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

TJE REPEESSION OF CRIMF.

The annual incethig• of the North Staffordshire
Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society was held a_ day or
two since, under the presidency of the Earl of
Ilarrowby. His lordship said he did not think
there wag a,ny thoroughly satisfactory answer
to the question " What are we to do with our
convicts ?" Crime must be punished, and yet by
the punishment a gulf was placed between
the Tyrisoner a,Tcl a return to honest emnlovnient.

The work done by the ,:taflordshire society in
bridging over this gulf is very satisfactory. During
the past four years 350 discharged prisoners have
been recommended for employment, and only one of
them has robbed his employer. Mr. Melly, M.P.,
said he thought that Government ought to assist
such societies ; and the Earl of Lichfield remarked
that the public were not sufficiently sensible
of the urgency of the criminal question.
There were now in this country 30,000 persons who
had been in prison, and from 2,000 to 3,000 were
yearly added to the number. It was clear that every
effort should be made to reform prisoners,
and the present system of returned convict
surveillance was of no use. To be really effi-
cient the surveillance must be entrusted to a special
police, who would act in conjunction with societies of
this kind. A hope was expressed that Government
would remove sonic of the obstacles in the way of
establishing industrial schools, and that Parliament
would spare some time from party conflicts for the
great social problems of the day.

TIIF. TILER.
If the present weather continues many days longer
we may expect to see the earlier trees in full leaf by
the middle of February. Yesterday morning thether-
mometer in London was nearly at " temperate " by
sunrise. Overhead the sky presented a grand sight
of thin veils of cloud hurled across the face of dense
cloud masses behind, which, in comparison with the
terrific force of the lower stratum, seemed to be sta-
tionary. The denser masses were here and there
reft asunder, and through the fissures the pale-
blue sky could be seen, and now and then a
glimpse of the wan and sickly sun. The trees in
the parka are already exhibiting that green blus:i
which betokens the advent of spring, and such
shrubs as the lilacs are almost in leaf. The grass,
also, is as long as though we were in the early days
of April. On the Continent the cold seems to be
intense both at Vienna and the South of Italy.
From the West of England there are tidings of
great disasters. The sea has washed away a portion
of the South Devon Railway at Dawlish, which nine
years ago suffered a similar fate. A portion of the long
viaduct between Marazion and Penzance, in Mount's
Bay, is also destroyed. Plymouth and the other
ports of Devon and Cornwall have been flooded
by the highest tide known for thirty years. In some
cases there has been loss of life.
VALENTINES.
As the windows of all "fancy " shops sufficiently
attest, the day sacred to St. Valentine is approaching.
Each time the day comes round the cry arises louder
" Stand up and tell us what you're good for ? " The
shops are full of the time-honoured lace paper,
decorated in a variety of ways. What are they good
for ? In these utilitarian days we don't suffer things
to exist that cannot be proved to be good for some-
thing. And it is admitted that there is one thing
very bad about this display in the shop windows.
The fourteenth of February is no longer devoted
to love missives merely. There are an immense
number of painted pictures sold which seem to be
designed to satisfy every kind of vulgar spite. And
the attraction which others offer is their indecency—
" gross, open, palpable." But if these are sup-
pressed, should the sending of the innocent but
useless bits of cardboard and trimmings be
tolerated ? Some of our contemporaries say No,
and are agitating for sensible presents to be
sent on Valentine's Day. But the Daily Nezve
declares it is impossible to estimate the social
value of the custom. "It often tends to pro-
mote reconciliations of the most romantic kind ; it
frequently inaugurates relationships which are
destined to furnish items of intelligence in the
corners of the newspapers interesting to most men
and women. The valentine ought to be favoured by
heads of families. It gives no encouragement to
Platonic compromises. It constantly has the parson
in view, even when heathen accessories before the
fact are indispensable to the allegory."

FOREIGN NOTES,
TURKEY AND GREECE.

Greece is to be allowed eight days to decide whether the
declaration of the Conference is to be accepted. Accord-
ing to the Fable, the Powers have determined not to
tolerate any lengthened silence on the part of the Athens
Government, and if the answer does not arrive within this
limit, silence in this instance will be held to imply a
refusal. But the general belief is that the reply will come
before the expiration of the time, and, according to some
journals, it has already arzived. In case King George's
Government accept the declaration. some Ministerial
modifications will be indispensable.

lIERMANY.

The measure for confiscating the property of the ex-
Elector of Hesse has passed the Prussian Chambers.
According to the Independence Beige, the deposed sove-
reign did not find a single defender., Count Bismarck
made a speech in which he said that a short time ago,
owing to the Ministerial crisis in the Danubian Principa-
lities and other events, peace seemed in jeopardy. But
it had since been Cis-covered that this danger arose only
from the calumnies and intrigues against the Prussian
Government. Abroad speculations were founded—and
unhappily not without reason—on the want of a complete
union of German patriotism. The use that was to be made
of the Elector's pror erty—espionage— was highly neces-
sary, albeit disagreeable. Count Bismarck was not care-
ful in his choice of words. He once imployed the term
"reptiles " iri a sense which must be held to include both
the ex-King of Hanover and the ex-Elector of Hesse.

Qt,:sEN ISABELLA.
flit ex-Queen of Spain paid a visit a day or two ago to
the Tuileries. She went alone, and had a conversation of
some length with the 'inperor Napoleon,during which he
urged that her abdication in favour of her son, the Prince
of the Asturias, was the last chance of regaining Spain to
her family. With much difficulty the fallen sovereign
was induced to give way. Her formal abdication is now
given as an incontestable fact. It comes too late. Before
Alcolea it might have been of some service ; but it is dif-
icult to imagine that it can effect anything now,