The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-25 00:00:00

TITE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 25, 1869

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LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1869.

The difference between the habitual and the pro-
fessional criminal, it may seem, at a superficial
glance, is rather difficult to define. The defini-
tion of that difference may, to put it in other
words, appear to involve a very nice distinction. It
will be recognized, however, after a moment's con-
sideration, that there is a readily traceable line of
demarcation between those two offenders against the
law. The habitual criminal so called may after all—
supposing him to have been already twice or thrice
convicted —a criminal quite casually, as one may say,
or by accident— a criminal, to put it otherwise,
simply by yielding to temptation. His antecedents,
apart from the offences brought home to him, may
admit of the keenest examination. Destitution or evil
company may have led him to his first offence, may
lead him to the repetition of it once, or twice, or even
more frequently. The professional criminal is alto-
gether different. Spawned in the midst of crime and
squalor—" dragged up," rather than " brought up,"
to apply to them with peculiar force the pathetic
remark made by CHARLES LAMB in regard to the
children of the very poor—nurtured on the fruits of
felony—tutored, in the use of language, from their
earliest years by thieves' slang, intermingled with
perpetual oaths and blasphemies—these professional
criminals, the roughs of our towns, the tramps on our
highways, prey upon the rest of the community, not
intermittently, not accidentally, but sytetuatictlly
and by rule. They are known here in Lon-
don every man of them, every woman,
boy, and girl—to the police of the metro-
polis—known by name, or rather by names,
for they are prolific in the alias—known by form and
face—known in all their haunts and hab:ts. The
difference, to speak familiarly, is not that be-
tween six and half-a-dozen, but that between
chalk and cheese. It is a distinction,
moreover, that it is now most incum-
bent upon the Legislature we should have as
clearly and as rapidly defined as possible. .And for
this simple reason, that, within a very few days, the
Habitual Criminals Bill will be formally brought
under discussio❑ in Parliament. The very title of that
measure is its principal flaw —it is the " head and
front of its offending." The suppression of syste-
matic crime by more stringent penalties—that is the
main object of the intended enactment. It is a pur-
pose, in the reasonableness of which we can all of us
very heartily sympathise. But the designation of the
bill is—after what has here been just now remarked—
quite clearly and obviously a misnomer. What is
meant by that title is i❑ reality far rather the Profes-
sional Criminals Bill than the Habitual Criminals Bill.
In any case, the distit:c►ion ought to be more clearly
defined than it is, both in the heading and iu the body
of the Lill itself. Otherwise, there will be immi-
nent ri,k through it of a miscarriage of justice.
What we are here insisting upon has been very
clearly and emphatically set forth by the learned
Recorder of Portsmouth in his recent charge to the
Grand Jnry. " The promoters of the bill," said Mr.
Sergeant Cox--,--" made a great mistake, because,
contrary to the experience of those whose duty
it was to administer the law, it assumed that
the habitual was necessarily a professional
Speaking as a Middlesex Magistrate, he said that his
experience, when presiding over the Session of that
county, had demonstrated to him that out of all
those tried before him, there, only one-fifth could
be classed as professional criminals. How preju-
dicially the proposed Bill would be likely to act in
regard to the non-professional class of criminals
the learned Sergeant thus signifiointly shadowed
forth—'` If," said be to the grand jury of Porte-
utli, speaking in his judicial c.ipacity as Recorder,
"a person was brought before them—whether man,
woman, or child--who could not be regarded as a
professional thief, but who, it turned out-, had
been thrice previously convicted, lie was quite
sure that when it was known that a less punish-
ment than seven ye.trs' penal servitude could not
be awarded, there would be a great objection to
prosecute, there would be a greater reluctance on
the part of juries to convict, and there would be a
still greater reluctance on the part of a judge to
pass a sentence which was altogether uncalled for by
the nature and circumstances of the case." It is really,
after all, a question as to a minim•.im of seven
years or a minimum of three—of penal servitude.
Judges ought to be allowed discretionary power as to
the amount of punishment they are authorised to im-
pose on the prisoners brought before them and con-
victed by the verdict of the jury. In the midst of
the very noticeable silence maintained by our judicial
authorities in regard to the Habitual Utiminals Bill,
we are thankful to the learned Recorder of Ports-
mouth for directing attention betimes to the unques-
tionable anomalies of the bill prior to its coming for-
mally, as it is arranged to do, within a very few days
from the present moment, under the scrutiny of the
Imperial Legislature.

