The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDOIN,

very seriously interupted, and was only read through
to the end, as one may say, under protest. Under
protest so outspoken that one of the more energetic
Republicans in the Senate, Mr. WILSON, of Massa-
chusetts, hesitated not to pronounce the Message
"disrespectful and untruthful, and the acrid outpour-
ing of A DISAPPOINTED BAD MAN." The Message
speaks for itself. And to it we would urgently com-
mend the attention of our readers. It will be seen
from that, how far the above scornful estimate of the
nature of the Message, as well as of the character of
the PRESIDENT, was justified on the part of the
United States' Legislature. In any case, it can-
not but be allowed that this incident of the reception
of the Message not unfitly rounds the circle of
ANDREW JOHNSON'S Presidency.

THE Social Science Association has brought before
the notice of Government an important item of the
formidable arrears of legislative work that await the
Householders' Parliament. The deputation which a
few days back waited upon the Holm SECRETARY
touching the repression of crime, opened a
parliamentary campaign that can have but
one issue. Crime and the criminal classes of
the British population are alike on the increase.
Pauperism, the rapid growth of which greatly out-
runs the increase in the population of the United
Kingdom, furnishes an unfailing supply of vice,
which the great efforts of late years have failed to
keep down. All that is expressed in the phrase the
" spread of civilisation " has not availed to prevent
the natural result of the rapid multiplication of the
unemployed and the destitute. The instruction of
the working classes, the special training of homeless
and uncared-for children, the industrial education of
the convict youth of both sexes, and the employment
of the destitute, are all noble undertakings which
have brought about much good; but it would be idle
to ignore the fact that want on the side of vice has
more than counterbalanced every agency on behalf
of virtue. The influences which counteract crime,
though of incalculable value, are less potent than
the means which produce it. Though prevention
is better than cure, there can be no doubt
that cure is the second best thing ; but in this respect
also much remains to be done. We have in great
measure failed to satisfactorily dispose of our con-
victed criminals ; the law is at fault both as to the
term and the mode of punishment and the restrictions
on notorious offenders when set free. This result is
to be attributed largely to the circumstance that
legislation on this subject has been little more than
a series of experiments, without much ex-
perience to guard against error. The difficulty, as
a whole, is new. But a very few years ago the law
did nothing in the way of prevention, and repre-
sented but one idea on the subject of cure. The
principle that dead men tell no tales was extended to
the formula that dead criminals can no longer be
troublesome, and on this hypothesis the law had but
one remedy, the gallows. The murderer, the forger,
the highwayman, the housebreaker, and the
shoplifter all went the same way. When
this Draconian code was repealed we had
to discover the right mode of action ; the loss of
our sheet-anchor, the cross-beam and uprights, has
embarked us in a sea of social perplexity. Of the
numerous experiments that have been tried, none has
satisfied the most urgent necessities of the case;
neither transportation nor the present system of penal
servitude, not to speak of many lesser changes,
has answered all reasonable expectations. A
problem which never can be solved satisfactorily
remains as yet without any solution at all.
_ _

