The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-05-07 00:00:00

Blackwood's Magazine.

There are several exeellent articles in the number for
the present mouth, chiefly, however, of a solid character,
with a rather smaller sprinkling than usual of those of a
light and amusinz vein. The first is No. 1. of a series of
papers on " Imprisonment and Taaneportation," with re-
ference, in this ins: ante more especially, to the " Increase
of Crime." Tne author, we th nk, takes rather a gloomy
view of the subject, imputing—on the authority of some.
whet exclusive statistics the real accuracy of which may
be questioned, if indeed tney be nor. ex parte—by far the
greater weight- of our national delinquency to the increase
and demoralising influence of our manufacturing system.
Recent accounts from Preston and olbi r towns state. on
the contrary, that—urobably owing mainly to the opera-
tives being pretty fully employed—crime had during the
last three months decreased to about one-fourth of its
amount within ti:e same period last year. Our author by
no means apprie es of tie recent relaxa:ions in our penal
code, which ne cousiders altogether inoperative for good ;
and though we are not friendly, saving for the highest
offences, to extreme or sanguinary punishments, which
are the general resort of bad and arbitrary governments,
it must be admitted on behalf of his argument, that it has
become extremely difficeit of late to visit great criminals
with condign punishment. We concur with him that the
progress of education, such as it generally is amongst the
working classes, h-s effectel hut a negative amelioration,
if any at all ; for the heart mu,t be improved by religious
and moral trainine, as well as tee head, before men in a
dense and naturally vicious state of society can be re-
claimed. Toe mete mechanicol art of reading and wri-
ting, and that imperfect in degree, without this, may be a
bane. Our author promises in his next paper to consider
the causes of the general failure in the recent relaxations
of the law, &c., arid the means requisite for the diminu-
tion of (trine. He will tail to convince us if he do not
include religions instruct on, and the putting down, if
possible, of the too g-neral resort te the intemperate use ;
of intoxicating liqu rs, wi.h its coneomita it evils of reck•
leesness and domestic improvidence.—" The Rhine and
Rhtnelan 'era " w:ll be read with intere=t, especially by
cont neat I tourists. " The Munster Misery of Litera-
ture" is forcii,ly depict.d li-ei iffy production, how-
ever talentel, will command an adequate sum from a
bookseller, unless it be spun out to " three volumes," to
snit the ridiculous and inirmata• le taste of the circulating
libraries. " The Memoirs of a statesman" is continued,
and with increasing interest. There loan article on Indian
affairs during the laet tew years, which places the whole
within a glance, and vindicates Load Ellenborough.
" The Freethinker" is well narrated, and, in conclusion,
imparts an admir able moral to all would-be atheists.
" Love in the Wilderness" is not much to our taste, but
de gustibus, &o. Finally, there is a paper on the Land-
lord end Tenant question in Ireland. showing that the
owners of the soil in toat c untry have been most grossly
maligned by the partisan O'Connell press ; that the al-
leged extol tons in rent have no existeece ; and that the
sufferings and discontent of the Irish peasantry must
have their origin-end continuance in far different causes.
Some extracts will tie found elseehere.