FIFTY years ago this week there was born an infant
who, though " only a girl," was destined to sit on one
of the most illustrious thrones in the world. Two
years before that the nation had been plunged into the
most profound grief by the sudden death of the
Princess who was looked upon as the future Queen
of England. That death led to three royal
marriages. The fruit of one of them was the child
who first saw light in Kensington Palace, May 24,1819.
There was trouble in store for the babe. Before she
was a year old she lost her father, after a few days'
illness. The death of EDWARD Duke of Kent was
followed within a week by that of his father,
King GEORGE 111. Thus there remained
but one generation between this unweaned child
and the Crown. Yet it all but came to
pass that she never wore that crown. While
at Woymoutb, during her first year, a care-
less boy fired off a gun, and the shot breaking
through the nursery window, passed" close to the
little Princess. Two kings succeeded that child's
grandfather. Both of them were advanced in
years; both of them it was known could not
reign long ; and so the keenest interest was
felt in the maiden who was growing up from
childhood into womanhood. She led a simple
life ; and, while well-educated, was not bound by the
stunting swathes of excessive etiquette. Often she
would take an early meal in the garden in front of
Kensington Palace, and the morning stroller through
the Gardens would see the royal child sitting with
book on lap, or work in hand. Petwecn her and her
uncle, King WILLIAM, there was not, as we have
learnt from herself, any great amount of cordiality.
She was early attached to the cousin whom
she afterwards married ; but the KING, for
reasons not assigned, impeded the development
of that attachment. Cne morning in the height
of summer there lvere early callers at Kensington
Palace. It was but five o'clock when the Archbishop
of CANTIBBVIiY, the Earl of ALEEMIARI.E, and Sir
lIENnY lIALFonn, the physician. arrived. The
PRII`:CFS.S was fast asleep, but their business would
admit of no delay. They came with important nem,.
They came to salute Queen VICTORIA. " The King
is dead. Long live the Queen ! "
_ _

It must have been a solemn moment for the young
girl. Had this news come but six months sooner
she would have had the help of a regent to introduce
her into her new duties. Not a month had passed
since she attained her majority, and all the burden of