The time has come when this unavoidable period
of groping in the dark should come to an end.
Tentative legislation has in great measure done its
work it has shewn how far the great burden of
national crime can be lightened, and what are
the best means of accomplishing this object.
It has become evident that legislative efforts
must be directed chiefly to the prevention
of the systematic or professional exercise of
crime. The criminals who make dishonesty a trade
are by far the most numerous and most dangerous
enemies of society, and they are, besides, the only
class with which restrictive law can deal. First,
offences always form a very small item in the calendar.
There must be a yearly recruiting of the ranks of the
dishonest in order to keep the force; but this annual
contingent the law cannot reach except by the
indirect means of education and the encouragement
of philanthropy. To reduce to a minimum the
injury wrought by systematic evildoers who are cast
loose on society after punishment, is and always has
been the great difficulty. Transportation is no
more to be thought of. It is difficult
to find eligible lands which may serve as
areas into which we may shoot our social rubbish,
and there are besides other overwhelming objections
against the system. The only hope of furthering the
repression of crime lies in improving the present
penal system. It is not difficult to perceive where
that system is at fault. In the first place, the license
or ticket-of-leave principle is fundamentally good,
but the great laxity attendant upon its applica-
tion has been very baneful. It was first designed
to save expense to the State, and at the same time
increase the chance of reforming the convict by per-
mitting him to spend part of his term of sentence out
of prison, under surveillance. The amount of remis-
sion varies according to the good conduct of
the criminal while in prison. An incentive
to reformation was thus afforded at the outset.
It was not unreasonably deemed probable that the
malefactor would be more likely to fall into ways
of honesty if the first years of his liberty were
spent under State tutorship than if he were
at once discharged to return to his old habits without
restraint or inducement to do better. The enlightened
spirit of modern legislation, mercifully averse to the
waste of human life, has laid down the maxim that
imprisonment should be reduced to the narrowest
limits consistent with public safety. Still the license
system has been productive of much evil to the com-
munity. The most indispensable condition of its
employment, the exercise of a complete surveillance
over the convict whilst his term of license endures, has
not been complied with. Where the ticket-of-leave
men have been well watched—and some counties and
boroughs have been exemplary in this respect—the
system has worked well and has been clearly produc-
tive of good ; but where the surveillance is less
perfect the convict often manages to escape observa-
tion and returns to his old haunts and associates.
To improve the supervision of the license-holder
must be the great aim of any alteration of the law in
this respect. The existing means of control need the
addition of a central authority directing and record-
ing the movements of convicts on license. At present
the various bodies of police have the care of these
evil-doers on probation, in addition to .their many
other duties ; and though with proper. assistance the
work might be adequately done, at present the sur-
veillance frequently ceases when the convicts choose
to move from one place to another. There is no
special communication between the different police-
centres. With the aid of a central authority every
action on the part of a license-holder, and especially
his departure from any place, would be registered,
and the information thus gained could be sent to the
police authorities who might require it. The super-
vision, which is now a work of chance, would
become a matter of certainty. It would be
much more difficult for the ticket-of-leave
man to embark on the career of crime which is
at present the frequent result of his liberty. The
great object to be aimed at is to bring the career of
every criminal, from the time that he first enters
upon crime, within the jurisdiction of a State depart-
ment.

This principle may be carried out still farther.
Not only must the criminals who are still
under the sentence of the law be strictly
guarded, but they must not be lost sight of
even when their full term of punishment has ex-
pired. The great evil of professional crime can never
be dealt with successfully until it is laid down that a
confirmed evil-doer is at all times answerable to the

" which has been much
authorities. Public opiniu.., -"veci rather in
directed to this subject of late, has -44 Can
the direction of asking too much ; but the,_
be no doubt that some reform is possible. Between
the non-intervention of the law as it stands and the
extreme rigour which has been called for lately, there
is a just mean which the Social Science Association
has discovered. Though it is hardly possible to
entrust the police with the power of apprehending at
will those whom they suspect of meditating an
offence, yet it is quite within the province of the
law that a notoriously bad character should be
accountable for his manner of life until he reforms.
To carry out this principle, a confirmed criminal has
been defined as one who has suffered two convic-
tions. Such an offender, the association suggests,
should no longer be a free agent. So long as he
lives in honesty he shall be left in peace; but
if his doings are at all suspicious he is to be liable to
apprehension. Any criminal who has suffered two
convictions and is known to associate with thieves, or
is unable to shew that he is earning an honest living,
may be required to give bail for his continued good
behaviour, or, in default, be sent to prison.
The law must not wait until an act of
mischief be accomplished ; the intention ought
also to be taken note of. Of course some organisation
will be required in order to exercise this supervision
over bad characters ; but the same central authority
as that recommended for the license-holders might
also be employed to watch those who have not
actually incurred penalty. Thus we should have a
complete register and surveillance over the whole of
the professional criminal class. Should such an
organisation be brought about—and there is no
doubt it can be—our experiments will not have been

in vain.

LATEST INTELL IGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)