The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-09 00:00:00

AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY,
The screw-steamer City of Baltimore, with au"
vices from Philadelphia to the 26th ult. , is off tb°
port.
She brings about $60,000 specie on freight and
100 cabin passengers, among whom is Mr. Mathevil
the late Consul at Philadelphia.

From Athens, under date of July 2, it is stated
that the Minerva newspaper bad been seized fc''',
the publication of a second forgery of a Govern:
meat circular. The Government has requested
the Chambers to grant a pension of 500/. a year to
Count Mavrocordato.

SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION OF CVO

BIRMINGHAM, Tuesday.—At the Birmingham quartet
sessions yesterday, Mr. M. D. Hill, Q.C., the recorder,
observed, in the course of an address to the grand jori'
that the difficulties which stand in the way of convicting
the practised receiver of stolen goods who keeps a she
for taking in this kind of goods have turned the attentiell
of many persons to consider whether a trade of this kind
ought to be permitted to he an open trade, and whetbec
it should not bo controlled and regulated by licence.
there were licences for such shops they should only ""
granted on some condition. No person should receive
a licence unless he could show that be was a respectable
person, by bringing the signatures in his favour of ,
given number of persons—hone 4holders of known honest!
and integrity. Again, it has been proposed that eve/
house should be .so constructed. as not to be out of the
observation of the police, and that the occupiers of thee/
should he requised to keep a hook containing an oc.,
count of the artiieles purchased by them, and the WO'
of those persons who buy them. All this his 'bee°
done in the town of Liverpool. lam informed •(e°,.e,
tinued the recorder) by his worship the mayor, w°A"
sits by my side, dinsthe local bill, which was prepared
to be submitted to Parliament this session, contained
a provision for this object, copied from the local eel
io operation at Liverpool. I regret to find that the
bill
was not prosecuted, as to the cause of which I may ro"
be correctly infortutei, as it is no part of my duty to ob'
tain-an accurate knowledge of such questions; but I'
say that that particudar clause, of the insertion of whiek
l
I am cognisant, front a draft of the bill having been OP:
me, was likely to have been exceedingly useful to the
town of Birmingham, and I regret that the measure 'NAP'
not laid upon the table, of the House Of,Corninons ; and
I trust that on a future occasion it may have,a, Isette.;
late. There is only one further .observation which
have to make, and it is this, that I see no amelioratil
one important particular, and that is, if our treatment
of criminals had been well adapted to reform them,fi-
sh quid not have bad such a list as comes before us to
day.. There are ninev•five prisoners for trial ;a°
with regard to more than one haif of the number Od
are rersons who have previous convictions recorded
agains‘s them, and who consequently have not been de'
terred by the fear of encountering punishment from re'
peating cbeir offences, or reformed by the discipline h
which the v were subjected. Now, gentlemen, the main
reason why the latter object is not attained is this; tbg'
they are not under the control of the prison authoritiel
for a sufficient length of time. How can you expect
person, old or- young, to undergo any decided change 0'
character durisig a fortnight, a month, two months,
three months ?--and until public opinion, instead 01,
complaining of rsorshness when prisoners are committed
for long periods, its led to perceive that it is a kindnelle
even to .the oJentlers, to place them under.circutoci
stances by which their character may be reformed, and
that it is a false ni )tion of kuidsiess to desire that tbel
should be speedily liberated- I tan afraid that until tbl •
conviction forces iti. self upon the public mind, the • duet°
of grand jurors will year by year become more (mercy t
I believe that commitments for short periods are a OP
of education in crime. A prisoner discovers that /03;
prisonment can be better borne than be :imagined, and
finding, when he comet out of prison, that the difficulties
of maintaining himself by honest means we greatly in:
creased, having lost bit, dread of the gaol, and what ':
worse than all, having lost his friends in the lowest
classes of society, and acqu.Sred them amongst those wb°
looked favourably upon him 'l.l proportion as -be bewall,.
more unprinciple 4, sinks lowers into the dep.ths of in':
quity. Sentences must be passed in riccoe•dasice vvit°,
public opinion, and it is often impracticable to rotor,
tss such as would be very humane and sanct.;o.ned hi •
Is,v, because the principle on which they eie amid be
bas ed is not generally recognised, and its partial' .oPerf
Lion would engender the feeling that offences we re I
eisheii, not according to their magnitude, but t the
distinc,ion with which they were ,committed.
year, th.c.l public are becoming mote 'and more sensi fire
on this :object, and punishments are becoming ligh
and light, Ir. lam now an old roan, and have been e
gazed in ti ,e duties of my profession nearly forty years',
and when r contrast the state of punishments, as I firs*
knew them, with what they now are, the change is enor
moue. In to any respects the change has been for the
better, but I think that we are now running into a
dangerous extreme of an oppeSite kind, and that if the
system of light punishmentsis to be persevered in, we
had better have no punishments at all. They neither i
deter nor reform, whereas they have the bad effect of
bringing poor creatures into contact with those who are
',Norse than themselves, and teaching them to pursue
life of crime.
• MARZET NEWS.-4This Day.

CORN EfEETANGE.
A very limited supply of English wheat was on sale is
to-day's market. For most kinds we had a steady demand,
and a good clearance was effected at fully Monday's prices.
Foreign wheat, the 6upply of which was short, sold slowly,
yet the quotations were well Nupported. In floating ear
goes for the continent only a limited business was doing.
Barley and malt were dull, yet prices were maintained:
We had a fair demand for oats, at extreme sates.
Beans, puts, and flour as on Monday.
.. igniVAl:o THIS Waal..
Wheat. Barley. I Malt. Oats.
raiguah 1.210
20 780 570
1
rich .... 3,100
oreign 1 1,030
I
150 I ..... 6,230

;lour.
1,070

BOROUGH HOP.
We have a moderate demand for 311011 L kinds of hops.
In prices no change has taken place.

WHITECHAPEL.

The trade ruled steady, as follows :-I:—Beef from 3s 6d to
Is 6d ; mutton, 3s 10d to 5s 0.1; lamb, 4s 6d to 5a 6cl;
vest, 33 10d to 5s 0,1; pork, 3s 6KI to 4s 8d per 81ba., by
the carcase.

Count Apraxin, Govalior-Geoerai of Siberia, bag
arrived in Paris. His object is said to be to take advice
on the hest and readiest mode of working the gold mines
discovered in that part of the Russian empire.