royalty must now be borne by those young shoulders.
A few hours later there gathered together in that
quaint, ugly palace which had been' her childhood's
home the Prime Minister (Lord MELBOURNE)
and more than a hundred peers, who came to swear
allegiance. The first to sign it was the Duke of
CUMBERLAND. He came to do homage to the crown
won, and yet in him the QUEEN saw a crown lost.
For more than a hundred years the Crowns of Eng-
land and Hanover had been worn by the same persons.
But Hanover would not be ruled by a woman, and
so for the first time since the accession of the House
of BRUNSWICK the Crowns were to be separated, and
the Duke of CUMBERLAND was tc take the lesser
one. We cannot help speculating as to what would
have been the result if this hcd not happened.
Would BISMARCK have cast his covetous eyes upon
the Electorate if the Queen of lI:NOLAND had also
been Electress of HANOVER ? Would he have won
the battle of Langensalza if he had had to encounter
not only British troops but a British navy ? Would
he have fought it ? However that may be, great
were the rejoicings at the termination of the old
union. It had never been popular in England from
the time that the English courtiers, who knew no
German, were compelled to translate into Latin for the
benefit of the first GEORGE, who knew no English,
the directions for the coronation in the Abbey nearly
a century and a quarter before. As for the new-
made Queen, she may well have felt that her duties
as Sovereign over the British islands, over half of
India, and over the colonial empire, which was vast
even then, were sufficient for her, and that to be spared
the exposure to continental collisions which her govern-
ment of the German State might have involved was a
real relief. " The awful responsibility" she said, at
her first council, "is imposed upon me so suddenly,
and at so early a period of my life, that I should feel
myself utterly oppressed by the burden, were I not
sustained by the hope that the Divine Providence
which has called me to this work will give me
strength for the performance of it, and that I shall
find in the purity of my intentions, and zeal for the
public welfare that support and those resources which
usually belong to a more mature age and long ex-
perience." The next day there was a formal procla-
mation of the QUEEN'S accession at St. James's
Palace, and among the most vigorous to cheer her,
conspicuous even in that enthusiastic crowd, was a
man destined afterwards to give her no little
trouble—DANlEL O'CONNELL, the "Liberator."
Then came the dissolution which always follows
the demise of the Crown; a useless arrangement now,
since the Sovereign no longer chooses her advisers,
but has them chosen for her by the popular voice.
Mr. DISRAELI has described in his cleverest
novel how TAPER and TADPOLE, in want
of a " cry " for the hustings, hit upon
" Our young Queen and our old institutions."
In spite of their cry, TAPER and TALPOLE did not
prosper. The young QUEEN had a strong partiality
for the Whigs. Their leader, Lord 11IELBOURNE,
had been her guide, philosopher, and friend. A
little later, when the great bed-chamber controversy
arose, and Sir ROBERT PEEL could not
form a Ministry because he could not
reorganise the QuEEN's Ladies in Waiting,
it became the fashion of the Conservative
party to denounce the QUEEN with as much
vehemence as the former denouncers of O'CONNELL,
are now demanding the repeal of the Union. A little
later a conciliator appeared in the person of a youth,
strikingly handsome, and very accomplished, though
not a bit of a Tory. This youth became, while still
under age, the husband of the QUEEN)
and it was he
who, in great measure, taught her to suppress all
political partialities, and to shew equal graciousness
to both the two great parties in the State.
In 1817 it really seemed as if heirs to the throne
would die out. GEORGE 111. had had a numerous
family ; yet he had seen but one grandchild
grow up to adolescence, and she was then lying
dead, with her dead baby by her side. Twenty-
three years later all fear on that score was set at rest
by the news that the QUEEN expected to give birth
to an heir. In nine months from the time of her
marriage she saw her firstborn, and within a year of
the daughter's birth she gave birth to the son who
has now grown up to s four children of his own,
besides nephews and nieces past counting. That
England will want an heir of the House of Brunswick
seems humanly impossible, at all events within
any such period as monarchical government
is likely to continue. But though the QUEEN
has this consolation, it cannot make up to her for the
loss which has darkened the last seven years of her
life. She has not lost one of her children—only one
of her children's children has died ; but death has
taken him who was not only husband, but guide and
counsellor, him whom she might address in terms
as touching as those with which ANDROMACHE, bade
farewell to HECTOR. It is under these circumstances
that the QUEEN has withdrawn in great part from
public life. She still performs the duties which none
but the Sovereign can perform ; but those which
any member of the Royal house can fulfil, and which
can, perhaps, be better performed by one who is young
in years, she has transferred to her son. It is under
these circumstances that the QUEEN spends her
fiftieth birthday in seclusion among the Highlands.
It is under these circumstances that the Royal
jubilee year will pass unmarked by fitting fes-
tivities, and probably forgotten by the great bulk of
the QUEEN'S subjects.

A court-martial assembled on board her Majesty's
ship Duke of Wellington yesterday morning for
the trial of Mr. Benjamin Freeman, engineer
of the Warrior, on a charge of being drunk on
board the slip on the 30th of April. The
Court was composed of Captains Courtenay,
Lord Lilford, Wilinshurst, Lacey, Godenough,
and Lethbridge, with the assistance of Mr.
G. Hoskins, the officiating Judge-Advocate.
Captain B )ya prosecuted, and Mr. Harvey,
of Portsea, appeared as the prisoner's " friend."
The prisoner, in his defence, denied the charge, and
alleged that his excitable appearance was attribu-
table to the fact that he had just found some money
orders for a considerable amount which he thought
he had lost. The Court, however, considered the
charge proved, and adjudged him to lose three
years' seniori`y, to be dismissed the ship, and
severely reprimanded.

