The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 61 1E69,

of late years to the Lib3ral side, it must, indeed, ap-
pear foolish to quarrel with the brief opportunities
which the Conservatives have bad of enjoying the
sweets of office. Take the last 22 years or so as a cri-
terion. Lord DERBY and Mr. DISRAELI must indeed
have worked hard, and expedited the departure from
the scene of their worldly honours, literally as well
as figuratively, of many distinguished personages, if
they had contrived to adjust the balance of power so
that the patronage of the Conservatives during five
years tenure of office equalled that of their oppo-
nents during seventeen. Leaving these statesmen to
defend themselves, it may well be said that this kind
of argument is directed against the principles of our
Constitution. It has been the boast of this country
that there:are here no restrictions to impede the road of
great men to eminence, and that natural ability and
energy can enable a man to rise from a humble posi-
tion to rank with the rich and the mighty. But all
this is to be changed, if the arbitrary views and exclu-
sive sentiments of certain critics are to have sway.
They act in accordance with the spirit of intolerance
that convulsed the American Congress in dealing with
the Southern States, rather than in conformity to the
principles which have kept our country from being a
Republic, but have preserved it from the oppression
which the reigns of terror and the rule of
demagogues often occasion. In the gratifica-
tion of a paltry feeling of jealousy, or the
mean desire to injure a political opponent
these cavillers are making stupendous efforts to do
something great, and are only exposing the small-
ness of their own conceptions regarding the spirit
which should animate the concerns of public life.
WALTER Scorr has recorded the merits of the
mighty chiefs who sleep side by side, and he de-
scribes the way in which they ran the race that won
them the highest honours of their own generation,
and the enduring respect of all those which should
come after. He emphatically says that " their's was
no common party race, jostling by dark intrigue for
place." Customs may change, but the principles
which actuate the conduct of public men cannot
change, and what was mean in the days of PITT and
Fox cannot be high and honourable now. It is a
very common party race that our Ministers, past
and present, are running, if they only desire office,
and dread the deprivation of it for the chance they
may gain or lose of dispensing patronage. If such
were the only goal of their efforts, they would jostle
by dark inti igue till they would sink into political
adventurers, far below the level of respectable me-
diocrities, and never approach, in the remotest
manner, to the heights which great men have made
sublime, and to which a noble ambition has guided,
in all ages, the votaries of fame.
If the caprices of the French EMPEROR and the

inscrutable policy of Count BISMARCK were to
decree that this or thas man of note should never ob-
tain distinction, what an outcry would be raised
among the disciples of progress, but are not some of
these worthies virtually laying down the same law
for their unfortunate countrymen who differ from

them in the estimate they form of public questions.
They would ostracise the most brilliant talents that
did Lot lend their lustre to the cause of truth. If they
had their way the next generation would have to
bring in a bill for Parliament to remove the disabilities
of the Conservatives, if that benighted party still re-
tained the vital spark after the crushing measures of

extinction applied to it. The Jew might have a voice
in the Legislature, and the Non-conformist carry off
the highest university honours, but the Conservative,
be he divine, lawyer, politician, or literateur, must
pine in solitude, or spend his unappreciated powers
in fruitless repining at the evil destiny which caused

him to be born under the influence of the star of
Toryism, or impotent indignation at the pr.-judie3
which suffered such a reign of intolerance to prevail.
How far more worthy of the spirit in which the

affairs of a great country should be carried

on would be the recognition by both sides
of those whose talents are the admiration of their
contemporaries. Why, for instance, should not th
Liberals count it worthy of rejoicing that the splendid
abilities of Lord CAIRNS met with adequate requital,
that he whose eloquence had delighted the bar and
gained the applause of the Senate should have reached
the highest honours of his profession ? Why should
Not the Conservatives be willing to acknowledge that
Mr. GLADSTONE has done well in selecting for his col-
league one who has earned his reputation in scenes
far removed from the trammels of official life and in
pursuits that pointed at the destruction of Cabinets
rather than their formation. Mr. BRIGHT takes his
place among the statesmen who attend the Councils
of their SOVEREIGN by the agency of no party victory,
but rather through the influence of public opinion
and the claims which talent and energy have on the
national mind. It may be said, in conclusion, that
it is a poor service which these advocates of the ap-
propriation clause of honours and preferments are
rendering to their party. They wish them to be
lulled by the soft winds of prosperity, and to have the
good things of the world strewn in their path, but
they forget that they may become enervated in such
an effeminate course of luxury and indolence. They
would be all the better for a little wholesome op-
position, their virtues would flourish in a sterner
atmosphere, and their spirits be braced by a resolute
encounter with foemen worthy of their steel. In
the political as well as the physical sphere strength
cannot be gained by inaction, and as the poet has
said—

" 'Tis the black north-easter through the snow storm

hiirled,

Drives our English hearts of oak seaward round the world."

