The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TILE, PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Times remarks that the secret history of trades or
professions is always a popular topic, and recently the
ground has been explored to very good purpose in the dis-
cussions respecting the treatment of professed criminals.
We know a great deal more about the habits, practices,
and careers of professed thieves than we knew some
months ago, and though our mode of dealing
with them is still uncertain, the accumulation
of facts is likely to be useful. We do not
see, indeed, what more can be required in the
way of information, especially as nobody has thrown any
doubt upon the facts on which the question was raised.
Here, in the midst of us, in tolerably well-known numbers,
are these professed and undisguised criminals—men who
do, indeed, attempt to screen themselves from observation
in the very act of crime, but who attempt not the slightest
concealment of their " tendencies" or pursuits—what are
we to do with them ? At present, it seems, we allow a clever
practitioner to ply his trade for three months, at an average
rate of four thefts a week, until we arrest him, and
then, after a term of detention, we turn him loose to take
another spell on terms still more favourable. That system
has been at length condemned as intolerable, but what
system is to be substituted for it? It bespeaks the diffi-
culty of the case when even our friend Mr. Measor
cannot reconcile himself to one of the alternatives sug-
gested. He thinks it very hard that a man "with
a prison character " should be accused of crime
simply because he cannot find honest work. This

is putting the case in rather mild words. A "prison
character" means a man or boy who has been not less
than twice convicted We venture to think that
such a person may, without much injustice, be put under
certain disabilities ; but, even on Mr. Measor's own sup-
position, he could hardly suffer much wrong. Let us
imagine that on the strength of his " prison character"
he is arrested by the police, brought before a magistrate,
and interrogated as to his means of subsistence. He
replies that he has no honest work, having been unable to
find any. But how, then, does he subsist at all ? If he is
found starving or destitute, that of itself would be a pre-
sumption of his not being still a thief—the only question
before the court. If, on the other hand, he has been
suffering no privation, whence did he obtain his living?
It seems to us that the attempt to discover cases of hard-
ship under the proposed system has been singularly un-
successful, though we still maintain that even if such risks
existed they might be counterbalanced by the rightful
claims of society.
The Standard attributes the present agitation respectin6
the cession of Gibraltar to an unusual dearth of political
news, since the subject is curiously inappropriate to the
time. What principle of public justice, it is asked, or
what sentiment of equity, will be served by our giving
Gibraltar to the Spaniards ? We have paid its value ten
times over to Spain, and where is our reward ? It is urged
that we ought not to insult the patriotic sentiment of Spain
by retaining our hold on Spanish territory. But even if we
allow that Spain has a better moral right to Gibraltar than
England has, are we to consider the patriotic sentiment of
each of our neighbours to the extent of giving back to
every one the conquests we have made ? In that case it is
clear that we cannot stop at Gibraltar. We are bound to
abandon Canada to the French, the Cape of Good Hope
and Ceylon to the Dutch, Trinidad also to the Spaniards,
Singapore to the Malays, New Zealand to the Maories,
Hong-Kong to the Chinese, the Punjaub to his Highness
Dhuleep Singh. There is a still better argument for restor-
ing Jersey to France. Nay, it is certain that we ought not
to hold Ireland ; that the possession of Wales is an insult
to the Celtic inhabitants, and our title to Cornwall only
moderately equitable. If we are to retain nothing but
what is not desired by some of our neighbours—nothing
but what is not an insult, an offence, or a menace to ome
One, we shall hardly escape with our thirty;nine counties.
If through the advance in military science, or a change in
the circumstances of the Mediterranean, or from any other
cause, Gibraltar has ceased to be as valuable to us as a
fortress-seaport as it once was, that is no sufficient reason
for giving it up to others, who may or may not be able
to make it of more worth to themselves. If Gibraltar
is still a place the possession of which is of usa in
time of war, we shall best consult the peace of Europe
by keeping it in our own hands. Whatever our enemies
or rivals may say of us, we are unquestionably the least
aggressive and the least warlike of all the European,
Powers. We have no ambitious designs against any oil
our neighbours ; we have nothing to desire of any one 4,..
them, and have no thought or hope of territorial aggran-
disement at their expense. For this reason, therefore,
unless better cause can be shewn than any which has
hitherto been produced, Gibraltar is safer in our hands
than in the hands of anyone else---safer not for European
interests only, but for the interests of European peace
and harmony.