AFitICAN EXPLORATION.—Miss Alexandre Tinne
the Dutch lady who became so well known a few years
ago as an African explorer, bas, according to letters re-
ceived at Malta Tripoli, reached 11.ourzouk in safety, and
was awaiting tho chief of the Tarouks to escort her and
her numerous retinue to the starting post of the annual
caravan for Soudan. Mist, Tinne recently imputed into
Barbary a velociF,de of the latest Parisian manufacture;
but finding it not adapted for the sands of the Great Desert,
she presented it to the Pasha of Tripoli.

AN IMMENSE FISH.—On Saturday last, -while
some fishermen were crossing that portion of land in Lin-
colnshire known as the " Wash," which has very recently
been flooded from the very heavy rains that have fallen,
they noticed a very large fish opposite the vicarage atCow-
bit, a village on the border of this huge lake. They at once
set to work and succeeded in capturing an immense stur-
geon, over eight feet and a half in length, and weighing
more than 14 stones. They wore unable to manage it, and
it had consequently to be shot. It was carted to Sp tiding
and there exhibited—the owners, who are only poor fisher-
men, clearing a very handsome amount by the exhibition.
It is many years since so large a fish has been discovered
in that direction.
SHIELDS, Monday Evening.--The weather has
undergone a pleasant change on the north coast to-clay.
The wind is well round from the west, and there is a con-
siderable rise of temperature. The wintry chills and
no7th- east winds which have lingered so long into the
month of \ray seem to be gone.
Menielssobn's " Elijah" will he given for the list
t'ine this season, at Exeter-hall, by the National Choral
Society, on Wednesdiy„Tutie 2. Miss Arabella, Smyth,
Miss Palmer, Mr. G. Perron, and Mr. Lauder will to the
principal vocalists ; conductor, Mr G. W. Martin.
August Siegrist, a young rope-walker, rode on a
velocipede over a 1-in. rope, 220 ft. long, at an elevation of
20ft. above the lake, in the City Gardens of San Ft an-
cisco. A high wind was blowing at the time, and endea-
vours were made to persuade him todefer the experiment,
but without succ,ss. The wheels of the machine were
grooved, but at the first trial he fell into the water, but the
second time he rode across. On the 29th ult., at Boston,
Master John Reardon is reported to have driven a velo-
cipede over a rope, the wheels being grooved. lie went
back and forwards several times.

TR- E neLsli- c_uu.nca,

The Globe takes up the question, "What will the Lords
lo with the Irish Church Bill ? " Our contemporary raises
it " not for the purpose of definitely anticipating the course
which the Upper House of Legislature will take, but in
the conviction that the circumstances under which the
measure comes before the Peers, and the relation in which
they stand to the actual Government of this great
empire, have not received precisely the right sort of con-
sideration." The Lords, we are told, " have to
cast a balance between the arguments which may be
urged against the bill, and the incidental pheno-
mena from which its upholders mainly derive
their strength. That balance they will cast in
a spirit of conscientious solicitude for the abid-
ing welfare of the country. They are most
critically Vaced, and should be protected from the
insolence of dictation and the terror of irrelevant con-
sequences. They will decide this case, we may be
quite sure, in no narrow party interest, and under the
bias of no short-sighted excitement. They will raise
themselves to a lofty height, where, free from the petur-
bations of current controversy, always too much em-
bittered by class prejudice or political passion, they may
be able to exercise the noblest of all attributes—that of a
perfectly judicial statesmanship."
The Echo says It is quite certain that the .1-Teuse of
Lords has not yet made up its mind what to do with the
Irish Church Bill- Not the most extreme section hopes
to save the Irish Establishment, but they would, if they
could, talk the measure into next year."