So the historian may declare that it is the

honourable rivalry that exists among our public men,

,he activity that is engendered by the exertions of
heir opponents that imparts a healthy tone to our

political existence, and keeps our country in ad-

ranee of others, or at least not behind the fore-

most. In the interests of a cause that should not be

disgraced by such false prophets, we would remind
the so-called exponents of Liberal principles that
they are defeating their own ends by this display of

sheer spite at the temporary advantages gained by
their rivals, anti giving occasion to the world to de-
clare that all they priz,!andvalue is the guinea stamp
and not the genuine metal which needs no mere-
tricious ornament to give it real worth, or to impart

,o it a lasting power. While they are begruiging their

enemies the crumbs from the table, where their high

'easts have been spread for years, they may well cause
:heir friends to blush for them. The present day does

not desire to have martyrs for any cause, but neither
does it wish to see the spirit of greed displayed, and
let these monopolists take heed that they do not ap-
pear to the public more in the guise of pirates, who
guard the spoil rather than in the light of gallant
soldiers who fight for victory, whether it result in
barren honours or in richest trophies. Like the
rebounding weapon of Indian warfare this absurd
attack has not hit the intended mark, but has left the
Conservative hosts untouched to fall back as an insult
and affront on the ranks of the Liberal party, and
as such its high-minded and honourable advocates
must regard and resent it accordingly.

THERE is always considerable danger attendant

upon British enthusiasm when once fairly roused on
behalf of reform. The liability to excess, to run
into the opposite extreme, is one of the prime causes
of the tardiness of social progress. If a new varia-

tion of crime be beyond the reach of the law, the
most rigorous punishments are devised to repress it.
Be it some form:of vice that attains unusual pro-
minence, then cut and-dried laws of national morality
are at once drawn up; should some good institution
be found wanting, the chances are that it is provided
for to the neglect of others, It is a healthy sign that

the public is. undoubtedly awakening to the necessity
of " doing something" with the increasing national
burden of crime. And, after the laxity of the last
few years, it is on the whole rather reassuring than
otherwise to find a general tendency to seek that
something in extreme measures. But it must not be
forgotten that the field of speculation on this
subject has been materially narrowed. Many
of the plans now brought forward have
already gone through the test of costly
experience. We have tried great severity and excep-
tional mildness. Criminals have been hanged
until judge and jury connived at their escape, and
they have been fed and fattened until the gaol be-
came a positive temptation to the necessitous.
Lastly, of the medium expedients which lie between
these extremities, some have already been found
impractical ae.
Judged by this experience, a methodised plan of
dealing with criminals put forward in St. Pauls
Magazine, offers considerable advantages, but is also
liable to great danger. The writer, after reviewing
the by no means cheerful past, concludes that " since
hanging can be available to such a very limited
extent," the only resource lies in indefinite incarcera-
tion. Indefinite sentences must be pronounced,
criminals can be liberated only when they are reclaimed,
their reclamation must be proved genuine and
complete, and hopeless offenders are not to be
liberated at all. The professional criminal class is
to be subjected to continuous imprisonment. Life
sentences should be pronounced upon the notoriously
incorrigible. Lashes should be administered to
those convicted of crime with violence. All other
offenders should undergo a sentence consisting, in
the first place, of a period of total seclusion, varying
in duration from six to twelve months. " The effect
of this seclusion, according to the testimony of all
who have watched it, is most powerful. It subdues
and intimidates in a singular degree. The criminal
propensities of the sequestered prisoner, fed by no
fresh fuel, fall into atrophy or abeyance; solitude
and reflection and converse only with the good
develope feelings and notions antagonistic to his
past, and he comes out of his cell a wholly
different man—weak, flexible, and impressible to
the highest degree." lle has been prepared for
the patent regenerating mill in which he is now to
be ground. The remainder of his sentence is to be
passed in labour of different kinds—handicrafts in
prison, tilling, excavating, &c., out of it. The pri-
soner must now earn at a fixed rate of wages a sum
which is to be named by the judge on passing sen-
tence. lie is working for himself, he will be released
when his task is finished, and his term of service
becomes short in direct proportion to his industry.
But when he has been subdued by seclusion, and
taught habits of industry by compulsory but en-
couraging toil, it would be unsafe to let him loose in
the old area of temptation. lie must therefore earn
a further sum of money, sufficient either to
enable him to emigrate or start in respect-
able industry at home. He has now been
regenerated by a long course of industry, been a
capitalist in a small way, and the temptations to
crime have been reduced to a minimum. Finally,
he should be kept in leading-strings after his dis-
charge, and for a long time be subject to police
supervision.
Many of the provisions of this ingenious scheme
are to some extent novel, and one at least is well
deserving of consideration. But, as a whole, the plan
is liable to serious objection. It is founded upon
the principle of extreme severity, and we have
already tried this principle with ill success. The
writer is evidently partial to improving off the face
of the earth, and he bases much of his argument in
favour of imprisonment for lifeon the assumption that
hanging was abolished from humane scruples. The
truth is that capital punishment, except for capital
crimes, was found to be a disastrous failure. Juries
would not send a youth to the gallows for shoplift-
ing. They preferred to return an acquittal, and
judges frequently connived at the practice.
Sonic offenders suffered death, whilst others '
escaped scot free. The experience of all

