
present system up in despair and to revert to any of
those which we have discontinued would be as pusilla-
nimous a', in the actual state of things, it would be me.
wise. We therefore think that ColenelJebb is perfectly
justified in putting so good a face epee the character of
penal servitude as he does in the report which he has
recently published. It will obviate that wholesale
and sweeping censure to which the process has been so
releutlesely exposed. It will show that it is a scheme
which, though it may not realise all the good that it
proposes, dues not at present involve all the evil with
which it is reproached. Bet, while justice com-
pels us to make this coneeseicn, we are bound to state
our conviction that the report dose not mak out a
strong case in favour of the present as that which ought
to be the perneaneot and ultimate form of tecondary
punishments in England.
This report, like all others, is studded full of those
"facts and figures" which prove nothing positively, be-
cause they may prove anything in a degree. We have
whole pages of statistics respecting the fate of men who
have undergone the provisional imprisonment; and have
then been released with tickets of leave. Some of these
are "doing well," are employed under kind masters,
making money and plans of future honesty and industry.
But then there are others who cannot get work, who
complain of the discredit and isolation which attach to
their list mode of life, and who must, too, probably re-
lapse into crime of a deeper or lighter shade, according
to circumstances, for the mere purposes of subsistence.
Again, there is a class of emancipists who write with that
peculiar savour of religious unction whiCh may proceed
from sincerity, but which, we confess, does to our minds
convey the suspicion of something very like hypocrisy,
or, at any rate, of that mere re.adinesi in catching reli-
gious phrases, without attaching any significance to
tuem, which a course of training under a prison chap-
lain is not unlikely to give to artful or impressible minds.
Altogether this report, wl i'e it may suffice to meet ex-
aggerated accusations of the system, is not sufficient to
establish any reliable grounds for its future imitation and
extension.

It is true that the present scheme has only been two
years in force, and it would not be quite fair to judge of
its capabilities from so short an experience. But this
argument cuts two ways. If the shortness of the expe-
riment tells against a precipitate judgment on the results
of the plan, it also tells against saaguine anticipations
of its success. It tells with peculiar force against the
advocacy which relies upon the fact that as yet the mea-
sure has not created in England a class corresponding to
the forcats of France. Of course, this was impossible.
A class which is formidable not only by reason of its
character, but also by reason of its numbers, is the
growth of many years. But, though there has not been
as yet time enough to create a class of this kind, it is
certainly open to discussion whether the present system
be not likely to sow the seeds of one. It is contended
in the report before us that multitude and combination
are the elements which cause such a body of men to be
dreaded, and that neither exists in England, where dis-
charged criminals are few and dispersed. But both thesis
elements are the growth of time. There will always be
a certain number af hypocrites emancipated before their
full period of imprisonment is completed. There will also
be a large number released at the expiration of their
term very much worse in disposition, because more
hardened and irritated, than when they were
first imprisoned. These two will increase
with every succeed ng year. They will also
attract and combine with each other. There is a law of
gravitation which is as irresistiele in the moral as iu the
physical world, and it will follow as naturally as the fall
of an apple to the ground that the ex-occupants of all
the reformatories in England will gravitate to each other.
The hardened rogues and the plausible hypocrites are a
tolerably bad beginning. To these must be added that
large and malleable class of men who have been criminal
.ess through innate wickedness than a weak irresolu,ion,
and whose docile impressibility would soon bring them
under the bondage of stroi g temptation and evil corn-
pauionship. Given, then, these three elements, the
vicious, the hypocritical, and the pliant—given also cer-
tain contin‘,eocied which are, we. fear, by no means im-
probable, such as want of employment, want of credit,
want of toed, and abundance of temptation—it is not un.
charitable to expect that each y, arly liberation of pH•
soners would acid not only to the numbers, but also to
the coalitisin and combination of the most aceumplishod
scoundrels and the most reckless wretches in the cora-
, munitv. This may seem a disheartening and uncharit-
able view of the bubject, but we fear it is the true one.
We would willingly look more hopefully and cheerily,
but our knowledge of human nature forbids any
other conclusion ; and we leave it to our readers
to picture the sort of England that they would
have to live in when a quarter or half a century bad
inoculated our population with the continuous efflux
of a criminal caste which was united by the bonds
of a common hardihood and a common hypocrisy. Col.
Jebb tells us that in little more than two years the num-
ber of ticket-of-leave men discla-ged in Middlesex has
been 5 in 10,000 of the population, which would be
about 1,000 on the whole population of the county. Add
to these the prisoners from the other prisons, who, he
tells us, amount to 40 times as many, and we have a
tolerably—or, rather, an intolerably—large nucleus of
possible crime in the metropolitan county already.
What is it likely to be in ten, twenty, fifty years ?
We cannot condemn the system for this. It is fall of
benevolence and reliance on the best instincts of man.
So far it is wise and politic ; but we are bound to look
its consequences in the face, and we confess that, consi-
dering its cost, its uncertainty, the slight chances that
life in England affords for known adult criminals to re-
establish themselves in character and employment, and
the numerous temptations which allure them to fresh
confederacies of crime, we can hardly blink the prospect
which a tew years' continuance of the system must dis-
close.