The Daily News remarks that' the old Liberal policy for
Ireland, which Mr. Gladstone has been the first to make
his own, is already producing peaceful and harmonising
effects. The shadow thrown before, which was substan-
tial enough to eject Mr. Disraeli from office, has had
strength to disarm and divide the two rival powers which
have struggled for ascendancy in Ireland. T_Tltramon-
tanism is melting away in the prospect of equal justice
to all churches. From the beginning it has been an
affair of the Court of Rome, and of the influence which
the Court of Rome can exert. Speaking of public opinion
in Ireland, as shewn by recent events, it observes that
the election of Mr. Johnson, member for Belfast, to the
office of Grand Master of his lodge, and of the Rev. Dr.
Drew to the post of Grand Chaplain, both gentlemen
being champions of tenant-right in its extremest
form, is a very remarkable phenomenon. Political
democracy and ecclesiastical ascendancy are principles
which cannot be long held hi the same mind. On every
question except that of tho Church, Orange democracy
and English Radicalism are at one. On the Church
question, Mr. Disraeli, in conniving at the principle of
Roman Catholic endowment, has materially helped the
process of conversion. If Orangemen have to choose
between the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church
and the dis-establishment of the Anglican Church in Ire-
land—and to this issue, as they begin to perceive, matters
have at length come they will have no difficulty in
making up their minds. The elections in Belfast,
Londonderry, Newry, and other centres of Protestant
feeling in Ulster, are indications of opinion which cannot
be mistaken, except by those who are solicitous to be in
the wrong.

The Herald says that in every point of view tne vivy
Arab is a very unpleasant person. He has all the evil
characteristics of his Eastern prototype, without any of
his redeeming features. Happily, the days when society
heard these things and yet passed by on the other side
have gone, we trust, for ever. The indifference begotten
of culpable ignorance with which the degradation of vast
masses of the population was formerly regarded exists no
longer. The agencies and efforts with which the name of
Lord Shaftesbury is so honourably identified have borne
and are bearing fruit. Such a meeting as that held last
Tuesday in Great Queen-street assures us of better things
than the City Arabs of the past could ever have dreamed
of. Serjeant Cox, the member for Taunton, presided
over a dinner party, select enough in a certain sense,
though not exactly that in which we should apply the
term to an assemblage of diners at the far-famed hotel in
the same neighbourhood. The guests were 160 boys and
girls who not so very long ago were on the high road to
ruin, but who have been gathered into the refuges
for homeless and destitute children which have
been provided by a society specially established for
the purpose. And these 160 were but the representatives
of nearly 500 whom the society has at present on its hands,
At Ealing it has fifty-five weaklings whom it is trying tv
build up into strong and sturdy workers by country air and
country fare. At Broad-street it has fifty-six girls, and at
Great Queen-street 160 boys, all of whom are being trained,
for honest business in life ; while in its school ship, the
Chichester, it has no fewer than 190 lads in course of prepa.
ration for the sea.

The Star comments upon the speech recently deliverer;
by Mr. G. Trevelyan on his being re-elected for the
Border Burghs. It says that the subordinate members of
a Government are precluded from speaking very often,
and Mr. Trevelyan doubtless had an eye to future reticence
when he made his bold speech. Had he been discreet
would have avoided all allusion to the Horse Guards, at,),,
least in a direct manner, and contented himself with genaq
ralities. He has, however, made himself master of the,
subject, and spoken out with great earnestness. He
declares that the Minister for War and his principal
subordinates have a terrible task before them because two
tremendous influences are opposed to them—the influence
of the aristocracy and the influence of the court. Follow-
ing upon this he remarks that it is not desirable that "
royal duke should be placed permanently in such
position as that of Commander-in-Chief." Upon this th
Star observes that it unquestionably is not to the publie-
advantage that the Commander-in-Chief should be a per-
manent official, and his rank so exalted as to render him
practically irresponsible. The illustrious Prince Consort ,
never exhibited a truer perception of the relation in which
a member of the Royal Family should stand towards
the country than when, refusing to yield to an honourable
ambition, he steadfastly declined to accept the position
of Commander-in-Chief. The objections in his case
were greater than those which can fairly be urged
against the Duke of Cambridge. But it is only a ques-
tion of degree. The principle involved is identical ;
for as a matter of fact the Duke is not responsible to
Parliament, and cannot be superseded like a minister or
any other servant of the Crown. In making these remarks
we do not wish to say one word that is disrespectful of his
Royal Highness. He is a frank and gallant aaltlier, who
has won the good will of theration ; but the public have
a right to demand that every office in the State shall be
filled by the most competent men, and the Horse Guards
especially thoroughly subordinated to the department
whose Minister, in the person of Mr. Cardwell, is respon- j
sible, from his place in Parliament, to the taxpayers of the
United Kingdom.