The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-08-16 00:00:00

commission of crime. WI

.ets were

first sent

to Botany _Bay and Port Jackson, their destination

only knot

dace at the extreme e

world,the accounts fromwhich teemed with horrors,
and a sentence of transportationwastherefore viewed

ne check against incurring the
Since then the common people have heard of

convicts attaining a state of opulence, th

discoveries created a fever of excitement to
the once dreaded settlement, the sen-

tence of transportation lost

all its

in order that they nigh
harvest. On the other hand, imprisot

hare in th

for the welfare of the prisoner, that it was

e to be consider

•ed as a punishment

st who Picked up a precarious living

toiled hard

the consecinences of crime, when the than

a comfortable building, in which his meals, bedding
and clothing were better, more regular, and more
adapted to his animal wants than ever he had
enjoyed before. The only punishment Baas the
deprivation of his liberty ; and that had less value
in his eyes when the accompaniments were so
much in his favour
the prisons of Engl

a crunr

were of

such a e:

'character in their -construction,anagement, and
maintenance, that it 'cost' more to keep one man
in gaol than would have supported several families
m,

out ; so that, where poverty was the
temptation tA
crime, it would 'have been truer economy t(
have paid all the -unemployed labourers i

country, even -for unreinunerktive work.
state of things was continued, through a

of morbid phganthropy for -,the criminal, whose
with far more sympathy that did
the struggles of the honest labourer in his:exer-
tions to miintain his wife And family throug

condition net

state of -piivation, rather 'than resort to the poor-
house 'or vliShonesty. 'Rad it not been for this
feeling, Ihe remedy was easy of application, and
even now might be resorted to at far less'cost than
either 'transportation •or model prisons. In the
centre of Dartmoor, a bleak and barren tract of
abotit 250,000 acres, some few miles from the
natal arsenal of Devonport, stands :Prince-town,
niOre than ten miles distant in every direction from
atiy inhabited place,-. and isolated by its sterility, the
siill being granite and peat-moss, from -the haunts.
cif civilised man. It was built of.granite during
the long war; as aTrench prisonolnd was adapted
to contain ten thskisand inmates,inaadition to which
thousand soldiers as a guard. It'lluo
there are barracks capable of accommodating two
be appliul
as a means Of, punishment forzlal our eriminils,
and its terrors 'have as wholesome an effect as
transportation' had in its early r'days. There is no
fear of contamination, for it stands far removedfrom
all other dwelline,o•B ; the dresses, of the prisoners
might be sublras to secure detection in the event of
any attemptcto escape ; labour might be fould for
them in -the conversion 61 'tile peat tx

useful

purposes; and the hewing ziif granite far the
Government docks and sea wia-ils; the Ala and
the priffigate might be insiiirea with stfiNcient
dread of thqlvanishment in-erstseless• toil,- .sveh as
many honeemen have to :endure, in the: intense
cold which,:lrom the elev..atiau of Dartm9or, is
very severe,:: and in hard fare. Too many =Of these
men have, ma feelings to •,appeal to: be-those of
their animal wants ; they -,anust suffer 'in their
bodies, if,%-we would rep a-Aleir Minds 4-and we
must not e-Tpect to see an abatement of crime, the
increase ofAVkich 111r.:Justice.Wionrmotinented
at the opeiiing of the Liverpool Assizes.lan. Thurs-
day, until, In addition to :our efforts ::for the
education. ka the young,' the criminal is Trade to
feel, through the physicalauffering• whiell he can
alone appreciate, the sad eonsequeneesOf -depar, I
ture from the paths of honesFindustrf.

WE yieldAo none in the sincerity of our ddvocacy
of Conservdive principles ; view the con-
tinuance in,offire of the .present coalition Ministry
as a serions-anisfortune to thafeountry, and would
cordially welcome the return toTower.ol-ationsti-
tutional Gokerranent ; yet we eannot kin with
those of our ,yeentemporaries -.tile condemn the

course whit!). ';fhas been pursued on the important
question between Russia and Tarkey, whiels. has
lately agitate& the public mind. It • may' be, tthat
the several menbers of the Cabinet have enter-
tained opinionsoprposed to each other.; that !Lord
PALMERS'rON have adopted a policy ;-the
reverse of that .Mich met the views •of 'Lard
ABERDEEN ; thatlvea'd CLARE'S-DON, although 'tie
ostensible organ.- of•Ahe Govennnent on this s
ject, was unableAolonn any decisive rePinion upon
it ; and that Lord jOEIN RUSSELL, the Ministerial
.adviser and "Jack of 411 trades," adopted his usual
reourse of waiting for. the chances of what-may turn
up. Yet, after :all, the delay which has taken
plaee, however it •naar have been intended, was of
far more advantage•to-the great interests ;at stake

than any precipitate Aeclai=tion of defiance could
'have been. Many of the organs of the Couserva-
tive party have counselled energetic measures,
midi as a divided Cabinet •would have found dd-
fiault, if not impossible, to ,undertake, and they
have made indignant remonstrances against fie
Taeillation, which was evident, and the contra.
dictory -statements which wercrnade by the respec-
tive ministers in each House of Tarliament ; one
deprecating discussion as inconvenient to the public
service, WAlile the other professed his readiness
to give every explanation. The latter charge is no
doubt true, but the decisive course recommended
would have proved a serious detriment .to the main-
tenance of peace, which all profess.ed to have at
heart. Had England assumed a belligerent front,
refused to wait the delay inevitable for the despatch
of couriers between such distant places as Constan-
tinople, Petersburgh, Vienna, and the Western
capitals, peremptorily insisted on the immediate
compliance of the Emperor of RUSSIA with the terms
dictated, and at once pushed the Britis
through the Dardanelles into the Black Sea, the
dreaded catastrophe might have been beyond the
power of diplomatic negotiation to avert. France, it
is true, might have found it to her present interest
to side with her ancient foe, because she had little
at stake, and would, no doubt, have managed to
grasp something in the melee ; but Austria, which
stood aloof until Russia had taken the first step,
would have continued neutral, or co-operated with
her Northern ally, on the ready plea of England's
precipitancy; while jealousy of our naval greatness
might have induced Prussia, Denmark, and their
immediate neighbours to join the Russian affiance.
Such a termination of the vindication of Turkish
independence would have been a frightful penalty
to pay for the mere empty assertion of national
honour ; and it is fortunate for this country, for
Europe, and for humanity,. that even, at the hazard
of a charge of indecision, or of pusillanimity,

.fleet