We speak only of its effects on men—on male adults.
With boys the case is different. The boys who are case-
hardened against kindness, discipline, penitence, and
remorse, are very few. The prejudice, too, against
them is inconsiderable. There are not many intelli-
gent persons who would refuse to give a boy-convict a
chance of restoring his character after his discharge from
a reformatory. But for men the real reformatories were
those which we have lost. The penal colonies were, in
the case of minor crimes, truly efficient reformatories.
At least, they reformed more men than any other system
is ever likely to do. Nine convicts out of ten who were
sent thither went with the determination to retrieve their
characters and fortunes ; and they generally carried their
intentions into effect. With change of country came
change of habits, associations, allurements, and spirits.
There was none of that heavy depressing consciousness
which at home whispers to a man, "Once a rogue,
always a rogue." There were no sneering neighbours—
supeicilionsly respectable vestry—no purist aegis-
,
tracy—to nip the first bud of penitent self-reformation.
It was a clear stage, without disfavour or prejudice.
The ticket-of-leave man felt that he was starting fresh in
the race of life, and he went in with gay spirits and a
bold heart. The result told much for the reformation
of the criminal there ; but unfortunately it also told
much for the multiplication of his species here.—Times.

OFFICERS WIDOW AND ORPHAN PER-

..41.3NE1V T FUND.

A meeting of the society for the support of this fund
was held yesterday at the Hanover-square Reoms ; the
Marquis of Blaudford in the chair. The report, which
the st:cre'.ary read, referred to the loss the society had.
sustained by the bankruptcy of Messrs. Sxahan, Paul,
and Bates ; it is stated that the receipts had been to the
24th of Juue last 3,9671. 95., and the expenditure had
been 6151 9e. 6d. A letter from the Duke of Cambridge
having been read, the report was adopted, on the motion
of Mr. Hamilton, seconded by Colonel Walker. A re•
solution, approving of the society's objects, was moved
by General Sir W. F. Williams, M.P., of Kars, who said
it was a very favourable opportueity for him to advocate
the cause of the wives and orphans of his fellow•offi-
cers. A most sanguinary war had just been brought to
a favourable conclusion. He did not wish to appeal to
their imagination, but to their hearts. He would ask
them to ,magine a soldier dying on the field of battle
or in the hospital. What were his last thought!!
They were on his wife and family. He had seen in
other countries what provision was made for the object
here in view, though he did not by such a comparison
impugn the institutions of this country. The Sovereign
here did not hold the purse, as in other countries ; but
those who did, the public, should provide for the rela-
tives of those who bad fallen for us in battle. If we
did so, it would Le another guarantee for the safety of
our homes in a future time. That we must expect wars
and rumours of wars in the future all experience proved,
and wo mutt believe that if we believed anything. He
told the meeting he was no orator, but he hoped the
plain words of a soldier would sink into their hearts.
He concluded by making an appeal to their gratitude
and generosity to relieve the widows and orphans of his
deceased brethren. (The gallant speaker was enthu-
siastically cheered on his appearance and during his
short speech) The resolution was seconded by the
Right Hon. Joseph Napier, M.P., and carried unani
mously. A vote of thanks was then passed to the
chairman, and the meeting separated.

lintnisG FISHING.—The herring fishing commenced
here about a week ago on its usual limited scale. Th•
catches have, on the whole, been very fair for a com-
mencement—the highest being six crane to a boat. The
appearance of the fish on the eoast is good. At Stone-
haven, whence Aberdeen is mainly supplied with "fresh
herring," some forty boats are to fish. The first few
days there have yielded a moderate catch, and the fish
are of good quality, though, in some cases, small in tilt,
—Aberdeen Journal.