The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-20 00:00:00

TOUNG MEN'S CHRIS'

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRft 20, 1869.

211ISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

man on strike can stusist, umy uy piunuvring vnacio
shops, and is in a manner obliged to do the greatest
damage to his employer in the shortest time by
destroying his work." Moreover, Mr. Neate points
out that before the existence of trades unions—
during the time of the Luddites in 1816, for
example—the same disorders happened in England.

o
fIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA.
On the reass'e mbling of the Melbourne Parliament,
which took place on February 11th, Mr. McCulloch for-
mally announced.' that increased efforts were about to be
made to promote ,immigration. It is proposed to appoint
a small staff of w Nl-informed agents to labour in Eng-
land in connection- with the agency of the colony in the
organisation of .a select immigration, such as will not
swamp the labour market, and will introduce some little
capital, as well asAone and sinew, into the colony. In
connection with 12iis proposed effort to revive immigra-
tion, tenders for,' a monthly steam service between
England and •Triamia rid the Cape of Good
Hope have been called for. The Argus hopes that
the service may be so arranged as to counter-
balance the gregt advantage which Canada derives
from her proximity to Englani. The Australian Govern-
ment may, however, rest assured that a system of free
passages will al,-rie surmount this difficulty. Emigrants
will not readily undertalze a voyage of two or three
months when al-,and of Promise lies within a few days'
steam.

CRI.IIE IN NEW YORK.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

Various causes have combined to foster and en-
courage crime in the large cities of America, more
especially in New York. The Tribune of that city
draws attention to the increase of crime as a fact
well calculated to cause alarm, and we transcribe
the figures that our readers may judge for them-
selves :

Disposed of Unnaccounted
Offences. Arrested. in the Courts. for.
Assault, felonious 712 24 688
Arson 65 2 63
Bigamy l3 1 12
Burglary
Forgery ll3 24 89
Larceny, grand 2,413 317 2,066
Murder 7B 15 63
Picking pockets 303 21 279
Receiving stolen goods 255 3 252
Robbery l3O 11 119

Total 4,712 605 4,107
As long as this state of things continues it will be idle to
look for a diminution of crimes of violence. Heavy sen-
tences do some good, but they will not prove very effica-
cious when hardly one case in eight is ever tried. The
police, the judges, and the district attorney must all co-
operate. Out of 78 arrests for murder, only 15 cases got
as far as the courts. Out of 13 persons arrested for bigamy,
one was tried. Out of 65 cases of arson, only two were
tried. Of the pestiferous brood of receivers of stolen
goods there were 255 arrests and only three trials ; and so
on to the end.
Although crime in New York City has increased
in the greatest ratio, still the causes which have
produced the effect there have not been without
their effect elsewhere in the Union. We think it was
the Spectator which, last Saturday, stated, on the
authority of an Amerimn in high office, that if a
millionaire in New York even committed a murder
under the state of things existing there, he could
not be punished, as no jury could be got to
agree in its Finding. Railway corporations are
said to own judges, body and bones, who work cer-
tain Courts in their interests; and if in Equity,
why not in criminal proceedings? If corruption
thrives in the municipal bodies, it is not unlikely to
spread to the Legislature ; and if the Governor,
Senate, and Representatives can be influenced in
their official action by money, the Judges may be
induced to sell decisions. Such an example is but
too eagerly followed by subordinates, and by an
easy stage, the rascals become masters of the situa-
tion. Bad as is the case, as put by the Tribune, it
represents but one phase. Out of 4,712 arrests,
but 607 cases were disposed of in the courts, and it
would be interesting to trace these to conviction
and punishment. If the Tribude would follow
this out, the reason why men threaten to organize
Vigilance Committees for the suppression of crime
in New York City would be understood in Eng-
land. First, there is the attempt to convict; in
which, in accordance with the Anglo-Saxon code,
every difficulty isplaced in the way. Raving succeeded
in establishing the guilt of the criminal, so that
it could not be ignored by judge or jury, and
procured a sentence, it might be supposed that
there that case ends. Not a bit of it ; as
yet but one scene of the drama has closed.
The moment the culprit is incarcerated his friends
—and they are a powerful body the criminal classes
of New York, bound together by a common danger
and a common cause—begin to work for a pardon.
The Governors of all States, as well as the PRESI-
DENT, have absolute power to pardon those con-
victed within their jurisdiction. The first step is
to draw up a petition, narrating facts not allowed
as evidence or disproved on the trial, spicing it well
with such sentiment as the heart-broken wife and
starving children stigmatized with a father's crime
there is reason even to believe the father never com-
mitted. The counsel then sends this round for sig-
natures,which are readilyprocurable, if the sentimen-
tal part has been skilfully pictured, and the evidence
disproved on the trial well recooked. Armed with the
memorial the Governor or the PRESIDENT is be-
sieged; a haggard wife, weeping children, the mother
tottering under the blow to her grave, play their
parts ; and the Executive, being but responsible
for a
_short period, feeling the full force of the
torrent, and finding plausible reasons for doubting,
the verdict of the jury, grants the pardon. It ap-
pears, then, that most criminals in the great cities
of America have two trials, the one with all the
advantages English or American law gives the
criminal, the other a trial from which the prosecutor
is excluded, wherein the evidence is wholly ex
parte, nothing being heard against the convicted
felon, and based mainly on sentiment. Supposing
that the sentenced thief fails in both, still as
an English song has it, he " is not without hopes of
liberation." In some of the gaols the prisoners are
said to be masters of the position. At Sing Sing
they do very much what they like ; even the oc-
casional brutality of the officers towards them
going to prove this. Last month they rose in an
organized attempt to escape from the prison of
Sing Sing, and many did escape, though they
were recaptured. Two or three days before,
three prisoners had walked out of the gaol at
Trenton, New Jersey, and were not retaken. A
few days after three more left Allentown Prison,
Pennsylvania, and the same day a woman took her
departure from the female department of the Sing
Sing prison, and went on her way rejoicing; while