severe codes is the same ; nothing can be
easier than to cleereo n lipavy sentence, but nothing
is worse in its practical results than a judicial system
which is liable to break down, and thus afford the
criminal the chances of a lottery. The argument in
this case becomes all the stronger, inasmuch as the
punishment is to be awarded not wholly for offences
which have been committed, but avowedly as a
means of preventing offences which may be com
mitted.

'This is totally at variance with the

principle of English law. It has always been
the just practice to take security in case
there is a probability of crime, but it has
never been attempted to render the possible
offender incapable of committing it. It is one
thing to guard against hypothetical crime ;
it is quite another to punish it in advance. More
than this, the scheme leaves too much to chance ; it

does too little in the way of legislation, and leaves
too wide a scope to the judicial function. The onus
of determining what criminals were so hopeless as to
deserve life sentences would fall wholly on the
judge, and so also would the task of deciding
who were professional and who casual malefactors.

Where such terribly serious consequences are
involved, it would be impossible to lay down any
rigid number of convictions as a test. In each case
the decision would have to be made on the informa-

tion in possession of the authorities, and this the
writer admits would not be infallible, and might lead
to error. Justice is always liable to mistakes, but
under a system of sentences which is founded on no

fixed principles the danger would be indefinitely
increased. In short, indefinite incarceration would

compel the judge to make, not to expound, the
law ; whilst it would give chaplains and
governors an increase of the power which they now

exercise under the ticket-of-leave system. Unde-
niably they fulfil this trust to the best of their abi-
lity, but this does not preserve their decisions from

frequent error.
But though imprisonment for life and indefinite
imprisonment, which are the leading principles of
this scheme, are dangerous, to say the least, yet the
earning of wages by the convict as a mode of esti-
mating his industry, and his employment beyond the

period of his sentence until he raised a little money

for emigration or for an honest start in the old
country, are suggestions which well deserve
consideration. The latter in particular seems
calculated to be beneficial. Further, the arguments

which may reasonably be brought against the
indefinite incarceration theory in no case apply t o
the moderate but scarcely less efficacious plan for the
strict surveillance of confirmed or professional

criminals. Those who object to any interference
with the liberty of the subject except under actual
suspicion or charge of crime, forget that the principle
is merely an extension of one which is already in
force. Where there is danger of crime or misde-

meanour, a magistrate is always entitled to demand

security. Surveillance, in short, exists already in
the shape of bail, and though this safeguard is not

required except upon some distinctly defined charge
or danger, yet, on the other hand, it is a security
which involves the liability of others. And if the
law admits the principle that one person may suffer

inconvenience, perhaps loss for, the fault of

another, surely it is n- o straining of that principle

that an individual who is a professed enemy of the
community should occasionally give an account of

his way of life—a security which involves none but
himself. Indeed, the system now recommended has
already been in full force in England. Under the

ablest of English kings all the inhabitants of a tithing

were made answeratle at all times for each other's

behaviour. This custom of frank - pledge fell
into disuse, not because it was bad, but
because it was impracticable in large communi-
ties. It is now proposed to reintroduce it, with the
change that instead of every man being the
guardian of his neighbour, as of old, the duty of sur-
veillance is to be deputed to a special body. If the eye
of the law be never taken off a systematic evil-doer,
a dishonest life would become almost as difficult as

if the criminal were in prison, Nor is there any of the
danger attendant upon this course. It is likely that
some persons who are not regular criminals will be
placed under restraint, but the number cannot be
large, and the error can be remedied by ceasing the
surveillance as soon as it is found necessary.
Nothing would be more simple than the proof that
surveillance was being carried on without cause. In

fact, the amount of restraint might wisely be regu-
lated by the extent of the criminal's guilt, and sur-
veillance might to some extent take the place of
imprisonment. Instead of indefinite incarceration,
the opposite and better system might be followed—

sentences might be made as light as is consisten
with due retribution and public security.

A4:7
61/ elan) ANT,

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Feb. 5

The Queen, accompanied by the Duke and
Duchess Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein, and
Princess Louise, drove out yesterday afternoon.
Her Majesty drove out this morning, accompa-
nied by the Duchess Frederick and Princess Louise.
Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice also went
out.

The Duke and Duchess Frederick took leave a
her Majesty to-day, and left for London.

LATEST INTELL EGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)