The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-17 00:00:00

produce harmony is a question that must be left for
the now rapidly approaching session of 1866 to

solve.

The proposal to afford aid to discharged prisoners
is one of those difficult questions of social life Nchich
are important in themselves, and yet which are very
apt to give rise to misconception, and create doubts
and misgivings in the minds of well-informed per-
sons. Lord STANLEY'S able remarks on the subject
the other day are well worthy of consideration, and
tend to clear away the mists which envelope the
matter. The noble lord presided at a meeting in
the Manchester Town-hall, to promote the forma-
tion of a Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society in that
district, and his remarks appeared to give general
satisfaction. The purpose in view may be thus
summarily put forward : its object is to afford
temporary aid to discharged prisoners, and to assist
them, if willing, to find honest employment. It
stands to sense that this is a most desirable thing to
do, and that it is only strange that more has not
been done in this respect before. Few positions can
be more deplorable than that of a man set loose
upon the world with no prospect of honest employ-
ment ; indeed, his fate may be compared to that of
the man described in Scripture, who found his house
swept and garnished and knew not what to do, and
whose last state was worse than the first. A re-
lapse in crime, like everything else, is generally
worse than the original malady, and it is the
bounden duty of society to provide against the
probability, and in some cases the certainty, of these
unfortunate beings falling again into the ways of
evil. Lord STANLEY explained the case in that
clear and comprehensive manner in which he al-
ways sets to work in discussing these subjects.
Those who take too " hopeful or rose-coloured" a
view of our actual civilisation are recommended to
study the late judicial statistics, and they will
certainly find in those records that crime abounds
among us. The number of committals have in-
creased since 18G1, and although, as Lord STANLEY
says, " we must take into account the increase of
population, and the greater efficiency of the police,
still it is evident that there is no considerable falling
off in the amount of detected crime."
Many causes combine to foster this inauspicious
state of things, and the moralist and philosopher
may alike regret the numerous tacit encouragements
which our highly civilised and wealthy country
affords to crime. While so many are passing their
lives from the cradle to the grave, apart from all
the restraining influences and deterring motives
which draw men back and hold them aloof from
evil, how can we feel surprise, and why should we
not expect that sad and serious consequences must
ensue? The inhabitants of Manchester have not been
behind hand in discharging their duties in many im-
portant respects ; yet, as the noble lord reminded
his hearers, recent inquiries have shown that many
thousands, some estimate to the number of
fifty thousand children, are neither at work nor
at school. "Of these," said he, "we must expect
that a certain proportion will turn out badly, and my
only consolation is that the number is not greater."
Those who are able and willing to understand the
full and important significance of these great social
questions will appreciate the truth and force of
the noble lord's remark when he said, " It is the
empty school, and the home which is no home,
which make the full prison." Those who push
away the whole subject of crime and criminals
as too low for their contemplation and too base
for their study are not likely to trouble themselves
about the relative connection between ignorance
and crime, but all who dwell upon the subject must
comprehend the fearful risk that we run in allowing
so much ignorance to be rife among us.
Lord STANLEY spoke from his own personal ex-
perience of Kirkdale when he said that of some
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tence as chairman of the sessions, the great
majority of the prisoners with whom he had to do
had been for all " practical purposes" untaught.
It is an exception when you find a pri-
soner who is otherwise. From this fact Lord
STANLEY draws the conclusion that it is a hopeful
sign rather than otherwise, and he certainly makes
out his case very successfully. It would be, as he
says, still more unsatisfactory than it is, if criminals,
taken as a class, were men or women who " had
had good chances in life, and thrown those chances
away voluntarily." In order that misapprehension
or misrepresentation should not arise, the noble lord
explained the object of the society. The criminals
may be divided into three classes. Firstly, boys
and girls who ought to be provided for under the
reformatory acts ; next, the old habitual offenders,
who have taken thieving for their occupation, and
very likely will do .so to the end of their
lives ; and thirdly, that class which has yielded
to sudden temptation rather than deliberately
planned to commit offences. The second
class, the old gaol-birds, are better let alone, Lord
STANLEY thinks, and most people will agree with
him, because the chance of improvement with such

is small.
The class which the noble lord considers the
most deserving assistance is that which has gone
wrong from chance or misfortune rather than from
design. We can readily imagine what a city of
refuge such a society as this . would be to a
wretched criminal coming out of prison, and almost
helpless to provide for himself. It is dreadful in every
view of the question to let such a weak, wavering indi-
vidual fall back into evil ways, and yet what else is

likely to occur if we let him alone ? Society in
general shun such characters ; the world puts
its veto on them, and yet they are told
to work. Too readily do they seek the wages
of sin, and hasten to that employment
which needs no character to fall back upon. As

the noble lord said, it its not right to say that by
thus affording assistance you are putting a erisni-

nal in a better position than an honest labourer,
because there is no want of employment for able-

bodied honest men nowadays. The object of this

society is to " guard against the risks of temptation
that attend a man just turned out of gaol neces-

sarily without a character, or rather with such a
character that. to be without one would be

a gain to him, and with such a set of rascals
around him who will try to get him back

among them. " Who can ponder over
such a purpose, and declare that it is not a

wise and good one, morally and socially, alike

calculated to prevent the spread of evil and to

protect the interest and well-being of society. As
the noble lord emphatic Elly stated a large criminal

class among us is a national disgrace and a heavy loss.

It has been calculated that every habitual thief costs
the public £3OO a year, so that political economists

need not call those sums expended in vain which go
to support such societies and institutions as seek to

reclaim offenders, and to provide employment for

those who get none owing to their sad position. It
is encouraging to find that in London and Bir-

mingham it has been found from the last reports

of similar societies there that " fully two-thirds of

those who have been selected for assistance are

known to be earning their lives honestly."

Such a testimony to the value and efficiency of these
efforts is, indeed, to be regarded as an incentive to
those who have begun to persevere, and to those who

are inaugurating their plans to commence, that the