a new keeper, who did not know how civil he ought

_ •
to be to the prisoners, was so beaten by them that
his life was only preserved by the interference of

the superintendent. Not long ago a political meet-
ing was held in one of these prisons to give expres-

sion to the political feeling of the community. Take
REAL'S case, who was sentenced to ba hung on the
2d inst. This man deliberately shot a policeman.
He was incarcerated in the Tombs, shortly before

he committed the murder, awaiting his trial for
assault and battery on the man whose life he after-

wards took.

District-Attorney HALL, with the

concurrence of the judges, refused to bail him, and
being about to proceed to Canada he wrote on his
direction slate, " Don't bail REAL, for if he gets
out he threatens to kill SMEDICK " (the policeman.)
This memorandum was shown to the County Judge
when bail was applied for on Habeas Corpus, but
he set it aside, and REAL was bailed, who, on leav-
ing the prison said to the keeper, " I only want to
get out for a few days to kill SMEDICK ;" and kill
SMEDICK he did, deliberately shooting that police-
man when on duty. It might be supposed that
little could be said on behalf of a murder so preme-
ditated ; yet, Governor HOFFMAN, who is showing
admirable qualifications for the high post he fills, has
had to withstand a great pressure--memorials, peti-
tions, supplications innumerable for REAL's pardon.
Nor that only; the life of the judge, who passed
sentence, is openly threatened, and Sheriff
O'BRIEN is reported to have said that he will not
hang REAL if he can help it. Up to the last,
motions were made to stay proceedings, so
that every legal subtilty might be exhausted
in favour of this deliberate murderer, after every
attack on the Governor had been unsuccessful
and every demonstration of New York rowdies had
failed, The policeman was murdered last July,

I was toldl should be a son of the Queen, and I am lying
under her eet. will always be a soldier of the Queen.
You European }people, I tell you if Tee Kooti and Tito
Kowara are rtilled there will be peace, but if not there will
always be strifft." Vhe two gentlemen last named are the
rebel leaders. Aftrm- this piece of good advice the worthy
legislator conclude d with a song. All this is, no doubt,
very able and six Sere, but it does not quite prove that
the New Zealand ar is yet up to administrative mark.