The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE- PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—The ceremony of electoral exposure and
confession has been so often repeated, and hitherto
to so little purpose, that the most sanguine must
confess to misgivings as they read each chapter in
these scandalous annals. The Englishman has
great faith in publicity, and in that eye of day which
searches, and burns, and purifies ; but the eye of
day has looked on these doings for many genera-
tions, and•might as well have winked at them for
any good that has come of it. Nothing can be
plainer, nothing less reserved, nothing, we had al-
most said, more honest, than the revelations of
Yarmouth, Reigate, Lancaster, and Totnes, lavished
by the most competent and deeply-compromised
witnesses before the Election Commissioners. These
men are only telling the Court what everybody
knows, and what they really appear to have no rea-
son for concealing. In all these towns; as no doubt
in most others, there are men who know the precise
political value of all, or a large portion, of their
fellow-townsmen. As you will find everywhere
shrewd and observant men who know the value of
every house, the yield of every field, and the par-
ticulars of every horse in the neighbourhood, these
adepte—professors, it must be admitted, of no un-
worthy craft—can enter into the secrets of the soul,
scan the motives, and divine the intentions of each
individual elector. They know the man who will
take his £5 or his £lO ; the man who will allow his
rent to be paid, or his creditor satisfied ; the man
who can be approached through 'his brother or his
wife ; the man who will not vote unless he is paid ;
the man who will vote, but expects a compliment ; the
man who must be plausibly employed ; the man who
is trying to get money from both sides ; the man
who will take money from one side and vote for the
other ; and the select few who consider themselves
the candidates' special friends and supporters, and
whose services are beyond the measure of money.
On all these inquiries lists of names have been pro-
duced, totals of money admitted, even more than can
be accounted for, and particular acts of bribery con-
fessed, with no attempts at palliation, except that " as
" one side bribed the other must," so that either
actually or in effect the constituents were selling
their votes to the highest bidder. It is assumed to
be impossible for the average British artisan or
small tradesman, not to go a little higher, to refuse
the offer of £lO, £2O, or even £4O, if made in a
way not to shock his self-respect ; and it is also as-
sumed that there will always be found men ready to
make the offer. Nor is this the case only with the
smaller class of boroughs so often threatened by
name, and then hastily withdrawn as brands from
the burning. Yarmouth is a large place, with a
population that nobody could think of disfranchis-
ing altogether. But the electors reckon upon their
£l5 or £25 as much as the people of Totnes do on
about half as much again, which is the usual figure
there. If facts such as these tell decisively either
for or against any good scheme of Parliamentary
Reform, it must be by some process of reasoning not
yet made familiar to the public. It has been assumed,
indeed, that bribery is a local and traditional evil,
;Fathers long wont to be bribed have sons who ex-
pect bribes, and whose posterity will be still more
venal. But the population of this country is not so
tied to localities in these days ; our large towns are
swollen by emigration from the smaller ones ; and
there is not a constituency in the kingdom in
which there are not men with this hereditary taint,
and ready to spread it. Money is everywhere the
motive of action and the measure of interest, and
the most unsophisticated constituency that can be
created by Act of Parliament will immediately and
thoroughly appreciate the man who wants a scat
and is ready to pay for it. The electors of the
places now on their trial had, after a feeble fashion,
opinions and preferences; they had been accustomed
to vote on one side rather than the other; but they
expected to be paid their retaining and even their
refreshing fees. Each side, with its candidates,
held itself to be a little army storming a breach in
the Constitution for the possession of a seven years'
lease of power. It was presumed that the candidate
had his interest, though its precise nature andvalue
could not be measured by ordinary rule. The elec-
tors shared the enterprise, ran their risk of dis-
comfiture, and expected their part in the division
of the spoil. The theory is widely held. One
of these witnesses held that out of a list of
70 voters there were only about a dozen who
would not take bribes. But we can easily con-
ceive that the successful candidate would rather be
quit of those dozen by the payment of £lO a piece
than be burdened with obligations that can never be
discharged. The man whom the successful candi-
date most dreads is not him who takes his money
and sneaks away, but the more dignified and re-
spectable personage, who expects his representative
to be continually in communication with the Lord
Chancellor, or the Horse guards, or the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, or the Postmaster-General, in his
own special behalf, whatever party may be in power,
and even though the said representative voted last
week for the dismissal of the Ministers to whom the
elector's suit is to be urged. The difficulty of find-
ing a remedy is aggravated by that approximation
of parties and obliteration of differences on which
we have so often been congratulated. There exists
no very substantial difference between the Conserva-
tive Liberal and Liberal Conservative, who claim
the vote of an 'elector far less educated to see dif-
ferences than they are themselves. There is not a
single question of special interest to himself on
which one candidate promises better than the other.
The majority of his friends and neighbours have
hitherto voted for one, but they don't hold together,
and the bond of party, such as there is, has long
been reduced to a colour, or a name. The elector
knows that it will not make the slightest difference
to himself, or anybody else, or any question or
cause, which candidate he votes for, and that what-
ever he does he is only a drop in the ocean. But a
£lO note is something tangible. There is no doubt
about it. lie wants it. He is that much, or more,
in debt. It will get him out of difficulties. His
neighbours, one after another, are taking it, and are
none the worse for it. Such is the current logic of
Great Yarmouth, a rapidly increasing town, with a
population of nearly forty thousand, and with seve-
ral hundred working men already on the register.
DAILY NEWS.—It is satisfactory to find that the
improvements made during the last three years in
the management of-the convict prisons are begin-
ning to tell favourably on our criminal statistics.
The Annual Report of the Directors of Convict
Prisons, recently issued, showed that the decrease
in the annual number of convictions during the
three years is not only marked, but considerable.
In 5863 the total number of convicts, including
fresh sentences and re-convictions, was 2,608 ;
while last year the number had fallen to 1,925—a
reduction of just about one-fourth. The decrease
in the relative number of severe sentences is equally
decided. The number of sentences for a longer pe-
riod than seven years passed during the last year
was 368—little more than half the number passed
eight years ago in the year 1857. This indicates a
very considerable diminution in the number of
serious crimes, and a proportionate reduction in the
number of hardened and desperate criminals. Alto-
gether, both as to the total number of criminals and
the quality of their crimes, there is a change for the
better during the last three years. This favourable
turn in our criminal statistics may, no doubt, in part
at least, be attributed to the changes recently intro-
duced into the management of the convict prisons.
These changes may be referred to the two heads of
diet and discipline. With regard to the dietary it
will be remembered that when the whole subject of
prison discipline was discussed three years ago, a
complaint was made that the convict prisons were
too comfortable, and that in particular their in-
mates were too well fed. The result sufficiently
shows that the complaint was, in some instances at
least, well founded. A reduced dietary was adopted
in the leading convict prisons, and the directors re-
port that it has up to the present time been attended
with complete success. The fear that the reduced
dietary would affect the health of the convicts has
not in any instance been realised. At Portland the
directors report the reduced dietary continues to be
found sufficient, theappearance of the convicts being
healthy, and the amount of sickness small. At
Portsmouth .the reduction is reported to be " a ma-
terial success; and an influencing agent on the health
and habits of the convicts." At Chatham, too,
where the convicts are more exposed to unhealthy
and depresSing influences, there has been, with the
exception of a temporary epidemic, less than the
average amount of sickness. While the reduced
dietary has not injuriously affected the physical
welfare of the prisoners, it seems to have had the
moral effect it was intended to produce. The
convicts feel it to be a serious deprivation, and
during time year many complaints have been made,
especially by the older convicts. It seems also that

they communicate their grievances on this head to
their old associates outside the prison walls, and
that these reports of increased discomfort have a
salutary effect on tne semi-criminal classes, which
supply the main contingent to the convict prisons.
The Governor of Woking and Broadmoor Prison,
for example, reports :—" An uncomfortable prison
life will deter many from returning to their old
trade, and I find in prisoner's letters to their friends
many allusions to the rigorous discipline to which
they are now subjected." With regard to discip-
line, the changes introduced refer mainly to the
more complete separation and classification of the
prisoners in the close prisons, and the system of
marks for good behaviour, and the amount of work
done. In the close prisons the separate system has
been rigidly carried out into all the details of prison
life, including instruction, and with the best results.
On this point the Governor of Pentonville reports :
---" The substitution of the cellular system of teach-

ing for the old method of instruction in classes
early in the year has been attended with the best'
results, inasmuch as it has lessened very consider-
ably the opportunity for communication between
the prisoners, and has enabled me to maintain &
much nearer approach to the maintenance of sepa-
rate confinement in its integrity." The system hajj •
also been attended with improvement in the general
conduct of the prisoners. The change in discipline
which seems, however, to have had the most stab--
ing and salutary effect is the introduction and rirai
rous carrying out of the mark system. The Par'
remission of the prisoners' sentences, in other words
the granting of tickets-of-leave depends on the
number of marks gained, and the number e'
marks depends on the convict's good behaviour,
and the amount of work he has done. This sup'
plies a strong incentive to good conduct and
tac-
tive labour, and the results are apparent in
official reports of the governors of the different
convict prisons. The Governor of Portland Prison'
for example, reports—" The mark system has been
successfully carried out, and is thoroughly aPl3ll6‘
ciated by the industrious and well-conducted FA: •
soners, of which class there is a large number am
this prison. All the work executed by the prisoners
has been carefully measured by the instructing
warders, and has tended to create a spirit of oat
lation amongst the convicts, the parties vicing with
each other for the credit of having performed, LP!
largest amount of work." The Governor of Welu"E'
Prison in the same way reports—" The mark 031.-
tem operates well. Prisoners are aware of then'
exact standing, and I may almost say of the precise
consequences of violation of rule." The mark sr!'
tem has, in fact, very much reorganised the whole
scheme of convict discipline, and placed it on A far
better footing than heretofore. In particular, 1t
effectually removes the capricious and unsatisfactory
conditions on which tickets-of-leave used to be
granted. It destroys the chance of favour allZ
partiality being shown in the treatment of prisonen4
and this in itself tends to produce a spirit of 000,"
tentment amongst them. The Governors accord'
ingly note that the good effect of treatment accora;
ing to fixed rules without favour or affection, an
without undue harshness, is seen in the prevalence
of a contented spirit. On the whole, the facts ad-
duced in the special reports of the Governors of the
.
different prisons justify the summing up of tin
directors in their General Report :—" The state ca
the prisons is, we think, now satisfactory ; the col"
victs are certainly worked hard, and the dietary, is
no more than the most rigid medical inveatigatie'
justifies us in granting. Every infraction of
line, especially of violence to officers, and tram'''.
jug, which at one time was very rife, has bees
promptly punished ; and, on the other hand, Ifs
tendency of all the regulations is to encourage t'
convicts to industry and good conduct."